Under the enormous, dragon-like surge of water, Kalle was sent flying. He crashed through several giant trees before hitting the ground, unconscious.
Zig took off his tattered shirt and bound it around his wound.
"Are you... all right?" Bellemere hesitated, then asked.
Zig glanced at the little girl in her arms. She looked about two or three years old. Considering how malnourished children at an orphanage might be, she could actually be a year older. Had Nami been this old when she was adopted?
But Zig shook his head a moment later. Things didn't necessarily happen the way they had in the original story... and what did any of that have to do with him?
"As a Navy petty officer, I can still take on ten more." Zig raised his sandbag-sized fist, wary that this woman might suddenly turn on him.
Bellemere was irritated by his answer, but couldn't find anything to say in response. After all, it was only natural for the Navy and pirates to be enemies.
Zig had taken off his shirt, making the sun tattoo on his back even more visible!
Thinking back to their chance encounter outside the tavern...
Bellemere realized that he must have recognized her identity back then. Could it be...?
"Are you human or a Fish-Man? What happened to Rear Admiral Kuri?" Bellemere asked, her expression growing serious.
Zig ignored the first question and said, "That curly-haired guy? He's alive. Our Captain doesn't kill. Once we deal with the Two-Headed Wolf, we'll probably let that useless Navy man go." As he spoke, he looked toward the harbor.
The sounds of battle coming from the harbor had gradually died down.
Bellemere, who had been worried about Machu Picchu Island, finally breathed a sigh of relief...
But when she realized that the ones who had reassured her were pirates, she felt conflicted again. What the Two-Headed Wolf's men had said earlier also weighed heavily on her mind.
A Navy officer had actually colluded with the slavers, while the pirates... had traveled thousands of miles to stop them after obtaining a mission report following a clash with the Navy?
It was absurd!
Zig had no time to worry about what was on her mind. Holding his wound, he headed toward the unconscious Kalle.
Just then, Hachi suddenly emerged from nearby. He had come specifically to find Zig. The Signal Gun had been fired in this direction, but when the Sea Bass drew near and they spotted the chaos at the harbor, the main force went to help. Hachi was sent to look for Zig, just in case.
He arrived just in time to see Zig knock Kalle flying. Still stunned by what he had witnessed, Hachi saw Zig move and hurried over, grabbing him. "Little Fei, Boss Tiger sent me to find you... Ah! You're hurt? We'd better go find Uncle Aladdin!"
Hachi couldn't read minds, but he could sense the killing intent radiating from Zig. He didn't say it outright, but he was reminding Zig of the ship's rules.
Now that Hachi had arrived and had a firm grip on his shoulder, Zig had no choice but to go with him toward town to meet up with the others. Above all, he needed to see Aladdin, the Ship Doctor.
Hachi breathed a sigh of relief. If Zig insisted on breaking the ship's rules, Hachi would have been torn about what to do.
Once he'd relaxed, Hachi gave Zig a suggestive look. "Should we treat her, too?"
Zig hesitated, then glanced at Bellemere. She was about to refuse when Zig said, "Yeah. You should capture her, too. She's Navy!"
Bellemere:!!!
"Huh? Huh?" Hachi had only seen Zig talking to the woman with the very shapely rear and hadn't paid attention to anything else.
By the time Zig returned to town, the Sun Pirates had indeed finished the battle.
Jinbe performed a "Water-Flow Shoulder Throw" with no real force behind it, using the motion of a Shoulder Throw to "hurl" a huge current from the sea toward the burning street in front of him.
Though it swept away several houses, the simple, direct move had at least put out the fire completely.
As for the Two-Headed Wolf Slaver Squad, the furious Fish-Men had already dealt with them thoroughly.
When Aladdin saw Zig and Hachi return, and noticed that Zig was injured, he hurriedly set down his trident and went to fetch his medical kit.
"Hahaha! No way, no way! One of our fighters actually got hurt!" Arlong immediately started mocking Zig when he spotted the injury.
"Brother Long, Little Fei's pretty strong. The guy he took down seems to have been their right claw... The one you beat was probably their left claw," Hachi said in Zig's defense. Arlong promptly smacked him on the head with the handle of his saw-toothed blade.
"Boss Tiger, Arlong keeps hitting our crew flag with his blade handle. I suspect he's dissatisfied with you," Zig immediately complained to Tiger.
Tiger jiggled his thick lips and ignored him...
"Tch. Did you fight him together after you arrived?" Arlong asked, sounding displeased.
The "left claw" Arlong had faced earlier hadn't been a match for him, but Arlong had still needed to put in some effort to take him down!
"No, no. When I got there, the guy was already down, and Little Fei was chatting with that woman with the very shapely rear," Hachi hurriedly explained, pointing at Bellemere, who was following behind them.
Zig: ...
Bellemere looked annoyed at Hachi's words, too.
Although Zig had told her she was Navy, Hachi hadn't actually "escorted" her there, since she'd shown no intention of running away.
Arlong looked at her with disgust. "A human woman? Why don't you leave the ship, too? You could find some human to dilute your noble Fish-Man blood, so you won't have to keep showing it off."
Along the way, the noncombatant female Mermaids had gradually been looking for chances to leave the ship. Relationships between female Mermaids and humans were fairly common.
Besides, once they reached the age of thirty, female Mermaids' tails turned into legs. So when the ship came ashore, many of them found true love and left.
After that, as long as they hid their status as escaped slaves...
Better yet, if they hid their Mermaid identities, too, they could live in peace.
Arlong was somewhat displeased by this. Humans were even worthy?
It was partly because Fish-Men and humans had different ideas of beauty, but also an extension of his resentment toward humans.
Still, Arlong had always been tolerant and friendly toward his own kind. He understood that this was indeed the best outcome for Mermaids who couldn't fight, so he accepted it.
But whenever it came up, he still wouldn't shut up about it!
"She's the Navy's undercover agent here," Zig said, rolling his eyes.
"The Navy?" Arlong glared at Bellemere viciously, then turned his glare on Zig, as if asking why he hadn't knocked her flying.
Was it because she had a shapely rear? Human standards of beauty were so shallow...
"I didn't expect the Navy's undercover agent to still be on the island, either. She was just about to go get the Navy to deal with the Two-Headed Wolf. But according to Wolf Tail, the Two-Headed Wolf's undercover man at the orphanage, they should have an insider in the Navy. That curly-haired guy was transferred here to hunt us down, too, but it was to buy the Two-Headed Wolf time," Zig explained briefly.
Arlong responded with a "Tch," let loose a string of profanities at the Navy, then gave Bellemere a displeased look.
After hearing Zig's explanation, Tiger had already started walking toward Bellemere. Compared to her, Arlong preferred vicious Navy officers. Even if he couldn't kill them, at least he could give them a good beating.
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