(Note: Chapter 400! This fanfic is way too fucking long.)
Watching as Freyja fought against Akainu, which, although kept her busy, the fact the Fleet Admiral, the supposedly strongest Marine present, was forced to personally make a move subtly changed the tide of the war, and not in a good way. Although I couldn't read minds like Sebas, I was pretty good at reading a person's facial expression, yet despite looking relived and enthusiastic, they wore worried expressions, and that wasn't solely because of the nearly fifty-thousand pirates that had just received a significant boost in strength from Freyja's Lust Empowerment, they were fighting against.
It was because Akainu was forced to join the war when the strongest and most dangerous pirate had yet to make a move; of course, the seven children hiding away within Marineford had yet to make a move, but from the looks of things, none of them seem to know of their existence. They also had that twenty-thousand army, but they were insignificant, in my opinion, not to mention Pandemonium was going to take care of them.
'Heh, I can't wait to join the war.' Mused Diddy with a feral expression as he tapped his knee while eyeing the numerous different battles in the distance, eagerly licking his lips.
Speaking of war, the boost in strength Freyja gave those pirates wasn't small by any means; given how her ability worked, the weaker the pirate, the bigger the boost in strength as they were simply more susceptible to her bewitching charms, in turn, causing them to generate more lust.
Unlike everyone else, Grand, Chala, Trenza, Reiju, and Janet weren't all that susceptible since they lived with Freyja, but they still received a slight increase in strength, with Grand's being rather moderate since he was a man. However, with Freyja's involvement, we were begining to push the abundant marines back, though it wouldn't last for long, an hour or two at most, besides we weren't pushing them back all that much since the marines were focused mainly on defending.
Sensing the clashing of haki from behind me, I turned around and glanced at the battle that was occurring between Kaido and the Red-hair pirates; Kaido may have been heavily outnumbered, but even so, he was still giving them hell.
'Awakening really is a large power boost; the fact he could fight toe-to-toe with my Sulong form is a testament to how powerful awakening is.' Thought Diddy lightly with a faint smirk as he watched Kaido release a torrent of flames while in his awakened form, creating a wall of fire that extended beyond the horizon.
Thinking about awakening caused my mind to drift to Freyja since, among my strongest crew members, she was the only devil fruit user who hadn't awakened; I also didn't know much about it, but being strong enough didn't seem to be the only criteria given Kaido only achieved it during the middle of our initial fight.
Anywas, after a little bit of pondering, I shrugged my shoulders and shifted my focus back to the war, which had leaned in our favor, though the fights between my apocalyptic commanders were looking rather even right now, with the exception of Bullet, who was struggling in his battle, all he really had to do was survive the first half, since after that, Sengoku and Garp would be exhausted.
"Hmm, looks like my time to join is nearing… Finally!" Said Diddy softly with an excited grin, his eyes flashing a reddish glint while his body danced with lightning.
"Roar!" "Hiss!" Stated Mony and Pandy as they nodded in agreement while dangerously eyeing the five warehouses, their verticle-slit eyes full of eagerness.
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Rolling across the ground, I slammed my prosthetic leg onto the ground, causing a spring to jut out from the bottom as I was launched high into the air; scanning the marines, I quickly found my targets and shot a volley of bullets in rapid succession that one would mistake for a gatling gun.
Although because of the war, no one stayed in one spot for long, that didn't hinder me as every single bullet of mine found its target with pinpoint accuracy, hitting them exactly where I had targeted. Not all of my shots killed my targest, but that was fine as they weren't meant to kill, they were meant to hinder, allowing some other pirate to deliver a finishing blow.
'Oh, I've got something for you, alright.' Thought Trenza with a faint smirk as she narrowed her eyes, one of three pacifistas Chala and Page-One were fighting against.
Swiftly changing my ammunition, I loaded a specially powerful explosive one and pointed Sunaipu at one of the Pacifistas before firing, causing the haki-coated bullet to speedily cut through the sky as it lodged itself in the joint of one of the pacifistas, causing it to look at me, only for its arm to be engulfed in a massive explosion while I fell to the ground.
Watching Chala take advantage of the opportunity I gave her, I smirked as she removed the Pacifistas arm while lodging her arm into the opened wound, freezing his internal body. However, before I could watch anymore, I suddenly vanished, only to reappear on the ground beside Janet.
"Warn me next time." Said Janet as she glanced at Trenza, who nodded with a smile while standing up, causing her to lightly shake her head.
Before I could respond, a sword slash suddenly cleaved through our allies, killing several while a marine stood at the front.
"THEY'VE LOST THEIR STRENGTH! ATTACK NOW!" Yelled the Vice-admiral loudly as he pointed his sword at the thousands of pirates, his words causing marines to yell while fiercely retaliating.
"FIGHT!!" "KILL THEM ALL!" "JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED!" Yelled the thousands of Marines as they charged toward the pirates, forcing them to retreat slowly.
Looking at our army, I couldn't help but click my tongue as that man was right; Freyja's Lust Empowerment had vanished from every pirate, and no one seemed to still have that zealous expression.
"Tsk, this isn't good; we're being pushed back, and the army is starting to lose its form." Said Trenza with an unsightly expression as she unloaded bullets into the incoming marines while slowly backing away.
"Hard to call us an army, but I get what you're saying." Said Janet lightly as she glanced at Trenza while nodding in agreement, slowly retreating while preventing several deaths.
King, Queen, and Jack, the strongest ones in this war besides the obvious ones, were trying to reorganize the group of pirates, but it was only affecting the Beast pirates; our own pirates and our Grand fleet were growing more disorganized by the second.
'If this continues, we'll be pushed out of Marineford.' Thought Trenza with a frown as she continued to shoot rapidly, though her effects were merely a drop in a bucket.
However, before things could get any worse, a powerful haki, one unlike any other, suddenly erupted from behind us, washing throughout all of Marineford, forcing everyone to an immediate halt as the might of the conqueror's haki took everyone aback.
"Heh, Captain's finally making a move." Muttered Trenza with a faint smirk as she glanced at the large breach in the wall, only to see a golden brown monkey mink floating through the air while sitting on a yellowish cloud, a red and gold bo-staff resting against his shoulder.
Although Captain didn't make a single move, not a single marine dared to move, not the Vice-admirals, not the Admirals, hell, not even Akainu moved a muscle as Captain slowly entered Marineford while releasing the full extent of his conqueror's haki. Then again, these weren't some random soldiers, so after a moment, they all regained their bearings and attempted to attack Captain, though they were all blocked, none managing to even reach close to him.
"Hehehe, let the fun start!" Stated Diddy with a ferocious smile as he grabbed his bo-staff, letting it absorb Nimbus before leaping into the air while lightning violently arced through the sky.
Just as Captain said that, seven balls of fire arced through the sky from the Marines HQ, heading directly for Captain, yet, when they arrived, they didn't hit him; instead, they floated in the air while circling him. When they stopped moving, the fire that enveloped them vanished, only for my eyes to widen when I noticed it was the kids that had attacked us beforehand, only this time, there were seven of them.
"Eh, Captain should be fine, right? He's very strong?" Asked Janet skeptically with a raised eyebrow as she glanced at Trenza, who shrugged her shoulders.
While waiting for something to happen, Captain simply looked at them with his usual ferocious expression, only to chuckle as he licked his fangs.
"Hehe, once you reach a certain strength, quantity starts to mean nothing." Declared Diddy with a feral grin as he eyed the seven children, his words causing one to scoff while the only female child grunted.
"Such an ugly creature! Why must it speak to me!? I'm the most beautiful woman!" Stated the woman with a frown as she glanced at her fellow siblings, prompting them to look blankly at her before shifting their focus to Diddy, who merely laughed.
"Hehe, you all will be perfect to test out my new technique." Muttered Diddy with a smirk as he lunged toward the largest child, which looked similar to a pacifista.