Lara's POV;

An explosion from the stage stopped our talk. We looked down and could see that Rayleigh has freed Kamy from her explosive collar. Right before Franky came with the keys. He saw that the keys were no longer needed and threw them over to the waiting slaves. They thanked him loudly and began to free themselves.

Someone tapped me on my shoulder and I turned around. Inari, our newest member, was smiling down at me. It looked kinda strange to recognise a smile if the smiling person had a muzzle and not a normal face. It somehow worked, don't ask me how.

“Mistress Lara, I am not in possession of any weapons, may I search for one between the downed guards?” She asked in an extremely polite tone.

“What kind of weapon are you normally using?” I asked. Lia will find one easier with her sight.

“My main weapon is the bow or blowpipe, however, I am also trained in the use of hand to hand combat and sickle chains, daggers and the katana.” I nodded. From what I have seen, none of the guards had such a weapon.

“Lia was there someone that used a katana or something roughly similar?” I asked. Giving Inari one of my daggers or my sword would not work. They are made with the intention of using my Devil Fruit while fighting.

Lia looked around before pointing at a distant guard. He was slouched over a chair and a sword was leaning on the chair a row further down. From behind me, I felt the movement of air. Inari had used something similar to Soru. She was now inspecting the sword and nodded in acceptance, before coming back.

The speed was quite fast, above what a normal Soru was able to do. Good, that means she won't have to be trained from the ground up. I did expect her to be somewhat strong, with her claims of being trained by that massive cat, but you never know.

“This weapon is satisfying for the moment Mistress,” she reported. She was still annoyingly polite and this mistress thing needs to stop as well. I don't like it, she is now part of the crew. Her behaving like that might hinder the forming of bonds. Yet, that needed to wait for a later time. Once we are on the Raptor we have time to speak and properly introduce ourselves.

“Äh, Miss Slicer, what about me?” Asked suddenly the Marine kid. I completely forgot that we had him with us. Why did he not run like the rest of the people?

“Why are you still here?” I asked in wonder. There must be a reason, please don't let it be a stupid one.

“My orders were to follow and guide you through Sabaody Archipelago until you dismiss me or come back to the Marine base,” he answered and I had to suppress a facepalm. That was stupid.

“Yeah, eh. We don't need you any longer. You can go if you want, I wouldn't recommend using the front door, however. What's your name by the way? I have never asked.”

He saluted and stood at attention before answering. “My name is Morty D. Redshirt, private of the Marines. It was a pleasure to guide you, Miss Slicer Lara. Hopefully, we see each other again and not during a fight.” He then turned sharply and walked to the back entrance of the building.

I looked back to Rayleigh and saw that I missed some of the conversation he had with the Straw Hats. He was now directly looking at me, Kid and Law, as well as our respective crews.

“So you are pirates hanging around to watch, eh? And none of you is knocked out as well. You aren't amateurs.” His words made me realized something. The Marine kid, he was able to overcome the Haki attack as well. What a surprise, should have spoken to him more. Might have been interesting, oh well. Now he's gone and I'm not in the mood to hunt him down again.

Rayleigh's praise was nice, but the attack itself wasn't really strong. While not Conqueror Haki, there is something that normal people can use to show their presence and intimidate others. Some call it bloodlust, other an aura of strength. It is a mix between Observation and Armament Haki. A combination of both can create something like the bloodlust projection of a Shinobi.

Haki is Chakra or Qi. Observation is the mind-part of Chakra, while Armament is the body-part. Not exactly the same as Chakra from Naruto but close enough. It's impossible to mould Jutsu, not without any pathways, it's also a lot less dense. But the activation of Armament can fuel seals and enhances the body or objects. The same as Chakra would, only less effective and not as strong.

While Observation allows someone to feel the presence and strength of others. Basically a Chakra sensor. In combination with Armament, it can mimic the bloodlust that Shinobi could project with their Chakra. The Observation part gives the intention an image or intention, while the Armament gives the means of transport. A slight Chakra probe gets projected out of the body and hits the victim. Causing him or her to feel danger or fear. It shows the most effect if projected by the eyes.

Anyway, lengthy explanation aside, my crew was trained in detecting and not being affected by bloodlust. Both Lia and I were able to project it fairly well, the fact that we did have killed billions of people was making the image even stronger.

“They have the place completely surrounded Captain Kidd,” pointed one of Kidd's men out.

“Criminals, surrender without a fight. An Admiral will be here any minute. There's no telling what will happen if you don't. Stop this and give up Damn Rookies!” Blared a loud voice, enhanced by a speaker.

Law was the first to react. He didn't sound the least bit panicked. “Looks like we got involved into this mess. They speak as if we were helping the Straw Hats.”

I sighed and gave Nojiko a mock glare, she knew why and whistled innocently. “Well, at least it's nothing new. Last time we got to smash one of the main Marine bases, the time before we saved a kingdom and the one before that we had to fight a whole town of bounty hunters.

Damn you Luffy, if this gets any bigger we will have to fight a Yonko. And all just because Nojiko wants to protect her little sister!” I then clapped my hands once and stood up. Nami looked embarrassed and Nojiko was smiling at me.

Kidd followed with his opinion.“I'm not exactly complaining as well. I got to see first hand how crazy the Straw Hat is and news about a new Warlord are also nice. Still, I'm sure as hell not sticking around to fight an Admiral.”

He then turned around and began to walk out to the front entrance. “The longer we wait the more there are to annoy me. I'll do you a favour and get rid of them. You won't have to worry your little selves.” He ended with a mocking laugh. Both Law's and Luffy's 'manly pride' was wounded by his last words. They followed quickly after him.

“Well?” Asked Noa suddenly. I looked at him, he was looking back expecting me to do something, but I don't know what.

“Aren't you going as well and showing the world that the Captain of the Kage pirates is the strongest of you four?” He elaborated, Jonny and Yosaku were nodding in agreement. As were Inari, Fiara and Bepo.

“Why should I? I think I have already won the competition of who has the biggest balls. I told Sengoku to fuck himself and that while knowing that I will have to meet him in a day or two. Killing a few dozen Marines won't change that.” I nodded to myself and was proud of this fact.

“Wait, so Marines are evil again?” Asked Fiara innocently.

“It's complicated. Those that are waiting for us outside of the building are, but those back at our ship aren't.” Lia tried to explain the complicated friend/foe situation. Yet, Fiara looked as if she wasn't getting it.

“Can I burn them then?” She asked again. I shrugged and gestured for her to go if she wants to. Fiara squealed in delight and activated a pair of waver skates before flying out as well.

“Mistress, do you wish for me to take care of the safety of the little one?” Asked Inari after a short moment of silence.

“That is not needed, we will go out once the sound of fighting has ebbed off a little.” Right after answering her we heard a big explosion from the outside.

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Fiara's POV;

I caught up to the three men that were allies. The man with the straw hat was a friend of the sister of Nojiko, that means he's an ally. The other two were not Marines and haven't attacked us, which makes them allies as well.

“Why are you coming? Where is your captain?” Asked the man with red hair. He was big and smelled like metal.

“Lara says that she has proven to all of you that her balls are the biggest. I don't know what that means, but it makes her not come out. That's why I asked if I can burn the evil men outside. She allowed me to and that's why I will go out and turn all the evil men to ashes,” I explained with a bright smile. My friends at home have told me that smiling makes people like you. And I want to be liked by my allies.

The red-haired man grunted and kept going, while the man with the many tattoos was laughing. The man with the straw hat was giving me a smile and a thumbs up, so I gave him a smile as well.

“Here they come! Ready Yourselves,” shouted one of the bad guys from outside of the building.

“There are three, no wait four of them. From the left to the right they have a bounty of 200 Million, 315 Million, 300 Million and... 28 Million.” Shouted one of the bad guys from the rows of bad guys. There were so many of them I think I will need more than one tank of napalm.

“You guys can stay back, I don't need any help”, declared the man with the straw hat.

“I thought I told you to stand back and not in my way,” grunted the man with red hair.

“If you try to order me around one more time I will take you out first Eustass,” said the last one with the many tattoos.

Why are they fighting? “Shouldn't we stop fighting and start with the incineration of the bad guys? They might do bad things if we don't burn them to ashes soon,” I asked and activated my flamethrower.

“Mortars Fire!” Shouted a leader of the bad guys. Four big cannonballs came flying at us. One for each of us.

The man with the straw hat sucked in a lot of air and became a big balloon before the cannonball hit him. It sunk into his body and then got thrown back into the rows of bad guys. Burning some of them.

The man with the red hair simply raised his hand and the cannonball stopped before it flew back on its own.

And the man with the many tattoos rose his hand and a blue room formed itself around him, the cannonball and a bad guy. With a twist of his hand, the cannonball changed places with the head of the bad guy and exploded.

The last one, the one that flew directly at me, got grabbed by one of my robot arms. The force made my body spin once and then my arm released the ball again. It got thrown back into the rows of bad guys, where it exploded and killed some of them.

But there are many more. So many that they might do something bad if we don't start burning them soon. “Watch out, cannons won't work. They all either have a Devil Fruit or know how to repel them!” Warned one of the bad guys.

Lia told me that these bad guys get more dangerous if they warn each other or give orders. That's why I flicked one of my yellow burn balls at him. The ball landed in his opened mouth and cracked. The liquid inside instantly combusted upon contact with air and the head of the man burned in a bright fire that reached temperatures above 1.600 °C. It was also my liquid variation that clings to anything it touches.

With him taken care of, I turned my attention to the many other bad guys.

I jumped up at one cluster of them and activated my flamethrower. The mixture was able to reach a thousand °C. Not the hottest I could produce, but it burned long enough to kill most bad guys.

The pretty lights of the fire made me laugh. The light of fire is always able to cheer me up. It reminds me of my workshop back on the ship. Where I work with fire and heat to create my inventions and do many things that are fun.

With a bright smile and a happy laugh, I continued to pull the trigger of my flamethrower. Because Lia said that people like it if you smile at them and that laughing is something good. She said that I should never stop my smile or laugh during a fight.