Navy Warship.
Garen leapt back onto the deck from the sea, his greatsword still stained with blood that hadn't yet been washed clean.
Several fishman corpses floated scattered on the surface, and the water around the warship had been dyed an unnatural pale red.
On the deck, a group of Navy soldiers was straining to haul up a large net from the water. A few still-struggling fishmen flailed helplessly inside.
But their struggle didn't last long. A round of musket fire from the well-trained Marine Headquarters soldiers quickly turned them into Swiss cheese.
"Hmph,"
Standing at the bow, Smoker scoffed and said with disdain,
"Trying to ram my warship?"
"Headquarters Marines don't fall for such outdated tactics."
The recent feeble attack from the fishmen had been handled almost entirely by the Navy soldiers alone.
As Marines from the Grand Line's Headquarters, they held no fear toward fishmen and were fully equipped with special weapons designed for them—like depth charges, specialized fishing nets, and harpoon launchers.
If minor fishman raids on a warship required officers to dive into the sea for hand-to-hand combat, the fishmen would've conquered the Grand Line ages ago.
Garen only dove in to snag a few extra kills.
Even the fishman who could fire high-speed water bullets from his mouth was swiftly turned into a dead fish by Garen in just two or three strikes, thanks to the vast power gap.
The warship steadily advanced toward the coast, drawing ever closer.
Conveniently, Arlong's territory was located in a natural deep-water port, saving the Marines the trouble of transferring to smaller boats for a beach landing.
"All units, prepare for battle!"
Tashigi shouted to the Navy soldiers.
The normally quiet officer now revealed the commanding aura of a top-tier Headquarters officer.
The elite group of thirty Marines under Smoker's direct command quickly got ready.
Under their leadership, the recently reorganized Loguetown garrison and the 16th Branch Marines—eager to redeem themselves—also displayed a newfound fighting spirit far beyond the norm.
…
"Big brother?!"
Seeing the rapidly approaching warship, a fishman underling spoke in panic,
"Even Brother Chew got killed. What do we do now?"
Arlong remained silent, a cold and vicious glint flashing in his eyes.
Though the deaths of his men pained him, he was even more unwilling to just flee. Arlong was, at heart, a deeply greedy man—his attachment to wealth rivaled even Nami or Captain Nezumi.
And right now, all of Arlong's fortune was stashed away in his territory! He might be able to run, but his treasure sure couldn't.
After weighing his options, the lives of his underlings clearly didn't compare to his money.
Despite preaching that all fishmen were brothers, in Arlong's eyes, the weak were always just expendable cannon fodder.
After a moment of thought, Arlong's expression turned fierce. He shouted at his subordinates:
"They're just some human Marines!"
"We are the superior fishmen!"
He once again brought out his usual fishman supremacist brainwashing rhetoric, half-threatening and half-rallying:
"Today, I'm going to show those weak humans who truly rules the seas!"
"This battle—no one is allowed to retreat!"
But just as Arlong's bold declaration left his mouth, his expression suddenly darkened.
Because he had clearly seen a dense cluster of white smoke rising from the Navy warship.
To be precise—it was a half-smoke-formed man.
Arlong had once crossed paths with current Admiral Kizaru, so he certainly understood what this meant.
"A Logia-type?"
Arlong couldn't suppress his voice as he shouted at Kuroobi and Hatchan:
"There's a Logia-type ability user among the Marines?!"
"Huh?"
The two looked confused. After a brief pause, Kuroobi sheepishly said,
"Yeah, I think so… There's this Marine who emits some kind of weird smoke."
"You two had this vital intel and didn't say anything?!"
Arlong gritted his teeth.
"Are you trying to send me to my death?!"
"You never asked…"
Hatchan scratched his head awkwardly.
"We were more focused on that weird knight who could talk underwater."
"What?"
Arlong's expression turned even more horrified.
"A knight? You're telling me the one who beat you… was a knight?"
"Yeah."
Hatchan answered honestly,
"He was wearing full plate armor and wielding a huge sword, and somehow he could swim super fast underwater."
"Really strange guy!"
"Dammit…"
Arlong's blue skin had turned bright red. Suddenly, he felt a wave of regret for letting Chew go into battle.
…
"Nami?!"
Suddenly, another fishman underling cried out in panic.
He pointed a trembling finger at the girl standing at the bow of the warship and stammered as if having a stroke:
"N-Nami's on that warship!"
At those words, a dozen fishmen turned pale and collapsed in fear, trembling like leaves.
Even Arlong's face turned incredibly ugly.
"Huh?"
Kuroobi looked curiously in the direction the fishman pointed and spotted a familiar figure—Nami.
But unlike the obedient, submissive navigator they remembered, the Nami standing on that warship was dressed in a luxurious off-shoulder gown, radiating a noble air like a proud princess.
Her face no longer bore the fear and hesitation of the past. Instead, her eyes burned with flames of rage and vengeance as she stared at them—her former tormentors.
"Nami's on that warship?"
Kuroobi still didn't sense the danger. He frowned in confusion:
"So what if it's Nami?"
"She's just a girl. Why are you all so afraid?"
The trembling fishmen didn't reply. They just shook harder.
They feared Nami because they had just read the newspaper along with Big Brother Arlong.
After reading that article, not only did these fishmen start fearing the once-helpless girl, but even Arlong himself had been preparing to grab the loot and run.
Had Garen and Smoker arrived just half a day later, the Arlong Pirates might've already fled in panic.
…
"Hey…"
Arlong's face went from blue to red, then red to dark black.
Finally, he gritted his teeth and snarled at Kuroobi and Hatchan:
"You call that being only slightly weaker than me?"
"That's what you meant by 'about equal strength'?!"
"Uhh…"
Honest Hatchan blinked in confusion.
"Well, yeah. Pretty much."
"Shut up!"
Arlong snapped, face twisted in frustration:
"Hatchan! Kuroobi!"
"When did you two start picking up humans' bad habit of brown-nosing?!"
"Is this really the time to flatter me?!"
With that, Arlong turned and made to leave.
The dozen or so fishmen who had read the newspaper immediately followed.
…
"Big Bro Arlong!"
Hatchan still hadn't caught on. He asked dumbly:
"Where are you going?"
"Where?"
A panicked fishman underling voiced what Arlong was really thinking:
"Run away, of course!"
"Huh?"
Honest Hatchan was stunned.
"But didn't Big Bro Arlong just say…"
"No one was allowed to retreat today?"
Hatchan's innocent remark made Arlong's embarrassed face turn red again.
But as the always-dominant leader, Arlong couldn't bring himself to admit he was scared.
"Pfft!"
Thankfully, another anxious fishman stepped forward to say what Arlong couldn't:
"Why wouldn't we run?!"
"Do you have any idea who that knight on the warship is?!"
"Who?"
Hatchan and Kuroobi asked with blank faces.
The fishman answered, his face pale with fear:
"He's the guy who went toe-to-toe with Garp!"