Pirates: Seeing Proficiency Made Me a Legend

Genzo placed a hand on Nami's shoulder.

"Nami! Enough! You've done more than enough!"

"Leave the rest to us adults!"

Nami came back to herself at Genzo's words. She turned and saw determination in the villagers' eyes. What she had done had stirred their courage.

Genzo drew the long blade at his waist.

"Arlong! We won't run anymore. It's time to settle the score for Bellemere's death and every evil you pirates have committed!"

"That's right! Even if we die today, we'll make you pay!"

"How dare you treat our Nami like this!"

"Hah! The Seedlings dare fight back!"

"Men! Show them what happens when they defy the Arlong Pirates!"

The battle erupted, but ordinary people were no match for Fish-Men. Villagers soon began to fall.

As Nami watched them fall one after another, she sank to her knees. She didn't want to lose anyone else, but the fight had come so suddenly. If she hadn't made that deal with Arlong, perhaps none of them would have died.

Thinking of the man responsible sent blood rushing to her head. She snatched up a wooden stick, broke free of Nojiko, and charged.

"Arlong! I'll kill you!"

But she was no match for him. Arlong raised a hand and flicked a finger. Nami flew backward and struck a tree outside the gates of Arlong Park.

The hopeless gap between them brought tears to her eyes. Why was this happening? Why hadn't the Marines come? Why had Bellemere died? At last, nearly breaking, she cried out, "Can somebody help us?"

In her despair, a hand settled on her head and gently ruffled her hair. A warm, steady voice spoke beside her ear.

"I told you pirates couldn't be trusted. You really are a little fool."

Nami trembled. She knew that voice. It belonged to the damned Pirate Hunter she had hated so much these past few days.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. "You big jerk! The money's gone, and everyone's... Help me! Please, help me!"

Arlong's End, Conqueror's Haki Revealed

"Kid! I suggest you mind your own business!"

Sensing the newcomer would be trouble, Arlong flung Genzo aside and fixed him with a murderous stare.

"The Arlong Pirates."

"Heh."

"I'd love to know who gave you the nerve to commit such atrocities in the East Blue. Was it that eel Fisher Tiger, or that Shichibukai Jinbe?"

"If Otohime knew what you'd done here, she'd be furious enough to climb out of her coffin."

As Dongze laid bare one secret after another, the Fish-Men stopped fighting and turned toward him.

Arlong, Chew, and the other Arlong Pirates officers abandoned their opponents and surrounded Dongze.

Killing intent filled Arlong's eyes. "Kid, who are you?"

"My name is Dongze. Perhaps you've heard it."

"I came here for one reason: to send you all to your deaths."

A chill ran through them. Every pirate in the East Blue had heard of Dongze the Pirate Hunter.

Several Fish-Men blurted out, "Not a Blade of Grass Left!"

Seeing his officers waver, Arlong roared, "Men! We're superior beings from the Grand Line. Are we going to cower before some Pirate Hunter from the East Blue?"

His words steadied the Fish-Men.

In all their years in the East Blue, neither Marines nor pirates had been a match for them.

Their natural gifts put Fish-Men far above ordinary humans from the start.

Dongze's expression did not change. "If old Whitebeard learned what kind of Fish-Men his flag was protecting, do you think it would still fly over Fish-Man Island?"

The words struck a nerve. The Fish-Men shuddered. Without Whitebeard's flag, pirates would have carved up Fish-Man Island long ago.

Even they understood that King Neptune and the zealot Hody Jones could not protect the island alone. Any pirate with a bounty above two billion could slaughter them all.

Without Whitebeard's flag, Fish-Man Island might already have ceased to exist.

"Who the hell are you?"

Arlong and the others' pupils contracted. A native of the East Blue should never have known such things. For the first time, fear took hold of them.

Nami watched the vicious Fish-Men grow visibly uneasy at Dongze's words, and confusion flashed in her eyes.

"Xiao Yi, what's wrong with them?"

Robin's expression grew complicated. She had never heard the secrets Dongze mentioned, but she could tell they concerned the Fish-Men's origins.

"They seem to come from a place called Fish-Man Island. For some reason, the legendary pirate Whitebeard protects it. What they're doing here could anger him, and they're afraid he'll hear about it."

Robin looked at Dongze, standing a short distance ahead of them, with growing curiosity. She had learned about his background during their time together. He came from a small village in the East Blue. How could he know secrets like these?

Dongze knew too much. Arlong decided to kill him. If word got out, Whitebeard aside, even Jinbe would never forgive him.

"Men, kill him!"

Nami's turbulent feelings settled as she looked at Dongze's fearless face. Then she remembered how savage the Fish-Men were and could not help asking, "Xiao Yi, he'll be all right, won't he?"

"Nami, do you believe in miracles?"

"Ah..."

His gaze seemed to pierce through the ages; his long sigh seemed to shake the depths of the underworld.

Dongze looked at the Fish-Men and hesitated no longer.

He took one step forward. An immense force rose around him, and heaven and earth seemed to answer. A presence that could crush countless lives swept outward.

Colored clouds froze in the sky. Beyond the island, the sea surged backward.

Momoo, the Sea King lurking nearby, passed out before he could react.

Conqueror's Haki.

It was the first time Dongze had used it before others since setting sail.

As his proficiency had grown, he had gained full control of it. His Haki passed over Nami and the villagers.

For now, it was his best way to fight. Slashing attacks could only strike in a set direction, and with the villagers mixed among the Fish-Men, he could not use them safely.

The Fish-Men were not especially strong, but they came from the New World and had seen plenty. They recognized the power the moment it swept over them.

What they had not expected was its sheer force. They lost consciousness almost as soon as they recognized it. Of all the Fish-Men there, only Arlong remained upright, struggling to endure.

"Conqueror's Haki!"

"Impossible! How could someone like you exist in a backwater like the East Blue?"

"Who are you?"

"If you kill us, Jinbe will never let you go!"

Nami stared, eyes wide with disbelief. What had happened? The Fish-Men who had always seemed so powerful had simply collapsed.

The villagers still conscious were just as stunned. The Fish-Men who had beaten them helpless had fallen to the ground?

Surely they were dreaming!

"This..."

"Impossible!"

"Who is that man? He didn't even touch them!"

To anyone unfamiliar with Conqueror's Haki, it looked like something out of a story.

I haven't even tried yet, and you're down.

Robin's pupils contracted when she heard Arlong. "Conqueror's Haki!" She had only read about it in the books at Ohara's library. It was the spirit possessed by a chosen one in a million, the bearing of a ruler destined to stand above others.

She had never expected her employer to possess such an extraordinary power.

As the pressure intensified, the captain of the Arlong Pirates finally lost consciousness. Even at the last moment, he could not believe someone like Dongze existed in the East Blue.

"Nami, come here."

Dongze turned to the girl beside Robin.

Still amazed and delighted, Nami hurried over in quick little steps.

"You big jerk, you're that strong?"

Dongze bent down, patted her head, and asked gently, "Do you want to take revenge yourself?"

Nami shivered. "You big jerk... Is everyone dead?"

"No. They only passed out. These Fish-Men talk big, but they wouldn't dare slaughter people across the East Blue. It's the home of Garp the Hero. Captain Nezumi's collusion with Arlong kept all this hidden. If there were a mass killing, they'd be finished."

Nami breathed a sigh of relief. But she hesitated over his offer. She hated Arlong most of all, yet to her, punishment meant locking them in prison for life. Only when the law could not touch people, as with those black marketeers, had she felt forced to act. Kindhearted as she was, she did not want to take a life with her own hands.

Robin came over. "Sir, don't make little Nami do this. If someone must, I'm willing."

Dongze sighed inwardly. Some things were best settled with one's own hands, leaving no regrets. But Nami clearly did not want to kill them herself.

After a moment's thought, he said no more.

One Fish-Man posed a particular problem. Hachi had saved the life of the Pirate King's right-hand man, Dark King Rayleigh, and would later make a decent showing in his dealings with the Straw Hat Pirates. It seemed a shame to kill him now.

From what Dongze could tell, that goofball probably had no blood on his hands. He could spare Hachi. As for the others—well.

"Fine. I'll do it. If you kill them, their friends and family might come for revenge, and you won't be able to stop them."

"Hey, everyone! Carry the injured out. I'll finish things here!"

Once the villagers had gone, Dongze beheaded Arlong, the chief culprit, and Kuroobi with a single stroke. He gravely wounded the other Fish-Men and threw them into the sea. Whether they lived or died was up to fate.

He spared Hachi a fatal blow and tossed him into the sea.

Under the slanting light of the setting sun, Dongze finished what he had to do and went to Arlong Park to meet Robin and Nami.

He came to a stop and raised his hand. Forgotten Dust sprang from its sheath, spun through the air, and dropped into his grasp.

Then Nami saw something she would never forget. A black slash swept out before her in a full arc, growing wider and wider until it spanned nearly a thousand meters. It cut through everything ahead. Arlong Park, the source of so many nightmares, shattered into dust beneath that single stroke.

Words Robin had once said to her suddenly echoed through her mind.

"Do you believe it? That sword can create miracles."

So that sword really can create miracles.

Departure, Destination: Alabasta

"Nami! Has our savior left?"

"Yeah."

Nami and Nojiko sat together on a pier in the warm sea breeze. Their short, pale legs dangled in the water, kicking at the little waves as they talked distractedly.

"Nami, why didn't you ask him to stay a couple more days?"

"He couldn't stay. Just like we had something we needed to do, he has his own path to follow."

"Nami, you haven't fallen for him, have you?"

"Idiot! Who'd fall for that big jerk?"

"I heard our savior left someone a hundred million Beli. He certainly knew what that someone liked."

"Nojiko! How many times do I have to tell you? It wasn't for me. It was for the village!"

In the end, Dongze had not taken Nami, talented navigator though she was, with him.

Robin was already aboard, and the ship was no longer safe. If Robin's old man discovered she was missing, he would certainly come looking. Dongze remembered how much Aokiji doted on his precious girl.

Dongze was not confident he could stand against an Admiral yet. Aokiji's absurd power let him freeze miles of ocean as easily as breathing. What would it look like once his Devil Fruit power awakened? Dongze could scarcely bear to imagine it.