"What the hell?!"
"Rayleigh! You said this was just a regular Marine ship! Since when do regular ships have firepower like this?!"
Roger swung his blade Ace in a wide arc, sending a razor-sharp slash intercepting and cutting the barrage of incoming bullets.
Yet the shock in his eyes hadn't lessened one bit.
"How should I know?! Go ask that bastard Garp, damn it!"
Rayleigh was equally flabbergasted. It was just a regular warship, not even a rear admiral's flagship, so why did it have such terrifying firepower?
Cannons? Check. Rockets? Check. Even freaking heavy machine guns for crying out loud?!
"Sunbell, Don't just stand there! Do something!"
Rayleigh's tactical mind kicked in. His gaze landed on the fishman warrior Sunbell, who was barely holding his own against the bullet storm.
Sunbell was momentarily stunned by the shout, but then saw the intense gaze of First Mate Rayleigh.
He understood.
Now was the time to prove the might of the fishmen. He pounded his chest hard.
"Leave it to me!"
With that, he leapt into the sea.
Roger stared blankly at Sanbell diving into the water, then looked at Rayleigh, who also had a blank expression, and asked the question of the hour:
"Uh… Rayleigh? What's Sunbell doing?"
"I don't know… I just told him to do something, and then he jumped into the sea."
"Oh, then it's fine. Sanbell's a fishman, he won't drown."
"…"
Rayleigh's eye twitched.
'Was that really the takeaway here?!'
Sigh…
"Damn it, Roger! Stop right there!"
At that moment, a patched-up iron beast of a ship barged right into the rain of bullets. Its steel-reinforced bow was ramming straight toward the Oro Jackson.
Garp had arrived!
And now, the Oro Jackson was quite close to the Hammer's warship.
"Hammer! Bullets aren't working!"
"No shit! I know! What do you want me to do, rush in and fight them hand-to-hand?"
"Uhh... let's just keep shooting…"
Lance glanced nervously at the pirate flag of the Roger Pirates. Going hand-to-hand with that gang of monsters? He wouldn't survive even with ten lives.
"SEAQUAKE SUPLEX!"
Suddenly, the sea erupted. A towering waterspout shot up into the air.
"Oh no!"
Hammer roared, trying to stop it, but the seawater flooded in too fast. Lance dove on top of him, pinning him to the deck.
Water came crashing down like a tsunami. The once-mighty warship became a soaked chicken.
All their gunpowder was soaked, and the ammo was waterlogged. The once-deafening barrage of gunfire came to a complete stop.
Feeling the pressure suddenly lift, Roger shouted joyfully.
"SUNBELL, YOU FREAKING LEGEND!"
"Rayleigh, you genius, so this is what you had him do, you really are the smartest guy on this ship!"
Rayleigh: "??????"
Rayleigh: "…Sure. Let's go with that."
"Damn it Garp here! All hands, prepare to repel boarders! Gabban, get Shanks and Buggy below deck! It's too early for them to fight."
Rayleigh didn't care anymore. Garp was on their tail, furious.
Gabban grabbed the two young, overly curious kids, Shanks and Buggy, and tossed them below deck, then shut the hatch.
"ROGER! SURRENDER!"
"SHOVE IT, GARP!"
"GALAXY—"
"DIVINE—"
.
.
"IMPACT!"
"DEPARTURE"
*BOOOOOOM!!*
Their ultimate attacks flew at each other.
Their Conqueror's Haki collided and clashed violently.
Crimson lightning split the sky.
The sea itself heaved under the pressure.
But both crews were seasoned battle-hardened veterans. Even under the hellish pressure of that Haki clash, they stood firm.
The only unlucky ones?
The weaker, third-party Hammer's unit.
Caught between two of the sea's strongest Haki users, the marines of Hammer dropped one by one. Even Lance was nearly suffocated by the crushing pressure.
"Damn it!"
Fortunately, Hammer reacted quickly. He struck with Hammering of the Soul, offsetting the impact. The heavy mental "clang" helped clear his head, and also snapped Lance out of it.
Only then did they avoid being wiped out in that initial Conqueror's clash.
"Oh? Captain's Haki… Garp's Haki… Looks like I don't need to keep throwing seawater."
Sunbell slowly rose to the surface, feeling the clash die down, and muttered to himself.
Unfortunately, his voice was way too loud. The already enraged Hammer snapped.
"Lance, move the warship out of the attack zone. It's all up to you now. Can you do it?"
Lance glanced around at the chaos, then looked at the two titans fighting, and nodded fiercely.
"Good. I'll leave the rest to you!"
"You DAMMNED fishman!
"TRIDENT LIGHTNING, FULL POWER!"
Hammer raised his hand, and a trident appeared. Then he launched himself into the air, kicking off with Geppo heading straight for the sea.
The trident crackled with lightning as it shot toward Sunbell in the water.
"Whoa! Lightning?"
Sunbell heard the thunder and quickly looked up.
He saw the massive, three-meter-tall Hammer descending with murderous intent, trident in hand.
"Nice trident! Mine's not too shabby either!"
Sunbell grinned and raised his left hand, holding a plain, simple trident.
"You bastard! Lightning Chains!"
*CRACK!*
Thunder roared from the trident, bolts of lightning surrounding Sunbell.
"I dodge!"
Seeing the lightning coming, Sunbell sneakily dove back into the water.
"If you've got guts, come out!"
"If you have guts, come in~"
"Come out and fight me, COWARD!"
"Come up here, CHICKEN!"
Hammer was fuming.
"RRGH, FINE!"
He clenched his right fist and raised it high.
"You forced my hand!"
"AIR HAMMER SHATTERING STRIKE, AIR CANNON!"
He punched the air with all his might, his Hammer-Hammer Fruit power at full blast.
*BOOM!*
A deafening hammer strike echoed through the skies.
A shockwave many times stronger than before slammed into the sea.
*KRA-KOOM!*
The turbulent sea was blasted into a giant crater, revealing Sunbell's position.
"Damn! Sonic attack?!"
Sanbell felt his body paralyzed under pressure. The pain on his skin started to anger him.
"FISHMAN KARATE: WATER SHOT!"
As a seasoned fishman warrior, he wasn't going down that easy.
He unleashed it suddenly.
Countless water droplets, fast as bullets, shot upward.
"I'll smash it!"
Hammer wasn't afraid, he met it with brute force!
Another hammer strike sounded.
The shockwave met the water bullets mid-air
And blasted them into a gentle rain.
"Tch. I'm done messing with you. I'm heading back."
The split seawater rejoined. Sunbell dove down, swimming back to the Oro Jackson.
"You're not getting away!"
Hammer launched off with Geppo, chasing after him.