Chapter 56: Dead End

"Has the Gao Wen Pirate Crew left?"

"That's right. Their ship has already gone, and it seems they took the woman who was previously mocked by Arlong's gang."

"Good!"

"Now it's our chance!"

Branch Base.

Hearing the news brought by Blesse, the Rat stood up from his chair, excited.

Without a shred of hesitation.

He directly mustered a large number of Marines, dispatched a full three warships, and set sail from the port, following the current straight downstream.

Half a day later.

Gazing at the Cocoyasi Village port drawing closer in the distance, the hand holding his gun trembled uncontrollably.

After the Gao Wen Pirate Crew left, the villagers remaining here were nothing more than a dish in his eyes.

After all, if I can't deal with the fish-men, can't I deal with a few unruly commoners?

Blesse stood beside him, looking at the civilians coming and going in the port, and finally felt reluctant:

"Commander, are we... are we really going to go this far?"

"There are at least several thousand people in this village; all of them must..."

Suddenly.

Blesse shuddered all over, his voice abruptly stopping, too afraid to continue.

For the Rat beside him had already pressed a flintlock pistol against his head:

"Useless pity."

The next instant.

Bang!

A bullet pierced Blesse's skull, carrying out a mix of red and white flesh from the back of his head.

Blood splattered.

Landing on the Rat's face, it made his expression at that moment even more ferocious.

His mission here was to claim the credit for defeating the Arlong Pirate Crew, seize Arlong's assets, and, even more so, to eliminate the evidence of his own connection with Arlong.

Indeed, the latter was the most important thing to him!

Watching Blesse's falling body, the Rat was now calmer than ever before, gradually waking from the state of being overwhelmed by the prospect of great merit.

Compared to merit, life is more important!

Everyone who knows of my collusion with Arlong must die!

"Set sail!"

The Rat's angry shout woke the dazed people on the ship.

They looked at Blesse's corpse and hurriedly sped up their actions, fearing that the next person to die would be themselves.

Quickly.

In the port.

A familiar pirate flag appeared in the Rat's line of sight: a round shield as the base, printed with a skull pattern; it was indeed the flag of the Gao Wen Pirate Crew.

What made the Rat break out in cold sweat even more was the rotting fish head stuck at the top of that flag.

"Is that the head of that monster Arlong?!"

Pirates planting a flag on an island.

How could the Rat not know the meaning this act represented?

But at this moment, fearing the exposure of evidence linking him to Arlong and greedy for the great merit of exterminating the Arlong Pirate Crew, the Rat could no longer care about such things.

After all, as long as he destroyed the evidence and secured the merit, after his promotion he could go elsewhere to fish, or even go to the Marine Headquarters itself.

"Go in!"

"Control everyone!"

The Rat gritted his teeth and ordered.

Immediately, the three warships entered the port one after another; hundreds of Marines armed with rifles disembarked, spread out at high speed, entered the homes of the villagers, searched out the villagers one by one, and gathered them in the port.

While everyone was bewildered, Akin hurriedly arrived; protecting the uneasy Nojiko, he frowned and looked at the Rat:

"Commander, what does this mean?!"

"Is everyone here?"

The Rat did not answer Akin's question; after scanning the crowd, his expression relaxed, and he turned to look at Akin mockingly:

"What do you think... of the script where the Arlong Pirate Crew massacres the village crazily, and Marine Colonel the Rat fights to the death to defeat Arlong? How is it?!"

"Can you still call yourself a righteous Marine?!"

Akin was furious, but inwardly he thought:

As expected, that boy guessed correctly; that bastard Rat really did intend to strike against Cocoyasi Village!

Recalling the words Gao Wen had said to him before leaving.

Akin's heart settled; raising his eyes, he saw the Rat's mocking gaze:

"Heh, only the living can judge justice!"

"Don't blame me for not warning you; the flag of the Gao Wen Pirate Crew is planted here now. Even that monster Arlong was killed by him; you'd better be mentally prepared to fight him!"

Akin shouted.

The Rat remained unmoved, determined to strike against Cocoyasi, and had even raised the flintlock pistol in his hand.

Ah Jian gritted his teeth and said:

"Gao Wen left you a letter before he departed; you had better read it."

"A letter?"

The Rat paused, his brows furrowing:

"Hand it over."

Ah Jian took a letter from his chest and placed it into the Rat's hands.

After the latter opened it and took but a single glance, his face instantly turned deathly pale, with sweat visibly streaming down his forehead.

Ah Jian even saw the Rat's body trembling uncontrollably and instinctively asked:

"What did he say?"

"Get lost!"

The Rat was both shocked and terrified, for written on the letter facing him was:

"I hold all the evidence of your collusion with Ah Long. Should anyone from Cocoyasi suffer harm, these letters will appear on the desk of Black Horse Tenma of the Marine Criminal Investigation Department the very next day!"

"Even if you enter Impel Down, I will find you and slaughter you just as I killed Ah Long!"

Upon seeing the final character, the Rat's hand visibly trembled; he looked up at Ah Jian:

"How did Ah Long die?"

A sinister smile curled Ah Jian's lips:

"Do you know how to fillet fish? Have you eaten sashimi?"

"What do you mean?"

"Scrape off the scales, remove the bones, slit the belly open."

As he spoke, an indescribable sense of satisfaction appeared on Ah Jian's face:

"When I saw Ah Long's corpse, he had already been cut into pieces."

"His body is still in the Arlong Park; no one is willing to bury him. You can go take a look."

As that scene flashed through his mind, the Rat felt a chill of nausea, turned around, and quickly departed with the nearby Marine soldiers.

"A madman!"

"A complete madman!"

"To actually... to actually go to such lengths for those lowborn scum?!"

The Rat cursed loudly, but his increasingly pale face and trembling tone still exposed the panic in his heart at that moment.

A few minutes later.

The Rat gradually calmed down:

"So the evidence is still in that guy's hands. Although I won't get the credit, I won't immediately face an investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department."

"Thank goodness... thank goodness..."

The Rat, still shaken from his fright, could only comfort himself this way, and a hint of color gradually returned to his face.

The Marine warship came as quickly as it left.

Ah Jian raised his hand and patted Nojiko's back, gazing at the departing warship in the distance, then looked at the pirate flag standing in the port behind him, murmuring:

"This time, we no longer need to worry about Cocoyasi's safety."

"Whether the danger comes from pirates or from the Marines."

Suddenly, Gao Wen's calm face appeared before his eyes again; he unconsciously shook his head:

"He is indeed a reliable man, though his age differs quite a bit from Nami's, but..."

Ah Jian looked down at Nojiko, who asked in confusion:

"Ah Jian, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just think you are reaching the age to find a boyfriend. Should we..."

"Get lost!"

The next day.

The Rat returned to the East Blue Marine Branch 16 base with three warships.

He had just stepped off the gangway.

A familiar figure quickly approached from the distance, while at the same time, the unfamiliar Marine soldiers in the port suddenly raised their flintlock muskets, aiming at the Rat's head.

The Rat naturally knew the identity of the newcomer and asked with a frown:

"Commodore Buggy? What is the meaning of this?"

Commodore Buggy looked at the Rat before him with disgust, his tone cold and harsh:

"Your affairs have been exposed. Do not make things difficult for us."

How could the Rat not know that Gao Wen had set him up? Seeing the formation around him, he felt his legs turn weak:

"Commodore Buggy, is there some misunderstanding here? I—"

"Heh."

Commodore Buggy sneered:

"Save those words for the people of the Criminal Investigation Department!"

(End of this chapter)