Chapter 173

I smirked, stopping as I turned to look at the clouds, my ears quickly turning to look at the vice admirals chasing me.

"I see you've chosen to give up," Onigumo said as he floated in the air, constantly kicking the air with Geppo. "Smart choice for a pirate... not that escaping justice was even an option for you," he added, menacingly glaring at me.

The rest of the vice admirals shared his glaring expression as they looked at me, except for Yamakaji, who was still smiling with a laid-back expression, and Momomnga, who looked at the clouds, a frown on his face.

"Let's not waste any more time and subdue this pirate as quickly as possible," Momonga said in a calm tone as he quickly flew towards me, katana in hand.

Though they frowned in befuddlement at Momonga's seemingly concerned attitude, the rest of the vice admirals followed suit, quickly surrounding me.

"You guys are persistent. I'll give you that much," I said while looking around at the vice admirals, who held their weapons ready to lunge at me at a moment's notice.

"You should have realized there is no escape by now, pirate scum," Onigumo said, as menacing as ever as he floated there glaring at me, eight swords in hand.

"It's over, young man," Yamakaji said with the same lazy smile he had since the beginning of the chase. "Save yourself and us old-timers some pain, and quietly surrender," he added, resting his sword on top of his shoulder.

"You guys seem to have the wrong idea..." I said with a smirk, pointing towards the dark clouds above. "You're not surrounding me..." I added, my smirk growing deeper.

"I'm surrounding you..." I concluded, activating my phasing ability as a giant fist of dark, thunderous cloud emerged from above, heading straight towards us.

The vice admirals all looked up, astonishment and horror on their faces as they quickly moved to defend themselves by activating Haki, Tekkai, and whatever defensive techniques they had in their arsenals.

However, any defensive techniques they could conjure in this short a time could not, would not help them as the giant cloud fist came upon us like the judgment of God.

The attack harmlessly passed through me while taking the vice-admiral along with it, crashing into the ground with a loud booming explosion as lightning danced in the air and thunder deafeningly echoed in the desert.

That wasn't all as a giant made of thunder and cloud emerged from above, charging towards the vice admirals with a savage roar, smashing its fist right where the vice admirals crashed.

I didn't sit idly by as I too began hurling attacks towards the vice admirals, shooting Flaming Impact Fists and sword slashes while marveling at the giant monster that was my navigator.

Savagely drowning the vice admirals in an onslaught of brute force and lightning, Laffite roared once again, no sign of his usual cheery, polite attitude on the cloud titan to which he turned himself.

"That's enough, Laffite. Let's get out of here before they recover," I instructed, and Laffite obliged, turning back to his human form as he gestured with his hand towards the admirals.

"Swamp Clouds!" Laffite exclaimed, shooting thick, seemingly wet clouds towards the vice admirals, surrounding them, burying them within its folds and engulfing them like a swamp.

Laffite then turned to look at me, nodding, and we both took off in a hurry.

...

"Goddamnit!" Onigumo cursed as he finally managed to cut through swamp clouds encasing him as he emerged, finding the other vice admirals had already freed themselves, all looking tattered but unharmed for the most part.

"What sort of devil is that?! And how can a rookie pirate crew have that kind of firepower?!" He exclaimed, stomping the ground with his foot in a rage, making it crumble under his heel.

"The kind that needs five vice admirals to ambush like some common cutthroats..." Yamakaji said, still smiling though there was bitterness in his visage.

"Do I need to remind you where our orders came from, Yamakaji?" Momonga asked as he sternly turned to look at Yamakaji, though the latter could tell he was holding a bitter sigh himself.

"It's all that bastard, Crocodile's fault!" Onigumo exclaimed, still venting his anger on the ground. "If only he cooperated with us, that fucking pirate wouldn't have even escaped Rain Base," he added, pausing as he gritted his teeth.

"Whatever the case may be," vice admiral Doberman said with a sigh. "Not all is lost just yet..." he added, shaking his head while retrieving a transponder snail.

"Attention to all ships!" Doberman said in a calm, stern tone as he brought the speaker to his mouth. "You are to move to intercept the top priority target as soon as possible currently docked in Nanohana port," he added, repeating his sentence for good measure.

"You are to stop them from leaving the port at any and all costs until we arrive!" he concluded, hanging up the call as he turned to look at his colleagues, who nodded in response as they all began flying their way towards Nanohana.

...

"Laffite, you reliable bastard!" I said with a grin as I flew next to my navigator, both of us moving at top speed while making our way towards Nanohana.

"Even when disobeying my orders, you're still reliable somehow! Reahahaha," I added, laughing my heart out, not feeling bothered that Laffite didn't do as I instructed when I ordered my crewmates to head back to Nanohana.

"You know me. I live to serve, captain," Laffite said with a smile, tipping his hat in my direction as he kicked the air beside me, making me laugh even more loudly.

I wanted to continue singing praises for my navigator and most reliable crewmate. However, the sudden ringing of a transponder snail made me swallow my words as Laffite picked up a call.

"Laffite? Is the captain okay?" I heard Elly's concerned voice coming from the other side. "We've been trying to contact him, but our calls aren't going through..." she added, and I could hear the sounds of gun and cannon fire from the background on her side.

I frowned and inspected my pockets, sighing as I took out my transponder snail, realizing it didn't survive the battle.

"Tell her I'm just fine. My transponder snail just died," I added, putting the small critter back into my pocket, intending to give it a funeral fit for a pirate.