Not long ago, in the waters near Cocoyasi Village.
Nami stood at the bow of the warship, gazing into the distance at the still-empty horizon.
The sea breeze from her hometown gently brushed across her face, stirring her neatly combed hair into a slightly tousled look.
But Nami had no mind to fuss over her appearance. She merely looked toward her increasingly close hometown with complicated feelings.
"How is it?"
Smoker walked over to Nami and asked, "How much farther?"
Nami carefully sensed the movement of the air around her and listened to the pulse of the currents beneath her feet. Very quickly, relying on her talent as a genius navigator, she made an accurate judgment:
"At full speed, we'll arrive within twenty minutes."
"Good!"
Without another word, Smoker turned and roared at the Marines, "All hands, prepare for battle!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Marine soldiers answered in unison, their voices booming like thunder.
Blades were drawn, bullets chambered, and dozens of cannons extended their savage muzzles from the warship's hull in a terrifying display.
This massive warship had finally bared its sharp fangs.
The warship's lookouts were also fully alert, constantly scanning the waters ahead.
Smoker picked up his heavy Jitte. Petty Officer Tashigi quietly rested her hand on the hilt of the famous blade Shigure at her waist. Wallace readied the Visual Den Den Mushi and held his ground on the news front. Even Nami gripped the staff she usually carried for self-defense.
Only Garen remained casually standing beside Nami in his white suit. In any case, he could summon his armor and greatsword at any time.
"Stay sharp, everyone!"
Smoker took a deep draw from his cigar and sternly warned his subordinates:
"This enemy isn't some small-time pirate from the East Blue. They're fish-men from the Grand Line!"
"Be careful not to die!"
Fish-men were naturally ten times stronger than humans, making them no small challenge for ordinary soldiers—especially the local garrison troops who had just been reorganized from the Loguetown base.
What was more, Garen had previously described Arlong as a terrifying figure who could casually converse with the Shichibukai and had fought Marine Admirals at close range.
"Garen?"
After inspecting his men's preparations, Smoker walked over again and asked with a serious expression:
"Is the Arlong Pirates really connected to the old Sun Pirates?"
"They are indeed connected."
Garen answered seriously:
"In fact, quite a few members of the Arlong Pirates were formerly rank-and-file members of the Sun Pirates."
Smoker's expression grew even more solemn.
He knew perfectly well what kind of force the Sun Pirates had once been.
"Don't worry too much!"
Garen, however, wore an extremely disdainful smile.
"Compared to his former boss, the fish-man hero Fisher Tiger, Arlong is nothing more than an insignificant trash fish."
"Fish-man hero? Sun Pirates?"
Nami quietly listened to the conversation between Garen and Smoker before finally asking, unable to hold herself back any longer:
"You mentioned those things last time too."
"Just what is the origin of Arlong and his crew?"
"Well..."
Garen glanced at Nami and said in a low voice:
"Fisher Tiger, captain of the Sun Pirates, was the boss Arlong once followed."
"But unlike that fish-trash Arlong, he was a genuine hero."
Smoker remained silent. As a Marine, it was inconvenient for him to agree with such words, even though that was what he truly thought as well.
"A hero?"
Nami frowned slightly as she repeated the word.
In Nami's mind, fish-men were practically synonymous with demons and scum.
Hearing the word paired with "hero" felt especially jarring to her.
"That's right."
Garen explained earnestly:
"He once attacked the Celestial Dragons and rescued hundreds, even thousands, of fish-men 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?"
"Hmph!"
Smoker snorted disdainfully before saying:
"Fish-men are no 'superior race' on the Grand Line."
"On the contrary, they are discriminated against by most humans."
Garen continued from where Smoker left off:
"Fish-men do not even have the right to set foot on land, and they're prized targets in the eyes of slave traders."
Garen paused and made a rather inappropriate comparison:
"The situation of fish-men on the Grand Line is certainly no better than that of the villagers in your hometown who were oppressed by fish-men."
"And over half the members of the Sun Pirates were slaves abused by the Celestial Dragons."
"W-What?"
Nami muttered in disbelief, faintly conflicted emotions appearing in her eyes.
"Hey, hey!"
Sensing that things were going in a bad direction, Garen immediately said:
"You're not about to sympathize with those trash fish, are you?"
Nami did not answer, but the stiffness in her expression betrayed what she was thinking.
"Listen carefully!"
Garen said in a grave tone:
"No matter how tragic their experiences were, that is no reason for them to create tragedies for others!"
The contempt in his voice grew even stronger.
"People like Fisher Tiger, who dared to raise their blades against the strong, are heroes worthy of respect."
"But Arlong, who transferred his own suffering onto weak people unable to resist, deserves nothing more than to be called a trash fish."
"Yes..."
Nami clenched her fists tightly. Painful, dark memories from the past several years flashed through her mind, and the resolve in her eyes finally solidified once more.
"Come to think of it..."
Smoker said somewhat strangely:
"If Arlong and his crew are fish-men from the Grand Line and have such close ties to the Sun Pirates, why were they able to hide in the East Blue for so many years without the Marines discovering them?"
The quality of the East Blue Marines was just as poor as that of the East Blue pirates. They had always been too lazy to deal with small matters and too afraid to deal with major ones, but there was still one special red line.
There were some things these local Marines had no choice but to handle.
For example, incidents involving nobles from World Government member nations, incidents affecting the World Government's financial revenue, and incidents threatening the stability of the World Government's rule.
They could naturally suppress small matters by ignoring them, but if the local Marines ignored major matters too, they would be harshly held accountable once things escalated.
The Sun Pirates were a thorn in the World Government's side, and fish-men from the Grand Line were likewise targets heavily excluded by human Kingdoms.
It was hard to imagine that Arlong and his crew, bearing such conspicuous labels, could still peacefully act as local tyrants in the East Blue.
"As for that..."
Garen thought for a moment before answering, "I did find something while gathering intelligence."
"What did you find?"
Smoker asked curiously.
"Do you remember Commander Hammer?"
Garen said meaningfully:
"Arlong has someone similar above him, someone who keeps taking his dirty money and acting as his protector."
"His name seems to be... Captain Mouse."
"What?!"
Smoker's eyes immediately sharpened, and he could no longer contain his fury.
"There's actually such scum among 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 mocked him without any politeness:
"'Actually' isn't quite the right word."
"This is the norm in the East Blue!"
A thin cloud of smoke slowly rose, and the gloomy Smoker once again entered his gray smog mode.
His anger fermented in silence.
Just as he gritted his teeth and was about to say something, a lookout aboard the warship shouted:
"Report! Colonel Smoker!"
"A ship has been spotted ahead!"
The lookout paused before loudly adding, "It's a Marine warship!"
"What? A warship?"
Smoker froze, then muttered to himself:
"Why would there be other Marines here?"
"Could it be...?"
Smoker recalled what Garen had just said, and his expression immediately became extremely interesting.
His face darkened as he ordered:
"Signal them with flags! Identify ourselves!"
"Tell that warship to come over!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Marines beside him saluted, then hurriedly began sending flag signals toward the unidentified warship in the distance.
The Marines had a special flag signal system for communicating with friendly forces.
Every Marine branch in the East Blue had its own identification code within that system.
And all East Blue Marine branches knew that the Loguetown Marine Branch was the highest-ranking Marine base in the East Blue, an "imperial envoy" directly dispatched by Marine Headquarters.
Before those ragtag Marines, Smoker's unit was absolutely a superior force.
Sure enough—
After seeing the identification signal of a superior unit, the distant Marine warship dawdled for quite a while before obediently sailing over as Smoker had ordered.
After the two warships met and came to a stop, the Marine soldiers on the other vessel saluted Smoker in unison.
Smoker said nothing. He merely stood coldly on the deck, staring at the commanding officer aboard the other ship.
He was a sleazy-looking man, the kind of man who looked sleazy at first glance—
A ridiculous mouse-ear hat, a skinny monkey-like frame, and two crooked strips of mustache.
His small eyes, too afraid to meet Smoker's gaze, shifted restlessly beneath the brim of his hat. His brows were full of ingratiating flattery, while a thin sheen of cold sweat covered his forehead.
The phrase "rat-faced and shifty-eyed" suited him perfectly.
"Colonel Smoker of Marine Headquarters."
"Which branch are you from?"
Smoker spoke calmly, his sharp gaze already fixed on the sleazy man.
"E-East Blue Sixteenth Branch, Colonel..."
The sleazy man tremblingly saluted, then nervously gave the real name that perfectly matched his appearance:
"Mouse."
"Oh? So you're Captain Mouse?"
The murderous aura in Smoker's eyes intensified. "What a pleasure to meet you!"
Before you continue