184. Marine Attack

On the 2nd day of their stay on Long Ring Long Land island, the Clowns have another company.

"CAPTAIN, 3 MARINE SHIPS ARE COMING TO US," says their scout.

"What?! Damn, those persistent bastards," curses Buggy.

"Sakazuki must've informed the Marine HQ and they sent 3 ships to us. Who lead the ships?" asks Cricket.

"It's Vice Admiral John Giant together with Rear Admiral Lacroix and Ronse," reports the scout.

"The hell, 3 Giants are coming for us. And they have 3 ships. There must be a lot of soldiers there," says Deon in frustration.

"Ronse, huh? It's been a long time since I met him. Captain, leave Ronse to me," says Magnus.

"You know him?" asks Mantis.

"Yeah, we often fought with each other since we were kids. It's been a long time since we fought, so I want to fight him again," says Magnus.

"Sure, why not. Just mind about the others and don't step on them," says Buggy.

Magnus nods and then Buggy gives his instruction.

"Listen! We will fight them on land because our log hasn't changed yet. We can use Eternal Pose but it will waste our wait and ruin the excitement of our journey. Besides, we can't always run from the Marine or they will think of us as cowards. Do you want that?" asks Buggy.

"NO WAY," shouts the crew.

"Good. So we will fight them and defeat them. Show them that we are stronger than them," says Buggy while grinning.

Buggy then gives his instruction to his crew. He will face John, Magnus will face Ronse, and Palu will face Lacroix. Meanwhile, Cricket will lead the crew members to fight the Marine soldiers that obviously have some officers among them.

The other executives will join the crew in the battle royale except for Jude, Enel, and Manba. They will defend the ship because obviously, the Marine will try to destroy their ship. So they need to stay on the ship and defend it.

"Can I attack their ships?" asks Enel.

"Of course, you can sink them all as long as you keep our ship intact," says Buggy.

Enel grins and nods excitedly, "I will let loose on them."

"Bastia!" calls Buggy.

"Yes, Captain," says Bastia respectfully.

"Take this chance to train your new devil fruit's usages. Remember, what limits you to use your devil fruit is your imagination and mastery. Be creative," says Buggy.

Bastia nods before he goes to join the other crew members. Cricket is giving them some orders and motivation. They will fight a lot of Marine soldiers that are stronger than most people that they've faced.

Cricket needs to make sure that they won't lose even one crew member. So he needs to motivate them and give them correct orders. This is also his responsibility as Vice-Captain. That's why Buggy gives him this task and orders Palu to face Lacroix.

Brook is playing some songs with his team to increase their morale. The Marine has a lot more people than them so it is putting pressure on the crew members. So some songs to cheer them up are needed.

Soon, the Marine ships get close to the island. But they are keeping their distance from Black Pearl. They also go through in front of the Black Pearl. It's all because of the information they got from Sakazuki's unit. So they avoid the rear side because of the Railgun.

The Marine soldiers disembark from their ships and go to the land. Their ships leave immediately after they disembarked and go to the sea. Then the Marine ships position themselves on 3 sides of the Black Pearl to block its escape route.

"Just like what Captain predicted. Too bad that we never thought of escaping in this war," says Manba as he prepares his bazooka.

The Clowns are getting ready on the island now. They have waited for the Marine on an open field since they've done their discussion. Now they just need to fight the Marine unit led by 3 Giants.

"It's just the 3 of you? There are other Giants in the Marine, right? Why don't you bring them, John?" asks Buggy.

"They are still new and inexperienced, so I won't bring them. Besides, just the 3 of us are enough and we have a lot of strong Marine soldiers here," says John.

"Sure, if that's what you believed in. Let's just start this war, shall we? Lunchtime has almost come," says Buggy smugly even though his crew is outnumbered.

The Clowns only have 40 people in total now, including the executives and the 2 kids who can't fight in a war yet. So they only have 38 capable fighters while the Marine has 682 people in total. So to relieve their crew's burden, the executives need to defeat tens of Marine soldiers on their own, especially the officers.

"Hmph, we will bring justice to you," says John.

"Whatever, just come," says Buggy impatiently.

"As you wish. ATTACK!" shouts John.

Cricket grins and shouts, "GET THEM!"

Both sides rush toward each other and the war starts. Cricket is commanding the crew to fight the Marine soldiers. With him are Mantis, Deon, Brook, and Ruff that help him lead the normal members.

Meanwhile, Palu and Magnus have rushed to attack Lacroix and Ronse. They push their enemies to take their battles elsewhere to not disrupt the big battle. Buggy is still watching from behind though and so is John Giant.

The battle is progressing well for the Clowns because they keep defeating Marine soldiers one by one. They are outnumbered, but the Clowns' individual strengths are not to be trifled with. Each of them is strong, even the newest members.

'If the Marine wants to bother, each of my crewmates will have their own bounty. The weakest might even get 9 or 10 million for his head,' thinks Buggy.

Buggy focused more on building his crew's strength rather than just number. It's because he realized that most of the pirate crews' foot soldiers, even the big crews, are not that strong. He doesn't want his crew to be like that, so he always trains his crew to be strong.

In this world, individual strength matters, after all. Even Straw Hats that have a small number can defeat 100 thousand Fishman just with 10 people. So if Buggy can make his targetted 100 members very strong, then his crew will be able to take down Kaido's crew without outside help.

'A very big crew like Whitebeard Pirates have a big problem too, after all. They can't manage and watch over their crewmates every time. So it's difficult to make each individual strong, especially the lower ranks,' thinks Buggy.

Buggy looks at Cricket and he is focused on commanding the crew while still defending himself. But he isn't proactive in battle and just defending himself. It makes Buggy satisfied because this is what he needs from Cricket at this time, leading the crew in this war, not just thinking of joining the fight even though he wants to fight too.

But because the Clowns are fighting well, it means the Marines are not in good condition. Even with some officers leading them, they are still getting overpowered. So finally someone lost his patience and attacked.

John takes his sword and swings it down to the battle royale's location. He swings his sword down with very strong power, but then it gets stopped. A giant white slashing arc hits his sword and stops him. It even pushes him back a little.

Buggy who made that slashing arc from the back is grinning and saying, "No need to be rushed, pal. It has just begun."

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You can read up to 35+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Clicking that power stone/like also seem to be a good choice, hehe.

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 208 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 219 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)