The Horn Before Dawn

"Ahhh!!!" Aaron swung his arms in the wind, his legs kicking wildly as he swayed through the jungle. Twisting and leaping from place to place, he somehow did not touch a single branch.

Bang!

Then he crashed into an orange tree.

He really could not take a compliment.

Aaron's face was pressed tightly against the trunk, his arms and legs stretched out stiffly. After a long while, he slowly peeled himself off the tree and fell to the ground.

Aaron stared blankly at the blue sky as a long red mark gradually appeared on his face.

White clouds slowly drifted into his view. Their leisurely movement made his eyelids droop bit by bit.

So peaceful...

"Stop right there!" Nami's furious shout from afar startled Aaron into sitting bolt upright.

"Nami..." Aaron sprang up from the ground. This time, he did not even bother dusting himself off before hurrying into the orange grove.

Before that.

Not long after Aaron ran off, Nami returned home.

After talking with Nojiko for a while, she lay her head on the table and fell asleep, exhausted yet at ease.

After draping a piece of clothing over Nami, Nojiko went to find the Straw Hat crew, intending to meet the pirates who had had such a great influence on her younger sister.

Nami woke from her sleep. She seemed to have had a pleasant dream, and all the sorrow on her face had vanished. Her usual vitality had returned. Touching the clothes draped over her shoulders, she unconsciously smiled.

"It is time to set sail... and steal again!" Nami murmured.

Just then, the sound of a large group of people marching came from outside, putting her on alert and leaving her somewhat puzzled.

Who... would come here?

With that question in mind, Nami opened the door. "The Marines and... Genzo?"

The Marine at the front stopped when he saw Nami emerge, raising a hand to stop the soldiers and Genzo behind him from advancing.

He must be the commander, Nami thought.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak! I am Captain Nezumi of the Sixteenth Marine Branch... Are you the criminal called Nami?" The captain was a shifty-eyed man with a goatee, long whisker-like sideburns, and a rat-shaped hat.

He did not look like a good person.

"A criminal? Well... I am a pirate, so I suppose I am quite the criminal." Nami crossed her arms and leaned casually against the wall, looking entirely unafraid. "But I am one of Arlong's officers. Since you are a captain, I assume you understand that if you lay a hand on me, Arlong will not stand by and do nothing. So, what do you want?"

Although she hated Arlong to the bone, Nami was thoroughly practiced at using his name to intimidate others.

It would be wonderful if she could intensify the conflict between Arlong and the Marines and have the Marines deal with him.

It was a desperate wish hidden in the deepest part of Nami's heart, one that even Nami herself had never realized she held.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!" Captain Nezumi cackled strangely. Lowering his head, he played with the brim of his hat. "What are you talking about? Pirates? I never received any information like that."

He raised his head, revealing a lecherous grin. The greed in his eyes gave Nami a faintly ominous feeling. "Relax. I am not here to lay a hand on you. However, I did receive information that you are a thief..."

"What?!" Nami cried out involuntarily.

"I heard you stole quite a lot of treasure from pirates. Since the people you stole from were pirates, I do not intend to make things difficult for you. But theft is theft, and a crime is a crime!"

"...What do you mean?" Nami stared at Captain Nezumi as the sense of dread in her heart grew stronger.

"It means every bit of treasure you have stolen so far must be handed over to us for the government to safeguard!"

"What did you say?!" Nami shouted.

"Find the stolen goods!" "Yes, sir!"

At Captain Nezumi's command, the soldiers behind him swarmed around Nami, carrying their rifles as they tried to force their way into her home.

"Stop! Stop right there!"

Nami grabbed a staff and struck down the Marines trying to invade her home. Like an enraged lioness, she watched the soldiers warily.

"Is this what Marines are supposed to be doing? Arlong's crew is destroying towns and killing people without restraint! You all know that! Is that not the more urgent problem?!" Nami roared. "Because of his rule, everyone on this island has become his slave! Instead of addressing that, you are only here to take all the stolen goods from a thief. Is this the government's attitude?!"

Captain Nezumi remained unmoved. He sneered at Nami. "A thief is a thief. Do not pretend to be noble and say such grand things."

"Do not mind her. Keep searching!"

"Captain! There is something strange about that patch of ground!"

"Dig it up!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Do not touch Bellemere's orange grove with your filthy hands!" Nami swung her wooden staff fiercely at the soldier's neck. The tremendous force knocked him unconscious at once. "I will not let you touch that money! That money is... that money is!"

"That money is what this girl has been using to save this village! Do you Marines still have the right to take it?!" Genzo suddenly roared.

"What? Genzo, you..." Nami looked at Genzo in shock.

"We all know, Nami." Genzo adjusted his hat. "Back then, your actions were impossible for us to understand, so we pressed Nojiko for answers... Everyone in the village knows everything now."

"What..." Nami could hardly believe it.

"But we thought that if you knew we knew, then when you wanted to leave this place, you might be held back by our expectations... So we did not tell you."

Such kind villagers... They were really... foolish beyond belief.

"How could this be..." Nami stared blankly at Genzo.

"What are you people talking about? Are you saying the whole village is full of thieves and needs to be arrested? Surely that is not it?" Captain Nezumi waved a hand smugly.

"We are saying that people like you in the government are completely unreliable, so we can only fight for our own survival!"

"Uh... What are you doing? Why did you dig a hole to trip me?"

Nojiko came up from the path, while Aaron ran out from the orange grove.

Nojiko shouted furiously, while Aaron had tripped over a pit dug by the soldiers.

"Where did this brat come from? Get lost!" A soldier yanked Aaron out and threw him aside.

"Aaron..." Nami said.

"If you do not intend to deal with this village, then disappear already! If you keep dawdling, Arlong will attack you too!" As expected of sisters, they were equally skilled at invoking Arlong's name.

"Oh? And what will happen then..." Yet Captain Nezumi looked even less concerned than they did, a strange smile on his face.

Then he turned and shouted at the soldiers, "Still have not found it?! You are not looking for grains of rice! It is one hundred million Beli! It cannot be that hard to find!"

"What?!" Nami said in shock.

"How do you know the exact amount?!" Genzo demanded.

"Huh? Well... I just... had a feeling it was around that much Beli," Captain Nezumi mumbled vaguely, brushing it aside.

Could it be... A terrifying thought suddenly flashed through Nami's mind.

"Captain! We found the stolen goods!" a soldier suddenly reported.

"What stolen goods?" Hearing an unfamiliar term, Aaron curiously leaned closer. Amid the piled dirt, he saw a chest filled with Beli. But the Beli was covered in dried blood and dark yellow mud, making it look unbearably filthy.

"So this is stolen goods..." Aaron looked away. "It really is dirty..."

Suddenly, Nojiko's words about Nami from earlier resurfaced in his mind.

That was money Nami had stolen!

That was the money Nami had painstakingly saved bit by bit to buy back the village!

It was money Nami had risked her life to wrench from the jaws of pirates over the past several years!

It was not just Beli. It was Nami's hopes and dreams for the future!

When he saw the soldiers preparing to carry the chest away, Aaron snapped back to his senses. He rushed over and protected the chest tightly. "You cannot take it! That is Nami's hope! You cannot destroy someone's hope!"

"Where did this brat come from?" Captain Nezumi asked irritably. The soldiers all shook their heads in confusion. They had no idea where the boy had appeared from.

Captain Nezumi stepped forward and looked down at Aaron grimly. "Brat, get away from that chest right now! Do you know that is stolen property? It is evidence of a criminal's crime!"

"I do not know what stolen property is! I do not know what evidence is either! I only know that this is Nami's hope! No one can take away another person's hope!" Aaron stared firmly at Captain Nezumi and hugged the chest even tighter.

"What nonsense! I think you are clearly in league with that thief!" Captain Nezumi quickly lost patience and waved a hand. "Arrest this kid."

"Yes, sir!" They had been ordered to arrest him, but the soldiers all loaded their bullets, their dark gun barrels aimed squarely at Aaron.

Bang! Bang, bang, bang!

"Aaron!" Nojiko cried out. Although Nami knew Aaron would be fine, she still bit her lip tightly at the sight.

"For goodness' sake, take the stolen goods and get us out of this damned place!" Captain Nezumi had already turned away when the guns fired. He did not want to see blood splatter everywhere; it would ruin his appetite for dinner. He waved his hand, urging his men to hurry.

"C-Captain! Look!" But his subordinate's terrified voice irritated him.

It was only a kid getting killed. What was there to be scared of?

He turned back with a dark expression, only for the sight before him to make his rat eyes bulge like a bull's.

Several bullets had struck Aaron in the face, denting it like a deflated ball, yet not a single drop of blood flowed out.

Before long, his face slowly puffed back up and returned to normal like an inflating balloon. Captain Nezumi could even see Aaron's rolled-back eyes, their whites exposed, gradually returning to their proper position.

Clang! Clang!

Every bullet fell to the ground, colliding in pairs with crisp sounds that seemed to ring directly in the Marines' hearts.

Aaron's face slowly returned to normal, but his expression became increasingly savage. On that twisted face, Aaron looked like a demon. "You will absolutely... absolutely not take Nami's hope!" he roared. The muscles throughout his body suddenly tensed, his clothes tearing apart to reveal pink underwear beneath. Beating his chest, Aaron charged at the Marines with a roar.

"M-Monster! Shoot him! What are you standing around for?! Shoot him!" Captain Nezumi staggered back several steps in terror. Wiping cold sweat from himself, he urgently ordered the soldiers.

They did not need his order. The soldiers had already begun firing at the monster instinctively.

Yet even from only two or three meters away, the bullets that had just left the barrels could not even break Aaron's skin, much less tear his ridiculous pink underwear.

Aaron charged through the gunfire, raised one huge hand high, and swept it fiercely toward the soldiers.

Bang!

As though struck by a massive hammer, several soldiers were sent flying and crashed hard into the wall.

Aaron continued like that, sweeping left and right as if clearing trash, sending the soldiers flying one after another as he gradually approached Captain Nezumi.

"Y-You do not come any closer! Attacking government personnel is a serious crime! You will be severely punished!" Captain Nezumi panicked as Aaron closed in on him, shouting loudly.

But Aaron had completely gone berserk. After clearing away every soldier, he charged straight at Captain Nezumi. His two fists, each as large as a basin, were pressed together and raised high, blocking the sunlight before Captain Nezumi and hiding his terrified expression in shadow.

"No one can... take Nami's hope!" Aaron said in a low voice.

"Fine, fine, fine! I will leave right now! I do not want the stolen goods anymore! I will leave immediately, all right?!" Captain Nezumi cried in terror.

"No one can!" Aaron roared like a beast, clenching his fists and smashing them down!

"No, no, no!! Ahh!!"

Nami looked at Captain Nezumi with mixed emotions, but she did not stop Aaron.

After smashing Captain Nezumi flat, Aaron returned to normal. Yet he no longer wore his usual cheerful smile. His cold, stern air kept people at a distance, while the blood on his face made him even more intimidating.

"Aaron..." Nami looked at him complicatedly. She was grateful for what he had done, yet also felt a little heartache. "Thank you..." In the end, those were the only words she could say.

"It is okay." Aaron shook his head, wiped the blood from his face, and looked up at Nami with concern. "Nami... do you need help?"

"No." Nami shook her head. She seemed to remember something, and her expression suddenly changed. "I have to go see Arlong! Stay here!" With that, she quickly ran down the hill.

"..." Aaron watched Nami leave, tilted his head in thought, then asked the stunned Nojiko beside him, "Nojiko, can you take me to find my companions?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, I can." Nojiko froze for a moment before coming back to herself and agreeing. She glanced once more at Captain Nezumi and could not help sighing at his miserable state.

"Yo! Aaron! Did you lose a fight out there? Why do you look so upset?" Luffy spotted Aaron in the village and waved from afar.

Aaron could not help rolling his eyes at Luffy's words. "No, I won."

"You won and still look that upset? Stop trying to fool me!" Luffy laughed.

Aaron ran over and looked at Luffy with a grave expression. "Luffy, let's help Nami!"

"..." Luffy stopped laughing when he heard that. He lowered his head and looked calmly at Aaron. "No."

"Why?! Why not?!" Aaron shouted.

"Because Nami did not ask us to interfere," Luffy said calmly.

Aaron stared hard at Luffy, his fists clenched tightly before slowly loosening. His voice gradually softened as well. "I understand."

Meanwhile, Nami.

Nami sprinted toward Arlong Park.

"Arlong!" she roared.

"Oh? What happened? Why does our cartographer look so terrible..." Arlong sat in a lounge chair and asked Nami with feigned concern.

Nami grabbed Arlong by the collar. "You were the one who ordered those Marines... to take my money, were you not?!"

"What is going on?! Did you not swear that you would uphold an agreement built on money to the death?!"

"Oh? When did I break our agreement?" Arlong asked in confusion.

"Stop pretending! Those Marines were sent by you!" Arlong grabbed Nami's mouth and dragged her close, pressing his bloodshot eyes against hers. "When did I... break our agreement?"

"Hahahahahaha!" The fish-men around them suddenly burst into wild laughter.

Damn it... Damn it! Nami cursed frantically in her heart, but she had no power to stop any of it.

"You said Marines..." Arlong stopped laughing and looked at Nami with a gloating grin. "That is really unfortunate... But an agreement is an agreement! It is only one hundred million Beli! Just save it again, right? Sha-hahahahaha!"

Nami glared at Arlong resentfully, though a sliver of hope remained in her heart.

Luckily, Aaron killed that captain! I have already saved ninety million Beli. I just need another seven million, only seven million!

"Boss Arlong! That Marine warship still has not withdrawn!" But a fish-man underling's words made Nami's heart sink to the bottom.

"Oh?" As expected, Arlong glanced at Nami after hearing the underling. "Looks like those Marines are too useless after all."

Nami struggled free from Arlong's grip and glared at him. "You said it yourself! You swore you would uphold the agreement based on money!"

"That is right, that is right! I will not break my promise," Arlong said with a grin.

"Then as long as I save one hundred million Beli, I can..."

"It is one billion Beli," Arlong coldly interrupted.

"What? One billion Beli?! You clearly said one hundred million Beli back then!"

"You must have misheard because you were too young. I clearly said one billion Beli. Is that not right?" Arlong asked the fish-men around him with a crazed laugh.

"That is right!" "Exactly!" "You are the one who remembered wrong!"

The clamorous voices around her made Nami's face turn ashen.

She understood now. Arlong had never intended to let her go. He had merely used the villagers as leverage to force her to draw maps for him! From beginning to end, he had treated her as a toy!

She raised her head and glared at Arlong hatefully. "Despicable. Shameless."

"Sha-hahahahaha!" Arlong laughed madly, his mouth full of sharp teeth making Nami shudder. He stared at her. "It is only one billion Beli. Since you managed to save one hundred million Beli, saving one billion should be easy too, right?"

"Or do you want to run away? But when that happens, every villager in Cocoyasi Village... will die because of you!"

Nami recalled what Genzo had just said. She suddenly understood what he had meant!

She slapped Arlong's hand away and fled Arlong Park as if running for her life.

"What's wrong, Nami? Finally decided to run away? Shahahahaha!" Arlong's mocking laughter rang out behind her.

Mr. Genzo... everyone... please! Don't do anything reckless! Don't die! Otherwise, everything will be over! As long as you're alive, as long as you're alive, there's hope!

Nami sprinted forward, tears flying through the air and scattering onto the grass by the roadside, where they fell with a patter and shattered into nothingness.

"Arlong! Arlong! Arlong!" Clutching a knife, Nami wildly stabbed at her right arm.

There was the mark proving she had joined the Arlong Pirates—the dark, suffocating Arlong tattoo.

Even after her flesh had become a bloody mess, Nami did not stop. She raised her left hand high, ready to drive the blade down again.

Smack!

Luffy suddenly caught Nami's knife.

"Luffy..." Nami looked up at him. "What is this... You don't even know anything."

"Yeah, I don't," Luffy answered calmly.

"This has nothing to do with you!" Nami grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it behind her, covering Luffy's feet. "Leave this island already! I told you!"

"That's right, you did," Luffy said calmly.

The world seemed to freeze at that moment, leaving only Nami's faint sobs.

It felt as though a long time had passed.

"Luffy..." Nami slowly turned around. Tears and dirt mixed across her face, making her look utterly disheveled. Her eyes brimmed with despair, yet deep beneath it, a trace of stubborn hope still struggled on. "Help me!"

Hearing those words, Luffy said nothing. He silently took off his straw hat, placed it on Nami's head, and slowly walked past her.

"Of course I will!!" he roared.

Nami stared at Luffy in surprise and unconsciously touched the straw hat on her head. She remembered how much Luffy had cherished that hat, yet now he had given it to her to wear. "Luffy..."

"Let's go!" Luffy said as he slowly walked over to his companions.

Roronoa Zoro adjusted his swords, Sanji lit a cigarette, Usopp put on his sniper goggles, and Aaron jumped down from the wine barrel with a grave expression.

"Yeah!"

In front of Arlong Park.

"Hmph! We challenged them to apologize to Boss Nami, but we nearly lost to them by just that much!" Johnny said, sitting by the left side of the gate.

"We heard the whole truth in the forest. We no longer have the face to see Boss Nami," Yosaku said, sitting by the right side of the gate.

"These two guys are..." The villagers were blocked at the entrance by them.

"Sorry! We can't let people with no chance of winning through!" Johnny said.

"We're waiting here for certain people who are bound to come," Yosaku said.

Boom! The gate was smashed apart!

"Big Brother Luffy!" Johnny and Yosaku shouted in unison.

"Which one of you is Arlong?" Luffy swept his gaze over the fish-men and asked flatly.

As for Aaron, the first thing he saw upon entering was a broad-shouldered, muscular fish-man standing off to the side.

This fish-man had six arms, and with his legs included, he had exactly eight limbs. Each arm was covered in thick suckers.

This creature was one kind of fish-man. We called them octopus fish-men, even though octopuses were not fish.

When Aaron saw him, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Pointing at him, he shouted, "Squidward!"

"My name is Hatchan!" Hatchan roared.

...So, Aaron, where did that cool, stern demeanor from earlier go?

.