[58] Underworld Gambit
[2650 words]
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[Three Days Later]
[Angelic Sea, The New World]
"Jihahaha!" a boisterous laugh enveloped the sea.
Shiki roared as he brought down his two famed swords upon the breathtaking woman flying in the air, floating on clouds of light.
They were right above some ruined lands within the Angelic Sea.
She embodied an enigmatic blend of elegance and intimidation. Adorned with a sculpted crown, Her eyes, a fierce and radiant red, pierce through the gloom, hinting at a formidable will and the potential for fierce retribution.
She wore armour over her chest that matched the intricate design of her crown. The woman was stunning with her golden hair and complete heterochromia of red and hazel eyes.
"I heard whispers labelling the 'Fallen Angel' Herja as the most beautiful woman in the world. Say, why don't you become my woman, it'll be a waste to kill you!"
[Herja Image (in Discord)]
The woman was not amused, not even showing an ounce of fear under the eyes of the infamous pirate.
"I prefer girls over vile men like you," Herja responded, floating a few meters further up and looking down on the enemy.
At the drop of her words came a burst of light, bathing her in a veil of divinity.
"It is you who will die, Golden Lion!"
The powerful woman unleashed a wave of attack using compressed light to shoot out in a cannon with enough energy to melt the ground to the very core of the earth!
.
"Heaven's Fall!"
.
Shiki saw the bright beam of light that spanned over twenty meters and could only respond with his jolly laughter. "Jihahaha! At first glance, you look like a Mythical Zoan but I know just how special your ability is!"
In response, the man seemed to weave his hands in the air. It was quite odd, almost as if he was trying to paint in the air with his bare fingers.
And yet the motion of his hands led to a strong rumble.
"Woah!"
"Abandon ship!"
"T-The ground is alive!"
The tens of ships below went into a panic as the very ground below shook from the advent of large protruding mountains.
The jagged rocks seemed to have woken up to life as they moulded together and wrapped into the figure of a giant lion!
.
"Lion's Threat: Earth Bind!"
.
[Attack Image (in Discord)]
The mountain-turned-beast bellowed out a bone-rattling roar as it rushed forth to meet the female pirate's attack.
BOOOM!
The collision gave birth to a bright light that was enough to turn the mellow dawn into a full-fledged supernova! The tsunamis unleashed left the Valkyrie Pirates in chaos while the Rocks Pirates simply laughed and waited to see where they were swept to.
.
Such events were naturally visible and feelable from tens of kilometers away, particularly on a giant cake ship.
"Damn Shiki, he has no tact of a Great Pirate!" the towering and voluptuous woman complained.
Charlotte Linlin was currently holding onto a sword with a human face etched onto it in one hand, and a cake in the other. Every swing was accompanied by a bite!
However, the recent rumbling left her off balance, losing her grip on her cake.
"I'll take my anger out on you trash!"
Her fury was channelled into the sword that seemed to laugh merrily, growing and growing into a long sword.
The blade was soon covered in white flames that danced in the chaotic winds.
Linlin slowly walked forward, a dark cloud following her footsteps, allowing her to essentially walk from the ship and over the air.
*Crackle*
The ghost flames danced in ominous echoes, overshadowing the bright skies with their unsettling nature.
The elongated weapon was raised over its wielder's shoulder and directed toward the fleet before herself.
Said fleet was also caught in the giant tsunamis that left them in disarray, leaving an opening for the crazed woman. Their flags waved loudly as the winds did not settle down, if anything, it seemed the cloth was ready to rip.
Naturally, the emblem on the flag was not that of a pirate, but rather, of the Navy! Twenty warships at that.
"..."
A man at the very back of a colossal warship watched with sharp eyes and unshaken eyes.
His tall body spanned a long shadow, though even with his charisma that seemed to keep his subordinates in check, he did not act in person.
The marine simply watched from afar.
One with keen vision may be able to see that the top soldier draped in the pristine coat was covered with a thin coat of energy that pulsed out rhythmically.
The man raised his head to zoom into the woman, eyes that of an eagle.
"Send word to all warships, prepare to immediately sail to the side! She's vexed."
"Roger that, Admiral Kurowashi!"
The orders were sent posthaste to every ship that went full speed to the side concerning their location.
This allowed the warship formation to fork into two streams. However, the ones in the deep center did not have much of a chance to survive for what was to come.
.
"Ikkoku Sovereignty!"
.
The longsword slashed down with great speed, unleashing a huge stream of destruction mixed in with powerful Haki and soul power.
It summoned howling winds that were loud enough to pop the average person's eardrums!
The horizontal tornado raged on to envelop entire warships caught in its path, picking them up from their position!
They were no ordinary marine ships, but instead, battleships that were the size of Ancient Giants! Yet their incredible mass was easily excavated by the attack, annihilating everyone on board three of the twenty ships!
However, such a catastrophic display of killing around 3,000 marines left the attacker annoyed.
"Cheh, damn Kurowashi, he responds fast!" Linlin grunted.
She had to jump back down to replenish some soul, after all, the war had been going on for months now.
.
"Go and rip them to shreds!" she roared out.
In response came a huge pop loud enough to wake up a deaf man from his sleep. The torn and weathered ships came in broken formations, desperately clawing onto the wind as they sailed onward.
Each ship has similar characteristics: cut-up sails, bloody wood, corpses scattered on deck, and a sole word waving above them: " R O C K S."
The menacing letters were enough to make a battle-hardened veteran shiver in fright, and yet there were dozens of said ships!
The remaining pirates that were able to survive thus far were all that many, barely a thousand, and yet they were ready to rumble.
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[Meanwhile, in the Grand Line]
Aurora had left Mortem Island.
Suffice to say, the girl was very resolute in the mission. Her steel will came with a deep desire to show her worth to Damien, in every way possible.
Before her departure, the assassin had left a pattern imprinted near the core of Mortem Island.
It was a meter wide with an intrinsic design. Even Damien was curious what the mark meant, though Aurora simply said it was a surprise.
…
[Unso Island]
It was night. Darks floated in the sky, hiding the moon in their wake.
"Do we leave the ship like this?" a merchant asked with some hesitation.
The man had arrived with a small ship carrying some inconspicuous boxes that, considering the island, probably held illegal goods.
"Galululu! Calm down, papi, this is Barro's main base!" his right-hand man exclaimed. "Do you think the 'King of Shipping' will raid our goods?"
The lead merchant slowly shook his head. "I suppose, if you put it like that, it should be fine."
The group of merchants soon left with the crates of goods off to a shady alley, probably to make some ill-bred deals. Yet they were ignorant to the fact that they had introduced an uninvited guest to Unso Island.
.
Aurora, who had made it to Barro's lair, was quite comfortable.
The deep and dark land was familiar, a place she visited before. Gloomy and void of anything human. Reeking of filth and sin.
She soon flew through the shady streets in her Night Realm, ignoring all the no-good trades going on. She had long familiarized herself with the evil of the world.
Just below the area she ran past was a child trafficking ring. The people present to buy slaves, looking for gold in a land of bronze, worked for many factions. Some pirate rulers, nearby kingdom Royals, and even Cipher Pol were present!
Aurora kept going, many deals like that of drugs, rare goods, human slaves, and rare species, were taking place in every corner of the filthy island.
One such large establishment allowed one to make out the name of the market: "Mountain Hag's Orphan Dealership."
Perhaps it had some glory back down, however, it seemed abandoned now; the wounds of time distinctly noticeable.
…
Deeper into the territory was a giant bowl-shaped enclave. It was dug into a mountain with an interesting build.
The name read: "Suisō", meaning 'Fish Tank.' Naturally, the Emperor Barro's domain.
[Unso Island Image (in Discord)]
Aurora arrived within ten or so minutes of reaching the island, making her way into the giant fish tank building.
Though a second before entering past the guards, she halted.
Her eyes widened as she felt the waves of unsettling energy emitted from the structure.
"!!!" Aurora's instincts drew her to the metal frame surrounding the entrances, alongside the windows and any other way into the Fish Tank.
"Seastone!"
She breathed a sigh as the energy left her uncomfortable; taking any further steps would kick her out of the Night Realm and throw her into reality.
.
"Plan B, then," she muttered to herself.
The girl picked up a hand-sized rock from the ground and tossed it to the far side, attracting their attention.
"I'll check it out," a sole guard announced.
He cautiously walked over to the corner outside of the others' vision and peeked in, his gun ready to fire.
"..." The guard saw the broken stone but nothing else. He sighed and turned around, and then everything suddenly went dark.
*Thud*
A body fell to the ground as a fist had knocked him out cold. A masked assassin stood above and summoned a stream of aetherial energy.
*Vroooo~*
The ominous breeze echoed from the advent of the purple powers as they dropped another corpse on the scene.
It was the body of a man with a gun in hand.
The fresh corpse was also a man of shady origin. He had an emblem on his chest, one belonging to another Underworld Emperor!
Aurora then picked up the guard's gun and fired.
Bang! Bang!
Both corpses shook as one's heart and the other's heart was pierced by the bullet.
Thwack!
Aurora threw the gun back onto the guard and disappeared into the shadows once again. Her noisy actions drew the immediate attention of a horde of guards.
…
In a dimly lit room were two large couches facing one another.
On the couch on the right sat four people.
One man was surrounded by three beautiful girls, his arms around their shoulders. The girls would frequently laugh in unison, drawing circles on the man's chest every here and there.
Surrounding the couch were another thirty or so men, some smoking, some drinking, all casually waiting.
*Boom!* The fancy wooden doors flung open.
"Lord Barro!" a man frantically called out.
"The invader was a spy who had the emblem belonging to the Du Feld Conglomerate!"
The words aroused irritation from the Black Fish who began to violently grab the girls.
He was a middle-aged man. Wearing an orange shirt with a green coat draped over his shoulders, and sporting a gray fedora etched with a rose.
[Barro image (in Discord)]
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"Du Feld!? That brat who stole his daddy's fortune and took over the title of the 'Loan Shark King'? Hmph! He has balls, I'll give him that!" Barro roared out.
"Should we do anything in response?" the man who had just reported the news, questioned.
The words turned the Black Fish's face hesitant. He loosened the grip on the struggling girls, slowly taking off his fedora.
"Send a message to Du Feld and ask for a proper answer! Let them know we ain't to be messed with!"
The words were quite weak in the eyes of the surrounding men, arousing some negative emotions.
"S-Should we not respond with more ire? Du Feld is only a budding ene-"
"Enough!" Barro angrily exclaimed. "Do as I said!"
"Y-Yes!"
The man scurried away, leaving behind an irate Barro.
The exchange was seen with an array of perspectives, all of them boiling down to contempt.
What the Underworld Emperor did not notice was that his right-hand man, Ebi, who had built this empire with him, was staring at Barro with great disapproval.
Ebi was Barro's top man. The two drank the blood of the previous Shipping King to become sworn brothers.
'Isn't it a stupid mistake to have such an obvious identifier on you when spying on your rivals... Barro, you really are pathetic now!' the man cursed.
The charisma of his superior had waned, leaving Ebi indignant and resentful.
…
Meanwhile, in a dark room of the Fish Bowl.
"Puru," "Puru," "Puru."
The snail soon took on the appearance of a familiar face to the girl. Even its base was donned on a black coat, while above one eye was a thin scar.
Aurora took off her mask to meet the snail's eyes, fully knowing the person on the other end couldn't see her.
"Katcha~!"
"Yo," the voice responded.
Aurora took a breath of air and spoke up, "Damien, I finished a quick scout of Barro. He's falling apart, nothing like the rumours he tries so hard to maintain."
"I heard the whispers of his people; Barro's businesses are slowly corroding away. The connections through his contacts are weakening by the day and his men are losing faith in him."
The snail slowly nodded, "I see, good work. It'll make things easier with a weak enemy."
Aurora, at this point, simply waited, though the next words caught her off-guard.
"Alright, that was the easy part of your mission…" The snail reflected the smirk of the notorious pirate as he casually said: "Your true task is to take over Barro's Empire."
"..." The flat words rang in Aurora's head as she blinked in confusion.
"Take over?"
The red eyes conveyed through the snail narrowed in focus, almost as if drilling into the purple-haired girl.
"That's right. You've been zealously trying to prove yourself, no? Very well, this is your chance." The voice did not wait for a response and continued.
"I don't need a machine to deal out my bidding. What I need is someone to hold the Underworld by their throat," the snail solemnly uttered. "Even the air those rats breathe will be granted through my grace."
Aurora's eyes widened as she heard the bold words.
"Barro is weak and surrounded by vermin, though there is a link you can exploit, no?"
The assassin seemed surprised, "You already knew?"
The transponder snail conveyed Damien's shrugging gesture.
"Of course, I had already done a preliminary scout on every Underworld Emperor months ago. You think I sent you across Paradise just to sneak in and come back with information?"
The question remained unanswered as the snail did not stop.
"I sent you so you can understand that what I need on my side are powerful and reliable companions who can think for themselves in any situation, no matter how dire."
"Barro's Empire is your starting point."
The snail's face warped into a smirk, "Be bold Aurora, these chaotic times will not wait for you!"
"Katcha~!"
And without any patience, the snail turned off and went back into hibernation, leaving the assassin alone under the darkness of the room.
Her shaken body soon regained motion, her eyes sharpened as her mind went over every word she had just now heard.
To Be Continued…
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Author's Corner.
Herja is one of the ten Level 1 Threats and the noose around her throat is tightening under the combined might of Shiki and Big Mom (Discord lists the World Threat Index with more information).
Meanwhile, Aurora was given her real mission, an ambitious one.
Images are available on Discord alongside other niche details: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q