Destroy the Fishmen!

Bang...!

This time, the terrifying energy fluctuation formed visible transparent ripples that swiftly surged toward Arlong.

The muffled, piercing sound of exploding air made hearts tremble.

The spell "Limb Dissolution" possessed the mana level of two stars. Even with a soul more than ten times stronger than an ordinary person's, Lowett could not conceal its traces.

"Move!"

Sensing danger, Arlong struggled like mad, resisting the encroaching agony. But Lowett had personally taken the risk of drawing him over; the killing blow had already been set.

If he still could not hit the target from this close, he should consider changing professions.

Bzz!!

Without question, the spell's power struck his body the next instant.

Arlong's legs gave out, and like a drunk man, he shoved against the broken concrete pillar as he toppled forward.

This was a real case of his legs giving out!

The soles of his feet, farthest from his heart, softened first.

The bones that should have been hard within them became as soft as rubber. As he pitched forward, his feet scraped against the ground and folded inward at a seventy-degree angle.

And throughout the process, he did not even feel pain.

"That's impossible!"

Lying facedown on the ground, Arlong's eyes were filled with disbelief.

This was a fishman's body, the body he had always taken pride in!

How had it become so limp?

Yet at that moment, his steel-like bones had turned soft, his firm, powerful muscles began to melt, and even the teeth that a Sawshark Fishman was most proud of started to loosen and fall out.

"Nothing is impossible. This is magic, the crystallization of wisdom!"

Lowett's airy voice came from behind him. Arlong gritted his teeth fiercely, spun around, and flung away a bloody tear.

"Fish-Man Karate: Strike Water!"

As a captain, he had once followed the "hero" Tiger and fought across the Grand Line. His strength far surpassed that of ordinary fishmen.

For example, the water bullets from this Strike Water possessed several times the piercing power of Choo's water cannonballs!

Crack!!

The water bullet struck its target successfully, and the familiar sound of bones cracking brought delight to Arlong's face.

"Did I kill him?"

"What the hell are you smoking?"

Necromancer's Summoning: Bone Shield!

A thick Bone Shield floated out of thin air before Lowett. The water bullet struck the skull's forehead at the center of the shield, blasting out crack after crack.

At once, the skull seemed to have been enraged. Blue-green Ghost Fire blazed in its eye sockets as it glared furiously at... Lowett.

"Hey, Mage, does this count as a workplace injury?!"

The skull cried out indignantly, leaving Arlong dumbfounded.

You were the one talking just now too, weren't you?

What the hell was this thing?!

And what the hell had he been fighting?!

Seeing Arlong's disbelieving eyes, Lowett's mouth twitched.

"Fine. How about I give you one-third of his soul?"

"Thank you, sir, for your generous reward!"

Its tone changed instantly!

The skull turned toward Arlong again. Amid continuous cracking sounds, the entire shield expanded to more than twice its size. It grew from a washbasin-sized shield into a giant tower shield large enough to cover its entire body.

"You were slacking off on purpose?!"

Now it was Lowett's turn to be shocked. He had thought his luck was bad and that he had summoned a low-ranking ghostbone, but this thing had been pretending to be weak.

If he had not agreed to compensate it just now, the shield would definitely have turned on him.

"When did the underworld's customs decay to this extent?"

Lowett looked utterly heartbroken.

As Undead creatures personally created by the land of the Bone Mountains, weren't they supposed to devote their entire existence to fulfilling their contracts?

But the skeleton did not reply. Like a truly lifeless object, its expression did not change.

Lowett: "..."

"Tch, the daily life of a Necromancer... You're taking advantage of the fact that I'm only an Elementary Mage, aren't you?!"

He sighed, and when he lowered his head, calm returned to his face.

"Mercy that embraces all is true mercy. Mercy that depends on the person is hypocrisy."

"Hypocrite will be your new name."

"Never!"

Arlong snapped awake and struggled to his feet.

Lowett wanted this body as material, so the spell's effects had not completely destroyed it.

Crack... crack...

Amid snapping sounds, Arlong tore out his teeth and gripped one in each hand.

The sharp teeth that had sprung out so quickly in the original story now grew slowly. Several seconds passed before they returned to their original appearance.

He panted heavily as he stared at Lowett.

"We are a superior species, greater than humans! We stand above humanity!"

"The fishman race will never be slaves!!"

With that, Arlong launched his final charge at Lowett.

Faced with this, Lowett remained calm and suddenly asked, "Who said I wanted to enslave you?"

"Uh?!!"

Arlong slammed to a stop, his eyes widening.

"Do you see that chair?"

Lowett pointed at the beach chair beneath the eaves, which was still standing firm. It was probably one of the few objects on the entire battlefield that remained intact.

Arlong looked in that direction, his expression blank.

"Do you think you enslaved it?"

Devil!

Arlong's scalp went numb instantly. His blue skin flushed red, and his whole body trembled.

"You bas—!"

Pssh!!

Before he could finish half a syllable, five sharp steel claws suddenly pierced through the flesh at the back of his neck and burst out from his Adam's apple.

"You...?!!"

Arlong's eyes widened in disbelief as he tried to turn around.

Another sound of tearing flesh followed. Five more claws ripped open his back, dug out his heart, and completely extinguished his life.

Hiss... ha...

The Black Knight in Spider Transformation had blood-red eyes. Cold breath poured from its mouth and drifted past Arlong's ear.

Thud!

Arlong fell with rage still written across his face. Before dying, he glanced outside the gate and saw that Kuroobi's corpse had been split in two, long since torn to pieces by the Black Knight.

While he had turned back after being toyed with by Lowett, the Black Knight had decisively used Silent Step to approach and eliminate its master's opponent.

"Wisdom is the most powerful weapon of intelligent life. The body... is merely experimental material with high Soul Compatibility."

"Judging the superiority of a race by the quality of its body is ignorance!"

Turning away indifferently, Lowett watched the undead slaughter the fishmen across the field. He accepted the handkerchief offered by the Black Knight and wiped the blood from his face.

"Kill them all!"

"Roar!"

Thud!

With a heavy impact, Nojiko landed on the ground, clutching her bleeding knee as she groaned in pain.

"Hurry, Arlong... Arlong has been killed!"

Kensuke crouched at the stairway entrance with an iron sword he had picked up, unable to stop himself from shouting anxiously.

He had guessed that Arlong would not be a match for that young man. After all, the man's composure from beginning to end was difficult to find in someone who knew his opponent was stronger.

Either they would grit their teeth and fight to the death, or their fighting spirit would burn fiercely.

Only someone who clearly understood the gap between himself and his opponent could display such calmness.

But Kensuke had not expected Arlong to lose so quickly.

How long had it been?

Ten minutes?

And that included the time he had spent eating an apple while waiting for the black beast to chase Arlong around in a panic.

Killing fishmen was as easy as killing chickens for that man. If they were discovered, Kensuke did not hold much hope for their fate.

"I know!"

Nojiko endured her fear and pain as she stood up and searched along the corridor.

During Arlong's pursuit by the black beast, the interior of Arlong's Territory had already been left riddled with holes and nearly impassable. Recalling what Nami had told her, Nojiko carefully searched through the ruins.

Finally, her eyes lit up.

"Found it!"

This was Nami's room!

Suppressing her joy, Nojiko tried the doorknob, then pushed the door open.

"Nami, I..."

Her voice stopped the instant the words left her mouth.

The room was covered in scraps of paper. Precious sea charts stained with bloody tears had been torn apart and scattered everywhere.

But that was not what shocked Nojiko.

What shocked her was the orange-haired girl crouching beneath the desk with her face buried in her knees, sitting in a pool of blood.

Drip...

Blood ran down her long hair and dripped onto the floor, staining a fragment of a sea chart red.

"Nami!!!"

Nojiko let out a heart-rending scream and rushed over.

Outside the room, Lowett and the Black Knight turned around at the same time. Lowett frowned, his expression startled.

"Strange. Why is her Life Aura so weak? The Soul Chasing Beast wouldn't attack any creature other than its target."

Lowett had known perfectly well that someone else was in the room, and he knew exactly who it was.

He had sent out the Soul Chasing Beast not only to force Arlong into providing body data, but also to prevent wide-range magic from catching her in its effects.

Yet why had something still gone wrong?

"What a hassle!"

After thinking for a moment, Lowett said, "Ignore the remaining fishmen. The longer we delay, the less safe it is. Move the corpses immediately and leave. I'll be right back."

"Roar!"

Having received its orders, the Black Knight turned and vanished into the air.

Kuro traveling with Silent Step—just how terrifying was that?

When Lowett reached the second floor, Nojiko and Kensuke were gathered beside Nami, tears streaming down their faces.

"How could you be so foolish, Nami?!"

Kensuke was overwhelmed with grief.

"It's okay, Uncle Kensuke."

Hearing his voice, Nami raised a hand and touched his withered palm, holding it in her own.

"Arlong is dead, and I'm blind too. I'm useless now, so no one can use you to threaten me into drawing sea charts for them anymore."

The orange-haired girl revealed a gentle yet strong smile and lifted her head, her face covered in blood.

But what was horrifying was that where her eyes should have been, there were now only two pitch-black holes.

To ensure that the same thing would never happen again, Nami had destroyed her own eyes!