Long-Range Sniping

East Blue, Flaws Kingdom.

"Bahahaha, it seems this King's face still carries quite a bit of weight."

After receiving the reply from the Goa Kingdom, King Ba Dodeshinai burst into unrestrained laughter.

The Goa royalty's "concession" and "backing down" made him feel incredibly pleased and satisfied.

With a single phone call, he had halted the Goa Kingdom's war of expansion.

This major news would surely be explosive.

With this, the great names of Ba Dodeshinai and the Flaws Kingdom would thoroughly spread throughout the East Blue, intimidating all the major kingdoms in the region.

He might even become the leader of the East Blue kingdoms.

After all, a war that even the World Government and Marine Headquarters could not stop had been halted by him alone.

He was destined to shake the East Blue and make a name for himself across the world.

Ba Dodeshinai's eyes were filled with ambition.

Meanwhile, the officials under Ba Dodeshinai's command offered their congratulations to their King with excited expressions on the surface.

But deep down, they were scoffing; was the Goa Kingdom really doing this for the sake of Ba Dodeshinai?

It was clearly because the Goa Kingdom feared the army of Germa 66.

If Ba Dodeshinai hadn't repeatedly brought up Germa 66 during the call, the Goa Kingdom likely wouldn't have agreed to a ceasefire so readily.

"As for our Germa mercenaries, regardless of whether you still intend to go to war with the Goa Kingdom or not, you must pay!"

The liaison officer for Germa 66's mercenary operations stared coldly at King Ba Dodeshinai.

As long as a deal was struck to mobilize the Germa 66 army, the payment had to be made.

Otherwise, Germa 66 would let the Flaws Kingdom know exactly what an evil army was capable of!

"Uh..., rest assured, we will not shortchange Germa on the mercenary fees."

King Ba Dodeshinai gave a dry laugh, responding to the Germa liaison officer with considerable trepidation.

He truly dared not provoke or offend the notorious Germa Kingdom.

They had hired the evil Germa army solely to intimidate the Goa Kingdom.

It was meant to serve as a bodyguard, ensuring the Goa Kingdom would not continue expanding into the Flaws Kingdom's sphere of influence.

Now that the Goa Kingdom had backed down, he had no desire to actually go to war with them.

After all, the Goa Kingdom was the most beautiful kingdom in the East Blue, highly regarded by the Celestial Dragons.

It was also the hometown of the Marine hero, Fist Garp.

Going to war with the Goa Kingdom was not a wise choice!

If they accidentally offended the Celestial Dragons or the Marine hero, the Flaws Kingdom would surely face a catastrophe.

Konomi Kingdom, Cocoyasi Village.

After Nami shared the news about the Goa Kingdom with Nojiko and Genzo, it began to spread quietly among the villagers.

They had to protect themselves over the next few days and be ready to flee at any moment, ensuring they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire between the Goa Kingdom and the Arlong Pirates.

Nami felt certain that these two forces would inevitably clash.

Meanwhile, in Arlong Park.

Led by the saw-toothed fish-man Arlong, a group of fish-men gathered under the notification of Captain Nezumi to prepare for the potential outbreak of battle.

"Big Brother Arlong, can that greedy bastard Nezumi really keep the Goa Kingdom in the dark?"

"Can Nezumi really get Marine Headquarters to stop the Goa Kingdom?"

"Our protection money won't decrease because of the Goa Kingdom's rule, will it?!"

The eyes of the fish-men were filled with dissatisfaction and resentment.

The war initiated by the Goa Kingdom had severely disrupted their comfortable lives.

They were deeply enamored with the carefree existence of the Arlong Empire.

It was a hundred times more comfortable than the dim, gloomy Fish-Man District.

Six years ago, it had taken them over half a year to occupy more than twenty villages in the Konomi Kingdom, suppressing and slaughtering several towns that resisted fiercely.

They forced these inferior humans to pay a "living fee" every month.

100,000 Berries for an adult, 50,000 Berries for a child.

Every year, they raked in a massive fortune in living fees from those twenty-plus villages.

In Cocoyasi Village, they had built their Arlong Empire, modeling the architecture after the Sabaody Archipelago.

To avoid punitive expeditions from the Navy, Arlong had established a protective umbrella by bribing Captain Nezumi.

By colluding with Captain Nezumi, he had suppressed the royal family of the Konomi Kingdom.

Thus began their life as local tyrants.

He hoped the royal family of the Goa Kingdom would be like the Daomei Royal Family of the Konomi Kingdom and not come to provoke them.

Otherwise, they would have to show those humans of the Goa Kingdom the true power of the superior race: the Fish-Men.

"If the Goa Kingdom dares to come, we will sink every one of their warships!"

"Just like that foolish Brigadier General Brin!"

Arlong grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth; he had no fear of the Goa Kingdom's military.

Back in the day, they had even dared to finish off Brigadier General Brin, the commander of Marine Branch 77.

"Big Brother Arlong is right! In this sea, we are the masters!"

"If Nezumi can't handle the Goa Kingdom, we'll wipe out these human troops ourselves!"

Following Arlong's confident declaration, the group of Fish-Men chimed in one after another, all of them acting incredibly arrogant.

After six years of an easy life in Cocoyasi Village, they had come to believe that the humans of the East Blue were all as useless as the people in these twenty-some villages.

They could be oppressed and trampled upon at will.

Just as these Fish-Men were boasting loudly, acting as if humans were nothing but trash, a Fish-Man rushed into Arlong's territory in a panic.

"Big Brother Arlong, they're really here! The Goa Kingdom's fleet has actually arrived!"

"What!"

All the Fish-Men of the Arlong Pirates stood up abruptly, their eyes filled with rage and murderous intent.

"That guy Nezumi is a piece of trash after all, completely unreliable!"

"Lads! Follow me into battle and wipe out these humans!"

At Arlong's command, a large group of fierce, hideous Fish-Men filed out and charged toward the coast.

"Get into the water! Sink their ships!"

Arlong ordered as he ran.

The sea was their domain.

He would not give the Goa Kingdom's army a chance to land.

"Yes!!"

"Charge!"

Every Fish-Man was incredibly excited, their eyes devoid of fear; to them, humans were nothing more than slaves.

But the next second, before these Fish-Men could even reach the shore, they began to collapse to the ground one by one.

"Oh no! It's a sniper!"

"Watch out!"

Arlong's eyes turned bloodshot instantly. The sniper on the other side was so far away that they hadn't even heard a gunshot before their comrades were being picked off.

"Save them!"

Hatchan and Kuroobi hurriedly dragged their fallen, wounded brothers into the buildings for cover.

The running Fish-Men scrambled to find shelter, dodging the enemy's ultra-long-range sniping.

A trace of fear began to spread among the Fish-Men.

This Goa army seemed different from the humans in these villages.

They felt as if they were reminded of the days on Fish-Man Island, being intimidated and oppressed by pirates and the Navy from the Grand Line.

Meanwhile, on the fleet appearing on the sea surface, the members of the Guard Army were reloading for Van Augur, rotating through various sniper rifles.

Aside from Van Augur's own signature rifle, Senriku, and Wang Shi's Golden Sniper Rifle, there were other standard sniper rifles in use.

"Not bad! Van Augur, you've bought us some time."

Wang Shi held the Golden Telescope, observing the situation in Cocoyasi Village with a satisfied expression.

"Sniping within visual range is nothing to boast about."

Van Augur replied casually while firing; even with a standard sniper rifle, he could shoot with precision at this distance.

If he used his beloved rifle, Senriku, he could kill enemies from beyond the visual horizon.

He could shoot seagulls and enemies from an extreme distance, where the targets wouldn't even be able to see the island or the pirate ship he was on.