"Shit, what the hell are they planning to do? Are they planning to sink the entire Loguetown Island?" One of the pirates screamed as he made his way toward the ships anchored in the port.
"Brother, I think there's no point in holding back anymore. If we want to get out of this mess, then we need to break through the blockade," I declared urgently to Doffy, my voice tinged with frustration and determination.
"Boom... boom... boom..." Canons rang out as the Marine ships started firing indiscriminately into the island, sending shockwaves through the already chaotic streets.
"Capture all those pirates! Don't let any of them escape!" the CP leader commanded, his voice cutting through the chaos as Marines and government agents clashed with those trying to flee the island.
"Damn it, Buggy! How many times did I tell you to practice? Now look where that's gotten us!" Shanks shouted at his cowardly friend, his frustration evident in his voice. They were still trying to free themselves from the Marines' grasp. While Shanks possessed enough strength to clash with regular Marines, Buggy relied on his devil fruit powers to hold his own.
Just as Shanks knocked out another Marine, a CP agent, whose features were obscured behind a mask, noticed Shanks. After a brief contemplation, he flickered right behind the duo. Shanks felt the new presence behind him, while Buggy remained unaware of the looming threat.
"Busoshoku Koka!" With his entire arm clad in armament haki, the CP agent sent a chop right at Buggy's nape, knocking him out with a single strike.
"Buggy!!!" Shanks roared as the CP agent prepared to go for the killing strike. Shanks rushed forward, attempting to tackle the CP agent to the ground. But with a powerful punch to the gut, the CP agent sent Shanks flying through the air, crashing into a dark alleyway.
The CP agent didn't relent, intent on completing the kill. He rushed towards Shanks, who had fallen. However, just as he was about to strike, another figure flickered right in front of Shanks. "Tekkai!" With a resounding boom, the Rankyaku attack the other CP agent had sent clashed with the CP0 agent's body.
"Sir!" The CP agent panicked as he saw his superior intervening, but before he could convey his apology, the CP0 agent used shave and grabbed the CP agent by his neck, lifting him up. Despite the struggles of the CP agent, the CP0 agent's grip tightened.
"How dare you lay a finger on one of God's descendants? Your crime is unforgivable." The CP0 agent's voice dripped with menace as he crushed the windpipe of the CP agent who had attacked Shanks, tossing the lifeless body aside casually.
He quickly surveyed the area. The alley was secluded, with only the knocked-out Buggy at the entrance.
Shanks, who had crashed earlier, coughed out blood as he stirred, witnessing the scene of the CP0 agent crushing the other agent's neck. His mind clouded; he could only vaguely register the words exchanged amidst the chaos.
The CP0 agent noticed Shanks was up and immediately went down on his knees, not minding the filth. As one of the top CP agents, he was privy to certain privileged information, and he knew about the true identity of Shanks. Although they had been searching for Shanks since the incident at God's Valley, there was no concrete evidence of his whereabouts.
However, the CP0 agent was immediately able to confirm Shanks' identity because the resemblance was uncanny.
"Who are you? Why are you kneeling before me?" Shanks, still feeling cloudy, wanted to make sense of the situation. Although Shanks asked the question to gain clarity, the CP0 agent took it as a command.
The CP0 agent then started giving a detailed description of the events surrounding Shanks during the time of the God's Valley incident. The more information Shanks received, the dizzier he felt. It was as if the whole world had been a lie.
"No, you are lying! You must be lying, you bastard! You must have known about my past from the information you got from the Marines. I've been part of Roger's crew since I was little. I am not a descendant of a god like you claim me to be. Get away from me!" Shanks screamed, trying to run away. He staggered and started making his way towards Buggy, who had fallen unconscious.
"My apologies, but I cannot let you leave, Tenryubito-sama. I will need to take you back to Mary Geoise. That's where you truly belong. I am sure you will understand everything once you return to the Holy Land."
Just as the CP0 agent was about to grab Shanks, his observation haki flared, and he suddenly dodged to the side as a massive lightning bolt struck right where he stood earlier.
"Tch, didn't I tell you morons to leave right after saying farewell to your captain? What are you guys still doing here?" I questioned Shanks, who was barely able to keep himself upright as I materialized right on top of a building by the alley.
"You, why are you here?" The CP0 agent roared. "This is a matter of the World Government. Don't get involved in this matter, Donquixote Rosinante," he added, standing poised to confront me. He was already aware that I was the Lightning Logia user, which made the situation more complex for him.
"Well, you are trying to capture my friends, so of course I would intervene," I chuckled, ensuring that both Shanks and Buggy were not in any immediate danger.
I was already aware that the duo were caught in trouble just when I was about to intervene earlier. I detected the presence of the CP0 agent swooping in to defend Shanks. From the following conversation that happened, I was able to gather quite a few pieces of information.
However, the CP0 agent wanted to take Shanks back to Marie Geoise, which might not be ideal. Although in the canon, Shanks was more of a mystery, I still believed that Shanks becoming a pirate and going after One Piece might help us down the line, especially when he owes us a favor.
"Tobu Shigan: Hibachi!" The CP0 agent launched a deadly attack without waiting for an opportunity, his fingers coated with Armament haki. Sensing the incoming strike, I smoothly unsheathed Kitetsu and swung to intercept all of his attacks in one clean motion.
Despite his technique, my strength surpassed his. As my sword clashed with his attack, the momentum behind my strike sent the CP0 agent hurtling through the air, crashing into a nearby building. I didn't want to get entangled in this town while fighting the CP0 agent, so I quickly flickered using lightning and arrived next to Shanks. Within moments, before the CP0 agent could pick himself up from the rubble, I was already carrying the two future Yonkos towards our caravel, where both Doffy and Mihawk were waiting.
Back at the pier, both Doffy and Mihawk were dispatching any Marine or government agent who tried to impede their path as they waited in the little caravel for my arrival. Smoker was already knocked out so that he wouldn't be a nuisance while we made our getaway.
"You filthy bastards! Did you not get the message? You are to return to the town immediately! We need to screen a lot of you..." Just before the Marine captain could finish threatening the people rushing out of the pier, a blue, blazing flame pillar shot out, blasting the Marine ship to smithereens.
"Do these bastards think that we are stupid enough to surrender ourselves for slaughter?" Doffy snickered as he started using his blue flames to burn anyone to a crisp who tried to take them on.
It wasn't just Marines; even some pirates tried to seize the caravel because their bigger ships were being sunk by the Marine bombardment. The Marines were currently targeting the larger vessels, trying to stop them from leaving the island.
"Majestic Destroyer!"
Amidst the chaos, the dazzling blue flames caught the attention of many. As the flames consumed yet another Marine ship that was about to fire their cannons in their direction, a pirate from the side commented, "It's him! The teen has a half-billion bounty on his head. There was no news about him since his bounty poster was released more than a year ago."
"Look at the one next to him. Isn't that the guy they call 'Hawk Eye'? What the hell is he doing fighting alongside him?" Another pirate recognized Mihawk, who swung Yoru with each graceful stroke of his blade, reaping lives effortlessly. If Doffy's method was all about raw power and a gruesome display of ravaging flames, Mihawk's was a sheer display of skill and elegance. Both of them formed a stark contrast.
"Where is Ross? We cannot hold this up for much longer. Sooner or later, the powerhouses of the Marine and the World Government will make it here, so we need to leave the island," Mihawk commented as he quickly surveyed the area. Although the numbers on the Marine's side were lesser, the number of high-quality fighters amongst their rank was larger, so the situation could turn at any moment.
"My little brother must have gone to pick up some of his friends. Don't worry, he will soon be here. Let's get the sails up. He will catch up soon," Doffy commented as he raised the sails of the caravel while Mihawk kept anyone who approached the caravel at bay.
Just as the caravel sailed into the open waters, it caught the attention of the encircling blockade of marine ships. A Rear admiral noticed that the little caravel was trying to sneak through the gaps and immediately relayed his order.
"Sink that boat! Don't let them break through the blockade!" With the Rear admiral's command, the ship sent out signals to all the nearby ships. More than a half dozen warships turned their cannons to fire. Just then, the sky overhead turned pitch black, with thunderclouds forming at a rapid rate.
"What the hell is that?" The Vice Admiral of the main battleship and a few others in charge of the respective Marine ships looked at the sky. Such abrupt changes in weather were not uncommon, but they usually occurred in the Grand Line, not in the East Blue.
"Thunder God's Descent!"
Suddenly, as they speculated the reason for the abrupt change, massive black lightning pillars descended from the sky, accurately striking every Marine ship that had targeted the little caravel. Each of these black lightning pillars was so thick that it easily engulfed the entire Marine warship. Within the blink of an eye, before anyone could react, more than a half dozen Marine warships were razed from existence.
Just when the entire surroundings froze in shock from the sheer display of power, I materialized on the deck of the little caravel, carrying both Shanks and Buggy over my shoulder, and tossed them onto the wooden deck unceremoniously.
Just before the remaining Marines on the ships could collect themselves, our little caravel had already passed through the blockade. As if in a freakish act of nature, only our small boat moved forward despite the overall wind direction being unfavorable.
On the main warship, the Vice Admiral bellowed more orders "Quick, pursue that little boat! We cannot let anyone escape." With a gaping breach created in their blockade due to the loss of those ships during the lightning attack, many other pirate ships used the gap to escape.
"Sir, the wind is not favorable. We will not be able to move in that direction," the marine in charge of the sails replied. However, the Vice Admiral noticed that the little caravel picked up more speed.
"Then how the hell are they able to sail if they don't have a favorable wind?" He fumed in frustration and started relaying more orders to minimize the damage. He knew he was going to be severely punished for this failure.
"Weird. How is our boat going at such a speed even without a favorable wind?" Mihawk questioned himself as he observed the wind. As a lone maverick, he mostly traveled alone, and his navigation talent was also quite decent.
"Well, you can thank the stowaway on our ship for that." I chuckled as I turned towards the small cabin. "How long are you going to hide in there, Dragon-san?" I spoke, and after a few moments, under the bewildered eyes of both Doffy and Mihawk, a man clad in a dark green cloak stepped out of the cabin.
They were both shocked because their observation Haki, although not as monstrous as mine, was quite decent. Mihawk was a swordsman, so he needed his senses to be sharp, and Doffy's last year of hellish training had propelled his observation Haki to a decent level. Yet, neither of them was able to detect a person who was hitchhiking on their own boat.