Third Person's POV;
The remaining Kage Pirates waited for Lara's signal. The explosions that made the ground rumble were that signal. They rushed forward and were instantly attacked by a group of four crows. These guarding birds came from the trees but four sharp, needle-like bones shot out of Josef's hand and crippled them before they could reach them. The group of six then stormed the clearing, Nojiko's assault rifle was already spewing out bullets at the downed humans.
They saw that Lara was in the middle of a group of men. Five in total had survived Fiara's rockets. All of them were partially or fully transformed Zoan user. Jonny saw how a man that looked like a chicken pointed at Lara and then how she vanished into the trees.
A black blur has shot at her and pushed her out of the clearing and through trees. The man noticed the Kage Pirates and barked something to his four friends.
But then Lia started her bombardment. Dozens of heavy projectiles rained down on the remaining 100 Beast Pirates. The four friends of the chicken man were not as heavily targeted as the guy himself. Which means that Lia thinks he is the mind manipulator.
The last thing Jonny saw before the four enemy pirates jumped at them was how an arm of the chicken Zoan user transformed into a different set of feathers, it had more plumage and smaller feathers.
“Fiara and Nojiko, you will fight the remaining birds. Noa, Josef, Yosaku and I will take care of the remaining humans.” Each of them nodded to Jonny's command and began with their task.
Jonny looked over at Yosaku, he was looking back. Both of them nodded at the same time. Noa and Josef will take on their enemy on their own. That, however, was not the case with Yosaku's and Jonny.
They have always known that they fight better when they fight together. Lara makes sure that they are still able to fight on their own, but together they were always better. This won't be different.
That's why Jonny was rushing forward with Yosaku behind. He drew his sword and decided whom they would attack first. From the four only one was really a good match against Jonny. Luckily, another one was a good match against Yosaku.
There was a woman partially transformed into a cockroach, her back was protected by hard chitin and her arms have transformed into sharp hooks. She wouldn't do, her aura and overall appearance was the weakest of the four. Noa can fight her, his hammers will be good against her chitinous armour.
The next one was a male with two short swords. Jonny and Yosaku were recognising both, they were training weapons made by Lara. He has partially transformed into a rabid, only his feet were transformed. From the looks of it, they will give him speed and strength. They didn't know yet how much, but it can become a huge boost. Josef will fight him. The Bone-Bone Fruit should protect himself from broken bones and his own attacks might be able to slow the rabid-man down.
The third enemy was a good match for Jonny, or for a slugfest if you pit Yosaku against him. The man was close to three meters tall, had arms as wide as tree trunks and legs the size of small boulders. His whole body was muscled and covered in light-dark grey fur. His still human-like transformation clearly showed that he has more control over his fruit than the other two. It should be a Devil Fruit, Model Ape. Neither did know its sub-classification, however, Jonny might have guessed that he's a gorilla.
And lastly, the one Yosaku will have an easy time with, a snapping turtle. Slow and heavily protected. A combination that is not very useful against someone like Yosaku. His sword should be able to penetrate the turtle with relative ease. Hitting it could have been easy as well, yet, the user of the fruit was skilled enough to keep his overall human appearance.
In a split second a plan was made up and Jonny rushed at the turtle first, he was closer than the ape. A stab of his blade was blocked by a protected forearm. With his speed alone he did expect to push the turtle back a little, yet that did not happen. That guy easily weighed more than a few tons.
He swung his other arm down at Jonny. He was trying to pummel Jonny into the ground. And yet it was way to slow to even come close. A quick jump brought Jonny over him. Cutting him now would not work, the shell on his back will be even harder than those on his arms.
But Jonny didn't need to. His jump forced the turtle to concentrate on him, which allowed Yosaku to attack unnoticed. Yosaku's massive sword turned black from Armament Haki only a moment before he reached the turtle guy.
The Zoan user has had barely enough time to look shocked before Yosaku was up to him. “Strength of a Giant!” Yosaku roared his newest special skill. His muscles bulged before they shrunk back down. His body has turned red and an aura of strength was coming out of him.
Their opponent tried to use his own Armament to protect himself, but it was in vain. Yosaku used Soru to increase his speed even more and pierced his sword into the softer belly of the turtle.
It went straight through and came out on the other side. The snapping turtle screamed in pain but was not paralysed. His head snapped forward and tried to bite a chunk out of Yosaku's head. Yosaku in return pulled the pommel of his sword up and blocked the bite, while simultaneously increasing the wound in the turtle's stomach.
“You will pay for this!” The sudden roar came from the ape Zoan user. He has reached the two and was about to smash his big hands down on Yosaku.
However, Jonny wouldn't let him. A series of quick Soru brought Jonny in between the ape and Yosaku. He jumped up and pierced with his sword into the soft armpit of the gorilla. The masterfully crafted blade, slightly enhanced by Haki, easily pierced through flesh and into bone.
“You won't harm my brother,” declared Jonny coldly. He pulled his sword back out and attacked again. The devilish sharp blade cut into the gorilla's stomach and left a bleeding wound. However, it wasn't deadly, the Zoan user has had enough time to coat his body with Armament.
“Ora!” “Eerg!” Suddenly to shouts simultaneously rung from behind Jonny, one powerful, the other in heavy pain. Yosaku has had gathered all his strength and pulled his blade upwards.
It cut through the shell, bones and flesh of the snapping turtle and ultimately cut him in half. Still, Yosaku wasn't finished yet, he made a turn, swung his blade in a wide arc and brought it down on the gorilla.
The 100 Beast Pirate saw the death of his comrade and also the rapidly approaching weapon. He was angry but knew that he wouldn't be able to defend such a heavy strike. With a growl, he jumped backwards and out of reach from the heavy sword.
Yosaku didn't stop, he allowed his blade to crash down. The ground exploded and a force blade flew out. It travelled right at the retreating gorilla while ripping up the ground. The Zoan user had only enough time to pull his arms up to guard against the force blade.
With a bang, the attack collided. The Zoan user got pushed back but managed to withstand the attack. Yet suddenly, his Observation was screaming danger. Unable to clearly identify what was causing this feeling he got ready to guard.
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He knew it would either be Yosaku or Jonny. However, he wasn't prepared for both at the same time.
Yosaku has used his sword as a pole and catapulted himself into the air, right at the gorilla. His massive sword was already mid-swing. And, if that alone would not have been enough, Jonny also was attacking.
Jonny was running low and close to the ground. His form was only a blur when he sped towards the gorilla. Two Soru brought him to the back of the gorilla and two incredibly fast piercing moves cut into the Achilles Tendons.
The gorilla grunted in pain and was about to swing his arm at Jonny in retaliation, but then he would have to ignore Yosaku. He was between a rock and a hard place. No longer able to walk and not strong enough to defend against the coming attack. With a sigh, he looked up and resigned himself to death.
Yosaku saw the resignation in the eyes of the Zoan user and nodded in respect, before bringing his sword down. The humanoid gorilla got cut in two, from head to bottom.
There were still fights around them, that's why neither shouted out their victory. A quick look showed that Nojiko and Fiara had corralled the remaining birds and successfully crippled them. Inari was with them, a large bundle was strapped to her back.
Noa also was doing good against the cockroach woman. Her chitinous armour was cracked in numerous places and one of her arms was dangling uselessly. The woman has seen how her friends got beaten and was fearfully looking between Noa and the forest.
As for the rabid guy, his legs were broken and numerous bone splinters were poking out. It looked as if his bones have exploded. There were also countless needle-like bones inside his joints. He was not dead, not even deadly wounded, but certainly beaten. That changed when Josef shot a large bone into the brain of the man.
And lastly, the chicken guy. Their obviously strongest member was still standing. Lia has had not killed him yet. From the side, it looked as if she was keeping him busy and on the defence.
“Jonny, the noise from Lara's fight has stopped,” commented Yosaku. Jonny listened and indeed, the sound of heavy explosions and breaking trees was gone. Something must have happened, Lara's fight was too short to be over this quickly.
Suddenly the cockroach Zoan using woman fainted an attack but then sprinted to the forest. Noa fell for it, but quickly sprinted after her. Her escape would not have worked. He was close to reaching her, however, suddenly the head of the woman exploded.
Her dead body fell to the ground and on her lifeless corpse stood a majorly enraged chicken. Mrs Chicken Wing was completely coated inside an Advanced Armament Haki, lightning was cracking around her feathers and her glare looked almost demonic.
Her eyes were black from Haki and it was as if the aura of a massive raptor stood behind her. Her sheer presence alone was enough to crack the ground. It was so heavy that even the Kage Pirates felt it, while not even being the target of the pressure.
Behind her, Lara came out of the jungle. She was looking at her crew and smiled slightly when she saw that none of them was too wounded. Noa and Nojiko had a few scratches, but nothing serious.
By now Lia has also stopped her bombardment and she as well as the last remaining 100 Beast Pirate have spotted Mrs Chicken Wing. “Defend me, chicken!” Shouted the pirate desperately. He has seen how his crew got taken out one after the other. But he also knew that the chicken he has under his control was one of the strongest he has ever seen.
And yet, instead of following his order, Mrs Chicken Wing stalked over to the pirate. The man noticed that something was wrong and tried to flee. However, before he could take a single step his leg gave out under him.
Or better said, his leg got cut off from under him. A single piercing beak shigan has separated his leg from the knee downwards. He fell to the ground and grunted in pain.
Then, suddenly, a pair of large wings sprouted from his back. They were flapping powerfully and with only two flaps of his wings he has taken off and was about to fly away. None of the Kage Pirates knew why he was even trying.
Before his wings could flap a third time Mrs Chicken Wing was up on him and used her sharp claws to violently claw off his wings. Feathers were ripped out and blood flew freely. This time the pain was too much and he screamed in pain.
And that was only the beginning.
Over the next half of an hour, Mrs Chicken Wing was torturing the man to death. None of the Kage Pirates stepped in to stop her. But only Lia and Lara watched till the end. The rest couldn't stomach the sight and left the clearing.
Once it was over the body could only be identified as vaguely humanoid. “Satisfied?” Asked Lara, she was not chiding Mrs Chicken Wing, merely asking if her rage was quenched.
Mrs Chicken Wing let out a tired cluck. Her whole body was red from blood. “You couldn't have known that he has such a control over you. No one of us knew that Zoan user have control over the animals they can transform into.” Added Lara in an attempt to lessen Mrs Chicken Wing's own feeling of guilt.
“Let's search the village. There should be a few new Devil Fruits to find,” spoke Lia up. Mrs Chicken Wing nodded and together the three started to search the huts of the village. As it was common with Devil Fruits they reincarnated to the closest fruit and within minutes the three had found five Devil Fruits.
The problem was that none of them knew which one has the power to change into different kinds of birds. So they put all five inside a chest and walked over to where the rest of their crew was waiting.
The others had gathered the hurt birds and Josef was helping them as best as he could. The moment the Bird Zoan user lost consciousness was the moment the controlled birds regained their mind. They all stopped struggling and quickly saw that Josef was trying to help them.
Herbert, who has woken up, was explaining to them what was happening. The moment he spotted his wife he crowed loudly and tried to jump over to her. Mrs Chicken Wing clucked as well and quickly rushed to her husbands side.
“Did Herbert's wounds get any worse?” Asked Lara while watching the two chickens cuddling.
“No, he got lucky and his wounds weren't aggravated. Which means that he will be able to move on his own in a few days,” answered Josef. Lara nodded and then began to heal the birds that needed her healing power.
They were halfway done when suddenly Lia perked up. “The villagers we met yesterday are coming. Mostly youngsters, but also a few adults.” She then pointed into the forest from where she could feel the approaching auras.
“I'll take care of them,” replied Lara. She walked into the forest and soon met the villagers. They were carefully walking through the bushes and trying to stay silent. Not that it worked. Only a few of the group of 25 had any knowledge in sneaking through a forest.
Lara spoke before they have spotted her and they all flinched when they heard her voice. “You can turn around, the birds won't attack you as long as you don't trespass into their territory.”
“I know that voice, it's one of the four ladies that saved us yesterday,” said one man from the group. Lara now also stepped out of the bushes and directly in front of the men.
“How can we be sure? We must kill them to be save,” countered Chrol, the young leader of the group.
His question was understandable, that's why Lara explained what happened. “Because I say so. They were controlled by one of the pirates that went into the forest. He had a Devil Fruit that allowed him to control birds. My friends and I killed him, the birds are no longer under control and won't attack you unprovoked.”
“Then we have to take the fruit! One of us needs to be able to keep the birds from attacking us,” shouted one from the crowed.
Lara shook her head in denial. “No, we will take the fruit with us and make sure that it won't be used against the birds of this island again. Turn around and go back to your village. There is no need to fight.”
However, it seems as if the villagers were blinded by their hate towards the birds. Their leader was red from anger and pointed at Lara, while shouting. “You are helping them, aren't you? It was a ploy to get our trust. I'm sure that you will lead the birds against us if we were to turn around now.”
“Listen, I have had a shitty day. Some asshole mind controlled one of my best friends, stole things I cherish and then had the guts to try and use my friend to hurt me. I give you one last warning, turn around or try and fight. But I promise you, none of you will survive a fight.” An oppressing aura was starting to come out from Lara. She was using her Haki to intimidate the villagers and against many it worked. However, not against all of them. Those who have lost someone very close to the birds were still angered.
They started to shout at Lara and were trying to rally their friends up to fight. Lara, already annoyed with the whole day, had no desire to play nice anymore. She warned them enough times. She decided she would use them to test an attack of hers.
That's why she started to let out a low whistle. The sound was under the frequency where humans could hear it, just shy of 19Hz. But at the same time the intensity, the decibel of the noise, were strong. At 250 dB the sound was energetically high enough to turn from a sound wave into a shock wave.
The energy was even so high that it started to ignite the surrounding grass. Had Lara not localised the wave it would have affected her friends a few short hundred meter away. As it was the villagers had not even a second to widen their eyes before the ultra heated and lethal wave hit them.
None of them survived the attack and their burned, broken bodies were picked up by the shock wave and thrown away. “Hmm, more deadly than I first thought.” That was all Lara had to say to her experiment.
She turned around and walked back to her friends, she still had to gather her lost weapons.