The Miserable Arlong

"Sha-ha-ha-ha! You want me to choose how I die?"

Arlong looked at the battlefield ahead.

Sure enough, his underlings were clearly at a disadvantage.

But so what?

The enemy captain and the other two men who looked fairly strong were nothing special.

They were being firmly held back by his three top officers.

That meant there was not much difference between the two sides when it came to high-level fighters.

Besides, this pretty boy who had come looking for trouble was not even the captain.

Once he dealt with this pretty boy and went to support his men, victory would be his for the taking.

Why did Arlong not recognize Can Yue and the others?

Because Captain Nezumi had only told Arlong about the Straw Hat Crew today.

Not long after, word that Nami had returned reached Arlong.

The entire Arlong Pirates set out.

These fish-men did not like watching human news broadcasts.

So, up to this point, no one had specifically looked into the Straw Hat Crew.

If he had known that the Can Yue before him had the same bounty as Buggy, he definitely would not have been so arrogant.

At that thought, Arlong revealed a cruel smile.

"Pretty boy, pick how you want to die first."

Can Yue's expression turned cold upon hearing that.

"You've got a lot of nerve."

Can Yue was enraged by Arlong's words.

His aura erupted instantly. Not only killing intent, but also suffocating demonic aura crashed down upon Arlong all at once.

Arlong immediately felt dizzy and unsteady on his feet.

What is this? Why did he suddenly seem so much bigger?

At 1.88 meters tall, Can Yue could barely be called a "pretty boy" in front of the 2.3-meter-tall Arlong.

But at that moment, Can Yue looked like an enormous mountain in Arlong's eyes.

Cold sweat poured down Arlong's face as he used all his strength to leap backward.

If he did not get farther away from Can Yue, that terrifying feeling of Mount Tai crushing down on him would make Arlong collapse on the spot.

"What did you do?" Arlong asked Can Yue in confusion.

Can Yue said nothing further and instantly appeared before Arlong.

Almost at the same time, his fist slammed into Arlong's stomach.

He was so fast that Arlong could not react at all.

After being hit, Arlong flew straight into the distance, smashing through several huge rocks before finally coming to a stop.

At the sight, all the villagers gaped. Orange juice that some had not yet swallowed dribbled from the corners of their mouths.

"My God, if that punch hit my head, I'd turn into a pile of mush."

Gen began regretting the scrutinizing look he had given Can Yue before.

Nojiko's legs went weak at the sight, and stars practically appeared in her eyes.

"I need to ask Nami what her teacher likes later."

The other villagers reacted even more strongly.

The Arlong they feared so deeply had become neither dead nor alive after being hit once by that white-haired masked man.

The visual impact was simply too overwhelming.

On the other battlefields.

Octopus fish-man Hachi, whale fish-man Kuroobi, and kissing fish-man Chuu all pulled away from their opponents when they saw this.

Their pupils dilated in shock.

"Is Big Brother Arlong really that helpless before that man?"

"If the White-haired Man is so strong, why isn't he the captain?"

Hearing that, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji all smiled.

Luffy explained, "Because I'm the captain, so Can Yue isn't."

Zoro and Sanji had wanted to explain.

Can Yue said he wasn't suited to be captain.

But after hearing Luffy's words, they suddenly felt that made perfect sense.

So they did not explain further.

However, Chuu, the kissing fish-man facing Luffy, could not accept it at all.

"With strength like yours, barely able to fight me evenly, what do you amount to before Arlong?"

Luffy grinned, opened his mouth, and spoke.

"Looks like we played around too much and got underestimated.

Zoro, Sanji, finish them."

The corners of their mouths lifted. "Got it, Captain!"

In an instant, the aura of the three men changed in their enemies' eyes.

"Tch, who are you trying to fool? You're just humans."

Kuroobi clenched his fists and charged at Sanji.

Sanji narrowed his eyes and burst forth with speed completely unlike what he had shown during their earlier fight.

His long leg swung out as he shouted, "Neck Meat!"

A heavy kick smashed into the whale fish-man's nape.

Kuroobi's attack stopped immediately.

He felt as though his brain had been kicked flat. He clutched the back of his head with both hands, his eyes bloodshot and his face twisted in agony.

Showing such an opening in battle meant he had completely lost.

Sanji blew out a ring of smoke and said to Kuroobi,

"Feel the kicking techniques forged by my accumulated sixty thousand meters of high-jump training.

Mutton Shot."

A straight kick struck Kuroobi squarely in the face.

The massive fish-man's features warped from the kick as he flew nearly a hundred meters away, completely losing consciousness.

At almost the same time.

Luffy took down Chuu, the kissing fish-man who could only spit, with one punch.

Zoro also stopped playing around and easily spotted the flaws in Hachi's Six Sword Style.

He swung his blade once, cutting apart all of Hachi's weapons.

Then he turned and slashed again, leaving Hachi bleeding heavily.

Octopus fish-man Hachi collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness.

Only before passing out did the three fish-man officers finally realize.

These three are each no weaker than Big Brother Arlong. We're finished.

The performance of the three main fighters drew wave after wave of cheers from the villagers present.

"I was worried about them just now, but it turns out they were cats playing with mice."

"Awesome, so awesome! These fish-men are finally getting what they deserve."

But then, a little girl stepped forward and said something to her mother beside her.

"Mom, will Hachi die? He saved me when I fell into the water a few days ago. Can we ask those big brothers to spare him?"

The little girl's mother replied with a grave expression.

"Whether he survives, I think we should ask Nami and Nojiko what they think."

The little girl also knew that these fish-men had done terrible things to Nami's family.

But she was deeply conflicted, so she walked toward Nojiko.

At that moment, Nami, Usopp, Chouchou, and the two unofficial members had successfully cleared out all the ordinary fish-men.

They met up with Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji, watching Can Yue's battlefield ahead together.

In the distance, Arlong crawled out from the rubble.

Having not suffered such humiliation in years, his beastly ferocity erupted at once.

He charged at Can Yue at top speed.

That speed might have terrified the villagers.

But in Can Yue's eyes, it was far too slow.

Before Arlong could get close enough to attack Can Yue.

A jade-gold Light Whip lashed Arlong to the ground.

Arlong glared at Can Yue with blood-red eyes, struggling to rise, only to be knocked down again by the Light Whip.

Driven by his hatred for humans, Arlong forced himself up and tried every possible way to stand.

But without exception, Can Yue only whipped him until his flesh split open.

In the end, Arlong stopped struggling and completely lost the ability to move.

Under everyone's gaze.

Can Yue dragged the nearly unconscious Arlong, covered in wounds, with the Light Whip.

Step by step, he walked toward Nami.

The villagers' minds had gone numb.

All they could think of was Can Yue using the Light Whip to torment Arlong.

If they had not known how evil Arlong was.

They would have thought Arlong was the victim and Can Yue was the brutal bully.

"Is this Nami's companion?"

"That's terrifying. The Arlong Pirates lost just like that."

"Not only did they lose, they had no ability to fight back at all."

"I almost felt sorry for Arlong. Good thing I slapped myself awake."

"Watching these fish-men get beaten now feels so good."

"I want to go up there and give them a few whacks too."

At that moment, Can Yue arrived beside Nami.

He looked at Nami with a smile.

"Has your anger faded?"

Nami sighed and shook her head.

The hatred of her mother's murder was irreconcilable.

Besides, Nami had been abused by these people for eight years. How could her anger possibly fade just like that?

Even if Can Yue killed Arlong, Nami's anger would not disappear.

Seeing this, Can Yue knew he had guessed correctly.

The final step for Nami to untie the knot in her heart.

Face Arlong directly and defeat him.

At that thought, Can Yue looked at Nami and offered his suggestion.

"Fight Arlong, Nami."

Everyone reacted strongly upon hearing that.

Sanji especially. "Can Yue, what are you saying? You actually want Nami to face such a vicious beast."

"Nami, I'll help you vent your anger. Just tell me how you want this fish to die."

With that, Sanji moved to kick Arlong's head apart.

At that moment, Luffy reached out to stop Sanji, giving him a rare warning.

"Today is Nami's battle. Don't interfere."

Zoro, standing nearby, suddenly understood. "So that's how it is. You damn cook, stop making trouble."

Naturally, the two members of the fighting duo began cursing each other face-to-face again.

Nami was silent for a long time. Finally, she raised her head, looked at Can Yue and Luffy, and said, "Thank you."

Then she returned the straw hat to Luffy.

"Just now, it was our battle together.

Now, it is my battle alone."

With that, Nami picked up her orange-gold telescopic staff and pointed it at Arlong's head.

"I will defeat you with my own hands and avenge Bellemere."