The time to attack the marine ship has finally come, and currently, all of us, my crew, and I are standing on the black pearl's deck, listening to Laffite briefing us about the plan he came up with to fight the marines.

"As you all know, the marines will arrive in west blue by crossing the calm belt," Laffite remarked while pointing at a map placed on a barrel in front of him.

"They will enter west blue from this point, to be specific, so they pass by this deserted island," he added, pointing at a small island on the map.

"The marines will be tired because of their long voyage across the calm belt, as the marines rarely stop to rest at islands located inside the calm belt because they lack information about that area," he stated again with a confident tone.

"What that all means is that the marine ship will most likely stop at the deserted island I mentioned earlier to rest and give the soldiers some breathing room away from the water," the navigator said, causing the rest of us to nod.

"Unfortunately, we don't have enough time to go there before them to prepare an ambush, so that only leaves us with entering the island from the other side to sneak up on them or attacking them head-on," Laffite concluded as he turned to look at me.

"If we land on the other side of the map, we might tire ourselves out trying to reach them by fighting the wild beasts native to that island, or we might even take too long, and they end up leaving," I remarked with a thoughtful expression.

"And there isn't any guarantee that they haven't set up watch points on all sides of the island, so gaining the element of surprise isn't guaranteed," I added while shaking my head.

"So, we might as well attack them head-on and be done with it, as that would be faster and more efficient," I concluded with a firm nod.

"The black pearl might suffer some damage in the process, but there is nothing we can do about that, other than try to protect her with all we've got," I remarked with a smirk. "We need to incapacitate their ship first as that is what we're getting paid for," I instructed, and everyone nodded.

"That will be up to you, Byron," I said as I turned to look at the blonde musicians. "I will take care of that rear admiral Bastille while Wilson and Laffite take care of vice-admiral Momonga," I explained.

"Elly and Kozue will take care of everyone else, and Bob will stay on the ship to guard it and step in to help anyone who he thinks needs the help," I added while looking at Bob, who was twirling his mustache, receiving only a nod.

"While everyone is busy, you will take the opportunity to break their ship's masts, Byron. But don't damage the ship too much, as we need to loot it after the fight," I concluded.

"Leave it to me, captain," Byron said confidently, smirking as he did. "But what should I do after breaking the masts?" he asked after a second of silence.

"You help Kozue and Elly fight off the rest of the marines. And if you Bob makes a move, you go take his place in guarding the ship," I remarked with a smile. "Does anyone else have any more questions?" I asked after seeing that no one asked anything.

"Good, then we set sail immediately," I exclaimed after seeing that no one asked anything, even after I urged them to do so, causing everyone to cheer.

-0-

It has been approximately eight hours since we finished our briefing session and set sail for the deserted island that the marines were supposed to stop. And I can now finally see the island's silhouette on the horizon along with the rough shape of the marine ship, docked a little distance away.

It takes us roughly ten more minutes to be within the marine ship's canon range, and the marines quickly act, addressing us with some speaker device. "You are approaching a marine ship on official duty. We are currently occupying this island for work-related reasons. Civilian entry this island is thus prohibited," the marine, an officer who seemed to be at least of ensign rank considering his coat, stated.

"Steer clear, or we will sink your ship," he added with an authoritative tone of voice, the marine ship firing a warning cannon shot at us as he spoke.

"Don't bother returning fire or dodging their cannons. Keep advancing at full speed." I instructed with a smirk. " I will take care of whatever they throw at us," I added, unsheathing Satori and causing Laffite to nod as he steered the wheel.

"This is your last warning. Steer clear of the island now!" the marine officer ordered again after noticing our lack of reply, and the marine ship began firing all of their cannons at the black pearl after a minute of waiting.

Looking at the incoming projectiles, I merely smirked again as I launched myself into the air with Geppo, launching a massive flying sword slash that bisected most of the incoming cannonballs, causing them to explode midair. The rest hit nothing but the water next to my ship.

-0-

Third person's point of view:

On the deserted island, inside a roughly built shed, sat vice-admiral Momonga with rear admiral Bastille in comfortable silence as Momonga meditated quietly while the latter was enjoying a hot cup of tea.

A marine soldier who hastily made his way inside suddenly broke the silence. "Sirs, there is an unknown civilian ship approaching the island," the marine soldier reported while saluting his commanding officers.

"Did you warn them not to come any closer?" The vice admiral asked as he opened his eyes to look at the marine soldier.

"Yes, sir, we did." Replied the soldier with a hesitant tone. "Then sink them. We can fish out and detain the survivors later," the vice-admiral instructed with a sigh, shaking his head.

"About that, sir...," the marine soldier trailed off, his tone still hesitant. "What is it, soldier? Speak clearly -Dara!" rear admiral Bastille said with an annoyed tone after noticing the soldier's hesitance as he put down his teacup.

"We are firing our cannons at the ship, but we can't seem to manage sinking them, sir," the marine soldier explained in a nervous tone of voice.

"What do you mean, you can't sink the ship -Dara?" the rear admiral asked in an impatient tone, seemingly annoyed. "Are you telling me that trained marine soldiers can't even hit a ship?" he asked again while sending the marine soldier a dirty look.

"Calm yourself, Bastille," Vice-admiral Momonga said in a calm voice as he got and put a hand on Bastille's shoulder. "Explain, soldier," he ordered after making sure that the rear admiral wouldn't snap at the poor marine again.

"We are firing at them, but someone on their ship is destroying our cannonballs before they reach their target, sir." The marine soldier explained after gathering his wits that the rear admiral's stink eye scattered.

"It is unusual to find someone with such abilities in this area of the sea. Perhaps I should personally go there to see what is happening," Vice-admiral Momonga said thoughtfully.

"There is no need for you to go personally, vice-admiral -Dara," Bastille said as he stood up, gesturing with hand assuringly. "I will take care of it," he concluded as he began making his way towards the island's beach.

"Very well, Bastille. I will leave this matter in your capable hands," the vice-admiral replied in a calm tone as he sat down again, resuming his meditation.

-0-

Johnny's point of view:

"It looks like the vice and rear admirals aren't on the ship," I remarked after destroying another wave of cannonballs. "I'll go and quickly smash the masses myself since the ship is unguarded right now," I added while floating in the air.

"Leave the ship here with Bob guarding it, and everyone else make your way to the island," I quickly instructed. "I'll catch up to you once I incapacitate the ship," I concluded, launching myself towards the ship with Geppo.

It didn't take me long to reach the ship, and I acted quickly, swinging my sword towards the mainmast, sending a Haki-infuse flying sword slash in its direction.

Looking at this scene, many of the marine officers on the ship tried to stop my sword slash by using Rankyaku, sword slashess of their own, and even cannonballs, but it was all to no avail as it swallowed everything in its path, not slowing down at all.

Just as the slash was about to hit the mainmast, however, the rear admiral came rushing into the ship, blocking it with his sword and sending it flying into the sea.

"You guys step aside -Dara. You're no match for this person -Dara," Vice-admiral Bastille said after blocking my slash, waving his left hand dismissively as he held his gigantic sword above his shoulder with his left.

"And you're supposed to be my match then?" I asked with a provocative smirk as I launched myself towards the rear admiral.

...

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