49 The Marines arrive
Shun and Toma began to move deeper into the forest together with Po. Shun carried the gyojin's corpse and purposely left a visible trail of blood. Po carried Toma on his back.
"Let's wait a bit here" Shun said stopping. They had already walked a good distance and he wanted to observe if any gyojin were following them.
Minutes passed and they heard nothing, "Stay here, I'll come back to see if there is anyone" said Shun as he retraced his steps.
When he arrived at where they camped the night before, he could notice thanks to his haki observation, several presences behind the trees.
'They have arrived... and it seems that they want to find us at any cost' thought Shun who was behind a tree. He sensed 15 presences about 20 meters away from him. As he knew they would find the trail they had left, he quickly returned with Toma and Po.
As he only saw the auras, he couldn't tell if Arlong or any other officer was among these 15 gyojins.
"They are coming, let's keep moving," said Shun to Toma.
Thus began a sort of game between a cat and mouse, only Shun did it on purpose, and the gyojins no matter how far they went never managed to find them. At one point the gyojins began to split into groups of two to cover a larger area.
Thanks to his observation haki, Shun was able to make the best decision to avoid being surrounded and trapped.
"Have the Marines arrived yet? It's been almost two hours" said Toma who thanks to Po was not tired at all.
"I don't know, most likely when they arrive, the gyojins will retreat to give support in the battle that will take place in Arlong Park" commented Shun.
"At that time we will attack them?" asked Toma.
"Yes, that way we will help the Marines and give them a better chance to beat Arlong" replied Shun.
Shun couldn't let Catalina die, since, if she does, where will he get his information? So he wanted to give her a hand.
...
Arlong Park.
Outside the building were Arlong, along with his subordinates seated at the large table. In front of them was a group of marines, in the center of the marines was Nezumi who had a sly smile as she looked at Arlong.
"Well, Arlong you must already know why I'm here" said Nezumi who didn't want to stay long in a pirate's base. Nezumi's subordinates were very nervous and clenched their weapons tightly.
"When it comes to money you sure are quick to show up here" said Arlong with some disdain.
"Kuroobi go get the money for this human" he added without much patience.
Kuroobi with unfriendly faces while looking at Nezumi, started walking towards the building.
"By the way... I see fewer people than usual, did something happen?" asked Nezumi since he had to wait anyway.
"None of your business" replied Arlong as he looked at a den den mushi. A few hours ago he sent his subordinates and they still didn't find anyone.
...
Near the Conomi Islands, two ships with navy flags could be seen heading at a good speed to the islands.
"Almost there!" shouted Catalina who was now wearing the uniform of a normal marine, although she usually did secretarial and clerical work, she had done like all Marines military training.
The marines shouted trying to gain courage for the battle ahead, many were nervous and their foreheads were sweating. They knew that in this battle they might die as they were facing the most fearsome pirate gang in the East Blue.
"Don't be afraid now! With our numbers our chances of winning are good" said Catalina who noticed the morale of the Marines.
On the ship she was on, about 40 marines were counting her. And on the other ship, there were about 80 marines. Giving several 120 marines, to defeat 80 gyojins.
She could not get the support of all the marines in her base, as many were afraid of Arlong and disobeying Nezumi. As for the other ship, it's another division where the captain is an old acquaintance of Catalina and hates guys like Nezumi, so he decided to help.
'Nezumi took only 4 soldiers with him' thought Catalina.
If Nezumi and his subordinates join Arlong it won't make much difference, so it's not something Catalina is worried about. The strongest and most problematic will be Arlong and his two officers.
For this she prepared a large amount of artillery, she did not care that she did not have access to the captain and took out rifles, grenades everything to defeat Arlong. Besides, the captain of the division who decided to help her has greater strength than a normal soldier.
'If those two guys help us, it will also increase our chances of victory, I hope they are not too wounded after defeating Chew' thought Catalina remembering Shun and Toma.
Shun hadn't told her the details of how he defeated Chew and the other two gyojins.
She thought that between him and Toma they had a great battle to manage to defeat Chew and his two subordinates.
Finally, both marine ships arrived at the Conomi Islands. They did so in an area farther away from Arlong Park so as not to be seen.
"Come on everyone, we have several minutes walk to Villa Cocoyasi" said Catalina as she got off the ship. All the Marines with their weapons began to quickly get off the ship.
"Captain Pascal, thank you for helping us in this operation despite the danger" said Catalina approaching a man about her age.
"It's okay, it's what a good Marine should do. Besides, I can't refuse when a beautiful woman is in trouble" said Captain Pascal with a confident smile.
"Yes... thank you" said Catalina a little uncomfortable.
"Everyone let's defeat those dirty fish pirates and put them behind bars!" exclaimed Pascal to his subordinates who cheered in motivation.
The entire marine group led by Pascal and Catalina started marching in the direction of Villa Cocoyasi. After almost an hour of walking where the tension could be seen in the faces of the soldiers, Catalina could see the entrance to a village in the distance.
Catalina stopped and motioned with her hand for all the Marines to stop.
"Arlong Park is located on the coast, east of Cocoyasi Village, we should make a surprise attack, but first we must make sure there are no fish men in the village" said Catalina.
"That's right. Hey you go make a quick inspection come back in 10 minutes" ordered Pascal to a subordinate of his.
The marine nodded and quickly went into town, he went very carefully as if there was a fish man it would be the end of his surprise attack. As far as Catalina knows the gyojins are not about leaving Arlong Park and usually do so on paydays, but they can't be trusted.
Arriving at the town the marine noticed that it was deserted, something that made him strange. As he stealthily wandered between the houses a door opened and a hand pulled him inside the house.
"What are you doing outside right now? Didn't you hear the orders Arlong gave in the morning?" asked a man with a mustache as he closed the door and let go of the marine. It was Genzo.
"Wait, that's a marine" exclaimed Nojiko in surprise.
"What's a marine doing here?" asked Genzo surprised and more cautiously, he had thought he was a villager hanging around the village and that's why he wanted to help him.
"Why did you grab me out of nowhere like that?" said the marine somewhat annoyed as he got up from the ground, he had gotten a big scare and almost fired his gun.
"Today Arlong gave a curfew, the villager who is wandering around, will be punished" replied Genzo.
"Punished by who? There was no gyojin in the village that is under vigilance" said the marine without understanding.
"Last time I looked out the window I was walking through town, but maybe something came up" Genzo said without knowing for sure.
'Shit... if the gyojin had seen me he would have been screwed' thought the marine with sweat on his forehead. He knew he couldn't defeat a gyojin that had 10 times the strength of a human.
"What's a marine doing here?" asked Nojiko with a frown, she knew they had never done anything in two years so she didn't have any faith in them.
The marine quickly explained to them everything that was going on and the impending battle.
"What seriously!? They'll finally do something!" said Nojiko excitedly and with a smile.
"Are you sure you can beat Arlong?" asked Genzo who although happy about this, was still realistic.
"We are 120 marines. We outnumber them, and Captain Pascal will take care of Arlong" replied the confident marine.
"That's good... I'll fight too! If you give me some time, I can get the villagers to join you too, that way the chances of winning will increase" said Genzo, he knew this was the best chance to get rid of Arlong.
"I must inform Captain Pascal, he will make the final decision, although I don't think he will reject your request" said the Marine as the more people joining them the better.
"Go and tell him, before the gyojin returns. If he says yes, they will have to eliminate this fish man, otherwise I won't be able to warn the others" said Genzo.
The marine nodded, looked out the window, and noticed no one, so he quickly left the house returning with his group.
"What took you so long?" asked Pascal, it had been 10 minutes and he was about to go looking for him thinking something had happened to him.
The marine quickly told him about Genzo and more villagers from Cocoyasi Village wanting to join them in the battle against the Arlong Pirates, also that there is a gyojin guarding the village, so they will have to get rid of him.
"We can't involve the villagers in this fight, they have already suffered too much" said Catalina in disagreement, she knew it would be too dangerous for the villagers.
"I agree with you, but the more of us there are the more chances we will have to put an end to Arlong and his reign of terror. We will eliminate the gyojin, and then the villagers will join us" Pascal said as he headed into town with his troops.
Catalina frowned, but she had no choice but to follow him, since he had more soldiers, "Let's go" said Catalina as she started walking and the marines behind her, followed her.
