Encountering "Friendly Forces"

Not long ago, in the waters near Cocoyasi Village.

Nami stood at the bow of the warship, gazing into the empty horizon ahead.

The sea breeze of her hometown gently caressed her face, playing with her neatly combed hair, creating a slightly disheveled look.

But Nami had no mind to tidy her appearance, only staring with mixed feelings at her hometown, which was getting closer and closer.

"How is it?"

Smoker walked to Nami's side and asked, "How much further?"

Nami carefully felt the flow of air around her, listened to the pulse of the sea beneath her feet, and quickly made an accurate judgment based on her genius navigator's talent:

"At full speed, we'll arrive within twenty minutes."

"Good!"

Without another word, Smoker turned and shouted to the Marines, "All hands, prepare for battle!"

"Yes, sir!"

The Marines responded in unison with a resounding roar.

Long swords were drawn, bullets were loaded, and dozens of cannons protruded their menacing muzzles from the warship's hull in a terrifying display.

This massive warship finally revealed its sharp fangs.

The warship's lookout was also giving it their all, constantly scanning the situation ahead.

Smoker picked up his heavy Jitte, Sergeant Tashigi quietly placed her hand on the hilt of her famed sword Shigure, Wallace prepared the Visual Den Den Mushi to hold the news front, and even Nami gripped her usual self-defense staff tightly.

Only Garen stood leisurely beside Nami in his white suit, as his armor and greatsword could be summoned at any time.

"Everyone, be alert!"

Smoker took a deep puff of his cigar and warned his subordinates in a very solemn tone:

"This time, our opponents aren't small-time pirates from the East Blue, but Fish-men from the Grand Line!"

"Be careful not to die!"

A Fish-man's strength is naturally ten times that of a human, which could be a considerable challenge for ordinary soldiers, especially those garrison troops recently integrated from the Loguetown base.

What's more, Garen had previously analyzed Arlong as a terrifying figure who could casually chat with the Shichibukai and engage in close combat with Marine Admirals.

"Garen?"

After checking his subordinates' readiness, Smoker walked over and asked with a serious expression:

"Is that Arlong Pirates really connected to the Sun Pirates from back then?"

"They are indeed connected."

Garen replied seriously:

"In fact, many members of the Arlong Pirates were just grunts on the Sun Pirates back then."

Smoker's expression became even more solemn.

He knew very well what level the Sun Pirates were at back then.

"Don't worry too much!"

Garen had an extremely disdainful smile on his face:

"Compared to his boss, the Fish-man hero Fisher Tiger, Arlong is just a third-rate nobody."

"Fish-man hero? Sun Pirates?"

Nami listened quietly to Garen and Smoker's conversation, finally unable to hold back her questions:

"You mentioned these things last time too..."

"What exactly is the origin of Arlong's group?"

"This..."

Garen glanced at Nami and said in a deep voice:

"The captain of the Sun Pirates, Fisher Tiger, is the former boss that Arlong followed."

"But unlike Arlong, that Fish-trash, he was a genuine hero."

Smoker remained silent; as a Marine, he couldn't easily agree with such statements, although he secretly felt the same way.

"Hero?"

Nami frowned slightly and asked.

In Nami's mind, Fish-men were basically synonymous with demons and scum.

The combination of that word and "hero" made Nami feel very jarring.

"That's right."

Garen explained seriously:

"He once launched an attack on the Celestial Dragons, rescuing hundreds of Fish-man and human slaves from the nobles' cages."

"Fish-man slaves?"

Nami's voice was full of surprise: "Don't they call themselves a superior race?"

"Heh!"

Smoker snorted dismissively, then added:

"Fish-men aren't any 'superior race' on the Grand Line."

"On the contrary, they are discriminated against by most humans."

Garen continued Smoker's explanation:

"Fish-men don't even have the right to set foot on land; they're a delicacy in the eyes of slave traders."

Garen paused, making a less-than-appropriate analogy:

"The situation of fish-men on the Grand Line is no better than that of the villagers in your hometown who were oppressed by fish-men."

"And most of the members of the Sun Pirates were slaves who had been ravaged by the Celestial Dragons."

"Wh-what?"

Nami murmured in disbelief, a few confused emotions flickering in her eyes.

"Hey, hey!"

Garen sensed that things were going wrong and immediately said:

"You're not going to sympathize with those small fry, are you?"

Nami didn't answer, but her stiff expression betrayed her inner thoughts.

"Listen up!"

Garen said in a serious tone:

"No matter how tragic their experiences, it's not a reason for them to create tragedy in others!"

The contempt in his tone grew stronger:

"Characters like Fisher Tiger, who dared to swing their blades at the strong, are heroes worthy of respect."

"But Arlong, who transfers his own pain to the weak who can't resist, only deserves to be called small fry."

"Yes..."

Nami clenched her fists, painful and dark memories of many years flashing through her mind, and the determination in her eyes finally solidified again.

"Speaking of which..."

Smoker said with some puzzlement:

"Since Arlong and his gang are fish-men from the Grand Line and have close ties with the Sun Pirates, why haven't they been discovered by the Marines after hiding in the East Blue for so many years?"

The quality of the East Blue Marines is as low as that of the East Blue pirates. They are usually too lazy to deal with small matters and dare not deal with big ones, but there is also a special red line...

Some things are things that these local Marines have to deal with.

For example, incidents involving nobles from World Government member countries, incidents affecting the World Government's financial income, and incidents threatening the World Government's stability...

Ignoring small matters can naturally be suppressed, but if the local Marines ignore these big matters, they will be severely held accountable by their superiors if things get out of hand.

And the Sun Pirates are a thorn in the side of the World Government, and fish-men on the Grand Line are also the focus of exclusion by human kingdoms.

It's hard to imagine that Arlong and his gang, with such dazzling halos, can still be at ease as local tyrants in the East Blue.

"Well..."

Garen thought for a moment and replied, "I did find something when I was collecting information."

"What did you find?"

Smoker asked curiously.

"Remember Commander Hammer?"

Garen said meaningfully:

"There's a similar existence above Arlong's head, who has been taking his dirty money as his protector."

"Seems like he's called... Captain Nezumi or something."

"What?!"

Smoker's eyes suddenly sharpened, and his emotions uncontrollably became agitated:

"There's actually scum like that in the East Blue Marines?!"

After the Loguetown incident, Smoker's hatred for corrupt Marines had even surpassed his hatred for those scum pirates.

"Heh..."

Nami retorted impolitely:

"'Actually' isn't a very accurate word to use."

"This situation is the norm in the East Blue!"

A wisp of smoke slowly drifted up, and the gloomy Smoker once again entered gray haze mode.

Anger fermented in silence.

He was gnashing his teeth, about to say something, when the lookout on the warship shouted:

"Report! Captain Smoker!"

"Ship sighted ahead!"

The lookout paused, then added loudly, "It's a Marine warship!"

"What? A warship?"

Smoker's expression faltered, and he muttered to himself:

"Why would there be other Marines here?"

"Could it be?"

Smoker remembered what Garen had just said, and his face became quite interesting.

So, he ordered with a stern face:

"Signal! Identify ourselves!"

"Tell that warship to come over here!"

"Yes, sir!"

The Marine soldiers saluted and busily began signaling the distant, unidentified warship.

The Marines have a special flag code for communicating with friendly forces.

Every Marine branch in East Blue has its own unique identifier in this flag code system.

And all the East Blue branch Marines know that the Loguetown Marine branch is the highest-level Marine base in East Blue, a "special envoy" directly dispatched by Marine Headquarters.

In front of those miscellaneous Marines, Smoker's unit was the absolute superior force.

As expected...

After displaying the superior unit's identifier, the distant Marine warship dawdled for a long time, but eventually obediently followed Smoker's orders and came over.

After the two warships converged and came to a stop, the Marine soldiers on the opposite ship all saluted Smoker.

Smoker didn't say a word, just stood coldly on the deck, watching the officer on the opposite ship:

It was a man with a wretched appearance, a man whose wretchedness was immediately apparent from his looks—

A ridiculous mouse-eared hat, a thin, monkey-like figure, and a crooked, lopsided mustache.

Two small eyes that dared not look directly at Smoker were hidden uneasily under the brim of his hat, his brow full of obsequiousness, and a thin layer of cold sweat on his forehead.

The term "rat-faced" was a perfect description of him.

"Marine Headquarters Captain, Smoker."

"Which division are you with?"

Smoker said indifferently, his sharp eyes already fixed on the wretched man.

"E-East Blue 16th Branch Captain..."

The wretched man gave a trembling salute, and then cautiously spoke the real name of the protagonist that perfectly matched his image:

"Mouse."

"Oh? You're Captain Nezumi?"

The murderous aura in Smoker's eyes intensified: "What a pleasure to meet you!"