Breaking the Prison / I Am Your Navigator

"All right, then come with me."

Seemingly seeing what Nami was thinking, Arthur had no choice but to agree, though his gaze grew colder.

The two entered Cocoyasi Village. It was a terribly dilapidated village with very few residents, and there was no one at all on the streets. The shops were all closed as well.

The doors and windows were shut tight, but a closer look revealed narrow gaps in those of a few homes.

Arthur's Observation Haki clearly picked up the gazes watching them through the gaps.

Those gazes were full of curiosity and affection: curiosity about who Arthur, standing beside Nami, was, and concealed affection for Nami.

Everyone knew that Nami had joined the Arlong Pirates for their sake and the village's, working for the villains who had killed her adoptive mother.

They played along with Nami, hiding in their houses whenever she returned so they would not slip up in front of her and let her see through them.

Because deceiving everyone was her only motivation.

This poor girl had sacrificed far too much for them.

Nami, clearly unaware that her lie had long since been seen through, usually took another route home. Today, even though no one was around, she kept her head down as she walked through the streets.

Seeing the girl who was usually so cunning and lovable become so timid, Arthur felt the killing intent in his heart grow even stronger.

"Hey! Stop right there."

Just then, a shout rang out. A fat Fish-Man had appeared ahead of them, with skin a different color from a human's and fish eyes like brass bells that made him look rather foolish. Holding a spiked club, he walked toward Arthur and Nami.

"Whoosh—crack!"

"Whoosh—crack!"

Before he could get close, Arthur vanished. When he reappeared, he was already in front of the Fish-Man. His slender hand gripped the Fish-Man's neck and crushed his throat.

The Fish-Man never got another chance to speak.

Arthur went straight for the kill. He had no intention of leaving anyone alive.

Even though he knew that Hachi, the Fish-Man who had once saved Dark King Rayleigh, was among the Fish-Man pirates.

So what if he offended that legendary figure?

"Let's go," Arthur said to Nami, casually tossing the Fish-Man's corpse aside.

"Mm." From the moment Arthur killed the Fish-Man, Nami knew there was no turning back.

Having killed one of Arlong's own, they would either be killed by Arlong or have to kill him.

Nami became calmer instead.

The two headed straight for Arlong Domain. As they drew closer, a cold sneer suddenly appeared on Arthur's face.

"I still thought too highly of the Marines..."

Before Arthur and Nami arrived at Cocoyasi Village, Arlong received an honored guest.

He was a shifty-looking man who was plainly no good, yet wore the uniform of a Marine captain, a symbol of justice. He was Captain Nezumi of the 16th Marine Branch.

"Shahahaha, it's been a while, Captain," Arlong said with a laugh as he looked at Captain Nezumi, who had come to visit him.

"Arlong, I need your help."

"We're friends. Whatever you need, just say it." Arlong waved a hand, looking ready to hear him out.

Only then did Captain Nezumi show a hint of a smile, though his tone remained grave. "I've received word that Smoker at the Marine branch is about to send someone to investigate me. He seems to have discovered our arrangement. I want you to sink the envoy's warship and destroy all evidence."

"No problem. I'll have Momoo do it. At sea, no one can stand against Momoo." Arlong agreed without hesitation. It was a simple favor for him, and he could ask for nothing better than to work with a corrupt Marine like this.

"That's wonderful. Thank you very much."

"No need to thank me. One favor deserves another. I'll help you, and you'll help me with something too."

"What is it? Just say the word!" With his worry taken care of, Captain Nezumi grew generous. Looking at the Fish-Man he despised, he even found him a little endearing.

"One of our navigators once made a deal with me: once she scraped together a hundred million, I'd give her village back to her. Hahaha... to believe a pirate's promise, I have to say, she's stupidly endearing." Arlong laughed heartily. "Captain, when she gets the hundred million together, sorry for the trouble, but I'll need you to help me put on a little show."

"No problem, hehe..." Captain Nezumi laughed too, his smile full of mockery.

If a pirate's promise could be trusted, he wouldn't be a pirate.

Bang—

"Unfortunately, you won't get to put on that show."

As they smiled at each other, the gates of Arlong Domain were sent flying by a kick, raising a cloud of dust.

A chilly voice came from within the dust.

Chapter 12: Breaking the Prison

[I've been updating so diligently. Give me a little motivation, everyone: click to add this to your favorites and send a few flowers.]

"Nami, what do you mean by bringing this man back?"

Two figures emerged from the dust. Arlong's expression turned cold as he looked at Nami beside Arthur. "Are you trying to rebel? Do you want me to destroy your village?"

"Arlong, even if I got a hundred million together, were you never going to give the village back to me?" Nami demanded, staring at Arlong with eyes full of resentment.

"Oh? You heard that?" Arlong was briefly taken aback, then gave a vicious grin. "It doesn't matter. I never planned to give the village back to you, but as long as you obediently draw nautical charts for us, I won't touch your village. Isn't it all the same?"

"So you've been lying to me from the very beginning." Nami's eyes went lifeless, as though everything she had held on to had been utterly shattered.

"Shahahaha, Nami, you have to understand, we're pirates," Arlong said with a cruel laugh. "How could you possibly believe a pirate's word?"

"..."

Nami could no longer speak. She covered her mouth as tears welled up uncontrollably.

"Idiot, didn't I tell you I'd help you? It doesn't matter whether he gives your village back or not, so why are you crying?" Arthur patted Nami's head, looking helpless.

Still, Arthur understood. Before she met him, the promise and the lie had been Nami's motivation. Now that the promise she had held on to for eight years had shattered in a single day, the girl might have fallen into despair and even contemplated death if Arthur had not been there.

Now, Arthur was her only hope.

"Arthur, help me..."

Arthur's words brought a glimmer of hope into Nami's lifeless eyes. Looking at him, she repeated the words she had spoken that night.

"Leave it to me." Arthur smiled and rubbed her orange hair, then pulled her behind him. Looking calmly at Arlong, he said slowly, "I didn't expect the remnants of the Sun Pirates, that band of ugly Fish-Men who took a Celestial Dragon's slave as their captain, you revolting underwater trash, not only to survive Kizaru, but also to flee to this Weakest Sea and set yourselves up as kings."

"Inferior human, who are you?"

Arthur's cutting words were like sharp swords stabbing into the hearts of the Fish-Men, humiliating them to his heart's content.

The eyes of every Fish-Man present blazed with fury.

Arlong in particular rose from his beach chair. His vicious grin was gone, replaced by killing intent on the verge of erupting.

Beside him, Major Nezumi was feeling the ferocity radiating from Arlong for the first time.

"Inferior human? Compared to you, I'm far nobler." Arthur sneered. Pointing at the right side of Arlong's chest, he continued to mock him. "As a member of the Sun Pirates, you must be proud of that emblem, right? But do you really think your pride can hide the truth that the emblem was modeled on the Hoof of the Celestial Dragon? Ugly Fish-Men, you call yourselves superior, but that won't change the fact that the Fisher Tiger you worshipped was a lowly slave, a Celestial Dragon's plaything. And you're a defeated dog who came out of Impel Down."

"You're asking for death..."

The murderous roar echoed through Arlong Domain. Arlong and the other Fish-Men had all been thoroughly enraged by Arthur's barbed words. Led by Arlong, they lunged at him one after another, determined to tear him apart to ease the hatred in their hearts.

Fisher Tiger was their pride, while the death of Boss Fisher Tiger, his enslavement by the Celestial Dragons, and the Hoof of the Celestial Dragon were things they never wanted to mention in their lives.

Hearing Arthur insult Boss Fisher Tiger like this, how could their minds not be consumed by fury?

"Mad, they're all mad." The sight of them all attacking together scared Captain Nezumi so badly that he fell from his chair. Even the three Marine soldiers behind him were trembling with fear.

Nami was also frightened and clutched Arthur's clothes, but her eyes were full of surprise and satisfaction.

She was surprised that Arlong and the others came from such a background, and satisfied that Arthur's words had utterly enraged and humiliated them, proving that there was not a trace of falsehood in what he said. It dispelled her fear of the Fish-Men who had terrified her for eight years; they did not seem quite so frightening anymore.

They ruled the village, but they had merely fled here from the Grand Line to throw their weight around.

Indeed, Arthur had used such sharp words to humiliate and provoke Arlong and the others precisely to vent Nami's anger and dispel Arlong's nightmarish image in her heart.

Now, these superior Fish-Men had revealed a vulnerable and frenzied side.

As long as he thoroughly crushed that side of them, this inner demon would no longer be an inner demon.

"Strike Air!"

"Strike Air!"

Watching the Fish-Men charge at him in fury, Arthur summoned Excalibur and casually swung it, releasing Invisible Air.

A hemispherical wall of wind spread outward.

Like a hurricane, it mercilessly blasted the charging Fish-Men away.

The wind was no ordinary wind, but blades.

The Fish-Men blasted away by Strike Air had bodies several times stronger than humans', yet they looked as though they had been cut a thousand times, covered in wounds as blood and flesh flew.

Quite a few Fish-Men even died from the attack.

This was a sweeping Strike Air. If it had been a penetrating attack, everyone in its path would have been mercilessly blasted to pieces.

Even so, the Fish-Men struck by Strike Air lay dead or wounded, their bodies a bloody mess with bones faintly visible.

The ground in front of Arthur was covered in marks, as though a bulldozer had rolled over it.

"Crack—crack—crack—"

Arthur began finishing them off. Holding Nami's hand, he led her to each Fish-Man lying on the ground and crying out in pain. His right foot turned purple-black, and, in front of Nami, he stomped down hard again and again, crushing their throats.

The exceedingly bloody sight made Nami grip Arthur's arm tightly. She did not stop him, nor did she feel satisfaction, but tears flowed from her eyes once more.

Arthur could faintly hear her whisper, "Bellemere..."

"Armament Haki... you're not from the East Blue..."

Kuroobi, one of the officers of the Arlong Pirates, looked at Arthur's right foot coated in Armament Haki and choked out those words before dying beneath it.

"Damn human..."

Arlong struggled to his feet, clutching his neck where the wind blades had cut it, and glared at Arthur with hatred.

"Nami, hold it."

Looking at Arlong, Arthur pulled Nami in front of him and held her tightly in his arms. He placed her hands on Excalibur's hilt and laid his hands over her arms, and the two held it together.

"Watch carefully. This Fish-Man you've feared for eight years is really just a defeated dog who fled from the Grand Line to the East Blue. You... don't need to be afraid." Arthur leaned close to Nami's ear and whispered, "Let's finish him together."

With that, Arthur began channeling magical energy into Excalibur, though not on the same extravagant scale as that day. He did not release even one seal.

"Swish—boom!!"

Converting the magical energy into light and releasing it as sword pressure, Arthur held Nami's hands and swept Excalibur outward.

A crescent of golden light burst forth.

The light swept through Arlong, cutting him in half at the waist and vaporizing all the flesh there. Without losing its force, it passed through the tower of Arlong Domain, splitting it in two and bringing it crashing down.

The bisected corpse and tower, the inner demon and prison that had trapped Nami for eight years, were both vaporized in the light's bombardment.

"Bellemere, everyone..."

Nami had lost count of how many times she had cried, but this time they were tears of release, tears of freedom, tears of joy.

Leaning in Arthur's arms as though in the safest harbor, Nami whispered softly:

"Arthur, thank you..."

"Ah, you're welcome..."

Chapter 13: I Am Your Navigator

"N-no, don't... don't kill me! You're the Wind Sword Knight, right? I'm a Marine captain! You can't kill me!!"

Looking at Arthur holding the invisible sword, Captain Nezumi was scared out of his wits and screamed in terror.

"Don't worry. Your misdeeds will be uncovered soon enough. Your death doesn't matter to me at all," Arthur said with a cold sneer. He swung Excalibur and mercilessly sent Captain Nezumi's head falling to the ground.