The Haze Clears

"Don't be ridiculous."

Genzo looked around, breaking into a wry smile as he said, "They're all fish-men. What could I possibly do? Any one of them could knock me flying with a single slap."

Come to think of it.

When he had been riding his bicycle along the ridge toward this place, he had spotted the figures coming ashore from a distance. When he realized they were fish-men, his heart had immediately sunk.

He had seen reports about these guys in the newspapers.

They were all pirates who had once belonged to the Sun Pirates. They had come to the East Blue from the Grand Line, and their strength was far beyond that of any pirate crew in the East Blue.

But who could have expected this?

In less than twenty minutes after these fish-men landed, they had all become corpses.

Although Genzo had witnessed how outrageous Xia Nuo's performance had been while tempering his body, how could that compare with the shock of seeing, with his own eyes, these pirates from the Grand Line wiped out to the last man?

"Xia Nuo." Genzo sighed. "You really are an outright monster. It looks like our Cocoyasi Village will finally produce an extraordinary big shot in the future."

"Is that so?"

Xia Nuo laughed heartily, stretched, and stood up.

"But right now, I just want to go home and sleep in. I'll leave the battlefield cleanup to you, Uncle. Sorry for the trouble."

Genzo nodded, but before he could say anything, his eyes suddenly widened as he looked behind Xia Nuo.

What was going on?

Xia Nuo turned to look as well, just in time to see the sea in the distance churning violently.

A huge sea beast covered in green spots, with a cow-like appearance, emerged from the water and stared blankly at the corpses covering the ground.

"MooMoo?"

Only then did he remember that this was the sea beast raised by the Arlong Pirates.

Had it come out now to avenge Arlong?

Xia Nuo grinned and leaped onto the front of the deck. He was no longer the little brat who had been forced to swallow his pride when facing the King of the Near Sea.

MooMoo was several times larger than the King of the Near Sea, but with Xia Nuo's current physical strength, it probably couldn't even withstand a single punch from him.

Moo—!

But in the next moment, MooMoo raised its head and let out a joyful cry. It spat a large mouthful of saliva at the fish-men corpses, then bowed its two forelimbs toward Xia Nuo...

"I'm not seeing things, am I, Xia Nuo?" Genzo asked in astonishment from the shore. "Is this thing clasping its forelimbs to thank you?"

It certainly seemed that way.

Xia Nuo was stunned as well. His clenched fist hovered uncertainly, and he didn't know whether he should throw the punch.

But MooMoo gave him little time to think. It turned around, leaped away, and happily bounded into the sea, swishing its tail. Before long, it had vanished without a trace.

"This scene feels strangely familiar."

Xia Nuo rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought.

Could it be that Shirahoshi is actually an impostor, and he's the real Sea King Poseidon of this generation?

Half an hour later.

Villagers began arriving one after another to help clean up the battlefield at the dock.

Earlier, when the children had brought news that a pirate crew had landed, everyone in the village had panicked. Only after hearing that Xia Nuo had already rushed over did they calm down.

And Xia Nuo had lived up to everyone's expectations. He had actually annihilated the entire pirate crew single-handedly.

As for the excessively bloody scene around the dock...

No one wondered whether it was too cruel. Everyone believed that these pirates had gotten what they deserved. If not for Xia Nuo, the ones lying in pools of blood today might have been them!

Especially after Genzo called the other villages and towns around the island to ask about their situation.

To his surprise, he learned that neighboring Kesha Town had already been completely destroyed by the Arlong Pirates. More than half the people in the town had been killed or wounded. Along with their righteous fury, everyone also felt a lingering fear and was grateful for their escape.

Fortunately, their Cocoyasi Village had produced such an extraordinary strongman!

That was what had prevented a tragic ending.

On the ridge beneath the shade of the coconut trees.

Xia Nuo walked leisurely toward home with his arms folded behind his head. He wasn't running, nor was he using Soru to travel. His pace was even slower than that of an old man taking his morning stroll.

Four years had passed in the blink of an eye since he awakened his memories. It had been a long time since he had completely relaxed like this.

Arlong was dead.

The Arlong Pirates had been wiped out.

This meant that the dark clouds and gloom hanging over Cocoyasi Village had finally dispersed, and the heavy stone that had weighed on his heart for so long had completely shattered.

"What beautiful weather."

Xia Nuo looked up at the blue sky and white clouds, feeling relaxed and refreshed.

His thoughts drifting back, he casually opened the System Panel.

The village uncles had been left to handle the battlefield cleanup, but Xia Nuo naturally hadn't forgotten to claim the spoils he was entitled to.

Before Genzo arrived, he had already tried sacrificing almost everything that could be offered.

There had been a large number of named fish-men corpses, providing ample opportunities for trial and error and giving him a new understanding of the system's rules.

Aside from beloved personal belongings.

Arms, legs, and feet seemed to be the limit of what the system could accept. It couldn't directly sacrifice an entire corpse, and even severed heads couldn't be sacrificed.

The little head was out of the question too.

It was as though the system had also been restricted by the Crab Harmonization Deity. Anything too dark, bloody, or heretical was not included on the list of sacrificial offerings.

Xia Nuo could understand that.

In the end, he organized and tallied everything according to the information flow on the System Panel.

Executives like Salt-Baked, Little Wu, and Pizarro, who had little substance and barely any role in the story, provided pitifully few points—an average of only twenty or thirty.

Executives like Kuroobi and Hachi, who possessed some strength, provided anywhere from several dozen to two hundred points.

Even combined, they were nowhere near Arlong's total.

He had cut off Arlong's arm bearing the red tattoo and gained as many as eight hundred points after sacrificing it, enough to buy a decent cultivation Secret Manual from the shop.

Naturally, good things couldn't be wasted.

Xia Nuo touched his trouser pocket. Arlong's nose and several fangs were still inside. These were reserves. He would find a secluded place to freeze them, then sacrifice one each time the cooldown ended.

The behavior was a little immoral, but Arlong probably wouldn't mind.

"Big brother!"

A familiar voice suddenly rang out. Xia Nuo looked up and saw Nojiko and Nami running toward him excitedly.

"You really defeated the pirates who came to invade us, didn't you?"

"Yep." He picked up one in each arm and laughed. "But you two are late. The battle ended a while ago."

"Hmph, I knew it! Easy as pie! Some of the children in the village were worried that you might not be able to beat them alone. What a bunch of clueless idiots. Don't they know what the greatest Great Swordsman in the East Blue is?"

Nami, why are you still making things up?!

Xia Nuo rubbed her hair irritably. You're the clueless one, you little brat. How many times have you secretly watched me train, and you still haven't realized that I don't know the first thing about swordsmanship?!

"Are you taking us home?" Nojiko asked.

"No!"

Nami puffed out her cheeks and shook her head like a rattle drum. "We just sneaked out! We still want to see what those pirates actually look like."

"It's too bloody. Not suitable for children. You're not going."

Xia Nuo grabbed Nami, who was trying to slip away from beneath his arm. He ignored the little girl's lips, which had already puckered into the shape of a teapot, and looked at her arm.

Then he looked at Nojiko's.

Both little arms were fair and clean, without the slightest trace of tattoos. There was no need to use a knife to stab or pierce them, making them cry out in pain...

"Hey, Big Brother, what are you staring at?"

Nami glared at Xia Nuo in dissatisfaction. "Are you trying to secretly tattle to Bellemere again? I took a bath last night, and I washed my hair too!"

"Then you're a very sensible girl."

Xia Nuo laughed heartily, raised both sisters high above his head, then set them on his broad shoulders. Bathed in the warm afternoon sunlight, he strode toward home.