A Marine warship.
Garen leaped from the sea back onto the deck, his greatsword still stained with blood that had not yet been washed clean.
Several Fish-Men corpses floated scattered across the sea, and the water around the warship had already been dyed an unnatural pale red.
On the warship's deck, a group of Marines were strenuously hauling a large net from the sea. Several Fish-Men who had barely survived floundered weakly inside it.
However, they did not struggle for long before the well-trained Headquarters Marines riddled them with bullets in a volley of musket fire.
"Heh."
Smoker stood at the bow and said disdainfully:
"Trying to bore holes in my warship?"
"Headquarters Marines won't be brought down by such an outdated tactic."
The Fish-Men's feeble attack had mostly been dealt with by the Headquarters Marines alone.
As Headquarters Marines from the Grand Line, they had no fear of Fish-Men. They had also prepared all manner of specialized anti-Fish-Man weapons, including shallow-water bombs, special fishing nets, and harpoon launchers.
If every random Fish-Man grunt who attacked a warship required Marine officers to dive into the sea and fight them hand-to-hand, the Fish-Men would have conquered the Grand Line long ago.
Garen had jumped into the sea to fight merely to claim a few grunt kills.
The Fish-Man capable of firing high-speed water bullets from his mouth had posed a slight threat, but the absolute disparity in strength still saw Garen turn him into a dead fish with just two or three swings of his sword.
The warship continued its orderly approach toward the beach, drawing ever closer to the shore.
By coincidence, Arlong's territory was located at a natural deepwater harbor, sparing the Marines the trouble of switching to small boats for a beach landing.
"All hands, prepare for battle!"