Lara's POV;

I grabbed my shield and hammer, before addressing my friends. “Lia, there'll be more birds behind the palisade. The moment this big fella breaches the walls they will swarm the village. Stop them, but keep Batilda's opinion in mind. Nojiko, you'll help her.”

“And I?” Asked Nami. She was nervously fidgeting, her eyes were flickering between the massive bird and me.

“You'll stay close to Lia. You two might be able to do some team attacks. Your wind may not be strong enough to do something on its own, but Lia might be able to increase its strength.” I said with an almost dismissive tone.

Nami is still way too weak to do anything on her own. Having her stay close to Lia now is her only option. And what I said might even be true.

I rushed off before she could agree or disagree. The terror bird screeched again, kicked out and destroyed parts of the wall. People were hit by the splinters and a group of forty different birds flew through the hole.

They were quickly engaged by the defenders, but a hundred exhausted soldiers against forty fresh enemies wasn't good. Especially when these soldiers need a ratio of 3 vs 1 to make the fight even.

These people could call themselves lucky that we are here.

I reached the line of defenders, jumped over it and directly at the terror bird. Two fast flying robins were trying to intercept me, but their wings got punctured by Lia's pebbles. They fell down back to the ground, alive, but not able to continue the fight.

The terror bird has just stepped through the hole when I flew into it. My hammer, enhanced by Haki and a light tremor coating, crashed into its chest. And yet it wasn't enough, the bird managed to coat its own feathers and chest with Haki before my hammer impacted.

I knew that my attack was not strong enough when I couldn't hear the normal sound of breaking bones. Only some feathers were destroyed. It seems that each feather is coated in its own Haki, which then creates a cushion of some sort. Food for ideas?

Anyway, that was for later. Now I'll have to either get rid of a majority of its feathers, attack something without feathers or hit it strong enough to breach its defences.

But first I had to duck under a car-sized claw.

The blackened claw showed signs of advanced Armament and left a deep cleft in the ground. Clearly, evading this thing will be the better idea, but my clunky full body armour was not exactly flexible. Well, I could also use my Warrior Form.

“Yeah, let's take the second option,” I muttered and got ready to transform.

A golden glow exploded outwards from my body and blinded everyone close to me. The transformation was over within a few moments and I stood tall at my new three-meter. My equipment, the hammer, shield and armour got also resized, thanks to the seals inscribed on them.

The terror bird screeched in annoyance for being blinded and moved its massive head down to peck me to death. I raised my shield and added a second layer of light shielding. The massive beak crashed into my shield and the ground beneath cracked from the impact. A blast of air and dust exploded outwards and pushed nearby fighters away. The first layer of light shielding cracked and shattered under the weight of its beak, but the shield itself held.

“Akainu was stronger,” I noted and pushed my shield up. The bird was forced to step back, or else stumble. I made a fast spin and let the flat end of my hammer crashing down on the chest of the bird.

A hastily raised leg intercepted my attack and a mighty °CLUNG° overpowered the noise of the battlefield. For a moment it looked as if we were in a deadlock, but then the small spikes on my hammer did their work and the claw of the terror bird broke.

It screeched loudly and tried to peck me to death. Again, my glowing shield intercepted the massive beak. I pushed it upwards and was going to hit its chest. The fight might have ended then, but the bird wasn't as stupid as its natural counterpart. While pecking at me it had also raised its claw and was eager to rip me to shreds, even with only two claws on its feed.

But then a mighty gust of wind crashed into the bird and saved my armour from a crash test. It got lifted off of its remaining earthbound claw and got thrown into the remains of the palisade. I was about to rush after it when four crows flew at me. They came to stop me from finishing the downed giant.

Each was the size of a dog and black as the night. Their colour wasn't natural, but the results of a full body enhancement. I swung my hammer at one of them while blocking the attack of another two.

Two mighty gongs rang out when they impacted with the shield, while the one that had a hammer racing at him moved backwards and out of the fight.

That left the last one free to attack me from the top. Its beak shone in a bright yellow flame pattern and was aimed at my head. I grinned and coated my forehead in Haki, before headbutting the crow.

Haki enhanced beak impacted with Haki reinforced metal. The bird stopped in the air and for a brief moment, it looked as if it was going to breach through the metal. However, a bullet sized clump of metal, probably a couple of hundred kilograms heavy, hit and then pierced through the left top of its wing.

Only the full body Haki enhancement prevented the wing from getting ripped off. It only broke with a light crunch. But that was enough, the crow could no longer hold itself in the air and began to fall down.

“Heh, let me help you fly!” I laughed and raised my knee, it hit the crows head and the big bird got catapulted over the palisade and out of the village. A massive headache is the least wound it's going to suffer from that.

But now his three friends had regrouped and were coming at me from all sides. They've learned from their lost friend and weren't trying to run me through on their beaks. Instead, they were all using their wings or claws. Enhanced with Haki, those were sharp and strong enough to easily shatter stone or cut through steel.

Still, drawing this fight out any longer wasn't useful. I know what I need to and decided to up the force a bit. And this attack wasn't one you could overcome with brute force or simple evasion.

I blocked one of them with my shield and swung at his friend with my hammer, but my real target was the last one. To him, I turned my head and whistled.

Mrs Chicken Wing doesn't know it, but the time I spent healing her husband, her or experimenting with other birds gave me a pretty good understanding of their bone density and general body make-up.

The whistle got enhanced by a high-frequency vibration that rattled every bone in its body, before they then began to crack and splinter. The crow stopped and fell forward, most larger bones in its body were now broken. It was still alive, but no longer able to move.

Now with only two more enemies, I could focus more on attacking, than on defending. I swung the pointy side of my hammer down at the downed bird. For everyone watching it looked as if I was giving it the killing blow.

Which was not the case, I gambled on their intelligence and wasn't disappointed when one of his friends jumped in the way. He tried to bring the hammer of course by a swing at the handle of my hammer. Its attack was strong enough to direct my attack off from his friend. It instead crashed into the earth directly next to its head. The impact threw his body away and out of our little fight.

The crow that just saved his friend made a relieved croak, that got stuck in its throat. Because the flat side of my shield suddenly came crashing down on it. It was too focused on his friend that he hasn't kept his eyes out for other attacks.

It was his undoing.

The crow cried out in pain and got thrown to the ground, where its body formed a massive crater. I raised my shield and then brought it back down on the twitching bird. The second impact cracked the ground even more and also a few bones of the bird. I pulled the shield up again, for a possible third attack, but saw that it was out of the fight as well. Its feathers were ruffled, the left wing was bent in a strange way and blood was coming out of its nose. It was still breathing, but not doing much else.

That only left one crow and a massive terror bird.

The first screeched in fury from seeing three of his friend being taken down. It flew at me with a speed that caused the air to ripple, both beak and body were glowing in the advanced Haki form. It even attacked from a side where I was not able to turn around fast enough.

Had I not promised Lia to not play around any more I would have taken the attack. But as it was I wasn't allowed to. Instead of bracing myself for the impact I used my vibration again. This time to stop the molecule movement in the air. The place I focused on instantly 'hardened' from the lack of moving molecules and was coincidently right in front of the attacking crow.

It pierced the wall of none movement and its Haki began to counter my Devil Fruit. But the process took a lot of strength out of its attack. It also gave me enough time to turn around and with my hammer mid-swing.

The crow knew that it wouldn't be able to kill me. Most of its speed and with that piercing power has been lost when it pierced through the wall. But instead of retreating it flapped its wings. It croaked loudly and tried to regain some of its piercing power.

It was for nought.

Before its beak could impale me a massive strike of my hammer landed square on its back. The crow got swiped out of the air and forced down on the ground. It glared up at me in defiance and croaked weakly, but then laid still. A glance showed that this one had his back broken.

The whole fight hasn't been longer than a minute or so. And yet it felt like much more. I nodded and looked up, the terror bird was back on its legs. It had thrown the wooden poles from the palisade off of its body and was glaring at me.

I grinned, smacked my hammer on my shield and got ready for our next round. The house-sized bird of prey raised its head, screeched to the sky and then charged at me. Each stomp left the ground vibrating and left massive bloody claw marks.

“Come at me!” I shouted back and rushed forward as well. While in the Warrior Form I was a lot heavier than normal and while my feet were not making craters, they still sounded like heavy stomps.

It trampled a few villagers on its way and I had to bash a few birds out of my way. However, none of us was stopped by any outside interference. We clashed in the middle, it used its beak that was larger than a car and I used my light enhanced shield to block the forward thrust.

A massive bang signalled our clash. Both of us had stopped in our tracks, cancelling each other out. The clash of two well versed Haki users made the air crack with lightning and threw anyone too close away.

The bird was glaring at me and let out a rumbled screech, without opening its beak, before then using its claws to get a better hold in the ground. Slowly it started to push itself forward and against my shield.

My feet skidded backwards, but my posture wasn't broken. Yet, it would come down to it was I not going to act. I'll either have to use my own wings or come up with something else. It was also high time to end this fight.

That's why I suddenly twisted to the side and allowed the bird to rush past me. However, not without giving it a parting gift. I coated my hammer in both Haki and a strong amount of tremor, before letting it crash into the chest of the bird.

There still was a Haki coating on every feather, but not even that could withstand the power of a Haki enhanced Devil Fruit power specially made for breaking through defences.

It's feathers broke off and the flat side of the hammer impacted with its chest. The bone broke and flesh gave away. The place my hammer impacted caved in and left a rather deep visible dent.

The bird staggered before it croaked weakly and then fell forward and laid still. I knew that this one wouldn't be able to flee as most others could. So I kicked it in its ass and let it fly over the palisade into the forest.

It flew higher and longer than what I thought possible with my kick. A glance to the side showed Lia giving me a small nod. She too had not killed the birds and only hit where they would be incapacitated, yet not fatally so.

I was about to engage the next batch of birds when suddenly a high pitched whistle rung through the air. It came from the forest and didn't sound like any bird I knew. However, it had an effect on the attacking birds. They all retreated from their current engagement and began to flee, but not before picking up their wounded comrades.

Those were only a good dozen or so, most had wounds in their wings from bullet holes. The four I have taken out were also picked up and not left back.

Within seconds the battlefield was clear of any feathered animal and only humans or human-like people were left. And most of the humans were wounded in some way or another, with a handful of them even being dead.

People were running around, trying to help those that could be helped, while also starting to close the hole inside their defences.

“And? What do you think about all this?” Asked Lia from behind me. She, Nojiko and Nami had come over while I watched the villagers do their work.

I turned around and noted that Nami wasn't squeamish from the sight of dead bodies or the blood. At least one thing we don't have to work on. With a sigh, I shrunk back into my normal form and said what I thought.

“These birds are like Mrs Chicken Wing, while not being like her. They do show a higher intelligence. Enough to compare them to her. And yet they don't act like her. Mrs Chicken Wing has a fighting style. These birds do not. At most they tried to use a few group attacks, yet nothing that indicated to any formal training. Its as if you were fighting street brawlers.”

“That or someone that is not civilised. The terror bird should be extinct. And did you see the few chickens?” Agreed Lia with a nod.

“What about them?” I asked, both Nami and Nojiko were also looking confused.

“They looked like chickens,” agreed Nami.

Lia shook her head in no. “On the first glance, yes, but they weren't. Mrs Chicken Wing is a common brown house hen. While these were looking more like red junglefowls. They are the forefathers of the chickens we know.

I think this is a prehistoric island and these birds are the forefathers of Mrs Chicken Wing's people. Maybe some of them left the island at some point and evolved into what Mrs Chicken Wing's people are now.”

Nojiko sighed in relieve. “Well, at least they are not her people. Still, we should ask her about this. Maybe she knows what is going on.”

I nodded absent-mindedly. My focus was no longer on our discussion, but on the developing argument between the village elders and the same young man from before the attack.

I slightly manipulated the sound waves and made it possible for us to listen in into their conversation. Lia and Nojiko didn't react much when they suddenly could no longer hear the people around us but instead began to hear the argument on the other side of the field. Nami on the other hand jumped and looked around as if something would attack her.

“See? This is exactly what I mean!” Shouted the young man, I think his name was Chrol. He was gesticulating at the battlefield, where there were still some being carried away.

The elders were looking grimly at the scene. And it was the same elder that spoke to him before, when we came, who answered. His tone was apologetic, yet firm. “Chrol, can't you see it? That was at most half of their numbers and we wouldn't have won without the four women. Their help allowed us to survive, they won't help us attacking the birds. And without them, an attack would be suicidal. We only manage to hold them off because there is no forest for them to use. It would be a massacre if we try to attack them on their territory.”

Chrol scoffed and turned away from the elders, but he didn't leave without speaking his mind. “We will die anyway, why not going down with our heads held high. I would rather die trying to free us, than die like a coward, waiting to get pecked to death.

He and his friends left the elders and began to help with reparations. Many of them were muttering with each other or glaring at the elders.

“What was that?” Asked Nami the moment I dropped the sound barrier.

“Not good, that boy will gather the other younger villagers under him and attack on his own. They can barely keep them off on their own, a direct attack is impossible,” explained Nojiko.

“I didn't mean that, why could we hear them?” Clarified Nami.

Nojiko looked at her for a moment, before facepalming herself. “I forgot that you know almost nothing about us. I have told you that Lia and Lara can hear almost anything on the ship and that Lara can do more. This was her manipulating sound in such a way that it will reach us, while other noise would be blocked.”

Nami looked at me with wide eyes. It was the moment where something told became reality and it shocked her. I only gave her a shrug in return, not bothered by her discomfort. I knew that it will take time for her to get comfortable with some of the things we do or can do.

I also wasn't angry at Nojiko for telling her sister that I could, if I wanted to, listen in to almost everything she says. It's not as if I am doing it often. Not to our crew and even then, I am not someone to punish someone else if they were to speak badly about me.

A slight nudge from Lia allowed me to refocus and a tilt of her head towards the elders showed that they were coming over. “Ladies, I have to thank you again. Without your help we would have surely perished,” thanked the lead elder once they were close enough.

“Don't mind it. However, we were long enough away from our ship. We will have to start our way back if we want to reach it before the sun goes down,” I answered.

The man clearly understood and bowed again, before excusing himself and his company. I nodded back and then gestured for us to leave.

On our way back Nami asked the question I had waited for. “Why didn't you heal them, Lara? I thought your Angel Fruit allows you to heal wounds.”

“Because we don't know if they are going to become enemies. These birds look as if they aren't friends of Mrs Chicken Wing, but if they are, then we might find ourselves on the other side of the fence. And having 100 fully healed fighters against us would be an unnecessary risk.”

She frowned and tried to argue. “But if these birds aren't friends of Batilda, wouldn't their help be needed in a fight?”

I turned my head to answer her but kept walking. “Depends, a fully healed group would be less agreeable to a direct attack, something we would need if we were to truly fight against the birds. That guy that argued with the old man will attack anyway, but fewer people might follow him if they were all healed.

This way we either have a few dozen wounded young and inexperienced fighters, alongside a couple of the experienced ones against or with us. Had I healed them those would only be inexperienced youngsters we had to either fight or defend. And then a village with experienced men and women who know how to defend their place.”

She stayed silent after that. She still mumbled something, probably only intended for herself, however, both Lia and I could hear her. “Still, I feel kinda bad not helping them.”

Lia tried to explain the situation again. “That's because you are used to helping humans in need. What you are not allowed to forget is that this situation has more factors to consider. They are humans like you, yes, but we also don't know them.

While on the other hand, we do know Mrs Chicken Wing. If these are her people then we would be harming a friend. It's why we haven't killed any of the birds. If they are allied and that was just a misunderstanding then Lara will be able to heal them.

How would you feel if you help someone and later learn that by doing so you accidentally killed the family or friends of one of your crew-mates?”

Nami made a pained expression and nodded. “Yeah, I understand now. For us, it was most of the time clear who the bad guy was. Are there often these grey areas?”

“Not too often, no. We occasionally have a moral conflict in situations were the bad guys are trying to use hostages. That's something that can easily become troublesome. If Lara or Josef are close by it gets easier, but most of the time we have to ignore the hostages and continue on.

A hostage is only useful as long as the other person cares about them. Naturally, we don't target the hostage, but we are also not pulling our punches if they are in the way. That would be our own death,” explained Nojiko. She had been in such a situation a few times.

Pirates had tried to attack us and were trying to enslave us. When that didn't work they tried to use their already captured slaves as shields. Nojiko had to shoot through a man to kill one of the pirates. The man would have died, had I not healed him.

“I don't know if I am able to do that,” said Nami honestly.

“You will, you just have to see how your hesitation was the reason for a near fatal or even fatal wound on Nojiko. Once you have realised that it is either them or you and your friends you won't hesitate,” said Lia in a natural tone. Sure that such a thing was not an if but a case of when. That is if Nami does not learn to go through with her attacks quick enough.

Nami became pale from the mental picture and looked at Nojiko. Maybe hoping for some kind of assurance that it won't happen.

However, Nojiko only gave her a weak smile. “Jonny got shot in the chest because I didn't kill a Marine. I have shot him in the hip, thinking that it would be enough to take him out. It wasn't enough, the Marine was still able to aim and shoot Jonny.

That was when Lara hasn't had eaten her Angel Fruit and Jonny almost died. Josef said the bullet only narrowly missed Jonny's lungs and heart.”

Nami gasped and put her hand in front of her face, before giving Nojiko a strong hug. I know that Nojiko was still giving herself the fault for Jonny's wound. It was bad luck, but his wound allowed her to overcome her hesitation, so not everything was bad.

“Anyway, we still have to speak with Mrs Chicken Wing before we can start to puzzle the picture together,” I said and ended that line of conversation.