Sea Beasts Have No Sense of Pain!

Yet the Sea Cow Moomoo paid no heed at all to the three human morsels aboard the ship.

After emerging from the water, its gaze remained fixed solely on the grilled meat scattered across the deck.

At that moment, Will, standing in the shadow cast by the Sea Cow Moomoo, suddenly spoke:

"In the past two years and more, I've encountered many Sea Beasts."

"And after multiple battles with them, I've reached a startling conclusion."

"Any creature feels pain when attacked, but Sea Beasts do not!"

"Because every time I felled one with a single punch, they never once let out a cry!"

Just then, the Sea Cow Moomoo, which had been about to lunge toward the meat on the ship and bite down hard, suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of malice rushing in from all directions.

The Sea Cow Moomoo couldn't help but shiver, and a torrent of cold sweat broke out on its brow.

When it came to its senses and looked down, it found that the slightly larger human had already vanished.

Before the Sea Cow Moomoo could react, Will's figure had already appeared beside its head, raising a powerful arm.

Tekkai: Iron Elbow!

Boom—!

With a violent impact, Will's elbow, like a siege weapon, slammed fiercely into the Sea Cow Moomoo's head!

The Sea Cow Moomoo's skull instantly caved in, then quickly swelled into a massive lump.

At the same time, its pupils trembled wildly before losing color and rolling white; its mouth hung open, yet no sound escaped.

Then it toppled backward with a thunderous splash into the sea, its enormous body sending up a spray of water.

Splash.

Having dealt with the Sea Beast, Will landed steadily on the deck, hands back in his pockets, his gaze stern as he reaffirmed:

"It took a heavy blow from me without a single cry—Sea Beasts truly have no sense of pain."

Nami, standing nearby, found this a bit exasperated and couldn't help but retort:

"Um, is there a chance this Sea Beast didn't cry out because it simply didn't have time?"

"Exactly, exactly." Carina nodded quickly in agreement.

"How could that be?" Will immediately dismissed the idea. "You're underestimating the strength of Sea Beasts."

With that, he didn't bother to argue further, walked back on his own, sat down, picked up the grilled meat, and resumed eating heartily.

Nami and Carina exchanged helpless glances, then sat down together to continue their meal.

After all, whether Sea Beasts felt pain or not wasn't something worth worrying about to them.

Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, Will and the others paid no attention to the Sea Cow Moomoo still floating on the sea, and set sail once more toward the Konomi Islands.

Before long, Will and his companions smoothly docked the ship.

But as they stepped ashore, what they saw was a desolate, ruined, uninhabited town.

"What... what happened here?!"

Nami stared in shock at the once-familiar town, unable to understand why it had become like this upon their return.

"Is this the Gosa Town you mentioned earlier?"

Will looked around, finding no trace of anyone else, and after sensing the surroundings, found nothing either.

Clearly, the area near this town had become a no-man's land.

Carina crossed her arms, her expression grave as she spoke slowly:

"Another port town, but this one's in far worse shape than Orange Town."

In Gosa Town now, every building had been forcibly uprooted, roofs pointing downward as they stood inverted on the ground.

The entire street had been completely destroyed, as if some massive creature had plowed through it.

Nami quickly snapped back to reality and said hurriedly:

"Let's go to my house first and find my sister—she should know what happened here."

"And as for those fish-men, since I've been gone so long, I don't know if Arlong is still holed up in Arlong Park."

Will and Carina had no objection to this.

So the three of them didn't linger any longer and, led by Nami, headed toward the west side of town.

They passed through a dense forest.

The three of them arrived beside a tangerine grove.

Here, Nami's expression visibly relaxed.

They walked straight in.

They saw a girl with short blue hair reaching up to pick tangerines.

A flash of joy passed through Nami's eyes, and she quickly waved and shouted, "Nojiko!"

"Huh?"

Nojiko heard the familiar voice and turned around in surprise: "Nami?"

Then she immediately noticed the tall, handsome man standing behind Nami.

Looking at him, who was at least a meter taller than herself, Nojiko couldn't help but silently marvel:

"This guy looks like he's even taller than Arlong of the fish-men."

Then she crossed her arms, turned her gaze to Nami, and couldn't help but tease with a smile:

"You've grown up, Nami, actually bringing a man home with you."

"But with a build that strong and powerful, can you handle it all by yourself?"

Nami, who had been about to say something, blushed at these words and quickly explained:

"Nojiko! What nonsense are you talking about?"

"He's... my captain, and also my benefactor. He saved my life not long ago."

"Oh?" Nojiko's eyes flickered with surprise, and she quickly looked at Will to thank him seriously:

"Thank you very much for saving Nami. I appreciate you taking care of her during this time."

"It's nothing." Will didn't say much, just nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

Then, as if he were in his own garden, he walked over, picked a few tangerines that looked juicy and delicious, tossed two to Carina, who was following behind, and then threw the whole thing into his mouth, not even bothering to peel it.

As he ate, the juice burst in his mouth.

Will's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help praising, "These tangerines are well grown. Sweet."

Nojiko was momentarily stunned, then couldn't help but smile: "Thanks for the compliment."

Then, as if remembering something, she turned and asked curiously:

"By the way, Nami, you just said he's your captain?"

"But didn't you already join Arlong's gang a long time ago?"

Hearing this, Nami's expression turned serious, and she got straight to the point:

"The thing is..."

A moment later.

"What did you say? He's going to defeat Arlong and those fish-men?!"

After listening to Nami's account of what happened, Nojiko looked in shock at Will, who was silently standing off to the side.

"That's right." Nami nodded in confirmation, her tone earnest: "That's why we came to find you first—to find out the latest situation with Arlong's gang."

Nojiko's thoughts were a bit jumbled at the moment.

Her little sister Nami suddenly coming home—she had been quite happy about it.

But she never expected Nami to give up the savings plan she had stuck to for so many years and instead put her trust in this man in front of her.

Although she had always supported her sister's decisions, she still harbored doubts about Will's strength in her heart.

Because she simply didn't believe that humans could defeat those vicious fish-men.

Even she and Nami's mother, Bellemere, had died a tragic death at the hands of the fish-man Arlong.