The Pirate Princess Becomes Queen

"Old Fan, can you hit the rudder on the top of the golden lion's head?"

"No problem, we can definitely hit such a big target."

Vivi then asked, "Do you know Armament Haki?"

Van Augur was taken aback: "What is that?"

Vivi glanced at the sniper's expression: "Looks like you don't know how, Lao Fan. The world is so big, you should go out and see more of it... Since you don't know Armament Haki, then you'll just have to wait for my signal."

Van Augur is still a bit weak right now. He's good at sniping; if someone isn't on guard, he can kill them with a single shot from miles away. He's definitely world-class. But he's been confined to the East Blue and hasn't been exposed to Haki, which has lowered his combat ability by a level.

Vivi pondered the Golden Lion's weaknesses repeatedly before finally looking at her pet duck, Karu.

"Quack?" The duck tilted its head to look at her, a sense of foreboding rising in its heart.

Vivi also looked troubled: "I heard that because of the pressure from the ship's rudder, the Golden Lion's head has been experiencing intermittent blank stares, absent-mindedness, and cognitive impairment. Many times, he thinks he's a chicken... Never mind where this perception came from, Karu... As my good friend! Can you pretend to be a chicken during battle?"

Pet duck Karu: "???"

What do you mean? You want me, this duck, to turn into a chicken?! We're mortal enemies!

Faced with Vivi's expectant gaze, it took two steps, mimicking the way chickens walked in its memory, and then opened its mouth: "Cluck cluck cluck?"

Chapter Twenty-Six: Rescue

After being trained by Vivi, the pet duck Karu now combines a series of functions, including a cheat, a pet, a mount, a con artist's assistant, a navigation tool, and a mobile backpack.

Besides Vivi's cushion, there are two backpacks hanging on either side of its back.

The backpack was full of things. Vivi then dressed Karu in the clothes she had bought in Loguetown, and took out a red Christmas hat that she had knitted while practicing and put it on the duck. Regardless of whether it looked like a rooster's comb or not, just say it was a rooster's comb!

The golden lion's gaze upon seeing the gorilla call him "Mommy" was absolutely captivating; Vivi's act of calling a duck a chicken could pretty much fool her...

Vivi gave Karu a fairly full training schedule; she wanted the duck to practice flying while also practicing how to disguise itself as a chicken.

She found a very tall tree, then let the duck climb up and jump down, practicing flying in the process!

She vowed to save Smoker, but her real plan was to teach the duck to fly so she could escape with him. Smoker? To hell with him! This guy had sneaked out after her. Vivi had already gotten the gist of the story from Tashigi through subtle questioning. This guy was after her; she'd be lucky if he didn't try anything funny, let alone save him?

We're taking a two-pronged approach, with Plan A and Plan B proceeding simultaneously.

Unfortunately, time was too short. Despite Karu's diligent practice, Vivi still didn't see any signs of "the sea is wide enough for fish to leap, and the sky is high enough for ducks to fly." She estimated that, at the current pace, if the duck continued to practice so hard, the chances of it mastering "Six Styles: Moon Step" on its own were higher than its chances of flying. Plan A died in the womb, and Plan B had to be implemented.

The storm that the old woman had predicted arrived as expected the following evening.

Van Oka, a sharp-eyed sniper, took on the role of a scout, reconnoitering out most of the terrain around the battlefield.

General Monca led his soldiers to attack the Golden Lion's castle in the center of the floating island.

Duck Karu and Lao Fan followed Vivi from a distance.

If Plan B to rescue Smoker doesn't work, Vivi will have no choice but to implement Plan C.

She planned to use the ducks to attract Shiki's attention—dancing, singing, wiggling its hips, etc.—to lure him into a daze. Then, before he could use his Armament Haki or Observation Haki, Old Man would attack the ship's rudder above Shiki's head from a distance, deciding the outcome with a single shot! This was the extremely risky Plan C, with a low success rate and unpredictable results; it was a last resort.

The rain was torrential, the sky was dark, and visibility was extremely low. Vivi and Tashigi were on a rescue mission, and they rushed towards the castle dungeon in the heavy rain.

Tashigi greatly admired Vivi; she had a good personality, was intelligent, beautiful, and her swordsmanship was superior to her own. However, after the two were alone for three minutes, a slight flaw appeared in Tashigi's perfect image of Vivi. This beautiful swordswoman seemed to have a poor sense of direction? And to make matters worse, she liked to lead the way...

Tashigi still didn't know her name and, worried about being impolite, didn't dare ask. She could only vaguely say, "Oh, you're going the wrong way! This way! It should be this way!"

Weiwei wiped the rain off her face, looked around, and thought, "This shouldn't be happening! I remember running in a straight line!"

She was a little embarrassed: "Oh, the magnetism on this island is so strange, I was momentarily lost in thought."

"Wrong, wrong, you're going the wrong way!"

"Huh? Oh...really, I didn't see clearly for a moment, the road is so dark!"

"Don't go up that mountain, let's walk along the river."

"Oh... I mainly wanted to take a shortcut, but, umm, you're right!"

Tashigi finally understood what "nobody's perfect" meant. Vivi was also a little embarrassed. It wasn't her fault for running around recklessly. Shiki used his Devil Fruit power to levitate the islands in mid-air, which violated the laws of nature. Vivi could hear the painful cries of some of the islands, and the closer she got to the center, the more chaotic sounds there were. Adding to this, a torrential downpour was now bringing with it a whole host of strange noises, all of which were interfering with her sense of direction...

The two sneaked into the castle, both secretly relieved. They defeated a minor leader and learned about the Golden Lion's plan.

This legendary pirate is somewhat reckless. He seized Smoker and the 153rd Division's warship on a whim, wanting to throw the warship and its soldiers at Marine Headquarters as a show of force. Since one warship wasn't enough, he used the floating island to stake out the area, planning to amass several warships before throwing them all at once.

After understanding the other party's plot, Miss Tashigi said with a strong sense of justice, "This is a provocation against the entire Navy! We must stop him!"

Vivi nodded in agreement, and the two began searching for the location of the dungeon within the castle.

The castle was huge, with many staff and pirates inside. They passed through an area that resembled a laboratory, where Vivi and Tashigi saw many monsters. One of them, a monster with the body of a lobster and the head of a wild boar, was pushed away from them less than ten meters away. The monster kept howling and its consciousness was very chaotic. In the end, it was killed by several pirates.

None of the monsters in sight were normal; they seemed to have been pieced together using clumsy grafting techniques. A tiger's head had the body of a giraffe, and a mantis's torso had a spider-like head and compound eyes.

Seeing that Tashigi was about to draw her sword, Vivi quickly stopped her, saying, "Don't be impulsive. These monster experiments are still a long way from being successful. Let's go save Smoker first."

"Okay, we'll rescue the colonel, and then we'll destroy the experimental facilities here."

"...Okay then."

Vivi and Tashigi were quickly discovered by the pirates. Their infiltration skills were too poor, so they had no choice but to bite the bullet and fight their way in.

Vivi picked up attributes from the ducks, but didn't find any advanced martial arts skills. The sword techniques she acquired from the pirates' memories were very mixed. This mix had its disadvantages, but it also had its advantages, namely, that there were many low-level sword moves.

From her initial "jumping slash" and "weapon throwing" to the now quite handy "kesa slash" and "reverse kesa slash," she can easily break through the pirates' defenses, find their weaknesses, and then kill them with a single blow, thanks to her greater strength, speed, and the famous sword in her hand.

She killed more than ten pirates in the blink of an eye, and only had a little blood on the bottom of her sleeve.

She didn't hate killing, but she definitely didn't like it either. Seeing that the two were moving quite fast, she fell behind Tashigi by a step.

The female sergeant was extremely anxious. She abandoned her usual somewhat timid attack style. The Navy's swordsmanship was very direct and refined, emphasizing speed, accuracy and ruthlessness. Also wielding a famous sword, Tashigi fought her way from the side gate of the castle to the prison, and the number of pirates who died under her sword was at least twice that of Vivi's side.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Smoker vs. Golden Lion

"The prison is this way!" Tashigi called out to Vivi, who was a little lost and about to go up the stairs. She raised her hand and killed the prison guard with two slashes, then rushed inside.

Weiwei waited outside for a while, listening intently and searching for clues from the jumbled information.

When Tashigi was helpless against the seastone handcuffs and shackles on her boss Smoker, Vivi walked in with the keys.

Seastone is as hard as the hardest diamond. Tashigi tried to cut it with her famous sword "Shigure" for a long time but couldn't leave a mark. Fortunately, Vivi found a clue from the chatter of a tree nearby and then got the key from a jailer.

Smoker, shirtless, loosened his shoulders and arms after unlocking his handcuffs and shackles.

During the battle on the warship, he was slashed several times by Shiki. The elemental transformation ability of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit was completely ineffective against Armament Haki. The two fought for less than ten rounds. Smoker, who was arrogant and underestimated the strength of his enemy, was slashed and seriously injured. In the end, he was kidnapped like cargo.

At this moment, the naval commander looked a little pale, but he still mustered his strength to look at Vivi and ask, "Who are you?"

Even though Vivi knew she was on Smoker's investigation list, she simply refused to admit it, even if it meant death! She used the same trick she'd used on Tashigi, calmly saying, "My name is Gianna. I'm a traveler passing through Loguetown, and I'm planning to take my pet duck to the sea restaurant for a big meal."

Smoker thought it didn't seem likely and continued, "Judging from your accent, you seem to be from the Grand Line, right? Why are you in the East Blue?"

"What's wrong with me coming to Donghai? It's just for a meal, what's the problem?" Weiwei said matter-of-factly. She was a duck lover, and she brought her pet all the way to Donghai for a meal. Was that illegal?

Vivi winked at Tashigi, and the female swordsman paused for a moment before realizing what she meant.

"Colonel, Colonel...should we...contact headquarters for backup?"

Smoker was shirtless and couldn't find a shirt for a moment, but he pulled a cigar out of his pants pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag.

"Do you even need to tell me? I contacted headquarters the moment the incident happened."

Vivi was overjoyed and, forgetting all about keeping a low profile, asked, "Really? Which general is leading the reinforcements? When will they arrive?"

Smoker looked at her like she was an idiot: "How much time do you think I would have to explain to headquarters in that kind of chaos? Just wait and see."

His tone was full of impatience, but he was actually quite nice to commoners. Even though Vivi's demeanor was anything but that of a commoner, he maintained a relatively polite attitude towards her.

“Where are Monka and the others? Aren’t they with you?” Smoker asked.

Vivi listened intently. There had been some noise at the castle's main gate a while ago, but now there was no sound at all. Without a doubt, everything there had been wiped out. She suspected that even the Golden Lion might not have made a move...

Just as she was pondering how to persuade Smoker to lead the survivors on a strategic retreat, a sharp blade flashed in the distance, and the surrounding rocks, trees, and walls warned her of danger, great danger.

Without a word, Vivi lunged to the side. Smoker reacted faster than her, but in order to protect his female swordsman subordinate, he threw Tashigi into the air. It was too late to bend down and dodge after that, so he could only turn his body into a cloud of white mist, letting a blade of light more than ten meters long quickly pass through the white mist.

"Hahaha! The little navy officer has actually escaped?" With the sound of metal striking the ground, the golden lion slowly walked in.

He had long, golden hair that reached past his lower back, but the hair on top of his head was shaved off, and a quarter of a ship's wheel was stuck from the top of his head to the back of his head, which from a distance really did look like a rooster's comb.

Golden Lion's clothes are somewhat like traditional samurai attire, with a wide black haori on the upper body and orange hakama on the lower body. His legs were severed at the knees, and in order to walk, he used the famous swords "Sakura-ju" and "Karaki" instead of his feet. So when he walks, the tips of the swords hit the ground and make a "clanging" metallic sound.

"To be able to dodge my wave attack, he doesn't seem to be an ordinary person." Shiki had fought with Smoker before, so he wasn't surprised that the Marine captain who used the Smoke-Smoke Fruit had dodged his attack. He just didn't expect that there was someone else on the scene who could also dodge, so most of his attention was on Vivi.

The heavy pressure was overwhelming. Vivi held her breath and no longer had the mood to joke around with Smoker or talk about duck lovers.

With a muffled thud, the Golden Lion threw Colonel Monka, whom he was holding, to the ground. The colonel's eyes were vacant, and he had lost the boldness and bravery he had shown before when he said, "I will kill the Golden Lion with one axe." From Vivi's perspective, it seemed that the muscles in his arm were still trembling slightly.

"Hehehehehe! — Sending a bunch of small fry to distract me while I send out my elite forces to rescue people? You think I'd fall for that? There are more and more idiots in the Navy! Hehehehehe!"

Just as Vivi was pondering which trump card to use, Smoker transformed into smoke and blocked her way.

"You in the way, woman! This is a battle between the Navy and the pirates! Get out of my way!" Smoker's arm turned into white smoke, then stretched out more than ten meters, and he punched Shiki in the face.

"Hahaha, you little navy officer who doesn't know how to use Haki? Looks like you want to compete with me?" The Golden Lion's mouth was full of contempt. He wasn't afraid of a mere colonel or even an admiral. Suddenly, a thin layer of black energy covered his left hand. He casually reached out and grabbed Smoker's left fist, which had turned into smoke.

Using the same tactic, Smoker was badly beaten by the opponent's Armament Haki on the warship yesterday, so he naturally won't fall for it again today.

Smoker changed his move while still in mid-air. He quickly retracted his left fist, which was originally a feint, and at the same time twisted his waist and swung his arm, quickly throwing out his right fist.

This is his signature move, the ability "White Fist" developed from a Devil Fruit.

As expected, his punch missed again. Smoker didn't use his Devil Fruit ability again, but instead used "Rokushiki: Shave". He stomped his feet on the ground more than ten times in an instant, and used the explosive speed generated by the reaction force to suddenly rush to the side blind spot of Shiki, raised his foot and kicked the enemy's neck.

Golden Lion chuckled, without using his Devil Fruit power or Haki. He crossed his arms and calmly raised his leg, kicking out another giant blade of light with his left foot.

"Slash Wave!"

The blade flew at a 45-degree angle, attacking not only Smoker but also Vivi and Tashigi within its range.

Knowing the vast difference in strength between herself and the enemy, the female sergeant awkwardly dodged to avoid them. Vivi ran even faster than her, and not only that, Vivi also summoned Karu the duck, who had been hiding in the shadows as a trump card, to prepare to activate her Plan C.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Lion. Thousand Cut Valley

With a whistle from Vivi, the duck, which had been trembling in the shadows, ran out with a look of fear on its face.

I wonder how long the Golden Lion will fight Smoker. She requested a time limit of one minute, so I guess Smoker can last a minute?

Karu's body is managed by the panel, but he can still make sounds.