Chapter 174

Elly ducked, taking cover behind a barrel to dodge a hail of bullets as she stood on the Black Pearl's deck, listening to Laffite explaining the situation with their captain.

"Feel free to break through the marines' barricade and set sail. We'll catch up with you guys as soon enough," she heard Laffite's voice as she showed her face, taking several shots, one marine fallen on his face, unmoving with every bullet she fired.

"Got it. Don't make us wait too long," Elly replied, hanging up the call as Byron soared over the Black Pearl in his giant crow form, diving and crashing into one of the countless marine battleships surrounding them, causing it to sink in a fiery wreck.

"Bob, take the helm and get us out of here! Laffite and the captain said they'd catch up!" Laffite exclaimed, and Bob nodded as he looked down on her from the air after kicking away a cannonball that was aiming for the Black Pearl's mainmast.

"We'll open up the way!" Law exclaimed as he stood on Wilson's shoulder, the latter in his original Gorilla form, now as tall as a bona fide giant, as he ripped off the mast of one marine battle's ship, using it to sink the vessel.

"Room!" Law exclaimed, creating a giant, transparent sphere that covered the ship they were currently decimating along several other vessels. "Shambles!" He gestured with his hand, teleporting Wilson to the next battleship, and the giant four-armed gorilla savagely roared as he began dismantling it.

"I'm very sorry!" Bepo said, bowing his head with a distressed expression after kicking a marine soldier in the chin hard enough to give the poor bastard whiplash as he followed Law and Wilson from ship to ship.

"This is fun!" Domino exclaimed, deflecting a cannonball with a giant blood hammer as he turned to look at Kozue, who was flying in the air, cutting numerous projectiles, and avoiding their moving on to the next before they could even explode.

"It looks you've chosen the best time to join us, Domino," Kozue remarked with a smile as a marine soldier wearing rear admiral ropes flew towards her, and she met him head-on, cutting him down and sending him crashing into the sea before he could even swing.

"Fate frowns upon you today, Marines!" Doc flatly remarked as he stood on the Black Pearl's railing, swinging his oversized scythe in the direction of the nearest marine battleship, creating a blue crescent slash that split the vessel in half, sending it to the depths of the sea.

They continued in this manner, defending the Black Pearl with all their strength while sinking many marines battleships to open the way for Bob as he steered their ship through the wreckage of the fallen marine vessels until they broke through the encirclement.

They were not home free yet, but they were no longer surrounded by the marine fleet, at least.

...

"It looks like they managed to break through the encirclement..." I said with a smile, using my enhanced vision to check on my crewmates as I neared Nanohana's borders as they sailed through the wreckage of many battleships, even more vessels hot on their trail.

"But it looks like we're still in a pickle, Laffite," I added, looking at countless cannons and other various weapons the marines had set up on the shores, waiting to ambush us.

"The vice admirals are slowly catching up as well," Laffite replied while gesturing with his thumb behind his back.

My stamina, as plentiful as it was, had failed me as we fled, leaving the vice admirals behind us after Laffite's ambush. I had flown all the way towards Rain Base from Spider Cafe, fought Crocodile, only to start fleeing for my life when the marine bastards showed up.

It goes without saying that I was exhausted and had to slow down or risk collapsing otherwise, becoming a burden to my navigator, something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

I didn't bother telling Laffite to go ahead and leave without me because I knew he wouldn't comply either way, which would make the gesture hypocritical at worst, and redundant at best. And I refused to be that kind of hypocrite, nor did I have time to waste redundant gestures.

"I only have so much fuel left..." I remarked with a frown as I turned to look at my navigator. "I'll be counting on you, Laffite," I added, nodding towards him.

"Leave it to me, captain," Laffite replied, smiling as he returned the nod.

...

We quickly reached the shores of Nanohana, and I could already see the Black Pearl, maneuvering around several marine ships without using my enhanced vision.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered, taking a deep breath as I gripped Laffite's shoulder, activating my phasing ability on myself and my navigator, both of us flying side to side in preparation for what's to come.

The marines unloaded everything they had in our direction once we were within their range. Canon rounds, bullets, harpoons, flying sword slashes with a myriad of colors and shapes all came flying towards us.

I grit my teeth, feeling what little stamina I had left evaporating as I phased Laffite and myself through the onslaught, outlasting the bombardment by a hair's breadth.

However, I felt no joy or thrill as the marine's last line of defense, and final middle finger in my face, made itself apparent, emerging from behind a particularly tall building, a scowl on his face.

"You've done well to come to this far, pirates..." vice admiral John Giant exclaimed, exuding righteous violence from every inch of his ten-meter-ish tall figure.

"But you will go no further," he added, swinging his equally gigantic katana to the side, the air pressure from his swing alone sending the many abandoned stalls nearby flying.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath as I glanced at Laffite, who had a frown on his face. I then turned to look behind me, my expression turning uglier as I noticed the other vice admirals getting closer and closer.

"Laffite," I said in a somber tone, gaining my navigator's attention as I slowed down for a fracture of a second, allowing him to pass me as I put my hands on his shoulder.

"Take care of the others for me, will you?" I remarked, a broad smile on my face as I used what little energy I had left to activate my devil fruit ability, probably for the last time.

"What are-" was all Laffite could say before the change in the air density around him, along with a push of impact from my part, sent him flying towards the sea, his expression a mixture of rage and confusion.

"Don't look back! The others need someone with an actual brain to guide them," I exclaimed, still smiling as exhaustion got the better of me as and I began plunging straight towards John giant, tightly clutching Triton.