East Blue · Flaws Kingdom.
"Bwahahaha! It seems this king still has quite a lot of influence."
After receiving Goa Kingdom's reply, King Ba Dodeshinai burst into unrestrained laughter.
Goa Kingdom's royal family had "backed down" and "yielded," which made him extremely pleased and satisfied.
A single phone call from him had stopped Goa Kingdom's war of expansion.
This was bound to be big news.
The name of Ba Dodeshinai and the Flaws Kingdom would become famous throughout the East Blue, striking fear into the region's kingdoms.
They might even become the leaders of the East Blue kingdoms.
After all, he alone had stopped a war that neither the World Government nor Marine Headquarters could prevent.
He would surely shake the East Blue and make a name for himself across the world.
Ba Dodeshinai's eyes were full of ambition.
The officials under Ba Dodeshinai congratulated their king with excitement on the surface.
But inside, they were scoffing. Had Goa Kingdom really backed down out of respect for Ba Dodeshinai?
Clearly, Goa Kingdom was wary of Germa 66's army.
If Ba Dodeshinai hadn't brought up Germa 66 repeatedly during the call,
Goa Kingdom probably wouldn't have agreed to a ceasefire so readily.
"Our Germa mercenaries expect payment whether or not you still plan to fight Goa Kingdom. Fight or don't fight, you're paying!"
The Germa 66 officer in charge of mercenary contracts stared coldly at King Ba Dodeshinai.
Once a deal was made and Germa 66's troops were dispatched, payment was mandatory.
Otherwise, Germa 66 would show the Flaws Kingdom what an evil army could do!
"Uh... Don't worry. We won't shortchange Germa on its fee."
King Ba Dodeshinai gave an awkward laugh and replied to Germa's liaison officer with considerable apprehension.
He truly didn't dare provoke or offend the infamous Germa Kingdom.
They had hired Germa's evil army to intimidate Goa Kingdom.
He wanted to hire himself a bodyguard, to keep Goa Kingdom from expanding into the Flaws Kingdom's sphere of influence.
Now that Goa Kingdom had backed down, he didn't want to go to war with it either.
After all, Goa Kingdom was the most beautiful kingdom in the East Blue, and the Celestial Dragons favored it.
It was also the hometown of the Marine hero Fist Garp.
A war with Goa Kingdom was not a good choice!
If they angered the Celestial Dragons and the Marine hero, the Flaws Kingdom would probably be in serious trouble.
Konomi Kingdom · Cocoyasi Village.
After Nami told Nojiko and Genzo the news about Goa Kingdom, it quietly spread among the villagers.
They had to protect themselves over the next few days and be ready to flee at any moment. They couldn't let themselves get caught up in a battle between Goa Kingdom and the Arlong Pirates.
Nami felt that these two forces were bound to clash.
Meanwhile, in Arlong's territory.
At the notice of Captain Nezumi, Arlong and the other Fish-Men gathered to prepare for a possible outbreak of fighting.
"Arlong, that greedy bastard Mouse—can he really keep that Goa Kingdom in check?"
"Can Mouse really get Marine Headquarters to stop Goa Kingdom?"
"Will the protection money we collect go down if Goa Kingdom takes control?!"
Dissatisfaction and resentment filled the Fish-Men's eyes.
The war Goa Kingdom had launched had already seriously disrupted their easygoing lives.
They were thoroughly enamored with the carefree life in the Arlong Empire.
It was a hundred times more comfortable than living in the gloomy Fish-Man District.
Six years ago, it had taken them more than half a year to seize over twenty villages in Konomi Kingdom. They had crushed and slaughtered several towns and villages that put up fierce resistance.
They had forced those inferior humans to pay a monthly fee to stay alive.
100,000 Belly for an adult and 50,000 Belly for a child.
Every year, they collected a fortune in protection money from those twenty-odd villages.
In Cocoyasi Village, they had copied the buildings of the Sabaody Archipelago and built their own Arlong Empire.
To avoid a Marine crackdown, Arlong had also brought Captain Nezumi under his thumb as a shield.
Together with Captain Nezumi, he had forced Konomi Kingdom's royal family into submission.
And so they had begun their life as local tyrants.
They hoped Goa Kingdom's royal family would be like Konomi Kingdom's Daomei Royal Family and leave them alone.
Otherwise, they would show those humans from Goa Kingdom the might of the superior race: the Fish-Men.
"If Goa Kingdom dares to come, we'll sink every one of their warships!"
"Just like that stupid Commodore Brin!"
Arlong grinned, baring his rows of sharp teeth. He wasn't afraid of Goa Kingdom's army at all.
Back then, they had even dared to kill Commodore Brin, the commander of Marine Branch 77.
"Arlong's right! We're the ones who rule these seas!"
"If Mouse can't handle Goa Kingdom, we'll wipe out those human troops ourselves!"
Encouraged by Arlong's confident words, the Fish-Men chimed in one after another, every one of them outrageously arrogant.
After six comfortable years in Cocoyasi Village, they had started to think that all the humans in the East Blue were as useless as the people in those twenty-odd villages.
Easy to bully and trample on.
Just as the Fish-Men were talking big, looking down on humans as worthless and acting like arrogant braggarts,
a Fish-Man came rushing into Arlong's territory in a panic.
"Arlong! They're really here! Goa Kingdom's fleet has actually arrived!"
"What!"
Every Fish-Man in the Arlong Pirates abruptly sprang to his feet, fury and murderous intent in their eyes.
"That bastard Mouse really is useless! He can't be relied on at all!"
"Everyone! Follow me into battle! Wipe out those humans!"
At Arlong's command, a horde of vicious, fearsome Fish-Men poured out and charged toward the shore.
"Into the water! Punch holes in their ships!"
Arlong shouted orders as he ran.
The sea was their territory.
He wouldn't give Goa Kingdom's army a chance to land.
"Yes!!"
"Charge!"
The Fish-Men were all fired up, utterly unafraid. Humans were nothing but their slaves.
But the next second,
before the Fish-Men had even reached the shore, they began dropping to the ground one by one.
"Damn it! A sniper!"
"Watch out!"
Arlong's eyes instantly reddened. The enemy sniper was shooting from so far away that they couldn't even hear the gunshots, yet he could still pick them off.
"Get the wounded to safety!"
Hatchan and Kuroobi hurriedly dragged their wounded brothers into the buildings for cover.
The Fish-Men sprinting along the way hastily searched for cover, trying to evade the enemy's extreme-range sniping.
Fear began to spread among them.
Goa Kingdom's army seemed different from the humans in those villages.
They were reminded of the days on Fish-Man Island, when pirates and Marines from the Grand Line had intimidated and oppressed them.
Meanwhile, aboard the fleet appearing on the sea,
the Guard Army were loading Van Augur's rifle and rotating through the sniper rifles.
There was his own famous rifle, Senriku, Wang Shi's Golden Sniper Rifle, and the other standard sniper rifles.
"Not bad! Van Augur bought us a little time."
Holding the Golden Telescope, Wang Shi watched what was happening in Cocoyasi Village and looked satisfied.
"Nothing to brag about when they're within sight."
Van Augur replied casually as he fired. Even with a standard sniper rifle, he could shoot accurately from this distance.
With his beloved rifle, Senriku, he could kill enemies beyond visual range.
He could shoot down seagulls and enemies from extreme distances. They wouldn't even have seen the island or pirate ship he was on.