"Fire Fist!" Ling'er's right hand turned into flames as she punched at the school of fish. Instantly, the fish-men were turned into dried fish, while those closest to her were reduced straight to ash.
Poor Chew was roasted into a dried fish before he even had a chance to make any threats.
In Ling'er's eyes, this fish-man with the puckered mouth was merely a slightly larger fish. She had no idea that Chew was one of Arlong Park's officers.
She was not as playful as Zoro. She had already built up plenty of anger, and now that she had Lott's permission, she wanted nothing more than to turn all these fish-men into dried fish.
A ball of flame leaped around the grounds, leaving dried fish wherever it passed.
"Peng Wing Blade!" Kuro transformed his hands into the wings of a great peng and coated their edges in Armament Haki, instantly turning them into two incomparably sharp blades.
They were even sharper than his old claw blades, and as parts of his own body, they were easier to wield.
His speed now surpassed even Shakushi. This fruit really seemed tailor-made for him, growing more natural to use with every passing moment.
With a gentle flap of his wings, Kuro flashed from in front of Black Fin to behind him as if he had teleported.
A mocking smile curled Black Fin's lips, but before he could speak, an X-shaped wound appeared on his chest. Blood spurted out, and he slowly collapsed, that mocking expression still on his face.
Kuro did not linger, instead flashing away again. In an instant, countless images of him appeared across the grounds.
Amid the fish-men's terrified cries, every appearance of his figure was accompanied by a fish-man collapsing in a spray of blood.
Watching from outside the grounds, Nami was too astonished to speak. She had never imagined that this group of such young-looking people would cut through the terrifying Fish-Man Race as easily as chopping vegetables.
Nojiko's eyes were wide as well.
"My brethren! What have you done to my brethren?" Watching his fellow fish-men fall one after another, Arlong's eyes nearly split with rage. He wanted nothing more than to rush over and kill Zoro and the others.
"Hey! How does it feel to see your brethren meet this end? When you slaughtered the villagers of Cocoyasi Village, did you ever consider that they were fellow people too?" Lott's calm voice rang out.
"Pah! We fish-men are the supreme race. You humans are nothing but an inferior race that can't even breathe underwater. We superior beings naturally hold the power over life and death. Killing a few humans is only right." Arlong looked at Lott with contempt.
His gaze was like someone looking at livestock.
Lott had originally wanted to reform this fish. It seemed that hatred so deeply rooted in his heart could not be resolved with a few simple words. Besides, after Arlong had killed so many people and committed every sort of evil, Lott naturally had no intention of letting him go.
"Electromagnetic Attraction." Lott reached out toward Arlong, drawing him into his hand and clamping it around his neck.
"Have you ever considered that, in my eyes, you're nothing more than a bunch of fish?"
Arlong pounded Lott's arm with his hands, but it was futile. "Damn you! Let go of me, you lowly human!"
"Humans eating fish is only natural, isn't it? Inferior creatures without even the most basic humanity have no right to live in this world."
"Damn you! You're just a lowly human. Don't lecture a superior species." Arlong still refused to recognize his mistakes, remaining as stubborn as ever.
Looking at Arlong's twisted face, Lott shook his head slightly. It seems he's just like Hody, an embodiment of hatred who never faces his own mistakes.
"You're beyond saving! I never intended to let you go anyway." With that, Lott snapped Arlong's neck and tossed him aside like garbage.
Then a red gleam flashed through his eyes, and an overwhelming presence swept across the grounds. Every fish-man fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth, and never rose again.
This time, he unleashed his Haki in full. These feeble fish-men could not withstand it at all and were sent straight to meet their great-grandmothers.
"Nami! This place that trapped you, this place that held so many of your nightmares, this Arlong Park that did nothing but rob and slaughter villagers-today, I'll destroy it for you. You no longer have to bear the responsibility of saving the village! No one in this world will ever bully you again."
"Arlong Park is a thing of the past!"
Lott's commanding voice echoed throughout the island. In an instant, all the villagers dropped their weapons and wept with joy.
After so many years, their days of scraping by under Arlong's oppression could finally come to an end. The villagers who had died terrible deaths because of Arlong could finally rest in peace.
Nami could no longer hold herself back. She rushed into Lott's arms and hugged his waist tightly. "Lott, thank you. Thank you."
Her tears soaked Lott's clothes, warm with the release of emotions a girl had suppressed for years.
Lott gently stroked Nami's back with his right hand and said softly, "It's over. It's all over. There won't be an Arlong anymore."
"Mm." Nami's voice was a little choked. Images flashed through her mind of all those years she had spent moving between pirate ships, merchant ships, and wealthy households for an agreement that had never truly existed.
But a large hand crushed those images, and the owner of that hand was none other than Lott.
After a long, long time, Nami raised her head and looked at Lott with reddened eyes. "S-sorry. I got your clothes dirty."
"It's fine. Come on, let's head back to the village."
"Mm."
To celebrate the destruction of Arlong, the mountain that had weighed down on Cocoyasi Village, the villagers organized a grand banquet that lasted three whole days and nights.
At the banquet, Genzo, the village policeman, told the villagers about the valor of Lott and his companions again and again, seemingly tireless.
Zoro drank with the villagers, while Kuro sat on a rooftop drinking alone. Ling'er joined the cooks, learning how to make Cocoyasi Village's signature dishes.
"Nami, would you like to come with me?"
Lott's words reached the young girl's ears and made her blush. She stammered, "W-well, I'm not an adult yet."
Beside her, Nojiko quickly pulled her little sister protectively into her arms, her expression wary. "Lord Lott, you may be our savior, but you can't do that. Nami is still young."
Then she lowered her head and said bashfully, "If there's really no other way, I... I could do it."
Hearing what the two girls said, it was Lott's turn to flush bright red. "I think you've got the wrong idea. That's not what I meant. My ship just needs a navigator."
"You want Nami to go with you and become a pirate?" A trace of coldness flashed through Nojiko's eyes when she heard that Lott wanted Nami to become a pirate.
Lott knew how much Nojiko hated pirates. Their adoptive mother had died at the hands of pirates, and many, many villagers had died at their hands as well.
Merely saving them was not enough to make them trust Lott's group completely.
"I may be a pirate, but I might not be quite like the pirates you imagine. What I long for is to adventure freely on the sea, without restrictions, without having to live in fear."
Lott leaned against the back of his chair, his hands behind his head. "Besides, there are things about this world I don't like. I want to see if I can change it a little."
"I..."
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