Time flies, and two years have passed in the blink of an eye.
In August of Marineford Calendar 1515, the day was extremely hot, with the sun baking the earth and waves of heat rolling in.
At the port of Branch 16's base, there were three massive warships.
And on the port land in front of the warships, hundreds of sailors had gathered.
In front of the sailors stood seven or eight men dressed in Marine officer uniforms.
Leading them was a burly man who looked at the assembled crowd and said, "After our application, we have finally received approval from Headquarters to join forces with the Marines from Branch 77 and Branch 19 to attack the Arlong Pirates."
He paused and continued, "This battle plan will be commanded by Commodore Brim Brim of Branch 77. Now, I invite Commodore Brim Brim to present the operational plan. Commodore Brim Brim, please."
"Colonel Kars."
Commodore Brim Brim nodded to Colonel Kars of Branch 16, stepped out from the ranks, and slowly began to detail the operational plan.
Behind him, most people had their own thoughts.
Colonel Kars clutched his chest, where the wound still ached faintly.
Two years ago, he had been hit by a water cannon from that Fish-Man. It took him several months to recover after being rescued.
Afterward, he had applied to Marine Headquarters to exterminate the Arlong Pirates, and only now had his request been approved.
Nearby Branch 77 and Branch 19 would cooperate.
Three Marine branches would attack the Arlong Pirates together.
Beside him, Vice-Captain Kurume's expression was expectant. "The Arlong Pirates, currently the highest-bounty wanted criminals in the East Blue. Defeating them will surely earn a good evaluation. In a few years, when Colonel Lester steps down, I can naturally take his place."
However, Colonel Lester felt a bit uneasy. He had an old friend at Marine Headquarters who had inquired about Arlong's information.
He was a member of the Sun Pirates, and Arlong being sent to the East Blue was one of the conditions for Jinbe becoming a Shichibukai.
Furthermore, Fish-Men possessed immense natural strength.
The Marines from the three branch bases might not necessarily be able to defeat them.
Besides these, there was another person filled with resentment. He had a rat-like face, the future Captain Nezumi.
But now, he was merely a Major.
Colonel Kars was still alive, and with a Vice-Captain above him, he had no way to replace him.
As a result, after two years, he was still just a Major.
It was truly infuriating.
"Depart."
Commodore Brim Brim, standing at the forefront, waved his hand. All the officers and sailors boarded the warships. The warships slowly set sail, heading towards Jumada Island, where the Arlong Pirates were located.
...
"Our target this time is the village on Burnett Island. We will bring them under our rule and make our empire even stronger."
Arlong stood on the deck of the Shark Spab, shouting loudly.
Beside him stood Hachi, Chuu, and over a dozen other Fish-Men.
Hachi controlled the ship's wheel as the Pirate Ship slowly sailed into the distance.
At this moment, a massive figure appeared beside the Pirate Ship.
"Moo Moo, you go back. We don't need to fight at sea for this village attack. Stay here and protect our base."
Hachi looked at Moo Moo and waved his hand.
"Huh?"
Moo Moo tilted its head, then slowly submerged and returned to Arlong Park.
On the fifth level of Arlong Park, Nami looked into the distance and sighed.
The Arlong Pirates had set out again. She wondered which village would suffer this time.
Moreover, that Sea Fish had also disappeared. It had been two years since it killed Kuroobi.
But it was good that it didn't appear. With the giant Sea Beast Moo Moo from the Grand Line underwater, that Sea Fish probably wasn't its match, right?
She hoped it would never come here.
Nami thought, then withdrew her body and returned to the table to draw a sea chart.
...
The Arlong Pirates have set out?
In the sea not far from Arlong Park, Xia Qiu slowly surfaced and looked into the distance.
The massive Spab was sailing away.
"Follow them."
Xia Qiu aimed at the direction of the Spab and gave chase to the Sea Ship.
He had already decided to attack the Arlong Pirates this time.
It has been two years and two months since I killed Kuroobi, and Xia Qiu is ready to fight the Arlong Pirates.
During these two years, Xia Qiu grew from thirty-five meters long to forty-one meters long.
Twenty-three months to grow six meters, an average of one meter every four months, his growth rate has slowed down again.
Before, it took Xia Qiu eight months to grow from thirty-two meters to thirty-five meters, averaging one meter every two months.
And before that, he could even grow several meters a month.
His growth rate, along with his increasing size, was getting slower and slower.
There was also an advantage to this: without pursuing a huge size, a horizontal increase in strength would make him more powerful.
Xia Qiu's appearance hadn't changed much, but many changes had occurred on his body.
First, his dorsal fin became much larger, reaching four meters high with a scythe-like curve, and over three meters in vertical height. It was protected in the front by thick, hard spines, and such a large dorsal fin could smash small boats.
Even his second dorsal fin was two meters high.
Other fins, pectoral fins, pelvic fins, anal fins, and tail fin all became very large.
Secondly, the spikes on his body. On his back and rear abdominal area, four rows of small, triangular spikes, about twenty centimeters long, had grown.
Finally, his tentacles. Excluding the main tentacles, the others reached twelve meters in length and thirty centimeters in diameter. More importantly, where the suckers used to be, sharp claws had grown.
These claws were ten centimeters long and, combined with the constricting power of Xia Qiu's tentacles, could easily strangle enemies.
In addition, Xia Qiu had eaten two other pirate crews, further strengthening his body.
Before eating Kuroobi, he could defeat him. Now, having eaten Kuroobi, his strength had increased by a whole level.
With two more years of evolution and small-scale enhancements, Xia Qiu felt he could now fight Arlong.
Of course, Xia Qiu didn't plan to start the fight directly.
Arlong, plus Hachi, plus Chuu, and the numerous Fish-Men, he wasn't a match for them.
So Xia Qiu came up with an idea: he would sink fishing boats in the deep sea, forcing them into the water.
Fish-Men could breathe underwater, but they couldn't stay in the sea forever. They would try to reach nearby islands.
With their swimming abilities, reaching a nearby island wouldn't be a problem.
But he would wait until they had swum a certain distance and expended some energy before attacking them.
He could also harass them continuously in the sea, attacking them one by one.
So, he followed behind the Shark Spab, keeping a safe distance.
The Shark Spab moved further and further away from Jumada Island, out into the vast ocean, at least twenty nautical miles from Jumada Island.
And judging by their direction, there was an island in that direction, about eighty nautical miles from Jumada Island.
Around Jumada Island, if he changed course slightly, there was another island in a different direction that was closer to the pirate ship, but still at least thirty nautical miles away.
This was the result of Xia Qiu spending two years swimming around Jumada Island and thoroughly mapping out the nearby islands.
And now, this distance was just right.
It ensured that Arlong and the others would have to swim twenty to thirty nautical miles to reach any island.
Twenty nautical miles was as much as thirty-seven kilometers.
Even if they swam to Jumada Island, it would take at least an hour and consume a huge amount of energy.
During this process, he would harass them, prevent them from eating, and seize opportunities to kill them. Other sea fish might also attack them.
He would then engage them in a head-on battle when their stamina was significantly depleted.
This would increase his chances of winning.
With this thought, Xia Qiu looked at the massive Shark Spab, charged straight up from the seabed, and headed towards the pirate ship to ram it.
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