Insistent Assistant 23 (Patreon)

Insistent Assistant

Chapter 23

-VB-

Nico Robin was on that ship.

It was a thought that rang in my mind again and again.

Despite the fact that she acted less as a combatant and more of an intelligence officer for the Straw Hat Pirates in the story, Nico Robin was still a combatant with at least a decade of experience. Worse than that, she was working with the Baroque Pirates right now, meaning that there had to be at least one more of their elites with her unless the ship was manned by Crocodile himself…

Which I doubted.

Sand in the middle of the ocean? That wasn’t Crocodile’s way of fighting.

Fuck, I can’t remember what her Baroque title was. Was it Ms. Sunday?

“Snap out of it!” Illaoi’s heavy Caribbean accent broke through my thoughts, and I turned toward her. “You have an enemy to fight!”

Just then, the cannon nearest to us fired, and the plume of smoke enveloped us for a moment.

I grunted in embarrassment at being called out like this in the middle of combat. I wasn’t a greenhorn warrior or sailor anymore. I had responsibilities and people to take care of.

“Keep firing!” I shouted and my crew did as I ordered.

Illaoi stared out toward the pirate ship. If there were no cannon fire around us, then there might have even been a hum to her stare. Instead, stood like the giant warrioress she was and waited for her time to strike.

We waited as cannons balls and bullets flew from cannons and guns alike while our ships grew closer.

And then … We were almost at knife fighting range.

“Illaoi.”

“You don’t need to command, master. I already know what you seek!” she laughed as she hefted her idol up and then, while carrying a fifty-kilogram ball of doom, she jumped off the ship’s railing.

She slammed down onto their deck, but more importantly, she slammed the idol of Nagakabouros onto the deck of the Baroque Works ship.

There was a thoom of power felt not by the physical senses but all of our souls, and the battle quieted for just a moment as everyone turned to look at the danger they felt.

That one moment was all Nagakabouros needed.

The ocean water around us splashed and churned violently as six translucent tentacles rose up from the ocean, and the pirates gawked at the sight of them.

“Sea king!” one of the pirates shouted. They were wrong. They aimed their guns at what they assumed was one of the beasts of the seas, but it was too late.

“To the depths with you!” Illaoi laughed as all six tentacles swung down and slammed onto the pirate ship, and everyone heard the ship crack.

“Abandon ship!” I heard a rich feminine voice order to the pirates, and I snapped toward that voice.

And wouldn’t you know it? There was Nico “Miss Sunday” Robin, grimacing as the situation turned completely sour for her and her crew.

Then I made it worse when I jumped at her from my ship. I cleared the fifty meters or so of space between the two ships, landing on the side of their ship, and then jumped up again without falling, and slammed down onto the quarter deck at the back of the ship right behind her.

She whirled around, eyes wide, and crossed her arms in a flurry to try to use her power.

Arms and hands sprouted out from myself and the deck… and I just ripped them apart with brute force. She grimaced and jumped away from me as I swiped at her, but she had chosen to dodge a strike from my empty left hand and failed to take into account the now striking right hand that was coming at her far faster than my left.

I had tricked her and scored a hit.

She tried to guard her side with her arms, but the flat of my axe struck her flat on the ribs and sent her sprawling onto the floor.

“Miss Sunday” tried to get up, but the entire ship shook as the massive tentacles of Nagakabouros crushed down onto the ship and twisted. The spine of the ship snapped in half, and the crews began to jump into the seas.

I grabbed her and jumped back onto our boat with Illaoi as my crew continued to pour lead into the Baroque Works ship.

It began to sink, and the screams of the pirates … soothed me. It was odd how much I had changed.

And as for Nico Robin. She didn’t look at the drowning crew as my ships began to sail away. Instead, she remained hung under my arm in defeat.

“Are you a bounty hunter?” she asked.

“No,” I replied. “I’m a privateer.”

“... What country is dumb enough to challenge one of the Warlords of the Seas?”

“None of your business,” I hummed as I walked toward my room. “We have things to discuss…” I began before opening the door and then closing it behind me. “Miss Robin.”

She froze.

Oh, yes. I knew who you were, Nico Robin. You really shouldn’t have gotten your ship to attack mine.