Chapter 81
On the Grand Line, the weather changes all the time.
In front of Lin Tian and the others, there was still a fierce storm occurring, and they had already used up a lot of energy before entering Korod’s waters.
This storm is coming fast and fierce! As soon as Lin Tian and the others approached Korod Marine Base, the storm disappeared.
The dark clouds that covered Korod’s sky also disappeared, and the sunlight returned to penetrate the gaps of the clouds and illuminated the entire surface of Korod.
When the battleship Lin Tian and others entered Korod, the sky was already clear, the wind and waves situation calmed down.
As soon as he entered Korod Marine Base, Lin Tian felt that the base was enveloped in a tense and severe atmosphere.
There is a guarding garrison in each fort, and in the observation tower, there are Marine Soldiers who watch over the ocean waters with binoculars. They can observe all the seas around the Marine Base.
Based on the Marine alertness level, this level is already the highest alert level.
This means that all troops at Marine Base are ready to fight and will use all their combat capabilities at their best at any time.
Clank, clank, clank…
Because they wanted to dock at a port, several Marine Soldiers lowered large iron anchors into the seawater.
“Hey, old stinky old man, we’re here!” Shouted Lin Tian towards Garp, who was sleeping on the chair.
Garp, who had just awakened, stood slowly and stretched his body and observed the tight guard at Marine Base.
“Wow, it’s so fast. Here we are!”
However, the Marine Soldiers didn’t really pay attention to Garp because they were busy. They were doing their own work. Even Lin Tian, who was the second lazy person on the ship, also moved goods.
Looking around the ship filled with Marine Soldiers working hard, Garp felt embarra.s.sed and muttered, “Looks like I’m the most relaxed here.”
Following Garp, who led the way, Lin Tian, Ander, and more than a dozen Marine Soldiers got off the battleship.
The people at Marine Base Korod came out to greet them. Lin Tian and the others were just waiting behind Garp.
“Greeting, Vice-Admiral Garp, Korod Marine Base welcomes your arrival!” A Rear Admiral salutes Garp and the others.
Garp saluted back and said, “Yo! Rear-Admiral Jonathan, looks like the entire Marine Base is heavily guarded, doesn’t it?”
Hearing Garp’s question, Jonathan shows a bitter smile on his face, and he’s had a headache for the past two days.
“This is all because of the leaked information regarding Heavenly Gold. I don’t know for sure how many pirates will come to attack Korod. To facing this problem, the security of the entire Marine Base was immediately raised to the maximum level.”
In the face of countless pirates, Marine Base’s combat strength would not be enough. Rear-Admiral Jonathan had to make his decisions carefully.
After speaking with Garp, Jonathan looked at Lin Tian, stretched out his hand, and introduced himself with a smile.
“h.e.l.lo, I am Rear-Admiral Jonathan of Marine Base Korod!”
Lin Tian was startled by Jonathan, who suddenly reached out his hand. He didn’t understand why this Rear-Admiral Jonathan greeted him like that.
In order to maintain ethics, Lin Tian also stretched out his hand and introduced: “h.e.l.lo, I am Commodore Lin Tian.”
Hearing that the person he guessed was right, Jonathan smiled: “It seems I am right, you are the one who is touted as a genius Marine Soldier, Commodore Lin Tian!”
“I’ve heard your name many times before, but I never had the opportunity to meet you in person, young Marine Soldier.”
Lin Tian could only smile shyly at Johnathan’s praise and did not say anything. This sort of thing was too much for him. However, the whole world thought so too.
Jonathan let go of Lin Tian’s hand and said to Garp, “Vice-Admiral Garp, you must be tired after so long at sea. We have prepared a room for you, and all the equipment is ready to use.”
Under Jonathan’s leadership, everyone walks towards Marine Base.
On the way, Lin Tian suddenly asked: “Rear-Admiral Jonathan, why don’t I see any ships carrying Heavenly Gold in the harbor?”
Jonathan looked closely at Lin Tian. He saw that Lin Tian was precisely the same as the rumors, nothing simple at all.
“The role of this base is only for the collection point. Tributes from each country will be escorted by the Marine and then brought to this base.”
“At the base, there are officers from the World Government who will collect the tributes. Then we will send them together directly to Mary Geoise.”
This is the other reason why the pirates gather at Korod. It turns out that all the treasures will be collected at this Marine Base.
And this base is also a gathering place for Marine escort fleets.
After exiting this base, the entire Heavenly Gold fleet will sail out to sea to head straight for Mary Geoise and not stop at any Marine Base anymore.
The route of the journey can change at any time. Apart from Fleet-Admiral Sengoku, no one knew the specific route they were going to take, not even the Marine Soldiers escorting him.
At this time, Garp also asked: “How many pirate groups are gathered on Korod Island now?”
Jonathan shook his head, “We don’t know the details. There have been too many pirates in the last few days. In the past two days, we’ve even captured ten pirate groups.”
After a pause, Jonathan continued: “According to various intelligence estimates, there should be close to two hundred pirate groups. This is still the fewest, and the numbers have been increasing in the last two days.”
“Sigh …” Hearing Jonathan’s words, everyone could only sigh helplessly.
Even Garp, a senior Marine Soldier, also became worried about this riot, and his face became heavy. Even though Garp had been in the Marine for many years, he rarely saw pirates gathered in one place.
He said there were two hundred pirate groups, and it was likely to continue to increase, how many pirates would gather all over Korod. That’s at least most of the pirates in the first half of the Grand Line will come.
With so many pirates, it’s no wonder that Marine Base’s security has been raised to the highest level.
“However, when I learned that Vice-Admiral Garp would be taking part in the escort, I became even more optimistic. As long as news of Vice-Admiral Garp’s arrival gets out, most of the pirates will withdraw.”
Jonathan got confused by the arrival of so many pirates lately. However, this time Marine Hero Garp came to help him. His duty to protect Korod could be significantly reduced.
These pirates’ primary purpose was to rob Heavenly Gold because no Admiral was partic.i.p.ating in this escort. However, now there was a Garp comparable to an Admiral. I’m sure that these pirates would fear him and rather choose to run.
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as Jonathan thought. Garp shook his head and said.
“This time, I will not be involved in this escort. We will leave after reloading our supplies.”
“What …” Jonathan was taken aback by Garp’s statement and was left speechless. “Vice-Admiral Garp, haven’t you come here to help us with this problem?”
Garp shook his head again and said in a deep voice: “Even though I’m not here this time to solve this problem, Marine Headquarters already has other plans, and support from Headquarters will arrive tomorrow at the latest.”
After listening to Garp’s words, Jonathan was relieved, and his heart fell to the ground.
Jonathan asked in a low voice: “Vice-Admiral Garp, how many troops will be sent from Headquarters?”
“Regarding that, I don’t know. However, I can a.s.sure you that the combat power sent this time is not much lower than that of an Admiral.”
When he heard this, Jonathan’s heart was unstable. With so many pirates attacking, it would be difficult if no Admiral was fighting alongside them.
Jonathan understands the mindset of Marine Headquarters. He is sure that Marine Headquarters will not just waste this opportunity.
Now the whole of Korod was in a complicated situation. Neither the pirates nor the Marine Soldiers… they all gathered together on this small island.
As commander of Korod Marine Base, he was in a fateful situation.
Encountered with this situation, Jonathan felt depressed. In his first year on duty at this base, he was already faced with this kind of chaos. As a Base Commander, it was too much for him.
Now I can only hope that the people from Marine Headquarters can come as soon as possible. I want them to offer their shoulders to carry this heavy burden.