Arlong was not enough to prove Shazo's strength

The Arlong felt like it was suffocating.

He opened his mouth wide and gasped silently, but he couldn't breathe at all.

He felt a pang of heartache and wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

In the blink of an eye, Arlong's main crew members were all dead. The sight of so many of his comrades dying tragically before his eyes overwhelmed Arlong with immense grief, making him feel as if he were living in Nightmare.

The noble Fish-Man should have been able to crush humans, so how could they have been killed so easily by humans?

That naval Commodore is clearly trash, so why is a lieutenant commander, two ranks lower in rank, so terrifying?

This doesn't make sense!

Wait, could this be a trap?

Yes, this must be a trap, it's Jinbe!

Jinbe accepted the Navy's invitation and became their henchman. Therefore, he was the one who allowed the Navy to set a trap in the East Blue, having a Vice Admiral ambush the Arlong Pirates in his own shipping lane.

The more the Arlong thought about it, the more convinced he was that he had guessed correctly.

Only Jinbe could guess his own location, and only Jinbe could get the Navy to take action for him, so it could only be Jinbe!

The Arlong gritted its teeth, sending Mars flying as it bit its newly grown teeth. "Damn Jinbe, you betrayed the great Fish-Man Race! I will kill you!"

Shazo ignored what the Arlong was thinking, jumped into the air, drew the standard long sword from his waist, raised it high above his head, and then swung it down fiercely.

The Blade sliced through the air, and the distorted, hot Afterimage slowly dissipated in the air.

Before the scorching Afterimage of the sword mark, the chilling Sword Qi expanded dramatically, finally erupting with a roar in the direction of the Blade. A pale blue arc of Sword Qi, hundreds of meters long, cleaved through the sea and air, whistling as it rushed toward the Shark.

With a hissing sound, like tearing a piece of cotton cloth, the Shark was cleaved in two by the Sword Qi.

The bow of the Shark was Musketeer, and after a creaking sound, it stabilized.

But the helpless stern emitted a whistling sound as water began to take on the ship, and with a roar, it capsized on the sea, taking half of its Fish-Man crew with it, and sank rapidly.

At this point, the Arlong Pirates had been completely defeated.

Shazo used Geppo to walk back to the Marine warship step by step, and said to his dumbfounded subordinates, "Alright, my battle is over, and I've demonstrated my strength. Are you all satisfied?"

Lieutenant Borg, Shazo's direct adjutant, exclaimed incredulously, trembling, "Commander Shazo, your abilities are truly astounding!"

Major Faye, wielding a longsword, exclaimed in admiration, "Commander Shazo is able to unleash such a massive Sword Qi; his Swordsmanship is at least at the level of Swordmaster."

Faye's words ignited the soldiers' gossip.

"Ah, isn't the level of skill required for Swordmaster to be Rear Admiral in the headquarters?"

"How could a major general from headquarters have such strength? Rear Admiral Shazo is so powerful, he should at least be a lieutenant Headquarters Vice Admiral. Why would he be a lieutenant colonel in a small branch like ours?"

"What's so strange about that? It's because they have no one to command them."

"Damn it, the navy's become so bureaucratic."

"Idiot, it's best for us that Commander Shazo Zuo isn't promoted."

"Oh, right, it would be great if our superior could never get promoted."

"From now on, I will pray to God every night before I go to sleep, wishing that Commander Shazo will always remain a lieutenant colonel."

"Good idea, I'll do that too."

The navy men's conversation went further and further astray, and they even started wishing that Shazo wouldn't get promoted, which almost made Shazo furious.

He sheathed his longsword in annoyance and shouted, "Everyone, board the pirate ship and clean up the mess!"

The navy sailors cheered as they charged toward the enemy ships, skillfully severing the heads of the Fish-Man and capturing the surviving members of the Fire Pistol Hand Pirates.

Faced with the surviving Fish-Man pirates, the marines quickly formed a five-man combat team, swiftly immobilizing the Fish-Man before blowing it up with a single shot.

As the Fish-Man leaders, such as Yanshao, Xiaowu, and Pisharo, were killed one by one, the remaining Fish-Man finally became afraid.

They no longer cared about the Fish-Man supremacy ideology; they dropped their weapons, knelt on the deck, raised their hands, and shouted, "We surrender! We surrender! Don't kill us!"

Arlong, the captain of the pirate crew, sat in the seawater, watching blankly as the Fish-Man were easily slaughtered by the Navy, watching Fish-Man morale crumble, and watching them choose to surrender.

He finally broke down in tears.

The Arlong howled and cried, pulled out a shark-tooth brace from its mouth, and launched a desperate charge at Shazo.

He cried out in despair, "You damned humans! You are a lowly, inferior race, yet you dare to Carnage noble Fish-Man! I will kill you!"

Shazo shook his head and said with a laugh, "You Fish-Man are ridiculous."

"You clearly can't beat me, yet you dare to say you'll kill me."

"They've clearly fallen to the level of a rare species, yet they still fantasize that they're a superior, noble race."

"Truly befitting the Fish-Man Race brains are full of water."

Considering that Arlong was, after all, a pirate captain, Shazo decided to make an exception and give him a more dignified death, using advanced power to send him off.

But when he placed his hand on the scabbard, he suddenly realized that the sword was no longer working.

The sword Sword Qi that had just cleaved the pirate ship had left the Navy's standard longsword riddled with cracks, rendering it unusable.

Shazo thought for a moment, then raised his right hand, which was stained black and had a metallic sheen.

He became Afterimage, his right hand swung with a startling sonic boom, slashing the Arlong's waist and cleaving it in two.

The pain of being cut in half was so intense that the Arlong coughed up blood from its mouth and nose, flailing its arms wildly as if trying to snatch its severed lower body back.

But the next moment, Shazo stomped the Arlong's head under his foot and said with a smile, "Being able to enjoy an attack using Armament Haki, your life as a fish has few regrets, right?"

With a slight push of his foot, the ugly, ferocious watermelon burst open, scattering red and white pieces all over the ground.

Thus, the Arlong Pirates were completely wiped out.

"Gulp"

Brigadier General Pudding swallowed hard, trying his best to keep his legs from trembling.

These Fish-Man are so brutal; they attacked me, Commodore, without uttering a single word.

When the dragon hurled its spear at him, Brigadier General Pudding knew he had underestimated the strength and ferocity of these fishmen.

The Commodore's confidence crumbled instantly, realizing that his 77th Branch was no match for these powerful Fish-Man pirates.

But Shazo Xia Zuo, one of his subordinates who had undergone special training at headquarters, stepped forward and easily blocked the spear, saving his life.

Next, Shazo left Pudding Pudding at the back of the crowd. Apart from the base commander's adjutant and one of his two confidants, no other navy personnel cared about their base commander.

After Commodore Pudding was safe, he wanted to order everyone to retreat and stay away from the fishman pirates.

But after Shazo pushed him, he felt a tightness in his chest, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shout out. The words he managed to utter were as soft as the flapping of a fly's wings.

He then discovered that the Fish-Man had climbed up the hull of the ship and even squeezed into the gun emplacement through the large hole made by the cannons.

Just when the Commodore thought it was all over, he was surprised to find that the naval soldiers of the 77th Branch were not flustered at all.

Under the organization of the sergeant or lieutenant, the soldiers quickly formed five-man combat teams. They used shields and long-handled tools to hold off the Fish-Man pirates, while the sergeant or lieutenant used the huge Fire Pistol that the Commodore general despised to kill the Fish-Man.

In just a few minutes of fighting, the 53 -Fish-Man raiding party was reduced to rubble, while the navy soldiers suffered no losses.

On the deck, in front of the naval officers and men, Shazo Commander Xia Zuo launched an even more brutal massacre, crushing the powerful Fish-Man Pirates Fish-Man Pirates just a dozen seconds and easily wiping out their captain and officers.

A powerful pirate crew from the Grand Line, the Sun Pirates of the famous pirate Fisher Tiger, was annihilated by Shazo.

He even sliced open the Fish-Man pirate ship with a single sword strike, cutting the massive vessel in two with his Sword Qi.

Lieutenant Shazo Zuo's demonstrated personal strength far exceeded the scope of a colonel-level officer.

Brigadier General Pudding Pudding felt like he was dreaming. Wasn't this the legendary swordsman?

With such strength, how can Shazo stay comfortably in the East Blue? Shouldn't he go to headquarters and demonstrate his power on the Grand Line?

Brigadier General Pudding thought that Major General Onigumo's task was too difficult, actually requiring him to suppress Lieutenant Colonel Natsuzo.

This is simply an impossible task.

The Commodore wiped the cold sweat from his brow and secretly resolved that from now on he would only outwardly obey orders from his superiors while inwardly disobeying them.

Otherwise, he really didn't know when he might have an accident, such as "falling into the water" at the port, or being "shot in the back" while fighting pirates.

A few days later, the report from the 77th Branch was delivered to headquarters.

Through Rear Admiral Onigumo, the report was delivered to Admiral Sakazuki, and together with a report from a secret channel, it eventually ended up in the hands of Fleet Admiral Sengoku.

Sakazuki frowned and asked, "Shazo annihilated the Fish-Man Fire Pistol Hand Pirates and the Sun Pirates, and also demonstrated his Swordmaster and ability to manipulate water—"

"Sigh, his rank has to be promoted."

Fleet Admiral Sengoku, looking at the report, said, "He must be promoted. He's wiped out two pirate crews, the Fire Pistol Hand Pirates being particularly infamous in the East Blue. Not promoting him would ruin the Navy's promotion system; it would be a huge loss."

"Fortunately, the Arlong Pirates aren't well-known, so they're not enough to prove just how strong Shazo really is. We can just promote him one level."

Sakazuki still felt there was a problem. "But if that happens, Shazo will become Colonel, and with just that rank, an incompetent officer like Pudding Pudding won't be able to control him."

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, should we dispatch a Colonel or Rear Admiral from our headquarters to the East Blue?"

The Sengoku, Zhan Guo, read the battle report three times before finally letting out a long sigh of relief, "The situation is not bad."

Sakazuki and Onigumo exclaimed in surprise at the same time, "Huh?"

Sakazuki trusted Sengoku implicitly and began to recall the contents of the report, trying to find reasons why things seemed to be going well from the text.

He aspired to be the next naval Genji, so he always tried to understand Sengoku's way of thinking and learn his working methods.

Compared to Sakazuki, Onigumo's thoughts were much simpler, so he directly asked, "Fleet Admiral, is the situation good?"

Sengoku laughed heartily; he was in a good mood and happily answered Onigumo's question.

"The situation is certainly very good."

"This report doesn't sound like Pudding Pudding at all; I've concluded that Shazo has completely taken control of the 77th Branch."

"But in addition to requesting a promotion for himself, he emphasized the promotion of Brigadier General Pudding Pudding."

He asked with a smile, "Oni Spider, do you think Brigadier General Pudding Pudding can still be promoted?"

Onigumo immediately replied, "Of course not. His strength is already barely enough to be promoted to Commodore; we absolutely cannot allow him to be promoted to Rear Admiral."

At this point, Sakazuki had figured it out and chimed in, "Right, Pudding Pudding can't be promoted, but the achievement of eliminating members of the Sun Pirates can't go unrewarded, so the only option is to transfer her to a better branch or give her a sinecure at headquarters."

"As a result, the position of commander of the 77th Branch Base is now vacant, and Shazo Zuo naturally becomes the first candidate to be considered as an exception."

"Shazo is subtly requesting a promotion, expressing to the Marine Headquarters that he does not wish to leave the East Blue for the time being."

"Phew." Sakazuki breathed a sigh of relief. "Things are indeed looking good."

Sengoku laughed and said, "Shazo, that troublesome fellow, has given us face, so we should give him a way out."

"I will sign the promotion and appointment orders, promoting Shazo to branch Colonel and appointing him as the commander of the 77th Branch base. In addition, I will increase the branch's funding and staffing."

"Well, we won't add any more warships. Neither the East Blue nor the Shazo base actually need too many."

Sengoku handed the report to his Pets goat on the table, instructing it to destroy the document.

At some point, Sengoku's face was shrouded in shadow, and his voice became somber.

He said, "But no matter when, no matter how submissive the other side may appear, Marine Headquarters must be prepared to take control of everything."

"Sakazuki, have the Intelligence Department arrange for someone to join the 77th Branch during the recruitment drive, and report on everything that happens to Shazo Colonel."

Sakazuki's eyes flashed. "Yes, Your Fleet Admiral, I will arrange it."

Sengoku then ordered, "Onigumo, maintain good communication with the branches surrounding the 77th Branch and report on the 77th Branch's situation regularly, especially the whereabouts of Chief Shazo."

Onigumo stood at attention and accepted the order, "Yes, Fleet Admiral."

Shazo was unaware that his declaration of Justice, issued at headquarters, had earned him such a high standing in the eyes of the Fleet Admiral and the Admiral.

The Navy high command even considered him the most dangerous guy, fearing that his ideas might influence Instructor-in-Chief Zephyr.

Sakazuki harbored the deepest hostility towards Shazo, because according to "Plain Justice," many of Shazor's past actions were nothing short of "evil," or even completely opposed to Justice.

Unfortunately, "Plain Justice" is too simple, so simple that it is irrefutable.

This made Sakazuki extremely uncomfortable.