Chapter 23: First Battle Against The Marines

(3rd Person: POV)

After Roberts made his declaration the Thanatos pirates prepared the Black Pearl for battle.

Weisz quickly returning with Bepo and Law from below deck.

A few minutes passed before their preparations were complete.

Once they were Reiju steered the ship in the direction of the marine vessel.

Roberts standing at the front of the deck, his blade drawn and raised in the air as they headed in that direction.

Meanwhile on the marine vessel a man was looking at the approaching Black Pearl through a pair of binoculars.

The markings on his marine coat signifying his rank as that of a captain.

The marine captains name is Parker.

A newly promoted individual who just returned from some training at Navy Headquarters.

Seeing the Black Pearl approaching his vessel Parker put a smile on his face. "Men, it looks like those pirates are coming towards us. How arrogant of them, but good for us. Means we won't have to chase them down. Now let's show these criminals the strength of the marines and bring them all to justice!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The marine on deck all shouted in unison at Parker's words.

Hearing this Parker smiled at his men briefly.

He then turned his full attention back to the approaching Black Pearl.

Within a few moments both ships were in range of each other.

The moment they were Roberts gave Law a look.

Nodding Law deployed his [Room] to encompass both ships.

The second after he did so the marine vessel fired several cannonball's in the direction of the Black Pearl.

But none of them made a direct hit.

Several landed in the water surrounding the ship, throwing up water into the air. While the others that were going to hit the ship stopped in mid-air and reversed course towards the direction of the marine vessel who just fired them.

Courtest of Law.

Who used [Tact] to re-direct the cannonball's that were going to make direct hits on the Black Pearl.

Seeing the cannonball's they just fired flying back towards their own ship Parker and his men were left speechless. They had no idea how this was possible.

As they tried to process this the cannonball's slammed into their ship, creating minor explosions and damaging their vessel.

"Fuck!" Parker yelled in anger.

He wanted to order more cannonball's to be fired at the enemy vessel, but held back. Since he didn't know how the Thanatos Pirates had sent their cannonball's back the first time he didn't want to risk the same thing happening again.

Which left the marine captain with only one option.

"Men, we're going to board the enemy vessel. Prepare for combat!" Parker cried. Drawing the cutlass from the sheathe he had secured to his right waist.

"Sir, yes sir!" The marines on deck shouted.

They then started moving rapidly, preparing themselves to board the Black Pearl and face the Thanatos Pirates head on.

What the marines didn't know was how big a mistake they were making.

But once they did it would be too late to do anything about it.

Seeing the movement on the marine ship and realizing they were trying to pull up alongside the Black Pearl Roberts instantly realized what they were doing.

"Guys, they're getting ready to board us. So let's make sure we give them a warm welcome." Roberts spoke. The grin in his face getting bigger after he did.

His crew nodded their heads in acknowledgment of his words.

They then quickly prepared themselves to face the incoming enemies.

In no time at all the two ships were side-by-side with each other.

Once they were the marines threw grappling hooks which hooked onto the side of the Black Pearl. Making sure she and her crew couldn't escape.

Not that the Thanatos Pirates wanted to escape mind you.

Raising his cutlass Parker pointed at the Black Pearl.

"Charge!" He ordered his men. He himself leading said charge. His men following right behind him.

Parker and his marines jumped onto the deck of the Black Pearl.

But the moment they did so Reiju unleashed a spray of poison from her mouth and attacked the incoming marines without any remorse.

Seeing the incoming attack Parker managed to dodge it using Geppo.

Unfortunately the rest of his men were not so lucky.

Reiju poison attack hit them dead on. Killing several of them immediately, while crippling many others.

"Fuck, it burns!"

"Agh, help me!"

"C-captain."

Looking at his dead and dying men Parker felt an immense amount of anger overtake him. Turning his gaze to Roberts and his crew he landed back on deck and moved to attack the captain of the Thanatos pirates with his cutlass.

"You bastards! How dare you do that to my men!" Parker shouted.

But Roberts ignored his cries of anger.

He simply raised his blade and parried his attack.

Once this happened Roberts began to try out something he had been wanting to for a long time.

Draining the vitality of an opponent whilst in the middle of combat.

Because usually Roberts either has to drain the vitality of his opponent or attack them. He hasn't been able to do both at the same time.

Roberts know that will not cut it in the future, given all the immense threats he and his crew will face. That is why he training himself to do both right now.

As Roberts focused on fighting captain Parker with his blade he also worked to drain his vitality. Which was a challenge, but one Roberts gladly accepts.

While the captains of the two ships battled, everyone else was also battling.

No, rather the marines are getting destroyed by the Thanatos pirates.

Having transformed into her hybrid form Alfia rained down sonic screams onto the marine vessel from the skies. Making sure to use her sonic screams to destroy their cannons so they couldn't fire them at the Black Pearl for the rest of the battle.

Gliding across the deck of the marine ship in her raid suit Reiju delivered punches and kicks to the marines. Killing most of them in a single blow.

She also excreted poison from her body as she did so.

Using it to cripple as many marines as possible so they would not continue to be a threat to her crew.

A gun in hand Weisz fired at several marines, hitting some and missing some.

"Fuck you!" A marine shouted at Weisz.

Raising his rifle in his direction he pulled the trigger.

But before the bullet could strike Weisz Law used [Shambles] and switched the places of the gun in the marines hands who fired it and the bullet itself.

As such the marine literally shot himself.

Weisz gave Law a curt nod of thanks for this before reloading and firing at the marines once more.

Though honestly the blonde shipwright wished he could do more.

Seeing how all his crewmates/friends were handling the marines with ease Weisz felt the urge to grow stronger so he could better assist them.

'Stronger. I need to get stronger.' Weisz thought.

A fire having been lit in him.

Dodging a slash from Parker Roberts felt he was getting the hang of absorbing an opponents vitality while in the midst of combating them. He worked to memorize the feeling as he continued his fight with Parker.

Which was proving much tougher than Roberts thought.

Since Parker kept using Soru and Geppo as the fight went on. Either to avoid Roberts attack or try to launch a surprise attack on him.

But thanks to Roberts observation haki he was able to easily avoid those surprise attacks.

Seeing he was barely making any progress Parker decided to switch strategies.

Sheathing his blade he raised both his hands in the direction of Roberts, and then the second after he did so white webbing in the shape of a net fired out of the palms of both his hands in the direction of Roberts.

For captain Parker is a devil fruit user.

He ate the paramecia-type Ami Ami No Mi (Web Web Fruit).

It was the reward he got from marine headquarters along with his promotion to captain.

'I didn't want to have to use my abilities on such a fledging pirate crew but they've forced my hand. But now that I have this battle will be over soon.' Parker arrogantly thought.

He right was right.

The battle would soon be over, but not in the way Parker thinks.

Thanks to his observation haki Roberts was easily able to dodge the web nets shot at him by Parker.

Seeing this Parker fired more web nets at Roberts, who dodged them all. A smirk on his face as he did so.

This made Parker even angrier.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" He shouted.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Roberts mused. "Unfortunately I'm not in the habits of sharing my secrets with the enemy like a monologuing comic villain so you never will."

"Insolent criminal swine!" Parker roared.

"Yeah, yeah, I've been called worse." Roberts casually replied.

Realizing it is about time he finished this.

Activating [Overdrive] he closed the distance to Parker in the blink of an eye.

He then swung his sword, chopping off both of Parkers' outstretched hands.

Because Roberts was getting really annoyed the marine captain was trying to covering him with the sticky white stuff coming out of his body.

He might be a pervert, but he isn't that kind of pervert.

"Agh, my hands!" Parker shouted in agony. Falling to his knees as he severed hands hit the deck of the Black Pearl.

Ignoring the marine captain's wales of pain Roberts swung his blade and cut the man's throat open. He then stabbed him through the heart for good measure.

Seeing the light have gone out in Parkers eyes Roberts removed his blade from his chest.

He then gave it a shake to throw the blood coating it onto the deck of the ship.

Afterwards Roberts sheathed his blade.

Since thanks to his observation haki he could sense that all other marines were dead and that all his crew/friends were alive.

Making the first battle of the Thanatos pirates against the marines a resounding and utter success.