Under Smoker's full-power towing, the fleet's speed was actually not slow.
However, compared to the speed of the island's descent, the fleet's speed was truly incomparable.
Witnessing the island about to crash, Yakovich took a deep breath, gripped his sword hilt with a resolute expression, and prepared to unleash the final strike of his life.
"It's Vice Admiral Garp!"
A Marine soldier, desperately firing at the falling island, suddenly spotted a figure leaping down from the island and screamed in shock and joy.
Garp's appearance undoubtedly boosted the morale of the Marine soldiers and reignited the crowd on the deck's desire to survive.
After all, no one truly wanted to die.
Garp landed on the bow of the nearest merchant ship, looked up at the descending island, and cursed under his breath, "Damn brat, next time I'll definitely smash your head!"
As he spoke, black-red lightning flickered around him once more, his overwhelming aura instantly silencing the crowd on the ship's deck.
"Hold on tight!"
Garp leaped up and delivered a powerful punch.
The immense force of his punch sent the merchant ship flying at an unimaginable speed into the distance.
As soon as the ship left the sea's surface, Garp jumped onto another ship and repeated the process, sending it far away.
"Vice Admiral Garp!"
Smoker, on the verge of exhaustion, watched as Garp used his overwhelming punches to send the merchant ships away one by one and was overjoyed. Without hesitation, he turned into smoke and chased after the ships flying toward the distant sea.
Garp was the type to start a fight but leave the aftermath to others. He only cared about sending the merchant ships away from the most dangerous waters and didn't have time to worry about whether the ships could withstand such a tremendous impact.
Smoker knew he was these people's only lifeline.
Using his Smoke-Smoke Fruit abilities, he couldn't guarantee the safety of every ship, but it undoubtedly greatly increased their chances of survival.
At the edge of the island.
Reddy watched as Garp used his punches to swiftly send away ship after ship and couldn't help but feel exhilarated.
This was the ideal genetic sample of a strong fighter he had envisioned.
Unfortunately, Garp's strength was somewhat beyond the standard. Even if all the clones were deployed, they wouldn't be able to keep him here.
However, although this battle was brief, it wasn't without gains.
Reddy shook his head and snapped his fingers.
Pyo immediately crouched down and pressed his hands against the ground.
The descending island instantly stopped its downward momentum, hovering about a hundred meters above the sea.
Reddy was ruthless but not toward ordinary civilians.
His ruthlessness was reserved only for nobles and pirates. Naturally, he wouldn't allow the island to crash into the sea and create a massive tsunami that would engulf the residents of Loguetown.
Coincidentally, at that moment, Garp used his punches to send away the last ship.
Seeing the island hovering about a hundred meters above the sea, Garp, standing on the bow of the ship and looking back at the island, was so angry he nearly passed out.
"What a detestable brat!"
After a brief moment of frustration, Garp chuckled and shook his head.
He roughly understood Reddy's intentions.
First, Reddy wasn't truly heartless. Otherwise, he wouldn't have evacuated the residents of Loguetown.
Second, Reddy didn't want to have too much contact with the Marines.
Garp could also understand this. After all, Reddy had defected from the World Government, so it was reasonable for him not to want to get close to its subordinate organizations.
Third, this brat had other plans for Loguetown.
Namely, he wanted to take the island where Loguetown was located, just like he had taken Punk Hazard.
And Garp was Reddy's biggest obstacle, which was why he had used the civilians' "safety" to force him to leave.
"That brat really saw through me, hahahaha." Garp soon burst into laughter.
With someone like this in the world, things were bound to get even more interesting.
The people on the deck were celebrating their narrow escape when they suddenly heard Garp's laughter. Curious, they turned to look and saw the island hovering over the distant sea.
"We were tricked!"
Some people, having gone through extreme emotions, were on the verge of breaking down.
What narrow escape? This was all a damn lie!
That guy never intended to kill any of them!
On another ship, Yakovich stood at the stern, gazing at the island suspended above the sea, and silently grinned. "You haven't changed, Dr. Reddy."
He also guessed some of Reddy's thoughts.
He had no complaints about this.
After all, Reddy was already carrying a bounty of three billion Berries... no, after this incident, Reddy's bounty would likely increase.
For such a dangerous figure, it was indeed impossible to get too close to the Marines.
Ahead of the fleet, Smoker transformed into smoke and safely guided the first ship back to the sea's surface.
The ship continued sliding forward at a considerable speed due to inertia.
Soon, the second ship, the third ship, the fourth ship... Under Smoker's all-out efforts, the fleet finally returned to the sea's surface without major incident.
"Assess the casualties!"
Exhausted, Smoker collapsed onto the deck of the last ship and used his last ounce of strength to issue orders to the Marines before passing out.
Thanks to Garp and Smoker's coordinated efforts, the fleet was safely sent to the distant sea, but casualties were unavoidable.
The order was quickly relayed to all ships.
The Marines on board immediately began assessing the situation.
"Vice Admiral Garp, a total of 3,183 people were injured. No fatalities."
A Marine lieutenant rushed to Garp's side and reported the fleet's casualty count with relief.
Only injuries, no deaths.
This was the best possible outcome.
Garp grinned broadly. "Better than I expected."
He had initially planned to save as many as he could by using his punches to send the fleet away. Unexpectedly, with Smoker's desperate cooperation, the fleet managed to return safely to the sea.
Even more astonishingly, there were only injuries and no deaths.
"You said exactly what I was thinking."
A door suddenly opened in the air to the right of the ship. Reddy stood inside with his hands in his pockets, smiling as he nodded in agreement with Garp's words.
"Damn brat..."
Garp grumbled but didn't lose his temper.
If he couldn't defeat Reddy on land, it would be even harder at sea.
After all, merchant ships weren't warships.
Garp looked up at Reddy standing in the doorway and asked seriously, "What exactly do you want?"
"I'm just here to announce something to you... and all of you. That island is mine."
Punk Hazard was only a research base, and the satellite island was for housing Terry and the others. Currently, Reddy still lacked a crucial commercial hub.
Loguetown was one of his targets.
Being wanted by the World Government made it difficult for him to acquire necessary equipment and daily supplies through legitimate channels.
His only option was the black market in the underground world.
However, purchasing from the black market was exorbitantly expensive.
Reddy had just started accumulating his fortune and wasn't ready to waste it like this.
So he chose a second path... turning Loguetown into his commercial hub, attracting merchants from around the world to trade there.
As the island's owner, secretly procuring supplies wouldn't be difficult.
This would significantly reduce costs, making it a very cost-effective move.
"Give me back my warship."
Garp crossed his arms, his words tantamount to acknowledging Reddy's declaration.
There was no helping it. At sea, he truly couldn't defeat Reddy.
Reddy smiled and snapped his fingers.
A dog-headed warship flew over from the distance and landed near the ship Garp was on.
"These people are your responsibility now."
Garp then ordered the Marines to return to the dog-headed warship before finally leaving the merchant ship he was on.
The dog-headed warship soon set sail.
Reddy watched as the dog-headed warship sailed away and couldn't help but chuckle.
That direction... seemed to be Windmill Village?