She grabbed Nami's icy fingers and squeezed hard. "Be careful. If anything feels wrong, forget the money and run."
"Relax, relax. You know how good I am at running away, don't you?" Nami winked playfully, pulled her hand free, and turned toward the building on the shore.
The instant she turned away, the smile vanished from Nami's face.
She had walked the dirt road to Arlong Park countless times.
Sometimes she had come to join them in humiliation; sometimes she had returned with bloodstained money.
Only this time, her steps felt especially heavy.
Nami raised her head, her gaze passing through the sparse trees to settle on the jagged tower.
As long as she got past this hurdle, as long as she threw her backpack in front of that sawshark Fish-Man, everything would be over.
She had already decided to slam the money onto the table, point at Arlong's nose, and tell him to get out of Cocoyasi Village. From now on, this was her territory!
Just imagining that scene filled Nami with strength. Even the backpack whose straps dug painfully into her shoulders seemed lovable now.
The half-hour journey felt especially long.
When the enormous wooden gate painted with a sawtooth pattern appeared before her, Nami still stopped.
She was close.
The fishy smell mingled with damp sea air washed over her, stinging her nostrils.
Thump, thump, thump.
Her heart pounded violently in her chest, so loudly it nearly drowned out the cicadas around her.
Nami took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but she could not wipe away the cold sweat seeping from her palms.
Whew-calm down, Nami. You're an outstanding navigator and a skilled thief.
She silently encouraged herself, then reached out a trembling hand and pressed it against the heavy wooden gate.
Rather than push it open immediately, she habitually peered inside through a damaged spot between the planks, just as she always did.
She wanted to quickly confirm whether Arlong was there so she could end this nightmare that had lasted eight years.
Through the narrow opening that restricted her view, sunlight slanted across the courtyard beside Arlong Park's swimming pool.
Several Fish-Men lounged lazily in deck chairs.
One of them, an officer named Chew, had thick lips and was fiddling with a golden wine cup he had plundered from somewhere.
Nami's fingers suddenly froze just as she was about to push open the gate.
She had heard that Fish-Man's distinctive shrill voice, with its strange trailing sounds, drifting intermittently into her ears on the sea breeze.
"...Chew, Boss Arlong really is too merciful. He actually played house with that inferior human woman for so long... chew..."
Nami's fingers instantly stiffened against the gate, curling inward.
A chill rose from the soles of her feet, and the light rapidly faded from her eyes.
Something was wrong.
That tone, that casual mockery... it was nothing like the atmosphere she had imagined before completing their deal.
"But then again... chew..." Chew continued, swirling his cup, his dead-fish eyes revealing a teasing look that chilled Nami to the bone. "It's a hundred million Beli, after all. Even for us, that's no small sum... how could we really let that woman take territory that belongs to Fish-Men? Chew..."
Every word stabbed at Nami's eardrums.
Her pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints, and her breathing stopped completely for an instant. The heavy backpack now pressed down on her until she could barely breathe.
The world beyond the gap remained bright with sunshine, but in Nami's eyes, some darkness was rapidly swallowing that light.
"...Chew, that damned Captain Nezumi should be on his way to the Orange Grove by now, right? After all, only that naive woman would think of hiding money somewhere like that... chew hahaha!"
That laughter, with its strange trailing sounds, utterly broke Nami.
The sunshine outside the gate remained brilliant, but Nami felt cold all over.
The strength that had always kept her standing-the agreement that she could buy back the village for a hundred million Beli-crumbled to dust in that instant.
There had never been any deal.
All eight years of enduring humiliation to survive had been nothing but a farce in those monsters' eyes.
Nami's eyes instantly reddened with the fury of having been fooled so completely.
Her hand against the gate shook violently, her nails digging into the wood grain until they nearly snapped.
"Arlong!"
With a furious shout, Nami kicked the heavy wooden gate open.
The tremendous noise made the pirates in the courtyard freeze, and every gaze instantly focused on the slender girl.
She slammed the heavy backpack onto the ground. The Beli inside struck with a dull thud, like a silent mockery.
"Oh? Isn't this our navigator who needed to go out to sea to take measurements?" Arlong sat in the stone chair that symbolized his rule, his eyes narrowing slightly, casual mockery playing across his sawtoothed nose. "What's this? Bringing the money in such a hurry because you want us to get lost?"
"Stop playing dumb!" Nami abruptly drew the long staff at her waist and gripped it tightly with both hands, her knuckles whitening from the force.
There was only one thought in her mind-kill this liar.
"Give me back... my village!"
She raised her staff and charged at Arlong.
But against the vast difference in their strength, her resistance seemed feeble.
Arlong easily caught the swinging staff in one large, scale-covered hand.
He did not even stand, merely leaning forward slightly as his fang-filled mouth curved into a cruel grin.
"You may be an exceptionally talented surveyor, but if you don't understand your place..." Arlong tightened his fingers slightly, and the sturdy staff creaked under the strain. "You could die, Nami."
The oppressive presence and bloody aura radiating from Arlong brought Nami back to her senses.
"Kuroobi." With a casual toss, Arlong sent Nami stumbling backward, staff and all. "Teach our lady navigator what the rules of the Fish-Men are."
"Yes, Boss Arlong."
Kuroobi, the Fish-Man with the strange braid and karate uniform, stood up, working his wrists as he approached step by step.
Her instinct to survive overwhelmed her anger. Beneath the shadow of death, Nami's face instantly turned deathly pale.
Watching the Fish-Man Karate expert close in, her body reacted before her mind did-run!
I have to run! There's only hope if I stay alive!
Nami spun around and sprinted toward the gate.
"Trying to run? Too late!" Kuroobi snorted coldly. The tiles beneath his feet instantly shattered as he shot forward like a cannonball, moving at astonishing speed.
The rushing wind behind her carried a deadly pressure, instantly cutting off every escape route.
Nami charged toward the open gate with all her strength, but just as she was about to cross the threshold, a tall shadow dropped from above, cutting off her path to survival.
Kuroobi's expressionless face appeared before her, his raised right palm gathering enough force to shatter rocks and stone monuments.
"It's over, human."
It's over.
Nami closed her eyes.
Only a sense of helplessness remained in her mind.
No matter how hard it struggles, can a mouse never beat a cat?
Whoosh-
Just then, a piercing whistle suddenly rang out, sounding as though it would tear the air apart and drowning out the howling sea breeze.
A dull, heavy impact followed.
The terrible pain she expected never came.
In that second, the previously noisy Arlong Park fell deathly silent.
Her eyelashes trembling, Nami cautiously opened her eyes a crack.
The sight before her made her pupils contract sharply-
Kuroobi had been sent flying sideways and was embedded deep in a wall more than ten meters away.
Amid the flying rubble, the Fish-Man officer's head lolled to one side, his fate unknown.
Less than two meters in front of Nami, an ordinary wooden training sword stood embedded at an angle in the hard stone tiles, its blade still humming and trembling from the tremendous force.
That was...
Dazed, Nami turned her head and looked in the direction the wooden sword had come from.
Backlit in the gateway, a young man in loose training clothes was casually lowering his throwing arm.
"So this is Fish-Man Karate?"
The young man slowly lowered his hand. His tone was as casual as if he were commenting on dinner, yet his voice carried clearly throughout the deathly silent courtyard.
"A lot more fragile than I imagined."
Nami's mouth fell open. She struggled to force that name out of her dry throat, her voice carrying a tremor even she had not noticed:
"Lin... Lin Xuan?"
Chapter 36: Catching a sword with his face? Arlong wet himself on the spot!
Lin Xuan ignored Nami's look of utter disbelief and did not even stop walking.
He merely raised a hand lazily and waved it in front of Nami as though shooing away a fly, signaling for her to move aside.
"Excuse me. Don't block me from retrieving my weapon."
The young man's tone was calm, as though he had merely tossed away an empty drink can.
Lin Xuan walked straight past the rigid Nami, even finding time to glance at the backpack containing a hundred million Beli on the ground.
"If I traded all that money for booze, it'd probably be enough to drown that old man."
In front of Kuroobi, who was embedded in the wall, he gripped the handle of the still faintly trembling wooden sword.
Squelch.
The wooden sword came free, drawing out a spray of dark red blood.
The tip of the training sword had burst apart from the throw, leaving it covered in splinters, but that did nothing to diminish the dangerous aura radiating from Lin Xuan.
"You bastard..."
A roar of suppressed fury came from beneath the jagged tower.
Arlong slowly rose from his stone chair, his towering body casting an enormous shadow.
He looked at his capable officer hanging in the wall, his fate unknown. Blood vessels filled his pale eyes, and his long, sawtoothed nose twitched violently with rage.
"Whoever you are... if you cause trouble in this park, you'd better be ready to be torn to pieces!"
Arlong swept his hand sharply, and the panicked Fish-Men seemed to have found their pillar of support.
"Kill him!"
"Chop this human up and feed him to the sharks!"
"Boss Arlong is angry! This guy is dead!"
Dozens of Fish-Man pirates brandished broadswords, spiked clubs, and firearms as they lunged at Lin Xuan from every direction.
The air instantly filled with a fishy stench and killing intent.
Lin Xuan stood where he was. Faced with the surging killing intent, he advanced instead of retreating, the corners of his mouth slowly spreading into an exaggerated grin.
That feeling had returned.
The burning heat of blood flowing through his veins, the faint prickling of his skin from excitement.
Although these fellows before him were as weak as roadside weeds, the thrill of being about to tear flesh apart still sent a faint tremor through his soul.
"Ready?"
Lin Xuan casually flicked his bloodstained wooden sword, flecks of golden light dancing in the depths of his pitch-black eyes.
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