Chapter 99: Clowns VS Strawberry's Unit
Chapter 99: Clowns VS Strawberry's Unit
"Ruff, you don't need to fight the Marine. But I have a task for you," says Buggy while they get ready to fight the Marine.
"What is it, Captain?" asks Ruff.
"Find Angelo in the town and take him down. You can use any method to do it. I'll even allow you to kill him if you want or need to do it. If we let one guy mess with us like this, then everyone will do the same thing later," says Buggy.
"He's getting on my nerves too," says Mantis.
"Yeah, I prefer he tries to fight us head-on rather than doing this. At least I will give him some respect if he fights us and lose," says Cricket.
Ruff nods and then he prepares himself to fight Angelo. Ruff takes his bag that's filled with some weapons that he made. Then he goes to the main island using a boat.
"Hehe, I will test my weapons on him," says Ruff like a crazy scientist.
The others are getting ready to fight the incoming Marines. They are very excited to have their first battle in Grandline. This will be the time for them to make their names big.
It doesn't take long for the Marine to land on the island. Strawberry leads his unit to face the Clowns. He is very similar with his appearance as Vice-Admiral, except that his beard isn't long. He also doesn't wear his long hat and it makes his hair looks like a tower.
Strawberry's unit is composed of 132 men. There are 1 Captain, 2 Lieutenant and the rest of them are soldiers. Compared to them, the Clowns only have 6 people because Ruff is not here.
"Clown Pirates, I thought you'll run away. Do you plan to fight us head-on?" asks Strawberry.
"We don't want to disappoint you after you take your time to come here. Besides, I want to know the strength of Grandline's Rear-Admiral," says Buggy while smirking.
"You seem to be very confident with your strength, Buggy 'The Clown'. But if you think like that because your friend, 'Red Hair' Shanks has defeated a Rear-Admiral, then you are too naive. The HQ sent me because they're confident that I can take you down based on Red Hair's power," says Strawberry.
"Oh, we're the same. I am also confident that I can defeat Shanks now," says Buggy while smirking.
Buggy & Strawberry stop their talk and unsheath their swords. Just like Buggy, Strawberry also uses 2 swords. His swords are a pair of Katana that suit his height, so they're rather long.
"Leave him to me, you guys capture the other pirates," says Strawberry to his men.
"Yes!" answer the Marine while saluting.
"You know what to do," says Buggy.
"Aye aye," answer the Clowns.
Suddenly without any word, Strawberry and Buggy rush to each other. They swing their right hand and their swords clash. Their clash is a sign that the battle has started. So the others move and the war between Clown Pirates & Strawberry's Marine Unit start.
Buggy and Strawberry fight using their basic swordsmanship. They just want to test each other's strengths because they've just started. Their strength is equal now even though Strawberry is a lot taller & bigger than Buggy.
When they fight, the Clowns are facing the Marine soldiers. They all use the martial arts that they've trained on Karate Island for 6 months. No one uses their special power like devil fruit or haki and just uses martial arts.
Cricket & Jude uses hand-to-hand combat now. Mantis uses a metal bo-staff and she moves agilely like a dancer. Manba uses a normal spear now, not his bazooka spear. While Palu uses a heavy Warhammer that looks light in his hands.
The Clowns are very excited right now and they defeat the Marine soldiers easily. These soldiers are just cannon fodder and their strength is just their number. They're just a good warm-up for the Clowns.
"WHAT'S WRONG, MARINE? CAN YOU REALLY CAPTURE US WITH THIS LEVEL OF STRENGTH?" says Cricket while punching some soldiers away.
The Marine soldiers grit their teeth and start to exert more strength. They attack the Clowns together from every side, but they still fail. The Clowns didn't train so hard just to get overwhelmed easily by the number advantage.
The Marine Captain and 2 Lieutenants that stay on the back can't wait anymore now. Their men will get defeated completely if they don't move. So the three immediately rush to the Clowns.
The officers hold their weapons while they run. The Captain uses a chain with weights on both ends. As for the Lieutenants, one of them uses a longsword, while the other uses a pair of metal gauntlets.
The Clowns see this and grin because they finally can fight the stronger guys. Cricket, Mantis, and Palu move to intercept the 3 officers. Manba & Jude will take care of the soldiers.
Cricket faces the Captain, while Mantis & Palu face the Lieutenant. Mantis faces the one with a longsword, while Palu faces the one with gauntlets.
"Spread them!" orders Cricket.
"Alright," replies Palu & Mantis.
The three pirates then rush to the 3 officers and attack them. Cricket punches the Captain who blocks it with his chain. Mantis & Palu also strike their enemies. They keep attacking and push the 3 officers away from the crowd of soldiers.
Some soldiers try to chase them, but suddenly they can't move. Their feet are stuck on the ground and they can't move them. They look down and see the ground has been covered with ash that also holds their feet down.
"You won't be able to run anywhere," says Jude.
"A DEVIL FRUIT USER!" says a Marine with a surprised tone.
Jude has spread her ash on the ground to stop the Marine soldiers. She can't let them leave to help their officers.
"Manba, how about 50-50?" asks Jude.
"You can take all of them if you want," says Manba uninterestedly.
"No, Captain said we all need experience, so we all need to fight," says Jude.
"Fine then," says Manba before moving to attack the soldiers on his side.
Jude & Manba go in a different direction to fight the Marine soldiers. Jude starts to use her ability and Manba uses his bazooka that has been improved by Ruff.
Both Jude & Manba can only use observation haki. But this haki is very useful in a crowd battle like this. They can 'see' in all directions and won't get attacked from behind easily.
This is also why they fight the crowd while the other 3 fight the officers. Those 3 can use armament haki and they are stronger than Jude & Manba. So those 3 have a higher chance of winning against stronger opponents.
It's quite surprising that Palu is stronger than Jude now, even without having a devil fruit like her. Even the Clowns were surprised by his fast progress.
But it's not that strange as he has defeated many pirates that came to him in the past. Besides, as a shipwright, he needs a strong physique. He just needs to work on his battle skills and those 6 months are more than enough.
Palu's strong physique was shown last night when he can work all night without rest and not get tired. Now, he even fights a Marine officer without showing any sign of tiredness. He has become the 3rd strongest in the crew after 6 months of training.
Palu strikes the Lieutenant with his hammer and the latter block with his gauntlets. But Palu has more power and he pushes his opponent back slowly.
Mantis also pushes her enemy back with her strange fighting style. She moves her body in many strange ways like a dancer. She does that while swinging her bo-staff around and it makes her opponent cornered because he can't find a gap.
As for Cricket, he is dodging the Marine Captain's chain attack while punching his opponent's body. He is the 2nd strongest in the crew after Buggy, so his punch can push his opponent back easily.
In another place, Ruff finally finds Angelo in the town. The damn bounty hunter is looking at the battle between the Clowns & Marine from the town.
Ruff rubs his chin and says, "What weapon I should test on him?"
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1. Chapter 118 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater
2. Chapter 129 of Transcended as Lord Buggy /CaptMermain
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