Beheading

Beneath the seawater, Arlong adjusted his breathing with his gills, staring intently at the scene above the surface.

He released the spot on his ribs where he had been clutching the impact from Li Mingyuan's knee, looking down to see a deep depression forming there. The wound felt unnaturally swollen, and he could vaguely make out the distorted shape of his own muscles beneath the skin.

In this state, he had broken at least a few ribs, and his internal organs had suffered a massive shock.

It was no wonder that after that single strike, he had immediately vomited blood and fallen to the ground, his entire body drained of strength and unable to move.

"Huff... huff..."

"There can be no mistake. That strange movement—there must be something to it."

Arlong muttered with a dark expression.

Just as Li Mingyuan had guessed, the reason Arlong had submerged himself, aside from hiding his presence, was that he truly suspected Li Mingyuan might be a Devil Fruit user.

Not only could he replicate and use Kuroobi's Thousand Brick Fist at will, but he could also read his movements as if he were looking right through him. Every strike landed precisely on a vital point. Although he had only used Shark Darts twice, the second attempt had been rendered completely ineffective.

Unlike the Observation Haki he had heard rumors of in the Grand Line, this was an ability from an entirely different perspective.

Arlong noticed that rather than a subconscious crisis prediction, it was as if the man had completely mastered his every move before acting.

He was actively observing him!

Although Arlong was unsure what kind of Devil Fruit could create such a situation, his intuition told him that the man was definitely using some special ability. This insight, which made his skin crawl, could no longer be described by simple talent.

"Even the strongest Devil Fruit user will have their powers nullified in the water, or even become completely powerless."

"He couldn't possibly jump into the water to fight me."

"Even if I take a step back and assume he isn't a user, the water is the home turf of us Fish-Men. There is no reason for me to lose!"

Arlong wiped the congealed blood from the corner of his mouth, a sinister smile gradually spreading across his face.

This was the answer he had arrived at while racking his brain for a way to defeat his opponent. He wouldn't have thought of this otherwise, but if he had to blame someone, he would blame the opponent for revealing his own flaw. When the man had severely wounded him again, those strange movements immediately made him think of a Devil Fruit user, which led him to the brilliant strategy of fighting underwater.

Now, after floating in the water for a while, the long-missed sensation of moving through the sea made Arlong feel that his physical condition had improved significantly. It seemed as if the injuries from the previous fight didn't even hurt as much anymore.

Victory in the end would surely belong to the Fish-Man!

Arlong swam, arriving beneath the surface near the entrance to the sea, and began to secretly observe Li Mingyuan's current position.

During this time, Arlong not only prepared his body for action, readying another Shark Darts, but he even pulled out his own jagged teeth to use as a substitute weapon in his palm. As a shark Fish-Man, he possessed the innate racial trait—much like Hachi—of being able to regenerate teeth continuously. Even if they fell out, they would grow back rapidly, and his fangs were no less hard than steel. Combined with his terrifying bite force, he could even crush cannonballs.

Arlong was certain he had made full preparations. Although he didn't know what reaction the opponent would take next, he would pierce through the man's body the moment he showed a flaw.

At the same time, in the main building of Arlong Park.

Li Mingyuan walked back to the large hole facing the sea entrance. Bathed in the refreshing sea breeze blowing from afar, he looked down into the darkness of the entrance that remained hidden from view.

"What a refreshing sea breeze."

Li Mingyuan said softly.

"Well then, it's about time to wrap this up."

His clear eyes reflected everything before him.

By this point, Li Mingyuan had witnessed the vast majority of Arlong's skills from the original story. He had not only successfully dismantled them all but had not suffered even the slightest injury himself.

Yet, after being severely wounded, the tactic the opponent had finally come up with was to hide in the sea, hoping to gain some advantage that likely didn't exist. He could tell that this Fish-Man had truly run out of other options.

Since he could no longer resist, it was only natural that his head would be harvested by his enemy.

Li Mingyuan slowly drew his sword.

With Arlong having completely abandoned the confrontation on land, the weapons of Arlong Park were naturally his for the taking.

Naturally, he wouldn't be foolish enough to enter the water to fight a Fish-Man. However, if the opponent truly considered him a Devil Fruit user, then Arlong, who hadn't given up on the outcome, would inevitably attempt a counterattack, desperate to turn the situation around from his "advantageous" position.

Regardless, that meant the opponent's choices had become predictable.

"If you can exceed my expectations and manage to ambush me under these circumstances, then what would it matter if I used my first Kamui in this world here?"

"But, if you can't..."

Holding the long sword in one hand, Li Mingyuan opened his arms.

At this moment, he stepped forward lightly, his body naturally falling toward the floor below.

His destination was directly above the sea entrance of Arlong Park.

The sound of the wind rushed past his ears.

"He's coming!!"

Beneath the surface, Arlong widened his crimson eyes. He looked ahead in pleasant surprise, never expecting that the human would actually fall straight toward the sea entrance like that.

Could it be that he really intended to enter the water and try to compete with a Fish-Man?

Since he was seeking his own death, he would grant his wish!

"Shark ON Darts—!"

Underwater, Arlong rotated at a terrifying acceleration. The currents swirled between his hands, forming a water vortex that he controlled in his palms. At the same time, Arlong opened his blood-filled maw, aiming his jagged fangs and saw-like nose directly at Li Mingyuan, who was still in mid-air.

If he were a Devil Fruit user, the seawater in his hands would render him powerless. Even if he weren't, with the Fish-Man's abilities augmented by the water, his attack was certainly not something a mere human could withstand.

Arlong intended to unleash every ounce of his power in this moment, leaving his opponent absolutely no chance to counterattack.

At that very instant, Li Mingyuan, who was plummeting from the upper floor, was already within arm's reach of the water intake.

He was like a torpedo.

With a thunderous roar, Arlong spun and surged out of the sea, lunging toward Li Mingyuan!

"Regrettable."

Seeing Arlong's figure suddenly imprint itself upon his vision, Li Mingyuan whispered.

"It seems that in the end, you never exceeded my expectations."

Li Mingyuan's body was on the verge of being pierced by Arlong, yet he felt no panic. Instead, his gaze grew increasingly calm, reflecting the scene before him like a deep, unfathomable spring.

Just as they made contact.

Li Mingyuan suddenly swung the long blade in his right hand, sweeping it silently from in front of him.

BOOM!!

A violent, unprecedented shockwave erupted.

Immediately following, the impact of a heavy object hitting the water sent waves surging throughout the entire intake.

Both Li Mingyuan and Arlong were submerged in the water, leaving no trace. Only a moment later, a scarlet hue began to bubble up from beneath the surface, adding a sense of solemnity to the already blood-stained intake.

"Hah!!"

Suddenly, a figure vaulted out from beneath the water.

Seawater drenched his body, and strands of black hair clung to his temples, making the man look slightly disheveled and untamed.

Li Mingyuan leaned against the edge of the intake and looked back behind him.

Following his emergence from the water, another body floated to the surface.

It was a headless corpse with vacant eyes.

The head and torso were separated, bobbing independently on the churning water. The cross-section at the neck was clean and precise, and a massive amount of blood gushed from the severed body, turning the surrounding seawater murky.

Li Mingyuan's expression was indifferent as he watched the scene, his eyes devoid of any fluctuation.

If this had truly been a war of attrition, or if Arlong had possessed some unforeseen, underhanded trick, it would have been a troublesome matter for Li Mingyuan.

After all, if he had been forced to stand guard here around the clock, the moment his vigilance exceeded twenty-four hours, the body's natural need for sleep would have created an opening. With no one else here capable of dealing with Arlong, there would have been countless opportunities for a counterattack.

Li Mingyuan could even imagine many possibilities for underhanded tactics.

This was Arlong Park, the lair of the Fish-Men. The world beneath the sea was another space that Li Mingyuan could neither peer into nor predict; logically, anything happening there would not have been strange.

Yet, faced with his own descent into the water, Arlong had simply charged straight up.

In the end, he was cut in two by a single blade, his head sent flying on the spot.

"In the end, is this all there is?"

Li Mingyuan thought to himself.

He was barely a decent enemy, yet he couldn't even force out Li Mingyuan's true strength before the battle ended. When it came down to it, this was the level of the East Blue.

Perhaps he was the one at fault for overestimating this East Blue Overlord.

Li Mingyuan did not wish to soak in the blood-filled pool any longer. He braced his body and climbed back onto the shore, carrying Arlong's head.

Meanwhile, Carina and Nami, who had been hiding somewhere unknown, reappeared in the chaotic Arlong Park. They stood frozen in shock as they watched Li Mingyuan holding Arlong's head.

"You've come out."

"Sorry, now is not the time for conversation. I feel a bit tired, so I'm going to rest to the side. We can discuss whatever needs to be said after I wake up."

Li Mingyuan casually tossed Arlong's head to the two women. Ignoring Nami, who scrambled to catch it, he dragged his exhausted body and slowly walked toward a ruined wall of the main building.

Leaning against the wall, Li Mingyuan let out a long, weary breath and closed his eyes to steady his mind.

The chakra consumption this time was not insignificant. Although he hadn't used Kamui until the end, in a sense, it was precisely because he couldn't use Kamui that he had relied on so many smaller techniques to finish off the enemy, resulting in a higher drain on his reserves.

Especially that final Flash Slash.

While it didn't consume as much as the incident on the cargo ship, under normal circumstances, it was enough to fuel many uses of his right-eye Kamui, or even a single use of his left-eye Kamui.

Now that the battle had abruptly ended, the delayed fatigue washed over Li Mingyuan like a tide, leaving him with no energy to think or converse.

Watching Li Mingyuan in this state.

Not far away, Nami and Carina exchanged glances and gave a subtle, tacit nod.

Not daring to disturb Li Mingyuan, who looked exhausted after the great battle, Nami carried Arlong's head and led Carina into the main building of Arlong Park, into the hall where a banquet had been held only a short time ago.

"We should be able to talk here without disturbing him."

Nami took a deep breath.

She turned back and looked at Carina with a serious expression. "Carina, what exactly is going on? Isn't it time you gave me an explanation?"

"Who is that man? Why did you come here with him to fight the Arlong Pirates?"

"And why is he so strong?"

Nami looked down at Arlong's head in her hands. Her expression flickered between the urge to weep and the inability to suppress a laugh, until all those complex emotions finally hardened into a look of resolve.

"There isn't a single person in this East Blue who can help us, I know that better than anyone."

"I stopped believing in luck falling from the sky a long time ago."

Nami's voice rang out, firm and resonant.

Seeing this, Carina could only offer a wry smile.

"To be honest, I don't really know who that man is either."

"But if I had to say, he's definitely a bounty hunter. At the very least, he isn't a pirate."

Carina hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and continuing, "As for why I'm here with him now, you must have heard me when I stopped him from attacking you earlier, right? There's no point in hiding it; it's exactly as it sounds. I tried to steal from him and got caught."

"I owe him twenty million Beli for my life now, and that's the only reason he brought me along to Arlong Park."

"It might disappoint you, Nami. I'd love to say I knew about your situation all along and lured him here on purpose, but the reality is that until we arrived, I had no idea you were in such a complicated mess. If anything, I'm the one who was dragged here against my will."

"As for why he came here, it must have been his goal from the start. He's probably after the heads of the Arlong Pirates. After all, the combined bounty of these Fish-Men is quite high."

Hearing Carina's explanation, Nami shuddered.

She never expected the truth to be so different from what she had anticipated.

"You got caught stealing!?"

"That man isn't someone you hired?"

Beads of sweat formed on Nami's forehead as she said in disbelief, "That man defeated Arlong the Fish-Man, yet you tried to steal from him?"

"Wait, wait, wait!"

"If that's the case, doesn't that mean you're in a really bad spot, Carina?"