[Chapter Size: 2758 Words.]
Third Person POV
Somewhere at sea, East Blue.
…
…
Marine Headquarters, 16, East Blue.
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
“AHHH! They’re hitting us even from this distance!” A marine shouted, his voice filled with fear, as the outer courtyard of the base was pounded by cannon projectiles fired from a pirate ship located more than 1 kilometer away. The impact was terrifying, as the base’s weapons had an effective range of only 800 meters, leaving them at a considerable disadvantage.
“Man the warships! We need to confront them at sea!” The order was quickly given, and the marines acted promptly, launching warships to face the audacious pirate ship that lay beyond their effective reach.
“Command! Command, are you there?” A marine ran to the communication tower seeking assistance. Without Captain Nezumo present, direct communication with high command was impossible. The number for direct contact with the base admiral was restricted information, reserved only for the highest echelons of the base hierarchy. Instead, they opted to call a base located in Loguetown, where they could establish contact through the Den Den Mushi.
“*KATCH* Captain Smoker here, what can I do for Base 16?” A rough voice was heard from the other side of the Den Den Mushi.
“Captain Smoker, this is the lieutenant from Base 16, we are under attack while Captain Nezumi is away! The pirates have a ship that can reach a distance our cannons cannot, and they are bombarding our entire base!” The lieutenant cried.
“Who is attacking you?” Smoker had a serious tone at this moment, recognizing the gravity of the situation.
“They are the Straw Hat pirates… *CRACK!!* AHHHHHH!!” Before the man could finish, the communication tower received a cannonball, causing it to explode its walls and collapse in large part, falling on top of the man.
Meanwhile, on the head of Ifrit.
*Whistle*
“Nice shot, Usopp…” Luffy said to himself, observing the destruction caused by his ship’s weapons.
“Captain, these weapons are quite dangerous; even the marines are in despair…” Reiju commented while smoking and observing the destruction at the naval base.
“Let’s advance; shooting at the marines from this distance is boring… And they seem to want to greet us while pulling those 3 ships out of the harbor!” Luffy spoke, and the ship gained speed again, shifting from negative speed to 30 times faster.
“The warships are getting closer, Luffy…” Kuina warned, with three warships approaching theirs, in fact, it was more them approaching the enemy ships than the other way around.
“Zoro, Reiju, Yamato, and Nami, protect the ship so it won’t be hit by the shots.” Luffy gave the orders, and they quickly assumed their positions. When within range of the marines, they finally had a moment of realization, and many cannonballs were fired at that moment, both from the base and the warships. Dozens of bullets were heading directly for the ship.
As the bullets approached them, Zoro began cutting them while jumping in the air, Reiju effortlessly kicked away any attacks, Yamato countered with her weapon, sending the bullets back to their original owners, causing explosions among the enemies. Still, the most surprising was Nami, creating green claws in the air that stopped the incoming bullets by just lifting her hands from the deck. She also raised whirlwinds in front of the ship, taking on the primary role of protecting it.
“You’re getting really good at this, Nami!” Luffy praised her sincerely. Nami had shown a lot of talent with her Devil Fruit powers since yesterday under Luffy’s guidance.
“Thank you. With this strength, I might not need to run anymore and can be useful and strong,” Nami said with some confidence. She no longer needed to run from any danger.
*BANG!*
*CRACK*
*BOOM!*
Luffy’s attention turned to one of the marine ships at sea, which exploded from a shot fired by the Black Pearl a moment earlier.
“OWW! I hit one!” Shirahoshi’s voice was heard joyfully from one of the cannons. The cannon system Luffy installed on the ship had an immediate reload feature, eliminating the need for someone to load bullets into the gun every time someone fired. This made Shirahoshi and Usopp’s lives much easier, as they only needed to aim and press the analog stick button that moved the cannon’s aim.
“I’ll take down the other one then!” Usopp joined the competition.
*BANG!*
*CRACK*
*BOOM!*
Hitting the side of one of the ships, Usopp managed to bring it down with a shot, as it struck the weak hull, and seawater began to flood the ship, and they could hear the desperation of the crew.
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
Feeling challenged, Shirahoshi began firing at the same ship she hit before. After hitting it with four more shots, the warship started to crumble.
The last marine ship seemed to be in a panic, as their bullets, combined with the base’s bullets, seemed to have no effect on the pirate ship. Seeing two of their ships being bombarded next to them scared them a lot, making them try to escape.
“Do they want to escape? I won’t let them!” Usopp said, turning his cannon towards the ship, and Shirahoshi did the same. Even though she didn’t have precise aim like her companion, she still managed to target that last ship.
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
Four explosions destroyed the last ship in the next moment, while the marines screamed in despair. The pirate ship was already passing through the wreckage as they approached the island.
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
Usopp and Shirahoshi spared no effort in continuing to bombard the naval base now.
When Luffy approached, he could see fear in the eyes of the marines, pointing guns at them on the dock, but failing to show much courage. They had unsuccessfully tried to prevent this pirate ship from approaching the small island. When they didn’t make a scratch on the Black Pearl, the pirates took down three warships and demolished half of the naval base. Their morale couldn’t be any lower.
“That was too easy…” Luffy couldn’t express it more tediously. He had expected more of a challenge, but looking at the marines, it was clear they had lost the fighting spirit.
“You’re the Straw Hat pirates! Do you have any idea what you’ve done today? The Marines will hunt you to the ends of this world!” One of them, seemingly the current leader, said angrily, with at least 200 marines behind him.
“You’re not Captain Nezumi. I expected to find him here… Did he die from the cannon shots?” Luffy casually asked the man as he descended from his ship.
“Captain Nezumi is away, but even so, you won’t get away with this, pirate!” he growled.
“That’s not important; you should worry about your own life rather than the consequences of me attacking the Navy,” Luffy mocked in front of his ship.
The Black Pearl was in front of the port, at least the part that was still intact, as half of the base had been hit by his two marksmen; the port was no exception.
Luffy wasted no more time and began walking directly in front of the marines.
“What do you want, Monkey D. Luffy, pirate scum!” the man snarled with some confidence as he prepared to shoot.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to plunder this base,” Luffy said, flashing a greedy smile.
“What did you say?!” This left everyone stunned; they expected pirates to plunder villages and towns, but a Marine base in the middle of the sea? It wasn’t a very common activity, especially for newcomers in such a weak sea.
“You’re doomed, listen to what I’m saying! Justice will always prevail!”
“Yamato, can you use your Conqueror’s Haki? Take down these annoying men, quickly,” Luffy requested Yamato, who promptly positioned herself beside him, releasing her intimidating aura.
Yamato’s expression became determined; her eyes shone with an indomitable energy. Although not a master of Conqueror’s Haki, knocking out 200 low-ranking soldiers, along with some hidden within a 300-meter area, was an easy task for her. The energy permeated the entire place before everyone’s eyes rolled back, and they foamed at the mouth. A moment later, all of them fell to the ground unconscious.
“Incredible, how did she do that?” Kuina exclaimed, amazed, as she approached with the rest of the crew. Yamato’s impressive aura, reinforced by Conqueror’s Haki, left everyone in awe of the display of power.
“!”
“Yamato is so strong…” Nami couldn’t help but comment.
“That will be explained later with the six styles. For now, I want to plunder this base before heading to Cocoyasi Village as fast as possible,” Luffy shrugged, not wanting to explain something like that in the middle of robbing the Marines.
“Kuina, Johnny, and Yosaku will stay on the ship since they are not part of the crew, and we don’t need their images associated with us, so it’s better not to involve them. Nami and Yamato will go to the naval vault, grab all the money and valuable items from the Marines. Zoro, Usopp, and Reiju will go to the dungeons. If I’m correct, this base is involved in the black market with human trafficking. I want you to free anyone who looks like a slave,” Luffy said with a hint of anger at the end, surprising everyone.
As he always says, he hates hypocrites who commit crimes behind a flag, shouting justice. This base has always been one of the worst examples with this concept that he has seen in the original work and even in some fanfics.
“Meanwhile, Shirahoshi and I will check the documents in the command post. Chouchou will take care of our ship.” Luffy announced his orders, and everyone began to separate with their own tasks. Kuina and the bounty hunters couldn’t complain about these orders since they were not part of the crew.
It didn’t take long for Luffy to hear Zoro being kicked by Reiju.
“Where are you going? It’s better not to happen what happened on the last island!” Reiju kicked Zoro, who complained with a stern look, while Usopp sighed beside them.
Luffy, Shirahoshi, and Megalo arrived at the command room. Luffy began to quickly sift through the documents on the shelves and the desk.
“Shirahoshi, try to find anything we can use as evidence of the crimes these marines must be committing here,” Luffy announced beside the mermaid.
“Me, Luffy-Sama? I’m not very smart!” She didn’t seem very confident for the task.
“Come on, Shirahoshi, you’re a princess. Even though you’ve been trapped in a room almost your entire life, I’m sure you received an aristocratic education,” Luffy didn’t believe she hadn’t had any teachers over the years.
“I… I’ll try!” She said, gaining a bit of confidence.
Thus, Luffy sifted through all the documents in the main office with the princess. This took 20 minutes when Luffy increased his reading speed by 30 times.
“Arms smuggling, illegal sale of navy equipment, bribery, blackmail, human trafficking, and dealings with certain pirate groups beyond Arlong, their main sponsor. Captain Nezumi even has connections to the black market of the New World! So many things here, and the idiot signed many documents and kept many things addressed to this base and his own name. Perhaps years of committing crimes with his sponsors made him quite bold, not caring about leaving evidence…” Luffy commented as he looked at the stack of papers that would incriminate all the marines in this base.
“Can the Navy be so evil, Luffy-Sama?” Shirahoshi asked horrified as she read so many horrible things.
“Marines or pirates, in the end, they’re just people fighting for their own goals and what they believe in. They can be good or bad, although most pirates are bad, and most marines fight for justice, but there’s always one or another exception,” Luffy said more calmly. He felt disgusted by the marines in this base, but he wouldn’t dwell on it now, as they would be condemned in the coming days.
“I understand…” Shirahoshi commented beside Megalo.
“But I’m surprised; even though he’s involved in such a small layer of the black market, he still had some connections leading to the Joker of the New World black market. Well, it’s better not to care about Donquixote Doflamingo at all now. In the end, he’s just a dog of Kaido, someone who will be eliminated in the future by Lami.” Luffy murmured to himself as he picked up the documents and stored them to leave the base.
“Megalo, get that Den Den Mushi.” Luffy asked him to grab a larger device hidden in one of Captain Nezumi’s hideous paintings, the darn guy was a narcissist, and a hole in the wall seemed to be used for emergencies, but Luffy would steal it for some uses.
“Sharky!” Megalo quickly bit the bag that held the equipment and followed Luffy and his friend, carrying the documents.
When Luffy left the main building, he came across 50 people brought by Zoro, Usopp, and Reiju from the dungeons. Their chains were already broken, but their condition was quite lamentable.
“T-That!” Shirahoshi couldn’t help but cover her mouth, frightened.
Luffy understood everything as well. There were children and even girls the same age as the mermaid, malnourished, many of them with lifeless eyes, a consequence of almost becoming slaves in the black market. Captain Nezumi was deeply involved with this market, something that not even Arlong would agree with his partner, as he must hate slavery after everything his race went through.
Luffy believed that Arlong wouldn’t even stoop so low as to enslave his enemies since the fish-man likely considered such a practice beneath only inferior humans. The fish-man preferred killing and massacring over putting chains on his victims.
“You guys had your hands full…” Luffy said with little emotion.
“Yeah, it was pretty unsettling…” Usopp said disheartened.
“It wasn’t easy to convince them to leave; it was quite sad…” Reiju lit a cigarette while speaking those words.
Even Nami seemed disheartened by the side, despite some gold she obtained from Yamato; seeing these people only worsened her mood.
“Can the Navy be this bad?” Yamato spoke with little humor. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but she had seen a lot of it in Wano when some people were brought to Onigashima.
“Most of them aren’t, and we shouldn’t classify them that way. But there are exceptions to the rules. Don’t worry; we’ll make them pay for this.” Luffy approached them and went to the former captives, who still looked at them suspiciously and fear in their eyes.
“I know it wasn’t easy for you to be here, locked up like a slave. If you want to leave, you can go, and you’re free. We’re heading to Cocoyasi Village Island. If you want a ride, I can give you one. If you don’t, as I said, you’re free to do whatever you want.” Luffy said simply and turned to walk away.
“Wait! Can I come along?” A captive, slightly larger than the others, spoke up. Luffy turned to him in surprise and kept his gaze on the man.
He was 2.5 meters tall, had very short white hair with tan skin, and had a strong build. Luffy could tell he was quite powerful, even though he appeared to be around 30 years old.
“You can come; we’re pulling a navy ship behind ours. Anyone who wants to join, come aboard,” said Luffy, and many captive people decided to follow the large man. However, some former slaves chose to take different paths.
“Thank you. May I know who you are? My name is Hugo,” the strange man quickly introduced himself to Luffy, eliciting a suspicious look from the captain.
“I’m Monkey D. Luffy, the one who will dominate the seas,” Luffy asserted, reciting his characteristic introduction.
“Dominate the seas?! That sounds so cool, even though I don’t believe it…” Hugo murmured, casting an admiring look at Luffy.
Luffy tried to ignore the man’s smug smile as they boarded the ship, taking all the rescued individuals with them. With everything ready to set sail, the Black Pearl left the port and headed straight for Nami’s hometown island.
The marines were still unconscious on the ground, and Yamato released a second wave of Conqueror’s Haki to ensure none of them would hinder the escape of the former captives.
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