Chapter 134: Pandemonium (1)

It was as if they were in a separate world, clashing in the sky with forces unlike any other.

The rain filled the sky as the pressure inflicted by two powerhouses reached the dense cloud. The booming noises continued to resound throughout the zone and black lightning crackled in a fashion that made it seem as if the sky itself was quaking from the impact.

"Ha..."

Hyogoro, as he watched such a scene from one ship below, couldn't help but mumble in disbelief.

"A young man like him... going on par with Kaidou?"

He found a grin creeping up on his face as he lowered his gaze to the front, to where the numerous ships of Beast Pirates stood.

"Boys!!"

Therefore, Hyogoro laughed.

"The time has finally come!! Be it us or them, tonight, through death, we'll finally be freed from the tortures we've been enduring!!"

He unsheathed his katana and pointed it at the Beast Pirates.

"Charge!!"

Yakuzas had their eyes filled with determination as they fearlessly glared at the overwhelming number of ships ahead.

On another allied ship by the side, Doll was giving orders to her soldiers.

"Your task is to ensure that these three ships under our possession don't sink! Identify the incoming explosives and deal with them accordingly!"

"Our number far pales in comparison to them, but remember who you are! You stand here today to showcase that justice prevails! Instead of fear, have pride in your heart!"

Turning around, Doll's eyes sharpened.

"And here we go."

Just as she said, they witnessed the sparks of cannons that briefly illuminated the darkness. The sky was then filled with numerous cannon balls, heading right at them.

"Seems like it's my time to shine-dara!"

Grinning, one huge figure jumped to the sky: Bastille. He, revealing his huge zanbato, held it tight with two hands as he coated its blade with Armament Haki: Emission.

Then, he swung the blade horizontally. Shockingly, an arc of Armament Haki spread out upon the swing and struck numerous cannons one by one—

BOOOM!

The cannons simultaneously exploded up in the sky, and due to the intensity of the light, many momentarily closed their eyes.

And as the light momentarily brought the blindness to the area, Aramaki, Hina, Bastille, X Drake, Senor Pink, Rosinante, and Maynard, as if they've been waiting for this, used this opportunity to dash at the enemy ships through the use of Geppo.

"Silent."

Shrouded by Rosinante's fruit ability to mute all sounds that one produces, each one of them landed in the middle of Beast Pirates whose eyes were closed.

By the time the Beast Pirates realized, a disastrous situation was already ongoing.

The vines suddenly rose out of nowhere and wrapped around the entire ship. Catching every single pirate present on the ship, those plants then proceeded to suck moisture out of them.

On another ship, the series of black metal bars expanded from the middle. Crushing all that it bulldozed through, the network of metal bars shredded said ship into pieces and caused all pirates within to fall into the water.

And that wasn't the end.

"W-What is—"

Bastille, right above the third ship of Beast Pirates, swung his zanbato down, cleaving the ship into two.

Beast Pirates on adjacent ships yelped in horror, with their attention focused on Aramaki, Hina, and Bastille who effortlessly destroyed huge ships as if it was as easy as a simple stroll around a town,

such that they didn't notice the other four members sitting under their nose.

The blood splattered as Rosinante's hand impaled a pirate's neck. Retracting it back with cold eyes, Rosinante moved at a blinding speed, violently ripping pirates apart with his Haki-coated hands, which were now drenched in blood.

"Grahhh!!"

Forcing his rage out, one of the remaining pirates swung his weapon at Rosinante, albeit with his body trembling.

Rosinante didn't bother dodging the incoming blade. Turning his body around and stepping closer to said pirate, the blade came in contact with Rosinante's shoulder and shattered into pieces without dealing any harm.

As the pirate revealed his stupefaction, Rosinante's hand drilled its way into his chest, instantly ending his life.

'Let's see...'

Rosinante looked around and saw X Drake circularly swinging his axe. Looking the other way, he saw Senor Pink and Maynard finishing their endeavours in other ships of Beast Pirates. Seeing how their sneak attack had become successful, Rosinante snapped his fingers.

"HA—!"

Correspondingly, all sounds were returned to members, as X Drake released a war cry.

BOOOM!

"Rahahaha!"

Aramaki laughed as he lifted one entire ship with hundreds of vines and slammed on another. The pieces of ships and pirates flew in every direction, which caused Robin, who remained at one of the three ships under the allies' possession, to sweatdrop.

"...Who's the villain here?"

Just as she muttered to herself, seven ships of Beast Pirates were found approaching them from left and right, having circumvented the ongoing ruckus by Aramaki and others ahead.

"It's only three ships!!"

One among the Beast Pirates shouted, which Robin assumed to be a 'Shinuchi'.

"Attack!!"

"As if we'd let you!!"

Hyogoro roared as he, with his other yakuza members, jumped onto the closest ship of Beast Pirates. They clashed blade-to-blade and said ship swayed due to the sudden increase in the number of people on top of it.

BANG!

And right onto the forehead of the man whom Robin assumed to be a Shinuchi, Doll's bullet struck. The man's life has met its end before he registered it, and Doll, without any moment of celebration, firmly ordered,

"11 O'Clock, two ships are approaching! Ready yourselves and fire upon my order!"

The pirates were now near to an extent where the marines could see their psychotic grins.

"Fire!"

Upon Doll's order, the marines began the firing spree. Many pirates fell from the strike, but ones standing behind continued their advancement without any fear. After all, death and combat were their lives.

Crazed in blood lust, they jumped off of their ship, about to land on the ship that marines and Doll occupied.

"Treinta Fleur."

However, they didn't expect multiple hands to grow out of their backs at the next moment.

"Shigan."

The airborne pirates lost their momentum and fell into the ocean with vivid holes in their necks.

Blinking her eyes, Doll turned to Robin and saw that the latter had her arms raised and crossed to form an X-like shape.

"..."

Not bothered by Doll's gaze, Robin assessed the situation. Multiple ships of Beast Pirates were now damaged or in the process of sinking. None of their allies seemed in a fatal state so far.

'Great—'

Robin's thought paused as she saw a pteranodon, which had its entire body set aflame, flying high above the sky.

"That's!!"

Said pteranodon then dropped right on top of Aramaki and the plants he produced. There was a huge explosion that knocked the nearby ones off their feet, and watching this scene from afar, Robin grimaced.

'Here they come...!'

<<Muhahaha!! >>

Through a megaphone, Queen's high-pitched voice boomed loudly.

<<Don't get yourselves cocky just because you got some of our low-ranked lackeys!!>>

"...That was enough information collected from our side. Forest Forest fruit, Cage Cage fruit, Calm Calm fruit, and Flower Flower fruit. Others aren't fruit users, and though their strengths are stronger, not only are our executives able to match them, but we are far superior in number!"

Whispering to himself, Queen chuckled shrewdly.

<<The moment you entered this sea... your loss was already set!>>

Just as Queen spoke, five executive members of Beast Pirates, the Tobiroppos, jumped up and revealed themselves.

Tap.

"You got no idea for how long I've been waiting for this. Though I was first annoyed by how I was woken up two hours ago, I was quickly delighted by the fact that..."

Whist, the man who talked non-stop, landed in front of X Drake who raised his caution with an awareness that the man in front of him was much tougher to deal with.

"Peking Duck!!"

Gong Zhu's dropped right onto Senor Pink with his right foot extended, which Senor Pink countered with his own punch.

"Oi oi, is this for real..."

Senor Pink snorted as his eyes focused on Gong Zhu through his sunglasses.

"I'm not a fan of beating up an old man who's a step away from entering a coffin."

"...Hmph!"

Simply snorting back, Gong Zhu backflipped and landed across Senor Pink. Then, getting into a kung fu stance, Gong Zhu launched himself at Senor Pink.

CLANG!

Maynard hurriedly raised his blade to parry an incoming slash. The man who suddenly appeared, Canasta, expressed admiration at that,

"...A good reaction speed you have there."

"Tch...!"

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

They exchanged fast series of sword fighting. Their clashes generated sparks and cuts all around the ship that the two of them stood on top of.

Others watched in awe as their swords accelerated more and more.

CLANG!

"Now now, why don't you calm down for a moment?"

Doll frowned as Euchre, suddenly sitting on a chair behind her, voiced himself.

Euchre then tilted his head as he shifted his eyes to where Robin stood. Robin clicked her tongue, seeing that her fruit ability didn't manage to reach the man.

"Truthfully speaking, I don't enjoy the fights."

Casually yet dramatically, Euchre sighed.

"However, it seems that fighting is inevitable; this is war, after all."

Then, suddenly, his demeanour shifted completely, as if he was possessed by a demon,

"SO LET'S FIGHT!!!"

Doll was caught off-guard as the man suddenly transformed into a gigantic alligator with ferocious fangs, ready to bite Doll. Doll quickly backpedaled and the gigantic alligator's fangs missed her, biting the empty air.

And finally, the last of Tobiroppos, Pinochle, landed on the ship painted with blood.

"..."

Rosinante, with his hands completely red from enemies' blood, viewed Pinochle in caution.

Similarly, Pinochle, whose height far surpassed Rosinante's, looked down on Rosinante with hands in his pockets, unfazed by the sheer number of corpses that were laid on the ship.

In silence, they stared at each other, before their forms blurred at the same time.

BOOM!

The hand-to-hand combat then initiated, with the goons of Beast Pirates who witnessed the fight being unable to follow with their eyes.

"Hm...!"

Hyogoro, who was slaying Beast Pirates around him with his Haki-coated sword, then widened his eyes as he was hit by a punch of sufficient force. Knocked to the side, he quickly rose back up and looked at the one who assaulted him.

There was a man whose nose was long and sharp in a bizarre manner. As he grinned, Hyogoro couldn't help but whisper in realization,

"...Tontatta tribe?"

BOOM!

Yakuzas began to face resistance as the pirates with strengths that were greater than others by many folds appeared one by one. They, whose facial characteristics resembled the Tontatta tribe, a group of small-sized dwarves, possessed an innate strength and resistant skin that metals couldn't penetrate through.

In addition, there were a swarming number of Beast Pirates to take care of.

Hyogoro, while shedding a cold sweat, forced a smile.

"This won't be an easy one, I see."

As yakuzas were occupied with such, Hina and Bastille stood side to side, inspecting the countless number of enemies that were at the back, not yet engaging themselves in a fight.

"...The number is quite troubling."

Hina mumbled, and Bastille grinned.

"Daradara, and that's what makes it more fun!"

In their sight entered Queen, who dropped the megaphone in his hand, and an even more big and obese fellow, Jack, who was aside from the man, eating.

"...Let's go."

Upon Hina's call, the two of them dashed at the awaiting All-Stars. Having expected this, Queen grinned as he revealed his metallic arm.

"Fooooooooooooood."

"Jack!"

Queen pointed at Bastille who was approaching Jack,

"Kill that guy, and you'll get all the food you want!"

"Reeeeaaaaallllllyyyyy."

"Muhahaha! Yes!"

Jack's eyes suddenly turned red as he suddenly blasted himself off the ship, causing the deck he stood on top of to break into pieces.

Seeing that Jack was now above him, Bastille changed his direction and flew upward through the use of Geppo.

"This is what you wanted, right?!"

Queen, now clashing his Haki-coated left arm against Hina, laughed.

"Muhahaha, you better thank me for my courtesy... through your death, that is!!"

"Hina doesn't lose to a fat man."

"Fat? Hah...! These are muscles that simply went through the aging process! Do you know how attractive I used to be?!"

Retracting her arm, Hina retreated a few steps and stood around the pirates who now surrounded her along with the Queen.

Opening her right palm, Hina generated a pair of metal tonfa which she held in her hands.

__________

Up high in the sky, Smoker's smoke-shrouded fist met Kaidou's kanabo once more.

Surrounded by the bright light of the moon and lingering clouds, they were so high up that it was impossible to view the situation that was progressing below.

However, the war below no longer mattered to them, for they instinctively knew that the victor of this fight between the two of them... would dictate the victors of the war.

"White Hunter!!!"

"..."

Kaidou smashed his dangerously crackling kanabo forth, which Smoker met with an equally dangerous fist.

The black lightning sparked before the sonic boom occurred, causing the two of them to be blasted in the opposite direction from the recoil.

It was truly the battle among the world's finest warriors.