"Captain, I'm here to help!"

Before Hothard could charge, a familiar voice suddenly rang out behind him.

The voice came with its owner—in the blink of an eye, Hothard saw the rookie flash past him, a long sword in his hand, charging straight into the oncoming horde of frenzied beasts.

'Swish—swish—swish—'

With a few clean, decisive slashes, the rookie cut down the two giant scorpions leading the charge.

"Why did you come back?"

Ready to sacrifice himself, Hothard was taken aback when the rookie once again defied orders and charged back into the fray.

For a moment, he wasn't sure whether to reprimand the young soldier or feel touched by his return.

"I followed orders and retreated!"

The rookie grinned as if reading Hothard's thoughts.

"But you never said I couldn't come back, right?"

Hearing this, Hothard shook his head with a chuckle before darting forward with lightning speed, cutting down two frenzied beasts that were about to reach the rookie.

"Tell me your name!"

"Shiro!" The rookie answered without hesitation, turning to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Hothard against the tide of frenzied creatures.

"Good! I'll remember that name!"

As the horde of beasts closed in rapidly, Hothard stopped dwelling on Shiro's repeated insubordination.

Charging forward, he shouted, "There are too many of them! If they break through our line, they'll head straight for the port. Our goal isn't to fight to the death—it's to lure them away from the harbor!"

"Understood!"

Shiro followed closely, his blade flashing as he cut down the oncoming beasts with terrifying efficiency.

"New recruits these days are terrifying!"

Hothard couldn't help but marvel at Shiro's skill, his confidence surging.

"Don't slow me down—follow me!"

"Yes, sir!"

Shiro kept pace with Hothard as they diverted the rampaging horde down another street.

Just as the two led a massive swarm of frenzied beasts into the lane, other creatures already wreaking havoc there turned and charged at them.

"Captain, take the right!"

"Hah! At least I'm not alone in this madness—charge!"

As Hothard and Shiro sprinted through the town at full speed, more and more frenzied beasts were drawn to them.

By the time they reached the fourth street, racing toward the outskirts, the horde behind them had swelled to thousands—a seething mass of bodies kicking up clouds of dust, their furious roars shaking the ground.

Seeing the endless tide of beasts converging from all directions, Hothard scanned the terrain while maintaining his breakneck pace.

Though prepared to die, he refused to lead Shiro to a certain doom—he had to leave the rookie an escape route.

But despair soon set in.

The sheer number of frenzied beasts was staggering and in their haste to draw every creature in sight, every possible retreat had been cut off.

Their only path now was forward.

While Hothard and Shiro lured nearly all the frenzied beasts out of the city, the remaining Marines inside launched a large-scale search, rescuing as many survivors as possible and evacuating them to the port.

*****

Meanwhile, elsewhere at sea...

Garp had arrived in the area with Morgans aboard his warship.

Standing on the deck, Morgans raised his binoculars towards the smoking town ahead.

His expression darkened as he saw the crowded masses gathered at the port.

Even though he had already learned about the events here through reports and knew the situation was dire, he hadn't expected it to be this severe.

"Hello, this is Garp! Who's in charge of the town's rescue operations?"

At that moment, Garp also took out his Den Den Mushi, actively contacting the Marine branch officers responsible for the rescue efforts at the port.

"Vice Admiral Garp? That's fantastic!"

On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, the voice immediately became excited upon hearing that the Marine hero Garp had come to assist.

"The rescue operations for this town are being led by Captain Hothard of the 174th Branch!"

"Put him on the line!" Garp cut straight to the point without wasting words. "I need to know if there are any survivors left in the town!"

"Please hold on, Vice Admiral Garp!"

As the officer on the other end of the Den Den Mushi spoke these words, the line immediately fell silent.

After a brief few seconds, Garp's Den Den Mushi rang again.

"Vice Admiral Garp, this is Captain Hothard!"

Hothard, who had lured the horde of frenzied beasts out of the city and was now racing towards the outskirts alongside Shiro, dodged attacks left and right while speaking quickly.

"Shiro and I have successfully drawn the frenzied beasts out of the city. Requesting support!"

Hearing the good news from the Den Den Mushi, Garp's eyes lit up with joy.

"What's your current location?"

Before Hothard could respond, Morgans spotted the two figures leading the massive swarm of frenzied beasts out of the city through his telescope.

Seeing this, Morgans immediately shouted, "Vice Admiral Garp, I see them!"

Without hesitation, Garp commanded into the Den Den Mushi, "Find a safe place to hide immediately. I'm coming to get you out!"

"There's no time!"

Hothard glanced back at the overwhelming tide of frenzied beasts behind him and continued, "If we hide now, these beasts will lose their target and likely return to the town. There are still thousands of civilians at the port who haven't evacuated yet!"

After a brief pause, Hothard suddenly grabbed Shiro, who had just run past him and leaped onto a large boulder nearby.

"Vice Admiral Garp."

"Now's the time."

Hothard scanned his surroundings, seeing the frenzied beasts swarming towards the boulder from all directions, he shouted.

"Blow these damned frenzied beasts to hell!"

Hearing this, Garp's pupils constricted.

Before Garp could react, Hothard's voice came through again.

"Vice Admiral Garp, we've worked hard to lure all the frenzied beasts to one place. Hesitation will only render our sacrifice meaningless!"

"For justice! Fire at my position!"

*****

The warships accompanying Garp and those that had arrived earlier for rescue simultaneously turned their cannons.

After aiming at the outskirts where Hothard was located, all cannons fired almost at the same time.

In an instant, countless shells streaked across the sky above the port, their long trails cutting through the air as they rained down on the outskirts.

On the town's streets, the rescued survivors ran towards the port, moving in the opposite direction of the incoming artillery fire.

As the shells roared towards them, Hothard's mind flashed back to the moment he had first met Orion.

At that time, Orion was not yet a fleet admiral, nor even a vice admiral—he held the same rank as he does now, just a captain.

Back then, he was merely a Marine petty officer.

Due to incorrect intelligence, their unit sent to support an allied nation was ambushed by an alliance of several pirate crews, facing imminent annihilation.

At that critical moment, Orion who had been out at sea on patrol, immediately came ashore upon receiving orders and joined the battle.

Alone, he charged in and out multiple times, rescuing all of them from certain death despite their severe injuries!

As they retreated from the allied nation's capital, with pirates in relentless pursuit, the young captain stepped forward once more.

With just his sword, he carved a path to survival for them.

To this day, he still remembers the scenes from that day vividly.

"Sorry, soldier!"

As the artillery shells were about to rain down, Hothard snapped back to reality and looked at the rookie beside him, speaking with remorse.

"To have you face something like this right after joining the Marines... I'm a terrible captain."

"Heh~" Shiro grinned. "Once a Marine, always a Marine!"

Before the words faded, Shiro straightened his posture towards Marine Headquarters direction and saluted firmly.

"LOYALTYY!"

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—

Amid deafening explosions, the incoming shells detonated amidst the horde of frenzied beasts.

Shockwaves rippled outward with terrifying speed, engulfing everything in their path—whether colossal scorpion-squids or saber-toothed tigers and gorillas—all were swallowed in an instant.

--------------------------------

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