Although the Pirate Guerrilla Squad originally led by Zephyr had "squad" in its name, it possessed dozens of Sea Stone Warships, thousands of well-trained soldiers, and a complete officer corps he had personally trained.
In terms of military strength, the NEO Marines Zephyr had founded after changing sides truly deserved to be called an "army."
This time, however, Thatch and Smoker had each brought only a single warship. The disparity in military strength was enormous.
Thatch, whose strength ranked near the bottom among Whitebeard's commanders, was even less likely to be a match for the former admiral Zephyr.
So when Zephyr led his forces to surround them and suddenly launched an attack, both Thatch and Smoker were left somewhat at a loss.
The entire battle was completely one-sided.
Before the now ruthless and merciless Zephyr, countless subordinates of Thatch and Smoker fell. Thatch himself was beaten senseless by Zephyr, who had personally entered the fray, and had no ability to fight back.
Amid the hail of bullets, Smoker finally found a brief opening and desperately made a call for help.
Naturally, he called Garen.
Marine Headquarters was far away and unable to offer aid in time. Besides, out of private considerations, Smoker instinctively did not want Marine Headquarters to learn of Zephyr's whereabouts.
The one who answered was a girl named Pudding, who claimed to be Garen's executive secretary.
After hearing Smoker's plea for help, Pudding promised to notify Garen immediately.
Then—
Silence filled the other end of the Den Den Mushi.
The enemy's attacks had already caught up. Smoker could only resist with all his strength while angrily condemning Garen in his heart for his decadent lifestyle of having a beautiful secretary answer his calls for him.
Then—
While enduring the rain of bullets, Smoker heard arguing from the