Eve of War

Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, two years had passed.

In August of Marineford Calendar 1515, the weather was scorching. The sun baked the earth, and waves of heat rolled in.

Three massive warships were docked at the harbor of the Branch 16 base.

Several hundred sailors had gathered on the ground before the warships.

Seven or eight men dressed in Marine officer uniforms stood before the sailors.

At their head was a powerfully built man. Looking at the crowd, he said, "After our application, we finally received approval from Headquarters to join forces with the Marines from Branch 77 and Branch 19 in attacking the Arlong Pirates."

He paused before continuing, "Commodore Brim Brim of the Branch 77 base will command this battle. Now, Commodore Brim Brim will announce the battle plan. Commodore Brim, please."

"Colonel Kars."

Brim Brim nodded to Colonel Kars of the Branch 16 base, stepped out from the ranks, and slowly began outlining the battle plan.

Behind him, however, most of the people had thoughts of their own.

Colonel Kars clutched his chest, where the wound still throbbed faintly.

Two years ago, he had been struck by that Fish-Man's water cannon. After being rescued, it had taken him several months to recover.

Afterward, he had applied to Marine Headquarters, hoping to wipe out the Arlong Pirates. It had only been approved now.

Branch 77 and Branch 19, both nearby, would cooperate.

The Marines from all three branches would attack the Arlong Pirates together.

Beside him, Vice-Captain Kurume looked expectant. "The Arlong Pirates are currently the highest-bounty wanted criminals in the East China Sea. Ending them will definitely earn us an excellent evaluation. In a few years, when Colonel Lester steps down, I can naturally take his place."

But Colonel Lester felt somewhat uneasy. He had an old friend at Marine Headquarters and had asked around about Arlong.

Arlong had once been a member of the Sun Pirates. Arlong being sent to the East China Sea was one of the conditions for Jinbe becoming a Shichibukai.

Moreover, Fish-Men were born immensely strong.

The Marines of three branch bases might not necessarily be able to defeat them.

There was also someone else who was particularly resentful. He had a rat-like face and was the future Captain Nezumi.

But for now, he was merely a Lieutenant Commander.

Colonel Kars had not died, and there was even a Commander above him. He had no way to replace either of them.

Yet after two years, he was still only a Lieutenant Commander.

How infuriating.

"Set sail."

Commodore Brim Brim, standing at the front, waved his hand. All the officers and sailors boarded the warships, which slowly set off toward Jumada Island, where the Arlong Pirates were based.

"Our target this time is the village on Burnett Island. We will bring them under our rule and make our empire even stronger."

Arlong stood on the deck of the Shark Spab and shouted loudly.

Hachi, Chuu, and more than a dozen Fish-Men stood beside him.

Hachi controlled the helm as the pirate ship slowly sailed into the distance.

At that moment, a massive figure surfaced beside the pirate ship.

"Moo, go back. We won't need to fight at sea when attacking the village this time. Stay here and protect our base."

Hachi waved at Moo.

"Hm?"

Moo tilted its head, then slowly dove beneath the water and returned to Arlong Park.

On the fifth floor of Arlong Park, Nami stared into the distance and sighed.

The Arlong Pirates had set out again. She wondered which village would suffer this time.

And that sea fish had vanished as well. It had not appeared for two years since killing Kuroobi.

Still, it was probably better that it did not appear. With the gigantic sea beast Moo from the Grand Line beneath the water, that sea fish should not be a match for it, right?

I hope it never comes here.

Nami drew back, lay on the table, and began drawing a sea chart.

The Arlong Pirates had set out?

Xia Qiu slowly surfaced in the waters not far from Arlong Park and looked into the distance.

The massive Spab was sailing away.

Follow them.

Xia Qiu fixed his sights on the Spab and chased after it.

He had already decided to attack the Arlong Pirates this time.

Two years and two months had passed since he killed Kuroobi. Xia Qiu was ready to fight the Arlong Pirates.

Over those two years, Xia Qiu had grown from thirty-five meters long to forty-one meters long.

In twenty-three months, he had grown six meters—an average of one meter every four months. His growth rate had slowed once more.

Previously, Xia Qiu had grown from thirty-two meters to thirty-five meters in eight months, averaging more than one meter every two months.

Before that, he had even been able to grow several meters in a single month.

As his body grew larger, his growth rate became slower and slower.

There were advantages to that as well. Rather than pursuing sheer size, he could improve his strength horizontally, making his combat power greater.

Xia Qiu's appearance had not changed much, but many changes had taken place on his body.

His first dorsal fin had become even larger. The sickle-like curved dorsal fin had reached a height of four meters, with a vertical height of more than three meters. Thick, hard spines at its front protected it. Such a large dorsal fin could smash apart small boats.

Even his second dorsal fin was two meters tall.

His other fins—pectoral fins, pelvic fins, anal fin, and tail fin—had all become enormous as well.

Next were the spikes on his body. Four rows of small spikes had grown on the rear portions of his back and belly. These spikes were triangular and around twenty centimeters long.

Finally came his arms. Excluding his tentacles, his other arms had reached twelve meters in length and thirty centimeters in diameter. More importantly, hooks had grown where the Suckers had once been.

The hooks were ten centimeters long. Combined with the constricting force of Xia Qiu's arms, they could easily strangle enemies to death.

Besides that, Xia Qiu had eaten two more groups of pirates, further strengthening his body.

Even before eating Kuroobi, he had been able to defeat Kuroobi. Now that he had eaten Kuroobi, his strength had risen another level.

Then came two years of evolution and minor enhancements. Xia Qiu felt that he could now fight Arlong.

Of course, Xia Qiu did not intend to start a direct battle.

He was no match for Arlong, Hachi, and Chuu together, not to mention the large number of Fish-Men.

So Xia Qiu came up with an idea: ram the pirate ship and sink it in the deep sea, forcing them into the water.

Fish-Men could breathe underwater, but they could not remain in the sea forever. They would try to head for a nearby island.

With their swimming ability, reaching a nearby island would not be a problem.

But Xia Qiu would wait until they had swum for a while and expended some of their strength before attacking them.

He could also keep harassing them in the sea, attacking them one by one.

Thus, he followed behind the Spab from afar.

The Spab traveled farther and farther from Jumada Island, arriving in the vast ocean at least twenty nautical miles away from it.

Judging from the direction they were heading, there was an island in that direction, around eighty nautical miles from Jumada Island.

Other than Jumada Island, there was another island in a different direction if one veered at a certain angle. It was closer to the pirate ship, but still at least thirty nautical miles away.

Over the past two years, Xia Qiu had swum around Jumada Island and thoroughly mapped out the nearby islands.

And this distance was just right.

It ensured that Arlong and the others would have to swim twenty or thirty nautical miles to reach any island.

Twenty nautical miles was more than thirty-seven kilometers.

Even if they swam to Jumada Island, it would take at least an hour and consume a tremendous amount of strength.

During that time, Xia Qiu would harass them, prevent them from eating, seize chances to hunt them down, and other sea fish might attack them as well.

Once their strength had been depleted to a certain extent, he would engage them head-on.

That would increase his chances of victory.

With that thought, Xia Qiu looked at the massive Spab, shot straight through the depths, and charged toward the pirate ship.