Desperate Situation

"What should I do?"

Louis clung desperately to the rail of the battered ship, his body rising and falling with its sway. Huge waves nearly brushed his face as they surged up alongside the vessel.

The storm at sea grew fiercer by the moment. The howling wind threatened to sweep Louis right off the ship. All he had to do was look up to see plenty of unlucky souls being blown into the sky, struggling in vain before plunging into the sea.

This ship wouldn't last much longer. Louis knew that. Its mast had already snapped, and its sails had been blown away, which had largely spared the battered vessel from the force of the wind. But the towering waves were still the greatest threat. Each wave rose higher than the last, and any one of them could send the ship to the bottom.

The fate of the other ships at sea made that clear. Their overwhelming numbers had now become a disadvantage. The fleet had been deployed too densely, its ships packed close together. When even a modest wave came along, several ships, a dozen, sometimes dozens, would crash into one another. The ships that sailed the New World were surely built from the toughest timber, but even so, they instantly fell apart under such impacts: hulls shattered, decks splintered. And with so much ammunition aboard, the violent collisions sparked explosions that sent several ships flying into the sky.

"The Golden Lion Pirates..."

Louis looked up. Things were even worse in the sky. "They're done for."

The power Shiki possessed was called the Float-Float Fruit. By touching something, he could nullify the gravity of himself and other inanimate objects, making them float, then control them.

In other words, the Golden Lion's ability was more or less the natural enemy of the Press-Press Fruit. The things he floated had no gravity and could be controlled freely. But being unaffected by gravity also meant that the slightest gust of wind could blow them away.

"Rumble!"

The situation in the sky was far worse than at sea. The ships up there were like willow leaves caught in the wind, crashing into each other one after another with no room to dodge. Ships at sea could move out of the way under the helmsmen's control, but the ships in the sky couldn't move without the Golden Lion controlling them. And the Golden Lion was locked in a fierce battle with Roger. Fine-tuning the movements of dozens of warships while fighting him was a joke.

The Golden Lion Grand Fleet was finished.

"About time,"

Louis picked at the compass on his wrist, revealing the tiny Den Den Mushi inside. "I guess all I can do now is put my faith in the Marines?"

He'd had no choice but to come to this battlefield, and now his life was in danger. The Marines might be the only ones who could get him out of these waters.

"Hahahaha! Still not surrendering, Golden Lion?"

The giant warship in the sky shook violently as one ship after another crashed into the Golden Lion Pirates' flagship. Even under Shiki's control, it looked ready to fall apart at any moment. Roger laughed heartily. Though he was suffering from a terminal illness, he was still so fast that Louis could barely follow him. It was just an ordinary sprint, yet his speed far surpassed Louis's Soru.

"Tch! Go to hell, Roger!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Long spears of earth thundered down from the sky, smashing the already ruined deck to pieces.

"Ahahaha! I told you,"

Roger easily dodged every one of the Golden Lion's attacks, then leaped into the air, his longsword cleaving through the sky. "You're finished!"

"Clang!"

The Golden Lion raised both swords in front of himself, but Roger drove him straight into the ground. They smashed through several decks before Roger pinned him down.

"Just admit it, Golden Lion. Your fleet,"

Roger's face was alight with a plainly triumphant grin. "Your empire! Your ambitions! Everything you had is finished!"

"Don't make me laugh!"

Everything around them trembled. The terrifying Conqueror's Haki made the already-damaged ship begin to break apart. "Roger!!!"

The Golden Lion roared. "Lion's Might: Thousand-Cut Valley!!!"

A torrent of slashes burst from the Golden Lion's twin blades, sending Roger soaring into the sky. "It's only a fleet! Who do you think I am, Roger?!"

"Wow, it still hasn't shaken you?"

Roger sounded a little troubled as he hung in the sky. "You're more steadfast than I expected, Shiki. I guess I'll have to get serious."

"If I take you out, I'll have a stronger force in no time, even if I'm the only one left! You'd better lie down and die!"

The Golden Lion shot into the sky. "I'm the man who'll rule the world from the skies! The Golden Lion!"

"Looks like you still don't understand, Shiki,"

Roger descended from the sky, his eyes shining. "What true strength really means."

Shiki and Roger, archrivals for decades. Today would decide their final battle.

"Brrring! Brrring! Brrring! Brrring! Brrring!"

On the wind-lashed deck, a man with round hair and a braided beard pulled out the Den Den Mushi squirming in his coat. "Is it time?"

"Click."

The moment he answered, the roar on the other end came through loud and clear.

"Is this Cipher Pol?"

The braided-beard man wore a Justice coat. He was Buddha Sengoku, an Admiral and the Marine Headquarters' greatest fighting force. He spoke in a low voice.

"Yes."

A very young voice came from the other end, sounding rather cautious. The speaker immediately recited a string of gibberish—the agreed-upon code. "Is that Admiral Sengoku?"

"It's me. I've been waiting for a long time."

Sengoku breathed a sigh of relief, a smile touching the corner of his mouth. He recited the code in turn. "You contacted us, which means the battle's reached the point where we can intervene, right?"

"Yes. The powerful storm has destroyed the Golden Lion Grand Fleet. The pirates who managed to hang on are like frightened birds. The Roger Pirates have also been fighting fiercely, and they're probably struggling to survive in the storm. Roger and the Golden Lion are locked in a fierce battle. This really is the perfect moment for the Marines to intervene."

The voice on the other end sounded anxious. "I hope the Marines get here soon. If the Golden Lion snaps out of his rage at Roger and retreats, this whole operation will have been for nothing."

"We'll be there shortly. Now, kid, what's your name?"

Sengoku continued, "Where are you? I'll send someone to pick you up."

That was standard procedure. The man belonged to a different department, but he'd risked his life infiltrating the enemy fleet to send them intelligence. They should at least protect him.

"Yes, Admiral Sengoku. My name is Louis, and I'm with CP9."

Louis had been waiting for this. "It's hard to describe where I am. When the Marines arrive, I'll—"

A piercing noise drowned out Louis's clear voice.

"What happened?"

Admiral Sengoku frowned slightly. "A communications failure?"

"Never mind. He's just one Cipher Pol agent."

Sengoku relaxed his brow. "There's no need to let it affect our strategy!"

"Hey, Garp! Quit sleeping! We're deploying!"

"Kuzan, get ready! Clear a path for us!"

"Sakazuki! Bombard them with everything you've got!"

The Marines were about to enter the battle with an impressive lineup.

"..."

Louis stared blankly at the shriveled Den Den Mushi in his hand. His body had almost stopped moving. He released his right hand from the rail he'd been clinging to, and the gale swept him into the sky, then sent him spinning down into the sea.

"Pah!"

Louis broke the surface, his veins throbbing in his face.

"Skello!!!!!"

A huge wave immediately swallowed him. The sea wouldn't let him surface.

Any handsome guys out there with a booklist? Knowing someone influential with a booklist counts too... Just asking. Nothing else.

I want a booklist!!