Chapter 52: The Marines Make A Move

Out on the sea, a ship floated on top. The ship was so silent as if it was abandoned. However, that could not be. The ship looked rather new, and recently used. Still, the issue of soundlessness remained the same.

Groan...

Slowly, someone unnoticed previously groggily woke up.

Shaking his head to clear his befuddled mind, the person looked around himself.

To his shock, he found many of his fellow shipmates also passed out, sprawled all over the deck, and possibly more.

"What happened—that's right! The intruder!"

With his head clearing up from the pain, the man stomped his feet in frustration.

Previously, their ship was under the attack of an unknown assailant.

He, along with many of his fellow soldiers, valiantly stood against the invader to defend the justice in the sea.

Unknowingly, it would seem that their efforts were for naught. Before they realized it, all of them were knocked out before they could even see the face of the scoundrel.

The shadow, wizzing past them as if a phantom, still remained fresh in his mind.

"Bad news! Captain Nezumi has been kidnapped. It is possible that he's already dead!"

Suddenly, someone opened the door with forceful exertion and announced for all to hear.

At this point, more of the marine soldiers were already clear headed. They hurriedly got themselves together and woke the others up.

Soon, the entire ship of marines were in panic due to their missing captain.

"We should contact base immediately and request for reinforcement."

Someone proposed.

"Request for a search party as well. It's possible that the captain is still nearby."

Someone else also added.

A round of heads bobbed up and down.

Shockingly, this was the ship that Josh had invaded previously to kidnap Nezumi!

Not an awfully long time had passed since the assault, but as trained marine officers, their resilience was higher than most people. However, that was due to Josh changing his mind mid attack and deciding to just knock them all out with a burst of Haoshoku for efficiency.

Assuming the authoritative position as the current highest ranking officer, a man by the name of Higgs commanded for the contacting of their base immediately.

As a commander under the corrupt captain Nezumi, he also dabbled in quite a few of his affairs. In fact, commander Higgs could be considered his right hand man when it comes to their dirty deeds.

While he had acted as if he was worried for the missing captain, it was completely different in his heart.

Commander Higgs was a human, worse, a corrupt human. It did not feel good to be under the direct command of another. Therefore, it would be in his best interest if the captain stayed missing forever, even better if he was dead.

Currently, he was the highest ranking officer even within the base. If the captain did not return, only opportunities awaited him.

Not only will most of their misdeeds be buried forever with nobody to become a witness against him, he could also amass the most profit from future misdeeds due to keeping the gains all to himself.

Contrary to most opinion, Nezumi was not stupid enough to openly cheat people out of their money. He made sure to be discreet about it.

Otherwise, the headquarters would send someone to take care of him, along with anyone else involved immediately.

While that was true, some things could not be done alone. At some point, Nezumi had to bring in some people with the same interests, but he tried to keep the number as low as possible. That way, the less likely it was for him to get caught.

In order to not cast suspicion upon himself, commander Higgs gave orders to search for the captain immediately.

With the recent taste of authority, the thought of killing captain Nezumi surfaced in his mind.

With a search party out looking for him, the chances were slim but the thought remained the same.

"Seamen! Get this ship ready for departure. As soon as backup arrives, we'll depart for the nearest Island and fan out from there."

Higgs ordered the nearby seamen.

They were lower ranking officers, so they didn't dare to remain lingering any longer. With hurried footsteps, the foot soldiers rushed to prep the ship as they were ordered.

Of course, the nearest island to them was the one where all the action was currently taking place.

As they had not moved from their original spot, the ship was merely minutes away from Arlong Park.

After half an hour had passed, the shadows of a few ships could be seen in the horizon.

If one were to count exactly how many marine ships their were, it would turn out to be 5.

As a simple base established to keep the peace and security in the East Blue—the weakest sea, the amount of men as well as resources allotted to them was a bit lacking compared to the marine bases like Logutown.

It was essential for the marines to stay strong in places like that because they had the heavy responsibility of keeping the pirates from ever entering the Grandline.

Even then, the 16th Branch was a base that was better off compared to most.

Coordinating with the arriving ships, as well as the search parties, commander Higgs headed straight for the Arlong Park at it's critical moment.

...

In a room directly below captain Nezumi's, a man sat there with one hand on his chin. He was currently pondering a way for him to get rid of Captain Nezumi if the need ever arose.

He couldn't simply kill him in front of people.

In a physical confrontation, Higgs was confident of his own capabilities to completely suppress captain Nezumi. After all, the man wasn't known for his overwhelming strength.

Nezumi was simply a rat bastard who took every opportunities he could get his hands on, sometimes even creating such opportunities for him to grab. Explaining the reason he managed to climb all the way up to the position of marine captain.

There were no crimes he was unwilling to commit if it meant profit. All the way from extortion, coercion, physical assault, manipulation, and even rape.

If the headquarters ever found out about his actions, there would be no hole for him to hide in. He, as well as anyone else involved even the victims, would be eliminated quietly in order to keep the prestige of the marines.

How does one go about killing a superior without anyone finding out?

Higgs racked his brain for an answer.

They were due to arrive at the island within 10 minutes.

After thinking for a few more minutes, an idea suddenly popped into his mind and a sinister smile appeared on Higg's face.

The answer was so simple, yet he not think of it immediately for the life of him. He was going about it the wrong way.

Knock knock!

Soon, someone knocked on his door to inform him of their arrival.

"Sir! We've arrived at Arlong Park. What would you like us to do?" The marine soldier asked. He was in the standard saluting position as any lower ranked officer should.

"Good. Bring out the search parties and scour the island. As soon as he is found, inform me immediately." Higgs commanded.

"Yessir!"

The marine clamped his legs together.

"What will you be doing?" After a few seconds, the marine asked hesitantly.

"You dare to question me?" Higgs lashed out in displeasure.

The soldier hurriedly shook his head and ran straight for the door. He wasn't expecting commander Higgs to instantly fume after being asked a simple question.

After the man left, a smile appeared on Higg's face.

"I like this feeling of power..." he said.

Before, the soldiers would only be respectful towards him, never would something like that happen from a simple retort from him. Especially if their ranks weren't too far away.

Higgs sat back down on his comfy chair and poured himself some wine.

Twirling it round and around, a joyful feeling couldn't help but permeate from him. This day seemed to be the day of his uprising.

All Higgs had to do was wait patiently and sharpen his metaphoric dagger.

Currently, they were in a base of pirates. It wouldn't be strange if a marine, even if it was a captain, to suddenly lose his life if he showed up there.

Higg's plan was to blame the whole thing on the notorious Arlong Pirates.

Thinking back, Higg's couldn't help but come up with the conclusion that it might be the fishmen pirates that decided to kidnap their captain.

After all, this was the East Blue. Who else had the strength to take out an entire ship full of marines and even steal the captain.

If that was indeed the case, maybe Higgs didn't need to take any action at all.

From alluding with Nezumi for all those years, it was no big secret to him of the relations Nezumi and the Arlong pirates had between each other. It could be possible that Arlong simply decided to end it, thus kidnapping the marine captain.

After putting the blame of killing marine captain Nezumi onto the Fishmen pirates, he could even request for the headquarters to send in reinforcements to deal with the pirates.

In his mind, it was entirely possible for himself to get promoted to the position of captain or higher if he were to claim credits for taking down the most notorious pirate in the East Blue.

This way, it would safely secure his position as the next head of the 16th Branch without anyone being able to threaten it or the marine headquarters to send in a replacement.

"Kahahahaha!! I, commander Higgs, will become the absolute ruler of the East Blue!"

With a foolproof plan concocted through his own genius, Higg's ego floated up the clouds as he laughed himself silly.