Arlong Pirates

"Mm-mm-mm!"

Luffy desperately pounded his chest, his face flushed bright red.

In the end, Zoro gave Luffy a hard slap on the back, finally helping him catch his breath.

"I thought I was going to die! Sob!"

"What an idiot."

Zoro sighed. When he turned his head, he saw two women wearing black cloaks, one of whom was that person who had always struck him as extremely strange.

Who exactly was this woman? Had they met before?

Kuina sensed an investigating gaze and couldn't help panicking for a moment before quickly calming down.

I'm wearing a mask right now. How could Zoro possibly recognize me?

Moyun quietly moved to Kuina's other side, conveniently blocking Zoro's view.

"I feel like something's wrong with Nami. You may not have noticed, but when Nami saw the wanted poster for Arlong pasted on that ship just now, her expression became extremely grim."

Actually, Moyun shouldn't have been the one to remind them. It should have been Zoro's two underlings.

But those two had disappeared from the very beginning, and no one knew where they had run off to.

"Arlong? Who's that?"

"I've never heard of him either."

Usopp shook his head. Just as he was about to ask Zoro, who had once been a bounty hunter, about it, he noticed that Zoro had already begun snoring away.

"Forget it. I'll explain everything to you later. If you're finished eating, go aboard the ship first."

"Okay!"

The moment the Straw Hat crew left the restaurant, they discovered that their ship was gone.

"Where did our ship go?!"

Usopp shouted in despair. That ship had been Kaya's gift to him—how could it just be lost like this?!

"There's a note here."

Olvia saw a note pinned to the deck beneath a rock. Usopp hurried over and snatched it up.

"Dear big brother and his friends, we noticed that Big Sis Nami left with a heavy heart. We were worried she might be in danger, so we took the ship to look for her. Don't worry."

"So they went after Nami. What are we supposed to do now?"

Luffy spoke with some frustration.

"You should take my ship. I'll bring you over."

Moyun snapped his fingers, and the group instantly appeared aboard a ship that was neither large nor small, but extremely luxurious.

"Haha, this is so much fun! You're a Devil Fruit user too!"

Luffy clapped his hands and looked at Moyun curiously.

"Yeah. Sit wherever you like. I don't have any tea or anything to serve you."

Moyun dropped onto the sofa and stretched lazily.

"I heard Arlong was fairly powerful—a fish-man who once caused a huge disturbance in the Grand Line."

"A Fish-man? What are they like?"

"I heard there are really beautiful mermaids on Fish-Man Island in the Grand Line!"

Red hearts had already begun appearing in Sanji's eyes. That place was his ideal kingdom too. When would he finally be able to enter the Grand Line?!

Although Moyun hadn't spent much time with Luffy and the others, he understood their personalities extremely well.

So he didn't mind them interrupting him. He simply waited until they had all finished speaking before continuing.

"There's an organization in the Grand Line called the Shichibukai. They're pirates recognized by the government."

Moyun paused before continuing, "The reason they're recognized by the government is that they hand over a portion of the wealth they plunder from other pirates."

"Tch, something like that actually exists?"

Sanji raised an eyebrow, though he found it acceptable enough.

Even the Celestial Dragons could cooperate with a Marine, so what else was there that he couldn't accept?

Whenever Moyun thought of Saint Charlos, he felt extremely irritated. The fact that Charlos could collude with a Marine meant there were certainly other people willing to work for him as well.

Saint Charlos might even use those people to keep an eye on him.

It would be bad if he told the Five Elders.

Even though he was a Celestial Dragon, he would probably still be killed by them through any means necessary.

"There's a fish-man among them who's also a Shichibukai. Arlong was once an existence on equal footing with him, and after coming to the East Blue, he became even more arrogant in his actions."

"I see. But why did Nami go looking for him?"

Luffy tilted his head. Could that Arlong have stolen Nami's meat?

"They probably have some history between them. You'll know once we arrive."

Moyun stood up, walked over to Luffy, and patted him on the shoulder.

"You'll probably have your hands full again when the time comes. Do your best, Luffy."

"Huh?"

Before Luffy could say anything, Moyun had already gone upstairs to cultivate.

On a small boat, a woman with short orange hair gazed into the distance. As she watched the island that was about to appear, her heart grew unbearably heavy.

"Will we ever meet again? You really are a wonderful group of companions."

"Once I buy Cocoyasi Village back, I'll come find you."

Nami looked at the large sack of Treasure behind her, hatred filling her eyes.

When she was young, Arlong had brought his men to Cocoyasi Village, seized control of it, and killed her adoptive mother.

If Arlong hadn't noticed that she had some talent for drawing nautical charts, she probably would have died on the spot as well.

"Arlong!"

This was Arlong's base. For all these years, Nami had worked under Arlong's command, all so that one day she could buy Cocoyasi Village back from him.

That way, the Villagers wouldn't have to remain oppressed.

The small boat reached the shore. Carrying the money, Nami headed toward Arlong Park.

She looked at the sign hanging on the wall, her emotions churning. She was almost able to gather enough money.

"I'm going to kill Arlong!"

A child charged toward Nami with a large mallet in his hands, shouting something at the top of his lungs.

"I'm going to kill Arlong! Arlong killed my dad!"

Nami kicked the child to the ground and looked at him coldly.

"Arlong doesn't have time to deal with a brat like you. Scram!"

"Waaah!"

The child stubbornly glared at Nami, his little hands still gripping the mallet tightly.

Nami pulled out a stack of money from the bag and threw it onto the ground. Her voice was cold. "Take this money and scram. Come back after you've learned how to protect yourself."

"Nami? You're back. Why aren't you coming in?"

A waterway connected the entrance to the interior. An octopus Fish-man emerged from the water and frowned at Nami.

"Nothing happened. I just ran into a troublesome brat."

Nami glared at the child lying on the ground before walking straight inside, silently praying that he wouldn't follow her.

These fish-men had no sympathy whatsoever for human children. If he followed her, she wouldn't be able to protect him!