Chapter 291: Marines Arrive!

Slowly opening my eyes, I felt a wave of pain and soreness completely wash over my entire body, causing me to groan as I rubbed my head while slowly sitting upright; however, following that wave of pain and soreness, I was met with an almost unbearable appetite, it felt like I'd been starved for months if not years. Hopping off my hammock, ignoring the numerous bandages wrapped around my body, I breathed the air, inhaling the plethora of scents that smelled so utterly delicious.

"Hungry." Muttered Diddy with a somewhat hazy look as he stumbled through the fortress, following the delicious aroma.

Busting through several walls, I finally arrived in the lounge, where all of my commanders and officers were present; gazing at them, I couldn't help but lick my fangs as they both looked and smelled so good. I wanted to sink my teeth into their flesh and devour them whole, yet before I could act on my impulses, my officers all backed away while Freyja approached me, and not even her presence was enough to quell my hunger.

'All that meat on her probably tastes delicious.' Mused Diddy as he stared at Freyja's plump, sexy, and voluptuous figure that put every woman to shame in hunger.

"Fufu, I quite like that look in your eyes, Diddy; however, I'm only for dessert, and if you want me, you'll need to finish the food prepared for you." Remarked Freyja seductively as she licked her lips, only to gesture to the table in the distance, which was covered in large plates of food.

When I saw that table, I lost any interest in Freyja and lunged towards it; I didn't waste a single second and began gorging myself on everything, needing to unhinge my jaw and loosen my throat; otherwise, I would've choked several times; however, even so, I was still required to drink jugs of water to assist with my feast. While devouring the food, I sped up my metabolism, using all the newly acquired energy to heal my many wounds.

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"Hoho, are you back to yourself, Captain?" Asked Sebas lightly as he glanced at Diddy, who was snacking on the bones, crushing them with his powerful jaws and razor-sharp teeth.

"Yeah, I'm back to normal. I'm also full; that was some of the most delicious food I've had in a while. Who made that?" Replied Diddy calmly with a nod as he patted his stomach while glancing at Sebas, his words causing the Frenzy Officers to heave a sigh of relief.

"Of course, the one and only." Stated Trenza proudly with a smile as she flicked her large, single braid behind her head, only to suddenly vanish with a floating paper taking her place.

"Me as well, Captain; Trenza and I cooked the food together." Said Janet lightly as she grabbed the picture of Trenza before crumbling it up and tossing it out of the room, only for her to be shot in the head with a rubber bullet.

"Ouch! Stupid Trenza." Muttered Janet in annoyance as she held her head while glaring at Trenza's hand, which was poking out from the crumbled picture.

"Good job; you've managed to prevent several people in here from getting eaten." Said Diddy calmly as he glanced at Janet before shifting his focus to Trenza, who was escaping from the picture, prompting him to lick his lips.

"Hey, stop it right there, Captain. You can go and fuck Trenza later; as the Captain, you've got some work to do." Said Freyja with a frown as she folded her arms and stood in front of Diddy, who grunted before baring his fangs at her, though she simply raised an eyebrow.

"Tsk, whatever. Sebas, how badly was the damage we suffered?" Asked Diddy in annoyance as he ignored Freyja before shifting his focus to Sebas, who chuckled before snapping his fingers, prompting every officer to stand in a row.

"Well, as you'd already predicted, while we managed to emerge victorious, it was at a hefty cost; nearly 80% of our men died, and even a few of our officers had lost their lives." Remarked Sebas solemnly as he slowly stood up, wincing since he was still very injured.

Hearing Sebas's words, I spread my haki throughout Pandemonium, and it was quite empty, with only two thousand pirates, and most of them were still significantly injured; as for the Officers standing in the distance, I noticed a few faces were missing, but it hardly bothered me. So long as it wasn't a Commander who died, I wasn't the least bit concerned; after all, everyone else was much easier to replace.

"So only the strong survived? Sounds good; I was never a fan of weaklings on my crew to begin with." Said Diddy lightly with a raised eyebrow as he glanced at the several officers, most of whom were still recovering from their injuries.

"Haa, well, I expected as much." Muttered Sebas lightly with a sigh while shaking his head and sitting down, not bothering to continue as he knew it would only be a waste of time.

"So, where is everyone? I mean the Big Mom Pirates; I hope you guys didn't just leave them lying on the ground." Asked Diddy curiously as he gazed at everyone while standing up and stretching, his words prompting Chala to point out the window.

"I froze them in a massive iceberg on the beach; you should be able to see them, Captain." Replied Chala calmly as she glanced at Diddy before gesturing towards the window, causing him to nod.

Although I wasn't fully healed yet, I ripped the bandages off my body as they were slightly irritating, and they reeked of blood; with the bandages off, I left the room, prompting everyone to follow behind me as I leaped off Pandemonium and landed in the water, cleaning the blood off my fur before approaching the massive iceberg on the beach.

"Oh yeah, how long was I sleeping for?" Asked Diddy lightly as his body arched with lightning, burning the water that soaked his fur.

"It's been two days." Said Scar lightly as he landed beside Diddy, who nodded.

Standing in front of the massive iceberg, I looked at every Big Mom Pirate within it, including Linlin, before tapping it with my finger, causing cracks to suddenly appear through the entire iceberg, only for it to shatter a few seconds later, freeing everyone inside.

"Hey, wake up, Linlin; I know you're not dead." Said Diddy lightly as he kicked Linlin, whose eyes suddenly snapped open, causing every Frenzy Officer to grab their weapons reflexively.

Taking a few steps back, giving Linlin space so she could stand up, she eyed me with ferocity and was about to unleash her haki, but before she could, I kicked towards her, launching a sharp blade of air that did nothing but inflict a shallow cut on her already wounded body.

"Calm yourself, Linlin. I'm always happy to fight, but I'm not really in the mood to fight you right now, not after I just beat you. Also, look around you; your strongest pirates are just as wounded as you are; do you really want to start another battle? You had a chance at winning the first time, but now, you'll lose for sure." Remarked Diddy blandly as he eyed Linlin along with the rest of her pirates, who all began to stand up before shifting his focus to her again.

"Ho, Diddy using words instead of violence? Now, this is exceedingly rare." Said Freyja mockingly as she eyed Diddy, who slammed his tail on the ground.

Ignoring Freyja's stupid ass, I saw Linlin grab her weapon along with Prometheus and Zeus, causing me to raise my eyebrows as I rolled my eyes at her stubbornness; though, as I said before, I'm always happy to fight, so I wasn't about to try and reason with her a second time. However, before any of us could, I suddenly snapped my head behind me, doing a complete one-eighty as I stared at the sea behind Pandemonium, only to see two marine battleships appearing beyond the horizon, each one housing an Admiral.

I wasn't the only one to notice as, slowly, everyone else began to realize what was happening.

"Marines." Muttered Linlin angrily as she gazed at the tens of battleships that appeared from beyond the horizon.

"Mama, this isn't good; we can't fend off two Admirals." Said Perespero with an ugly expression as he approached Linlin, who grunted in anger.

"I don't care! How dare the Marines step into my territory!" Stated Linlin aggressively as she walked forward, only for her to collapse to one knee, prompting her many children to assist her.

"Mama!"

'Tsk, a bunch of cowards, attacking when everyone is weakened and injured.' Thought Diddy in annoyance as he ignored Linlin while gazing at the approaching marines.

The sight of one Admiral was already annoying to deal with, but two was going to be a real pain in the ass; I'm just glad that hadn't sent Kizaru; escaping from him would've been next to impossible. Linlin was still greatly injured from our previous battle and was in no fighting condition; as for me, I wasn't all that much better, but I could at least fight without feeling like I was about to collapse.

"Hey, pay attention, you fools. I'll hold them off for an hour; everyone else escape during that time. Same to you, Big Mom Pirates. Of course, if you don't want to, by all means, go ahead and get captured by them once the hour passes." Remarked Diddy with a frown as the clouds from up above began to arc fiercely with lightning while the ground started to shake.

"One hour? Are you sure you can do that in your state?" Asked Freyja with a raised eyebrow as she glanced at Diddy, only for his eyes to glow with a dark red hue.

"Hehe." Replied Diddy with a feral grin while leaping into the air, leaving behind a trail of lightning as his fur took on a silverish hue along with his body growing.