In the eyes of many, the Marine Headquarters' top-tier sailing warships have always been the giants of the sea, massive behemoths compared to most pirate ships and merchant vessels.
But today, they encountered a true colossus of the ocean. For the Marine officers and soldiers stationed on deck, who were accustomed to looking down at others from above, this was the day they finally recalled the sensation of being looked down upon.
The Marines raised their heads, staring in stunned silence at the lion-headed, fish-bodied sea beast looming before them.
"Sea beasts can actually be this big?" a young Marine murmured in awe.
The slightly older warrant officer beside him immediately smacked the back of his head. "Can you not embarrass yourself like this? It's not like we've never encountered sea beasts while carrying out missions."
The young recruit looked aggrieved. "But the ones we saw before only ever showed half their bodies above the water! This is the first time I've seen a sea beast's full form in the deep sea!"
"So what if it's big? It wouldn't dare attack a warship—" The warrant officer scoffed, but before he could finish his sentence, the curious creature before them stretched out its plump, fleshy tongue and gave the ship's bubble coating a big lick.
"EEYAAAH!!"
The warrant officer and the young Marine both let out high-pitched shrieks of horror.
Standing behind them, Lindemann frowned and scolded them, "Silence! Where is your discipline? Is this situation truly worthy of such panic?"
But even as he spoke, none of them were about to let the sea beast damage their bubble coating.
Sakazuki, squeezed inside a single air bubble, had no choice but to deal with this matter personally. As the ship's captain, he was the one responsible. The Vice Admiral shot out from the bubble coating, leaped into the air, and delivered a powerful kick right to the soft, squishy tongue of the massive yet somewhat dopey-looking sea beast.
"ROARR!!"
The beast howled in pain and slowly moved its massive lion-like face right up to Sakazuki's air bubble. Its feline slit pupils reflected the image of the bubble's surface.
Driven by a mix of curiosity and a desire for vengeance, the creature studied Sakazuki closely.
What kind of being had dared to attack it?
Inside the bubble, the Vice Admiral carefully controlled the heat of his magma-infused arm. If the temperature got too high and caused thermal expansion, the bubble might burst from within, which would be a major problem.
With an expressionless face, he raised his magma-darkened arm and waved it in front of the lion's face. The sea beast froze for a moment—somewhere in its memories, it had seen something similar before.
It struggled to recall with its not-so-developed brain. Where had it seen that color before? Its massive fish tail swayed as it thought, until finally, its memories settled on a vision of dark red substances violently erupting in the pitch-black depths of the ocean.
The Marines on board watched as the upper half of the sea beast's mane suddenly puffed up in alarm, while the swaying tail abruptly went stiff.
A moment later, the feline imposter stared at Sakazuki's bubble with an expression of sheer terror. The mighty lion-like demeanor vanished without a trace.
After a long pause, it hesitantly positioned itself beneath the warship's hull and, swaying its tail fin, began gently pushing the vessel forward.
The great sea beast turned its head slightly toward Sakazuki's position and let out a low, fawning whimper.
"Meow-woo?"
"....."
"....."
"This lion has cat (máo) issues," Sakazuki remarked bluntly as he stepped back onto the warship, utterly unmoved.
Lindemann tilted his head, maintaining his signature fox-like grin. "I get the feeling it simply has a very strong will to survive."
With the great sea cat expertly guiding them, the warship smoothly entered the deep-sea current's pathway.
Standing behind Sakazuki, Onigumo hesitated before speaking. "Vice Admiral..."
"What is it, Onigumo?" Sakazuki inquired without turning around.
Onigumo's usually fierce expression was tinged with unease. "I must speak out of turn—this time, I never received an official deployment order from Marine Headquarters..."
Sakazuki straightforwardly finished the sentence for him. "This operation will not have orders from Headquarters. It cannot have orders from Headquarters."
Onigumo froze momentarily, pondering the implications of Sakazuki's words.
After a brief silence, he raised his hand in salute to the Vice Admiral's back. "Onigumo will carry out the mission without regret! Please give your orders!"
"When we arrive, we'll enter through Fish-Man Island's main gate," Sakazuki said, turning around. He lifted his gaze to the warship's sails, where the colossal seagull emblem of the Marines was proudly displayed.
"Understood... But Vice Admiral, without an official order from Headquarters, the Neptune Army may not allow us entry," Onigumo acknowledged with a nod. He no longer questioned further and instead moved to relieve Lindemann at the ship's helm.
As a soldier and a trusted aide, he did not need to know every detail of a commander's plan—his duty was simply to execute.
Sakazuki gazed at the distant island, wrapped in a dual-layered semi-spherical bubble shield. A mysterious smile curved his lips.
"It is precisely because we lack an official order that we must enter boldly, without hesitation."
Fish-Man Island was completely enclosed by its dual-layered semi-spherical bubble barrier, with an air layer between the two shields.
This structure not only effectively blocked water pressure but also formed an almost perfect military defense system.
Any ship coated in Sabaody Archipelago that entered through an incorrect route would have its bubble coating automatically stripped away and fused with the island's protective shield.
Many ships ended up falling straight through the air layer, crashing into the ground below. Even if someone forced their way through the shield, they would be swept away by the seawater embedded within it.
"Why is there a sea beast here?" A Neptune Army soldier stationed at the main entrance frowned as he watched the lion-headed, fish-bodied beast approach.
They were not afraid of such creatures—both Fish-Men and Merfolk could communicate with sea beasts. They were merely puzzled by the unexpected presence of this particular one.
Another soldier, holding a double-pronged trident, pointed toward the ship on the beast's back. "It's carrying that vessel, isn't it?"
"Oh, I see—wait, that ship's shape... It's a human warship?!"
The first Neptune Army soldier finally realized. "Has the Marines come to capture pirates again?"
"Capture pirates? My ass! They're probably here to use that excuse to hunt Merfolk again!" A pirate, currently paying the entrance fee at the gate, spat on the ground in disdain.
A nearby Neptune Army guard glanced at the pirate with open contempt. While pirates willing to enter through the front gate rather than sneaking in were a rarity, in the eyes of Fish-Man Island's defenders, they were all the same scum.
"Vice Admiral! Pirates spotted at Fish-Man Island's entrance!" A Marine lookout called out loudly from the watchtower.
Sakazuki rolled his neck, the joints emitting faint popping sounds after days of inactivity.
"All commissioned officers and field officers, step forward!"
"Yes, sir!"
The battle-hardened officers' eyes burned with anticipation. Under Onigumo's command over the past six months, war exercises had kept the junior officers in reserve, using them as an emergency force rather than front-line combatants.
Now, at last, they had received the familiar order they had been waiting for.
Standing atop the forward cannon turret, Sakazuki's expression remained cold.
"Let's present King Neptune's army with a grand gift."
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