(Something's wrong.)
A fellow classmate, a boy who'd been reprimanded countless times by instructors for constantly loosening his Marine uniform, always complaining "It's hard to move in this thing."
(The fact that this guy is wearing his Marine uniform properly should've tipped me off that something was wrong.)
A classmate who, for once, had his uniform properly fastened.
In the midst of this battle, the fact that a man named Smoker had his appearance properly arranged, yet was covered in grime, struck Hina as odd.
(His movements are clearly sluggish.)
It didn't feel like hesitation, exactly.
At least, that's how it seemed to Hina.
Rather, it was more like—
(Is he anxious? About what?)
Judging that turning into smoke—his invincible ability—would instead expose openings, Smoker drew his jitte again and came at her, striking—no, slashing at her.
There was no hesitation whatsoever.
No mercy either.
Yet even so, his movements remained lackluster.
"Tell me, Smoker! You used to be rebellious enough to sabotage operations like this if you got assigned to them!"
"Shut up!"
What came back was a diagonal slash from the upper right.
But it was a wide swing.
With his center of gravity unstable, it was only fast.
Even if it connected, the thin Haki she'd just learned would be enough to block it.
(This is wrong. Is this really Smoker?)
Everything was different.
The Smoker she knew wasn't the kind of soldier who'd make these desperate, wild attacks over and over.
"Right now, Hina!"
As she dodged the diagonal slash, he immediately pulled back his jitte, set it at his hip, and thrust it forward with all his force.
"Tch!"
"We have to restore even a little order right now!"
She clicked her tongue quietly and twisted her body to evade, but then a fist came flying at her.
Still unbalanced, but even so, before the punch carrying his full weight could reach her, she twisted her body to dodge and tried to drive a counter punch into him, only to find his vital point guarded by the jitte.
(If I hit carelessly, I'll take damage. In that case—)
— Listen, Hina. If someone as light as you is going to fight primarily with kicks like me, don't try to force powerful strikes.
— Legs can deliver heavier blows than fists, but if you take a counterattack carelessly, you'll lose mobility and be driven into a corner in an instant.
She'd never forgotten a single day the words of the man who'd sent her tumbling to the ground so many times.
Even when she'd been buried in paperwork at the Holy Land—even when she should've been securing every second of sleep possible, he'd made excuses just to join her for simple stretches and conditioning. His advice.
— Against obviously weaker opponents, feints and surprises work. Against equal or stronger opponents, the moment you lose in a contest of strength, your legs take damage, and that can corner you in a flash.
— So until you gain more experience in offense and defense... yeah.
"Outside is hell! Everywhere has become hell! And the Marines are failing too! Even the Government can't stop the collapse!"
Though it was unfortunate for him as he finally started talking, instead of targeting the vital point protected by the jitte, she aimed for his wide-open shoulder—pushing it with her foot rather than kicking it, disrupting his balance.
— Until you're confident you can deliver a fatal blow to your opponent or respond to counterattacks and ambushes, focus on disrupting the opponent's momentum and center of gravity while mixing in feints.
— Add to that the ability to read the timing of offense and defense, and you can handle most enemies just with that.
Following Kuro's teachings to focus on disruption, the ideal distance opened up.
A distance where she could observe Smoker's movements to some degree, respond to them, and hold a conversation.
"Not because the World Government was a sham! Because it was a government in form only, lacking substance, they committed actions unbecoming of a government and now can't even rebuild after exposing such a pathetic state!"
"Even if it's rotten, it's still a government! Rather than letting everything rot and fall apart like this!"
"'Still better'?! Of all people, you're saying that?!"
Around them, the roar of Issho's ability-enhanced slashes echoed, and surrounding Marines were blown away.
(... Are those gunshot wounds?)
She noticed that many of the soldiers being blown away had various bullet wounds.
Not just one person.
Probably more than half of the soldiers who appeared to have accompanied Smoker.
(The soldiers accompanying him would have minimal rifle carriers due to supply issues, aside from pistols for emergencies. A small skirmish like this shouldn't cause this many injuries.)
From what she could see, the wounds had already been treated, but they weren't that old either.
Some still wore bandages and gauze.
In other words, they'd received simple treatment not long ago.
(They were hastily reorganized right after finishing combat. But taking that many gunshot wounds means the enemy had considerable military supplies... Even for a unit under an Admiral, during field training?)
A training unit would surely choose their opponents carefully.
From what Hina had heard, Smoker had only recently been promoted.
If the soldiers with gunshot wounds were those who'd accompanied him, it was all the more unnatural.
Despite being an Admiral, accompanying a training unit was supposed to serve as propaganda, as Kuro had said.
Why would it result in fighting armed forces to the point of this many casualties—
"Were they Marines?"
She voiced her hunch.
The effect was obvious.
"I don't know how it happened, but the ones you fought before coming here... were they?"
Smoker's face clearly stiffened.
Unnecessary force entered his hands gripping the jitte.
"Those scum... The moment they descended to the sea, everything started crumbling! Now the Government is frantically trying to pull those scum back, but information about the Celestial Dragons destroying member nations is still racing around the world!"
"Around the world? How could it spread in such a short time—"
"The World Economic Journal! Even remote backwaters already know about what happened!"
And then he pointed his jitte toward the flag that had just been planted.
"And that pirate's story is in there too! That cat flag made the situation even more complicated!"
The three-clawed flag just planted on this Fishman Island.
A declaration of war against poverty, hunger, and the ignorance of others.
A flag pledging to continue facing the filth of hearts that brings conflict to these seas.
"Even knowing about Kuro! About the 'Black Cat,' you'd still participate in this ridiculous fishman hunt?!"
"Individual power can't stop anything! Individual will can't change anything!"
Having caught his breath, Smoker used his ability at his feet to close the distance all at once.
The jitte swinging down—a strike with no strategy whatsoever. She stopped it with her Haki-infused leg and glared at Smoker once more.
"Even if the 'Black Cat' rises up, just one pirate crew rampaging around won't change the world!"
"So you'd ignore the mounting casualties..."
"Stabilize the situation, push those bastards back into the Holy Land, and if we keep them from coming out, the world will calm down!"
"There will still be casualties!"
"Better than them continuing to increase!"
She deflected the jitte as more weight was added to it, aiming for his jaw with her clenched fist rather than her foot, but he dodged.
It was just a feint anyway, so she didn't worry, grabbing the wrist opposite his jitte hand and yanking it hard to break his balance, then driving her knee into his solar plexus.
This time the kick landed in a good spot with good momentum, and even Smoker gagged heavily.
She briefly hesitated whether to press the advantage, but judging his weapon's reach dangerous, she swept Smoker's legs, sending him tumbling to the ground, steadily inflicting small but certain damage.
Captain Kuro's signature technique, which she'd tasted painfully with her own body so many times.
(I really never thought I'd hear those words from you!)
Before field training in West Blue, she might have said such words herself—but the man she'd thought would never say them, absolutely never, was saying them now.
In the eyes of that man—in the eyes of the Marines being easily pushed back by their side's less-trained soldiers—she recognized something familiar.
The same look she and her comrades had when they'd heard that Celestial Dragons had effectively destroyed the member nation of Superior.
She didn't know what had happened.
Field training wouldn't suddenly order them to fight yesterday's allies.
Which meant most likely, the Marines had split right before their eyes.
For such a situation to occur, something unspeakably horrific must have happened.
(His heart is on the verge of breaking.)
She didn't know what kind of scene it had been.
But—
Surely, he'd seen something utterly filthy.
Surely, he'd seen something utterly terrible.
Surely, he'd seen something utterly cruel.
"Even if you push the Celestial Dragons back into the Holy Land, if they don't recognize their mistakes as mistakes, it'll just repeat! I don't know how much the Economic Journal exposed, but if you were at Headquarters, you know about the Marine slave incident, don't you?!"
She'd struck a nerve.
His already poor complexion turned even paler.
"The clock can't be turned back! It shouldn't be turned back!"
"So you want to use the collapse of order to start a revolution?! There are already casualties in numbers you'd want to look away from!"
"And the ones creating those casualties are the Celestial Dragons sitting atop that Government! They've been creating casualties all along!"
"But there was order! Clearly less blood was flowing than now! Do you know how many countries have fallen in just these seven days?!"
"The 'now' we're in is because we kept pretending sacrifices were natural, kept looking away and covering it up!"
The more words they exchanged, the more the former image of the man before her crumbled.
Literally rolling across the ocean floor, his Marine uniform still covered in dirt and dust, Smoker leaped up and raised his jitte.
"Even if Shiki pulled the trigger, it's obvious that leaving the Celestial Dragons who thoroughly look down on the world as they are will just make this repeat! No, it might even be worse than this..."
"We'll capture those trying to overturn things! Those who could become sparks for chaos too! That way, once we push them back to the Holy Land and keep them from coming out—"
"That's why!"
This time she initiated.
It wasn't from strategy or planning.
Unconsciously, she'd unleashed a Haki-infused kick toward her fellow classmate.
"That won't mean anything! A sham will be a sham no matter how far it goes! You felt it yourself that they have no intention of protecting the people, didn't you?!"
"Even so!"
The jitte and kick clashed again, sparks flying.
Gradually strengthening Haki, increasing in hardness, the weight of her kick's single blow was beginning to surpass that of the jitte.
Yet even so, the jitte that had been wielded under Absolute Justice held firm.
"There are people who rely on that sham to live!"
Even knowing they were cheap words, the jitte of the man who'd carried them regardless, though well-worn, hadn't yet bent completely.
"There are people who have to cling to that sham to survive! Even when they vaguely know they could be abandoned at any moment!"
"That's..."
"They're people we've carried up until now! People we believed we'd carry from now on!"
The jitte's horizontal sweep, still unbalanced but faster.
She pulled strength from her knees and leaned her upper body back, dodging by a hair's breadth, but this time her own center of gravity shifted.
Instantly, Hina put force into her legs and jumped, but brought her upper body close to the ground, supporting herself with both hands instead of her feet, spinning once and launching a roundhouse kick at Smoker's neck.
Smoker anticipated it and quickly jumped backward to evade.
(I knew it, but... from the start I haven't felt any killing intent or fighting spirit from Smoker at all!)
"That flag on your back! Yeah, it's probably right!"
The man with his foul mouth and foul attitude, but whose sense of justice was genuine, looked at the flag standing behind her with an indescribable expression.
Not hostility.
Not hatred either.
She searched her mind for the closest word and immediately arrived at it.
Fear.
A Marine was afraid of that mere pirate flag.
As if it were something that shouldn't be touched—shouldn't even be looked at.
"But that righteousness spreads conflict, spreads war! Those who want to fight can fight and die! I intend to do the same! But you know!"
"The first to be sacrificed aren't soldiers! Not those holding weapons!"
"No matter what, the first sacrifices are always those who can't even choose what to cling to!"
Smoker's uncharacteristic yet not incorrect cry echoed.
"So you're saying all the fishmen should now become sacrifices for this sham peace! Can you really say that?!"
"If we don't control the situation first, we can't do anything! Corpses will just pile up meaninglessly! You haven't seen it yet! Towns emptied by thorough plundering that no pirate has ever done before! Villages stripped of everything but corpses!"
Attacks driven purely by momentum were dangerous precisely because of that.
While maintaining her guard, measuring the distance and predicting the next attack, Smoker's cries continued.
"Can the man flying that flag you're protecting govern the world before the Marines?! Maybe just West Blue, but can he minimize damage in other seas?!"
"Because it's impossible, so it's right to offer sacrifices to appease the great gods?!"
That was—no good.
The nightmare treatment of slaves that Amis and Capone Bege had told her about in West Blue couldn't be allowed to repeat.
The tragedy of Marines who'd somehow survived but had everything else trampled and returned as empty shells couldn't be allowed to happen again.
If they continued allowing this to repeat—if they permitted its repetition, the world would truly steer toward continuing to offer sacrifices.
She was certain of it.
In fact, right now, that rebellious man was reluctantly calling sacrifices unavoidable, which showed how much the sense of suffocation had intensified throughout the world.
Despair was painting over the world into one that tolerated sacrifices for the sake of meager peace.
Those trying to restore order where they could, or those trying to start from zero to shake off despair—
(No good. No matter what I hear, no matter what I say!)
She was convinced that she and her former classmate would only run parallel no matter how far they went.
Perhaps—she was trying to make that decision for herself.
But still,
They could only clash now.
They could only defeat each other now.
If they didn't hold this position, the difficulty of the fishmen that Kuro and the others would rescue escaping safely would drastically increase.
"Hinaaaa!"
"Smoker!"
She sent Haki running through her leg again.
She hadn't decided on a particular target.
The only thing she'd decided was to land her maximum current power with certainty.
At the very least, she focused all her consciousness on the jitte whose trembling had disappeared, and on both hands gripping it.
(The hesitation is gone, but he's putting in too much force! The target is—his dominant hand!)
— BOOM!
A roar like exploding air rang out before her.
Though Smoker had activated his ability at full power to obscure her aim and block her vision, for some reason she could see his presence.
That's why she wasn't surprised that her kick was perfectly blocked.
— Please stop...
She was only slightly surprised by why that person had jumped in here.
"Please, stop this! Miss Hina!"
Her kick had been stopped by just an empty white scabbard.
And the drawn blade, its hilt, was thrust into the man beyond—into Smoker's solar plexus.
"I cannot see what expressions you two were wearing as you fought, but..."
Perhaps the blow to Smoker had been enhanced by his ability.
Between the weight of the single strike and perhaps physical and mental fatigue, Smoker collapsed. Supporting him while easily blocking her kick, the man—Issho—spoke with a twisted expression.
The blind man who didn't call himself a pirate, yet hoped to accompany the pirate Kuro.
He wasn't looking at her or Smoker, just appearing utterly sad.
"Fighting while emanating such painful auras... whichever side wins will only leave resentment behind."
The surrounding Marines had been mostly scattered.
Soldiers maintaining coordination as a unit were now extremely few.
Even those few soldiers were being taken down by Wired and other soldiers, or rendered unable to act.
"I'll take this battle upon myself."
The battle to secure the escape route was nearly decided.
From the rear, many fishman soldiers were already pushing up the front line, with some surging toward the formation positioned to protect the Government ships.
The moment she confirmed that, strength drained from her body like air from a punctured balloon, and she sat down on a nearby rock—no, calcified coral.
"Is that acceptable?"
"Yes... Issho, I'm sorry. ...Thank you."
"...No need."
The battle would soon have its answer.
First, the rescue of the fishmen.
Then, while covering the retreat to the safe zone, they'd reestablish their formation to hold back enemy units that would move to retake.
There was still work to be done.
"...Hey, Smoker."
"What happened where you went?"
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇
— You guys, you're safe?! Anyone injured?
— Mr. Arlong?! Even Mr. Jinbei came!
(Good, good. Looks like the first rescue is going smoothly.)
From inside the ship they'd first seized, Arlong's voice and the fishmen's voices could be heard.
All the humans inside had been kicked unconscious and were scattered about.
Currently, fishmen with free hands were throwing them somewhere that wouldn't obstruct the escape.
(The Marines are being handled pretty roughly, but... well, I suppose it can't be helped.)
Apparently the main forces had been deployed outside the ship, so once they'd broken through, the rest was easy.
Thanks to that, there was no need to devise various measures to minimize harm to abducted civilians during the rescue. Simple force from me and Arlong's group was enough.
As a precaution, I'm keeping watch outside from the deck, but fewer forces are coming toward us than anticipated.
Instead, they're reinforcing the defenses around the ship we're targeting next.
(Not bad, but it'll be troublesome when attacking the next ship. Since we can't assault simultaneously, I was prepared for it, but...)
Three ships total need to be captured.
One is now under control. A group of fishmen is already approaching the distant ship.
Judging by how the Marines' formation has crumbled, there should already be fishmen who've broken inside.
(Let me organize the situation.)
Our objective is to reset the situation.
Well, to be precise, there's nothing else we can do.
Among that, the critical objective we must absolutely achieve is the complete recapture of abducted civilians.
With the possibility of dialogue having completely collapsed, we want to eliminate at least the biggest concern for sure.
Above all, if we can rescue the hostages while holding Celestial Dragons, that would be a tremendous advantage for future maneuvering.
Second priority is applying pressure to the remaining Celestial Dragons on the Marine side and further promoting war-weariness.
Ideally, I'd like them to tuck tail and flee to sea once—
(But as expected of Celestial Dragons, I suppose... Even with the battle line this close, they show no sign of moving.)
Fortunately or unfortunately, there were no Celestial Dragons on this ship we captured first.
Most likely, they're gathered on the middle ship of the three lined up horizontally.
The Marines' movements make sense if that's the case.
Rather than the fishman kidnapping they're not enthusiastic about, they're concentrating forces on protecting the Celestial Dragons they don't want moving any further.
Tactically correct.
That's exactly why the battle situation became troublesome.
Looking at those currently escaping, there are many fishmen but few mermaids. Obviously too few.
Those bastards, they probably gathered their favorites on the ship they're riding on.
(... How to attack the last ship is the problem.)
Breaking through the defenses won't be difficult.
There are some moderately strong presences, but nothing remotely matching Mihawk, let alone Daz, Sonia, or Mary.
Of course, there's a possibility that someone skilled in stealth is lurking, but even so, they probably don't have the numbers.
(The best scenario would be if the Celestial Dragons get scared and scatter after we let the fishmen escape...)
That way it'd be easy to make the Celestial Dragons left on our side feel "abandoned," and if we reset the situation once, there might still be a possibility of political resolution.
(But just restarting negotiations, the Government's credibility has fallen to rock bottom, and the Celestial Dragons have become incomprehensible entities. To do it, we absolutely need to involve the Marines and a third party.)
Otherwise, the fishmen who are the greatest victims this time won't accept it.
And normally the 'Black Cat' would be involved for exactly these situations, but since the Government seems to be abnormally hostile toward us, we're useless.
(... This is bad. The only trustworthy third parties are pirates. Not only member nations on the Government side, but emerging powers that broke away are also unknown entities and can't be counted as political forces.)
Who is the most trustworthy human involved with Fishman Island?
The fact that the first answer to that question is the pirate 'Whitebeard' is already problematic in various ways.
(But from Whitebeard's perspective, the Government and Marines that pulled this insulting stunt and crushed his reputation are now targets for retaliation. No matter how this battle flows, a war between the Marines and Whitebeard will definitely happen soon.)
If negotiations are impossible and the Government chooses to continue fighting the fishmen—there are two paths.
(Temporarily abandon Fishman Island and fight a retreat to buy time for residents to escape. Or—a defensive battle until Whitebeard's forces arrive. Ugh...)
Either way, it'll be a grueling fight.
Just thinking about a defensive battle with limited supplies and difficult resupply makes my stomach turn.
My already aching stomach will be torn off. Definitely.
(First, we need to succeed in this rescue operation and earn at least some trust from the fishman forces. Otherwise, we won't last.)
If a defensive battle occurs after this fight, there are limits to what we can manage with this half-baked operation like now.
We need to accumulate small victories, fighting against numerous factors that lower morale while maintaining the unit and ensuring continued control, or we'll be crushed in an instant.
Right now the enemy camp is in shambles, but the more cornered they are, the more organized they'll become.
Then our inferior numbers will immediately disadvantage us.
To counter that, first, people need to believe in me, even just a little, or it won't work.
If we stay relying on Arlong like now, something terrible will definitely happen at the worst possible moment, and it'll become irreversible. I know this.
(Well... we have Issho on our side, and I just felt Haki mixed with Hina's scent earlier, so we should manage strength-wise.)
Hina's group must have successfully secured the relay point.
Thanks to that, the fishman forces also have a clearer destination and their movements—no, their flow improved far beyond expectations.
"Kuro! We've rescued all the brethren who were in cages. We checked every room, the warehouses, and even the ballast—just the Marines you knocked unconscious!"
While observing the battle situation, Arlong violently kicked open the door to the deck and joined up.
Behind him, with Jinbei leading, literally masses of fishmen and mermaids were running out.
"Thanks, Arlong. Fishmen group, please carry the mermaids. Jinbei, lead the escape."
Moving carelessly would just cause unnecessary injuries.
Our supplies are tight—the more injured we have, naturally the faster we consume resources.
Retreating calmly but swiftly is surprisingly difficult, but that's exactly why it's important.
(Now, the fishman forces are—)
At the location where the three-clawed flag marking the relay point was planted, fishmen—probably arranged by Wired—were constructing a defensive position.
A position made of simple fences and crude walls built from carts packed with dirt, but it's surprisingly effective.
The fences constructed by the physically superior fishmen have fairly sturdy lumber driven deep and fixed, from what I can see at a glance.
That would be difficult to destroy, and attacks from rifles and such would be blocked by the improvised sandbags.
Marines trying to approach and somehow breach it are—
(Well, with fishman power, even without learning Fishman Karate, just throwing whatever's around at full force is a threat.)
They were being taken down one after another by simple stone throwing from the fishmen holed up inside.
Ordinary stones slightly smaller than fists grazing temples knocked out average soldiers, and those unlucky enough to take direct hits spun half a rotation in the air before being slammed into the ground.
(Mm, the defensive position is functioning without problems. With Jinbei leading, there won't be friendly fire either.)
Even so, Issho or Hina will handle anyone who approaches.
Now for the fishman for... ces... approaching past the relay point...
Wha... wait, huh?!
Hold on! That's bad!