Marine Major

Just as Locke and the others launched their attack, a warship appeared on the sea. A man stood on its deck, smoking.

It was Smoker, who had been ordered to investigate the 16th Branch. Back when they were at Baratie, they had nearly caught up with Locke and the others.

However, Smoker had never expected Locke and the others to be so bold as to directly attack the Navy's 16th Branch. On the way here, they had encountered a pirate ship and captured it, which was why they only arrived after Locke and the others.

"Captain Smoker, the 16th Branch has come under attack!" At that moment, a marine rushed up to Smoker and reported anxiously.

"What?" Hearing this, Smoker looked toward the island where the Navy's 16th Branch was located. Smoke was slowly rising from it.

"I'll go take a look first. Bring the ship over quickly." Without waiting for anyone else to say anything, Smoker turned into smoke and flew toward the island.

"Captain Smoker..." Tashigi, who had been standing behind Smoker, had only just called out when he had already flown far away. "He always acts so recklessly."

"Sergeant Tashigi, what should we do now?"

"Increase speed and approach the island," Tashigi could only order helplessly.

They had not sailed for long when, just as they were about to reach the island, another marine appeared before Tashigi.

"Report! A pirate ship has been spotted ahead. Based on its characteristics, it should be our target this time: the Phantom Pirates, with a bounty of fifty million Beli."

"The Phantom Pirates!" Tashigi was slightly startled by the news. Could they be the ones who had attacked the Navy branch?

"Open fire and sink them." Tashigi quickly gave the order. Whether the people on the island were the Phantom Pirates or not, since they had appeared here, they definitely had not come just to watch. Sinking them was the right call.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of cannons fired, and several cannonballs shot straight toward the distant Phantom.

At the Navy's 16th Branch, the three Bear brothers were being blocked by four marine majors.

"Brats, who gave you the nerve to attack a Navy branch?" one of the majors demanded.

"What? You Navy can attack civilians whenever you want, but you never imagined civilians would fight back?" Big Bear mocked.

"Brat, you're courting death!" As though Big Bear had struck a nerve, one of the marine majors charged forward. Seeing one of their own make a move, the other three did not hesitate and rushed in as well.

"Perfect. We'll show you the results of our training these past few days!" Seeing the four charge at them, the three Bear brothers did not hesitate either and met them head-on.

Over the past few days, under Yun Zhinnan's training, the three had not only greatly improved their fighting skills but had also gained some understanding of and developed their Devil Fruit abilities. At the very least, they had basically mastered the Zoan's three forms and would no longer simply turn into bears and charge in recklessly like they had at the start.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

After three bear roars, Big Bear and Second Bear transformed into human-bodied forms with bear heads, while Panda remained in his full panda form.

The reason was not that Panda could not use that transformation. Rather, he had discovered that his panda form possessed greater agility and attack power than his other forms.

After discovering this, Panda had asked Locke about it. Locke's answer had been that the dish best suited to you was the strongest, so Panda stopped developing his other forms and prepared to keep fighting in this one.

Big Bear and Second Bear, on the other hand, were different. After fully transforming into bears, their reactions became noticeably slower, so they could only honestly develop their bear-man forms. In this form, not only did their defense rise, but their attack power grew stronger as well.

The fighters quickly clashed. After the three transformed, the four marine majors were clearly caught off guard. However, with marines constantly rushing over to support them, they could still barely hold on.

But Big Bear and the other two were different. As the battle continued, they gradually began integrating the combat techniques Yun Zhinnan had taught them over the past few days.

The most outstanding was the youngest, Panda. With his round body after transforming, he fought two majors alone on the battlefield and even faintly held the upper hand. If the surrounding marines had not kept attacking him from time to time, he might have already defeated his opponents.

Big Bear and Second Bear, in contrast, held slight advantages in their own battles but could not finish their opponents off.

However, the situation soon changed. A meteor conjured by Locke landed nearby, and the huge commotion caused the marine major facing Big Bear to pause briefly. Big Bear seized that chance and slammed the marine major to the ground with one swipe of his paw.

Without giving the major a chance to react, he raised his bear paw and viciously brought it down on the marine's head again, muttering, "Let you have a taste of a bear paw."

The nearby marines saw this and wanted to assist, but Second Bear, who had seen it too, stopped them.

Very soon, the marine major Big Bear had knocked down had his head smashed like a watermelon under Big Bear's paw. Red and white matter splattered everywhere.

After dealing with his opponent, Big Bear charged straight toward Second Bear, intending to help him quickly finish his opponent so they could aid Panda.

However, the marine major who had been fighting Second Bear noticed Big Bear coming their way. Taking advantage of an opening in Second Bear's attack, he immediately broke away from Second Bear. He then directed the surrounding marines to hold back Big Bear and Second Bear while he rushed toward Panda, intending to join the two majors there to take Panda down first before dealing with the other two.

But he had clearly underestimated Panda's combat strength. Even under the siege of three majors, Panda was still able to remain undefeated. Moreover, this chubby panda was simply too troublesome. Though he was so fat, he possessed agility utterly mismatched with his body.

They found it difficult to hit him, and even when they did, the fat all over his body absorbed much of the impact, greatly reducing the damage he suffered.

Panda did not have to hold out alone for long before Big Bear and Second Bear, who had just been surrounded by marine soldiers, broke free and rushed over.

Seeing this, the three marine majors grew even more anxious. They unleashed the strongest attacks of their lives upon Panda, but Panda acted as if nothing had happened and continued attacking them.

Soon, when Big Bear and Second Bear arrived, the three marine majors were taken down by the three brothers.

Looking at the three marine majors lying on the ground, Panda suddenly released his transformation and fell straight over as well. It seemed the desperate counterattacks from the three majors had inflicted no small amount of damage on him.

Second Bear hurriedly caught the falling Panda and began checking his injuries, while Big Bear consciously stood guard nearby to prevent the surrounding marine soldiers from launching a sneak attack.