Sword

Chapter 25

**(A/N) Another long break, sorry guys! Life gets really hard, and I hope y'all are doing ok! If you ever just wanna vent to a stranger, I'm a good listener! I'll give advice if you want, or I can just be a "sound board." <3

Why would a pirate be trying to burn a pirate ship?

Shoko had no way of knowing for sure, but her gut was telling her that the ship with the ram's head belonged to Luffy and Zoro's crew. Her gut was also telling her that the man with the matchbox was from another crew, trying to destroy the ship on his own.

This should be good for me, right? If the pirate succeeds, he's only made my job easier.

She stayed where she was, a safe distance from the ship, but maintained a position from which she could keep an eye on the situation.

She was glad she did. It wasn't long before two people appeared, sprinting towards the harbor from the direction of the town's center. Shoko crept forward, trying to assess the situation.

What the hell...?

The two people were sprinting towards the ram's-head ship. One of them was a woman, arms filled to their limit with shopping bags, and eyes wide in terror. The second person seemed to be a man, though it was hard to see much of him due to the object in his arms which was bigger than his entire body. It was the most gigantic fish Shoko had ever seen, and its head resembled that of an... elephant?

Shoko was so distracted by the fish she nearly didn't notice the group of Marine soldiers behind them—her men had returned with new, dry gunpowder, along with rifles and swords.

"Stop the pirates!" one of them bellowed, chasing after the man and woman, who were apparently pirates.

Shoko's men were focused: their eyes were trained only on the pirates, and they were sprinting through the rain to the docks, trying their hardest to keep the pirates from getting away.

I've made my decision. This is the moment I have to stick to it.

Shoko turned and ran down the harbor. "I need men this way!" she screamed. "The soldiers of Unit 1 should stay guard against pirates on this side of the harbor. Everyone else come with me! Be prepared to engage!"

Soldiers ran her way, holding their weapons at the ready. The guns alone won't take down a ship and it's too late for those explosives now. "Arm the cannons!" she shouted.

As the soldiers prepared to fire the cannons, the pirates made their way onto the ship and began preparing to depart.

They're leaving without their crewmates? Or was I wrong, and this isn't Zoro and Luffy's ship? Shoko glanced down the docks, searching for any other ship which may belong to her friends' crew.

The sudden blast of cannons brought her attentions back to her soldiers. The cannons were missing the ship miserably.

"Who the hell taught these guys to aim a cannon?" Shoko muttered under her breath. She instead loaded her yumi and fired an arrow at the man, whose face was clearly visible now that he had dropped the giant fish. He had the longest nose Shoko had ever seen.

Her arrow missed its mark though. The woman had knocked her crewmate out of the way of the arrow, but not by heroically tackling him to the floor; she had smacked him from a distance using the elephant fish, screaming in fear the whole time.

Shoko huffed in frustration and dodged behind a nearby building so the pirates wouldn't be able to return fire. She ran behind the building, intending to surprise attack the pirates before they could escape.