Six massive explosions rock the pair of ships. Both ships bows had been reduced to splinters stopping them cold as they started taking on water. Both ships would sink in a matter of minutes or less. Domino blew on the tip of the barrel before holstering her gun and taking a bow toward the crew, "Man I'm good."
That earned her some polite clapping and light cheers from the others. They didn't get to celebrate for long as an inarticulate scream of rage sounded from one of the ships. They all watched as a blur shot into the air and began running through the sky toward them, "You filthy pirates will pay with your lives for the humiliation I have suffered!"
The man came crashing down onto the deck of the ship. When Peter got his first look at the man, he couldn't help but be reminded of the Captain Morgan that Luffy ran into. The two men didn't look much alike, aside from being tall and muscular, but it did make Peter wonder just how many Morgans joined the Marines and became Captains. Still, the Captain Morgan he got was clearly significantly stronger than the one Luffy got, after all, his knew two forms from the Rokushiki, Soru and now Geppo.
Morgan glared at Peter and his crew, his eyes bloodshot and veins standing out clearly on his tanned skin, "You bastards are all under arrest. Surrender now and I may be lenient." He gave them a cruel smile, "Or don't. I would prefer that."
He curled his hands into fists so tight his knuckles cracked. It was clear to everyone that he wanted a fight to vent his anger. Peter though, turned to the side ignoring him to speak to the others, "There's only one of him and five of us." He looked at Domino, "You don't count since you got to blow up his ships." That drew a pout from her but he moved on, "Rock, paper, scissors to see who gets first dibs?"
The already pronounced veins on Morgan's head became even thicker as he clenched his jaw and his anger grew from the disrespect he was being shown. He was a true captain, trained in the forms of the Rokushiki and only held back by his lack of accomplishments. Originally, he had planned to just take the women to sell as slaves and kill the men. It was a little side gig of his that let him live the life he felt he deserved. Who cared if a few pretty girls went missing every now and then? Pirates kidnapped people all the time, after all.
But now, now he was not only furious, but he saw an opportunity for a promotion. Whatever they had used to sink his ships, it was powerful, if he could beat the secret out of them, his promotion would be guaranteed! He would have to make sure to leave at least one of them alive to interrogate... maybe two or three, but the men had to die for sure!
Unable to take the disrespect being shown to him by the pirate scum, he whipped out his sword and charged with a battle shout. His target? The bastard that dared to make the choice of who would fight him into a children's game! None of them were worthy of fighting him, he would strike them all down! Even in his rage he kept proper form as he lashed out with his sword, aiming to remove the man's head from his shoulders in a single strike.
A loud clang of metal striking metal rang out as Morgan's attack was stopped cold. Morgan glared at the, admittedly beautiful, petite blonde woman whose green eyes were narrowed in anger. Of concern to Morgan was the fact that his arm was shaking as he tried to exert more force while the woman's was rock steady. She gave a powerful shove of Korikiru that forced him back a couple of steps.
Artoria separated from the rest of the group, having just won the game a moment before Morgan had attacked. She glared at the coward that would attempt to sneak attack her Captain. She held Korikiru in one hand, though she felt a two handed sword would fit her better. Her glare never strayed from Morgan as she addressed him with disdain coloring her voice, "Attacking a man from behind, coward. I did not wish to believe the tales the Captain told us of the cowardice and corruption of the arbiters of justice. Clearly, he was correct. Now, prepare yourself. I am Artoria Pendragon and I will be your opponent!"
Morgan growled out, "I will not be talked down to by pirate scum!"
Artoria scoffed and didn't bother pointing out that it was his actions alone that had them acting like and being labeled as pirates. Clearly the mans intelligence was lacking. When she didn't reply, he gave a shout and charged at her. Their blades clashed and it became a display of skill for the pair. It was clear that even though Morgan was scum, he was skilled and well trained scum.
When he saw standard sword work wasn't going to put Artoria down, he jumped back to make some space before instantly using Soru to try and surprise her. Instead, he was the one left shocked when not only did Artoria block his 'surprise' attack, but countered by using Soru herself to come at him from a different angle. Morgan was immediately put off balance by the shock of seeing a 'pirate' use the Marine's well guarded secret move, "How did you do that?! I thought Monoske was lying to cover his failure when he said one of you used Soru to defeat him!"
Artoria didn't deign him with a response. Instead, she upped her usage of Soru and put Morgan firmly on the back foot. It happened in an instant. Artoria knocked Morgan's sword out of position before her sword came down slicing him across the chest from shoulder to hip.
Morgan fell to the ground, blood pouring from the deep cut. He stared up at the sky, unable to comprehend how he could have possibly lost while his body went into shock from blood loss.
Peter calmly walked over to the dying man and assessed the situation. To others Morgan would have been moments from death. For Peter? He had all the time in the world. Hell, he could let the man actually die and wouldn't have much trouble bringing him back. At least, as long as he was only dead for a couple of hours or so. Once decomposition kicked in there was nothing even he could do about it. So, Peter calmly watched as the light faded from Morgan's eyes and his chest no longer rose and fell with his breath.
The moment Morgan died, Peter got to work. The first thing he did was pull out a strong healing potion that he proceeded to pour over the chest wound. The wound hissed and steamed but closed rapidly until the only sign of the wound were the slashed clothing and puddle of blood.
For the next step, he pulled out a vial filled with a clear potion. Despite its harmless watery look, the potion he held was one of the most insidious ones he'd brewed. He'd dubbed it his 'interrogation' potion, but in reality it was a mind control potion so strong it made the Imperious Curse from Harry Potter look tame in comparison. On top of the mind control, it also erased the recent memories of the imbiber once the effect was removed, which could only be done by a counter potion.
He forced Morgan's mouth open and poured the potion into it where it was immediately absorbed into the skin. No swallowing required. Lastly he pulled out a syringe filled with a green liquid. He slammed the syringe down and injected the potion directly into Morgan's heart. The result was instant as Morgan's body shot up and inhaled a deep breath. Morgan looked all around until his eyes landed on Peter, "Master."
Peter grinned and issued his first order while gesturing to Alex, "Obey all commands given to you by Alex as if they were my own." He turned to Alex, "Milk him for everything he knows on combat, training, and Marine tactics."
After Alex nodded in acceptance of his orders, Peter made his way up to the wheel where Mera had been standing and keeping watch of the sinking Marine ships. The Marine's aboard were too busy trying to swim to shore to worry about them anymore. All-in-all, he thought their first battle had gone rather well.
Though, he couldn't help wondering what their bounties would look like.