Chapter 10: Battle!
"Get ready!" Jhin shouted loudly feeling like he was commanding a dozen of men.
"Yeah!" followed by two weak shouts behind him.
"Lower the sails!" Jhin shouted again. "Forward! Ahhaha!" He even laughed. Phantom Dancer appeared on his right hand as the Pearl went forward.
...
"Movement! There is movement, Captain!" the marines immediately noticed the creepy ship's movement.
"Finally, I got tired of waiting." some marines heaved a sigh.
"Don't let your guard down! The enemy is not normal!" Smoker reminded with a shout. Those pirates dared to move forward. How could the be weak.
"Ready the cannons! Aim! Fire!" Several cannons fired at the pearl.
"Take that!" a marine shouted followed by a loud "hoorah" from the others.
But their smug faces vanished when they saw the undamaged ship.
"What?!"
"Impossible!!"
"Reload! Aim! Fi-" the shout was interrupted by 3 consecutive bangs from the Pearl. Two cannons were destroyed and an unfortunate marine died on impact.
"Fire!" but it did not seem to affect them at all. The marines again fired their cannons. But when they looked at the ship again, there was not even a single scratch on it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Another three shots penetrated the marine cannons and were destroyed. No one died but several of them were wounded.
"How could this be!" a young marine trembled while staring at the dead marine. Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes.
"Snap out of it, rookie!" Smoker's voice woke him up. "Get ready for combat. Keep firing the cannons!" Smoker commanded! He never expected the enemy to be this powerful.
"Yes, sir!" the marines acknowledged.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
They just shouted when another three consecutive cannon balls were fired from the Pearl. It hit a marine on his gut and immediately exploded sending shock waves in a small scale. A house was hit got immediately destroyed.
"Dammit!" they cursed. It was obvious that they are losing morale. They kept firing but it did not even do a thing on the enemy ship, causing the marines to be frustrated.
...
"20 meters more! 10...8..." Jhin calculated the distance while getting ready to jump. "Ha! Let's go!" Jhin jumped on the ground and sliced a bullet that was aimed to his head. He jumped and dodged while dashing towards the enemy.
With his Haki and his physical toughness, the bullets would only be able to scratch him. But his goal in this battle is to try and not get wounded.
Bartolomeo and Hatchan also followed. They shouted with an unenthusiastic voice.
They knew that their captain was super strong. And although both of them were strong, they were doubtful if they could win this outnumbered battle.
But Jhin did not notice their attitude. He just charged in the battlefield like a madman. Everywhere he passes, blood would spill. He was like a war machine killing everything on his way.
Jhin did not even bother using his Conqueror's Haki on this cannon fodders. If he used it, his great first battle against the marines would be disappointing.
His eyes were wide opened and he hardly ever blinked. It was like he never cared about cutting many people. He just stared at the figure who was also rushing towards him with great anxiousness and anger.
"Ahhaha! Smoker, you finally came! I've been waiting for you." Jhin laughed crazily and cut down a marine in front of him.
The system also kept repeating it's notifications. But he hardly received EXP from these cannon fodders.
"Bastard! Who are you?!" asked Smoker angrily. His lower body turned to white smoke. He charged towards Jhin and slashed down his pipe. But was parried easily causing them to be on stalemate.
"Hahaha!" Jhin laughed. He added a little more strength in his hand and pushed the pipe back which caused Smoker to be sent backwards.
"I am Jhin! Jhin Fernandez, nice to meet you!" said Jhin casually while smiling. He even put his sword on his shoulder.
"Tch!" Smoker clicked his tongue. In the clash earlier, he felt the he would not be able to beat the young man in front of him.
Smoker was still contemplating when he felt danger.
"Take this blade of mine... Slash.. " said Jhin as he slashed down his sword. But it was met with no resistance at all. It felt like cutting air.
"Humph! Attacks like that won't work on me!" Smoker snorted.
"As expected of a Logia user. I wanted to see it for myself. So that's how it is!" Jhin's eyes shined brightly. When he finally learns how to become a Yami Yami man, he would also be able to avoid getting hit with ordinary attacks.
"I admit you're stronger, but you won't be able to hurt me at all! Surrender!" said Smoker.
Jhin said nothing and put Phantom Dancer on it's sheath.
"Since that's the case, you won't mind receiving another blade, right?" smiling Jhin bent his body and held the Phantom Dancer's handle.
"Hmm?" Smoker was only able to raise his eyebrow when...
Flash!
Jhin suddenly disappeared on his spot only to reappear 3 meters away from the back of Smoker.
Tick!
Puchi!
Two different sound simultaneously sounded. It was a sword being locked and blood spraying.
Thud!
"Impo-ssible!" Smoker managed to squeeze out a word with great difficulty before he collapsed.
"Oh? That really works?" Jhin was also pleasantly surprised. He only tried coating his sword with a little of his Devil Fruit. He did not expect that the nullification effect worked.
"Smoker-taichou! Captain Smoker lost?!" the surrounding marines went silent and only some seconds later that someone finally reacted.
"How could it be?!"
"Why would a powerful pirate be on East Blue?!"
They looked at Jhin like he was a demon. Their undefeated captain was actually defeated! And quite easily at that!
"Retreat!"
"Retreat! Smoker-taichou has fallen!" the commanding officers shouted.
...
"Fight like real men!" a marine shouted at Bartolomeo and Hatchan.
"Right! If you have the guts, come fight us!" spat another marine.
It wasn't just these two, all of the marine who were in front them were looking at them with indignation.
"What? What did you just say?" said Bartolomeo and put a pinky on his ear. But if you look at his other hand, the middle finger and the pointing finger was crossed together. There was an invisible barrier in front. Blocking all of the angry marines.
A while ago, Bartolomeo and Hatchan were helpless as they watched Jhin charge alone towards the enemy.
They were immediately cornered facing many marines in front.
But it was also at that moment that a brilliant idea surfaced on Bartolomeo's head. He would block a certain area and all of those who passes them would be killed by Hatchan.
That lead to their current situation.
Hatchan again slashed a brave marine who dared to enter their 'domain'. It was really fortunate that behind them was the sea, otherwise they would have been captured or even be killed.
"Cowardly bastards!" a marine cursed. No matter what they said or did, Bartolomeo and Hatchan ignored them. If it was a normal day, Bartolomeo would have exploded and charged. But their enemy today were marines, and he knew that there was nothing they could do.
"Hehe.." Bartolomeo and Hatchan grinned.
Preeeep!
"Retreat!"
"Retreat! Smoker-taichou has fallen!"
A loud whistle sounded from afar followed by loud anxious shouting.
"Impossible!"
"Smoker-taichou... has fallen?.." some of the young marines actually teared up, despair evident in their eyes.
The navy soldiers surrounding Bartolomeo and Hatchan went silent followed by their voices filled with disbelief.
"Hahaha! Smoker? Who is Smoker again? That's right, he was your captain, right? Where is he now?" Bartolomeo taunted, his pinky was still in his ear.
"Smoker? More like smoked.. Hehe!" Hatchan said while chuckling. He was always honest with his feelings.
"Hahaha! Hatchi, that was nice!" Bartolomeo laughed. It also added more angry and indignant looks from the marine.
"Just wait! The navy will hunt you down!" said a marine. But they were retreating rapidly.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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ShaRinGan Stay tuned for the next chapter.
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Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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