It's This World That Has Wronged You

Before this, Nami had been doing as she always did—stealing and drawing sea charts throughout the East Blue. This time, she had happened to steal a pirate crew's treasure, which was why she had returned to Arlong Park to report in.

She had never expected to see Carina, who had vanished without a word after they had parted ways last time.

Nami instantly grew tense.

Carina was one of the few people Nami could barely consider a friend during her time out in the world.

She did not know why Carina had come here with that man and caused such a commotion at Arlong Park, but she knew one thing clearly: just like herself, Carina had no ability to fight Fish-Men head-on.

Why had she come here?

Looking at Arlong beside her, Nami bit down on her lip and clenched her fists.

A moment later, she quickly returned her expression to normal.

She stepped forward on her own initiative, staring coldly at Li Mingyuan as she asked, "What are you here for? A mere human dared to attack the Arlong Pirates. Are you tired of living?"

"Oh?"

Li Mingyuan turned his gaze toward Nami.

"Then what are you supposed to be?"

Li Mingyuan asked in return.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm a member of the Arlong Pirates."

Nami turned slightly, showing him the mark on her arm.

She pulled several short rods from behind her back, then assembled them into a long staff.

"Defying the Fish-Men is absolutely unacceptable."

Nami lowered her head slightly and gritted her teeth. "Prepare yourself!"

Nami pointed her staff at Li Mingyuan.

Li Mingyuan had yet to react.

But at that moment, Carina, who had been sitting there blankly the whole time, seemed to suddenly realize something. She sprang to her feet and anxiously grabbed Li Mingyuan's right arm.

"Nami isn't an enemy! Don't kill her!!"

Carina cried out in panic.

Li Mingyuan had come for Nami from the start. Slaughtering Fish-Men had merely been a means to get close to her. But Carina did not know that. Thinking of the Fish-Men around them, whose bodies were still warm, made her whole body tremble.

She did not dare imagine what it would be like if the same thing happened to Nami.

Li Mingyuan paused when she grabbed his clothes. Turning his head toward Carina beside him, he said blandly in a tone as though he knew nothing, "Someone you know?"

"She's my friend!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Carina declared firmly, "If you kill Nami, then even if I die, you'll never get those twenty million Beli!"

"...I see. You're threatening me with your life."

Faced with this situation, the corner of Li Mingyuan's mouth curved up almost imperceptibly. At least he would not have to look for a reason not to kill Nami.

But the next second, his expression returned to normal.

"Normally, that sort of thing wouldn't work on me. But you're lucky, Carina. I happen to be in a good mood today, so letting off someone irrelevant to me is no big deal."

Li Mingyuan let out a long sigh.

Carina's eyes lit up. "Then...!?"

"But after this, besides the twenty million Beli, you'll have to agree to one more thing."

Li Mingyuan narrowed his eyes slightly. "Don't worry. It won't be anything difficult."

After saying that, Li Mingyuan ignored Carina's reaction and faced the Arlong Pirates again, as well as Nami, who stood some distance away glaring at him fiercely.

So, what should he do next?

Li Mingyuan's thoughts raced.

To be honest, he was nowhere near as calm as he looked.

Nami had looked shocked to see Carina at Arlong Park, but Li Mingyuan was even more surprised that Nami had returned to Arlong Park at this exact time.

"Why did she have to come back now of all times?"

Li Mingyuan had a headache.

He understood Nami's attitude and was not angry with her.

He only found it tragic.

Even after seeing all the Fish-Men he had defeated lying across the ground, Nami still did not dare believe that he could defeat Arlong. After all, challengers had appeared on this island before, seeking to fight the Fish-Men, but in the end, they had all died. Even if someone could defeat an ordinary Fish-Man, Fish-Man Arlong—a monster who could lift an entire house with one arm and bite through a cannonball—was beyond the reach of most Marines and bounty hunters in the East Blue.

Until Nami was certain that someone could defeat Arlong, she would absolutely continue hiding among the Arlong Pirates and resist outsiders as one of them. The consequences of angering the Arlong Pirates would ultimately be borne by the island's residents. She could not risk helping a stranger whose background she knew nothing about.

Li Mingyuan understood Nami, but that was not the issue. Protecting Carina while fighting alone was one thing, but Nami, though she might become an ally in the future, was still an enemy right now. That meant he could neither hurt Nami nor allow Nami to hurt him, all while protecting Carina.

Wasn't that like being blocked from both ends?

Just as Li Mingyuan was struggling to make up his mind, fortunately, the situation did not last long.

Because Fish-Man Arlong kindly solved that problem for him.

"Step back, Nami."

Arlong's face darkened as he said coldly, "This isn't a battle a mere human like you can interfere in."

"You dared hurt my comrades... I'll execute a bastard like you myself!"

Without even looking back, Arlong directly ordered Nami, who stood nearby, to retreat.

Fish-Man Arlong stared fixedly at Li Mingyuan. Normally, he enjoyed watching humans slaughter one another. Even Nami making up her mind to fight an outsider was one of his favorite spectacles. But now, he was in no mood for it.

Li Mingyuan was clearly different from the reckless fools from before. He had already inflicted real casualties on the Fish-Men.

The thought of someone like that living even one second longer made him feel unbearable agony.

At Arlong's words, Nami clenched her hand so tightly that she nearly snapped her staff.

She did not care much about the mysterious man before her, but if possible, she had wanted to use the fight as a chance for Carina to escape Arlong Park. But if Arlong acted personally, she had no room to maneuver.

For an instant, Nami even felt the urge to fight Arlong with everything she had.

But the images of the villagers, her sister, and the money in her treasure chest—an amount now not so far from one hundred million Beli—kept appearing in her mind. In the end, she barely forced down the impulse in her heart.

"Fine. I understand."

Remembering how Carina had anxiously grabbed the mysterious man and begged him not to kill her, and seeing the large number of Fish-Men lying nearby, Nami squeezed out a short sentence. "I'll stay here and watch until it's over."

It was only an ordinary compromise, the sort of thing said anywhere. Yet after speaking it, Nami seemed to have exhausted all her strength. She stood there unsteadily, her body swaying without stop.

Taking a deep breath, Nami lowered her staff and backed away several steps toward the main building.

As Nami retreated, Arlong spoke again.

"Human, since you admit that you did all this, things are simple."

"I don't know whether you're a bounty hunter or a passing Marine, but I'll make you regret, from the bottom of your heart, ever provoking Arlong Park."

"Hachi!!"

Suddenly, Arlong raised his voice and shouted, "If you hear me, answer me already!"

"...Huh? Why is everyone gathered here? What are you all doing?"

Not long after Arlong's shout echoed out.

A somewhat puzzled, foolish-sounding voice suddenly appeared. "Wasn't there supposed to be a feast? The roast pig for Moo Moo hasn't even been prepared yet."

The source of the voice was—behind them!

The unexpected direction made Carina's entire body shudder. She instinctively spun around, only to see an octopus-like Fish-Man slowly poking his head out from the entrance at Arlong Park's sea gate, his face full of confusion. It was a place where there had been no reaction at all when Li Mingyuan had dealt with the Fish-Men earlier.

Li Mingyuan had moved quickly and made almost no unnecessary noise while dealing with the Fish-Men, but that was no reason for the Fish-Men by the sea entrance not to notice anything, was it!?

Compared to Carina, whose expression had drastically changed, Li Mingyuan was equally surprised by the voice behind him. But unlike Carina, he did not look particularly nervous.

Because the moment he heard that familiar voice, he had already recognized the other person.

"Fish-Man Hachi."

Li Mingyuan shifted slightly and looked toward the sea gate entrance from the corner of his eye.

His mouth resembled a trumpet, he had six arms, and several locks of silver-gray hair arranged atop his head like a starfish. The sun mark of the Sun Pirates sat in the middle of his forehead.

His foolish appearance was exactly the same as the manga image in Li Mingyuan's memories.

This Fish-Man was the only member of the Arlong Pirates in all of One Piece who would be redeemed in the future and forgiven by Nami.

The Six-Sword Style swordsman Hachi, who had come from the Fish-Man District.

Li Mingyuan had not expected him to appear there. He had specifically blocked the sea entrance to prevent any Fish-Men from escaping underwater, clearing out the Fish-Men at a speed so fast that even those inside the main building had barely noticed. Yet Hachi had been standing right at the entrance to Arlong Park's sea gate. Had he really not sensed anything behind him at all?

But when Li Mingyuan remembered that it was Hachi, it no longer seemed strange. In the original story, Zoro had likewise taken down a whole group of Fish-Men at Arlong Park, and Hachi at the sea gate had remained completely unaware. He had even treated an enemy as a guest after Zoro casually made up a lie.

"Nyoo, the atmosphere feels kind of weird... Huh?! Wait a second, aren't those people lying around everyone's friends? What happened? They're covered in blood!"

As though he had nothing to do with any of this, Hachi swaggered back into Arlong Park. But once he saw the situation before him clearly, his eyes immediately widened in shock, his face full of disbelief.

"Hachi, yes. Look at that human man not far from you. All of this is his doing."

Arlong spoke with a dark expression. "The other officers haven't returned yet, but even so, we can't let our comrades keep bleeding for nothing. As the swordsman second only to one on Fish-Man Island, it's time for you to show what you can do."

"Nyoo! Leave it to me, Brother Arlong!"

Hachi pulled out six swords from who knew where, gripping one in each of his six hands. He glared furiously at Li Mingyuan. "You dared do this to my friends? I'm angry now! I'll kill you!!"

Li Mingyuan's eyes gradually became completely devoid of emotion.

"You want to kill me? With you?"

He spoke.

He had thought Hachi was merely a fool, and since he was successfully redeemed later in the original story, Li Mingyuan had considered letting him go.

But since he was actively seeking death, he could not blame anyone when he was killed.

"Because you knew that person, I wouldn't have minded sparing you."

"If you want to die, then come forward yourself."

Li Mingyuan beckoned at Hachi. "I'll be your opponent."

Hachi's muscles tensed all over as he immediately charged straight at Li Mingyuan.

"Nyoo! Then let me show you how powerful Six-Sword Style Hachi is!!"

"Six-Sword Style: Scabbard-Foot Strange Sword!"

Hachi wildly swung his six swords and pounced toward Li Mingyuan and Carina.

At the same time, Arlong, who had been watching Hachi attack from Li Mingyuan's other side.

At some point, a pool of water had silently appeared in his palm.

"Now!"

Arlong suddenly sprang into action and slapped the water in his hand toward Li Mingyuan.

In an instant, the seemingly ordinary droplets shot toward Li Mingyuan like bullets.

On the surface, he was using Hachi to draw attention. In secret, however, he was exploiting a Fish-Man's natural advantage, using ordinary water as buckshot. He had never intended to fight fairly from the beginning.

"Die! Human!!"

Arlong roared.

A storm of blades before him, water bullets behind him.

Li Mingyuan calmly watched the scene before him. His eyes flickered, and in the blink of an eye, a pair of scarlet eyes bearing three tomoe emerged once more.

Everything around him began to slow down at that moment, decelerating and even seeming to freeze before his eyes.

"Come to think of it, ever since arriving in this world, I've always fought using the insight of these eyes. But I haven't properly made use of their other function."

Li Mingyuan calmly stared at the blade light less than a few centimeters from his face.

"The Sharingan's insight isn't only for seeing through things."

His gaze sharpened.

Li Mingyuan raised his hand, recalling the movements of the other Fish-Man officer who had fought him aboard the cargo ship not long ago.

His movements flowed like water as he assumed a stance similar to karate in front of himself.

"Fish-Man Karate—"

Seeing the familiar movements of the man before him, Hachi's eyes widened in disbelief.

Even Fish-Man Arlong behind Li Mingyuan stared at him in shock.

"Thousand Brick Fist!!"

Li Mingyuan roared.

One punch!

A single straight punch passed solidly through the gaps in the flurry of six blades and struck Fish-Man Hachi directly in the chest.