400
With the Straw Hats,
The sky cleared up, and the Straw Hat crew finally saw the never-night island of Enies Lobby. The island was small, even smaller than Water seven, with a defensive fence surrounding the whole island.
It was amazing in a way that just a while ago, the Going Merry had to sail through a storm, and yet here, the weather was fully sunny. The island of Enies Lobby really was a thing of wonder.
Along with its weird geographical structure, one could see the giant gates of justice behind it.
Gates so big that it almost stretched to the sky. Rumors say the gate never truly opens fully. It only takes a little bit for the criminals to pass though.
And there was a chance that Groot and Franky had already gone through that gate, if that's the case then things would be difficult.
But…
"I hear them!" Aisa suddenly said, jumping up and down excitedly, almost tears in her eyes, Usopp smiled at her and nodded. He also picked them up with his observation haki, "They are with a few others… both of them are hurt. We need to save them!" She said bravely.
Aisa knew she wouldn't be able to join the battle, like others. But still will support her new friends in any way possible. And for some reason, she felt powerful, it was as if she could take on the challenges. Only then did she remember that she hadn't told anyone about accidentally eating a devil fruit.
Before she could say anything, Usopp patted the girl on the head, "We will save them, don't worry."
He then looked at Gin and nodded.
Usopp fixed the mask on his face and Gin wore his knight helmet. The others were also ready with their disguise. If they were going to pull this off, they had to do it without connecting the Straw Hat crew.
Robin had explained in detail what might be there. It was the judicial island of the world government.
And they valued it more than the marine bases scattered around the grandline. So there were many capable officers guarding the island.
With observation haki one could sense and make an estimate of someone's strength based on their willpower. It wasn't concrete, as people were able to hide their auras really well. But Usopp could roughly locate all of the strong individuals on the island.
If Luffy was around he would have been able to pointedly gauge someone's real strength. His observation haki was a bit different after all. Everyone had a unique way of using their observation haki.
And for Usopp his observation haki worked alongside his sight, giving him almost x-ray vision. Or what Luffy liked to call it 'Wall-hacks', his allies glowed green and other life forms stayed gray.
With this, he could 'see' all the strong individuals in Enies Lobby. And all of them were gathered around Franky and Groot. Which wasn't good. It would be hard to save his crewmates this way.
"Guys let's stick to the plan," Usopp said, looking back at the others. "There are some strong people on the island. So we have to be fast. Me and Gin will go in without trying to get detected, but you guys will need to create a distraction. Got it?"
"Heh, stop worrying about us," Yosaku said, punching his open palm with his fist, "We won't just create distraction… we will create destruction!" He grinned.
"Oh, I'm good with that," Hatchan said, he was still in his yellow-skin form, to keep up with his disguise. He was an octopus fish-man after all, and they did have limited ability to change colors. After learning to somewhat use life-return, he was able to take that ability up a notch, "And cooking…"
Anchor snorted, "Oi, don't go too hard on them. Some of them are honest marines who are doing their job. So don't try to kill indiscriminately."
"Eh, but hunting marines is the fun part," Cricket said, getting an irritated glare from Anchor. "Oh, come on Archy. I won't kill… that much."
"You know, I am really itching to shove that toothpick right up your…"
Nami cleared her throat forcefully, covering Aisa's ears and glaring wickedly at both of them. That shut both of them up.
"Anyway, this is a serious mission, you lot. So give it your all," Gin said, as the others nodded.
Even though everyone tried to play it off as not being an issue, all of them were a bit tense.
"Okay, is everyone ready, the Going Merry will get spotted if we go any near," Nami said.
The others nodded, all of them were prepared. Usopp was wearing his Sogeking mask, along with a red cape. On his waist were two custom revolvers, along with multiple other things. On his back was his long slingshot Kabuto.
Unlike others Gin didn't have his iconic weapons. His weighted tonfas were iconic and could be easily recognized so he was going to fight unarmed. But then again with his zoan powers he wasn't going to miss them.
Popeye D. Anchor also for this reason didn't have his anchor axe-hammer, he was going to fight differently. He was a well known former marine so he couldn't use his usual weapons, or else he might be recognized. But it didn't matter. He was getting better at using the power of munch-munch fruit. And he had a good way to utilize it for his gains.
Unlike them, Yosaku, Cricket and Hatchan didn't need to change or hide their usual weapons. They weren't that famous so just their normal disguise would be good enough to throw them off.
Law was also famous, but he wouldn't be joining the fight if necessary. He was the emergency escape after all. His powers have improved a lot since back in Skypiea. The surgeon of death didn't like how useless he was back in the dungeon so he made sure to train up his powers. So he was confident in teleporting (switching) them out if needed.
But that wasn't all, he was also the backup if things got shitty. If the Marines managed to attack Going Merry then both him and Nami should be capable enough to handle it.
All of the Straw Hats had one similarity, all of them wearing gas masks, made with Nami's maple ability. They didn't want to get knocked out like the first time, so they came prepared.
Nami steered the Going Merry near the iron fence, while the crew prepared. Things were about to get messy. Right then several of the marines stationed there spotted the pirate ship and announced that they were going to bombard the vessel.
It didn't matter of course as Hatchan and Cricket walked forward and with a combined attack defended the Going Merry.
Usopp and Gin by then had already left for the main island, without getting noticed by the attacking marines and world government agents.
As the Going Merry came near the iron fence, Law cut through the gate with devil fruit ability, making for the small ship to enter.
Several marine vessels that were docked at the front gate also fired their weapons at Going Merry, but Nami came with her maple constructs. Protecting the ship and attacking the marine vessels.
The full force of the world government island tried to attack the ship, but were failing miserably. But still, their numbers were a bit annoying. If the main fighters of the crew were here, most of them could be taken care of by a burst of Conqueror's Haki.
But there were other ways to stop the ongoing attack.
"Guys buy me some time, I'm going to try something," Nami said, while the others gave their affirmative reply.
Aisa looked on curiously peeking in from the captain's cabin as the war between marines and pirates started. She felt helpless that she wasn't able to do anything, but she knew sometimes it was better to trust your friends.
Nami came upfront and stretched both of her hands forward, a ball of orange maple started forming out of her hands, as it started rapidly growing and shrinking. It was as if Nami was condensing a large amount of maple into the basketball-shaped construct, after a few seconds it was ready, and Nami called out, "Maple Meteor!"
With that, she launched the construct at high speed into the sky. It went so high that it broke through the clouds, going above them and for a while nothing happened, but it soon came back massively in size.
And the size seemed to be rapidly growing as it started falling towards the front main gate of the island.
Seeing the giant meteor construct, drew the attention of the nearby marines and world government agents. Even the present straw hats were awed by the size of that thing. The so-called meteor was at least four times the size of the Going Merry.
"This should be enough of a distraction, right?" Nami asked sweetly, winking at his jaw-dropped crewmates.
Collectively the straw hats gulped and made a note to never piss her off. The marines and the world government agents, on the other hand, ran for their lives.