章節 22: The Straw Hats goes Wild!

Day 3, Going Merry.

"Nami, how's the weather?"

"The wind is on our sails so we will be seeing them soon. There is a small chance for a storm coming soon but will not be dangerous enough for us to avoid...though I can't say it outright. Its the Grand Line after all."

Usopp, who had his question answered was now sure of how the group should act. He would remain on the ship and defend it while sniping out some of the targets at the same time. Zoro and Sanji needed to work out their abilities against proper opponents with the intent to kill, although in their case they would have to be satisfied with just the quantity, not the quality. Luffy as always would be in charge of finishing off the leader.

"Guys, listen. The enemy is coming at us in an arrowhead formation with their flagship as the center of the formation. There is very little danger in terms of enemy strength, but we lack proper anti-fleet battle training. These guys are the perfect targets for a training match, but I'll be staying back and protecting the ship. All others, including Nami and Vivi will engage the enemy. Sanji and Nami will be in a group and attack the right flank. Vivi, you are with Zoro on the left. Luffy... do what you do."

"HUH? Why do we have to fight too?! Aren't you guys more than enough for this?"

Nami immediately replied after listening to Usopp's plan. Zoro also looked at him with a look which probably meant 'why should I share my prey'.

"We will be fighting every now and then in the Grand Line. Hence we need to get used to the sea combat. Also Nami, you are the one with the least combat experience. Training you [Observation Haki] will help you in many ways. Zoro, Sanji... that goes for both of you too. So I'll be sealing a bit of your strength with the training suit."

"That sounds a bit more interesting."

Zoro replied. He wanted to have a bit of fun with the guys with the people who disturbed his sleep. As always, Usopp made a silent prayer to those who are going to face Zoro's wrath. Sanji was doing his noodle dance around Nami saying his weird dialogues. Karoo, the spot- billed duck was looking at the goofing members of the crew and Vivi, who was lamenting at her dark fate of fighting a fleet with five people.

At the same time, Usopp took out a bunch of materials that was in the shape of a spring and handed it to Luffy.

"What are these?"

"Wear these on your arms and legs. They will stop your arms and legs from stretching. I'll also get the ones for your waist. This way you can only use normal fighting techniques, so it will make it more of a challenge for you. Oi Sanji, just come with me. I have some extra-dense metal to tie to your legs. Zoro, avoid using your named attacks or [Santouryuu] itself."

Usopp ran inside the ship's storage to recover some weights for Sanji, which will help him in training for fighting when unbalanced. [Observation Haki] should be used actively and accurately against a group that big to avoid any problems using such heavy weights.

A few minutes later, the fleet came into view. As Usopp had said, the fleet was in a reverse arrowhead formation, with 6 ships on each flank and 8 in the center. All of them were medium sized ships except for the last one, which was a galleon ship with 36 cannons.

" Sanji, hard to starboard! When we are horizontally aligned, we drop the sea anchors!"

Usopp took over the command during battles since the rest did not yet have much strategist ability. Luffy wouldn't mind it unless and until he felt it necessary. The teams were getting ready to fight, and Usopp took out [Fear] and an assortment of specialized bullets. The Merry was finally aligned horizontally with the Flintlock fleet and dropped the sea anchors to stabilize the ship.

Everyone was standing on the deck gazing at the enemy fleet when a light drizzle started to fall along with a strong wind. The rain and the lightning made the crew look much more dramatic than they actually looked. Nami held on to Sanji's back while Zoro grabbed Vivi's neck and jumped down into the sea. Just before they touched the sea, they accelerated using [Sky walk], which made it look like they were walking on water.

"Ah, you guys! Don't destroy the ships! We need the loot and weapons! And food and alcohol too!"

Usopp yelled the last bit so that the ones with destructive tendencies would be a little concerned with not completely destroying the fleet. Though he himself was not someone to say it, as a sniper who have destroyed entire fleets worth of ships. Zoro and Luffy's mood changed a bit at those words, so he was sure that there would be less collateral damage.

Sanji and Zoro headed to their respective marked enemies. Usopp was amazed at how Zoro actually followed his directions towards the enemy. He does not lose his way only when the enemy is in sight. The enemy crew was looking at the two incoming enemies with awe and fear, but being a group of worthy Grand Line pirates, they started to fire the cannons at the two teams. Zoro drew [Wadou Ichimonji] and cut apart all the incoming cannon fire, while Sanji was dodging them at the last moment. Nami and Vivi were holding on to them for their dear lives, so they did not have much part to play.

Usopp was standing on the ship along with Luffy, who did not rush into battle yet. He looked like he was trying to make use of his rubbery properties in a CQC battle. Usopp had hinted at Luffy during training that the use of vibrations through [impact] will be amplified tremendously because of the powers of a Rubber-Man, so Luffy would probably get his head around that technique in the battle, or soon after that.

Usopp took out a Tripod and attached it to [Fear]. He then took up position by placing weapon on the railing. He then fired three shots into the water, which was followed by three different explosions underwater.

"Using [Focus Wave] for attacking with [Armament Haki] gives a different class of firepower. Now the enemy fleet doesn't have any more methods to reach us other than their cannons."

What Usopp did was to eliminate the remaining 3 submarines. Torpedoes were annoying weapons and submarines were even more annoying. They could easily maneuver around enemy targets and restrict their fighting strength. So Usopp removed them early on in the game. He then continued to snipe at a few targets and incoming cannon fire while Sanji and Zoro finally arrived at their target locations.

...

Sanji jumped on to the leading ship of the flank while Nami jumped off of his back on to the deck. When the enemies began to leer at Nami, Sanji was triggered. The sailors, who were busy eyeing the babe who was beating up their crew with a staff only saw a large fire for a second before they were sent into orbit.

"He's a Ability User! Throw him into the sea or the ship will be destroyed!"

The person who yelled out looked like he was in charge. He thought the fire created by Sanji was a devil fruit ability. Only the Straw Hats knew that Sanji's fire was fueled by his passion augmented by other emotions. In this case, pure anger.

"You third rate pieces of meat... none of you will dare to stare at a lady when I am done with you!"

Sanji's intensity only got higher, and his kicks even more scorching. The ship's crew, who were trying to get a proper shot in using their guns and bazookas on Nami, who was dodging them as if she was predicting it. She was the first one to awaken her [Observation Haki] and had followed Usopp's training properly. Hence her ability to dodge was at the same level as Sanji even with the massive difference in their physique.

A few of the enemies tried to use shotguns and semi automatic weapons after seeing that their attacks had no effect. Nami did not miss the enemy's movements as she used the clima-tact to attack them. She spun the clima-tact which she held parallel to her body and activated a wind technique that threw the opponents into the air and out of the ship. She then pointed the clima-tact towards the remaining ones and turned the handle a bit which expelled super-cooled air, freezing the bunch of people that was left.

"I couldn't use the heat properties because of the fire...but there is a lot of things I could do with this weapon still. Oh no...am I also turning into a battle junkie since I spend so much time with these guys?!"

Nami was scared of her own actions and her future, while Sanji jumped towards the next ship, which seemed like it was trying to sink the one they were on. Sanji did not treat people well when they try to attack women.

"[DIABLE JAMBE]!"

The screams of a certain group of pirates on that day was heard for miles around on the Grand Line. A terrifying horror story about this would be written later on, which went on to be a major turning point of the writing industry in the Grand Line.

...

Zoro, unlike Sanji had a typical trainer from hell personality. Therefore he threw Vivi onto the ship from which he felt the weakest spirit as he jumped onto another one. His presence itself was usually enough to destroy the morale of the enemies, but this time he held [Sandai Kitetsu] in his hand. The pure bloodlust that was amplified by Zoro's fighting spirit was bringing nightmarish illusions to life.

"Fight and help me sharpen my sword!"

Zoro's first move was to cut the cannons into two, which took a bit of effort the first few times since it was harder than steel itself. After the fourth one, Zoro got faster as he tuned into listening to the 'breath of all things' faster. The pirates watched in horror as this demon tore apart the cannons on their ships with little effort.

"Damn it all! Stop him or he'll make the ship into sashimi!"

The crew member who had a little bit of sanity left had yelled at the rest to stop the enemy. They stormed him with numbers so he would at least slow down a little. Zoro on the other hand was enjoying the pirates' newfound enthusiasm as he used only one sword to cut through their weapon and the enemy itself one at a time, using the least amount of energy to do maximum amount of damage. He was also attuning himself with the Cursed Blade he held, trying to become more and more to reach the state of complete control. Hence as the total number reduced to the single digits, the demonic aura had begun to manifest around him. The pure animosity felt from the spirit killed an older pirate of the crew, as he had a seizure when he was confronted with it. Zoro had finished off the crew one slash at a time, multiple times with no problems whatsoever. He continued on to the next ship to continue his routine, shrouded with blackish-purple aura that felt like death and war.

Vivi was having a relatively harder time with the enemy crew, who was trying to capture her. Some of them had the idiotic idea of trying to harass her in the beginning but they were all cut down by her Peacock slashers. Nami had taught her a bit of the [Quick Step] technique, which Usopp had developed for initiating people with low strength before they learnt [Geppou] or [Silent Steps].

[Quick Steps] allowed for very short distance displacement, and Vivi herself was strong enough to fight the enemies since she was formerly a single digit agent and had enough battle experience to boot. Most of the enemies could not touch her, while the ones that had almost threatened her were flipped up and thrown away or were used as shields to divert another's attack using the soft-type martial arts techniques which Nami had used her for as a training dummy. Vivi became a little bit more savage and heartless when she was reminded of that pitiful moment while a tear ran down the corner of her eye. When the fight ended on her ship, only a few could move and the rest were out of commission. Vivi herself couldn't escape from all the attacks, and her body had received a few slashes and punches. When she saw the ship Zoro had decimated, she only had one thought in her mind.

'Why did Zoro cut the cannons even though they were useless in the rain?'

As if an entire crew killed off with only one slash per person was not anything to comment on at all.

...

Usopp had taken out a lot of the cannon fire that was aimed at the Merry, which was only coming from one ship. The rain had made most of the fleets' cannons obsolete and hence only their Flagship was equipped with cannons inside the ship. Zoro, Sanji and Nami were cruising through the enemy ships and Vivi had miraculously taken down a small ship full of pirates, which was way beyond her limits. Usopp had felt her determination in her actions which was the reason behind her breaking her limits, along with the desperation in her heart.

When Usopp dealt with the the last few members on the ship Nami was on, Luffy flew into the air and went straight to the center group of the Flintlock fleet. Usopp was a bit shocked by that move, for which Luffy did not stretch but used his elasticity and vibrations to jump a very long distance. The distance of the jump was something that Usopp could barely overcome using his full jumping strength and clearly established one thing. Luffy's fighting options had increased yet again.

...

The captain and executives of the Flintlock pirates were sweating bullets when they saw the results of the battles taking place on each front. The flanks had been flattened as if a typhoon had ran through them while their counter attacks using cannons and weapons had little to no effect, since their cannon fire was taken down by what seemed to be one person with a gun and their own snipers' bullets were dodged or directly tanked by the enemy. They had a premonition that today would be their last day as a fear inducing group of pirates in the Grand Line. That was when a large colliding sound came from the first ship in the central group.

"WHAT'S WITH THE NOISE?!WHAT HAPPENED?!"

An executive of the group immediately asked the lookouts for information, only to see a straw hat wearing teenager looking back at him with pure animosity.

Luffy's glare was more than enough to make them petrified. The battle aura hit the veteran pirates like a personal summons to hell. Many lost their consciousness and fell like dominoes. Only a small group of them could keep their wits about them and the ones who understood what really hit them began wishing that they also lost their consciousness. The old executive could only spit out a single word...

"Conqueror!"

...