Your Human Grandpa Is Here!

Arlong Park.

Ever since Arlong had occupied this island and imposed his brutal territorial rule, no one connected to anyone other than the Arlong Pirates had set foot here for who knew how many years. Purely human residents had been completely driven out of this Fish-Man paradise.

Yet today, after an unknown span of years, this land finally welcomed human "visitors" once more.

Li Mingyuan and Carina stopped before the gates of Arlong Park.

At this distance, they could not only faintly hear the sounds inside, but also clearly make out the Fish-Men's figures.

There was no turning back now.

Staring at the gates of Arlong Park before her, Carina knew that once she stepped inside, there were only two possible endings.

Either Li Mingyuan defeated those Fish-Men and successfully claimed the highest bounty in the East Blue, or Li Mingyuan was defeated by the Fish-Man Arlong, and she would be chopped to pieces alongside him.

Life and death rested on the step she was about to take.

How could she not be nervous?

But then, Carina shifted her gaze back to Li Mingyuan, who was looking at her.

Just now, this man had said that he would protect her.

Logically speaking, she was nothing more than a thief to Li Mingyuan. Even though she had promised a ransom of twenty million Beli, that was merely empty talk. Li Mingyuan had no idea whether she could actually produce that money. If they truly encountered danger, he could abandon her and flee at any moment.

Carina clearly understood all that.

But for some reason...

After Li Mingyuan had said those words to her, she felt as though she had relaxed a little.

Perhaps it was because the man before her did not seem like the kind of person who made empty promises?

"Then we're going in."

Li Mingyuan gave Carina one final reminder.

Unlike the extremely tense Carina, Li Mingyuan, hardened by countless battles, remained calm. Then, no longer paying attention to her, he focused entirely on Arlong Park before him.

He shoved the gates open.

The scenery within the park, which had just been half-concealed, immediately came into view.

The entirety of Arlong Park was enclosed by tall, jagged walls. At its center stood a grand main building, lavish and exaggerated in stark contrast to the simple surrounding villages.

Li Mingyuan could clearly see all kinds of Fish-Men drinking and making merry inside Arlong Park. Apart from the harbor connected to the sea, the park was filled with lounge tables, chairs, and parasols. Every table was piled high with lavish food, as if they were holding a celebration banquet.

That was only the scene outside the building. Inside Arlong Park, Fish-Men were constantly coming and going on the first floor. Clearly, Arlong, whose voice could be heard but whose figure could not be seen, was also inside.

As Li Mingyuan continued surveying his surroundings...

Hearing the gates open, several Fish-Men closest to the entrance instinctively turned to look his way.

When they saw that the ones returning were not the Fish-Men who had gone out, but two humans they had never seen before, they exchanged puzzled looks.

"Hey! What are humans doing here? It shouldn't be time to restock supplies yet."

A hostile-looking Fish-Man walked up to the gate and said to Li Mingyuan and Carina, "Who let you come in here? Get the hell out! Are you looking to die?"

Li Mingyuan acted as though he had not heard him and continued observing the terrain without a care.

Carina, however, shuddered instinctively and stared stiffly at the Fish-Man.

"Um, hello?"

Carina gave an awkward laugh.

"What nonsense are you spouting?! I'll say it one last time, right now—"

The Fish-Man shouted angrily, but before he could finish...

Li Mingyuan had somehow turned to face him.

"You're too noisy."

He spoke lightly.

At that moment, the Fish-Man's eyes abruptly widened. He looked in stunned disbelief at the short human before him. It was as though the man had performed a magic trick—he had no idea when Li Mingyuan had extended his hand, yet the man's palm was now gripping his throat.

Before he even had time to realize what had happened, a tremendous force crushed his throat.

Crack!

After a sharp explosive sound...

The Fish-Man's neck snapped.

Li Mingyuan casually tossed the Fish-Man's corpse onto the ground. Facing the nearby Fish-Men's disbelieving stares, he acted as though he had merely done something utterly ordinary and stepped forward into Arlong Park again.

In the One Piece world, even Fish-Men shared many aspects of their bodily structure with humans. Aside from special Fish-Men such as octopus types, the vast majority would still die if their necks were snapped. Once their hearts stopped beating, they would not come back to life.

Dealing with these people was no different from dealing with the Fish-Men on the cargo ship.

"When did the East Blue, the weakest and safest sea, become the domain of Fish-Men?"

"And who gave you permission to carve out a paradise of your own in this human world?"

Li Mingyuan looked at the luxurious main building in the distance, then at the extravagant feast spread before him. "The surrounding villages are living in misery. Not long ago, your leader even ordered a group of Fish-Men to sink a cargo ship, yet not only did you turn a blind eye, you're celebrating here instead."

"What a pitiful bunch of creatures."

He slowly shook his head.

Li Mingyuan raised his head slightly. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and his expression turned cold.

"Today, I'll let you have a taste of the suffering this island's residents have endured."

He refined the chakra within his body. Without the slightest hesitation, he entered a combat stance.

The next second...

Boom!!

A massive explosion reverberated through Arlong Park.

The violent impact was like a cannonball striking the main building. In an instant, the Fish-Men who had been eating, drinking, and playing inside all stopped in shock.

"What happened?"

From the deepest part of the first floor, amid the shadows shrouded in smoke and dust, a gloomy voice sounded.

"Um, something seems to have happened outside."

A Fish-Man coughed a few times and poked his head out, trying to look beyond the main building. Somewhat uncertainly, he said, "Brother Arlong, should I go take a look?"

"Then you can go... no, wait."

"I'll go myself."

Just as the voice was about to send a Fish-Man outside, it suddenly changed its mind. Within the smoke and dust, a tall figure rose from his seat.

The figure stepped out of the shadows one step at a time.

Once he reached the sunlight outside, his full form gradually appeared before everyone.

He wore shorts and a shirt like someone on a casual vacation. The sun emblem of the Sun Pirates was tattooed on his left chest, while the symbol of the Arlong Pirates was inked on his left forearm. His long, sharp nose was serrated, and his face carried an exceedingly gloomy ferocity.

The Fish-Man Arlong had appeared.

Arlong swept his gaze across the outside, yet all he could see was a smoke-filled field that looked as though it had been bombarded by cannon fire.

Amid his uncertainty, he suddenly remembered something. His gaze sharpened as he looked toward the source of the explosion, where the building had shaken.

He swung his fist, sweeping away all the rubble nearby.

"What?!"

When Arlong saw what had caused the tremor, his expression changed instantly, becoming utterly terrifying.

It was a Fish-Man.

Right before him lay a blood-covered Fish-Man with a massive hole punched through his chest, his eyes vacant as he lay amid the dust. The earlier tremor had likely been caused by this Fish-Man being smashed into the building, triggering the explosion.

Arlong could scarcely imagine what someone could have done to leave him in such a state.

But faced with the reality before him, none of that truly mattered anymore.

"How could this happen, my brother!"

"Who? Who the hell did this to you—"

Arlong's hands trembled as he lifted the Fish-Man's corpse. His bloodshot eyes were filled with rage as he threw back his head and roared.

"Unforgivable! I'll tear the murderer to pieces!!"

Arlong's grief-stricken roar echoed over Arlong Park.

Hearing their leader's voice, the Fish-Men still inside the main building immediately realized that something had truly happened. They all rose from their seats, cast aside their playful moods, and rushed outside with grim expressions.

Before long, the other Fish-Men had gathered around Arlong and witnessed the scene before them.

Their faces were filled with shock.

Disbelief.

This was the Arlong Pirates' base, their headquarters!

Such an incident would not have been surprising anywhere else, but they had never imagined in their wildest dreams that it would happen here, on land they had ruled for so many years and had practically turned into their paradise.

"So who did this? Did the nearby residents come here for revenge? Or did the humans hire Marines from somewhere? Are warship cannons aimed at this place from outside?"

A Fish-Man frowned, his expression cold. "They actually dared to attack Fish-Men. What a bunch of idiots who don't know their place."

Arlong did not respond to the question beside him.

He merely placed the Fish-Man's corpse gently on the ground, rose to his feet again, and glanced toward the distance.

His vision had just been obscured by smoke and dust, and the fact that one of his brothers had been killed had seized his attention so completely that he had failed to notice the thick scent of blood in the air, aside from the devastation across Arlong Park.

There was more than one victim.

Beneath the stones and rubble outside, there were undoubtedly more of his brothers buried below.

And the person who had attacked his brothers, if nothing unexpected had happened, should be...

"Was it you?"

"Did you kill my brothers?"

Arlong abruptly looked in one direction and roared furiously, "Answer me! Human!!"

That was right.

In the Arlong Park that looked as though it had been plowed over, a man stood beside the sea passage. As the smoke and dust dispersed, his figure emerged before everyone.

It was Li Mingyuan himself.

He looked at the Fish-Men before him, as well as the leader of the Arlong Pirates, the Fish-Man Arlong.

A satisfied smile spread across his face.

"Who else could it have been but me?"

Li Mingyuan said.

Arlong and all the other Fish-Men completely ignored Carina, who sat collapsed on the ground beside him with a blank expression.

The powerful sense of presence emanating from the man before them almost entirely drowned out everything around him, making them unable to see anyone except Li Mingyuan.

Every Fish-Man present immediately became certain that this man had done it. Only someone like him was qualified to cause such a tragedy in Arlong Park today.

Thick bloodstains had nearly dyed Li Mingyuan's white shirt black.

Meanwhile, Carina, ignored by everyone else, continued staring blankly at Li Mingyuan's back.

The scenes she had just witnessed replayed endlessly in her mind. It had been an even more horrifying battlefield than the one aboard the cargo ship, a battle that had looked like the work of a monster. Li Mingyuan had darted among the Fish-Men at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow, every attack aimed at a vital point. One blow meant death or severe injury. He had torn apart the Fish-Men's bodies with his bare hands, making the spectacle even more shocking. Severed limbs flew everywhere, and scarlet blood sprayed through the air.

Just recalling it made her shudder.

"He really shows no mercy to his enemies. I'm still alive... I'm so lucky..."

Carina secretly rejoiced.

After successfully drawing the Fish-Men out of the main building, Li Mingyuan continued scanning those who had emerged.

If he remembered correctly, although Arlong had spoken of building some Fish-Man Empire, his pirate crew should have had fewer than thirty Fish-Men in the East Blue. Both the anime and manga suggested that their numbers were small, and there were even fewer Fish-Men with known names.

He had just cleared out a large group, and there had also been two officers and several Fish-Men aboard the cargo ship before. The Arlong Pirates most likely had no more Fish-Men left. There were only around ten who had come out of the building now.

Setting aside the possibility that a few Fish-Men might be wandering around the island, these were probably the Arlong Pirates' remaining fighting force.

However, something Li Mingyuan had not expected was...

Among the figures walking out of the building, there was someone besides the Fish-Men.

A neat outfit, along with that unmistakable orange hair.

When Li Mingyuan saw her, his brows furrowed. He had never expected to see her here at this moment.

She was equally surprised to see Li Mingyuan and the others.

That was right. Walking out together with the Fish-Men of the Arlong Pirates was Nami.

She looked even more immature than she had in the early manga, with the lingering youthful innocence of a girl still visible between her brows.

"What is going on?"

After walking out of the main building, Nami looked at the devastation around her, her expression just as gloomy.

Especially when she raised her head slightly and saw Carina behind the man in the distance, her expression became even more shocked.

She clearly had not expected Carina to be here.

Although Carina was still disheveled and dressed like a sailor at this time, and even Li Mingyuan had failed to connect her to the beauty from the movie, Nami recognized her at a glance.