"It was all thanks to me!"
The little girl's smug voice came through the Den Den Mushi.
"I see. That's really impressive, Nana."
Bright sat on a battered stool and praised her.
Just minutes before he dealt with Hody, the whereabouts of the kidnapped mermaid girls had been discovered.
It had been quite a coincidence.
Bright had asked Aladdin to send a few fish-men to protect Mermaid Cafe, and Aladdin had immediately done so.
Several sharp and formidable fish-men promptly headed to Mermaid Cafe to serve as guards.
After spending the entire night in fear, the mermaid ladies finally felt at ease.
As dawn broke, their anxiety gradually faded. The mermaid ladies wanted to return to the mermaid apartments to change clothes. Girls did care about looking pretty.
The fish-men decided to send some people along with the mermaid ladies.
But would there be trouble on the way?
After all, the situation was tense right now.
Normally, there was no way to answer such a question without experiencing it firsthand, but they had Shyarly.
Shyarly performed a divination for the fish-men.
That single divination completely opened up the situation.
Shyarly saw the fish-men rescuing the imprisoned mermaids.
Although they still did not know where the mermaids were being held.
But because prophecies were bound to come true, it meant that no matter how the fish-men acted, they would definitely rescue the mermaids.
The fish-men were greatly encouraged and immediately notified Jinbe. Then, they escorted the mermaid ladies back to the mermaid apartments.
At first, nothing unexpected happened when they reached the mermaid apartments, but Little Sister Nana wanted to check whether her friends were safe.
And so, the turning point appeared.
Nana's friend lived in another apartment in Mermaid Bay, not far away.
But inside that apartment building, the fish-men discovered something strange.
Humans and fish-men were fighting.
And they were fighting to the death.
"Hody wanted the humans to kill those mermaids."
Jinbe's voice came through the Den Den Mushi. "But the humans refused."
"Although they were forced into it at first, when they really saw so many mermaids laid out before them, they could not bear to do it. That was why the conflict broke out."
"So this time, should we actually thank humanity's greed?"
Bright said casually.
Though it had ended somewhat anticlimactically, the matter had finally been resolved satisfactorily.
"Bright, stay in Fish-Man District for now. I'll be right there."
Jinbe said through the Den Den Mushi, "Someone wants to see you."
Bright could roughly guess who it was. "All right."
After putting down the Den Den Mushi, Bright stood. Hody's three subordinates had already completely passed out. Having taken only a few pills, they had endured Bright's merciless lightning head-on before he added a couple of kicks. They probably would not be opening their eyes anytime soon.
Bright walked into the dilapidated, swaying house.
"Brother Arlong, you're still alive, right?"
He crouched beside Arlong.
"I'm not dead yet."
Arlong, still lying in the hole in the floor, slowly sat up.
Enough time had passed for him to recover a little strength.
"Has everything been settled?" he asked.
"Yeah."
Bright nodded. "The mermaids have been rescued, and the humans working with Hody have been arrested as well."
"Tch, I never imagined that bastard Hody would be insane enough to go that far!"
Arlong gritted his teeth at the mention of Hody. If Bright had not arrived in time, he would already have been dead. "Working with filthy humans to harm his own people... What a piece of trash!"
You have no right to say that, Brother Arlong.
If I had not stopped you, wouldn't you have worked with humans too?
Bright smiled.
Still, if it were Brother Arlong, though he really was greedy for money, he would not have considered achieving his goals by persecuting his own people.
"Bright!"
Arlong suddenly became excited. "I understand now!"
Bright raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Understand what?
"No wonder you dared to talk so big. No wonder Jinbe said those things!"
Ignoring his injuries, Arlong reached up and grabbed Bright's arm. "You're incredibly strong!"
Just moments ago, he had witnessed Bright's power firsthand!
Overwhelming strength!
Hody had not even been able to fight back!
Even compared with Jinbe, the gap probably was not that great, was it?
This kid was only seventeen!
"If it's you, if it's you," Arlong said, his voice surging with excitement, "you can definitely make humans never dare act recklessly before us again! You can definitely build an unprecedented fish-man nation!"
Right then, he believed it without a doubt.
"Shahahahaha! But it's still too early to talk about that!"
Arlong said excitedly, "How about we first unite all of Fish-Man District?"
Brother Arlong, your train of thought jumps around a lot.
That was what Bright thought.
"With me and Jinbe supporting you, Fish-Man District can be brought under our control in an instant! What Brother Fisher Tiger once accomplished, you can accomplish too!"
Arlong's plan was clear. "There are hundreds of thousands of fish-men living here. If we can unite all of their strength, overthrowing Ryugu Palace won't be a problem!"
How had this suddenly turned into overthrowing Ryugu Palace?
"Then we can unite all the strength of Fish-Man Island. Once you become even stronger, who in these deep seas will dare cause trouble before us?"
Arlong laughed wildly.
"Then we can go even further—leave the deep sea, march onto the surface, and establish an unprecedented great fish-man nation! Make humanity pay the price!"
Step by step, steadily advancing.
Brother Arlong, who would have thought you were the cerebral type?
Bright could not help but smile.
"We'll talk about that later. Let's treat your injuries first."
It was not just Arlong. The others were badly injured too. Hody had not held back in the slightest.
While with the Sun Pirates, Bright had learned some emergency medical treatment from the ship's doctor, Aladdin. Now, it was finally useful.
Almost as soon as he had finished tending to Arlong and the others' injuries, a voice sounded from outside.
"Bright!"
It was Jinbe.
Bright walked out of the house.
A gigantic whale floated in the sky.
On the whale's back, the enormous king met Bright's gaze.
It was not unexpected.
Jinbe leaped down from atop the whale's head.
"Are you all right?"
he asked.
"I'm fine."
Bright shook his head. "But Brother Arlong and the others are seriously injured. I treated them a little, but Brother Aladdin will have to handle the rest."
"Good. They're already on their way."
Jinbe nodded. "Still, did Hody really beat Arlong and the others into this state? Was he really that strong?"
Bright picked up a large bag he had placed nearby. "Because of this. I found it on Hody and the others."
After being struck by lightning, he did not know whether it still worked.
Jinbe took the bag and opened it. Inside was some kind of medicine he did not recognize. "What is this?"
"Th-this is the energy steroid!"
A head leaned over from the side, looking down at the contents of the bag from above Jinbe.
Neptune's expression changed drastically. "It's a secret treasure that was stored inside the Tamate Box! A drug that can greatly increase the user's strength!"
"So this is the legendary one?"
Jinbe nodded. "Hody became a soldier for this! Could last night's disturbance have been meant to create an opportunity for theft?"
"In any case, well done, boy."
Neptune smiled at Bright. "If it hadn't been for you, this would surely have turned into a huge disaster."
Bright merely nodded casually.
"Bright, Neptune came specifically to see you." Jinbe smiled. "He wants to talk to you."
"Is that so?"
Bright looked at King Neptune.
Neptune said seriously, "Jinbe told me some things about you. He said you will be Fish-Man Island's future. So, what do you say, boy? How about joining the army? With Jinbe gone, the army needs someone to lead them forward."
That was not a bad proposal.
If he could take control of Fish-Man Island's army, perhaps he could directly pull off a peaceful transition.
"Before I answer that question, I have one question."
Bright said, "What are you planning to do, King Neptune?"
"After what happened this time, what do you plan to do? You can't wait until humans are discovered kidnapping mermaids every time before reacting, can you?"
Before you continue