The Legend of the Navel of the Sea

"Ling Donglai..." Nami's eyes brimmed with tears.

He had truly defeated Arlong, that nightmare.

"What a strange name..." Nami muttered.

"Strange, isn't it? It's precisely because it's strange that it leaves a deep impression."

Ling Donglai pulled his cap down over his head and looked around. The remaining fish-men had already lost their will to fight. After all, even Arlong had been beaten within an inch of his life—badly injured while in the sea.

That bizarre seawater explosion had left those fish-men without even the courage to flee underwater.

Pirate crews were basically like this. In pirate crews built around numbers, once the captain was captured, morale would plummet, and they might even scatter. Elite pirate crews, however, were different.

Because they were elite, their numbers were few and their bonds stronger. Even if their captain was captured, they would still do everything they could to rescue him.

Clearly, Arlong's fish-man pirate crew did not have that kind of unity.

"Now then, do you have anything else to say?" Ling Donglai walked over to Arlong and crouched before him.

If he had not jumped into the water, Arlong could still have exchanged a few moves with him. Unfortunately, he had made the wrong choice.

"How could I... possibly... lose to a human..." Arlong spat blood and struggled to rise, but the explosion had left him covered in wounds. On top of that, the electric current within his body had detonated, leaving him severely injured inside and out. Unless an exceptionally skilled doctor treated him, no one could save him.

"Goodbye, Arlong." Ling Donglai snapped his fingers, azure arcs of electricity flickering from his fingertips.

Beneath the thunder strike, Arlong closed his eyes forever.

"Perhaps I should let you punch him a few times to vent?" Ling Donglai looked at little Nami beside him.

"It's... enough already." Nami bit her lip as tears streamed helplessly down her face.

"Thank you. Truly, thank you." Little Nami sobbed and bowed to Ling Donglai.

"What should we do with these fish-men?" Ling Donglai turned to the other stunned fish-men.

Having long been indoctrinated by Arlong with the notion of fish-man supremacy, they were forced to face cruel reality once again—from fleeing the Grand Line to these remote villages of the East Blue, they were merely refugees, insignificant fodder who did not even rank on the Grand Line.

They could only bully the ordinary people living peacefully here.

"Call the Marines..." Nami suggested, wiping away her tears.

"Arlong was in cahoots with the local branch. I'd better settle this myself."

As the saying went, the Marines in the Four Blues were all cut from the same cloth. What would it change if he killed Captain Nezumi?

Unless the entire world changed, the deaths of one Arlong and one Captain Nezumi would make no difference.

Ling Donglai raised his right hand. "Welcome your end. In this chaotic age, if you do not choose submission and beg to live, then your fate is only to kill or be killed!"

Final Thunder Strike: Heaven's Judgment!

Blinding azure thunder resounded through the skies. With a crack, heavy rain began to fall.

It was raining.

"I'm hungry." Ling Donglai lowered his arm.

"Nami, I've fulfilled our agreement, so you belong to me now, right? In exchange, I'll give you lasting peace of mind."

Through the curtain of rain, Ling Donglai extended his arm toward the petite, young Nami.

"Mm."

Just as promised, Nami took that blood-dripping, scar-covered hand.

Only after Nami took out Arlong's treasure and returned it to the villagers did the people of Cocoyasi Village understand what had happened.

The mountain weighing upon them had finally vanished. They no longer needed to desperately scrape together money for tribute, nor live in constant fear of being killed by the fish-men for failing to gather enough.

The villagers dragged the fish-men's bodies into the sea, then worked together to prepare the most lavish feast as thanks.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to your sister?"

The next morning, Ling Donglai lay aboard a large ship and watched Nami study a sea chart as he asked.

Nami said, "There's no need. If we said goodbye, she'd definitely be sad. I left her a note."

"Captain, where are we going next?" Little Nami asked, blinking her eyes.

"To the desert kingdom—Alabasta. It's an ancient country in the first half of the Grand Line. We can enjoy the scenery at sea as we go. I'm not in a hurry."

Ling Donglai stretched aboard the ship. This vessel was Arlong's pirate ship, the Shark Superb, a genuine large ship capable of entering the Grand Line. Naturally, Nami could not sail such a large ship, but Ling Donglai had caught the massive sea cow Momoo that Arlong kept.

At the beginning, this fellow had attacked Ling Donglai with a group of fish-men along the coast of Cocoyasi Village. It had merely been knocked unconscious, and because of that, it escaped being killed by Ling Donglai's Final Thunder Strike: Heaven's Judgment.

In the end, Ling Donglai used it to pull the ship, which could be considered a return to its old trade.

Momoo naturally refused at first, but after Ling Donglai threatened to eat it if it did not work—

The sea cow, which possessed humanlike intelligence, quickly submitted.

That man's electric shocks were simply too terrifying.

"Then are we taking the Grand Line?" Nami casually glanced at Ling Donglai's abs, only to suddenly notice a roll of parchment slipping from him.

"What's this?" Nami asked instinctively.

"Oh, this? I got it from a pirate I defeated earlier. He said it marks the location of treasure capable of granting any wish."

Ling Donglai picked up the parchment and tossed it to Nami.

"See what it says. I can't read."

"Eh? I never expected you to be illiterate!" Nami stared at Ling Donglai in surprise.

This man who had written invincible on his body actually had something he could not do.

"That's normal, isn't it? Not everyone has the right to study in peace."

Ling Donglai said indifferently.

"Treasure that can grant any wish?" Little Nami's eyes sparkled as she took the parchment and began reading it.

Nami had loved reading since she was little, especially books about navigation. Her mother had been a retired Marine, so she had received a certain amount of education. Nami's knowledge naturally surpassed Ling Donglai's.

"This is a plea for help. Captain Zuku entered the Navel of the Sea in hopes of obtaining treasure that could grant any wish, but was betrayed and killed by his crew. In the end, he cursed them and imprisoned them all within Sacred Mountain. He hopes a kindhearted person can rescue them. The Navel of the Sea is at the center of the ocean. It requires a mechanism to open, and to return, one can ride an upward current from the seafloor..."

Nami simplified the letter's contents and looked up at Ling Donglai.

"My captain, are we going there?" Nami asked with a blink.

"I've never heard of it... It probably isn't dangerous, right? Then set sail."

After thinking for a moment, Ling Donglai was certain he had no memory of anything called the Navel of the Sea. With his strength, roaming the entire East Blue would not be much of a problem.

There will still be an extra chapter today for every set of recommendation votes, so there will be two more chapters later.

Also, I write slowly and have other things to deal with in life, so don't worry if updates come late.

Please vote.

One more thing: the issue of Chopper that everyone is concerned about will also be resolved, just later on.