Nami's Request

At the sight of this supernatural scene, the Fish-Men inside Arlong Park all turned toward the entrance.

Four figures appeared at the entrance, with Nami held in Lott's arms.

"Who are you? You lowly human!" Arlong saw that the woman he was about to kill had been rescued, and Nami had slipped from his grasp too. It left him absolutely furious.

"Me? I suppose you could call me a chef." Lott took a coat out of System Space and draped it over Nami as he spoke slowly.

"A chef? There's nothing for a chef to do here, you lowly human!" In his fury, Arlong fired countless Water Shots at Lott again.

Lott did not look up. He simply spread an Electromagnetic Barrier in front of himself, blocking every attack.

"Anyone who knows me knows that preparing fish is my specialty." Lott raised his head and grinned.

But in Arlong's eyes, that smile was full of contempt.

"Forget it. I'll deal with you lot in a moment."

Lott raised his hand, and an Electromagnetic Barrier invisible to the naked eye enveloped all of Arlong Park, preventing the Fish-Men inside from getting out. Even sounds and attacks could not pass through.

Nami looked up and saw Lott. "Lott... you shouldn't have come here."

Lott stroked Nami's soaking-wet hair, then slowly set her down on the ground. "Don't worry. These few beasts pose no threat to us."

Feeling the warmth on her head, Nami slowly looked up. Her large eyes were like pools of clear spring water, stirring pity.

For a moment, Lott was a little dazed, almost losing himself in those clear pools.

"Is there anything I can help with?"

"Nami, we've actually known all along about everything you've done for this village over the years. We weren't capable of much, and we let you shoulder so much alone." A middle-aged man's voice rang out.

Nami turned to look behind Lott and saw that all the villagers had come, each carrying something to fight with. They looked ready to fight the Arlong Pirates to the death.

Leading them was a middle-aged man in a village police uniform, his face covered in stitched wounds.

"Genzo, Mira. You... hurry and leave! This isn't something you can get involved in!" Nami shouted anxiously, terrified that these villagers would do something foolish.

Then all her years of swallowing her grievances would have been for nothing.

Genzo rolled up his sleeves and said angrily, "Nami, we can't let you bear all this alone. There are so many of us. We can definitely defeat Arlong."

"You..." Tears fell despite her efforts to hold them back. Nami looked up at Lott. "Lott, help... help me."

Lott's face brightened. He nodded at Nami and smiled, speaking in a rather gentle tone. "Leave it to us."

Then he turned and looked around at the villagers. "Stay outside and back us up. Leave the Fish-Men inside to us."

Genzo looked Lott and the others up and down, unable to stop himself from saying, "Stop talking big, brat. You're all too young. Leave something like this to us."

Hearing those words, Lott felt warmth in his heart. Then his pupils flashed red as he released a little Conqueror's Haki, and its force sent all the villagers dropping to the ground.

"Lott, you..." Nami was rather confused. She knew this was Lott's doing, but she did not know why he had acted against the villagers.

"Relax. They're fine. I was just afraid they'd do something foolish."

Lott turned to Zoro and the other two. "We've got work to do, guys."

Ling'er was already impatiently transforming into a mass of flames, while Kuro turned into a peng bird. Zoro took Silence and Flowing Light in his hands.

Lott raised his hand to dispel the Electromagnetic Barrier, then slowly walked toward Arlong.

By now, Arlong had been scared senseless. No matter how he had attacked just now, there seemed to be an invisible barrier before him that he could not break through.

Together with the sight of his Water Shots frozen in midair earlier, he had already guessed that this black-haired man must have done something.

"What's wrong? Where did all that bluster go, Arlong?" Lott walked up to Arlong.

"Lowly humans, a lowly race. Only the Fish-Man Race are the gods of this world," Arlong said through gritted teeth.

Elsewhere, Zoro had naturally ended up facing Hachi the octopus, but this confrontation did not turn into the drawn-out struggle it had been in the previous life.

Zoro slid his two Supreme Grade Great Grade Swords back into their scabbards and simply stood quietly before Hachi.

Seeing Zoro do this, Hachi was both curious and angry. "Green-haired guy, aren't you a swordsman? Are you really going to fight me bare-handed?"

"I'd really like to see whether takoyaki tastes good."

Hearing this, Hachi said rather smugly, "Takoyaki? Of course octopus is the tastiest thing in the world... damn it! What did you say?"

"Enjoy what time you have left, because once I make my move, you'll only be able to repent in hell." Zoro grinned, his expression brimming with bloodlust.

"Then die, green-haired guy!"

Hachi instantly wove the six swords in his hands into an impenetrable net and attacked Zoro.

Little by little.

Numerous bloody cuts had appeared on Zoro's body.

"What was that? I thought you were so strong, but it turns out you're all talk," Hachi said through his trumpet-shaped mouth.

As though he could not feel his injuries, Zoro pulled the green bandanna from his arm and tied it over his eyes, muttering, "Now the real training begins."

Hachi touched his forehead, somewhat at a loss. He did not quite understand what was happening, but he could take this as Zoro provoking him.

"You're looking down on me far too much! Die, green-haired guy!" Holding swords in his six octopus limbs, he charged at Zoro, clearly more serious this time.

Gradually, Zoro seemed to know all his sword moves, going from struggling to dodge to handling them with increasing ease.

His body moved through them like a fish swimming through water. He did not suffer so much as a scratch.

"All right, I've had enough fun. It's time you went to hell." With that, he gripped Wado Ichimonji's hilt in his right hand, his eyes still covered. "Armament Haki: Sword Draw Slash!"

In an instant, a flash of sword light split Hachi's body like a line.

Zoro removed his bandanna and said to the octopus spurting blood wildly on the ground, "Thanks for helping my Observation Haki advance another step."

Hachi lay on the ground, looking at Zoro with an expression full of resentment. "Damn it. So you were just using me as a stepping stone?"

"You should be glad you could still be of some use in the last moments of your life." As he spoke, Zoro had already charged into the densely packed Fish-Men with his sword.

Watching Zoro's retreating figure, Hachi murmured, "Were we really wrong?"

Naturally, Lott had "seen" everything on Zoro's battlefield clearly. He would not interfere in his companion's fight.

He merely sensed the situation briefly, then shook his head slightly. Looks like an octopus's vitality really is tenacious. He probably won't die.