Kuma's operation had been timed to the second; the Air Force was supposed to launch their assault the moment Alucard departed. Not a single second of delay was permitted.
Aranea had been leading a fifty-man scouting party to monitor the perimeter of New Amazon Lily. However, seeing no movement from Kuma's side, she decided to investigate personally, only to witness the scene that had just unfolded.
Bartholomew Kuma had been neutralized instantly by Alucard. Furthermore, their rescue target, Dr. Vegapunk, wasn't even at the Immortal Pirates' headquarters in Arderay; he was right here on New Amazon Lily.
And based on how cordially he was speaking with Alucard, he looked less like a hostage and more like an honored guest.
Moving at high speeds, Aranea quickly analyzed the situation.
They had considered the possibility of Kuma's infiltration being intercepted, but they had assumed that if anyone stepped in, it would be the Pirate Empress, not Alucard himself.
Alucard's presence on New Amazon Lily meant one of two things: either their luck was cosmically bad and they had simply run into him, or Alucard had seen through the World Government's tactical patterns in advance.
Yet, as brilliant as Benn Beckman, the strategist under Alucard, might be, he was still a pirate. It seemed impossible for someone outside the Marines to analyze the World Government's military structure to such a precise degree.
Recalling the rapport between Alucard and Dr. Vegapunk, Aranea felt an increasing suspicion that the failure of this mission was directly linked to the doctor himself.
Aranea landed swiftly on a barren, isolated island over a hundred nautical miles away from New Amazon Lily. Her fifty subordinates from the Second Mobile Regiment of the Air Force were already waiting there.
"The plan has failed."
The implications were too grave to explain to the rank-and-file soldiers, so Aranea simply issued the order to retreat.
Just as she was about to lead her unit away, she noticed the sky suddenly grow dark.
Aranea had her back to the sea, but her subordinates were facing her. Their expressions shifted to utter bewilderment as they stared behind her, their jaws practically hitting the ground.
Aranea turned with a grim expression, and even she nearly lost her composure. Having survived countless life-and-death battles, she didn't react as melodramatically as her men, but her mouth hung slightly open as she beheld the Sea Kings surrounding the island, their massive forms blotting out the sun.
"Um... would you please... come with us...?"
Shirahoshi sat atop a strange Sea King that had the body of a whale but the face of a tiger. She spoke in a soft, timid voice—anyone who didn't know better would think she was the one being bullied.
"A Mermaid?"
Aranea's pupils constricted. She had heard rumors that the Immortal Pirates possessed a Mermaid Princess capable of controlling Sea Kings, but because she rarely saw combat, it was largely considered a myth. Today, they had confirmed the terrifying truth.
"Um..."
Shirahoshi looked troubled, her eyes welling with tears. "I-I'm sorry. If you don't want to come... I'll have to take you back by force."
'Why are you the one apologizing...?' Aranea grumbled internally. She drew her gun-lance and barked an order to her subordinates: "All units, engage!"
The fifty members of the squad drew their weapons. On their flight armor, identical to Aranea's, tiny vents began to hiss with pressurized gas, propelling them into the air.
ROAR!!
Animals have sharp instincts. The moment the Air Force unit activated their armor, the Sea Kings lunged. Amphibious Sea Kings capable of moving on land charged onto the island to prevent the takeoff, while others used their massive bodies to block flight paths.
"Against these kinds of enemies, formations are useless."
Aranea looked at the Sea Kings surrounding them like an iron wall with a growing headache. Through the gaps, she locked her gaze on Shirahoshi. "The only way to break through is to capture the one controlling them."
With that thought, she pushed her flight armor to the limit. Clutching her gun-lance, she lived up to her title of Female Dragon Knight, soaring between the Sea Kings with more agility than a hawk. She zipped through the literal gaps of their bared teeth, reaching Shirahoshi in less than ten seconds.
It was no wonder Dr. Vegapunk had praised her as the finest user of the flight armor.
"Mermaid Princess, I'll have to ask you to come with me!"
Aranea swung her gun-lance in a wide arc, intending to knock Shirahoshi unconscious and carry her off.
CLANG!!!
Aranea's arm went numb as a bone-jarring impact echoed through the air.
Looking closer, she saw an ivory-tusked Sea King erupt from the water, using its massive white tusks to block her strike.
"Get out of the way!"
Aranea knit her brows. Her gun-lance shifted from dark red to a pitch-black sheen as she coated it in Armament Haki. Her destructive power multiplied, successfully forcing the Sea King, which was hundreds of times her size, to reel backward.
But as the ivory beast recoiled from the blow, it unhinged its massive jaws.
Aranea gasped in shock. Hidden inside the Sea King's mouth were over a hundred female pirates clad in animal skins.
Based on the tattoos visible on several of them, these were members of the Kuja Pirates.
Aranea and her squad were horrified. Had these women been hiding inside the Sea Kings' mouths the entire time?
Aranea shot an incredulous look at Shirahoshi. Could that Mermaid Princess really coordinate something so precise?
Suddenly, Scarlett, clad in golden armor with a pale blue cape, drew her sword. One moment she was inside the ivory beast's mouth; the next, she appeared directly behind Aranea.
Having long mastered Observation Haki, Aranea spun around to parry with her gun-lance. The weapons of the two women collided in mid-air, creating a violent, echoing vibration.
"You're Scarlett Riku!"
Seeing the face at such close range, Aranea recognized her from her bounty poster.
"My apologies, but we can't let you leave so easily," Scarlett said, a light smirk playing on her lips.
"The Swap-Swap Fruit, huh? This is going to be a pain," Aranea thought, her brow furrowing.