Fear was a peculiar emotion.
It could make people meekly await death even when they knew resistance would let them live, and it could also make people rise up in defiance even when they knew death was certain.
The villagers chose the latter, then immediately ran away.
"Roar!"
The Black Knight let out a low growl and turned his face, obscured by black hair, toward them.
"No, there's no need."
Lowett stopped him from giving chase, the corners of his mouth lifting. "What he saw was you, not me."
If the Marines learned that the Hundred Schemes Kuro they had been obsessively searching for had appeared here, there would surely be another uproar.
There was no benefit in it.
But it could make Lowett happy.
I loved peace by nature, but peace did not love me.
Since that was the case, they could not blame me for causing them trouble.
As he allowed the villagers to flee, Lowett strolled forward. The Zombie Puppets all retreated, swiftly opening a path for him.
The horrifying zombies expressed their submission through their actions. None dared let out a random roar as they waited quietly for their master to reach the center.
The cane spun down from the crook of his arm. Lowett caught one end with one hand, while the other lifted the chin of the dying fish-man.
"I had planned to wait until Wallace found out where Momonga was before deciding whether to act. But since you still dared to come out, we'll move ahead of schedule."
If Momonga had already shown signs of moving against them, Arlong would never have allowed them to come out and search for the true culprit behind the ghost ship.
That was the simplest way to avoid harm and pursue profit.
Momonga's arrival had filled every enemy of the Marines in the East Blue with an indescribable fear. The more one understood the Marine hierarchy, the clearer the terror of a Vice Admiral from Headquarters became.
Lowett was not afraid, but the fact remained that he was no match for Momonga right now.
That was why he had another sense of urgency.
After all, if he remembered correctly, the existence of the Arlong Pirates was no secret among the Marines and pirates of the East Blue.
There were countless people who knew!
He had to snatch the food from the "rat's" mouth before Momonga made his move against Arlong!
That night, Cocoyasi Village, Arlong's Territory.
"Hmph, don't underestimate me!"
A young girl's somewhat stubborn voice rang out as she knocked aside the two fish-men guarding the gates of Arlong's Territory and walked inside.
After crossing the pool, the girl froze.
Something about the atmosphere felt off!
She cautiously glanced at Arlong, who was sitting in a beach chair. The fish-man's cheeks were still bluish, but they now carried several dark patches as well.
"What happened?"
She had not heard that Kensuke had collected weapons again.
The girl was full of confusion, but she quickly put it out of her mind.
What did it have to do with me?
You damned pirates, the worse you look, the happier I am.
With that thought, the girl hummed a little tune through her nose and headed toward the rooms with light steps.
Under the moonlight, Arlong's cold gaze followed her. Just as she was about to pass him, he called out in a low voice.
"Nami!"
"What is it?"
Nami, with her short orange hair, stiffened and stopped walking.
"Have you heard anything interesting outside lately?"
Although they had Rat as an intelligence source, Rat would not go out of his way to report every trivial matter.
Arlong's Territory seemed to have over a hundred fish-men and was virtually unmatched throughout the East Blue, but their prematurely indulgent lifestyle had robbed every one of them of ambition. Almost no one went out to sea to gather intelligence.
It was laughable, really. Their greatest source of intelligence over the past two years had actually been Nami—the foolish girl they had deceived, who had placed her greatest hopes in accommodating their malice.
But Arlong did not see any problem with that.
They were fish-men!
A superior race above humans!
What was wrong with humans gathering intelligence for fish-men?
One day, they would drag the Celestial Dragons down from their lofty perch and take that supreme position for themselves!
"Something interesting?"
Nami relaxed, thought for a moment, then grinned. "Of course. But if you want to know..."
"Tsk, greedy little brat."
Arlong wore a false smile as he flicked out a gold coin.
The girl instantly displayed physical prowess no less impressive than a professional fighter. With sharp eyes and quick hands, she snatched the coin out of the air and tucked it into her collar.
"Does Captain Krieg count?"
Having taken the money, Nami immediately changed her expression.
"He recruited troops on a massive scale before this, expanding his crew from five hundred to a thousand. But he couldn't produce enough weapons to arm them, and he didn't even have enough qualified warships. Now he has fewer than seven hundred men left."
"Sha ha ha ha! That idiot..."
Not hearing the news he wanted, disappointment flashed through Arlong's eyes.
But he did not show it. He gestured dismissively. "Go. Don't leave these next few days. A big shot has come to the East Blue. You should know who."
Vice Admiral Momonga from Headquarters!
That name weighed heavily on the hearts of every pirate in the East Blue. The several pirates worth over a hundred million who had run into him by misfortune had made Momonga an inescapable nightmare for countless people.
"The Marines!"
Nami's expression darkened at once.
After she left, Kuroobi lowered his hand. "How about I go look? This area is only so big. No village would dare conceal information from us."
"No, there's no need."
Under the moonlight, a cold gleam flashed in Arlong's narrow eyes. "Kōbi and the others may not be primary combatants, but as my fish-man brethren, they are not opponents ordinary humans can deal with, much less when all four of them were together."
"The fact that they haven't sent back a single message by now can only mean the enemy they encountered is extremely troublesome."
"Perhaps..."
Kuroobi's expression tightened. The nearby fish-men who heard those words had bloodshot eyes, and a chilling beastly ferocity gathered in the air.
Perhaps what?
The answer was obvious.
"They said they were going out to search for clues, but they were really just out looking for fun."
Arlong pinched his chin as a vicious aura gathered around him.
"If that's the case, they definitely wouldn't have gone beyond this area... The enemy is already very close!"
"Uh, Brother Arlong, could the Marines have done it?"
Hachi, the octopus fish-man, asked foolishly.
"Didn't Rat say Momonga had gone to his branch? Maybe he heard some rumors?"
"That's possible, chu. After all, we have twenty villages' worth of hostages in our hands."
Chu nodded.
He had heard of Momonga's character—upright and impartial, benevolent and courageous, perfectly embodying anyone's admiration for justice.
"No matter who it is!!!"
The roar echoed through the empty Arlong's Territory. Arlong clenched his fist and smashed it into a concrete pillar, shattering it into pieces.
Amid the billowing dust, his voice was engraved with blazing hatred and a chill as deep as the netherworld.
"I will never forgive anyone who dares harm my brethren!"
"I will make him pay the price!!"
The enraged Arlong was terrifying beyond measure. Around the pool, fish-men lowered their heads one after another, not daring to look at him.
Behind the wall of a room, Nami crouched in a corner with a hand over her mouth, her eyes filled with disbelief.
No way, right?
Arlong's men had disappeared?
Those powerful, terrifying fish-men... could they be dead?
"This is a big deal!"
Nami suddenly heard a soft exclamation. Looking down, she saw a figure climbing down along the beams of the first floor, walking on tiptoe in a furtive manner.
She hurriedly hid herself in a dark corner, barely daring to breathe. With a floor between them, the person did not notice her.
After making sure no one was watching this way, the figure took advantage of the fish-men's inattention, leaped out, and nimbly slipped along a dim path before vaulting over the wall.
Who was that?
Watching the figure's disappearing back, Nami did not know.
But she knew that something major was bound to happen!
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