13 The Victory

AN: Again, in this chapter, few lines from the wiki are copy-pasted because of reasons mentioned in the previous chapter

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"Double palm strike"

"Skull crusher: Ragnarok barrage"

Conney bought both of his hands forward to strike.

Thor jumped on Conney's hands and further launched himself towards the head and landed the first strike using the pointed end of the hammer in the center.

This pushed back Conney and his neck and spine arched back, with already a broken skull.

But Thor did not stop there.

Repositioning himself in mid-air using an incomplete geppo, he bought his hammer down and again with the pointy end struck the forehead. This time the forehead was pierced.

While completing the last strike, Thor was already in an upside-down posture. Again, using another incomplete geppo, he speed his way down to the ground, and once landed, he bought his hammer up striking the back of Conney's head with the flat end, which was yet to land on the ground.

This resulted in Conney once again being launched upward a bit.

Thor launched two strikes quickly, one from the left and another from the right.

With this, Conney's skull was broken from all sides except the face part.

Thor still not satisfied, smashed his hammer into Conney's head where he first landed the blow.

With this brutal barrage, Conney's head was smashed to a pulp. Thor crushed the entire skull, leaving only his facial bone structure intact, probably for the bounty.

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"One sword style, quick draw: Victory slash!!!"

"Artur smash!!!"

I used Soru to launch myself at Artur. This time, I could hear the breath of his mace very clearly.

Artur too bought down his mace at me, with both his hands.

I performed a horizontal slash.

This time, unlike other times, my sword cut through the steel mace, like butter.

The mace was divided into 2 parts and so was Artur's body.

Thanks to his logia-like powers he was safe and reassembling himself. Even if he was shocked to see this development, he knew he was safe.

But I could sense fear in him. Seeing this I grinned and said

"Sachi, pass me a bottle."

Sachi had long got the bottles and was waiting for further instructions. He was happy now to actually do something other than waiting.

He quickly threw me a bottle. I caught it and threw it on Artur.

Artur did not know what this bottle contained, but I could sense his fear rising a lot.

Not giving him any time to think, I pulled out my flintlock pistol and shot the bottle.

Before the liquid inside the bottle fell on Artur, the bullet had already injured him. My other theory was confirmed.

The bottle contained a basic solution. Artur's logia-like body is an acidic solution and he could control its acidity. Acid and base both neutralize each other.

The bullet obviously got some basic solution on it while breaking the bottle.

He was shocked and started muttering

"That's impossible... How did he know... How did he prepare... Even father should not know..."

This time, Artur's fear was at its peak.

He still controlled himself and started to produce acid to neutralize the solution. But will I give him the opportunity?

Hell no.

I aimed my pistol again and used another named attack.

"Supreme torture"

This attack had 3 shots, 2 aimed at the balls and 1 at the penis.

He had raped many women in his life, and I believed this was the best punishment for him. Killing him would be a mercy.

Artur, after this attack, was unable to do anything and soon he fainted due to pain. I also wanted to capture him alive since the bounty is decreased by 30% if a person dies.

Soon, Wolf woke up and he was shocked to see Artur down. But he did not ask us any questions, because, he was blinded by his own rage. He wanted to kill his own son. After all, Wolf partially blamed himself for Artur's crime.

His son Artur Bacca had always been a troublemaker and when he set out as a pirate 25 years ago, Wolf accompanied him as his crewmate to keep a check on him. Wolf had hoped that the harsh world of pirates would scare Bacca but Bacca became even more evil.

After failing to reach the Grand Line 20 years ago, Bacca returned to Pleasure Town and destroyed it. Wolf cut off ties with Bacca at this point.

Wolf has been living away from the town as he feels guilty about the incident.

Seeing that Wolf was about to kill his son, we stopped him.

Wolf: "Leave me, I will end my mistake"

Jai: "Stop it Wolf-san, you are not responsible for this. He made his own choices and he is suffering for it now"

Law: "He is right. You do not have to burden yourself further. You have repented enough for a crime which you did not commit."

Wolf: "You don't know him. If he is left alive, he will kill many more people"

Thor: "Not if he is imprisoned for life"

It was necessary to stop Wolf. If he killed his own son in a rage, he might have depression later.

After a few rounds, Wolf calmed down and he cried. A few minutes later he examined Artur's body and found the state he was in, but got surprised by the bullet wounds.

"How did you manage to wound him? His devil fruit is unique"

"His liquid-like body was acidic in nature. So, I used the basic solution that we planned to use in our next experiment, to see if it works. And it worked"

Wolf was shocked after hearing this. He never thought that something like this could work.

In the story, Law used Wolf's sea stone blade to fight Artur. Artur destroyed the blade, forcing Law to use a countershock.

I tied him to a chair and pulled that chair to the sea, placing it in such a way that Artur does not drown to death nor escape the sea's curse.

Law treated Thor and Wolf. We were on the beach discussing how to handle this.

Law: "Wolf-san can you hand him over to the marines?"

Wolf: "No, I was a pirate in the past when I accompanied my son. I will be captured as well, if they recognise me"

Drake: "Shall we ask Rudd? He is a sheriff and he can say that he defeated them"

Thor: "And who is going to believe that Rudd did this alone?"

I thought of something and said

"Rudd and others know about your past, so you can tell him that you sniped them, and later defeated them in a 2vs1"

"As for the handing Artur to marines, ask Rudd to tell this story to the marines"

"Rudd and others fought Artur in the past when he raided this island. Since their loss, they started to form ideas on how to counter the devil fruit and came up with my strategy"

"This time, when every person got knocked out, a few people escaped the control thanks to the research in devil fruit"

"Rudd defeated Artur, and other townspeople defeated Conney"

Wolf: "That is a good idea. But that will only trick the marines. How will Rudd believe that I defeated one person with guns and the other with a hammer? Moreover, people know my skills with guns not hammers"

Jai: "Just say that Artur was over-dependent on his devil fruit, and when his ability was neutralized, he was taken care of with ease. As for Conney, say that you found a hammer lying around and defeated him with it since he could counter guns"

Sachi: "This should actually work."

Penguin: "And Rudd should be able to gain enough people for this act to succeed in front of marines"

Drake: "As long as no one cross verifies it properly, it will be fine"

Law: "Marines do not have so much time to check all of it. They will simply pay you the bounty. If you are a regular bounty hunter, you will be investigated"

Jai: "The townspeople will wake up anytime soon. Let's do this guys"

Bepo: "But we forgot, Tsuru-san told us not to do any bounty hunting, and grandma Catherine beat Jai up just for wanting to hunt pirates for their bounties"

It was as if cold water fell on us. Especially on me and Thor. Both of us are always on their radar. And they won't buy shit like Wolf or the townspeople hunted the pirates. They have enough experience to know that we were definitely involved.

It would be one thing if we all ganged upon them, but my and Thor's haki increased during this event, not anyone else's and they will sense it for sure. Dorothea is smart enough to make the perfect deduction from this data.

We got involved with pirates, this time a direct fight, unlike the last time. And we were also training using strong pirates.

I and Thor looked at each other and let out a nervous laugh.

Jai: "Well, no use worrying about this. And Law, make sure Artur can't say a single word"

"We can't let the marines find out something by interrogating him"

Law just nodded and walked up to Artur. He used his room and pulled out his Voicebox. He cut the Voicebox and took out the two vocal cords. And placed it back

"Law, also don't forget that he should not be able to write with his hands or legs"

Law, this time did some operations with his devil fruit and cut off the nerves of his limbs from the brain and spine.

Now even if Artur was to gain control of his powers, he would have to liquefy himself and move around like a slime. And a slime that cannot consume others to grow strong, is a useless slime.

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Wolf explained everything to Rudd as per my story. Rudd agreed to do this and we were happy. Rudd gathered a few more civilians who had good built and proceeded to the marine base.

The journey was made in Artur's own ship after taking down the flag and figurehead.

Artur was kept in a tub filled with seawater.

2 days later Rudd returned with 44 million. 30 for Artur and 14 for Conney (originally 20 million)

Wolf paid 4 million to Rudd as a tip.

Wolf did not want to keep this money and give it to us, but we suggested him to spend this money on the submarine.

In the original story, Wolf made Law's submarine after finding the legendary treasure that Artur came to find. But with my interference, I added a 100 million earlier and changed that dream to make a submarine with the ability to move on land, like Capone's ship.

This time, I added 40 million more and around 10 million worth of treasure that Artur had accumulated.

If it goes according to the story, Wolf will gift the submarine to us.

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2 weeks later, we saw the newspaper article

"Kaido of the beasts captured by the marines again. The marines bought their top forces for this battle. The marine's side included `The Hero Garp`, `Great advisor Tsuru`, `Akainu` and `Kizaru`"

We were shocked to see this, and it did not take long for all of us to join the dots. There was no mention of our grandmas but we all knew that both of them were involved. After all, we all heard Tsuru say that it was an important job.

Even though we knew that Tsuru is a marine, grandmas introduced her to us as their old friend, not as a colleague.

Drake: "Wait, grandmas are marines?"

Law: "Probably secret agents"

Jai: "No they are not. They are here for a long time, and did not even sneak anywhere else."

"The only places where they worked were nowhere suspicious"

Law: "Are they probably training us to be marines or agents?"

Jai: "No, that is not possible either. Or else they would have fed us the government propaganda. Hell, they even taught us to question such stuff and not believe blindly."

Hodur: "Moreover, they only trained us who are interested in getting stronger. They never trained the other children, and they grew up to be normal citizens, not some secret agents"

Drake: "If the government trains orphans, they would ideally do it on a much more isolated island in secret"

Jai: "If I am not wrong they retired early. So Tsuru-san came to call them, because Kaido is an emperor, and the marines probably needed strong and experienced soldiers. But don't ask them anything. If they tell us, it's good, if not, just let this remain their little secret"

Everyone nodded at that.

2 weeks after that, grandmas returned with Tsuru in a regular caravel.

After seeing us, they raised their eyebrows

Dorothea: "How did both of your haki increase by this amount?"

Me and Thor: *nervous chuckles*

They soon came to know what had happened and the original incident. They even got to the bottom of this without many clues. As expected of Tsuru who is the brain of the marines.

This time all of us were hunted by Catherine. I and Thor got extra dosage, but the others were not spared too. Not because of fighting pirates, but because we fought in a 1v1 and the others allowed it.

< Tsuru POV >

These brats are really something. Training to improve in such a situation? Garp would love them.

This time we 3 gathered in private. The sisters were angry but I could notice the pride in their eyes

"What are you feeling proud of? Did Garp influence you so much this time?"

"Can't help Tsuru-san, I am proud that they did not even let a single civilian die"

"I guess that is what it feels to be a parent. Both of you did a wonderful job, raising up all of the children like that"

"I also liked the way he incapacitated that rapist." said Catherine.

"You definitely raised him to be a small version of yourself" I said.

"When did you teach him about devil fruits' elemental weaknesses?"

"We did not teach it to him. He had figured it out on his own. He may be goofy and reckless but he has a sharp mind. He even had Bepo on standby in case his plan did not work and he had to rely on electro"

That was even more surprising. Figuring out not just one but 2 weaknesses

'A mind sharper than Sengoku, ambition greater than Roger, and potential that is probably greater than even Xebec himself. What a brat'

Keeping my thoughts aside, I said

"Luckily for everyone, the marines here did not cross verify the entire story, or else the kids would be exposed"

We chatted for some time and I decided to leave

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While leaving, Jai approached me and signed me to give him my ear. I too bent down to listen.

"Congratulations on your victory against Kaido, and thank you for bringing back grandmas safely"

I was stunned. How did this brat know?

"How?"

He showed me a piece of newspaper with my photo.

"You are not going to ask your grandmas about it?"

"No. If they do not want to tell us, we will not push. Every person has their own secret"

Wow, such maturity from such a small child.

I could only hope that I never have to face him at any point in time, for that will even break my heart. He is someone I have seen right from his childhood and even if I met him only a few times, I have grown attached to him.

Keeping those thoughts aside, I departed bidding them farewell.

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AN: This marks the end of the first arc

Voting waifu time (no harem). Voting will be open for 24 hours (might extend, but not reduce)

1. Boa

2. Robin

3. Nami

4. Vivi

5. others (please mention the name. Only females would be counted)