Boom!
The cannonball blasted a huge portion of the ship's deck as multiple pirates were directly killed.
"Ahge! Save m-!"
A sword pierced through the pirate's throat cutting the flesh and breaking the spine bone.
Lancelot pulled his sword back as blood splashed on the wood below. The dead pirate's body fell to the sea from the edge of the deck.
"Seventh Division Captain, Lancelot. I shall be your opponent!"
Vista stood on top of the ship's roof as he looked down on Lancelot from up.
"Fifth Division Commander, Vista."
Looking up at Vista from the broken deck, Lancelot held his sword tightly.
Slash!
Two lights burst out as the three swords made contact with each other.
"You're not bad. But I am better!"
Vista grinned and pulled his swords as he then swung it to the sides.
"Really?"
Lancelot blocked the slash and backed. Their eyes didn't lose focus even for a second.
Bam!
"Thrust Turmoil!"
Lancelot leaped from the deck towards Vista as he thrusted his sword like a drill. Multiple after images formed.
Boom!
With observation haki, Vista was able to perfectly distinguish the present position of the sword.
Vista held his swords in a cross to block the direct thrust from Lancelot.
In terms of strength, Vista wasn't at Lancelot's level but his swordsmanship was far better.
"Haa!"
Veins popped on Vista's arms as he barely managed to push Lancelot to the edge of the roof.
"Not strong enough!"
Lancelot shouted and increased more strength as he pushed Vista while the latter was gritting his teeth.
"Strength alone can't decide your victory!"
Retreating, Vista created some distance between him and Lancelot to prepare his attack.
"I must go all out from the very beginning!"
He held his swords and closed his eyes as his mind concentrated to his limits.
"Rose Rondo!"
Opening his eyes, Vista swung his swords towards Lancelot as hundreds of rose petals were launched.
The red glow from the rose petals caused Lancelot to have goosebumps.
"Hundred Slash!"
With his left hand behind his back, Lancelot stood erect while swinging his sword a hundred times.
Ting Ting.
The slashes deflected the rose petals, and very soon all the rose petals were cut through.
Lancelot and Vista exchanged glances then immediately launched towards each other with their swords.
* * *
"Hai! Yaa!"
A sidekick came and was blocked immediately by Rakuyo using his chains.
"Haha! You think you can beat me with this?"
Rakuyo laughed as he stared at the man who had makeup. The sides of his lips were cut to form an unnatural smile.
"Tch. Not fun!"
Joker pondered while looking at Rakuyo with a serious expression.
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴… Joker held his chin as he continued to stare back at Rakuyo.
"Come on! Is this what a Division Captain from Devil's Pirates supposed to be? Pitiful!"
Rakuyo said with disappointment. He then shook his head and jumped towards Joker.
"Let's just finish you quick so I can help my other brothers!"
Saying so, Rakuyo swung the chains in his hands towards Joker. The chains were shining with a black luster due to being coated with armament haki.
"Damn it!"
Joker dodged the chains with difficulty making Rakuyo not believe his eyes.
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦… Rakuyo sighed and didn't care any further about what Joker's origin was.
Weak will ultimately be defeated by the Strong.
Bam!
Because Joker landed not in position, Rakuyo managed to reach him quickly and deliver a kick.
"Ahge!"
Blood flowed out of Joker's mouth, his eyes bloodshot and his face showing fear.
Rakuyo swung his chain again and caught Joker with them. Tied up, Joker struggled to escape the chains.
"Just die quietly."
Rakuyo pulled out a dagger and walked towards Joker to stab him to his death when suddenly his all senses screamed in danger.
But it was too late. He let his guard down just for a second and it was already over for him.
Life is such a bitch.
A deep red glowing katana burning in hot flames went through his back and came out of his stomach.
The katana slowly raised up towards his heart as Rakuyo tried to see who the sword belonged to.
"Hehe! Ha Ha Ha!"
Joker's laughter was heard by Rakuyo as he saw nothing behind him. But he knew there was someone in camouflage.
[Target Terminated]
A robotic voice sounded, which was the last thing Rakuyo heard before his body fell on the wooden floor.
Blood flowed out of the stomach and chest area where the burning katana had sliced.
"What did you say before? Ah! Just die quietly! Hahahaha!"
Joker crawled with a struggle and came next to the dead body of Rakuyo with a never fading grin on his face.
The burning katana cut the chains and freed Joker. After the work was complete, the katana shrunk and disappeared.
Leaving Joker on the destroyed ship where few pirates of Devil's Pirates were rushing.
* * *
The battle ground, or more accurately the sea battle has already started to become more intense after the quick rest in between.
Tens of ships were destroyed and their parts floated on the sea surface together with the dead bodies of the pirates from both sides.
The sea water also changed into blood color because of the blood from these bodies.
Carnivore fishes all came here to eat up these bodies. Once even a small sized sea king appeared but was killed by Lancelot and Vista due to it interrupting them.
Time was passing as half a day was already gone since the war between the Devil's Pirates and Whitebeard Pirates started.
Whitebeard was very worried about all the pirates from his side. A few from the main crew were also found dead in the fight.
"Father! Look!"
Marco flew towards Whitebeard from the sky in his phoenix form and landed next to him.
Whitebeard gaze at the direction where Marco was pointing to. There, a huge ship in black and some red was sailing.
"Devil's Contract! The Devil is moving!"
The crew on the main ship all exclaimed and started showing different expressions.
"It's moving towards that island. No other ship is following it. What do we do, father?"
Asked Marco, he looked up to see a knowing look on Whitebeard's face.
"Let's go to that island! It seems the old devil wants to fight there."
Whitebeard gave his order as the main ship of the Whitebeard Pirates, Moby Dick sailed towards the island where the Devil's Contract was also going.
"We have to be careful! It might be a trap."
Marco stood in front of the whole crew and said with a grave expression.
"If they try to do something, let's kill them all! Right, father!"
The pirates all agreed but Whitebeard was a little different. He knew how difficult it was for a pirate group to be sailing at the sea.
The Devil's Pirates survived for more than a hundred years at the sea, it would be a mistake to think one can easily deal with them.
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨?... Whitebeard looked towards the sky in the direction of the battle to see the huge ship for the Air Strike force.
Not just him, almost all of the Whitebeard Pirates were thinking of the same thing.
Karen had yet to make his appearance in the battle as he and his ship alone could change the world battle.
Because of this, there was always a thought popping up in Whitebeard's kind.
'Will we lose?'
But his determined self would always throw this particular thought away.
The sun was starting to come down and it was already afternoon time.
Many lives were lost and many more will.
But one outcome was fixed from the very beginning, one side will be a history.