Uchiha's personal opinion

The young officers who had advocated tearing down the roof to open a window, having achieved their goal, became less aggressive and softened their tone, but their demands remained unchanged.

"Ugh……"

Lieutenant General Garp couldn't help but sigh and rub his forehead.

In fact, both the demands of the Warring States generals and the requests of the younger generation of officers are correct from different perspectives.

After all, Loguetown is the 'town of beginning and end', guarding the sea route from the East Blue to the Grand Line. Faced with the pirate uprising that was raging like wildfire, it was reasonable to either hold the line or take the initiative to attack.

"Let's execute a steady clearing tactic, but we can't split the fleet up and send it out. We can only move on to the next operation after clearing out one area..."

After much hesitation, Vice Admiral Garp decided to try to find a balance between the demands of Admiral Sengoku and his subordinates and simply try to appease them.

After all, he was a strongman known for his fierceness and justice, and his passion had not yet cooled down. It would be against his sense of justice to sit idly by and watch pirates run rampant!

The young officers exchanged glances, but in the end, no one spoke up to continue stirring things up.

……

Although the fleet and ninja forces that went into battle were not as large as the First Army, the vanguard fleet led by Uchiha Shiina also achieved good results.

Especially after the Kirigakure Pirates, under the command of Juzo Biwa, began their rampage of burning, killing, and looting, even breaking through several small naval outposts, the vanguard fleet took advantage of the chaos to launch a 'nation-destroying offensive,' capturing the capitals of several member states in succession. After looting all the treasures in their treasuries, they distributed all the food and Berries from the granaries to the civilians free of charge.

Although the common people were initially afraid of the legendary brutal and bloodthirsty 'Mist Pirates', many of the penniless commoners still went to collect supplies under the lure of profit. After they were able to return with their loot, the common people were completely immersed in the fanatical pursuit of the righteous thieves!

"Our goal is to liberate all oppressed civilians!"

Although the warship still flew the banner of the Hidden Mist Pirates, the Marine ninjas no longer concealed their attire. Instead, they wore their fan-shaped headbands with dignity, their ninja vests neatly draped, and patiently distributed food and small amounts of Berries to the civilians. The reason for distributing these banknotes was that they had captured too many Berries, and the sealing scrolls carried by the warship were all used to store chakra cannonballs, leaving no space to store these worthless trinkets.

But for ordinary people, this is practically a saint!

The common people, especially those living in countries ruled by tyrants, wept uncontrollably, clutching tightly the substantial but worthless supplies as if they were holding onto the hope of survival.

Of course, for ordinary civilians, the supplies distributed by the Navy ninjas could indeed allow them to live a decent life for a short period of time.

"We oppose the exorbitant taxes and levies imposed by all feudal nobles, and we oppose the brutality and tyranny of the Celestial Dragons!"

Under Uchiha Shiina's instructions, the Marine ninjas spread the 'idea' of this operation everywhere: "We are here so that more people can live well!"

"Those who only make it harder for more people to survive while they are alive are destined to be hung from lampposts and sway in the wind!"

"After we leave, they will build you houses, distribute land to you, and raise your wages; but not because they have a change of heart, nor because they have become good people, but because we were here!"

"We are like a prairie fire, and wherever we go, we will burn away all injustice!"

Amidst cheers from the crowd, the naval ninjas beheaded or hanged rows of nobles, officials, bandits, and pirates!

And this scene was repeated repeatedly wherever the advance fleet went!

This made the member states, who were already struggling to cope with the constant harassment from various real and fake Kirigakure pirate crews, even more restless!

Even the raids by the true Kirigakure Pirates did not pose much of a threat to the king and nobles, since their capital was the safest place in the kingdom, and the raids were mostly carried out in coastal port towns.

But as the vanguard fleet launched attacks in all directions, a sudden raging fire began to spread across the East China Sea.

Now, the kingdoms are not only facing attacks from pirates, but even their inland towns are beginning to show signs of instability, with a strong indication of following the example of the 'occupied territories' and rising up to slaughter nobles—after all, the communication function of Den Den Mushi is too convenient, and after learning about everything that has happened in the kingdoms occupied by the rebels, the common people are no longer willing to be peaceful starving corpses!

Vice Admiral Garp, who was originally focused on carrying out the Buster Call to gradually eliminate pirates, could no longer sit still after learning about these major riots targeting the nobles!

He knew that the more conservative but safe gradual elimination tactic could no longer be used!

As expected, an hour after Vice Admiral Garp received the intelligence analysis on the situation in the East Blue, an order from the Holy Land of Mary Geoise forced him to change tactics and begin assembling the Navy fleet to prepare to sail to the area where pirates were most rampant for a cleanup operation!

Although the Warring States general was quite dissatisfied with the Holy Land's overstepping of authority, he was helpless—because it was the unanimous request of all the surviving member states of the East Blue!

Moreover, as a navy that upholds justice, it is indeed impossible to sit idly by in the face of such violent turmoil. Therefore, he could only instruct Vice Admiral Garp to act cautiously, and then let Vice Admiral Garp do as he pleased.

……

As for Pipa Juzo, who was caught up in a frenzy of killing and unable to extricate himself, he found it increasingly difficult to control his emotions.

After capturing three naval bases in succession, Biwa Juzo and his Kirigakure ninja, who had once again become arrogant from the killing, completely let loose. They abandoned their initial mission of creating chaos to force the World Government to recognize their status and prepared to confront the oncoming Buster Call fleet head-on!

Of course, no matter how arrogant the ninja Juzo Biwa was, he wouldn't be foolish enough to directly confront the government navy in a boarding and close-quarters battle. So he only brought six more mobile ironclad ships to fight, while the motorboats retreated to the more hidden ocean.

"We are Kirigakure!"

"The Great Mistman, born to be the king of the sea!"

Standing atop the flagship's command tower, Juzo Biwa roared his battle declaration with all his might: "Kigakure, who will not flinch even when facing a formidable foe!"

"Blood mist! Bloodbath!"

The Hidden Mist ninjas, whose minds had long been clouded by slaughter, let out terrifying howls at the urging of Juzo Biwa!

Although the Fukasaku Sento who went into battle with the ship was somewhat uneasy, it also knew that there was no way to retreat in the face of such a situation!

After all, among the "chaotic forces" flying the banner of the "Hidden Mist Pirates" in the rear, the Uchiha Dynasty fleet had already been spotted!

Therefore, if Kirigakure and the remnants of Mount Myōboku do not want to flee to other seas, they have no choice but to fight the oncoming Buster Call fleet.

"Hard to port!"

When the naval fleet began to appear on the horizon, under the personal command of Juzo Biwa, the Kirigakure fleet immediately changed course, forming a battle line and aiming its heavy cannons at the enemy ships.

Pipa Juzo planned to use a piecemeal approach, relying on the firepower and speed advantage of his own warships to sink the massive naval fleet one by one!

"This ocean is destined to burn!"

……

"This is nothing like the kind of warship that mere pirates would possess!"

On the first warship of the naval fleet, Vice Admiral Garp, with a solemn expression, was also observing the Mist Shadow Fleet blocking his way.

Although he only had six warships, he still dared not be careless.

After summarizing the experiences and lessons learned from numerous naval defeats, Vice Admiral Garp also developed a special set of tactics, intending to test them against the fleet in front of him.

"Hopefully, the deep battle strategy will be effective..."

A royal officer standing behind him muttered something, looking somewhat uneasy.

In addition to the massive naval fleet that was directly confronting them, Vice Admiral Garp also transferred a portion of the elite naval forces that were carrying out the Buster Call to conduct a large-scale flanking maneuver towards the pre-determined battle area under 'absolute secrecy'. The purpose was to shrink the area of ​​operation of the highly mobile Kirigakure Pirates and seize the opportunity to board them for close combat!

Of course, although some naval officers privately described this move as a "death charge," no one objected to the tactic, since they couldn't think of a better strategy.

In order to make the fleet facing the enemy appear more imposing and to prevent the Kirigakure Pirates from thinking that the Navy fleet had been divided, Vice Admiral Garp even mobilized all the Navy branch warships and affiliated kingdom ships in the controlled area to assemble an 'invincible fleet'.

"Their tactic should be to sink or set our wooden warships ablaze through long-range artillery bombardment, while simultaneously using their superior maneuverability to outflank and continuously unleash firepower..."

A rear admiral patted the wooden railing in front of him and said, "Moreover, although we can intercept shells, I'm afraid we can't..."

"They're just some iron coffins floating on the sea!"

Lieutenant General Garp snorted coldly, interrupting the Major General: "Once we get into close combat, they're no match for us!"

Even Vice Admiral Garp rarely encountered the Kirigakure Pirates' fighting style.

After all, both the navy and pirates tend to use bombardment as a means of harassment, and the way to decide the outcome of a battle has always been the duel between the strongest of the two sides!

"This ocean is destined to become a sea of ​​burning steel!"

Chapter 507 The Mobile Torch at Sea

As Orochimaru led twenty cruisers upstream to Uchiha Lunbu's pre-arranged ambush area, the puppet government's naval reinforcement fleet had already arrived at Enies Lobby and, after a brief resupply, began the second leg of its voyage.

Meanwhile, the Wolf-class submarines under Uchiha Rumbu's command were silently tailing and tracking the puppet government's naval fleet, constantly sending it location information so that the ambush fleet could adjust its combat deployment in a timely manner.

"In accordance with His Majesty's will and Hanzo's command, the upcoming sniping operation is planned to focus on causing damage, concentrating on destroying enemy warships, and avoiding the loss of our own warships in the name of inflicting casualties!"

Orochimaru made a subtle 'modification' to Hanzo's tactical arrangements without changing his expression, which Uchiha Rumbu, who was not very aware of, believed without a doubt.

"In that case, it's actually a good thing..."

Uchiha Lunbu largely agreed: "According to intelligence reports from the Sabaody Archipelago ninjas, the hundreds of warships under the command of this reinforcement fleet represent the entire main force of the Marine Headquarters. However, most of the Marine's true elite forces are stationed in the New World, maintaining a standoff with those super-large pirate crews... If we were to completely engulf this fleet in one fell swoop, they would probably have to spare no effort to mobilize their elite Marines for a siege."

"A protracted war is more advantageous to us..."

Orochimaru nodded in agreement, saying, "As time goes by, we will only grow stronger day by day, so the day of the world's final battle will not come anytime soon."

"When the reinforcement fleet thought it had finally broken through the heavy sniping and reached the end of the road, Impel Down had become a huge sea prison!"

Uchiha Lunbu viciously pinned the kunai in his hand to the ambush position on the crude sea chart!

……

Admiral Kuzan, who rarely leads his fleet into battle, stood atop the mast of the fleet's first warship, gazing at the calm expanse ahead.

Rather than staying at Marine Headquarters and shouldering trivial tasks such as 'protecting the Celestial Dragons,' he preferred to command a massive fleet that roamed the seas.

However, this mission is not simple.

Although he was rather lazy, as an admiral he naturally possessed extraordinary logical reasoning abilities. Therefore, based on the recent battle reports—especially the pirate encirclement and suppression situation in the East Blue—it could be seen that this mysterious force calling itself the 'Hidden Mist Pirates' was not simple.

After all, even the super pirates of the New World are not capable of defeating a naval fleet with firepower. The most puzzling thing is that such a force suddenly appeared in Paradise, where the World Government has the strongest control and the pirate world is the weakest!

Moreover, the repeated defeats of the naval fleet are no longer a matter of individual combat strength, but represent a comprehensive systemic gap in tactics and equipment.

To put it more bluntly, the navy has fallen behind!

Lagging behind this mysterious force that is besieging Impel Down!

Therefore, Kuzan, as a general, was very frustrated.

Although his stance was not particularly aligned with the 'shipbuilding faction' at the Navy Headquarters, who had certain interests with the Seven Waters, he understood that the main warships he was currently commanding were powerless against the mysterious ironclad fleet.

"Therefore, the navy needs to change..."

Just then, as the naval fleet continued to advance, a row of warships appeared on the sea surface to the left and ahead!

"This is……"

Kuzan's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately took out his binoculars to observe the twelve ironclad ships in front of him.

"The Hidden Mist Pirates have appeared! All forces, prepare for battle!"

At the same time, commands rang out from the naval fleet. The marines, whose minds were already on edge, quickly returned to their battle positions under the urging of their officers, and their eyes were all turned to Admiral Kuzan, who stood at the highest point of the fleet.

Admiral Kuzan remained silent, continuing to observe the distant armored fleet, leaving his officers to their own devices.

In his field of vision, the newly emerged ironclad fleet changed course in unison, transforming its parallel formation into a straight line, and as it continued to sail, it lay directly in front of the naval fleet!

"Long-range concentrated fire tactics, huh..."

General Kuzan snorted coldly: "Full speed ahead! All officers and soldiers, advance to intercept the shells!"