Lara's POV;

“So how many ships are there again?”, I asked for the second time. At first, Yosaku, who was in the crows nest, shouted something about Marine ships. We then gathered on deck and Lia took a look. Her sight was better than our telescope.

“Two warships, two normal sized ones and even a super-sized warship,” she dutifully repeated. Noa and Jo were frowning. One has seen the super-sized ship, the other knows what they are.

“Is that a problem?”, asked Nojiko, who has noticed the frowns.

“Not necessary, but probably. A super-sized warship is the largest standard ship class the Marines have. They are used for Buster Calls, escort missions of the highest rank and the protection of the Marine HQ”, I explained.

“They are also never seen without a Vice Admiral and a few captains”, added Jo and I nodded in agreement. That wasn't something I knew but suspected. The Buster Call had them as well.

“Yes, those might be a problem. I don't think there are more than one Vice Admirals stationed here, but a single one is strong enough to fight you all or either me or Lia. If we want to do this, then we have to plan in advance and don't attack frontally.”

“Then why are we attacking at all? Is there something we really need?”, asked Noa. He was not used to constant fighting, with him as our newest member.

“Because it is a research facility. Lara and I have an agreement to not let these things unchecked. It is also important for the Haki training. You need a high amount of fights to quickly train in it. High danger will bring better results as well.

And it's not like we have no chance. We just have to plan carefully”, answered Jo for me.

“As he says. Lia can start with a maximum powered pressure bomb. That will take at least the warships ships out. Jonny, Yosaku and Jo will handle the other normal ships. Nojiko will aid the boys. It depends on the Vice Admiral who will take him on. If he likes to fight from a distance, then it will be Lia, if not, then me. The other one will take the captains and other Marines on the super-sized warship.

Afterwards, we see in what condition we are and might take on the base itself. Suggestions? Questions?” They thought for a moment and Noa, as well as Jonny, raised their hand.

I first gestured to Noa, “I get it that I'm still not strong enough to really help, but what is my part?”

“You're gonna man the ship and keep it out of reach from their cannons.” He wasn't happy with that but accepted his job nonetheless.

“How are we going to get there? They will spot the Shadow before we are in any position to board them and even then, Noa won't get away without being shot at. And Lia won't be able to protect him.” The others agreed. It's a good question.

“Yes, that would normally be the case. But we won't sail up to them, we will walk. And yes, I know that none of you can use Geppo. I've tried something with my Devil Fruit and got good results.” They looked sceptical, so I gestured for them to look over the railing. While they did that I started to concentrate and began to stop the vibrations inside the water. Effectively taking the energy, or heat, and freezing it.

It wasn't as fast as what Kuzan can do with his [Ice Age], but the water visibly began to freeze. Half a minute later and we had a solid walkway that reached roughly a kilometre away from the ship. It was wide enough for five people and thick enough to not shake much. The salt inside the water made it also fairly rough, so walking on it wasn't a problem as well. This is still easier than freezing the very air. Heating up is easy, but freezing not so much.

“That is handy, especially when I need to repair the outer hull”, mumbled Noa, slightly awed by my performance.

“Why are your fruits so versatile? I mean, you can freeze and cook things, let things vibrate, produce sound and even earthquakes. And Lia can create mist, shoot things, make punches harder or softer, fly and create bombs.” Asked Nojiko. Her tone was interested, so this wasn't a sarcastic question. Jo looked equally interested.

“Well, we don't know for sure, but we think that most people simply see the first thing they did with their fruit at the same time as the limit they can do. Their subconsciousness will then stop them from doing things that are not directly related to their Fruit.

I, for example, have control over pressure. Most would they that I can push things away with that. Ordinary people with my fruit won't further think about it and use this as their limit. But I know that there are other kinds of pressure. Air pressure, steam pressure, the pressure to perform, gravitational pressure, blood pressure.

And Lara has it even better. She can manipulate sound, heat, matter and light. With enough training, she might be able to use laser attacks or disintegrate people, as well as become intangible. Everything is in some kind related to vibration. She might even be able to control the waves of the sea, as they are only a larger form of a vibration.

As long as we think it is possible it should be. But we can't just say that we think it, it must be on the subconscious level. Still, that are only speculations on Lara and my part, we aren't sure”, explained Lia. The others became pale when she listed all the things she already has some form of control over.

Her latest attempt at close combat includes air pressure. She wants to lower it so much that the blood inside her opponent begins to boil. She needs to put the living object in a field with 90HPA that is the equivalent to a height of 20 kilometres and water and blood begin to boil at 37°C.

So far she hasn't managed it, but the test bunny quickly loses consciousness. Sadly, that isn't something to use in One Piece. Sanji, Zoro and Luffy only needed an hour or so to get used to the height of 10 kilometres. The humans here are way sturdier.

“Yeah, anyway, with that we can walk right up to them. I suggest we go to bed, this will be a night raid. They will see us if we walk right up to them under the sun”, I then said. We made shifts and were all prepared for a good dinner.

Mrs Chicken Wing decided to come with us, she was riding on my shoulder. She got something that I managed to craft without a forge, small steel claws for her feet. She's able to infuse them with Haki and they are sharp, I even have to use steel pads on my shoulder to not get cut.

Nojiko has two cloud dial pistols and a rifle. The moment we have an engineer, like Franky, I'm gonna sick him or her on a high powered black dial sniper rifle.

Jo had his medication kit and knifes ready. Some of them were connected to fine steel cables. Those will be deadly if swung fast enough. Once I have access to a forge I will make him knifes with truly thin and sharp cables.

The boys didn't need much preparation, each had a loaded pistol and their swords. I also gave them a dagger, in case they lose their sword.

Lia has prepared new pebbles, they were made out of hardened steel and each has a weight of three kilos. They were compressed and wouldn't be very transportable with such a high weight, but thankfully she had an inventory. All she had to do was putting her hand in her pouch, access the inventory and grab a steel pebble.

I had also prepared something special.

With a large somewhat evil grin I turned around.“Guys, I got something specially made for situations like this”, I said and gave each a bag.

“What's this?”, asked Jo, he looked inside and pulled something out, it was a white skull mask. The design was a skull with a red cross on its forehead. The teeth were formed into a large smile and red tears were painted under its eyes. “Creepy”

“Those aren't creepy, they are cool. Each of you has one. I even have one for Mrs Chicken Wing”, I said and took one out of my bag. It has the same size as the others and was designed like a fox. The hen looked at it with interest. Everyone should have such a cool mask, even a hen.

“Bough”, her tone was gleeful and happy and held no sarcasm. She also eyed the mask with real desire. Maybe this chicken does have a right to live if she can see the beauty in my masks.

“They are kinda crazy”, agreed Nojiko, hers had a target on each eye, the eye was the bullseye.

“Yeah, but strangely comfortable”, added Yosaku. He had put his on, it was designed like a raging skeleton with horns. He still had to hold it, as there weren't any laces.

Jonny's had a tranquil smile with almost closed eyes. But that won't be a problem, they all had tiny holes for breathing and good visibility. Mine was the old one from Naruto. And Lia's was the same, only with orange lines and not green ones.

I tricked a little, the material isn't exactly native to this world, it is also extremely hard and has seals that will mould the mask to the face of the user. Once that is done the mask will stay in place on its own and gather the surrounding Chakra to stay active. It has to be deactivated if you want to take it off. There are even healing seals, heat sight, night sight, and strengthening seals. But the activation of those has to be done by the wearer and use their Chakra.

A single use of a full heal will knock me out, Lia isn't able to use them, the Armament Haki(Qi/Chakra output) requirement are just too high.

“How do we keep them in place?”, asked Noa. His had bars under the eyes. I had no real design for a crafter. I only made some for close combat, distant fighting and medication. And all of them were made when I was still alive as Dexter in the Naruto universe. I have a hundred or so more. They were given to my most loyal and strongest soldiers.

“For now only me, Lia and Mrs Chicken Wing can activate them. They need Armament Haki to activate. They then stay in place on their own and need another Armament Haki activation to come off.” I said and Mrs Chicken wing touched the mask with her beak. A moment later it flashed black, then white and closed itself on her head. There even was a hole for her comb. It looked strange.

I activated each of their masks and they were astonished by the ease with which they can breathe and see. “There is also a robe, yours is designed for a night attack, mine is a little bit more for intimidation”, I further said and pulled a female version of my Reaper Death robe out. It too was resizeable with Armament. I think even Mrs Chicken Wing might be able to wear one, but it would hinder her in her movement.

They had a standard ANBU uniform. Highly resistant to cutting, laser and blunt force. Also, something not from this world and made shortly before the Reaper destroyed our last armour factory.

All of them got dressed and I resized it for them. Jo and Nojiko were eyeing me strangely, probably knowing that these weren't possible to find or make in this world. Or mentally asking for an explanation. Lia and I might tell them about our origin, but not yet.

“Okay, now we are suitably equipped and have our faces hidden. It might not help when they link the attackers and our crew through Mrs Chicken Wing or the ears of Lia and me, but until then we at least look badass.” I turned around, looking proudly at my badass looking crew.

Nojiko facepalmed, Lia looked as if she was used to it, Jo sighed in embarrassment, Jonny and Yosaku shrugged their shoulders while Noa faked interest. Only Mrs Chicken Wing was nodding in agreement, a good hen. I might really reconsider her usefulness. Maybe eating her isn't such a good idea. I need more people, or poultry, who spread the word of awesomeness.