"We surrender! I surrender!"
Under the Marines' fierce assault, the pirates, already suffering heavy losses, were beaten until they threw away their helmets and armor.
At this moment, the pirate captain no longer dreamed of defeating the Marines and joining the Red Hair Pirates.
He knelt on the ground and begged the Marine colonel for mercy.
"Sir, we have a prisoner who surrendered."
After tying up the pirate captain, the Marine soldiers escorted him to the colonel.
The Marine captain looked at the pirate captain with clear disgust, then waved his hand.
"Kill him. Use him as an offering for our brothers' banner."
In the battle just now, although no Marine soldiers had been killed, several had still been injured because they charged too quickly.
The moment the captain saw that his men had been hurt, he gave the order without hesitation for the remaining soldiers to drag the pirate away and execute him.
"Did Fleet Admiral Raleigh not say it already? When dealing with pirates, take no prisoners."
"Hurry up and clean the battlefield. Prepare for the next fight."
After coldly leaving those words behind, the Marine captain allowed his soldiers to drag the pirate captain away for execution while he returned to the island's fortifications to study how to defend against the next pirate attack.
...
In the New World, before the Marine fortress.
Dark clouds swirled above the Red Force, and a powerful, soul-shaking aura rose from the ship.
"Is it still not over, Beckman? I cannot wait any longer."
At this moment, Red-Haired Shanks looked like a demon that had crawled out of hell.
His bloodshot eyes were fixed on Borsalino atop the fortress.
"Mm. The Marines' defenses are like a turtle shell. With those low-level pirates alone, breaking through in a short time will be difficult. But I have already contacted more pirate captains and told them to take those islands."
Beckman spoke with some frustration.
From the start, Shanks had led the ship straight here.
If not for Beckman, the Red Hair Pirates would already have gone to war with the Marines.
But Beckman was considering the larger situation.
Most of their supply lines and strategic locations were in the Marines' hands, so he wanted to pull out those nails behind them one by one.
Unfortunately, the Marines had prepared far too thoroughly.
By now, a full day and night had passed, yet the pirates they had sent out had not taken a single island. Instead, their own losses had been severe.
Those idiot pirates who only knew how to charge had long since been buried beneath the sea, while the smarter ones fled after a few of their men died.
"No, Beckman. I cannot wait anymore!"
"All I can hear now is Uta's voice! She is telling me that she died in pain!"
Shanks suddenly raised his head.
His messy stubble and blood-red eyes seemed to tell everyone that his patience had reached its limit.
Beckman pointed toward the fortress in front of them and said patiently, "Shanks, this is a fortress the Marines carefully prepared. We can take it, but it definitely will not be solved in a day or two."
"During this process, we need to ensure our supplies and make sure we are not attacked from behind."
"Give me a little more time. I believe those pirates can do it."
Shanks abruptly turned his head.
A flash of killing intent passed through his eyes, startling even Beckman.
"Beckman, I am the captain of the Red Hair Pirates!"
"Give those pirates half a day. If they still cannot take the islands, then we will still launch a direct assault on the Marine fortress!"
"I cannot tolerate Uta's body hanging in New Marineford for everyone to see the way she died!"
Shanks' attitude was extremely firm, and it also made Beckman reflect on his own judgment.
Had he been too rational and ignored the importance of emotion?
Even the others on the ship all agreed with Shanks.
"Beckman, can you really bear to leave Uta's body in New Marineford? She always called you Uncle Beckman."
"Beckman, if you are afraid, then stay here and command. We will go with the captain."
After several officers spoke, Beckman's expression became even uglier.
"Fine. We will wait another half day. Whether they take the islands or not, we will launch our assault on the Marine fortress."
Beckman slammed the table and spoke loudly.
Then he took out a Den Den Mushi and began contacting the pirates attacking the islands.
...
However, what they did not know was that every word of their conversation had already fallen into someone else's ears.
"Admiral Borsalino, that is the situation."
At this moment, Enel, who should have been in the Four Blues, had somehow crossed the Red Line and appeared in the New World.
"Your ability combined with the Ark Maxim is truly unreasonable. Even I cannot compare to you in some respects."
Borsalino sounded somewhat envious of Enel's ability to fly.
Although he was the user of the fastest Devil Fruit ability, he could not truly fly.
Most of the time, he would stand on cannonballs and ride them toward his destination.
Enel, however, could use the Ark Maxim's flight ability to easily cross the troublesome Red Line and appear at any location along the Grand Line at any time.
If the latter half of the Grand Line were not too dangerous, Enel could even fly directly to Red-Hair's base.
Still, what mattered more at this moment was that Enel's arrival provided Borsalino with intelligence-gathering capabilities.
With Enel's Mantra fully expanded, even the Red Hair Pirates out at sea had their secrets overheard.
Observation Haki developed in different directions depending on the person.
Even among those skilled in Observation Haki, many had completely different specializations.
These included Katakuri's future sight, Fujitora Issho and Yasopp's ultra-long-range Observation Haki, Red-Hair's Observation Killing, and Enel's Mantra that could listen to people's thoughts.
"Since they plan to attack at noon, then let us prepare properly. We will let them feel how technology has changed the Marines."
Borsalino was very confident.
Inside the Marine fortress he currently commanded, there was one Admiral-level fighter and two quasi-Admiral-level fighters.
On top of that, there were also quite a few Vice Admirals.
More importantly, Vegapunk had provided him with battlefield killing machines.
Ten Pacifista.
Before the great battle erupted, both sides instead fell into a strange state of calm.
That was, if one ignored the fact that the Marines were continuously moving supplies up onto the walls, while pirates were constantly joining the forces behind the Red Hair Pirates.
When the sun reached its highest point, Shanks nodded.
At this moment, Beckman no longer had any reason to stop him.
Almost all the pirates who could be gathered had already arrived, and waiting longer would be meaningless for those who had not.
As for the strategic islands, under the pirates' concentrated forces, two of them had finally been taken.
Unfortunately, the pirates who took them had been badly mauled and temporarily had no strength to attack the next island.