Lara's POV;

“Lara, I can feel someone who's suppressing his aura. He's on the island and I don't know how strong he might be”, warned Lia silently so that she does not worry the others.

“Do you think he is stronger than us?”, I asked back. Having two vice admirals against us would be troublesome, maybe even more than what this research stuff is worth.

“Hard to say, a large aura is not necessarily matching ones strength. Luffy's is also fairly strong, yet he isn't. It might be someone with Conqueror Haki or a spy. I barely noticed him. Be careful, I'll watch your back”, she explained and jumped over the railing on the ice bridge I've built.

The rest, I included, followed and we jogged closer to the Marine ships. Their large dark size was framed by the light of the moon. Lights were still on, but it was obvious that not everyone was awake.

“So how are we doing this?”, asked Nojiko. She was starring up at the towering form of the super-sized warship. Its length alone was thrice as large as the Shadow. Even its main cannon was half the size of our ship.

“If the vice admiral has any skill in Observation Haki he will notice us the moment we attack. So you four will get in position before that can happen. Lia and I will then take out the warships. Your task is to get rid of the standard ships, one each. There shouldn't be anyone higher than Lieutenant. Don't attack before the warships are taken out.” They nodded and separated from us. Jonny and Yosaku towards the left ship and Nojiko with Jo to the right. Both ships were positioned in front of the warships.

Lia and I waited for a quarter hour. I then started to focus on my own Observation. It took me a couple of minutes but I found a strong presence on the super-sized warship, exactly as Lia said, it was positioned in the middle of the ship. I couldn't find the other aura.

“The moment I flare my presence attack”, I told her before climbing the ship with the vice admiral up. Mrs Chicken Wing was by now also gone, she took off towards the island. I don't know why, nor do I care. That bird will survive anything.

The anchor cable gave me an easy hold and I climbed inside the ship without any trouble. The pulley for the anchor was inside the ship, there were a few lamps to lit the room in a dim light.

No guard was in sight or made any sound. Even breathing could be heard by our ears if we focus.

The training gained during the life of a Ninja wasn't entirely forgotten and silent, quick, steps took me to the end of the room. The door was closed, but not locked.

Thankfully it was oiled and didn't make any sound when I opened it a little. The hallway was also deserted. Again, a few lamps were everything that would allow someone to see at all.

I stalked to the left, the direction was randomly chosen, my target is two decks under me. I first needed to find a stairwell.

Further down the corridor, behind a corner, I could faintly make out the sounds of someone talking. I sneaked up to the corner and listened.

“So you really think Monkey D. Luffy and Slicer Lara took out Crocodile? Weren't those two rookies.” This one was male.

“I don't think, I know. My cousin is stationed under Commodore Smoker, he was inside Alubarna and Rainbase. The reports about Smoker taking him out are a cover-up. It definitely were the pirates. And it's not totally unbelievable, Slicer Lara has a higher bounty than Crocodile.” Defended his partner, also male.

“Yes, well, but still. They are rookies, for them to fight and beat a Warlord is strange. I hope we won't meet them”, he said worriedly.

“Ha, we have Admiral Kizaru and Vice Admiral Momonga, do you really think those new ones could hold a candle against them?”, scoffed the other in disbelieve.

Well, shit, an Admiral is way above Lia and me, we will need to stop this.

I turned around to sneak back, but the deafening loud explosion of Lia's pressure bomb filled suddenly the air. A second later and another one exploded, followed by a small shake of the ship.

Why did she attack, did something happen? I still can't feel the other large presence, but the Vice Admiral was now on the move. I have to take him out and hope to get away from Kizaru, mirrors might be good to trick him.

“Shit, what happened!?”, shouted one of the two Marines in confusion. His friend said something, but the loud blare of an alarm drowned his reply.

I jumped around the corner, flicked two Kunai at the two Marines and drew my sword. The two were dead before they saw me and I was already focusing on one of my stronger attacks.

Momonga was already on his way upwards, roughly on the same level as me. With a grunt, I send my strongest force blade off and a two metre thick and rapidly growing blue blade of death cut through the ship.

The wooden walls were cut through like paper and one section after the other was halved. Then it connected with the aura of Momonga and stopped. For a moment I thought that it might have been enough, but then the attack started to weaken, without moving further forward. It got blocked by him.

So much to our attempt at an assassination. I looked upwards and cut a hole in the ceiling, another force blade pushed the wood upwards and I could use a few Geppo to get on deck.

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I was greeted by almost a hundred soldiers. They were warily looking at the hole, weapons drawn or aimed. “It's an enemy!”, shouted one Marine with a Lieutenant marking. His troops took it as a command and dozens of bullets were sent loose.

Not everyone could shoot and most only at my legs, else they hit their allies. They were all easily evaded by using Kami-e. The Lieutenant opened his mouth, but a high pitched PING! stopped whatever he wanted to say. A fine mist of blood spurted out of a hole in his head and he tilted backwards. Four comrades behind him, all of them with a hole in their head, followed suit.

A rapid series of PINGs followed and a dozen of Marines died within seconds. Then, like a cute goddess of death, my Lia descended from the sky. She apologised the moment she touched down. “Sorry, I heard a gunshot from Jonny and Yosaku's ship. They must have been seen.”

“That's unfortunate, especially now. I found out that Kizaru is also here. He must be the suppressed presence on the island.” A shift in Lia's stance was everything that signalled her surprise and worry.

“His presence hasn't flared and he is only moving slowly, but he is still coming out. What should we do?”, she then asked. The meaning of her question was clear to me, stay and try to give the crew time to get away or leave them on their own.

“This is exactly the kind of adventure we wanted, of course, we stay!” I replied with a large grin. And directly after my proclamation, a shadow jumped out of the hole I made and attacked me with a katana. I deflected the blade and looked up. Momonga was towering over me and stared into my glowing green eyes.

Momonga was a large man most likely somewhere in the two metres. It must look comically with him towering over my small frame. He wore a white purple striped suit with the marine coat on his shoulders. He also had an ugly moustache and a reddish-purple mohawk.

Lia, who heard me jumped upwards and pushed her finger down at Momonga's shoulder before jumping away. The man somehow felt the danger and shifted his shoulder, the imitated finger pistol pierced the wooden floor and not his flesh.

“Who are you?”, growled he then growled.

“Bringer of death and destruction to the false justice”, I answered with my voice altered. I used some vibration to make it sound eery and dark, yet not male.

“The Revolutionary then”, he replied and send a knee at me. I jumped over it, I tried to get in position to cut him, but his sword was already raised, so I raised my legs and used a Geppo in front of his face to get some distance.

The soldiers around us were dropping like flies from Lia's attacks, sometimes she was even throwing cannonballs.

I never lost focus on Momonga and was ready for his Soru aided rush.

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Third Person's POV;

“This is way too easy”, laughed Yosaku. He had only seconds ago knocked out a Marine guard.

“Yes, even the last pirates were stronger than these guys”, agreed Jonny from his side. Both men had climbed on their ship the same way Lara did on the super-sized warship. Their anchor led them on the deck of the ship. And with its build being the same as the Shadow quickly found their way around. Even when it was dark.

They were almost spotted by a Marine that took a piss in the sea, but a knock on his head with Yosaku's heavy sword was all it took to get rid of him. The poor fellow has probably drowned by now.

“The quarters or the captain's cabin?”, asked Jonny. They now stood right next to the entrance.

“Hmm, captains cabin, he will be the most dangerous for us”, decided Yosaku. They opened the door and a man with a cigarette stared at them, he too was in the middle of opening the door.

None of the three said anything, the cigarette dropped out of the mouth of the Marine. Then Jonny struck out with his fist and hit the man directly in the throat. His eyes widened, his mouth opened in a shout, but only a pained croak came out.

The pommel of Yosaku's sword crashed into the forehead of the Marine and he fell backwards. He hit the floor with a loud thump.

That was when everything turned FUBAR. A second Marine had come around the corner, saw his knocked out comrade, the masked sword duo and used the good training he good. He cried for help.

“ATTACK! We are under attack!” He then pulled his pistol and shot at Yosaku. The bullet only hit the door frame, but its bang woke the remaining crew and most likely alerted the other ships.

“Fuck!”, cursed Jonny, before running after the Marine. “I'll take the Marines, you try to stall the captain of this ship!” He then added mid-sprint.

Yosaku only gave him a grunt in acknowledgement and turned to the left. He knew where the captain's cabin was. It was also in the beginning of getting pulled open when he crashed inside, his sword used as a shield.

The Marine behind cried out in a high pitched surprise and was thrown backwards. Yosaku only needed a second to assess the situation. The owner of the cabin, a female officer, was pulling herself up from the throw. She only wore panties and a t-shirt probably came right out of her bed.

This didn't stop Yosaku in the slightest. Nojiko was often sunbathing in a bikini and both Lia and Lara weren't really modest. They often walked out of the bath without a towel. True, all four males would get a bitch slap if they gawk, but the nude female body wasn't something unknown to them and this was a fight. Lara would kill them if they stop just because this woman wasn't fully clothed.

So he roared and charged, his sword still raised as a shield, now acting as a battering ram.

The woman cursed and rolled out of the way. Yosaku couldn't see this from behind his massive sword and charged right through the wall, out on the deck.

He stopped his charge after a few metres and grabbed his sword in a correct position. He looked to the front and saw no one, so he quickly turned around and barely managed to block a double piercing attack from two daggers. The short weapons got deflected and the female Marine used the massive frame of the sword to jump backwards.

They both glared at each other and then whipped their heads to the side. A white dome was enclosing both smaller warships. Yosaku, knowing what this was, pierced his sword into the floor and braced himself for the impact. He never was this close to a pressure bomb from Lia.

A moment later he also wished he would never be it again. The blast crushed into the smaller vessel and rattled it heavily. The wind pressure followed not a second later and almost lifted him off of his feet.

The female Marine had no such luck, she too realized that standing so close to such a massive explosion wasn't a good idea, but she had only dropped down. The wind pressure picked her up and threw her into the railing. She hit it and grunted in pain.

An eery silence fell over the sea and then cries of pain and demands to know what happened filled the air. Yosaku glanced at the warships, but could not see them. Lia's attack must have destroyed them.

He pulled the sword out of the floor and rushed to the still lying woman. She was on her knees, shaking her head maybe trying to get it clear.

This time he didn't roar, Lia said that roaring is stupid and more often then not warns the opponent. Still, the woman noticed his charge and she barely managed to jump out of the way. Yosaku's heavy sword cleaved into the railing and then the floor. Splinters pelted both Yosaku and the woman, but Yosaku's clothes were designed to stop such weak objects.

The female Marine had no such clothes and her t-shirt, arms and legs got a lot of cuts from small wooden splinters. However, she used the time Yosaku would need to get the sword out for a dash to her dropped daggers.

She could grab one before she had to evade another of Yosaku's heavy sword slashes. This time it was horizontal and the wave of air that followed his swing wasn't helping her rising panic.

Yosaku used his swing to make a full turn and followed up with a vertical downward slash. His arms and the oversized sword gave him a massive reach. Enough to still reach the running woman.

She had just grabbed the second dagger when she turned around and saw the descending sword. She raised her daggers in a crossed block in a panicked attempt to save her life, while jumping backwards.

The cleaver crashed into her daggers, broke her grip and threw her into the other railing. Her fingers were now broken from the impact and her back wasn't far away on her pain scale. She knew that the sword was now again stuck on the wooden floor, but not for long.

She looked up to see her attacker, hoping that he was still stuck with his sword, so that she may be able to finally come up with a plan, any plan. Yet she only saw a pair of boots.

Yosaku was following another instruction of Lara. If the opponent is clearly faster than you, with no room to keep up, then keep him on his toes and follow each attack with another one. You must keep them from thinking and force them to react. They are not even allowed to counter once.

That is why he decided to use the remaining force of his downwards slash as a catapult and sent himself, boots first, at the Marine. His steel capped boots crashed into the face of the woman and her head got knocked into the wall. A crack told Yosaku that he broke her neck.

“Puh, that could have turned ugly”, he then said and jumped back to his sword. He pulled it out of the wood and turned to the door. “Oi Jonny, have you finished?”, he then shouted.

“Yeah, come help me with the gunpowder. Not all of us have such fancy attacks as sis Lia”, shouted Jonny from the inside.

Yosaku grinned. Then glanced at the dead woman and frowned. She has been an enemy, he didn't like to kill women. But Lara has beaten the crap out of him when he refused to fight his first female pirate.

She then said that not fighting them is the worst kind of chauvinism there is. He would never normally hit a woman, but a fight is a fight. Holding back would dishonour them.

He sheathed his sword and went inside, they would use the gunpowder to blow this ship up. They then had orders to get back to the Shadow.