Third Person's POV, inside Kizaru's office;

Most of the Captains were breathing out in relieve, the moment Lara has left the room. They had been tense the whole time and nervous, it was rare to be this close to a pirate that was known to be strong and not having to fight them.

The Commodore, Sentoumaru and Kizaru were not showing any signs of tension or stress. “At least we can put down our suspicion that she works with the Revolutionary Army,” stated the Commodore after a moment of silence.

“Indeed, at first we thought they attacked Enies Lobby to get intelligence on our CP agents and their movements, but that seems to have not been the case.” Confirmed one of the few Captains that had not been afraid of Lara. He was a veteran of the New World, he has fought members of all four Emperor crews. A new Warlord, one that hasn't even been in the New World, won't frighten him this quickly.

“Then why did they attack, to begin with? The Straw Hats have gotten the brunt of the fault and fallout, but they must have known that they wouldn't leave unnoticed,” questioned one of the tense captains. He was still quite shaken from Slicer Lara's outburst. So much killing intent was rare to feel and he was not even the target.

“Sengoku was caaaling them, when the Straaaw Haats killled the World Noobles. Shee used technicalitieees to not engaaage the Straaw Haats. Maybee they aare allied.” Most present Marine officers nodded to Kizaru's suggestion. It sounded possible.

“Weren't their navigators sisters? They would have reason to help each other out,” asked one.

“Yeah, Cat Burglar Nami and Rapid Fire Nojiko. They come both from the same island. There are also reports about Quick Draw Jonny and Big Cleaver Yosaku, they were sometimes seen to work together with Pirate Hunter Zoro.”

Murmurs rung through the room having two high profile pirates allied together was rarely good. The Commodore cut into the murmuring and silenced the Captains. “This almost confirms their alliance. But that is something we can give the intelligence division. Sentoumaru how did project Pacifista do?”

“Ha, you won't get anything out of me, because I am the man with the strongest defence in the world. But you are a fellow Marine, that's why I will give you a report,” began Sentoumaru, some Captains facepalmed from his antics, but he was indeed very tough. “Project Pacifista still has its problems and quirks, but we can say with certainty that normal pirates won't stand a chance. Each single Pacifista was almost able to take out one of the Supernova crews. Using them in pairs will show the most result.”

“Yes, your initial report states as much. None of the Pacifista was able to apprehend or kill one of the Supernovas but they did cause damage to their crew and captains. The Straw Hats were described to be in a pretty bad state when you engaged them. They did manage to take out a single Pacifista but were then unable to fight any further.

However, there are also three Pacifista listed as destroyed. All three were tasked to attack the same enemy. What about them?” Agreed the Commodore. He had a stack of papers in front of him and was leaving through them. “Ah here it is, three Pacifista designated to engage the Kage Pirates. Two have been found as well as parts of the third. All three were destroyed and repairs will take weeks or not be possible.”

“Yes, those three. They were sent out with the order to eliminate the Kage Pirates. Partially in hope to really archive that objective, but mainly to test out the capabilities of the Kage Pirates. Intelligence wanted to see if they are strong enough to be a Warlord crew or not.

You can argue both ways about the result. On one hand, it was a massive failure, in which they have managed to destroy all three Pacifista without losing even one crew member, more specifically, they did not even get wounded seriously.

On the other hand, the Kage Pirates have proven to be strong enough for their rank as a Warlord crew. Taking out three Pacifista at the same time, while not receiving any serious wound was only estimated to be possible for New World veterans. Test fights have shown that you need to be at least on the level of the Vice Admirals in terms of strength to destroy a single Pacifista.”

“And? You must have recorded the fight, what kind of abilities did True Shot and Slicer show? Anything we might be able to use against them?” Questioned one of the Captains eagerly. He was sure that they would find something and be able to use that against the damn pirate. He and many of his colleague thought that she was acting way too self-assured and arrogant.

She was on a super-sized warship, filled with skilled Marines, more than half a dozen Captains, a Commodore and an Admiral, and yet she wasn't showing any signs of worry, fear or respect. It would be worthy of respect if she wouldn't have been a pirate.

“No, True Shot has not taken any actions during the whole fight. None we could see anyway. Their crew grouped into pairs of two and took on the Pacifista. True Shot and Slicer were watching the fights and acted more as a safeguard.

Slicer did interfere in the fight between Pressure Point Mengele and The Hammer Noa against their Pacifista. They did not seem to be able to damage the Pacifista in any serious form and got overwhelmed by it after a prolonged fight.

It was then that she interfered. The Pacifista has used one of his particle lasers to fire at The Hammer, but the attack was stopped and deflected by Slicer,” answered Sentoumaru to the shock of many present Captains.

“How?” Asked Kizaru. He knew that the Pacifista was only mimicking his own attacks. They were not able to produce the needed energy and heat to use true heat beams as he does. Instead, they were super heating metal and then firing it off through a railgun device. The light lance is produced by the extremely fast metal particles. Parts of it get ripped off of the slug and are seen as the lance of the light.

“We don't know, she has placed her opened palm in the way of the lance and then, upon contact, the lance simply parted and moved around her body. I have yet to give the report over to the geeks, but I personally think that it might have been a strong magnet in her palm.” Answered Sentoumaru with a shrug. He would let the scientists think about that. His job was to protect them, one he was damn good at.

“The report also states that there was a new member present. A mink of the fox tribe. She was sold in the auction house. Anything we knew about her?” Asked the Commodore next.

“Wait a moment, ah here. A female member of the fox mink tribe. Her name is Inari, she was captured three weeks ago and sold in the same auction that caused the incident.

She was very well known to the World Government. Early intelligence reports are hinting at personal training in the arts of assassination by Nekomamushi, one of the two leaders of the minks. Her moniker is Silent Fox with a bounty of 135 Million Berry. So far she has a headcount of half a dozen Marine officers, three dozen pirate crews and somewhere between twenty and fifty civilians.” Read one of the Captains out loud. Someone whistled to that track record.

“Then why is she here in Paradise? That sounds more like a New World pirate and didn't the mink tend to stay on their island?” Asked a Captain that sat next to him. A few others were nodding along, it was rare for a mink to leave their island.

“Normally yes, but she seems to be a special case. She is an outcast, she killed one of our diplomatic officers and got sentenced into exile for that breach of diplomatic conduct.”

“Ah, I remember that incident. It almost caused a war between us and the mink. They killed one of us who was sent to talk about a better relationship with them. Our officer was killed on the very first night. The mink did not agree to hand over the killer. We threatened with war, but they simply claimed that the one who killed our officer has fled the island and was on the run. They said that Inari was blinded by her hate against the World Government and that they are not responsible for her actions. We couldn't attack them with her not being on the island and had to drop the topic. Relations are still frosty,” explained one of the knowing Captains to the rest of their group.

“Not exactly the truth,” spoke Kizaru up. Every head turned in his direction.

“What do you mean sir? Was there something I missed?”

“She wasn't blinded by raaage. The officer we sent was aaa CP agent. He was oooordered to kill the mink leaaaadeeers. Somehow they must have gotten wiiiind of his orders and killed him befoooore he could finish his given taaask. They did indeeeed exile her for it, but not without giving her a friendly farewellll and good wishes.”

“So what do we know about their crew?” Asked the Commodore a Captain that sat opposite of him.

The Captain picked 10 pages up, each had the bounty picture of one of the crew members of the Kage Pirates, as well as all the information the World Government has on them. “In conclusion, we can say that the Kage Pirates definitely have the strength to be a Warlord crew. Additionally, they won't have much trouble in the New World. The problem we have is that we don't know much about their fighting style.

We don't know about the twin's origin or from where they started their journey. First sightings of them were in the East Blue in Loguetown.

We think that Slicer has eaten a Devil Fruit that allows her to let things vibrate, but to what extent we don't know. Theoretically, she could be able to match White Beard in strength. Both their powers can produce earthquakes through vibration and movement of the ground. She hasn't shown any signs of such control or strength, but the possibility is there.

She is also highly skilled with the sword and in the use of double wielding daggers. She has shown proficiency in Soru, Geppo and the Finger Pistol. We think she can use Observation Haki and have certain knowledge about her advanced skills in Armament Haki. There were no reports about any signs of Conqueror Haki,” many of the present officers sighed out in relieve at that bit of information. “Trivial information we got about her is limited. We know that she loves her sister, as was seen by her earlier outburst of rage today. She is also rumoured to be a lover of anything related to chicken dishes, there isn't much else we know.”

“As for True Shot, she seems to be able to push things away. Her main fighting style is to throw or propel projectiles at her targets. Her ammunition varies in weight and material. She was seen to use even sea stone pellets. Momonga reported that he felt as if a heavy weight was put on his body when he encountered her. Maybe she can create a force on things and push them away. Not unsimilar to what Bartholomew Kuma is able to do. We don't know her limits.

She also showed signs of high skills in Observation Haki and is able to add Armament Haki to her projectiles. The coating is, however, reported to be rather weak, yet still strong enough to overcome the defence of many Logia users. The reports also claim that she has never missed a single target. Her attacks need to be deflected or taken on, the later is not recommended, as she has shown enough strength to puncture a double Dragon Claw of the Revolutionary Sabo. His hands were seen to be shot through.” Another round of murmurs went around the table. Many knew or have heard about the formidable strength of Sabo the Revolutionary. They also know how he fights and that strong hands are needed for his attacks.

"It is said that she also, and here I quote, 'having heavenly skill in cooking'. She also seems to like fluffy chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped cream, together with a glass of freshly pressed orange and grapefruit juice. Don't ask me where, how or why we have that information.” A few chuckled at the wry tone the speaker was using at the end of Lia's report.

“Next would be their crew. Pressure Point Mengele, he takes the place of their ship doctor and has joined their crew in East Blue. Since then he has eaten a Devil Fruit as well. It lets him manipulate his bones, he can grow, regrow or mend bones. He uses this power to shoot bone projectiles and create daggers with which he then attacks the weak points of the human body. His ability to cause damage isn't high, which explains why he wasn't able to destroy the Pacifista. But he is fast and knows where he needs to cut to cause damage without using much strength. He has shown skills in Soru and Geppo, how he has learned them is unknown. He did not have these skills when he started as a pirate. His earlier participation in Project Pacifista may have been the reason for their easy victory.

Rapid Fire Nojiko is the navigator and treasurer of their crew. She is the none blood related sister to Cat Burglar Nami of the Straw Hats and has decent skills with rifles. She uses a custom created rifle of unknown origin. There are two variations of her rifles, one is a sniper with enough penetration power to destroy the Pacifista armour. The other is an assault rifle with a high firing rate, she was also seen to add an elemental part to her projectiles. So far they have been limited to electricity and fire, we don't know how she has done that.

Additionally to her skills with firearms are a strong foundation in every Marine Skill and the starting signs of Observation Haki. Again, we don't know how she was able to learn them.

Next is Quick Draw Jonny, he is a swordsman with specialisation in fast and precise thrusts and cuts. He shows the signs of Observation Haki and has skills in Kami-e, Soru and Geppo. He comes from the East Blue, like Nojiko, and was once a bounty hunter, before becoming a pirate. In his bounty hunter time, he was sometimes seen with Pirate Hunter Zoro. He wasn't a good one, many would have called him weak or pathetic. There never were any reports about his strength, until he joined the Kage Pirates. In the last month, he has grown from a weak nobody to a pirate that can easily fight against Captains and might be on the level of a Commodore.

His tag partner, Big Cleaver Yosaku, has the same origin. He specialises in an extremely heavy sword and has the strength to swing it around with ease. Evasion is not the problem for fast fighters if you fight him alone. Usually, he fights together with Quick Draw Jonny, they both form a formidable team and are strong enough to take out a Pacifista.

Big Cleaver has shown skills in Soru, Geppo and Tekkai. He also shows signs of the beginning stage of Armament Haki. And again, he was a nobody when he joined the Kage Pirates, like Quick Draw, he quickly gained strength under Slicer Lara's command.

Both have no real essential role on their ship, they act more like the grunt force.” Someone muttered something about freaking strong grunts, but the Captain that was reading the report didn't stop to comment.

“Next would be The Hammer Noa, a shipwright from Shipstand Island. He was apprenticed to a man named Larn, we found out that he was once a competitor to Tom, the owner of Toms Workers and the man who built the Oro Jackson. We think that this Larn has passed his skills on to The Hammer Noa and made him into one of the best shipwrights in the world. Their new ship, the Raptor, is made out of Adam Tree and shows such skill.

His fighting capabilities are the lowest of the crew, he is estimated to be strong enough to fight Captains, but not much beyond. He uses two hammers, one has a device that can ignite upon impact, the other can use electricity to shock the target. There have been no signs of Haki and he is only mildly skilled in Geppo and Soru. However, he hasn't been a crew member from the start and grew quickly in strength since joining.”

“There must be something with their training. For all of them to become this strong in such a short time is unnatural. They have knowledge about Haki, about the Marine skills and have weapons that are of the highest quality. Does someone else think this to be strange?” Butted someone in. Many nodded in agreement, some frowned in thought.

The man who was reading the reports had a possible explanation for one of their quick grow in strength. “We think they are trained by Batilda the Hen of Death. She is one of the best skilled Haki users of her people and would certainly be able to train the crew.”

“But why?” Asked someone.

“Maybe to free her husband, Herbert the Basilisk. But freeing him won't be possible, she does not know where he is and he is heavily guarded 24/7.” Suggested the Commodore. He then gestured for the reader to continue.

“Right, Batilda, a member of the bird people, she is a high ranked member of their ruling family and an enemy of the World Government for the last forty year, her bounty is 1.3 Billion. She is extremely skilled in all three Haki variations and estimated to be strong enough to fight the Admirals. Her presence alone guarantees their survival, as long as she wants to. Strangely enough, she wasn't seen in any major fights, we don't know why.

Trivial information about her and the crew are strange. There are many sightings of Slicer Lara trying to kill her. Slicer has obviously never succeeded, but there was never a retaliation on Batilda's side. We don't know if it is a form of training or something else.

Followed up is Fiara T. Sprocket, a member of the Tontatta clan.”

He got interrupted again, this time by Sentoumaru. “Haven't heard that name for a long time now. I think to remember that we fished her out of the water near Sabaody Archipelago. The old man Vega has given her four robotic arms on her back, as she has lost hers in a storm. It was a test if he can put them into someone this tiny, a miniaturisation project if you want.”

“Well, she does have her arms back. We think that Mengele has made her a new set of arms, as well as a new eye. They are robotic and can change their form. They also have weapons integrated. Her main fighting style is to set things on fire. For that, she uses a flamethrower, four inbuilt weaker Pacifista laser and special balls that explode upon contact. They are filled with a liquid that clings and burns anything it comes into contact with. Her arms are strong enough to stop the punch of a Pacifista and she is then strong enough to lift and throw the Pacifista.

On the ship, she is taking the role of the mechanic. We think that she is responsible for the many machines and weapons on their ship. Including the three-barrelled cannons and a machine that allows them to fly.

Lastly Inari, we already have spoken about her. These ten people are the Kage Pirates. A small crew, but with a lot of fighting strength and a variety of skills.” Finished the man finally. He put the papers down and looked up into the concerned and serious faces of his fellow officers.

“Hopefully they stay on our side as a Warlord crew. Having to hunt them down will prove to be problematic and difficult.” Summed someone up what everyone was thinking.

“Indeed, but lets continuue with the preparaaaations on the waaaar. Sentoumaru, how manyyyy Pacifista do weeee have and wheeeen will they be ready for deplooooyment?” Asked Kizaru, effectively ending the conversation about the Kage Pirates.