I'm Here and Still Alive, So Didn't I Come for Nothing? (Seeking Reads)

Standing beside A Jian, Nojiko seemed to notice Nami's confusion and quickly explained with a hint of apology:

"Sorry, Nami."

"That agreement you made with Arlong—I actually told the villagers about it a long time ago."

"Everyone pretended not to know and kept up that attitude toward you because they didn't want you to bear too much psychological burden."

"Psychological burden?" Nami blinked in surprise.

"That's right." A Jian nodded seriously:

"We deliberately showed you that distant attitude so that, if you couldn't scrape together 100 million Berries,"

"you could stop worrying about our safety and slip away alone without any guilt."

"No longer under Arlong's threats and control."

All the villagers nodded in unison with smiles at this point.

Clearly, that was what everyone had in mind.

"You all... everyone..."

Nami was stunned speechless, her heart overflowing with emotion as her eyes grew moist again.

She pressed her lips tightly, holding back tears, and a radiant smile broke across her face:

"Thank you... thank you, everyone."

After learning the truth behind their distance, Nami felt everything she had done in the past was truly worth it.

"No."

A Jian shook his head slightly, a smile appearing on his stern face as he said gratefully:

"We should be the ones thanking you, Nami."

With that, he quickly turned to the two people beside Nami and solemnly expressed his thanks: "And you two as well—thank you so much for your help!"

Nojiko, standing nearby, froze for a moment before awkwardly realizing

that in her earlier haste, she had only given the villagers a rough explanation.

She hadn't even had time to introduce Will and Carina.

Nami noticed this too and immediately began introducing the two to the villagers with a smile.

Then she recounted how the three of them had met before.

When he heard that Will had already saved Nami once, A Jian quickly expressed his gratitude again.

At the same time, the look in his eyes toward Will grew more and more approving.

"What a shame—we didn't get to help much."

A villager still holding a water pipe said with a rather regretful expression.

Hearing this, Will, who had been silent all along, looked thoughtful and suddenly spoke:

"Actually, there is something you all can help with."

"Huh?" A Jian and the villagers were taken aback.

Will reminded them: "You've probably noticed—there are still quite a few fishmen here who aren't dead yet."

"So, you wouldn't want any survivors to cause the people in the surrounding villages to suffer retaliation from the fishmen afterward, would you?"

"This..." The more simple-hearted villagers exchanged blank looks, clearly not fully understanding.

But A Jian immediately grasped Will's meaning and confirmed in a serious tone:

"Mr. Will, are you saying you want us to finish off the fishmen who are still alive?"

"That's right." Will nodded slowly, his gaze profound as he said:

"I'm a bit tired, so—can you help with this?"

At this point, the villagers also understood what Will meant, and their expressions varied.

Some were nervous, some excited, some expectant, and even a few were delighted.

But not a single one showed fear or reluctance!

"No problem! Leave it to us!"

"Exactly! We're already here!"

"Don't worry! There definitely won't be any survivors!"

"That's right, that's right!"

The villagers shouted loudly as they picked up various weapons and spread out on their own, beginning to carefully check every corner around them.

Once they spotted a fish-man still breathing, the villagers would swarm in and beat him to death with clubs.

These fish-men had already been crippled by Will, completely unable to resist, left to helplessly take the beating and await death.

"This..." Nami was shocked by the sight, muttering to herself:

"Why is everyone so eager?"

Just then, Carina walked over and quietly explained:

"Haven't you noticed? They've probably been holding in a huge rage all this time."

"So after hearing Will's words, when they got a chance to take revenge with their own hands, how could they not be eager?"

"So that's it..."

Nami understood immediately and couldn't help sighing inwardly.

Come to think of it, under Arlong's gang's rule.

Most people in the village had suffered oppression and humiliation from the fish-men.

Everyone must have been filled with hatred toward them.

Will had naturally seen this too, which was why he deliberately let these people handle the cleanup just now.

His goal was to see.

Whether these people, oppressed by fish-men for so long, still had any blood in them, whether they dared to strike at fish-men at all.

The result left him quite satisfied.

So Will stopped watching the villagers gleefully finishing off the wounded and began to ponder.

From the moment he decided to come to Arlong Park, he never planned to let a single fish-man go.

He couldn't care less whether Nami might choose to forgive them later.

Will only knew that when he first read this manga arc, he felt extremely disgusted by these fish-men's actions.

Now that he had a chance to personally kill them, he wasn't about to let it slip.

"If I hadn't come to the pirate world, these fish-men would live. If I did come to the pirate world, these fish-men would still live."

"Then wouldn't my coming have been for nothing!"

The more Will thought about it, the more it made sense, and he nodded to himself.

A moment later.

After the villagers searched repeatedly, not a single fish-man survived in the end.

"Good, good. That's how it should be."

"The fish-men came all the way to the East Blue together, so when they leave, they should go together too."

Will nodded in satisfaction, approving of the villagers' courage to kill the fish-men.

Then he used his Observation Haki to carefully sense again, making sure no fish-man had escaped death.

But the next second.

Will's expression suddenly paused, and he slowly turned to look at the southern gate connected to the sea.

"What's wrong?"

Carina keenly noticed Will's reaction and asked curiously.

"A ship is coming from the sea."

The moment Will finished speaking.

A large ship's bow emerged, gradually appearing on the southern horizon.

Nami and the villagers also noticed this and looked over.

As the ship drew closer.

A few sharp-eyed villagers shouted: "It's a Marine battleship!"

"Huh? Why are the Marines here?!"

Nami's gaze sharpened, her expression turning uncertain.

Because she had once accidentally seen Marines meeting privately with Arlong's fish-men.

But unfortunately, under the watch of other fish-men, she hadn't been able to make out those Marines' faces.

So Nami couldn't tell whether these approaching Marines were friend or foe.

Yet when she saw Will beside her still calm and composed, she relaxed again.

Then she turned to reassure the other villagers.