Lara's POV;

On our flight, we quickly overtook the already landed Sunny. The Straw Hats, who have heard and seen us from down below, were gaping at our awesome new ship. I could hear Luffy asking Franky if their ship do that as well.

Really, I could. I only had to increase the sound waves a little bit, Luffy was a really loud person.

We were flying fast, and with fast, I mean faster than any normal ship had any right to sail. The massive island of Water 7 was quickly out of sight, even from up in the sky. We weren't extremely high, maybe five hundred meters or so.

“I think we should land and check the engine. This is the Raptor's first flight, I want to take a look for any damage or improvements,” said Noa after a flight of roughly five minutes.

Fiara looked over her shoulder at both me and Lia. “Okay, please slow down your manipulation. Don't stop it at once, and Lia please don't drop the ship at once. I'm fairly sure that we won't crash down if you do, but the landing would be a lot rougher.”

Both Lia and I lowered our influence on the ship and it gradually began to lower. Fiara moved the ship into a landing angle and we touched down into the sea with only a little shaking. She then moved the pontoons back into position and something on the sails clacked, which made them fall down. They caught the wind and our ship started to move forward again, now with the force of the wind.

It was quickly obvious that, here again, we were faster than the regular normal ship. Another rumble went through the ship, followed by the shutting of the gates on our heck and the cannon windows.

“Good, the ship is now in sailing mode. Which course do you want to set captain?”, asked Fiara after taking her metallic arms out of their holes.

“Nojiko, please set the course towards the next Log Pose destination,” I answered, before giving Lia another look of pleading puppy eyes.

She sighed fondly and waved me off. And I was gone with a blur, down into the ship and through the corridor into my forge. Once there I started to get acquainted with my new tools and workstation.

I was in the middle of forging a few kunai when someone knocked on the door. It opened and Noa came inside. He spotted me and grinned proudly. “How is the forge? I hope everything is here and in good working condition?”

I put the kunai down and nodded with a bright smile. “Yes, this is perfect for me. Now I can craft whatever I want.”

“Good to hear. I have finished my inspection and found nothing of concern. The engine and pipes are able to withstand the pressure and every part is still in place. Also, I didn't know that you could only make the water vaporise and not the other elements inside. Thanks to that we now have an abundance of salt.”

Oh yeah, there was that wasn't there? When they said I should heat the water I did just that. I only flash heated the water molecules and not the salt, lime, iodine and so on. This way the pipes won't get clocked and we have an easier time cleaning the tanks.

“I gave Jonny and Yosaku the order to clean the tanks up. They have finished just now and Lia told me to go and fetch you. She said you'll have to take a shower before you are allowed to eat. We're going to have a barbecue out on the green deck.”

I gave him a quick thanks and began to put my tools away, as well as the cleanup process of my forge. Half an hour later I stepped into mine and Lia's room. It was spacious with a large bed and a large window. There was a large clothes cabinet and a comfy couch, large enough for both me and Lia.

There was also a chair with Mrs Chicken Wing's satin cushion. A door on the left wall led me into a bathroom. It had a shower and was large enough for two people. There was not much else in our bath, a toilet, the shower and a mirror. The larger bath must have the good things then.

At least we don't have to use the shared showers anymore.

I washed the grime off before wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Back out on the green field, I found the rest of the crew. Lia was standing behind a grill and in the middle of preparing the food. Snacks and side dishes were already prepared and placed on a table.

Nojiko was reading a book, sitting on a chair between her tangerine trees. Fiara was sitting next to her on the grass and eating one of the tangerines. The fruit was half as large as her and it looked really comical to see her eating.

Jonny and Yosaku were busy carrying a table out for us to sit at, followed by Noa and Jo who were bringing the chairs.

I skipped over to Lia, gave her a quick kiss and then watched the sizzling meat for a moment or two. “The new kitchen is great, I have enough room and cooking places to do some great things.”

“Yeah, the forge is also great. Noa and Fiara have really outdone themselves with this.” I said in agreement. I took another look at the meat and noted that it was almost finished, so I walked over to Noa and helped him with preparing the table.

Lia was finished with the meat the moment we had prepared the table and we sat down to eat and talk about the new ship. Jonny told me that the sculpting books are really interesting and that he will first start to learn how to differentiate between each kind of stone before he starts to sculpt them.

While Yosaku was gushing over the many different colours he has had found in his own atelier.

Both Noa and Fiara were soaking the praise up like a sponge. They were proud of the Raptor and had every reason to. This ship is awesome. I can't wait to test it out in a fight. Garp doesn't count, he is broken.

Later that day Lia and I tested our new bed out, and how Devil Fruit proof the room really was. Mrs Chicken Wing, our resident voyeuristic hen, also seems to like her cushion as much as I do my new bed.

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The next morning we found ourselves in between a really thick fog. I could hardly see the end of our own ship, anything beyond was impossible. We had just finished breakfast, during which Lia and I learned that our room was indeed Devil Fruit safe. Seems like we have to be in contact with the stone to be immune.

Nojiko was telling us that she would have to keep the ship slower than possible, in case there is something inside the water. The fog was too thick to sail with maximum speed.

A good thing she did, because around early noon both Lia and Mrs Chicken Wing perked up suddenly. “The fog suddenly has a presence. Someone or something is creating it.” Announced Lia. We three gathered the crew and Lia explained her feeling.

“Since waking up it was as if the fog was not natural, something was nagging me as if something was wrong with the fog. I couldn't place it, until a few moments ago.

I can now feel a presence within the fog. Something or someone has created the fog and is now on its way to us. The fog has already become a little denser since I have felt the presence.”

“I think you all agree with me if I say that this stinks off trap?”, asked Jonny with a grimace.

“Yeah, I can try and push the fog away, but whoever creates it will notice and probably easily be able to recreate it. I suggest we wait until the presence is closer and then I disperse the fog with Lara's help.

When the thing or person is up so close we will have a good view and can then decide if we fight or flee. It should be here in a few minutes. Fiara, could you get the ship battle ready?

The presence isn't strong, just almost everywhere. That's why I had trouble noticing it, the whole fog is lazed with this person's presence. Only when its origin came closer was I able to pinpoint the reason for my feeling.”

Each of us got in position, Fiara got ready behind the panel. Nojiko jumped up into our crows nest with her two rifles. Noa and Jonny positioned themselves at the front of our ship, with Jo and Yosaku standing in the middle. Lia was guarding Fiara, who will be mostly immobile while controlling the ship.

I stood on our galleons figure. I don't have to prepare any steam for our ships fighting capabilities. Electric dials were taking care of any energy requirements. We only need steam to make the ship fly or regenerate the dials.

“Now Lara!” called Lia a few minutes later. She started to push the fog away, while I heated the air. The fog quickly began to disperse and we were able to spot a group of three large ships.

They were holding a direct course towards us and the middle ship was releasing waves and waves of new fog, yet it got dispersed almost as quickly as it got generated.

The question about their hostility was also answered when they fired the first shot at us. It missed us by far. Fiara opened our own cannon bays and retaliated with our front cannons. Four mast breaker cannonballs were shot off and crashed into the left ship. Two of their three masts were broken in half. This one won't be able to manoeuvre much more.

The Raptor made a sharp turn to the side and fired another volley of four mast breakers. They raced through the air and towards the middle ship. Two missed, one crashed into the ship itself and did moderate damage, but one hit the main mast and destroyed it in the middle.

They returned fire, but only the utmost right ship had still enough manoeuvrability to move fast enough. It's pitiful three cannonballs were shot out of the sky by Nojiko.

Our own ship increased in speed and passed by the right ship while firing our ten left side cannons. Eight hit, eight exploded inside the hostile ship and eight fireballs ripped them apart. Only a burning wrack was left behind.

Fiara turned the ship hard and we did an almost 180° turn, one of the pontoons almost lifted out of the water. We stopped and were now positioned with our front at their heck and Fiara activated our next weapon.

“Time to test our main weapon, brace for possible recoil!” Shouted Fiara from the back of the ship. The galleons figure under me opened its beak with a clack and a yellow light started to gather in its mouth. The yellow light grew with intensity until it was the size of my body before a long laser shot out of it. Our ship was pushed back from the generated force but didn't lose its target.

The extremely high-temperature attack boiled the water on its flight path and created a small corridor on each side. It reached the previously utmost left ship, which now was on our right side, and hit it. The ship simply ceased to exist. A giant white explosion encased the ship and nothing remained when it dimmed down enough to see.

Now only the middle ship was remaining, the fog has stopped from coming out and it was in the slow process of turning around.

“Fiara, destroy their oar, I want to capture that ship. These people must have a reason for attacking us and I want to know if there are more of them.” I ordered.

Fiara followed my command and destroyed their oar and sail with three precise shots. They were now drifting dead in the water and we could attack.

“Jonny, Yosaku, is your Geppo good enough to reach them?” I asked next, if not then they have to either stay on the Raptor or use the waver skates.

“I'll manage,” replied Yosaku, he was the worst of us with Geppo, only beaten by Fiara, who isn't able to use any of the Marine skills.

“Sure, I can get there easily and if necessary help Yosaku get there,” came from Jonny.

“Good, Nojiko? Give us cover fire with your sniper. Jo, Jonny and Yosaku, you three will come with me. The rest will guard the ship and keep an eye out for possible reinforcements.” With that said I jumped up and used Geppo to fly over to the dead ship.

From behind, I heard the three following me and from back on our ship, I heard Nojiko firing her sniper. She must be taking out anyone who is trying to shoot at us before we can reach them.

Let's see why they attacked us and if there is someone strong on board.