One Shot;
Sorry, had an idea while thinking, duh. But this is what came out of it.
A few weeks after reaching the Grand Line; Nagana Town, on the Nagra Island
Third Person's POV;
The Kage Pirates had just anchored on a pretty island. The town had a harbour with a few fisher ships here and there. A couple of pirate ships have also anchored inside. Yet there was no pillaging or other crimes.
Only pillaging won't be good for pirates. They too need supplies and like to drink. Sure, stealing, arson, rape and murder is fun, but some prefer to come back to a good pub. After all, you can only pillage once.
The Kage Pirates all had decided that they would go out into a pub and get a drink before they leave for their next island.
It was a homely pub they found, you could even eat there. Yosaku and Jonny loved the meat, while Noa and Jo preferred the toasted sandwiches. Nojiko also had her fruit salad and Lia her juice.
Naturally, there was also chicken and where there is chicken, Lara is not far away.
The Kage Pirates were all sitting on a table and ate their food. Numerous other patrons were eating around them. Some pirates, others locals from the island. “It might be as good as Lia's, but the food here is still pretty good,” laughed Yosaku with a mouth full of meat. Other drunken patrons heard him praising the kitchen and shouted their agreement.
The owner laughed as well and declared that the house will spend a free round. Which made the audience shout in joy. Drunken patrons spent more money after all.
Yet, suddenly the happy atmosphere was disturbed the resolute bang of the now open entrance door.”Marines, there are a whole bunch of Marine ships on their way to us!” The man that has shouted this into the pub then hastily left to spread the word around.
The once happily partying and drinking pirates jumped into action. A few left hurriedly and shouted about setting sail, while the majority began to stand up in preparation for the coming fight.
The Kage Pirates also stood up. “So, what do we do? By now the Marines will be too close to set sail. We haven't yet fought such a big group. Flee or fight?” Asked Lara her crew.
“I'd say we fight, it's not as if we have to fight all the Marines on our own, the pirates around will also fight along,” said Yosaku enthusiastically, his sword already rested on his shoulder and was keeping nearby rowdy pirates away.
Those pirates that are already starting brawls and fights throughout the town. Just because Marines were inbound did not mean that rivalry between pirate crews stopped.
The rest of the Kage Pirates agreed. “Okay, we can stay and fight, but only if we stay together. Lia and I can't protect you when you are too far away from us.” Argued Lara.
“Ahaha the Kage Pirates, Slicer Lara, your bounty will be mine!” Roared suddenly a man. He came running at the group with a sword raised high over his head.
However, Yosaku stepped into the way before he could even get close to Lara. “You're way too weak to fight my captain.” He then used his large sword to bash the attacking man high into the air. He vanished with a cry into the night sky.
Yosaku turned back around and grinned at his friends with a victory sign.“How long did you wait to say these words?” Asked Jonny, acting as if he was embarrassed but secretly envious of Yosaku.
Yosaku could only sheepishly rub his head. “Eh, not important now. Let's go down to the harbour, we need to secure the Shadow.” Deflected Yosaku. He stepped to the lead and began to march through the town.
More fights were breaking out and looters were trying to start their work. Those that were on the way to the harbour were swiftly taken care off. The Kage Pirates even took their time to slow down and kill the opportunity rapists under the pirates.
“There is hardly any cannon firing,” noticed Jonny halfway to the harbour.
“Yeah, I would have expected that the Marines would by now fire on the ships that are docked or trying to flee,” agreed Nojiko.
“They don't want to risk hitting the town, the locals would be very cross with them,” explained Josef.
Nojiko sighed out in relieve, she had no interest in a fight were cannonballs would rain down on her head, while she had to shoot at people that try to kill her.
Only a fourth of the way was left when the noise of gunfire and battle started to ring through the town. “The Marines must be here.” They only have one more road and then they'll reach their ship.
Suddenly, Lia stopped the group with a raised hand. “Let's stop here for a moment, there are pirates waiting in the side streets, they must want to ambush the Marines and I don't want to walk into the crossfire.”
Everyone tensed a bit more, it meant that soon they would have to fight. And soon enough two pirates rushed around a corner in a panicked sprint. “Run, the Marines are here!” They passed the Kage Pirates without stop and run past another corner.
The Kage Pirates also hid inside doorways or small side passageways. They only had to wait for a few seconds, when the first group of Marines turned around the last corner. More followed and within moments a group of thirty Marines was marching up the street.
They looked around, wary and guarded, but the hidden pirates were still waiting. Only when the troop of Marines was within the middle of the street did they attack.
With battle cries, they made themselves known and then began to open fire on the Marines. The surprise attack was not so much a surprise, as such situations were anticipated, but it still gave the Pirates the first shot.
Four Marines fell under the first attack, but then the officer in lead barked his orders and fire was returned.
Still, the Marines were in the middle of a street, with no cover at all. While the pirates had the top of the houses, side alleys and walls to hide behind. It was quickly obvious that the Marines would be slaughtered if they were to stay there.
The officer noticed this as well, he had already taken a bullet to the shoulder. He was about to order a retreat, when suddenly the back half of his head exploded. Brain matter, bone shards and blood splattered on the face of his second in command.
Now, had these Marines been New World soldiers, or more experienced fighters, it would have been a shock, but not something that would break their morale. That, however, was not the case for these Marines. And even if it had been, with Lia's Devil Fruit the pressure their mind was under was steadily increasing. A prolonged fight against her was futile, sooner or later their morale would have been broken.
The second in command, now first, screamed in horror. Nearby Marines looked at the sudden horror filled scream and saw their dead leader. Then the new first in command did something worse and turned around, before running back to the harbour in a dead sprint.
Now the morale of the soldiers was broken, their leader dead, their second in command was fleeing with everything he got and they were still under constant fire. They too turned and run back to the harbour.
The pirates that were on ground level stormed after them, drunk on their victory. The fleeing Marines were now not only shot at but also pursued by pirates.
“See? A single good shot can do more than kill someone,” explained Lia. Nojiko was lowering her rifle, while nodding. Lia had told her to watch the troop of Marines. She had then been given the task to do the most damage possible, while only taking a single shot.
And while Nojiko was watching the fight Lara had explained to her what morale and position in a battle can do. That the pirates had the advantage from more than one pre-planned strategy and that why the Marines were losing.
Nojiko then saw how one of the Marines, basically indistinguishable from the others with the exception of a single bar on his shoulder, was shouting orders, instead of really fighting. She took her chance and killed him with a head shot.
“And now why it is stupid for the pirates to run after these Marines. They are now in the middle of the street, their friends on the roofs are getting farther away and they run towards a known location with more Marines. I think the result is obvious.” It was as if something wanted to prove Lara's words, as a whole new and fresh group of Marines came running around the corner.
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This one was led by a more obvious solder. He and his forty men sprinted past their fleeing comrades and fired their rifles and pistols before engaging in close combat.
The ten or so pirates had no chance against these newcomers and got cut down, their friends were not able to aim from their angle and within moments the pirates were dead.
The Marines then took the remaining pirates on the roofs under fire and slowly proceeded to get closer. Their leader was jumping and climbing from wall to wall and up onto the roof. From there he started to pressure the pirates from a second side.
“And now we have to move or it will be us who are attacked from the front and soon the top,” announced Lara.
She, Josef, Jonny and Yosaku stepped to the front and then rushed at the Marines. Nojiko was shooting her rifle at the more precise marksmen from the Marines, while Lia kept an eye out for troublesome situations.
The Marines were so occupied with fighting the roofs that they only spotted the Kage Pirates when it was too late. Josef flung scalpel knives with deadly precision, while Jonny's cuts were quick, Marines fell left and right. Yosaku was slower, but his attacks were more devastating. The few Marines that tried to block his weapon soon found out that they still could get thrown through the air by the force of the attack.
And Lara, well, she was a deadly dancer. She twisted, turned, ducked and jumped through the lines of Marines and cut a bloody wake into their ranks. Her blade was humming from the rapid vibration and cut through the cloth of the Marines with more ease than a hot knife through butter.
Their leader noticed that his men were getting cut down and he only needed a glance to see the reason. He knew who these people were, even if only one of them had a bounty.
He decided that he'd have to attack them now, or else his soldiers would be cut down. His target was Yosaku, his larger build would be easier to hit while jumping down from the roof.
He prepared himself and then jumped, with delight he saw that his flight path would bring him directly on top of Yosaku. But then his world turned dark and he died.
Unnoticed to him, Lia has seen him looking down on Lara. The moment he decided to attack was the moment his death was decided. When he jumped Lia flicked a pebble into his flight path. The thrown pebble reached a deadly velocity and then punctured through his head, killing him instantly.
Down below the Marines were now also close to losing any will to fight. They had been under Lia's influence from the start and more and more of them were beginning to fall back.
Meanwhile, the few surviving pirates on the roof saw that they might still survive and began to cheer. The Kage Pirates didn't react, they stopped attacking the moment the Marines began to run and then gathered right behind the corner that will bring them to the harbour.
“Now, we won't go around this corner. There are sure to be fortified Marines waiting for us. No, instead we take a different route. There are a few ways how we can do that, first, we could go over the roofs, but those might be under watch.
Then we could cut our way through a nearby wall or lastly, we ask a local if we could use his back entrance. Which is what we are going to do.” Lara then walked to a nearby door and knocked politely.
“Excuse me? Would it be possible for us to take your back entrance to evade the Marines? I'd hate to cut your door open,” she then asked politely.
For a moment nothing happened, but then the voice of a scarred male came from the other side of the closed door. “Why should we trust pirates?”
“Because we are asking nicely. I could also cut your door open, but that would leave you fully unprotected. We won't harm you, your family or your property. If we are led through, otherwise your door will have to die.” responded Lara calmly. The man behind the door was between a hard place and a rock. He could either let them come inside and risk getting his family and himself killed or keep the door closed and risk it getting cut open and then his family and himself killed.
In the end, he opened the door, these pirates might speak the truth, and if they were he would still have a door against other pirates.
He found himself being stared at by three women and three men. “Thanks, where is the back door?” Asked Lara the moment the door was open.
“This way, and please hurry,” urged the man, he wanted to have them gone as fast as possible. He led the Kage Pirates through his house and to the entrance on the backside.
“Where's the family?” Asked Lara the man, just to make some conversation. She did not notice that the simple question filled the man with fear over his family.
“No, they are visiting family,” he answered. The many photos of his son and daughter were a dead give away to a family, so lying about a family was impossible.
“They are hiding upstairs, the mother is defending the door to their bedroom, while the two children are hiding inside something. From the size, I would guess a laundry bin or a closet,” answered Lia right after the man.
He turned as pale as a sheath of paper and glanced fearfully at Lia. She smiled at him, a smile that didn't make him feel better. “Don't panic, Lara already said it, we aren't here to hurt you or your family.” Contrary to her expression her words were a lot friendlier, even if a bit cold.
“Lia, your smile looked strange again,” piped Josef up from the side.
Lia frowned, touched her face and then looked at Lara with the exact same smile. “Something wrong with my smile” She then asked.
“No,” said Lara, while Jonny, Yosaku and Nojiko all said “”Yes!“”.
The man didn't know what to think about the situation but was relieved when they reached the backside of the house. “That's our back door, it will bring you into a small side street, it leads down to the harbour.”
The Kage Pirates all left the house, but before the man could close the door Lara turned around and pushed something in his hands. “Thanks, here, for your trouble.” She then closed the door and the man was left standing in the hallways. Slowly he opened his hand and looked inside, there, resting in his palm, was a diamond the size of his thump. It was unrefined but still looked expensive.
A few months later this man could be seen telling his children and everyone who might want, or was close enough, to listen to his story. How he has talked to Slicer Lara and True Shot Lia. A story that he told to the jeweller whom he sold the diamond. This jeweller told the story to his acquaintances, one of whom was named Clarie, she was the owner of Clarie's Jewellery.
“Would you really have cut his door open?” Asked Jonny the moment they were back on the streets.
“Most likely not, only if the Marines came around the corner. We'd have taken the roofs if he had refused,. You'll have to make it sound as if you'd do it, while not sounding aggressive or dangerous. Had I screamed at him he might have refused, but me calmly stating what happens if he does not, made him see that both his options include us inside his house.”
Jonny nodded slowly, he could see the reason but was not liking the idea of scarring unrelated people.
“Anyway, now we'll most likely come out behind the barricaded street. The Marines will have guards on in the harbour, attacking them will quickly lead to us being surrounded. We can fight our way through, but the risks are higher. It might be better to be sneaky, for as long as possible,” she continued and then waited for a response.
Nojiko and Josef were clearly for the sneak option and while Yosaku and Jonny were not disagreeable with a direct fight, they did not want to risk it. So it was quickly decided that they would try to sneak.
“Good, stay in the shadows and try to follow me, Lia will stay at the back so that no one gets lost,” instructed Lara, before she began to sneak down the street.
The rest followed, some with more success than others. Had Lara not been dampening the sound of their footsteps they would have been spotted almost instantly. Yosaku simply was not built for sneaking.
They still managed to get within viewing distance of their ship with Lara's Devil Fruit and her knowledge about finding the best path for evading patrolling soldiers.
The ship was undamaged and dark, but a group of dead Marines was lying in front of the ship. Close to three dozen Marines were facing the silent ship, but they were not moving or shooting.
The Kage Pirates had hidden behind a bunch of crates and were able to listen in on a conversation between two Marines. “Man, that chicken is crazy. It killed everything that came too close to the ship,” spoke one Marine to another.
“Yeah man, good that it stops attacking if we're far enough away. Not even the captain could fight the chicken.”
“I heard that's the ship of an East Blue group, they are the Kage Pirates or something like that,” said the first man again.
“Really? How high is their bounty?” Asked the second.
“Not all of them have one yet, there is their captain with a bounty of 25 million and then her sister with 12 million, but I think the real captain is a guy named Josef Mengele, he has a bounty of 50 million.” The Marine sounded worried when he spoke Josef's bounty.
This early in the Grand Line a bounty of 50 million was still really large.
“Well, worst case we still have the Commodore, she won't be beaten by someone with a bounty with 50 Million. I heard she has once taken in a pirate with a bounty of 125 million, ” assured his friend.
Back behind the crates Jonny and Yosaku were silently laughing at Josef, he didn't like his bounty and thought it was uncomfortable to be seen as stronger than Lara, while clearly being weaker than her. Especially when she was close enough to hear these words.
“Yeah, getting out of here won't be possible without a fight. I'll say we surprise them and take them out before then lifting the anchor and fleeing,” suggested Lara in a whisper. The fact that she was a bit miffed about her not being seen as the true captain had nothing to do with her suggestion. At least that is what she was telling herself.
A plan was quickly formulated and it was decided that Josef and Lia would first take out as most of them as possible, without raising the alarm.
For the first five soldiers everything went well, but then one of the remaining soldiers spotted Josef and shouted an alarm. The remaining Marines were first looking at the ship, to see if that scary chicken was back, but by doing so they wasted important seconds and found themselves on the back foot when they had to defend themselves against an attack from the back.
Within short order, they were overwhelmed and the Kage Pirates climbed on board of their ship. Lia and Josef were tasked with defending the ship from reinforcements, while the rest prepared the ship to set sail.
“Bough,” clucked Mrs Chicken Wing in greeting, she has done her guard duty and was guarding the ship against intruders. She also evaded the swing of Lara's sword by flying over it and then landing on her head.
“Hello, ehem, mimimimi, I am glad that you are all back. The Marines have swarmed the harbour and are blocking the only exit.” Igaram, who had stayed on the ship and then had to wait until the rest was back, informed them about the situation.
“Okay, please help Lia and Jo with defending the ship, there will be more and more Marines, the longer we wait,” ordered Lara. Igaram nodded and took his saxophone-gun to help out.
By now it was already practised ease to set sail and the Shadow began to take speed while holding a direct course at the Marine ship that was blocking their way.
“They are in the way,” stated Lara. She then drew her sword, focused and cut down. A large force blade flew outwards and right into the blockade. The Marine ship got cut in half and then its parts pushed to the side by Lia's power.
The Shadow, a smaller ship, could then easily sail through the halves of the ship. The two other ships that had anchored inside the harbour had no chance at shooting. They would risk hitting the sinking allied ship or the walls of the harbour.
They allowed the Shadow to sail past them.
The Commodore, who was later questioned why she has not pursued them, said that someone who could cut a large ship in half with a single attack would also be able to do a lot more damage.
The Kage Pirates were leaving and haven't shot their cannons, nor at the sinking ship or its Marines. She deemed the threat posed by the remaining pirates in the city greater than that of a fleeing mostly none aggressive group of Pirates.