"You are... the Female Dragon Knight, Aranea Highwind!"
"And those behemoths behind you... Bartholomew Kuma? No, they're Pacifistas!"
While the Marine presence guarding Firs Island wasn't massive, it was certainly one of the most populous branches outside of the G-series bases.
Aranea extended her left hand, which wasn't gripping her gun-lance. Behind her, the Pacifistas unhinged their jaws, revealing glowing crimson orbs. An instant later, lasers swept across the field.
It was the searing beam of the Hot-Hot Fruit!
While different from the Glint-Glint Fruit powers originally intended for them, the destructive heat was no less formidable.
"Alert! Sound the alarm!"
"It's the fallen knight Aranea! They're attacking!"
"Defend the Dyna Stones inside the fortress at all costs!"
The soldiers on the beach fought desperately to halt the Pacifistas' advance, but as the sirens wailed, new pirates descended from the sky.
"The Pirate Prince, Cavendish... the Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law... and Jewelry Bonney..."
A Marine Rear Admiral standing nearly three meters tall gasped in shock. "How did they appear here without warning? What are the sea patrols doing?!"
Suddenly, the Rear Admiral noticed the sky go dark. He looked up to see a colossal python emerging from the sea, its body stretching all the way to the beach. Its impossibly vast frame blotted out the very sun.
Jormungandr lowered its massive head to the ground. Alucard and Hancock stepped off.
"Alucard the Immortal... Why? You... you should be..."
"Slave Arrow!"
Hancock's volley of arrows silenced the Rear Admiral instantly. Her face was a mask of uncontainable fury. "Those Government bastards ruined Master's mood. I shall teach you all a lesson you won't forget."
In Hancock's heart, the Marines and the World Government were one and the same.
RUMBLE!!
A giant over twenty meters tall, clad in a Vice Admiral's cloak and wielding a massive greataxe, charged out. With a single swing, he sent a Pacifista flying.
"HAAAAAH!!"
The Giant Vice Admiral leaped forward, clearing the distance to the beach in two bounds. Though the sight of Jormungandr, an entity countless times larger than himself, chilled his marrow, he swung his axe downward with a roar. "To catch the bandits, first take their King!"
Hiss…
Jormungandr, previously resting on the sand, struck with lightning speed. It swallowed the Giant Vice Admiral whole. Cavendish and the others watched as a prominent bulge moved down the serpent's gullet, sliding lower and lower.
Only after the giant was fully consumed did Jormungandr spit something out: an axe, so corroded by gastric acid it was barely recognizable.
Cavendish felt a wave of nausea. He used Observation Haki to dodge a volley of Marine fire, backflipping into the air. "What a crude way to fight! Allow me to show you the grace of my Preux Chevalier!"
Bonney sat atop a five-meter-tall reef, gnawing on a chicken leg she'd found somewhere. Surrounding the base of her perch were dozens of Marines who had been turned into either five-year-old toddlers or eighty-year-old men.
Tossing the bone aside, she patted her stomach. "Not nearly enough! Let's finish up here so I can have a real meal!"
At the center of the battlefield, Law stood before a wave of charging Marines. His closed eyes snapped open. His left hand conjured a ROOM, and his right drew Kikoku. With a single swift slash, he bisected dozens of Marines.
"Ahhh! Wait... it doesn't hurt?"
"What... what's happening?!"
"Why is my hand over there?!"
Law sheathed his blade, his hands curled like claws as he gave a dark, playful smirk. "Don't be afraid. It'll all be over soon..."
"Hey, listen up!" Aranea shouted to the rookies. "Alucard-sama's objective is the Dyna Stones. That's the stuff that was exploding on the Sky Island. The moment they hit the air, they trigger a massive explosion. Do not damage the storage fortress!"
The Marines' faces went pale upon hearing her.
Dyna Stones were so dangerous that even the Navy and Government dared not use them lightly, keeping them sealed here on Firs Island. The consequences of them falling into pirate hands were unthinkable.
Alucard ignored the skirmishes. Whenever someone dared attack him, Hancock or Jormungandr dealt with them before he had to lift a finger. This was partly why he brought them; after the unsatisfying clash with Kong, he had lost interest in minor combat.
He walked into the storage fortress. Facing a squad of Marines in the steel corridor, Alucard raised Casull. A brief volley of fire turned them into Swiss cheese instantly.
Reaching the innermost chamber, Alucard transformed into a shadow and phased through the wall.
Inside the hidden wall were rows of Dyna Stones. Some slots were empty, evidently the ones used on the Sky Island.
A pool of blood began to crawl up the walls like a starving beast, absorbing the Dyna Stones into his body. Thirty seconds later, the chamber was picked clean.
Alucard phased back through the wall. As he left, the red light reflected in his spectacles was full of dark mirth. "Wait for me, Gorosei."