Chapter 739: Counterattack, Public Execution! (Two in One)
Long's attack speed was so fast that even an elite like Smoker had no way to react. By the time he felt the force coming from his throat and the intense feeling of suffocation, Smoker's sight was already occupied by Long's half-smiling face.
"Marine, go and release Luffy."
"I think you should be aware of the difference in strength between you and me. I don't want to make the relationship with you new navy too awkward."
"But if you don't know the current situation, I will not be lenient either."
"I don't think the New Navy would completely become enemies with our Revolutionary Army just for a young general like you."
Until this moment, the dragon, who had an absolute advantage in strength, still adopted a "negotiating" attitude when talking to Smoker. Although the feeling revealed in his words was extremely strong and domineering, with his strength, saying such words now could be considered a bit "gentle".
If it were those big pirates who roamed the sea, they would never waste time talking to Smoker. After killing Smoker, they would naturally have plenty of time to achieve their own goals, whether it was releasing Luffy or killing other ordinary navy soldiers. They could do whatever they wanted.
From this aspect, it can be seen that the title of New Navy has some effect on people like Long.
He wanted to force Smoker to surrender, but unfortunately, Smoker was not the kind of person who would give in under the power. Even when facing a dragon whose strength far exceeded his own, he still had no intention of giving in.
"You want me to release Straw Hat Luffy?"
"Haha, if you have that ability, just kill me and then release it yourself!"
"Long, do you have some misunderstanding about our new navy?"
"It's absolutely impossible for me to do what you want!!"
A strong feeling of suffocation flooded into his brain, but even so, Smoker still struggled to express his position.
What Dragon will do is Dragon's business. Although Smoker also knows that the other party can still rescue Straw Hat Luffy after killing him, his struggle at this time is just in vain. With his strength, it is impossible to stop what Dragon is going to do.
But even if the results are the same, if the processes are different, the meanings they represent are completely different.
If Smoker takes the initiative to release Luffy under the pressure from Dragon, the impact of this incident will not just be a matter of Smoker's life alone.
He represents the navy, and as a general officer, his every move represents the face of the new navy. Once the label of being afraid of death is attached to the generals of the new navy, it will become very difficult to wash it off.
It would be extremely difficult to restore the shaken military morale.
Moreover, since the establishment of the new navy, no navy has ever succumbed to pirates or other forces out of fear of death.
It is even more impossible for Smoker to start this!
Smoker's toughness was actually within Long's expectations. He didn't say anything, but gradually increased the strength in his hands.
During the brief moment when the two men were fighting, the other navy officers on the deck reacted quickly after a brief shock.
The appearance of the dragon was too sudden, and Smoker's defeat was so swift that after the incident, many navy soldiers did not realize what had happened and were still out of the situation.
After coming to their senses, the sailors saw that their commander was captured by a stranger in a cloak. Realizing that something was wrong, they surrounded Long with weapons in hand and attacked.
While charging towards the dragon, he let out a series of loud shouts, ordering the dragon to let Smoker go.
If these new navy were placed in a place like the Four Seas, they would be considered an elite force, and each of them would be an outstanding soldier who could fight ten enemies at once. However, in front of Long, these new navy were no different from small fry. To him, he could easily deal with one small fry, and so could he easily deal with a hundred small fry.
Without even looking at the new navy who were surrounding him, Long stretched out his left hand, and a hurricane arose on the sea. The vortex was centered on the dragon and quickly blew towards the new navy around him. Long and Smoker were in the eye of the storm and were not affected at all.
"Everyone. Let's go!"
Due to lack of oxygen, Smoker's brain became increasingly dizzy, and his voice became weak and silent. He clearly wanted to shout to his subordinates to leave quickly, but his voice could not reach the ears of those navy officers at all.
But Long obviously heard what Smoker said. Hearing this, he curled the corners of his mouth slightly, pressed his left hand slightly, and the wind pressure around him decreased slightly. Then he said to Smoker:
"You don't want your men to die here in such a cowardly way, do you?"
"How about we make a deal? I'll let your men go, and you let my son go."
"After this is over, I don't need you to cover up for me. Just report the facts to your superiors. How's that?"
I don't know what Dragon is thinking at this moment. His words and deeds show that he wants Smoker to release Straw Hat Luffy on his own initiative. Maybe in his opinion, the nature of Smoker's "active" release is different from his release of Luffy.
In fact, this is true. When encountering such a thing, Long also intends to make a fuss about it and use this method to slightly undermine the prestige of the new navy.
When Tsugikuni Yoshiichi was acting in the Compensation Kingdom, he obviously did not take the face of their revolutionary army into consideration. Without saying a word, he sent two natural system soldiers to suppress the two commanders of the revolutionary army.
In order to avoid further escalation of the conflict, Long did not intend to intercept the boat, but this does not mean that Long has no temper at all.
It was just right that by rescuing Luffy, Dragon could suppress the arrogance of the New Navy and highlight the presence of the Revolutionary Army. He felt that this was quite necessary.
Long waited quietly for Smoker's answer. At this time, on the deck of the warship, in order to resist the inexplicable hurricane, the sailors either leaned over to the ground, using their own weight to stabilize their bodies, or grabbed the nearest railings, handrails or other things to prevent themselves from being blown away.
The navy was blown all over the place and had no time to attack the dragon.
When faced with the dragon's repeated questioning, Smoker still had the same expression, his lips tightly closed, trying hard to stay awake, staring at the dragon, completely unmoved.
After a few seconds of stalemate, Long naturally understood the answer chosen by Smoker.
"Yeah."
"That's your answer."
Long spoke in a low voice and shook his head silently, then raised his left hand upwards. The next moment, the wind pressure became several times stronger. When the sea water splashed, some sea water was swept into this terrifying hurricane.
The sailors on the deck could no longer maintain their posture at this moment. Several lighter sailors who were leaning over the deck were first swept up by the hurricane, and were blown into the air with screams, and then their figures disappeared in the dark wall of wind.
The wind grew stronger and stronger, and more and more navy ships disappeared from the deck.
Even those sailors who were holding onto the steel railings with their hands were unable to avoid it. Some were blown away due to exhaustion, while others were swept into the hurricane along with the railings and disappeared without a trace.
But the strange thing is that although all the navy were affected by the hurricane, only the unconscious Coby and Carrot were lying quietly on the deck without being affected at all.
Around these two people, there was a wind wall whose direction was unclear, resisting the hurricane at sea and easily protecting the two people.
Long's control over the devil fruit ability has reached its peak. The devil fruit ability has long been awakened and can do many things that others can hardly imagine.
Smoker's body gradually went limp under the dragon's grip, and soon his head tilted and he fell into a coma.
Long thought for a moment, but ultimately did not kill Smoker. After strangling Smoker unconscious, he loosened his grip and threw Smoker onto the deck.
The deck was empty at this time, with only three unconscious people lying quietly.
The roaring hurricane around gradually disappeared, but the dark clouds in the sky did not disappear just because the dragon stopped.
"He's really a troublesome guy."
Long lowered his head to glance at Smoker lying on the ground, shook his head slightly, then walked to Coby and Carrot, lifted the boy and girl on his shoulders, and walked towards the entrance of the cabin.
Not long after Long entered the cabin, muffled noises were heard inside.
After more than ten minutes, the warship became quiet and no more noise was made.
Marineford, Marine Headquarters.
At noon, there was a sudden knock on the door of Tsugikoku Yoshiichi's office. Tsugikoku Yoshiichi, who was handling official business at his desk, raised his head and looked towards the door, then said loudly:
"Enter!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the door opened slightly, and Branny walked hurriedly into the office and walked quickly towards Ji Guoyuan.
"General, there is an urgent matter that needs your personal attention. It came from the Wan Guo area."
As he spoke, Branny placed a document on Tsugikoku Yoshiichi's desk.
"Ten Thousand Nations?"
Upon hearing that it was an urgent matter from Wan Guo, Tsugakuni Yoriichi couldn't help but shrink his pupils. Now that the Marine Headquarters and the New Navy have merged, Tsugakuni Yoriichi is in charge of Marinford as the admiral, and all matters of Wan Guo, big or small, are decided by Yixiao.
The urgent matter sent by Wan Guo needs to be handled personally by Ji Guo Yuanyi, which means that Yixiao dare not make the decision by himself and needs Ji Guo Yuanyi to make it. This matter may have a huge impact on the navy.
Quickly taking the document, Jiguo Yuanyi also quickly reviewed it. The content was a short message;
"The Smokers from Hazelnut Island were intercepted while escorting Straw Hat Luffy to Cake Island."
"Admiral Smoker is seriously injured and unconscious. Seventy-four marines are missing, 18 are injured, and the death toll is currently zero."
"The culprit who intercepted the ship can be basically confirmed to be the leader of the Revolutionary Army, Dragon, and his purpose was to rescue his son, Straw Hat Luffy."
"At the same time, the Hazel Island Naval Branch was attacked. 28 prisoners escaped, including two Straw Hat Pirates crew members. 63 were injured and 0 died."
After a short message, there is a more detailed explanation, starting from Il Sho's chance encounter with the Straw Hat Pirates on Hazelnut Island to their suppression of the other party, and then Il Sho orders Smoker to escort the serious criminals to Cake Island.
There is the cause of the incident, as well as the subsequent events and some detailed time.
After Ji Guoyuan carefully reviewed the document, he understood why Yixiao did not make a direct decision on this matter but reported it to him.
"dragon"
The most troublesome person in this incident was not the escaped Straw Hat Luffy and others, but that guy Dragon, who broke into the Wano Country, intercepted the New Navy's ships, and let the prisoners go. Each of these things was equivalent to shitting on the head of the New Navy.
This situation is far more serious than the situation where the navy captured two commanders of the revolutionary army in the Kingdom of Compensation.
Wanguo is not any other place, it is the sphere of influence of the New Navy. If the New Navy does not have any countermeasures to the fact that someone has done such a shit on its own territory, I am afraid that those ambitious people in the New World may have some ideas about the New Navy.
A dragon can tease a tiger's whiskers. Wouldn't those self-important pirates have such thoughts in their minds?!
but
Long's identity is indeed a bit troublesome. He was recruited by the Revolutionary Army. The New Navy and the Revolutionary Army have always had a subtle tacit understanding. It is not just as simple as keeping out of each other's way. In some matters, the two forces have even cooperated.
But once something like this happens, this subtle tacit understanding will probably be difficult to maintain.
The new navy cannot do nothing, but if they decide to do something, the impact will not be small.
Now, the primary task of the navy under the leadership of Yoriichi Tsugakuni is to completely replace the World Government and take control of power. Collecting the Heavenly Gold is just the first step. They still have a lot of things to do next, and they need to effectively extend the influence of the navy to every member state in the world.
The navy’s next opponents will be all the aristocrats in this world.
However, the sudden intervention of the revolutionary army at this time is likely to push some of the lower-class people to the opposite side of the navy.
It is true that the Revolutionary Army is the world's number one criminal, but their reputation among the lower classes is quite good.
Being completely opposed to the revolutionary army would do more harm than good to the navy at this stage.
but
Ji Guoyuanyi understood the principle of striking the first blow to prevent a hundred blows.
This kind of thing must be countered, and the counterattack must be quick.
After thinking for a moment, Jiguo Yuanyi looked up at Brannew and asked, "Where is Sakaski?"
Brannew had obviously had a brief understanding of the contents of the document before coming here. When he suddenly heard Ji Guoyuanyi ask this, he was stunned. He did not expect Ji Guoyuanyi to ask such a question.
"Admiral Sakaski? He should be on his way back. I'll investigate his exact location right away. Sorry, Admiral."
Branyu turned around and was about to leave when he heard Tsugikoku Yoshiichi say behind him:
"No matter where he is now, notify him and return to headquarters as soon as possible."
"The two revolutionary army captains he was escorting on board will be publicly executed upon their arrival at headquarters."
"We also invite the leaders of the member nations of the World Government who were eligible to participate in the World Conference in previous years to come to the Navy Headquarters to observe the ceremony."
"Those who cannot be present are requested to send representatives."
"After the public execution, we will start a new world conference with our navy as the leader!"
(End of this chapter)
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