Chuckling to myself, I was about to order Trenza to shoot the shit out of Blackbeard's marksman, but before I could, I felt a sudden wave of death wash over me as all of my hair stood one end, and I wasn't the only one, Freyja also sensed the same thing as me considering we both snapped out heads from the direction we came from. Far in the distance, there it was; it was still mostly hidden behind the horizon, but the flag flowing in the wind was a dead giveaway as to who it was.
"Marines." Muttered Diddy and Freyja simultaneously with ugly expressions as they gazed at the massive battleship that slowly revealed itself from behind the horizon.
To make matters worse, there wasn't only one battleship; no, the instant the first battleship started to enter view, we saw tens of more flags emerge from the horizon. I couldn't fully see the ships, but there must've been at least forty or so marine battleships chasing after us, and, as if things couldn't get any worse when the bow of the foremost battleship was finally viewable, there they were, standing side by side, three people with each one causing my instincts to blare at me to escape.
As I eyed those three people, just a mere glance from them made my entire body go stiff, though I wasn't scared; if anything, it was the opposite. I've never felt such a desire to fight against someone so powerful, but I also knew I'd end up dead without a doubt. Let alone dying, I was wholly confident we couldn't even escape anymore; now, we were merely living on borrowed time; it was only a matter of time until we ended up dying.
'Heh, unless.' Mused Diddy as he glanced at the ocean, which was getting more and more turbulent as time passed.
"Diddy, how fucked are we?" Asked Freyja with an ugly expression as she instantly transformed into her Satan's soul while standing beside Diddy, who was already wielding Naga-sa.
"We're on the level of 'I love you, Freyja', fucked." Replied Diddy with a ferocious grin as he lowered his stance, while Freyja's expression turned even grimmer.
"Heh, we're fucking dead this time; the only thing high than that is level, 'I love you, Diddy'." Remarked Freyja as she laced her elongated nails with inky black flames while lightning sporadically danced around Diddy.
"Hehe, if we ever reach that level of fucked, I'd off myself." Muttered Diddy with a grin, his words causing Freyja to chuckle surprisingly.
"Sebas, Mael, get ready; we've got enemies." Added Diddy as he kept his eyes locked on the three men standing at the front of the battleship while ready to instantly make a move if needed.
"Oh dear, this is far less ideal." Said Sebas, eyeing Blackbeard's ship before turning and glancing behind him, only to freeze while his expression turned grim.
"You're putting this situation lightly, Sebas, this is fucking terrible." Stated Mael with an ugly expression as he wielded his golden axe while wisps of plasma emitted from his entire body.
Just as I was about to say something, I saw the man wearing the mustard-colored clothes suddenly raise his hand, pointing it at me, and out of pure reflexes, not a single thought went through my mind as I instantly tilted my head to the side; I was moving on pure instinct, and reflexes. I wasn't even able to fully tilt my head all the way before a beam of light passed right where my head previously was, though I was still too slow as it scorched my cheek and burned half of my ear off.
Despite nearly killing me, the man seemed rather surprised before suddenly lowering his arm, which caused me to release a breath I didn't know I was holding. Touching my cheek, I felt nothing but a stinging sensation, and I couldn't help but be amazed at such a display of might and strength; I've encountered a few strong opponents during this pirate adventure, but never have I encountered someone so powerful.
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I've nearly been killed on multiple occasions, but this is the first time it happened so swiftly and easily; I was barely given time to react, and even then, I didn't fully succeed in doing so.
"Did I see that right? Did he just fire a beam of light?" Questioned Mael sternly as he glanced at Diddy before looking back at the man, only for a beam of light to pass right through his head, though it caused him no harm.
"Pay attention, Mael, though yes, he did indeed fire a beam of light. If I'm not mistaken, that is Admiral Kizaru." Said Sebas with a nod as he erected numerous psionic barriers before him, just in time for Kizaru to shoot a beam of light at him, which smashed through every psionic barrier; yet, in the end, despite Sebas not moving, the light whizzed right past his head.
"Hoho, if you can't block or dodge it, just redirect it; learned that one from Captain." Added Sebas with a slight chuckle, though you could tell by the sweat trailing down his face that just redirecting it took a toll on him.
Before anyone could even react, a fourth beam of light hit Freyja, snapping her head back as she took several steps backward, yet she managed to stop herself while blood trailed down the side of her face.
"I-I can't believe that actually worked." Muttered Freyja in disbelief as her forehead was covered in that inky black flames, which had burnt the very light before it pierced her head, though it wasn't perfect since there was still a small burning dent in her head.
Again, just as I was about to say something, I felt our ship lower considerably, and I, at first, thought it was one of the Admirals doing it, but when I looked over at the Strawhat's ship, I noticed they were also sinking, cousin my eyed to widen as I realized what was happening.
"Knock-up Stream!" Yelled Diddy loudly, his words bringing the three back to attention as they quickly returned to their previously assigned posts.
Right after I said that the ship was suddenly pushed upwards before we were launched into the sky, along with a sound similar to that of a roaring engine. Looking up, I saw a massive pillar of ocean water shooting into the sky before piercing the thick, dark clouds and even further beyond.
Swiftly leaping to the helm, I stuffed the earplugs in my nose ears and closed my eyes as I grabbed hold of the steering wheel; although half of my senses were gone, I could still feel gravity pulling on us, and just when I felt we were about to fall back down, we were suddenly lifted back up as our ship sailing across the pillar of water.
'Heh, their wings may not be that big, but they're strong enough to provide lift, and that's all we need.' Thought Diddy with a smirk, not even needing to open his eyes as he knew Freyja and Mael were the reason why they weren't falling.
'Though, now, here comes the hard part.' Mused Diddy with a severe expression as he tightly gripped the steering wheel.
Taking a few deep breaths, I calmed my body and mind, which wasn't easy when death was looming literally right below me, but I eventually did; now that I was calm, I focused my senses on my surroundings, and boy, was it difficult. I was relying purely on my instinct, which was more ethereal than my other five senses, so trying to essentially focus it on something was difficult since I always used it subconsciously.
'Captain, please hurry; the higher we go, the harder it'll be for Mael and Freyja to fly the ship; they'll need the Knock-up Streams's assistance if we wish to make it to the mythical sky island.' Said Sebas worriedly as he spoke directly to Diddy's mind, which normally would've angered but not this time.
'I know, just stay quiet; I need silence.' Replied Diddy gently as his mind slowly reached a state of tranquility.
Slowly, the world around me was being displayed within my brain: me, Sebas, and the three stooges within the captain quarter's below me; next was Freyja and Mael, then the entire ship before continuing even farther beyond, though eventually, I reached my limit, and if I had to guess, I'd estimate it was roughly fifty meters, give or take a few meters.
Despite how amazing yet weird it was to practically see everything without using my eyes, I kept a clear and calm mind as I started properly steering the ship, going with the waves of the knock-upstream while avoiding the others. Eventually, I sensed another ship enters within my range, causing me to subconsciously smirk as I realized it was the Strawhat's, steering until I was right behind him. Like NASCAR racing, I used their ship to gain speed as I drafted off them before eventually approaching them, and just when we were about to collide, I swerved to the left as we slowly started to overtake them.
While sailing past them, I saw Nami look at me, only to spot a dumbfounded expression, which was understandable; after all, I was limiting three of my senses, while the other two weren't really that useful in our current situation. I waved at her using my tail as we passed them up and took the lead, though that didn't stay that way for long as she ended up passing us once more, and just like that, for the remainder of our ride up the Knock-up stream, our two pirate groups raced each other while completely forgetting about Blackbeard and the thousands of marines below.