A War on Water!

It had been naught but a few minutes since Black Drum had been sighted, yet Mio's voice came down from the crow's nest in a panic, "Captain! Ships incoming! I repeat- ships incoming!"

"Ships?!?! How many?" Cliff shouted back after recovering from the shock.

"4 Galleons in the front followed by 20 brigantines!" Mio called back.

"Shit! 4 Galleons and 20 Brigantines!" Cassy muttered before asking, "What flag are they flying?"

"The 4 Galleons each have their own flags, while the Brigantines fly the flag of either one of the 4 galleons. All the ships also fly the flag of the Feather Pirates on top!" Mio answered still panicking.

By now May too had begun panicking while Cliff who was now accompanied by Cassy on his right and Taiga on his left stood on the bow of the ship.

"Feather must have started a fleet. Since the head is gone the fleet is left behind. If the leaders of the pirate crews that comprise the fleet are loyal to Feather, then they would seek revenge." Cassy spoke out.

Cliff said nothing for a few minutes.

He spoke just as the first of the galleons came into sight (and not seen from a spyglass (pirate telescope)), "One doesn't make a fleet unless they are sure of its loyalty. His fleet has come for revenge, but all they shall receive is a last fight. MAN THE CANNONS!"

"Since when have you started to give out such speeches?" Cassy asked as she watched Taiga walk backwards to the cannons while chuckling. She was barely holding her chuckles back herself.

"Just wanted to try it. Grandpa's told me plenty of tales where captains gave such speeches." Cliff said while chuckling himself.

"You do know it was only marines who gave such speeches, right?" She asked as she and Cliff turned to get to the cannons on the starboard.

Mio brought the ammunitions from below deck and started to distribute them. May was still standing behind the helm ready to manoeuvre the ship.

It was silent for a few moments before 2 cannon shots were fired by the galleons advancing towards them but they fell to the sea around the Roaring Tigress. 2 of the galleons had turned 90 degrees and they had shot one each. The other 2 galleons were still advancing forward.

Withing minutes, the advancing galleons had reached the Roaring Tigress, each on one side perfectly parallel to her.

"You have the nerve to approach Black Drum after what you've done?!?!" A male voice came from the starboard side of the ship.

Seeing him speak, Cliff reasoning him to be the captain of that ship, said, "Why should we not approach Black Drum? It is a pirate haven, isn't it?"

"YOU… this pirate haven does not cater to the likes of you. Captain Feather had protected this haven from the last 3 clean-ups and had been helping even before then. You killed him and in revenge we'll kill you!!!" the opposing captain replied.

"Why are you part of Feathers Fleet?" Cassy asked this time.

"SHUT UP WOMAN! And use his name with RESPECT!! We serve him because he-" *SHOT* the man fell down with a hole in his head.

"Did you just kill him?" Cliff asked looking over his shoulder towards Mio who was still in position with a smoking flintlock.

"What? He was speaking to much!" Mio defended herself.

"That's true. Plus, Black Drum does need a culling if Feathers' been protecting them for that long." Cliff continued.

The Galleons, both carrying 150 men each were silent. Each and everyone shocked at how their leader died. They only reacted when they heard Cliff say, "FIRE THE CANNONS!"

Not a moment passed before 4 explosions rang out as the cannons of the Roaring Tigress hit true creating 2 holes in each ship.

One person from the ships, it could be either one by now to be honest as the place was full of screams and shouts and shots, shouted "BOARD THEIR SHIP!"

And so, plenty jumped onto the deck of the Roaring Tigress while others swung on by rope, and others placed planks to act as bridges and board that way.

Utter pandemonium started as the small crew started to fight with the boarding pirates. Plenty were cut down but plenty more came to take their place.

…

As soon as the pirates started to board their ship May had began moving. Just as one landed onto the deck, she punched him on the head. Not stopping at one she added a few more before a powerful punch just pushed him back, staggering into the railing and toppling overboard.

By then plenty more had surrounded her and it became a free-for-all.

She punched and kicked with all she had learned during those hateful spars that she always lost. At the start it didn't matter much to her that she was the weakest of the then 4 crewmembers. She had thought the next one would be weaker than her. But even then, while she didn't show it, she was growing frustrated with her weakness and how she always lost during those spars. She thought her role in the fight with Feather Pirates was pretty good. Obviously not too the level of those 3 but still. And when Mio joined, she thought she would finally stop being the weakest of the crew. And thus, her frustration was buried. But when Mio turned out to be stronger than her, that frustration returned with a vengeance. Soon after, losing in even more spars turned her frustration to anger. As the fight continued, as more and more pirates continued to surround and attack her, she chanced a look towards her crewmates. Seeing them able to take care of the other pirates without too much of an issue reminded her of her anger. Her anger at her weakness compared to them. As her anger rose, her ability to hold it in diminished. Anger overtook her and she let it all out.

A scream made its way out of her throat and with a renewed vigour, she started pummelling the pirates surrounding her.

One punch, one K.O.

She didn't seem to care that she had picked up cutlasses in both arms taken from fallen pirates and started to wield them, cutting pirates and moving on to the next.

In her anger she went all out. She started to clear the area around her much faster but at the expense of piling on a lot of wounds.

…

As soon as the first boarder landed, Taiga had swung his kanabo killing him in one hit. he continued to swing his weapon all around him killing plenty but plenty more took their place. Their attacks were nothing more than irritating and annoyances to Taiga. In his annoyance he put a lot more power behind his attacks. These empowered attacks moved much faster too as the very few could dodge before were caught in their grasp too. He cleared the area around him multiple times before moving towards other groups of boarders leaving behind corpses.

Looking around he saw Mio and Cassy having no problems but was stopped from further inspection as the other 2 galleons got near and the pirates started boarding once more. He swung his kanabo once more, ready to bash some skulls in.

…

Mio claws cut through the neck of another pirate, and as he choked, she moved onto another one. She too had moved immediately once the first boarders landed near her. She was used to fast movements from her training with her father and of course the fights that the crew got into with each other on every other island they landed on. These also helped her get used to free-for-alls; and that experience was come into some serious use right now.

CLANG!

Another cutlass blocked with the claws on one hand while the other straight plunges onto the chest of another. Blood splashed over her clothes. she regretted her decision to wear a white t-shirt today. Hence, being surrounded, she decided, wasn't her cup of tea. She'll take a 1v1 death match over this any day.

…

Cassy was cleaving through the masses and at the rate she was going, she had to physically run to different groups to fight as she kept ending her opponents to fast. Her sword, clashed with cutlasses and broke them clean in half with no problem and continued to cleave through flesh like butter.

Between waves, she looked to the rest of the crew, Taiga was in a similar situation as hers while Mio seemed to be doing good. May, oh poor May. Cassy knew May was frustrated with her weakness, she knew May was getting angry, but she didn't think that the navigator would straight up give into that anger and go ape-shit crazy on those surrounding her. She started to move towards May, intending to help her but then, the other 2 galleons got close enough and let loose their own hordes of pirates on her. Within seconds she was surrounded and fighting began once more.

…

Cliff was not having fun. Sure, each swing of his cutlass ended with a pile of corpses and even more broken cutlasses. But he did not think this through. This amount of people was ridiculous and fighting them was a chore in and of itself. they just kept coming.

As the other 2 galleons anchored nearby and the pirates came once more, he chanced a look towards the sea. What he saw did not fill him with confidence. The Brigantines, while not full to man like the galleons were, still carried a hefty number of men each and there were 20 of those still advancing towards his crew.

…

Cliff looked over the ships railing towards the 20 ships now getting close enough to start boarding. Likely it would be no more than 2-3 minutes at most before another wave started.

It had been no more than 5 minutes since the last of the boarders from the galleons were killed and thrown overboard. Slowly the Roaring Tigress floated forward having not been anchored during the fight like the galleons were.

As the ships got closer, he looked down into the sea, full of floating bodies some still alive with wounds or those that simply jumped overboard clinging to broken pieces of wood floating around. He closed his eyes not wanting to see so many dead, and all of them were due to him and his crew. It was still uncomfortable to see such a staggering amount of dead and knowing that yet more coming, sailing to their deaths, because Cliff refused, he refused to let this be his end. He set sail with a goal. And he shall not die this early. When his pursuit has just began.

The attack had begun. The first boarders were cut down. More came.

They were coming for him and his and he refused to let it end here.

So many attacks came at the same time, some inevitably got through his guard. Wounds started to pile up. Sword slashes on his back and arms. Some got his legs. A few bullets got lodged in his body. Looking back, he saw Cassy and Taiga in the same situation as his, though Taiga had now gone hybrid. They could survive this but the wounds would be a problem. Then his gaze went towards Mio and May and he grit his teeth. Mio was having a lot more trouble but it was plainly visible that she would do fine, wounded but fine. It was May that scared him. Her condition; she was running on fumes, that was plain for all to see. Her anger driven power from before was gone, leaving behind exhaustion. Her sluggish movements let a lot more attacks through and her condition was getting worse. With every attack that hit, she lost more blood. Combine that with her exhaustion and it was a deadly combination.

I will not let my crew; my friends die because of a war I waged.

His movements got faster, stronger trying to get to May and help her. His movements were hampered though, by the very people he had waged a war against, although unknowingly. How was he to know Feather had a fleet ready?

Fighting continued, he threw punches, kicks; swung his cutlass ready to cleave through a wall of flesh to get to his crewmate, his friend.

As he moved towards May he saw the rest of his crew do something to help him. Cassy ran forward, cutting through the mass with ease and came to stop next to him, ready to fight back-to-back.

Taiga roared and started to pummel those surrounding him. his kanabo now moving at increasingly fast speeds. Mio too seemed to put forth even more effort into the fight pushing the opposing force back.

Cliff's and Cassy's eye's met mid attack and she nodded suddenly increasing her flurry of attacks as Cliff ran. He ran straight towards May.

As he got close, May's already sluggish movements seemed to have slowed down even further. A pirate from behind her thrusted forward. Cliff started to yell a warning for May, but he knew it was too late.

She was too exhausted to dodge, and he was too late.

She was too exhausted to dodge, and he was too late.

The blade pierced through her cleanly, straight through her stomach. Entry from the back and exit out her stomach.

As she gasped and looked down, blood leaking from her wounds she whimpered.

That sound. It was like thunder, with how amplified it was to him. For Cliff, this voice rang in his ears as strong as a thunder would.

Seeing this scene incited anger of unfathomable degree in Cliff. He wanted to stop this.

STOP IT! STOP IT! "STOP IT!"

As he shouted, a wave of something flew forth from him, affecting not only those around him but also those in ships a little farther and had yet to board. People seemed to pause, almost frozen before they fell over, unconscious.

Cliff saw none of it, he ran straight to May, picked her up and ran inside towards the stairs going down. One floor below the deck he entered a room, laid her down on the bad, and started to clean and bandage her wounds.

He worked fast trying to stop the bleeding from her wounds hating to see his navigator, his friend in that state. Unconscious yet still whimpering from pain.

…

Just as they saw May pierced through, something rippled out of Cliff. It went through her, commanding her to 'STOP IT!' Its effects were not limited to that, as it seemed to not differentiate between ally and foe. It attacked her, intending to knock her out. She resisted but still she staggered back, almost losing balance. Once she regained her balance, she saw the attacking pirates stop and faint, not only on their ship but also all of the other ships close-by. Every pirate on each one of 20 ships had been knocked unconscious by that wave.

Cassy was curious, but more than that she was exhausted. She saw curious expressions on Taiga and Mio but they too were exhausted and unanimously decided to throw all killed and knocked out pirates overboard before sitting down and getting some rest. After all they had been fighting for more than 8 hours by now.

…

Taiga was curious. That wave seemed to knock everyone down. Hell, it battered against him trying to knock him down. It battered against his mind, and were it not for his desire to stay standing, were it not for him reinforcing his desire with his will to stand by that desire, he would have been knocked out like the enemy it just finished knocking out.

Still, he was exhausted. Not to the level of others, courtesy of his zoan devil fruit, but still, he was exhausted. He just moved picking up the nearest body, he cared not whether it was alive or not, and chucked it out into the sea. The others seemed to have the same idea and all 3 continued until their deck was clear and then they flopped down unto it.

Taiga desperately wanted a drink but was too exhausted to get up and get it.

…

Mio slowly got back up, having fallen on her ass as the wave rippled through her. It pushed her back, pushing on her psyche. It was familiar to her. She experienced this multiple times when facing off against her father, practicing her fighting techniques with her claws. Though this one was multiple times stronger than what she experienced with her father.

She had asked him about it once and he just looked confused by it, so she abandoned that topic. But now? Her captain had just shown that same ability and she wanted to ask questions.

But right now, she was exhausted and would ask questions later. She too chucked bodies overboard, before collapsing onto the cleared deck.

She was asleep within seconds of collapsing.

…

Cliff came out to the deck hours later, to see an asleep Mio and May while Taiga seemed to have gotten himself a barrel of wine they had stolen from the marines back in Centaurea. It was a shock to see there was still a barrel of that stuff remaining.

He sat next to Taiga, silently filling a mug and drinking it all.

"How's she?" Taiga asked.

"I did as good as I could, but she needs a doctor." Cliff answered. "You bandaged these girls?"

"Cassy did Mio and herself before falling asleep." Taiga answered.

Cliff hummed and the pair spoke nothing for a few minutes.

"What do we do with the remaining?" Taiga then asked.

"Let them go." Cliff said.

Taiga raised an eyebrow in question, seeing which Cliff elaborated.

"They're already afraid of us. More than half of those in the second wave had been trembling, afraid, hell, they were terrified of us! Once they awaken, they will know not to attack us. Word will spread of this, and the marines will attack Black Drum, taking this opportunity that we gave them. We need to move and quick. Anchor at Black Drum, get our supplies and move towards Sorbet Kingdom.

Once the girls awaken, we'll start a sailing once more."