One Piece: Invincible from the Start

At the sound of their boss's voice, the Fish-Men's eyes gleamed viciously. They bared their teeth and charged at Kuta and the others.

Kuta was about to move when Kuina spoke.

"Kuta, we agreed. Leave this to me."

She could barely contain her killing intent.

Kuta stopped at once, scratched his head, and apologized to her.

"Sorry, Kuina. I nearly forgot."

The sight of those Fish-Men had made him itch for a fight. It had been ages since he had last fought anyone. They would go down in a single stroke—not enough to satisfy him, but enough to take the edge off!

Kuina's eyes had been fixed on Captain Nezumi from the start. Standing atop the wall, she looked like death itself, her gaze utterly cold.

Nezumi was the first person she wanted to kill.

The boundless killing intent in Kuina's eyes made Nezumi's whole body prickle as though pierced by needles.

Alarm bells rang in his head.

Danger. Danger. Danger...

Nezumi froze, cold sweat pouring down his face.

He looked up at Kuina, screaming inwardly.

What's with this woman?!

I don't even know her! Why has she been staring at me ever since she arrived?!

The Fish-Men were almost at the foot of the wall before Kuina finally withdrew her gaze and jumped down.

She ignored the Fish-Men rushing toward her. Her eyes found Nezumi again, and she walked toward him at an unhurried pace.

Kuta crouched on the wall, looking rather bored. He yawned and pulled the wine gourd from his waist.

A drink and a show.

The first two Fish-Men to reach Kuina flared with aggression.

One came from each side. One raised a fist, the other a blade, and both struck viciously at her head.

Then—

Clang!

Just as the Fish-Man on her left threw his punch, a flash of steel swept across his throat first.

A red glint flashed in her eyes. She leaned slightly left and stepped forward, slipping past the other Fish-Man's blade.

She paused, twirled her sword, reversed her grip, and stabbed to the right before drawing it back.

Then she paid neither Fish-Man another glance. She walked calmly between them and continued forward.

Only then did the two Fish-Men, still standing motionless, fall to the ground with a thud.

At the sight of their two comrades twitching on the ground, the Fish-Men behind them skidded to a halt and stood stunned.

Two of their own had been killed cleanly in a single exchange.

"Ah...!"

Then rage surged through them. Their eyes turned bloodred, and with furious roars, they charged Kuina.

Kuina kept walking toward Nezumi at the same unhurried pace, utterly unaffected by the Fish-Men.

She turned her right wrist and took a standard grip on her sword. A cold, dazzling gleam ran along the blade as she met the charging Fish-Man with a simple horizontal slash.

The blade flashed, and the Fish-Man stopped dead in his tracks.

Pssht!

Kuina stepped right, avoiding the blood that sprayed from his chest.

She cast a cold glance at the Fish-Men behind him, then flicked the blood from her sword.

It spattered across the ground in a long line, glistening a harsh red beneath the sun.

Kuina's cold stare made the Fish-Men behind him ache all over.

They had forgotten that the way they looked at humans was exactly how Kuina looked at them now!

Only then did the Fish-Men understand fear.

They stopped charging. Their pupils contracted as they stared at Kuina, and their bodies retreated of their own accord.

This human was no ordinary human. She was a powerful reaper.

Three strokes.

Three comrades.

They had not even seen the sword, only a flash of steel.

Was She Going to Be Wanted?

Arlong watched his terrified comrades retreat.

He sprang to his feet, eyes bloodred. Opening his huge mouth, he roared, "Out of my way!"

Hearing their boss's voice, the Fish-Men breathed a collective sigh of relief and hurried back.

There was nothing left of their usual swagger in their bedraggled retreat.

Kuina ignored the fleeing Fish-Men and Arlong alike. She shifted her gaze back to Nezumi.

That one look made Nezumi tremble all over.

As Kuina approached, his legs gave way and he fell backward onto the ground.

Then he cried out in terror.

"What is wrong with you, woman?! We've never had a grudge! Why are you coming after me?!"

He was terrified, and he felt wronged.

Why me?!

I'm human too!

Why do you keep staring at me instead of the Fish-Men?!

Seeing Kuina ignore him completely made Arlong even angrier.

"You human woman. If you're so eager to die, I'll oblige you."

He turned, pulled a massive serrated sword from behind a pillar, and faced her again.

He fixed Kuina with a savage glare, kicked the table out of his way, and rushed at her.

Her swordsmanship was impressive, but he was certain that no matter how strong this woman was, she could not beat him.

He was Arlong, a Fish-Man and captain of the Arlong Pirates, with the highest bounty in the East Blue!

Arlong closed in on Kuina, raised his great sawblade with both hands, and brought it down hard.

"Die!"

Arlong was confident that no one in the East Blue could withstand his Slash.

For the first time, Kuina looked at Arlong. A cold glint crossed her eyes, and though she moved after him, her sword reached its mark first, catching the sawblade from below.

Clang!

A blast of wind swept outward from where the blades met.

"Hm?!"

Arlong froze for a moment. He stared at his sword, feeling a force beneath it that matched his own.

Impossible. How could a human in the East Blue withstand my Slash?

He raised his eyes to meet Kuina's cold gaze. For the first time, there was gravity in his voice.

"You're not from the East Blue. You came from the Grand Line."

It was the only explanation he could accept for a human woman having the strength to match him.

Kuina looked up at Arlong. Her eyes remained as cold as ever.

"You talk too much."

She placed her left hand on the hilt as well, gripped it with both hands, and forced Arlong's blade upward.

Veins bulged on Arlong's forehead and arms. His whole body reddened as he gritted his teeth and dug his feet into the ground, roaring at Kuina.

"How could a lowly human ever be stronger than the mighty Fish-Man Race?!"

Kuina paid his roar no mind. She drew a deep breath and pulled her sword back slightly. Then, with an even fiercer burst of strength, she lifted Arlong and his great sawblade clear off the ground.

CLANG!

An even louder crash and a stronger blast of air erupted where the blades clashed.

Nezumi sat stunned on the ground, unable to open his eyes against the wind. He wanted to flee, but all the strength seemed to have drained from his body. It would not obey him.

Arlong tried to anchor his feet to the ground, but it was useless. The force lifted him straight up.

The instant his feet left the ground, he lost any chance of resisting Kuina.

Then his massive body hurtled backward, driven by a force he could not withstand.

Boom!

His arched back slammed into the wall behind him, leaving a deep crater.

With a crash, the wall collapsed and buried him beneath it.

The Fish-Men around him stared at the small mound of rubble, bewildered.

How could even Arlong be outmatched by this human's strength?

They shook their heads, disbelief written across their faces.

She can't be human.

Just then, Kuta turned and glanced at the pool behind Kuina.

Is that Hachi?

He had been wondering what was missing. It was that six-armed octopus!

If Hachi had stayed hidden in deep water, Kuta really would have had trouble finding him.

After all, he could pass himself off as an ordinary fish.

From the look of him, he planned to ambush Kuina while she was between one burst of strength and the next.

Kuta had no intention of giving him that chance.

He did not care whether Hachi had once saved Rayleigh's life. That was no reason to spare him.

Hachi might have seemed like a good guy in the anime, but he was no different from the other Fish-Men of the Arlong Pirates. He just acted a little goofy.

If Rayleigh really came looking for revenge afterward, Kuta would kill him too.

As Hachi was about to surface, Kuta swiftly drew Zankū and casually slashed toward the water where he was hiding.

A silver-gray Slash flew toward the pool behind Kuina.

It struck Hachi just as he broke the surface.

Clang!

The silver-gray Slash did not slow in the slightest. It passed through the two swords Hachi held before him, sliced through his body, then sped along the waterway toward the distant sea and vanished.

Hachi stood frozen with both swords raised. A wave rolled in, and with a chink, the blades in his hands snapped in two.

A line of blood appeared down the middle of his body, starting at his brow. It rapidly widened, and with a squelch, his body split in half. Blood stained the seawater around him red.

His body was not the only thing split open. A fissure had also appeared, silently, in the waterway behind him.