27 The ERA of the ROCKs Pirates

1483. 

In the heart of the New World, where the seas churn with an untamed ferocity and the skies crackle with the promise of thunderstorms, a battle of epic proportions was currently unfolding.

A fleet of Marine Ships filled the furious waters of the Grandline, the pristine white sails and gleaming warships of the Navy Marines clearly displayed the discipline and resoluteness of the Marines in their mission to uphold justice and order.

The Rocks fleet stood on the opposite side of the Navy's fleet, contrary to expectations, their ships were all in good quality despite the fact that they had been through countless battles.

On the main Battleship of the Navy, Kong, Sengoku, Garp, Zephyr, Tsuru and Hercule were all gathered. They had gathered today to put the finishing touches on the strategy they had been working on for years now.

They had tried countless times to capture or kill Rocks pirate main cadre members individually before, but they failed due to either the Rocks members quickly retreating or themselves retreating due to various reasons.

But now, finally, they managed to track down half of the Rocks pirates sailing without Rock's presence, and they immediately sprung into action.

"… we've confirmed the presence of Edward Newgate, Charlotte Linlin, Golden Lion Shiki, John, and their new Rookie cadre, Kaido."

Listening to the Marines Report, Kong didn't know whether they were fortunate or not, because despite ambushing the Rocks pirates when they were divided in half, he still wasn't 100 % sure that they could defeat them.

"Leave Shiki to me, I can handle him." Hercule offered.

The current Hercule still looked to be in his 20s despite being in his early 30s, with his long black hair tied to the back of his neck into a ponytail, and sword tucked to his waist.

Hearing Hercules' words, Kong nodded his head in approval, he knew that in terms of wide-scale damage, the two members who could do the most damage were Shiki and Newgate.

"Well since Hercule wants to play it that way, let me fight Edward, my fists are itching to pummel on something." Garp proposed as he clenched his fist with a big smile on his face despite the seriousness of their situation.

"Be serious for one second, Garp! I should be the one to fight Newgate." Sengoku admonished.

"What!? Obviously, you just want to fight Edward."

"You.."

"Alright, Garp! You will fight Edward Newgate, Sengoku will fight Charlotte Linlin, Zephyr will fight that little monster Kaido, and Tsuru you will stay behind to help manage the situation back here, I'll try to capture John alive before the other half of those Rocks scums arrive."

"Understood!"

At the command of Kong, everyone rushed towards their target, they had to do this quickly so they didn't waste any time, as they moon stepped towards the Rocks Fleet.

"Fire the Cannons!" Tsuru commanded the fleet as Kong and the others took to the sky.

Without hesitation, the Marines started firing their cannons. Bomb!' 'Bomb!' 'Bomb!' 'Bomb!'

The Rocks fleet would just sit back and watch as their fleet was bombarded, so, of course, they answered the marines' cannons with their own, starting a wave of bombing which did little to no damage to the ships.

…

"Wahahaha I'm guessing they didn't send you to face me this time either, Hercule."

Seeing Hercule approaching his ship, Shiki floated up to meet Hercule in the air.

"You're a great swordsman and one of the best in the seas, it should be obvious that you will be my opponent." Hercule retorted calmly.

"Whaha, how about it Hercule, join me, be my vice-captain, the navy isn't for you."

Shiki laughed as he extended an invitation to Hercule trying to poach him from the Marines, not caring about the fact that Hercule was one of the most respected marines.

'Sigh… and there it is.'

"You know my answer to that Shiki, let's just get this over with."

"Whaha, that's too bad, well take… This 'Two Sword Style; Flying Slash'."

As he finished his words, Shiki sent out two horizontal Haki-infused flying slashes toward Hercule who was still moon stepping to stay afloat in the air.

'One Sword Style; Sky Slash'

But Hercule responded with his own attack, as he swung his Haki sword parallelly sending out a huge silver slash to meet Shiki's attack.

'Boom!'

The two attacks exploded upon contact, canceling each other out, it was clear that in terms of level of swordsmanship, although not much, Hercule was a little superior, but it would probably take a while for them to decide a winner.

Whahaha, Don't forget that I'm not a pure Swordsman Hercule!"

Shiki shouted as he waved his hands towards Hercule, resulting in a ship from his fleet being lifted from the sea waters and hurled towards Hercule, who reacted by slashing at the approaching ship, 'Crrr!' dividing it into two halves as it fell back into the rowdy sea waters 'Bamm!'.

Looking at his surroundings and the loud sounds of fists colliding sounding like explosions from time to time, Hercule deduced that everyone should have started fighting their various opponents.

'This probably isn't gonna go anywhere, and I don't wanna expose 'that' Haki as of yet, that'll cause more problems with the WG which will be detrimental to my plans.'

…

The infamous Rocks Pirates, a crew feared and revered for their unbridled strength and insatiable lust for power. Anyone who can join their ranks is definitely a powerhouse that no one would want to mess with.

A few years ago one of their new recruits shocked the Seas with his formidable strength and raw power. His name is Kaido, despite his young age, he was second in strength on the Rocks crew only to the main cadres.

As Zephyr stared at Kaido's burly figure yet still existent young features, he felt a pang in his heart.

'Why is it that they all chose to become pirates?'

"You are Black Fist Zephyr, right? I've heard a lot about you, they said that you have one of the strongest Armament Haki in the Marines."

Looking at the buffed figure of Zephyr in his Vice Admiral cloak, Kaido cracked a smile as he questioned challengingly.

"Why?" Zephyr shouted.

"Why what?" Kaido asked back in confusion.

"Why do you guys choose this path, this path of destruction and chaos, isn't there already enough suffering in these seas."

"Oh that, Worororo! Defeat me to find out!" Kaido laughed as he taunted.

"I was planning on doing that anyway."

Finishing his words, Zephyr clenched his fist as they slowly turned dark with Haki. Seeing this Kaido didn't give Zephyr the chance and swung his Kanabo weapon, Hassaikai, which was infused with Haki towards Zephyr.

But when Zephyr's fist and Kaido's weapon collided, 'Clang!' it sounded like two metals hitting as they were both repealed.

'Shave'

As soon as Zephyr regained his balance, he used the marine six style 'Shave' and with a 'Swoosh!' He turned into a blur appearing before Kaido who was slower to recover and could only cross his arms in front of his body to block Zephyr's attack 'Bam!'.

Sliding backwards, Kaido got a little flustered from Zephyr's attack, but quickly recovered and reacted quickly by swinging his giant weapon as Zephyr used Shave once again to follow him.

But this time, Zephyr's attack was met with Kaido's attack as he had 'Shave' into Kaido's swinging Kanabo, 'Bang!' Zephyr was flung backward, the same with Kaido, but this time they both recovered at the same time.

The two looked at each other as they composed themselves, Kaido with a big grin, and Zephyr, expressionless, then, 'Swoosh!', 'Bang!'. They both turned into a blur as they dashed towards each other.

Swoosh! Bang! Clang! Swoosh! Clang! Bang! Bang!

Sounds of their collision rang out in the surrounding environment as they both turned into blurs and collided with each other.

'Even if I have the upper hand, it'll take a while to benefit from such an advantage, and what's up with this kid's body, it reminds me of that sword freak.'

As he exchanged blows with Kaido, such a thought ran across Zephyr's mind, as he felt like he was fighting Hercule.

…

patreon.com/Yardigan