"Weren't you dead?"
Seeing the fish-man on the surface of the sea, Malverick was shocked.
Fisher Tiger!
Back then, the news of Tiger's death was told to Malverick by Corazon.
He even sighed about it for a long while.
But now…
"Hahahahaha! Well?
I'm not dead! Surprised, aren't you?!"
Tiger leaped directly onto Malverick's ship and gave him a big bear hug.
Standing in front of Tiger, Malverick's two-meter-plus height didn't seem like much at all.
"Yeah… you definitely shocked me!"
Tiger then explained the whole plan behind his fake death.
He had indeed fallen into the Navy's trap.
Although he escaped, he suffered multiple fatal wounds.
He lost too much blood and was on the brink of death.
Originally, he refused to accept human blood—because humans had hurt him deeply.
Never mind anything else—he fell into the Navy's trap because he trusted a human.
But at the edge of death, Tiger suddenly remembered the promise he made to Malverick:
To form a pirate crew together.
For that promise, he accepted the blood transfusion and survived.
Only a few people knew about this at the time—
King Neptune and his queen on Fish-Man Island, and Tiger's most trusted subordinate—Jinbe.
Tiger knew that as long as he was alive, the Navy would keep coming after him.
So he arranged the fake death.
It worked—
the Navy stopped troubling the Sun Pirates afterward.
They even issued Jinbe an invitation to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
The only downside was that the Sun Pirates fell apart.
Jinbe's group stayed behind and formed the Fish-Man Pirates.
Arlong's group went to East Blue.
Another part even became human traffickers as revenge.
Tiger was deeply pained by this.
After hearing everything, Malverick patted his shoulder.
"Alright, don't talk about it anymore.
I came to see you because of our promise."
"Oh? I'm almost about to be besieged by the Navy,
and you still want to form a pirate crew with me?"
Malverick grinned.
"Hahahaha!
What kind of person do you think Fisher Tiger is?
A promise I make— I WILL keep."
"From this moment on, you and I are members of the same pirate crew!
As for who's captain—
we'll decide that after we defeat the Navy!"
In terms of strength, Tiger was definitely the number one fighter among fish-men.
Even in the New World, few could stand against him.
In their exchange of punches just earlier, Tiger almost didn't fall behind at all.
And what's a fish-man's greatest advantage?
The sea, of course.
In seawater, aside from Aokiji—and a certain cheat-level someone—
who could beat a fish-man?
"Good!"
Malverick then explained his situation.
After hearing it, Tiger was stunned.
He didn't expect the Navy to deploy such an extravagant lineup.
But—
it wasn't impossible to fight.
"I'll go find Jinbe and the others first.
We'll meet up at this location."
Tiger handed Malverick a permanent log pose, then jumped into the sea.
Malverick picked it up and looked:
Punk Hazard!
"Malverick, what happened just now?
Were you fighting someone?"
Robin hurried over.
The impact earlier was so huge that everyone felt it.
"Nothing.
Just met an old friend—
an old friend that surprised me a lot."
Malverick admitted—he was indeed shocked.
He didn't expect that guy to be capable of playing tricks too.
"As long as it's not the Navy.
I thought they were here."
"Alright, enough talking.
Let's head to the next place!"
Malverick already had a solution now.
With the Fish-Man Pirates joining— the situation became much simpler.
New World, Navy G1 Base
At this moment, Admiral Sengoku had assembled the full Buster Call force, leading five Vice Admirals to launch an attack on the Dark Night Pirates.
But before they could depart—
A shocking report arrived!
A pirate ship had appeared nearby!
Where was this?
The Navy G1 Base—
the largest naval base in the New World, second only to Marineford in the entire Grand Line.
And a pirate ship showed up here?
The next report made Sengoku pause his operation.
It was the Red Hair Pirates.
Although they weren't one of the Four Emperors yet, they were already among the top forces.
They did have the strength to attack G1— even with Sengoku present.
After thinking briefly, Sengoku took a battleship to meet Shanks.
On the distant sea, Yasopp watched the Navy's movements.
"Boss, they're coming.
Sengoku is on board."
"I know.
Everyone, prepare for battle!
Let's have a good fight today!"
"Yeah!!"
Soon, Sengoku's battleship was only thirty meters away.
Seeing Shanks standing at the bow, Sengoku and the others immediately readied themselves.
"Admiral Sengoku, long time no see!"
Shanks greeted cheerfully.
Sengoku did not return the smile.
"Red-Haired Shanks.
What do you want?
Planning to attack G1 Base?"
Sengoku knew about Shanks' relationship with Malverick very well.
He had every reason to believe the Red Hair Pirates were here to help him.
"No, no, no—
I don't like fighting."
Shanks waved his hand casually.
"As long as you don't go after my good brother,
I'm simply here for sightseeing today."
"If you think I'm an eyesore, I still have some money left from buying booze the other day—
you can treat it as a toll fee."
As expected.
Hearing this, Sengoku knew— today, a fight was unavoidable.
He took one look at Shanks and his officers, then immediately summoned every soldier in G1.
He stood before the five Vice Admirals.
"In a moment—
whoever manages to break through,
go join Garp and the others."
He knew perfectly well—
he was unlikely to leave today.
At least some reinforcements needed to reach Garp.
"Prepare for battle!"
"YES!"
"Navy soldiers!
Bravely advance!
Defeat the pirates in the name of justice!"
And with that— the two sides clashed!
A violent battle erupted instantly.
In the end, only two Vice Admirals managed to escape.
The others remained behind.
One had to admit— the Iron Wall Pirate Crew lived up to their name.
Even with far fewer numbers, they fought the Navy without falling behind at all.
—------------------------------
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