Help Me

"What was going on?" When Zoro and Usopp arrived at Cocoyasi Village, they saw quite a few villagers gathered there, along with signs of a fight. They asked curiously.

"Who knows!" William said as if it had nothing to do with him. The surrounding villagers immediately looked at him with disdain, but since he had saved Genzo's life, they did not say anything.

"Are they your companions?" Nojiko noticed that Zoro was also wrapped in thick bandages—far more than William.

"Hello, I'm Captain Usopp, a great warrior of the sea!" Usopp did not forget to bluff while introducing himself.

"He's your captain?" Genzo asked in disbelief. Although Usopp was the only one of the three who was not injured, none of them could see anything particularly impressive about him.

"No. That long-nosed guy is our sniper, and that severely wounded patient is our vice-captain!" William mercilessly exposed Usopp's lie.

"You damn strategist are the severely wounded patient! I got these injuries from falling! Ow!" Zoro loudly retorted, but William lightly pressed one of his wounds, making him howl in pain.

Seeing the bandages around Zoro, everyone silently thought that only an idiot would believe those were injuries from a fall. They did not know how seriously William and Zoro had been injured, but could ordinary injuries possibly require that many bandages? Zoro had twice as many bandages as William—put bluntly, he could practically wear them as clothes.

"I'm going to kill you!" If Usopp had not stopped the nearly enraged Zoro in time, he might have drawn his swords and chased William down. Of course, Zoro was joking. Any large movement made his wounds ache, and since there was no ship doctor aboard, they could only give him basic treatment.

Under normal circumstances, Usopp would not have bothered, since they fought each other often enough. But now both William and Zoro were wounded, and this was Arlong's territory. He did not want to make too much of a commotion. Although the great Usopp was a brave warrior of the sea, there was no need for him to pick a fight with Arlong while he was looking after two severely wounded patients.

"Then where is your captain?" Nojiko asked curiously.

"Oh? You mean our idiot captain? He went to find us a cook! He should be on his way here now!" William thought for a moment before answering.

"It doesn't matter whether we get that perverted cook or not!" Zoro said indifferently.

"Don't fuss over something like that!"

Nojiko and Genzo looked speechlessly at the three Straw Hat Pirates. This group really was unreliable. Good thing we didn't ask them for help. Their captain was an idiot? Their vice-captain and strategist were both wounded? And there was a perverted cook? Usopp was the only normal one, but he was a liar.

"You're Nami's sister?" They learned from Nojiko that Nami and Nojiko were sisters—and that Nami was actually an officer of the Arlong Pirates?

"I knew that woman couldn't be trusted!" Zoro said irritably.

"You lousy swordsman, are you asking for a beating?" Although he knew Zoro did not mean it that way, William was still none too polite.

"Bring it on. This is a perfect chance to loosen up!" Zoro did not take his injuries seriously at all. If those wounds split open, they could easily cost him his life. No one knew how he had survived; calling him a monster would not have been an exaggeration.

"Calm down, you two. Let's hear what Nojiko has to say first!" Usopp hurriedly stopped them from fighting among themselves. He was also very curious about Nami's past. He wanted to know why she had betrayed her village and how she had become an officer of the Arlong Pirates.

After hearing Nojiko's story, the three of them fell silent. Although William had already known about these things, hearing about Nami's past firsthand made even him struggle to restrain himself from going to wipe out the Arlong Pirates.

Not long afterward, Luffy and Sanji also quickly arrived at Cocoyasi Village. They had gotten there so fast because they had captured Mohmoo, the pet sea monster of the Arlong Pirates, along the way.

Luffy had originally wanted to charge straight into Arlong Park, just like Zoro. But just as Mohmoo was about to rush into Arlong Park, it suddenly made an emergency turn and smashed its head into the shore. The boat Luffy and Sanji were riding was flung into the forest. Although this alerted the Fish-Men, Luffy and Sanji had already reached Cocoyasi Village and reunited with William and the others.

After learning about Nami's suffering, Sanji immediately wanted to play the hero and save the beauty, while Luffy's thoughts were simple: beat Arlong up and take back his companion.

As dawn broke, the furious villagers of Cocoyasi Village armed themselves and headed for Arlong Park. Genzo had secretly gathered all the weapons beforehand. They had made many preparations for this day.

When they learned that Arlong had colluded with Marine Colonel Nezumi to seize the money Nami had spent so many years saving to buy back the village, they could no longer hold themselves back. Where there was oppression, there was resistance. The villagers of Cocoyasi Village had long prepared themselves mentally for battle.

"Those Fish-Men can never be forgiven! Any objections?" Genzo shouted.

"How can we let those bastards keep ruling over us? Let's go!" the villagers shouted angrily.

"Everyone, move out!" Led by Genzo, the armed villagers of Cocoyasi Village marched toward Arlong Park. "Even if we can't win, we'll show the Arlong Pirates our determination!"

Although Nami tried to stop them, the villagers were determined to resist Arlong's rule even at the cost of their lives. Nami had never said anything, but they had always known about her sacrifices. They also knew about the one hundred million Beli deal between Arlong and Nami. Now, just so he could force Nami to keep drawing navigation charts for him, Arlong had used such a despicable method to take away the last hope of Nami and the villagers.

She had only been seventy thousand Beli short of one hundred million. Anyone who was not an idiot could see that Arlong had done it deliberately. He had never intended to return freedom to Nami or the villagers of Cocoyasi Village.

Genzo was furious! Nojiko was furious! Every villager was furious! Even knowing they were weak, even knowing this battle might be the end of their lives, they had no regrets.

"William?" Nami knelt alone in the village road, tears streaming down her face over her own helplessness. She knew the villagers would not return this time, yet she could not stop it from happening.

"Get off this island right now! Didn't I tell you? This has nothing to do with you! Sob!" In her agitation, Nami grabbed a handful of sand from the road and threw it at William.

"You did, but so what?" William had come here to save Nami, but he had not expected this to push her so close to collapse. As he comforted her, he also blamed himself. He blamed his own selfishness. He had known this would happen, yet he had not stopped it because he wanted Nami to sail with them.

If time could turn back, he would have chosen without hesitation to storm Arlong Park directly, even if Nami ultimately chose to remain in the village rather than sail with them in pursuit of their dreams.

"Help me, William!" Nami clutched the hem of William's clothes and pleaded. Deep down, she understood that the only people who could save the villagers of Cocoyasi Village now were the Straw Hat Pirates, but she did not want them dragged into this dispute.

In Nami's subconscious, Arlong was a true monster, terrifyingly powerful on his own. Besides his three chief officers, he had a group of Fish-Man subordinates far stronger than ordinary people. Even a warship was no match for them. If Nami had seen William and Zoro challenge Hawkeye, the world's strongest swordsman, and Luffy and Sanji defeat Krieg and his East Blue pirate fleet, she would not have underestimated the Straw Hat Pirates' strength.

Although the Straw Hat Pirates now had two wounded members, weakening their combat power somewhat, they had gained the newcomer Sanji. In terms of overall strength, the Straw Hat Pirates still had what it took to fight the Arlong Pirates.

"Of course. You're our navigator!" William shouted. "Right, Captain?"

"No matter who it is, if they dare bully my companions, I'll send them flying!" The enraged Luffy gave the order as captain. "Move out!"

"Hmph! We should've cut them down a long time ago!" Zoro snorted. Although he was badly injured, his fighting spirit had not weakened in the slightest.

"Alright! The great Usopp is going to show his might!" Even timid Usopp was brimming with courage as he prepared to fight.

"Any bastard who makes a princess cry has to be kicked flying!" The newcomer Sanji was also filled with rage.