Gundam, the Gundam journey of a certain glue guy and his mecha girl.

Kira unexpectedly heard his own name from Raven.

"Didn't you say you wanted to dedicate your strength to peace? This is a choice only noble people would make. If I were your parents, I would be very proud of you."

Looking at Raven's face, a surge of courage rose within Kira, dispelling the gloom that had clouded his mind.

"Teacher, I..."

But before Kira could thank them, the ship's alarms sounded along with Basiluru's orders.

"All ships are ready for anti-submarine and anti-MS combat. All combat personnel, take your positions immediately. Pilots, proceed to the hangar for sortie!"

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Bakiru's voice calmed the panicked bridge crew down. When Maru arrived at the bridge and saw the crew already prepared for battle, she had to admit that although she was the captain of the Archangel, once they entered battle, everyone would unconsciously rely on Bakiru, including Maru herself.

Maru returned to the captain's command post and glanced at Buggy's profile out of the corner of her eye.

These past few days, Baki Lulu has been much quieter, and she still hasn't given any answer regarding joining the Halbarton faction.

But now that she's in combat mode, Bakiruru quickly returned to her usual state.

"Captain, please give me a little more time. We can discuss other matters once we are out of danger. Although we are only a short distance from Riob's territorial waters, our ship is still in peril. We must focus our attention on the battle at hand."

Noticing Maru's gaze, Bakirulu leaned close to Maru and whispered something.

Maru nodded slightly, knowing that now was not the time to dwell on things unrelated to the battle.

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Not long ago, the ZAFT forces, the Posgolov-class submarine, the Kutos.

The four members of Sara's team were making their final preparations before the attack.

"I never thought long legs were really hidden here. You're really capable, Aslan."

"So you'd say he's the chief, wouldn't you say, Second Master?"

"Diacos, you just wait, I'll deal with you when I get back to the ship!"

Setting the two bickering aside, Aslan took a deep breath and initiated the Aegis's self-check program.

The Archangel's trail was not hard to spot; the spaceship, hovering at low altitude and with its unique shape, was far too conspicuous.

For Aslan, what really matters is what to do next.

'Would you really harm your own friend?'

'I still don't want to fight you.'

Kruze and Kira's voices alternated in Athrun's ears, making him feel even worse.

Chapter 55 Underwater Warfare

Although the Archangel's engines were still damaged, ZAFT's pursuit force would not stop their attack and allow the Archangel to continue drifting slowly at low altitude.

Knowing this, Bakirulu decisively ordered the Archangel to sail at full speed toward Orb's territorial waters, reducing the time to reach Orb's territorial waters to just a few minutes.

Although there is a risk that the engine might suddenly stall midway, it is better than continuing to drift at low altitude and being attacked unilaterally by ZAFT forces.

The abnormality of the Archangel's engine was, of course, noticed by the ZAFT forces.

Aslan decided to prioritize attacking the Archangel's engines. Four Gundams, riding on GU, attacked from above, while four underwater mobile suits, GUAN, launched an attack from below the sea, flanking the Archangel from both above and below.

"Strike and Sky King, please take charge of dealing with the aerial attacks. The underwater enemies are to be handled by Captain Lei."

Faced with the ZAFT offensive, Bakiruru also made her own arrangements.

Because the Strike lost its flight-capable IWSP backpack in the final battle with Andrew, it could only use an empty backpack to engage the four Gundams overhead, while the Dagger was equipped with a Lightning backpack to engage the ZAFT forces' underwater mobile suits.

This is not the first time Raven has fought in underwater warfare. After the Archangel left North Africa and entered the Indian Ocean, it was repeatedly attacked by ZAFT's underwater forces. Unlike beam weapons, the railgun on the Lightning backpack can also effectively exert its power underwater.

However, compared to the underwater MS specially designed by the ZAFT military, the short sword, which has not been specially designed for underwater use, still appears slow and clumsy in the water.

"The machine is so heavy! Damn gravity!"

"Raven, shouldn't this be water resistance?"

"That's not important, it's coming!"

The display screen in front of Raven was marked with several red boxes by Al, which were the eight M70 supercavitating torpedoes launched by Gern.

This torpedo has extremely high speed and exaggerated power, but its disadvantage is that it can only travel in a straight line and has very poor guidance. It is mostly used to attack targets with poor maneuverability, such as surface ships, and is not suitable for battles between mobile suits.

Therefore, Gern's pilot chose to launch supercavitating torpedoes at the start of the battle as a gamble, but Raven's short sword, although not a mobile suit specifically designed for naval warfare, would not be easily hit by such an attack.

The thruster propelled the short sword through the water's obstruction, through the gaps between the eight torpedoes, dodging each torpedo, and steadily positioned the pre-assembled long-barreled magnetic railgun in front of it, its muzzle pointing towards the pitch-black darkness.

The light underwater was very dim, and even though Al was working hard to process the images captured by the sensors, Raven could not visually confirm the location of the enemy aircraft. The large sensors in the Lightning backpack also had a limited detection range underwater.

But Raven didn't need to look; what he needed to do was sense and capture the enemy's fleeting killing intent.

'1, 2, 3, 4... There are four enemy planes in total... Got you!'

With auto-aiming disabled, Raven closed his eyes slightly, extending his senses to the surrounding sea, feeling the hostility directed at him, before pulling the trigger.

The railgun fired projectiles, and the shockwaves generated by the high-speed flight of the projectiles spread through the water.

The next second, an even larger shockwave came back from the darkness, and moments later, the wreckage of the MS floated on the surface of the sea.

This wasn't the first time Raven had done this; he had used the same method to escape danger in previous underwater battles.

"What?! Unit 4 has been shot down!"

The short sword's performance surprised the captain of the Gern squad.

"That mobile suit, it's clearly not designed for underwater use, yet it's equipped with high-precision sonar specifically designed for underwater warfare?"

Not knowing Raven's background, this was the only conclusion he could draw.

His original plan was to take advantage of Gern's mobility and range of vision in the water to eliminate the short sword while moving around, but Raven's attack forced him to change his tactics.

The three Gren quickly converged on the Dagger and launched a volley of fire from the torpedo tubes on their wrists.

This torpedo is not as lacking in guidance capabilities as the previous supercavitating torpedoes, but Raven remained calm, handing over control of the machine to El and focusing on sensing the enemy's location.

"The second one!"

Another magnetic railgun projectile was fired, detonating several torpedoes in succession before piercing a moving Gren aircraft. Seawater quickly rushed in through the breached hull, and the water pressure rapidly turned the Gren into a pile of scrap metal.

While firing, the Dagger continued to maneuver to avoid the torpedoes, but maneuvering alone was not enough to evade all of them. The Vulcan cannon on the head of the Dagger fired. Although the kinetic energy of the projectiles was greatly reduced underwater, it was still enough to intercept torpedoes that had come close to the Dagger. Several torpedoes that had come to the Dagger were destroyed one by one.

However, while the Dagger intercepted the torpedo, the remaining two Grenadiers had already approached the Dagger.

The short sword's maneuverability was greatly reduced in the water, allowing Gern to easily close in. The two Gern's showed no mercy, as the phonon cannons on their chests had already opened their ports, and green lasers began to shine on the short sword's fuselage.

But the dagger's next move was beyond their expectations.

Faced with the pincer attack of two Gren, Dagger did not retreat, but instead charged forward, his long-barreled railgun piercing the chest of the Gren in front of him like a spear.

"A long cannon can be used in this way too!"

The railgun's point-blank shot pierced through Gern's pressure shell, the blast bubbles obscuring the Dagger's fuselage, while the shockwave pushed the Dagger aside, causing Gern's sonic cannon to land in empty space.

"There's only one left. Ugh, this heavy feeling... I never want to fight a water battle again in my life."

Raven was searching for the location of the last enemy plane, but before he could finish speaking, a violent tremor came from Dagger's legs, followed by the enemy pilot's hoarse voice coming through the contact loop.

"Finally caught you, you bastard! Let's go to hell together!"

Dagger's legs were grabbed by Gern, and the two machines sank towards the seabed under the influence of gravity.

"This guy, does he want to die together with us?"

"Correction: The enemy planes have complete pressure-resistant shells, and their tolerance to water pressure is far greater than ours. If this continues, we will be the first to be crushed."

"There's no need to explain this!"

Raven slammed on the pedal, trying to break free from Gern's grip with the thrust of his short sword. However, Gern also activated the thrusters, dragging the short sword toward the seabed. The short sword alone was not enough to break free.

The railgun in Dagger's hand was completely destroyed by the point-blank shot, and the Vulcan cannon was unable to penetrate Gern's armor in the water, but fortunately Dagger still had one last weapon left.

Raven held the hilt of the beam saber in his hand, bent the dagger down, and then activated the thrusters, causing the dagger to flip over in the water, facing Gern, who was clinging to its legs.

The hilt of the beam sword was pressed against the front of Gern's cockpit.

The next moment, the beam saber was activated, and the high-energy particles instantly pierced through Gern's armor, completely burning the cockpit. However, the short sword's beam saber was also instantly overloaded due to the influx of a large amount of seawater, and exploded in the short sword's hand.

Raven quickly kicked aside Gern's wreckage before the short sword could be crushed by the water pressure, and the thrusters sprang up, propelling the short sword upwards and escaping the heavy pressure of the seawater.

The short sword broke through the water, but the situation on the surface of the sea did not become more optimistic at all because Raven had taken care of the enemy's underwater mobile suit.

The Archangel's damaged engines were belching thick black smoke, while the Strike and Sky King were struggling to hold on amidst an attack from four Gundams.

Chapter 56 Battles Beyond Territory

The short sword that suddenly emerged from the water instantly drew the attention of the main battlefield.

"That guy took down four Gren planes all by himself? And that was in the water!"

Although Gern did not consider combat against mobile suits when it was first designed, it was still a mobile suit designed specifically for the special environment of underwater. Its adaptability in underwater combat far exceeded that of the Dagger, and it was also equipped with weapons capable of destroying the Dagger.

However, the four Grenadiers, which were fighting on their home turf, were not only unable to withstand the Daggers for more than a few minutes before being shot down by the Daggers.

Is this...is this right?

"Hey, Diego! What are you spacing out for? He's charging at you!"

Ytzhak's reminder brought Diego to his senses, but it was too late.

Although the GU flying platform can carry mobile suits to fly in the air, it can never give them the same level of agility in the air as it does in space.

Not to mention that what was standing on the Gru was the Storm Gundam, which was a whole order of magnitude heavier than other MS.

The short sword used its thrusters to climb to the highest point of the battlefield, hovered briefly, and locked onto the position of the Storm Gotama. By the time the short sword was pulled down by gravity, it had already adjusted its attitude. The main thrusters and attitude control nozzles worked together to make the short sword crash down rapidly.

"This move is called..."

"Super Lightning Kick!"

With a ritualistic voice from El, the Dagger's body transformed into a streak of blue lightning, its target the Storm Gundam. Diego tried to use his weapon to fire back the Dagger, but before he could pull the trigger, the Dagger's mechanical legs had already taken over the entire screen of his cockpit.

"Why am I the first one to leave again?!"

The short sword struck Storm in the chest, forcibly tearing him from Geu's body. Diego kept pulling the trigger on the short sword, causing Storm's weapon to fire randomly into the sky. However, El, who had quickly taken control of Geu, easily dodged these shots.

"Diago! Damn it, that guy!"

Seeing the storm fall into the sea, Yzak abandoned his attack on the Archangel and immediately turned to chase after the Dagger.

"Come back, Yzak, our target is Long Legs!"

"Shut up! I'm going to make that guy pay!"

The duel tilted its firepower towards the constantly dodging short sword, unleashing a barrage of beam rifles, railguns, and missiles from its shoulder and the guillotine at the short sword.

"Raven, this is not good."

The GU's flexibility is really limited. It's okay to dodge direct-fire weapons, but it's powerless when faced with a barrage of guided weapons.

The short sword is not in very good condition either. Its main weapon, the railgun, was destroyed in the previous battle, and the ammunition for its head-mounted Vulcan cannon is almost gone. All that is left on its body is a beam sword.

However, Raven did not give up. He abandoned all thoughts of dodging, changed the direction of his short sword, and drew an arc in the air with a large number of missiles, heading straight for the duel location.

"Instead of running away, they're coming towards me? Perfect timing!"

Yzak decisively discarded the beam rifle and drew the beam sword from his back.

"Today I will kill you and wash away my shame!"

The duelist, riding on the guillotine and wielding his beam saber, charged toward the short sword like a knight of old. But what Yzak didn't expect was that Raven had no intention of engaging him in combat from the very beginning.

The short sword suddenly rose from above the Gewu, allowing the missile chasing behind to blast the Gewu to pieces.

The smoke and dust from the explosion instantly filled the screen in front of Yzak, but he didn't fall for Raven's trick. Instead, he followed the short sword and quickly changed direction.

"These petty tricks are useless. Today I'm going to take you down!"

The duel, firmly locked onto the short sword, launched a full-force charge towards the short sword, which was facing away from the sun. The short sword had lost its grip, which meant it had lost the ability to remain airborne for extended periods. Now, the short sword could not easily dodge the duel's attacks.

"I won this time. Fall, blue guy!"

But just before the duel's beam blade touched the short sword, a dark shadow rushed in front of the duelist. Yzak decisively swung his beam sword, the cherry-red blade slicing through the machine that had rushed in front of the duelist. A violent explosion engulfed the duelist's emblem. Before Yzak could even feel relieved, an unexpected impact caused the duelist to lose its balance and fall from the Gwu in a storm-like motion.

The next second, Yzak saw the short sword stepping on his gu, but the additional equipment on the short sword had disappeared.

So that was just a backpack for a short sword?

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"