Yosaku's POV;

Lia and Lara have just jumped out of the window, followed by Mrs Chicken Wing, when Paulie, Zambei and the rest of the Galley-La/Franky Family decided to get on board of their King Bull pulled house.

It was decided that Jonny and I will go with them to help breach the first two gates. Nojiko, Josef, Noa and Fiara will stay on the train and come after us.

We jumped over to the other vessel and the massive animals climbed over the fence with ease. They shot their main cannon at a group of Marines and we jumped out of the cart.

We instantly found ourselves attacked by guards and Marines alike. The Franky Family was dabbling in bounty hunting and their work was rather physically, they easily took it up with the present Marines.

There still were a good four dozen guards left after the first bombing, but those were weak. Even weaker than what Jonny and I were before we joined Lara and Lia.

Three tried to intercept me, but a single swish of my blade, equipped with some of Lia's metal balls, generated a gust of wind strong enough to throw them away and over the small passage that connected the train station with the island. They fell down into the black hole under Enies Lobby. A fate that I don't want to share.

The rest was quickly overwhelmed and the three large men from the Franky Family pushed the first gate open. We roared a mighty battle cry and stormed forward, only stopping when the sky became shadowed.

The ground rumbled and two giants had made their presence known. They were standing higher than the second gate and had weapons bigger than houses. One introduced himself as Oimo the other as Kaashi.

“Huh, we never have fought a giant,” I said in mild interest. These guys are big, but big does not mean strong. Lara is tiny and fucking strong.

“We won't let you pass!” Shouted the fat giant. He swung his giant club down and hit the left one of the three big men from the Franky Family. The right one got defeated by his giant friend and the middle one simply kicked away by both together.

“Alright, I take the fat one!” I announced and sprinted forward. Jonny would be following me, taking the other one.

The giant saw me, chuckled and took a swing with his club. It raced down at me and blocked the sun. In return in brought my own sword up and both of our weapons clashed, only for his to shatter in thousands of pieces.

My swing pushed his arm back and he stumbled a step back. Enough for me to jump up and bring the flat side of my sword down on his head. The helmet might have protected him from a cut, but blunt force will go through easier.

A mighty gong rung through the field from the impact and the eyes of the giant rolled back into his head. He let out a gurgle and then fell forward. I landed on his back and turned to the side, seeing the other one down as well. Numerous cuts were littering all over his body. He was still awake but in great pain.

“Mine is knocked out,” I proclaimed victoriously.

“Yeah? But mine won't be able to do much for some time. I have punctured his tendons. Yours will wake up soon and only have a mild headache,” countered Jonny.

“But yours can still move around, he is big enough that even a roll can harm someone!” I shot back. Knocked out is way better, he won't be able to do anything.

We were just about to duke it out ourselves when Zanbei from the Franky Family interrupted us. “You've taken them out this easily... With your help, there is real hope in getting Boss Franky!”

The rest of Franky Family roared in approval and stormed forward. The gate got pushed open and we reached the proper island. Hundreds of guards were waiting for us.

“Didn't Lia and Lara say that they would go in first? I would have thought that with Lia here there would be more dead bodies by now,” questioned Jonny from next to me. I nodded in agreement. Lia isn't one who would pass an opportunity to get rid of some Marines.

I was just about to answer when a series of big ass explosions happened from further inside the island. A giant dust cloud formed over a part of the island and got instantly blown away, followed by a staccato of dozens of more explosions. Each making a loud boom.

“Ah there she is,” noted Jonny with fondness. The guys around us looked in awe at the destruction that was already turning one half of the island to rubble. From the north, we could hear explosions and shock waves as well.

“What was that?” asked one of the Marines fearfully.

“That's Sis Lia for you. She might be pissed at someone,” I answered with a grin. It brought the attention back to us and the Marines remembered why they were all ready to fight.

They were just about to scream their war cries and attack us when a loud groan came from behind. We turned around and saw how the fat giant began to stir. “Told you he would wake up,” said Jonny with a smug grin.

I scowled and saw the need to defend myself. This giant has guts to wake up now. “I only gave him a love tap, to begin with.”

“I can't let you pass. You are not going to pass!” Roared the newly awakened giant. He scrambled to his feet and roared. He took a step forward and then screamed in pain. Somehow, the Rocket Man has come flying over the second gate and into the back of the fat giant.

He got knocked out again and was down for the second time. “Huh, that was unexpected,” I said while scratching my head.

I looked at Jonny, who only shrugged in response. Together we turned back to the Marines, they were still staring at the downed giant and the sea train.

Everyone except for a group of men riding on giant hounds. They were rather quickly coming closer. One of them jumped in the air and at Paulie but got his head cut off by a swift swing of Jonny's sword. The dark blade did not meet any resistance and wasn't even bloody.

I too took a swing. with enough strength in it to rival that of the hit I gave the giant. The resulting wind blew six of the riders off of their dogs and made the rest stop in their advance.

They stared at us, we stared at them, and then a door from the train got kicked off of its hinges and crashed right into a nearby Marine. Out came Sanji and Zoro, followed by the rest of the Straw Hats and our own crew.

“So these are the evil people that hurt our Josef?”, asked Fiara in her normal innocent tone. Chopper who stood next to her nodded. “They will burn in a fiery death of napalm and phosphor!” Declared Fiara, not even losing one iota of her innocent tone.

She grabbed something behind her back and brought forward a flamethrower. Where did she hide that? She then jumped up and activated her strapped on waver-skates, a pair that she has made for herself, after finding out how to recreate the shells.

With a laugh, she blitzed through the air and began to let literal hell rain down on the unsuspecting Marines. Some tried to hide in houses, but Fiara threw tiny pellets after them, each exploded in a fiery blast. Burning liquid splashed over the hiding places and stuck to anything it touched.

We could only watch in stupid fascination how the tiny, mentally crackling, Tontatta started to burn down the whole house block. Marines were screaming in pain, some even melting from the intense heat. “I think we should stop Lia from speaking with Fiara any more. She might have had turned our sweet innocent girl into a pyromaniac,” commented Jonny. He hasn't taken his eyes off of the spectacle. It was like a ship crash accident, you don't want to look at it, but you can't avert your eyes.

“You Kage Pirates are even more fearsome than the Straw Hats,” muttered a very pale Paulie. His cigar has fallen out of his opened mouth. His words were punctuated further by a mighty crash and roar of some animal further north.

Chopper's hooves were clacking together in fright and the disguised Ussop was quacking in fear. They were hiding behind Zoro, who too had a slightly concerned look.

“Is she going to be okay?”, asked Sanji, he was somewhat composed. He was also referring to the now distancing Fiara. She was leaving a burning trench in her wake. Her four arms on her back were throwing these pellets left and right and her hands were still carrying a fire spying flamethrower.

Josef waved the concern off with a dismissive gesture.“She'll be fine. We don't know for sure, but some of us think that she might very well be our third strongest fighter.”

“If you say so...,” Sanji's sentence died off when Fiara used one of her lasers to vaporise a whole street. With a deep breath, he collected himself and turned back to us.

“Good, we have breached the second gate, now we have to get to the Court. And then we will FREE ROBIN-CHAN!” A fire was burning in his eyes and he showed his conviction to get Robin by kicking the living shit out of anything that had a Marine uniform or black business suit.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

It also had the effect that the rest of us got out of their own shock from seeing Fiara running amok.

Her acts have left a brief lull in the advancement of the defending Marines, which was used by the Franky Family by equipping their giant King Bulls with tracks to move on land.

We were just about to climb on top when Jonny jumped to my back and deflected an incoming sword strike. I reacted quickly and drew my sword. With one swift move, I brought it down at the second sword that was trying to impale Jonny's chest and pushed the attacker, who was forced to block, away.

It was a man with two kukris. He wore the same kind of suit most Government Agents wear and had a mask on his face, not unlike those of the clown guy. Just that his was a blank one with teary eyes.

The agent made a mocking bow before speaking in a clear tone.“The Captain said that you lot are dangerous. Mia got True Shot and Slicer is fighting the Captain himself. Don't think that I am weaker than Mia, just because she is the Captain's favourite!” His voice held some anger, but I think it was more directed at this Mia person than at us. “So please die quickly, I have to show the Captain that I'm better than Mia!” He then jumped forward with both swords ready to hack at us.

I lifted my own sword in position and parried his attack, before throwing him backwards again. “You can go first, I'll catch up with you,” I shouted over my back to the others. This guy looks to be rather strong and Lara did warn us that those two unknown CP agents were stronger than the normal ones.

“But,” started Nojiko, she was however interrupted by a sudden rush of new soldiers, who were dead set on killing us.

“Go now, I can take him!” I ordered and jumped at the CP agent. At first, he tried to block my attack but quickly learned that it wasn't easy to block a three-ton sword with only one hand.

He made a hasty retreat backwards and I pressed on. Behind me, I heard how the massive King Bulls began to move further inland.

“I'm Yosaku, how may I call you?” I asked politely. This may be a fight to the death but was still a swordsman.

“Shut your trap Big Cleaver, I know who you are. But I'll humour you. I'm Mike and your executioner,” replied the teary eye masked man. Mike then used a soru that was equally as fast as what Lara uses in our training.

He reached me in the blink of an eye and had one of his kukris on a downward path at my right shoulder. I stepped forward, inside his guard, and raised my right arm. My elbow smacked his arm upwards and broke the attack, however, I wasn't done yet. I continued my own move and brought my sword up in an uppercut.

He in return moved his second blade in the way and made a light jump to use the force of my cut to launch himself up. He then made a series of somersaults mid-air, to get rid of the energy. They weren't moving his body away and he was then in the perfect position to bring both his blades down at me.

I still had my sword raised and would have only been able to move out of the way by dropping down to the floor, but before his two kukris could cut into me they were both pushed away by a piercing move from another blade.

“Can't let you out of my sight for a single moment can I?” Asked Jonny from behind me. He was grinning, but his eyes were serious.

“I had to do it, how else will you be able to do anything helpful in a fight?” I replied with a smirk of my own. We both bark a short laugh out and then got into the fighting stance we were using when we are a tack team against Lara or other strong opponents.

Mike eyed Jonny for a moment before shrugging and then attacking us again. His blades now coated in Armament Haki. “He'll attack from the left,” warned Jonny. He had awakened his Observation Haki during the training we had over the last month.

It wasn't very strong yet and he couldn't 'foresee' an attack that came fast and with little time to prepare, but a distant rush such as this was possible.

I said nothing and concentrated on my arms. I too had awakened my own Haki. Lara liked the fact that I got Armament Haki, it allowed her to train with me longer. So far I wasn't able to coat my blade, I can only do a slight enhancement of my muscles. It nonetheless gave a great boost.

As predicted, he made a quick jump to the left at the last minute and brought both his weapons upwards at my left side. I used my massive sword as a shield and batted it into his swords.

He got instantly stopped in his tracks but tried to overpower me. He was strong, had I not coated my arms in Armament, he would have managed to push through my guard. Now we were of equal strength.

The struggle for supremacy got broken when Jonny came from behind me and used the moment to pierce his sword towards Mike. Who in return twisted to the left and made a turn around my wall of steel.

He used the turn to gain momentum and brought his right sword at me with a wide arc. I jumped up, using my own blade as a pole, and let his kukri crash into my sword. It pinged loudly and he nearly lost his grip on his weapon.

I used this minute chance and forced my still mid-air body forward into a roll. My hands were still on my sword, so it got ripped out of the ground and made an arc. The flat side crashed into the hastily erected guard of Mike and pushed his arms upwards.

His hands must have been slightly numb from the clash before because he lost his right kukri. Jonny was quick to use this chance and attacked Mike's right side. He would have cut the arm of Mike off, hadn't a sudden translucent shield jumped into existence.

Jonny's cut got stopped by the shield, it cracked and then got cut through, but most of the speed and strength was lost. The end result of a normally really fast and strong attack was only a minor cut on Mike's shoulder.

“Hahaha, I congratulate you. Not many can break my shield,” laughed Mike with excitement. He has used our brief moment of confusion to jump back and pick his weapon back up.

“So he's a Devil Fruit user, Paramecia most likely,” I said after going through what I have seen. The shield must be a direct result of his Devil Fruit. Maybe he can create shields all over his body. Possibly on things around himself as well.

“That's right. I have eaten the shield-shield fruit. I can produce shields all over my body. Every hit will get greatly weakened or downright blocked. And while you can't harm me, the same does not go for you,” explained Mike before rushing at Jonny with a soru.

Jonny pierced at Mike's chest, but the five quick thrusts were all blocked by a two-layered shield. The first got pierced, but the second held strong. Mike got inside Jonny's guard and made to cut into him with his right kukri.

Luckily, I was standing close and could grab Jonny on his jacket to pull him backwards. Now with Jonny out of the way, I brought down my raised sword and it crashed into Mike.

A shield jumped up before I could cut into his shoulder. It got shattered almost instantly, a second one came in place and also got cut in two. Mike's expression was of slight shock before determination settled in. Only millimetres away from his shoulder, a third shield came up and managed to stop my sword.

Mike looked strained, maybe his control over his fruit only allows him to create two shields. A third looks to be straining on him.

Before Mike could do any retaliation strike, Jonny was back in the game. He jumped at Mike like a spear, his sword poised forward and a strong pierce hit Mike's stomach. It got blocked after the second shield, but it looked strained.

It was my turn again and I kicked at Mike's chest. It got blocked by only a single shield, but he got pushed back from us and I had time to tell Jonny about my observations. “He has to concentrate really hard to put a third shield in place.

We might be able to wound him if we hit the same place. If you're able to pierce through the first two shields, then I will be able to break the third and wound him.”

Jonny nodded and got ready for another bout. “We're going for his right side, the middle of his arm. His hand is still weakened from the clash against your sword.”

Mike didn't hear our brief talk and was just about to rush at us when the earth shook. The eastern part of the town exploded and got ripped apart. I knew that this was one of Lia's really serious attacks. Jonny knew too, but Mike doesn't.

He made the mistake to look at the massive dust cloud and Jonny used that to use a soru of his own to jump forward. I followed directly behind, sword raised over my head.

The moment Mike realised his mistake it was already too late. Jonny had started his cut and the hastily erected shield got cut through, as was the second one. Only the third layer blocked Jonny's sword fully.

Thinking that this was it Mike cut with his kukri down at Jonny's chest. And because Jonny had to keep the pressure up, so that the third shield wouldn't vanish, the sword hit.

It cut into Jonny, but I had no time to worry about him. I had put all of my normal strength into this swing and couldn't stop it any longer. It shattered the still present third shield, much to the shock of Mike.

My sword continued on, but then a fourth shield jumped up. It too was cut, but by the time Mike had already jumped away, out of reach and still unharmed.

I didn't take my eyes from him but called back to Jonny. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it isn't too deep. Josef will be able to patch me up in no time,” replied Jonny with only a small amount of pain in his tone. He stepped next to me and we both got ready again.

Mike was panting, the activation of a fourth shield must have taken a lot out of him. This was a point for both of our sides. He is now rather tired and Jonny is wounded. “Can you hold him for a moment? With [Demonic Strength] I will be able to breach all his shields. I just have to hit,” I requested with a whisper.

“Yeah, I can keep him busy enough for you to land a hit,” answered Jonny. He took a deep breath and then vanished from my sight. He was using a different version of soru, he was calling it [Wind Step]. Faster than the normal variance, but also harder to manoeuvre or master.

The first strike of his sword struck mikes neck before the CP agent could even react. A shield blocked it instantly. Seems like Mike does not need to actively activate at least the first shield.

I took a deep breath of my own and focused all my strength”[Demonic Strength]!” The muscles in my arms bulged and grew thrice their size. With this skill, I now am almost equal in raw strength to Lara with her Angel Devil Fruit activated.

It made me slower, but the return in strength was making each hit devastating. Mike was busy with blocking Jonny's rapid onslaught of cuts, slices and thrusts. He only noticed me at the last moment and brought a single blade between himself and my swing.

I cut through his blade like a hot knife through butter. Niku Gorashi cut through the first three shields without slowing down. Then it hit the fourth shield, my sword was momentarily stopped, but with a roar, I pushed more strength into the attack and his shield broke.

Then Niku Gorashi made its name honour. The massive, but still sharp sword, cut into the lower right side of Mike's torso and bisected him.

A wide ark or a force blade appeared on the other side of his body and cut through four rows of houses, before dying down. His upper body got thrown away, while his lower body pumped some blood upwards, before falling forward.

“Fuck, sorry Captain seems like I lost. I can already see Mia's smug face when she learns of my defeat,” cursed the still living Mike.

He laughed weakly, before coughing blood. He was killed by a pierce to his head by Jonny. Neither of us saw the need for continuing his pain.

“We won,” said Jonny numbly. I nodded. This was the first fight we had together against someone that would surely have beaten us if we were alone. Jonny was not strong enough to breach his shields and I am not fast enough to land a hit that would be strong enough to breach all his shields.

“What now?” I asked and took a look at our surroundings. The place we fought was vacant of any Marine. They had taken pursuit after the rest of us.

Jonny opened his mouth to suggest something, but his answer was not heard in the sudden massive explosion that came from the sea. The metal fence around Enies Lobby was breached and we could make out a group of supersized warships. I think this Buster Call Sanji spoke about during his call is here.

“They're going to burn the island to the ground, we should try to find some way for us to escape. In our haste to follow the CP9 we forgot to plan that part,” said Jonny. He was frowning at the incoming fleet of battleships.

“Let's get your chest bandaged first,” I said and took some bandages out of my leg pouch. There's still time before they reach us for a true bombing.