Lara's POV;

We arrived at the battle and found a massive gate under heavy siege. Peacock birds were shooting down their feathers. And smaller birds with umbrella-like plumage were protecting them from the return fire of the Marines.

A group of rather large birds was holding against a heavy gate door, from behind we could hear the grunts of a large animal. A Zoan user must be trying to breach the gate.

Mrs Chicken Wing led us through ranks of birds that got ready for battle. Some even had weapons in their claws.

We reached a post from which we could overlook the inside, as well as the outside of the gate. Inside were a few hundred birds. While outside the beach was filled with small boats and soldiers.

It somehow looked like a scene of a war movie. The peacocks must have let their feathers rain down on them. “Bough,” clucked Mrs Chicken Wing suddenly to one of the more important birds. He was a large, human size large, blackbird.

I wanted to get at least a bit out of the conversation, so I changed into my Astral Form. However, I dimmed the glow down to a soft glow of my skin and stopped the influence I had on other living things. I don't want the Marines to know yet.

Mrs Chicken Wing still noticed and allowed me access to her thoughts. The important looking bird was too mentally guarded to do so. He had his Observation already active.

°We are here to help and support the gate. What is the situation?° Thought/said, Mrs Chicken Wing.

The blackbird sang a bit, but all I could feel was that the situation wasn't too good. Thankfully Mrs Chicken Wing was supplying a mental translation. °Bad, the Marines have arrived half an hour ago. They didn't even stop to fish out their freshly sunken allies.

They only tried to bombard us for a few minutes, but the Peacock Guard destroyed their cannons. They then sent out their troops. It was a slaughter, for a moment it looked as if we could keep them in the water, but shooting Haki laced feathers is tiring.

They used the short lull and managed to establish a forward base. We tried to attack it again, but some force is pushing all our feathers up into the sky. It works for almost the whole beach, thankfully its range stopped short off the gate.

A Marine then transformed into a large rhino and is ramming the gate since then. A few more skilled Marines are protecting him. An outfall would give us the chance to kill him. However, we don't know if there are more like him. I can't risk my men for possibly no gain.°

°Mrs Chicken Wing, tell him that I can rejuvenate his men and will help in boosting their overall ability. My crew would help in taking out the rhino. However, I won't be able to fight.° Mrs Chicken Wing's head twitches briefly over to me, but then looked back to the blackbird-commander.

°My friend,° she nodded her head to me, °Has eaten a Devil Fruit that gives her the ability to heal and raise morale. We can use that.° The blackbird looked at me and I saw that he would decline.

He twittered something and I could clearly see that Mrs Chicken Wing wasn't liking what he was saying. °He does not think that fighting alongside humans would be a great idea. His men have never fought together with humans and might mistake one of you with a Marine.° She thought to me. It must have been an edited version of what he has said, or else her chest feathers wouldn't be ruffled from anger.

°Tell him that his personal opinion on humans is now not needed. He should see as well that they will lose the gate if nothing is done. I won't send my friends out alone, there are too many Marines for them.

I could also just activate my healing abilities and show them that we are here to help,° I said after a moment of thought.

Mrs Chicken Wing clucked a few sentences, her voice first understanding, but then with an edge of an ultimatum. °Listen, the gate will fall if nothing is done. My friends are here to help. I am also still higher ranked than you, I could simply take command and order the soldiers to cooperate. We both know that such an act would lower the morale and might cost us greatly, but if you act like a peabrain then I won't hesitate and give the order.°

The blackbird huffed his chest feathers and glared at me, but then bowed to Mrs Chicken Wing. °As you wish my Lady. I will allow an attack with the help of your human 'friends' but know that the people of poultry are on the line, failure will result in their death.° He even allowed me to hear his thoughts.

I took his 'open' mind as a sign for me to speak directly to him. °Great, I have eaten a Devil Fruit that gives me the ability to heal wounds, as well as raise morale or lower it. I can use all three now to help with an attack. However, I won't be able to fight while I am doing that. Still, there won't be a need to protect me.

I'd suggest we first heal your Peacock Guard, I can rejuvenate their strength. Then I heal the wounded soldiers and after that, we start our counter-attack. If everything goes right we might even be able to push them back.

As for why your feathers are flying up into the sky, I think it is the doing of one of a Vice-Admiral of theirs. He has eaten a Devil Fruit that allows him to control gravity. Beating him will be difficult, maybe only possible for the strongest of us.°

He looked down the beach, a camp has begun to form where the Marines had landed. More were still landing and the camp was steadily being fortified. We will have to attack them soon or their beachhead will be too heavily defended for a conventional attack.

°We first have to take care of the rhino. Everything else comes after that.° I nodded and looked at Mrs Chicken Wing, she understood and followed me back to the gate, where the others were waiting.

On our way there I started to increase the mental effect I had on living beings again. Birds that were worrying for their live, wounded birds and those in fear began to feel the effect as I passed them. Their wounds closed, lost body parts were regrown and they started to feel energies and as if nothing could stop them.

“So? What are we going to do?” Asked Lia when she saw us coming. She and the rest had waited at the gates. No bird was close to them, most watched us with a wary eye, but they also saw Mrs Chicken Wing with us and were not hostile because of that.

°We will help with an outbreak. The rhino that is trying to destroy the gates needs to be taken care off. Lia and Nojiko will stay on the top of the gate, you'll help the peacocks as snipers. I will be with you and oversee the fight.

I will keep an eye out for you, but my healing is not limitless, keep in mind that an instant death will still be fatal and we don't know if we will be able to save your body before it is too late for me to do anything.°

“Any specific orders?” Asked Jo. He was already forming a few daggers made out of bones from his hands.

°There will be some strong Marines under numerous others. Keep an eye out for those and try to either kill or wound them. I don't know how long they need to find out that Haki can protect them against my influence.°

“Shouldn't be too hard then, I mean most of them won't be able to use Haki at all. They came with numbers and a group of elites, right?” Asked Jonny, he stood next to Yosaku, who was in the middle of preparing his sword.

“I've seen how the feathers all fly into the sky. My bombs would just do the same, as long as that effect is present I won't be able to burn these evil men to ashes,” mourned Fiara in a sad tone. She was holding a bunch of her liquid fireballs in her hands and looked at them with a sad expression.

“Don't worry Fiara-san, I am sure Lia-sama will be able to find the one who is doing this and once she has taken care of him you can burn all the Marines you want,” said Inari in an attempt to cheer Fiara up.

Fiara instantly cheered up and looked at Lia expectantly. “I will try, but if he is really able to control gravity then his fruit will be stronger than mine. My throwing abilities will be greatly limited.” Fiara still nodded thankfully and then waited for me to continue.

°Okay, the peacocks, Lia and Nojiko will open fire the moment the Marines back off from the gate. We will then open it and attack. You will stay on the right, I don't want you to split up and get lost.” I then turned to Mrs Chicken Wing. °I know this is not what you want to hear, but I don't trust your people with the lives of my friends. The commander is partially right, his soldiers never fought together with humans. And I fear that some of them will take the opportunity and attack our back, at least in the early moments of the fight. Later, when they see that we are here to help it will be different, but at the start, we have to be careful.°

Mrs Chicken Wing nodded sadly. “°I know, I can see that most of them don't trust you. I still have the hope that none of them will do something stupid, but sometimes we birds are like humans as well. And I don't want to lose any of you because some peabrain thinks he will do good by attacking you. Still, please don't kill them if they do attack, tell me and I will take care of them.°

I nodded and then gestured for Nojiko and Lia to follow me. We three walked to the top of the gate, where the commander was already waiting. Two dozen peacocks were letting their feathers rain down on the Marines on the other side of the gate. While another three dozen were resting from the exhaustion of using too much Haki.

°Okay, I will now heal your soldiers. Then we will start our counter-attack and your troops, as well as my crew, will rush through the gate and push the Marines back.° The commander nodded, before singing a bit to his men. The peacocks that were resting looked up and then at me. He must have told them about the plan.

I nodded at the birds and then enveloped them in an aura of rejuvenation. Their ragged breathing got calm and steady again, their lost feathers regrew with a rapid speed and they began to squawk their surprise at the sudden strength.

The three dozen peacocks all stood up and got back to the edge of the gate. A Marine spotted the sudden increase in peacocks and tried to warn his allies, however, it was too late.

Over sixty birds began to simultaneously fire off their feathers. And let me tell you, feathers that are one meter long, hardened by Armament Haki and fired off with a speed that was faster than a bullet, was not a pretty sight for the Marines.

Add Nojiko's rapid fire from her assault rifle and Lia's deadly pebbles into the mix and you get a rain of death. Numerous Marines died instantly and the number of Marines that were guarding the rhino was dwindling down with each passing second.

It didn't help them that I was also starting to influence their mentality. Before, many would have been able to escape into the safety of their gravity well. But now most had lost any will to fight or even life. Those with more skill, the higher ranked Marines, were somewhat able to block my influence, but even they were affected and slowed.

So easy pickings for Lia and Nojiko. The rhino, who also had stopped his attack, still had skin too thick for the feathers to penetrate. But that was not the case of Nojiko's sniper. With a quick switch of her weapons, she had the massive gun aimed and fired at the rhino.

The head of the Zoan user simply ceased to exist. The massive form slumped down and was dead. °This was easier than expected, we haven't lost a single man. We might even be able to counter attack now.° But at the same time, I was starting to feel the strain of having the Astral Form activated for such a long time. Had it only be this battle it wouldn't have been a problem, but I have played and spoken to Mrs Chicken Wing and her family for the whole day. It was starting to seriously get on my reserves. Still, as long as I don't have to heal too many it should be okay.

The commander, who now felt a lot less wary of me, nodded and sung a brief, yet commanding song down to his troops. “°Open the gates! We will push these worms off from our island. For Poultry!°”

The gates opened and the birds streamed out en mass. Their strength has been regained from my Devil Fruit and was even enhanced, while the strength of the Marines was dwindling down with each passing second.

Yosaku, Jonny, Noa, Fiara, Mrs Chicken Wing, Inari and Jo were also with them. The seven were keeping to the right side and quickly killing any Marine that was in their way. Thankfully, no bird tried to strike their back, instead, they attacked the left and middle of the Marine defence, which left the right side to us Kage Pirates.

Soon the remaining Marines close to the gate were dead and only those within the field of gravity were left remaining. It also looked as if they had no one to counter the effects of my fruit. °This might be easy. Without anyone to counter my influence they won't have most of their numbers. Only the most battle-hardened Marines will be able to fight and even then with lowered abilities.°

“We still have to fight Fujitora, he must already be close to the strength of an Admiral and he can't be the only one who is strong,” warned Lia. And suddenly, as if her words had summoned him, the blind Marine acted.

Instead of increasing the gravity on the whole beach he did something else. He called down meteors. A group of five was racing down to the earth, already burning from the friction. “Does anyone else wonder why he hasn't done that before?” Asked Nojiko with a strained smile.

°Maybe it takes too much out of him?° I suggested, but was not really believing my own 'words'.

“It is more likely that he needs time to bring them down from space, it is pretty empty up there. There is no way for him to let those things rain down without preparation,” offered Lia while pulling out five of her harder pebbles.

“Let's hope you are right. It would be annoying if you have to block more of those,” said Nojiko while firing her sniper. She had first tried to use her assault rifle, but the counter-gravity was still in place and her weaker rifle was not able to shoot quick enough to overcome the increasing distance. At first, she had countered the effect by shooting lower, but that only worked for some time.

Her sniper, on the other hand, was strong enough to still reach most Marines. The effect was even more impressive. Before a direct hit would let the hit body part explode in a huge spray of blood and bone.

It still did that, but now the bullet was flying slightly upwards and as such the exit of the bullet would also be upwards. A bullet that was 'pulling' the blood with it, which resulted in a fairly impressive rain of blood. Had the morale not been at almost zero, it would have been after standing under a shower of blood and bones from a comrade.

Anyway, Lia had thrown her hardened pebbles and with a swing of her arm let them fly into the air. They hit the meteor and Lia must have distributed the pressure of her attack evenly over the whole rock, as each exploded into millions of tiny pebbles, rather than simply being pierced through by the small projectile.

She then unfolded a fan and produced a strong gust of wind that blew the remaining stones and pebbles away from the gate. The fan was the same she has picked up from the dead CP agent she killed on Enies Lobby.

Down below the birds were now getting closer to the beachhead and more competent Marines were coming out to fight them. These guys were hardened from battles and able to ignore the feeling of doom, uselessness and weakness I was filling their heads with.

Still, it was no use. They may have been able to still fight, but the birds were all empowered by me. The few wounds that they suffered were healing almost instantly and their strength never left them. It was quite taxing for me, but I could still keep this on for a few more minutes.

And contrary to what happened at the Marine HQ war I was not giving the birds a double-edged sword. They were still aware of their wounds, but also how the same wounds were rapidly healing.

°Isn't it strange that the Marines are attacking this soon after the war with Whitebeard?° I mused out loud. °Maybe they were already on their way and turning around would have taken too much time,° I continued.

Lia nodded but had to add something as well. “I think it's that and something else. The Marines on the beach aren't very strong, most look like regular Grand Line Marines, certainly not the battle-hardened Marines they had at the HQ. From what I can see they have at most a good hundred really skilled men. And then their leader Fujitora.

It's possible that they were trying to take out Poultry while they are weakened. Maybe they really have been recalled back, but then were ordered to attack when they learned about our attack on Impel Down. Wouldn't surprise me, really. Mrs Chicken Wing and her husband would have been easily able to destroy the blockade and then Poultry would be free to cause havoc on the Marines. Their hate for Marines is easily strong enough to seek revenge.”

I nodded slowly while keeping my focus on the many battles taking place at the same time. I could feel how the birds, who are majorly outnumbered, were almost slaughtering the Marines. Moral has had been broken from the start and only a few truly skilled Marines were left.

They were slowly retreating into their forward base. The birds, as well as my crew, was about to attack the encampment when I started to feel the built up of a strong aura. ° Fallback, something is happening!° I commanded mentally. Mrs Chicken Wing and those of us that fought on the beach heeded my warning immediately and jumped away from the fortified encampment.

I also did send the command to every bird on the beach, but most did not heed my warning and continued their push. °You'll have to order a retreat. Their leader is about to unleash something,° I then mentally warned the commanding bird.

However, it was too late. It started with a slight shift in the air and then the previously upwards directing gravity made a 180° turn and started to push everything downwards. It was so strong that the ground cracked and caved in by a few meters.

Those Marines that were still inside the area of effect were crushed to death and only the encampment got spared of the gravity. °Lia!° I said hastily and began to pump more healing power into the many fractured bones of the hit birds.

Their bones, while stronger than those of normal birds, were still lighter and easier to break. The sudden increase in gravity was easily strong enough to crack multiple bones at once.

“Right,” said Lia before she started to concentrate on the downed birds. She may not be able to decrease the gravity, but she was able to lower the pressure the birds were feeling. With her help and my healing, most were able to escape the gravity well.

However, healing more than a few thousand bones at the same time and more than once had been hard. °We'll have to take him out, Lia you and I will take care of him. Nojiko, try to get a good shot once we force him out of the encampment,° I said once the birds were in safety.

°My sister and I will take out the commander of the Marines, the effect I have on your soldiers will stop once I change my form. Make sure they know that the healing and physical boost will stop soon,° I then said to the commander.

He has been looking worriedly at his troops down below but was relieved that Lia and I have been able to save most of them. °”I thank you for your help, human. I have been wrong to judge you as I did,°” he said before he started to give orders and inform his soldiers about the coming change.

I waited a moment longer and then released the Astral Form and changed back into the standard transformation. “Haaah, staying like this for so long was pushing it,” I said while taking a few deep breaths.

“Let's go down, the others are waiting close to the zone,” suggested Lia. I nodded and both of us used a mix between Soru and Geppo to get to the others.

We landed next to Inari and Yosaku. Both had their clothes cut open a bit, but any wound they might have had has been healed by me. “What's up?” Asked Yosaku right away.

“The commander of the Marines needs to be taken out by Lia and me personally. His Fruit allows him to manipulate gravity,” I explained.

“Yeah, we have seen it. I threw a bone inside, it got pushed into the ground and grounded to dust.” Nodded Jo with a frown.

“Any way we can help?” Asked Noa.

“Not now, once Lia and I have pushed him out of the camp you can storm in and take care of the remaining officers. There shouldn't be anyone too dangerous,” I said with a shrug. I don't think any of them will be able to endure this kind of pressure for long. Maybe with Lia's help, but why should they risk taking the Marines on their own, when they can wait and then attack alongside the birds.

“Those birds are pretty strong. All of them know Haki and are really proficient in it,” remarked Inari while looking at the waiting line of birds. One or two would occasionally throw something inside the gravity well to see if it was still active.

“Yeah, these Marines stood no chance, even when they outnumbered us 30 to one,” added Jonny.

“But that also largely thanks to your aura, I don't even want to know how it must have been for them to be on the oppressed side,” finished Jo with a shudder.

“Well, we shouldn't give them much more time to plan. Lia and I will force him out of their bunkered hideout and then you can attack. But stay vigilant, we don't know for sure who else might be strong.”

I then changed into my speed form and looked at Lia, who nodded and then climbed on my back. She was quite a bit slower than me while I am in this form, so carrying her will allow her to pass through the field quicker.

“Ready when you are,” she then said and I felt how I became lighter. She grabbed onto me more tightly and I got ready for a full sprint.

“Bough!” clucked Mrs Chicken Wing suddenly, while jumping in between me and Lia. Seems as if she wants to come with us.

“Okay, hold on tight,” I said and then reinforced my legs with Armament, before sprinting forward. I went through the sound barrier with my third step and left a large cloud of dust behind me.

The first step brought me within the gravity well and I almost stumbled from the sudden increase in weight. Had I not been used to Lia's gravity training I would have fallen down. As it was now I still felt the weight heavily resting on me and knew that without Lia's countermeasures I would not have been able to sprint through this field. At least not without being in a more protected form or without damage.

Within moments I was through the field and reached the walled-off camp of the Marines. Lia threw one of her bullets with as much strength as possible and the reinforced metal dented heavily from her impact.

It must have been a mixture between steel and sea stone, however, the bolts it has had to stay upright weren't as sturdy as the wall itself and with a crash, the wall segment got broken out of its anchor.

I jumped through the new hole and into the enemy camp. Lia used the smoke to jump off of my back and Mrs Chicken Wing got ready to do the same. Close to a hundred Marines, all dressed individually and with different weapons or Devil Fruits were waiting for us.

Four of them rushed at us the moment I was out of the cloud of smoke. Spears or swords were ready to impale or cut into me. However, one of them had to hastily raise his spear to block a bullet from Lia. “Tekkai!” Yet the bullet pierced through the Haki enhanced pole of the spear and had still enough force to push back the Haki and Tekkai enforced body of the Marine.

He smirked, but then a second bullet flew at him and pierced through his head with deadly precision.

Meanwhile, Mrs Chicken Wing has jumped up from my back and flew at a Marine with a shield and sword. She made herself rotate, enhanced her beak with Haki and pierced through both shield and stomach of the defending Marine. He stared at the hole in his shield, before looking at the chicken-sized hole in his stomach and then fell forward.

“Die! Slicer Lara!” Urgh, why are they always screaming for me to die? I ducked under the fast swing of the Marine and pulled my daggers out. Five quick stabs followed in under a second. Four into his chest and one in the soft underside of his chin.

I then used a side Soru to evade the pierce from the last Marine and appeared behind him. His Observation must have told him about the sudden danger from behind, yet his body wasn't fast enough to react. My dagger pierced through his neck and severed his head off from his body.

Two bullets zipped past my head and killed another Marine, while three more were following from behind. One sent a force blade off with his sword, while the other followed behind the cutting blade of wind with a Soru.

He was using the flying blade of air as cover, but sadly force blades are basically wind pressure. So it fizzled out after only a few meters. The Soru using Marine was only for a split second shocked, but then regained his bearing and was about to launch a Rankyaku at me. Too bad for him that the brief moment of shock was by far enough for me to get close to him. I ducked under his kicking leg and cut upwards with my dagger while generating my own force blade. Enhanced by my vibrations and a bit of Whitebeard's tremor power.

On top of that, it got almost instantly enhanced by Lia and easily split the body of the Marine in two, before flying onward and cutting a deep trench into the ground. Any Marine in its way decided that jumping away would be safer than trying to take it on. Good for them, as my blade hasn't slowed any down when it reached the sea, it continued onwards, left a trench in the sea and then hit one of the warships of the Marines, only to cut that one apart as well.

Stunned by the seemingly casual display of power the remaining Marines looked at me in dawning horror. “Heh, try this!” I laughed and did a seemingly harmless punch at the air in front of me.

However, it was anything but harmless. The air cracked and splintered before the ground under us shook and trembled. The floor got ripped open and large boulder-sized rocks jumped upwards. Some of the Marines who couldn't predict the attack with their Observation fell into the opening chasm and were crushed by the moving rocks.

“It seems as if my luck has run out and I am forced to fight directly,” spoke suddenly a man in a soft tone. I located the large man quickly and saw that it was Fujitora. He was already blind and wore a purple Yukata with a Marine jacked over his shoulders.

“I must have bad luck to be forced to face an opponent as strong as you, Slicer Lara,” he continued, before suddenly my Observation told me to jump away from my current position.

I obeyed my instincts and saw that the place I stood before was now flattened from a sudden, heavy increase in gravity. Suddenly, a sea stone bullet flew at him, however, it got pummelled into the ground by a barrier of gravity around his body.

“Lia, help Mrs Chicken Wing and wait for the rest to catch up. I don't think he will be able to keep the kill zone active while fighting me,” I ordered while changing placing my daggers back into their sheaths.

Having my hold disturbed by sudden changes in the weight of my weapons is a possibility and my hands can do enough damage. All I need is a single good hit and his organs will be shredded.

“Are you sure you can fight me alone?” Asked Fujitora suddenly from right in front of me. His sword was fully drawn and his arm already coming down in a swing that was crazily fast. I could only follow it because I was in my speed form.

I evaded with a Kami-e but then had to evade again when his sword made a sudden 90° turn and came at me without a pause to change its direction. Another Kami-e allowed me to evade this one as well before I raised my leg to kick him in the side. However, his body was as heavy as a mountain and he got not pushed back at all. It was even as if my kick had no effect at all.

He tried to punch me in the stomach with the palm of his hand, but I kicked off with my other foot and got out of his range. “You are manipulating the gravity of my attacks. Without mass, my kicks won't hurt you.” Stupid third law of Newton, why is this world following physics now?

“You have already seen through my defence, impressive, but is this insight strong enough to give your luck an edge over mine?” Wondered Fujitora, before vanishing again in a burst of speed. He must be lowering his mass down to increase his speed.

“Maybe,” I replied while anticipating his stop and punching the air where he should come to a stop.

He must have felt the attack with his Observation, because he stopped suddenly, only a few centimetres away from my attack.

The air cracked and shattered, while an explosion ripped open the ground and travelled away from our fight. If I am lucky it might have killed a Marine or two. But right now I had no time to focus on anything else but him.

Akainu was easy to fight, his Devil Fruit is relatively straight forward. Magma can only do so much, but gravity, that is stuff with potential.

I followed up with another attack and vanished from most people's sight, only to appear behind him. Palm already outstretched to give him a flat, devastating vibrating strike to the spine.

But it wasn't as if he was using his eyes to 'see' me. His Observation was strong enough to allow him a clear 'sight' of his surroundings, tracking me, even when I am fast enough to break through the sound barrier, was still possible for an soon to be Admiral.

He tabbed the ground with his foot and spun around within an instant, only to stop as quickly as he has spun. His blade was suddenly right in front of my palm and waiting for me to cut myself.

Instead of drawing back I activated an enhanced Armament on my whole arm and used a bit of Kami-e to snake my hand around the blade. He in return turned the edge of his blade by a 90 degree and then moved its blade at my wrist.

Yet, I had anticipated him doing so and had my other hand already moving forward. The palm of my second hand raced at the now flat side of his blade and the tremor, as well as vibration enhanced strike, might have shattered his blade close to the hilt, had he not used his power to jump backwards and out of range.

“It seems we are at a stalemate,” spoke Fujitora softly. He was not out of breath and looked quite calm. While I was silently cursing the fact that I have had spent the day with my Angel Fruit almost constantly active.

“Yeah, looks like I have to up the ante a bit,” I said with a laugh and pulled two things out of my pockets. First a small orange ball and secondly a rebreather.

I popped the ball into my mouth and crunched down on it. The effect was instant and I felt how new power coursed through my body. I then placed the rebreather in my mouth and activated the extremely high-frequency vibration attack.

He did not see it, but he must have felt how the air and any loose stone around me got erased. Even the light daggers that were hovering around me were slightly distorted.

I used a Soru to race at him. The airless space behind me exploded with a bang when it got refilled, while everything in my path got destroyed. He must have felt the extreme danger of being too close to me and hastily jumped back and away from me.

I took pursuit and sent a couple of daggers after him. They were even faster than me, as they were made out of light, and only an extremely quick Kami-e saved him from getting impaled.

The dagger continued forward and pierced into the shoulder of close Marine, before vanishing and reappearing above my own, only to be sent off again.

Still, he was fast and his weightless body was giving him impressive speed, I even suspect that he was also forming a gravity well that was pulling him in his wanted direction, further increasing his speed.

But wherever he went I followed and the encampment was too small for him to run around while keeping out of the way of nearby Marines. Those that came too close or simply stood in the way disintegrated and were turned into their atoms. Only dust remained out of their bodies.

And while I may not be able to catch up with him, my daggers certainly were. He was constantly evading my light daggers. Only his Kami-e, coupled with his Observation saved his ass. But after a moment I had him trapped between myself, the sea and the sea stone wall.

I sent a group of daggers at him and simultaneously rushed at him. He knew that he has to either take a dagger or me to get away. He chooses a third option, the sea. A single tap of his foot shot him over the open water and his body flew away.

I stopped short of the water and noted how he wasn't slowing down, but kept on moving until he hit one of the Marine ships. Maybe he would have lost his control, had he tapped the sea and he seems to need to at least tap the ground once to move.

Isn't he able to change the gravity well? Should be relatively easy to manipulate more than one at the same time. Then again, he had to multitask a few things at once to move like that. Decreasing his own weight, the gravity well, Observation Haki, Kami-e and his focus on me.

Still, this isn't going anywhere. I dropped the vibrations and began to think about a possible way to beat him. He hasn't yet used the awakened form of his Fruit. Is he not able to or does he want to wait for me to show my trump card first?

I don't know if he has gotten stronger during the two years, but I think he is not as strong as he was when he appeared in canon. Sure, strong enough to fight above that of a normal Vice-Admiral, but not quite on the level of an actual Admiral. And even then, he is lacking a bit in experience.

Instead of running the way he did I would have used the gravity against my opponent and flung him out to the sea.

“Seems like he won't come back, well, then let me at least give him a parting gift,” I said with an evil grin, before grabbing the very air and ripping it apart.

The ground trembled and the world shook. The sea got unruly and large plates of rock were raising up. It was the second coming of the Marine HQ. Battleships were rising up on massive waves, giant parts of sea ground broke through the water, grounding the ships on the rock before the stone broke from its own weight. The stranded ships were falling down and hitting the raging sea.

Sea Kings were coming up and roaring their displeasure for being disturbed. They attacked the few Marine ships who were not frantically trying to get away from the mountain-sized waves.

That single attack has used the last energy of my rumble ball and left me slightly panting. I watched how waves as high as skyscapes were enclosing on the Marine ships, only for them to suddenly get pushed downwards.

It was not instantaneous and more than twenty of the ships were left destroyed in the end, but what once would have killed everyone now only took half of their ships.

With a deep breath, I activated my basic Angel Form and took flight over to the remaining ships. On the deck of the largest stood Fujitora. He was panting and sweat was streaming down his face. He must have used quite a bit of strength to push all that mass down.

His head moved in my direction and his blind eyes almost seem to stare at me in awe. “To think that you would be this dangerous.” He took a deep breath and then his aura spiked. He was preparing something strong.

Then suddenly the air next to me distorted and I only marginally escaped a sudden attack. A black dot began to grow in the air and I instantly knew what he was doing. And moments later felt it as well.

The mini black hole was starting to pull me towards it, sucking me in and trying to crush me. I flapped my wings to get further away, but only managed to keep my current distance to it.

Slowly other things were starting to get pulled into the gravitational suction force of his attack. Cannons that stood on the deck, loose ropes and even a couple of misfortune Marines. All of it was ripped to shreds, even before coming in contact with the black hole.

Still, it was not the real deal, a real black hole would have destroyed the planet by now. “I still have not mastered this ability of mine, please be lenient with me,” apologised Fujitora from his secure place on the ship.

I scoffed and sent a spear of light at him. Had his black hole been the real deal not even light would have been able to escape. But as it was now my spear of light raced down and almost hit him in the stomach.

As it was now it only graced his side but left a visible burn mark. Keeping this attack going must take a huge strain on his mind. Now his blindness backfires on him, keeping Observation Haki active against attacks as fast as mine is straining.

“Is that your awakened form? Previously you were only able to manipulate things you were touching,” I wondered out loud while preparing a couple of more light spears. Instead of shooting them at him I targeted the increasing number of Marines that were gathering on the deck of the ship.

They had secured themselves against the pull and were trying to take aim at me. Had they been able to shoot I would have been hard-pressed to evade. His black hole still was strong enough to keep relatively still.

I could have used my speed form or even the battle form, but both would prevent me from attacking him from a distance and I quite liked it that he had to concentrate this extremely on his current attack.

“It seems as if you have, again, seen through my attack. Yes, this is indeed my Awakened Form.” I frowned, how come it was this weak then. Shouldn't he be able to form more than one of these black holes? He was also getting more strained the longer he kept the hole active.

“I don't think it is working, isn't it?” I asked with a grin and formed three spears that were sent on their way downwards. He frowned and had to disperse the black hole to evade this time. All the stuff that got pulled upwards fell back down. Even the ship fell downwards and crashed back into the sea, but sustained no visible damage from the fall.

“It seems as if I am still lacking,” he said. I think he is slowly realizing that he won't win. I might be winded, but he had tried to kill me already and failed. He couldn't get close to me, in fear of me activating my vibration dead zone and he couldn't suck me inside his black hole.

“Maybe my luck has run out, but what about yours?” He asked and I frowned in confusion, but only for a moment, because the next one a massive explosion of sound rung down from the sky and the world became darker.

I looked up and saw a meteoroid coming down at us. It wasn't the same size as the others before. This one was larger, island large to be precise. “Oh my, getting rid of this will be a bother,” I said with a light chuckle and took two Rumble Balls out of my inventory.

“It is a nice try for sure, but let me show you what a real awakened form can do,” I then said to Fujitora and cracked both balls between my teeth.

My body got filled with unconstrained energy and I had to really marvel at Chopper's ingenuity for inventing his Rumble Balls. My body began to radiate a holy golden light that shone like a second sun.

Three pairs of massive wings materialised on my back, each easily spanning over five meters long. My body grew to the size of 10 meters and a heavy plate armour of hardened light formed over it. A halo shone down from the top of my head and my eyes were glowing in a piercing golden light.

“This is how an Awakened Zoan user looks like,” even my voice has changed. It now holds the power to influence the mind of others and speak directly to them.

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Inari's POV;

I pulled my sickle out of the neck of the last remaining Marine and looked around. The birds and we have stormed inside the encampment the moment we noticed that the gravity zone has gone.

We arrived briefly before Lara-sama used one of her Devil Fruits to create a massive tremor. I have watched in awe how the sea got seabed got uplifted and how it destroyed many of the Marine ships. I even manage to get a glimpse at Lara-sama before she flew out to the sea and at one of the Marine Ships.

Sadly I couldn't watch her fight, as I was then attacked by a Marine. The following fight has been quick, but devastating. The birds were all still in relatively good shape and the few dozen remaining Marines had not been able to hold us off fro long. Even before we came, Lia-sama and Mrs Chicken Wing had killed most of them.

“So he is able to create black holes,” muttered Lia-sama from next to me. I was not sure what a black hole was, but it must have been the black dot close to Lara-sama's flying form.

“What does it do?” I asked. Hopefully, it isn't anything too dangerous.

“A natural black hole is able to destroy the whole planet within seconds. They have an enormous gravitational pull and are able to suck anything into them. Matter, light, time, nothing can escape them. We are lucky that this one is unnaturally weak,” explained Lia-sama.

Everyone who could gulped fearfully from such a possible threat.

“Will Lara-sama be safe?” I asked, fearful of my captain. They all had been so nice to me and I don't want to lose the person that saved me and allowed me to stay on her ship.

“Yes, she does not seem to be in immediate danger,” assured Lia-sama. Then the sky suddenly darkened and a look upwards showed a massive, island-sized, burning rock coming down at us.

“Please tell me you're able to destroy this one as well,” asked Jonny-san Lia-sama with a strained chuckle.

“Only if I were to eat a Rumble Ball. But that won't be necessary, Lara is going to change into her Awakened Form soon,” answered Lia with a small smile, while looking at her sister.

I was forcing myself to look away from the massive deadly rock and over to Lara-sama, before all of us had to squint from a sudden blinding light.

The light dimmed down after a moment and even from here I could clearly see the new form of Lara-sama. I have never seen this form of hers, but Noa-san has told me that it dwarfed anything he has ever seen her doing.

The sheer presence of her alone made me believe his words. Even from this far away I could feel how she was radiating pure power. Her wings flapped once and six tornados formed on the water surface, they travelled outwards and began to destroy the remaining ships.

Clouds began to form and lightning rained down on the sea, while a ball of pure white fire began to form over Lara-sama's hands. It grew in size and was soon larger than a supersized warship, yet it did not stop to grow.

The sea around her began to steam and the ship under her caught fire, but she herself, almost fully enclosed by the light, did not seem to be bothered at all. She then pushed her arm up in a throwing gesture and the ball of light travelled upwards.

It too had now a massive size, almost half of that of the meteoroid. Both attacks moved closer to each other, one of them down, the other upwards. “You might want to close your eyes and put your hands over them. This is going to be bright enough to damage your sight,” warned Josef-san.

I followed his advice and waited for the attacks to meet each other while praying that Lara-sama's would win. Mrs Chicken Wing also clucked something to the surrounding birds, before placing her wing above her eyes.

I first saw it, before I heard or felt anything. A light, brighter than anything I have ever seen, shone down at us. Even with my hands in front of my eyes could I see nothing but blinding white light. It was also as if a raging fire was right over me and I desperately hoped that my fur wouldn't start to catch fire.

“Argh, this feels as if we are burning,” shouted Yosaku-san from the increasingly getting hotter rays of light.

“Don't put your hands away from your eyes! Looking directly into it will permanently blind you!” Shouted Josef-san over the noise of hundreds of screaming birds. They seem to not have listened to the warning and were now turning blind from the attack.

The smell of burned feathers and fur drifted into my nose and I panicked for a moment, but then remembered that the sea was only a few short metres to my front. Without looking I jumped forward and into the water. Water that was already starting to become warm from the heat radiating down on us.

We are dozens of kilometres away from the clash of these monstrous attacks and yet we still felt the effect to a dangerous degree. I hope Lia-sama and Josef-san are alright, they can't jump into the water as we can.

Slowly the light dimmed back down and I resurfaced. I quickly swam out of the water and back on land. The birds who had not managed to jump into the water had lost all their feathers and sustained heavy burns.

Josef-san was completely black, but a closer look showed that he had fully encapsulated himself in an armour of bones. And Lia-sama, who had not been able to use such protection had jumped into a gorge on the ground to get away from the heat.

Her clothes were still smoking and her whole body was drenched in sweat. “The meteoroid is gone,” said Noa-san in awe. I looked up as well and saw that he was correct, there was nothing left of the large island like rock.

I looked out at the sea and found Lara-sama hovering where she has been before. She does not look as if she has been affected by the attack. The remaining ships of the Marines were all burning and slowly sinking. Not a single one of the armada is left. And that was from the side effects of her attack.

“Is that the strength of her Awakened Fruit?” I asked in awe. I know that not even my Sensei would have been able to survive such an attack.

“To an extent, this is only part of her abilities. The Awakened form of a Mythical Zoan Fruit has, as its name already suggests, mythical like strength,” answered Lia.

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Lara's POV;

I left out a deep, exhausting breath. I am so fucking sleepy right now. A glance down showed me the burning ship Fujitora has been standing on, only moments before.

I had sent a couple of lightning strikes down at him. Anything else and I would have lost focus on my attack. That's why he was able to use my preparation of my [Sun Strike] to flee. I am fairly sure that he has at least sustained some wounds from the radiating heat, but am not sure how much.

I also don't know if he will survive. He had used the same method he used before and used a gravitational well to fly off. If he's lucky he will come over an island, if he has some luck he will hit the Reverse Mountain at some point and if he's unlucky he will fall into the sea and drown.

Would have been nice to get his fruit, but you can't have everything.

A quick survey showed that each ship was burning and will sink soon. The few Marines that had managed to survive the intense heat were soon going to burn alive or will need to jump into the water.

I cracked my neck and teleported myself back to the island. Over the beach and atop the remaining birds and my crew. Quite a few of the birds have lost their feathers from the radiating heat and even more of them were blind from the light.

It seems as if I can't sleep yet. “I apologise for the heat, but it is a side effect of my [Sun Strike], I will heal you all in a moment,” I said. While in this form they will understand me, every living being can understand me when I speak like this.

With a wave of my hand their feathers regrow and their sight returned. The few that died were resurrected and any damage they have suffered healed. I also noticed that Inari had a bit of burned fur, so I healed that as well.

“Lia, take care of my body. The moment I drop out of this form I will knock myself out from the exhaustion,” I then said and released my Awakened Form. The world got dark and I lost my consciousness.