On the deck.
The wind began to blow again, yet no one dared make a sound.
Fisher Tiger stood where he was, as if some invisible force were tearing him apart.
On one side were the words he had once spoken.
—"We will not kill anyone."
On the other was the past he had desperately buried.
—Chains, brands, cages.
The two wills collided madly within him, and Rock gave him no chance to catch his breath.
He stood there, his gaze calm to the point of cruelty.
"Tiger."
His voice was not loud, yet it landed precisely in the deepest part of Tiger's heart.
"You climbed Mary Geoise with your bare hands and freed the slaves."
"You took Fish-Man Island's radicals with you and traveled the seas."
"You hate humans."
"But—you refuse to pass that hatred on to the next generation."
"Buzz."
Tiger's pupils suddenly constricted.
Those words had called out the bottom line he had never spoken aloud.
Rock did not stop. "You must resist."
"Because only through resistance can humans understand—Fish-Men are fighting for equality."
"But you also know."
"Resistance—it will inevitably affect the next generation!"
"Boom!"
As the words fell, Tiger's breathing became completely erratic.
"Hah...!"
His chest heaved violently, as though something that had been suppressed for far too long had suddenly been torn open.
That feeling was not anger, but—having nowhere left to run.
He had thought he had found an answer, thought he had balanced "liberation" and "No-Kill."
But everything he had experienced, and the reality before his eyes, told him that it was merely—delay.
Jinbe, standing nearby, was completely stunned. He opened his mouth, yet could not say a word.
Because every word Rock had spoken was true.
The Fish-Men on the deck also fell silent. They had never viewed Tiger from this