Arlong had never seen a weapon like this before. This, too, was the result of the world's tech tree: they could build sophisticated submarines, yet wooden sailing ships were still the mainstream.
On the Grand Line, some people could manufacture precise heavy machine guns, but what was widely used were still repeating flintlock guns. In the Four Seas, single-shot flintlock pistols were still the norm. Many people would go their entire lives without ever seeing a revolver.
"This is a torpedo, a weapon specially prepared according to the characteristics of the Fish-Men race."
Yes, the weapon in front of Arlong was a torpedo, and not an ordinary one, but a manned torpedo.
This kind of weapon had once appeared during world wars. The Italians were the first to invent it and quickly put it into combat, though the results were a bit… underwhelming, with very limited achievements.
In the Italian design, the pilot could wear a diving suit and control the torpedo from the outside, detaching upon reaching the designated position.
Later, the neighboring "little island nation" learned this approach and improved it into an even more outrageous suicide torpedo—the Kaiten torpedo.
They moved the pilot's position from the outside to the inside.
Early models of the Kaiten torpedo were equipped with an escape system, intended to eject the pilot from the torpedo before the final high-speed attack phase was activated.
But this device was abandoned later on. Once you entered that torpedo, you either sank a ship, or blew yourself up.
And yet, this weapon had been recreated here. If humans were to operate it, the feasibility would indeed be very low, but the problem was that this sea had a race called the Fish-Men.
There was no need to consider whether the pilot could withstand water pressure, nor to worry about evacuation. Whether Fish-Men or Merfolk, they could control this thing from the deep sea to get close to the target, lock on and launch, then immediately dive away.
Marine warships also lacked anti-submarine radar, making their chances of evasion drop sharply. Compared to building complex and expensive submarines, this kind of torpedo was instead a cheaper and more convenient weapon.
Its advantage wasn't in raw destructive power, but in the fact that even a Fish-Man child, after some simple instruction, could understand how to operate it. As long as there were enough of them, the Fish-Men could launch surprise attacks on target vessels in any sea.
These weapons had not yet been tested in real combat. Once they passed evaluation and entered mass production, the Fish-Men's home-field advantage would be pushed to the extreme.
Elite officers might not fear this, but ordinary Marines couldn't go out to sea without ships. Leaving aside everything else, just ensuring that supply ships could safely reach every base would become a major problem for the Marines.
In a world built on maritime transport, once the Fish-Men made this move, the consequences would not be so easy to bear.
"Brother Queen said this thing is idiot-proof. Pull the rudder in whichever direction you want to go, and it'll go that way.
The green button starts the engine, the red button is lock-and-launch. Press it and it'll automatically sprint forward, and the pilot can retreat. This is the manual and the specs, figure out the rest yourselves."
After handing a small booklet and a Den Den Mushi to Tiger, Jack headed off to Mandrell's place. Only Arlong remained, looking this pitch-black thing up and down.
"Boss, can this thing sink a ship with a single shot?"
"The manual says that if the position is right, it can. We'll find an uninhabited stretch of sea to test it later."
There were no instruments on the torpedo's control console. Queen had done everything he could to simplify its operation—not out of arrogance, but because the average level of education out there truly couldn't compare to his.
If the operating system was too complex, they'd probably blow themselves up before even finding a target.
"Arlong, find me a few brothers who are fast and sharp-minded. It's time to prepare for our operation."
"Leave it to me, Boss."
Arlong roughly assessed the size of the pilot seat. If someone were as big as Jack, they definitely wouldn't be able to operate this torpedo, but for most Fish-Men, the pilot seat was more than sufficient.
While Arlong went to find people, Tiger picked up the Den Den Mushi Jack had given him.
"This is a Projector Den Den Mushi? Is this part of the manual too?"
Curious, he pressed the switch. A flash of light passed through the Den Den Mushi's eyes, and a projection quickly appeared on the beach. Because of the background and the sunlight, the image was somewhat blurry, but it was still possible to make out what was going on.
[Muhahaha! No matter who you are, if you've switched this on, it means you're learning how to use this genius invention of mine.
To help you ordinary folks master it as quickly as possible, I've specially made an animation.]
Queen in the recording then took out another screen, inside which several stick-figure-like characters demonstrated all the precautions for using it from start to finish.
[In short, if you can't find a specific target underwater, just pick the biggest one and ram it, and there shouldn't be any problem.
Don't worry. Even if this thing turns out to be a dud, it can still poke a hole in the bottom of a ship.]
"So that's how it is. Looking at it this way, it really doesn't seem hard to operate."
"Oh, isn't this the new toy Queen's been messing with lately? So you're the ones using it."
Another new voice sounded beside Tiger. He hadn't noticed at all how this person had gotten behind him.
"Miss Olga… you really are frightening."
"You were just too focused. I arrived a while ago."
"I didn't notice a single sound. If you don't mind me asking, did you fly over here?"
Tiger glanced toward the harbor but didn't see any newly arrived ships.
"Oh, I forgot to cancel the illusion. Give me a moment."
Olga snapped her fingers, and the Shadow Fox Ship abruptly appeared beside the Steel Mammoth, also explaining to Tiger why he had completely failed to notice Olga's arrival.
She had approached under camouflage. Anyone who could have detected that would be a monster.
"So, is there any problem with this torpedo?"
"Not really. Even though Queen didn't operate it himself. After all, that guy's too fat, he'd get stuck if he climbed in, but he did run other tests.
As long as it doesn't happen to hit a spot on a Marine ship reinforced with Seastone, it'll definitely accomplish its goal."
"That's fine. Our main target right now isn't the Marines anyway. I've heard the Revolutionary Army is harassing Celestial Dragon transport ships, we'll just go join the fun."
Tiger knew very well that the Marines were nothing more than a knife in the World Government's hand. Destroying a knife was useless; as long as the master remained, they would simply replace it with a new one.
There were still some righteous people among the Marines. He remembered clearly that when he attacked Mariejois back then, there was a Marine who ordered his men to fire blank shots.
As long as the Marines didn't take the initiative to attack them, Tiger didn't want to strike the Marines directly, instead setting his sights on the ships that served the Celestial Dragons.
If not for those Celestial Dragons, perhaps Neptune's trip to the Levely would have had a very different outcome.
"By the way, Miss Olga, why are you here too? Is there some major operation going on?"
Even though Zeraora wasn't around, Jack and Olga were already two calamity-level officers. With their subordinates plus Mandrell, who was already stationed here, this combination was more than enough to launch a war of annihilation against a nation.
"No big operation. I was just passing through to restock supplies, and figured I'd join the fun along the way. Seems like there's some kind of gathering going on."
Mandrell's territory had always counted as a forward outpost of the Beasts Pirates, and because of its location, Beasts Pirates ships frequently stopped here to resupply.
So many people gathering together could only be called a coincidence.
Olga hadn't yet reached that so-called gathering place, but some other pirates just happened to converge on the same island.
Hawk Eyes was one of them. After leaving Kuraigana Island, his group had grown larger. In addition to the baboons that followed him out, there were now several Kung-Fu Dugongs that had sailed here from Alabasta, along with other accompanying animals.
The captured warship had effectively turned into a zoo. Fortunately, all of these animals knew how to sail, so Hawk Eyes wasn't too busy. At the moment, he was talking to someone over the phone.
"How do you have my contact information?"
"That's not difficult. You ran into a Marine siege too, didn't you?"
"It's already been dealt with. What, do you actually care about others over something like that?"
"No. I just wanted to see whether you have anywhere to go right now. If not, how about coming to my place?"
"Crocodile, what do you mean by that?"
"I don't mean anything special. When it comes to being unable to trust others, you and I are the same kind.
Your old nickname was 'Marine Hunter.' Put our names together, and that's an organization the Marines can't look down on. What do you think?"
Hawk Eyes didn't immediately reply to Crocodile, but Crocodile understood. Given Hawk Eyes' personality, as long as he didn't outright refuse right away, it was basically agreement.
"This is my current location. If you're interested, come find me. You can even run into some old acquaintances here."
After leaving the address, Crocodile cut off contact with Hawk Eyes and looked toward the people beside him.
One of them had animal features on his body and a camera hanging around his neck.
"So you're that freelance reporter Absa, huh? With that ability, no wonder you could dig up so many hidden stories, and even keep this guy alive."
From the shadows, Moria's fat figure emerged, his vicious gaze fixed squarely on Crocodile.
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