Beep… beep… beep…
Aboard the escorting warship, a new type of equipment was operating.
War often spurred the development of certain technologies. When the enemy acquired a new technology, if no means could be devised to counter it, the course of the war itself could change.
These equipment were radars used to detect underwater activity.
This technology was not particularly complicated for the World Government. Although the separation imposed by the sea had caused different islands to develop vastly different technology trees, the World Government had ruled the seas for eight hundred years and had long since gathered those technologies under its control.
As for those it could not control, they had been destroyed by its power.
“This thing really can locate those underwater bombs, right?”
“It should. The World Government uses it to protect the Celestial Dragons. It can’t possibly be fake.”
The soldiers aboard the warship were somewhat doubtful, since they had never seen such a thing before.
The reason it had never been widely adopted was that there had been no need. Shipbuilding technology here was still largely limited to wooden vessels, and even pure ironclad warships were rarely seen. Under normal circumstances, reconnaissance could be completed with high-powered telescopes.
Although submarine technology existed, pirates capable of using submarines were one in ten thousand. In their eyes, popularizing such technology would merely waste funds.
But once the Fish-Men began attacking the Celestial Dragons, everything changed.
Soldiers could die as they pleased, because in the eyes of the World Government, soldiers were nothing more than a string of numbers. As long as their objectives were achieved, it did not matter how many died. Human lives were worth far less than a single ship.
But the Celestial Dragons were different. They were the group the World Government truly sought to protect.
The frequent underwater attacks had become an endless nuisance for the World Government. Dealing with a single torpedo was not difficult; a Marine Rear Admiral was more than capable of handling it. But the Fish-Men’s assaults from the depths were impossible to guard against.
The Fish-Men could choose when to attack at will, while Marine officers could not guarantee that they could watch the sea all the time.
They also could not assign every senior officer to escort food shipments for the Celestial Dragons. As a result, fewer than one in ten ships managed to deliver their supplies safely to Mariejois.
With the Celestial Dragons on the verge of running out of food, the World Government once again dumped the assignment on York and Lilith.
After a frantic period of rushed production, these underwater monitoring devices were installed aboard the escort warships.
The new equipment eased some of the Marines’ burden. At the very least, ordinary soldiers could now use the equipment to anticipate danger. But today, they encountered an even greater problem.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A red dot suddenly appeared on the dashboard, and an alarm immediately sounded.
“Reporting! Enemy attack! Southeast, one person!”
“Only one? Have those Fish-Men finally gotten tired? I’ve had enough of their endless attacks lately…”
The intelligence was quickly delivered to the Marine Vice Admiral in charge of the escort mission. This shipment carried more supplies than usual, so the level of protection had also been increased.
“All hands on alert! Prepare the whaling harpoons! Don’t let these b*stards escape this time!”
Seawater would diminish the power of bullets, and flintlock rifles could hardly inflict effective damage on the Fish-Men in the sea, while cannons could not adjust their firing angles. Specially made harpoons, however, could prove surprisingly effective.
However, before his orders could even be relayed, the interior of the ship was flooded with red light.
Bzzzz!!!
“Updated report! Southwest, northeast… We’re surrounded! Their numbers cannot be estimated! All hands prepare for battle! We’re surrounded!”
The red dot detected during the first scan had merely been a member of the vanguard. When the equipment conducted its second sweep, the dashboard became so densely packed with enemies that there was no way to count them all.
Boom!
With a violent explosion, a large hole was torn open beneath the warship. The icy sea current instantly swept the nearby soldiers off their feet.
“Close the valves to the watertight compartments! Hurry!”
The interior of the warship was not one completely open space, but a series of interconnected watertight compartments. One or two holes alone would not cause the ship to sink immediately.
Under normal circumstances, the Fish-Men would not engage them directly. They would only destroy the ships from a distance. But this time was different.
Before the Marines could seal the breaches in the hull, Fish-Men began charging into the cabins through the holes, one after another.
This was not an isolated incident in some corner of the fleet. It was a desperate situation faced by the entire fleet.
“Shahahaha! Marines, never thought you’d see this day, did you?! The sea has always belonged to the Fish-Men!”
The faster Fish-Men had already reached the deck. Whatever the objective, war was always bloody. Some feared it, while others reveled in the feeling—Arlong, for example.
Over the years, he had gradually regressed toward becoming a retired old man, but the thoughts in his heart had never disappeared. Attacking these Marines gave him an indescribable sense of exhilaration.
“Attack! Attack! This is the deck, don’t let these Fish-Men scare you!
“We’re escorting supplies for the Celestial Dragons! If anything happens to them, we’ll be in serious trouble!”
The soldiers aboard the warships organized a methodical counterattack. The conspicuous Arlong had long since drawn their attention. Although Arlong was no mere grunt by Grand Line standards, he was not especially powerful either. A Captain from Marine Headquarters was more than capable of giving him a hard time.
Amid the chaotic battle, someone had already set their sights on Arlong, but before they could make a move, a crimson arm sent them flying.
“Arlong, I already told you. Our objective isn’t to make the world fear the Fish-Men. Rein in that deranged behavior of yours.”
While helping him out of trouble, Tiger also lectured Arlong to prevent him from going to extremes.
“Fish-Man Karate • Spear Wave!”
A water arrow shot into the air, snapping the warship’s mainmast in two. Many Marines were forced to jump into the sea to avoid the collapsing mast, but the sea had now become the Fish-Men’s home ground.
Humans had absolutely no chance of defeating them in the sea.
“Vice Admiral! Vice Admiral! We can’t hold them back! There are too many Fish-Men attacking us!”
“Damn it, why did Tiger have to personally lead the attack during my escort mission? Headquarters doesn’t have a single Admiral available to assist us right now…”
It was not only the ordinary Marines who had been surrounded. Even the Vice Admiral commanding the fleet was encircled, but his muttering caught the attention of several people.
“No Admirals? Then can you tell me where all your Admirals have gone?”
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