The Rat and Arlong Come Knocking

"How could that be?!"

"Absolutely impossible!"

"He must have notified Arlong in advance, told him to leave, then arranged all of this beforehand."

"Roya, you have to believe us! He's definitely lying to you!"

Tears already hung at the corners of Nami's eyes.

Beside her, Nojiko lightly tugged at Nami's sleeve, her heart equally filled with resentment.

At that moment, Nojiko said to Roya, "Lord Roya, could you go check Captain Nezumi's office? He definitely has the Beli he collected from us there!"

"That's enough. Do you really take my lord for some toy you can fool around with?"

"Stop."

Roya said softly.

He slowly crouched down before the two girls and ruffled their hair.

Feeling Roya's warm hand on her head, Nami looked at him and said, "Believe us. We really weren't lying to you. If even you can't see through Captain Nezumi's disguise, then Cocoyasi Village truly..."

Before Nami could finish, Captain Nezumi interrupted from the side. "Do you think my lord will believe you again? You two little liars!"

Ignoring Nezumi, Roya looked at the two girls and silently mouthed a sentence to them.

Yet it was only lip movement.

Before the two girls could react.

Roya stood up and said to Genzo beside him, "You know these two girls, right? Take them back. And teach them properly—don't let them lie again. It's a bad habit."

"I'll take them back right away."

"Kensuke" walked over from behind the crowd, took Nami and Nojiko by the hands, and headed toward the village.

They were still wondering what Roya's silent words had meant.

At the same time, they curiously glanced at "Genzo" beside them.

For some reason, they both felt that there was something strange about this "Genzo."

Captain Nezumi also found it strange.

Looking at Genzo, Nezumi thought, When did he get here? How did I not notice him? Or was I just careless?

Just then, Nezumi's Den Den Mushi rang.

"Burururu~"

After hearing the Den Den Mushi's report, Nezumi said to Roya, "My lord, the supplies have been replenished."

"Finished? Then it's time for us to leave as well."

Kalifa nodded from the side, then followed behind Roya and returned to the warship.

Watching the warship gradually sail away, Captain Nezumi burst out laughing. "Hahahaha! Those two finally left! They scared me to death just now!"

But when he thought of what Nami and Nojiko had done earlier, his chest filled with fury.

Picking up his Den Den Mushi, Nezumi contacted Arlong. "Arlong, you reacted quickly. I never expected someone as proud as you to actually take the other Fish-Men and leave temporarily, then find some people to put on an act there. You really are something!"

"I just happened to leave."

Arlong would never admit that he feared the power of an admiral!

Nezumi said nothing else and simply told Arlong what had happened.

After hearing Nezumi's words, Arlong flew into a rage and immediately said, "Wait for me there. I'm coming to find you right now, then I'll crush those two girls to death!"

--

On the warship, Kalifa said to Roya, "Roya, do you really believe what that Captain Nezumi said? Something is clearly wrong with Cocoyasi Village."

"Of course I don't believe him. But if what those two girls said is true, then the Arlong Pirates should still be here. They may have been scared away by our arrival, so we need to leave temporarily before they show themselves."

Roya added, "Otherwise, solving only Captain Nezumi's problem would merely treat the symptoms, not the cause."

"Then should we return after a while? But will those two girls be in danger?"

Kalifa was somewhat worried that Nezumi would kill the two girls to vent his anger!

"That's why, Kalifa, I'll leave this warship to you next!"

As he spoke, Roya's figure shattered.

Watching the phantom before her dissipate, Kalifa stood frozen in place.

Then she shook her head. Roya's abilities were truly becoming more and more mysterious.

She simply couldn't make sense of them!

--

Elsewhere, Nami looked at Genzo, who was holding her hand, and suddenly realized what Roya had mouthed to her earlier!

"Hey... you're Roya, right?"

As Nami spoke those words, her heart was filled with anxiety and anticipation.

Upon hearing Nami's words, Nojiko stared at "Genzo" in disbelief, then said to Nami, "Nami, what are you talking about? That's clearly Uncle Genzo."

"But you can use your ability to disguise yourself, right?!"

Nami's large eyes shone as she stared at the person holding her hand.

The corners of "Genzo's" lips curled slightly upward. The illusion around him fell away, revealing Roya's true appearance.

Though Nami had felt that her guess was right, she was still incredibly excited when she saw Roya truly standing before her.

Nami leaped up excitedly and clung to Roya's waist like an ornament.

Her beautiful eyes looked at Roya as she said, "Roya, you really did believe us!"

Seeing Nami acting so uninhibitedly, Nojiko hurriedly said, "Nami, don't be disrespectful to Lord Roya. Get down quickly."

Roya gave Nojiko a slight shake of his head, then said to the two girls, "The reason I came to this island was because of Nezumi and the Arlong Pirates."

"So you believed us from the very beginning!"

Nami's eyes lit up.

"Of course. It's just that none of us expected Arlong not to be at Arlong Park."

Nami was very smart. Her eyes shifted as she said to Roya, "So that was your double?"

"More precisely, it was an illusion. All right, let's not talk about that now. We only need to go to your house and wait for the prey to arrive!"

Nami nodded heavily, her gaze toward Roya filled with admiration!

At the same time, her heart was filled with an immense sense of security.

How long had it been since she had felt this way?

It had to be said, a sense of security was truly addictive.

Tightly gripping Roya's finger, Nami felt indescribably happy.

And at that moment, Nezumi and Arlong had already joined up. They rushed swiftly toward Nami and Nojiko's home...