Chapter 38

"You built it. SHAHAHAHAHA! LOOKS LIKE THERE ARE A BUNCH OF TALENTED MULES ON THIS ISLAND FOR US TO USE!" He roars with laughter, and his crew join him. I stay still as they all continue to walk further inland because I really don't know what to do, and I am faced with insurmountable odds. If I make a stand now, then I will die facing these nine fishmen and maybe take a couple of them out, but that would leave the rest of the village to the tender mercies of the angry survivors.

"Follow, brat, you work for us now and will be building stuff for us along with the rest of the workers. Now, let's go to the village, men." Arlong says, not paying any attention to my defiance, and I let my hands drop as he walks towards me, not showing any more fight. I am stubborn and maybe even a little prideful, but I am not stupid. This is a bad situation, and nothing will come from me fighting and dying a meaningless death. It is better to live another day than to give it all up now and help no one.

All the villagers have enough to pay for this month, and I have twenty thousand berries at home, and I am sure that the villagers can scrape together the remaining thirty thousand berries to pay my fee for this month no matter how much I don't like the idea of that. So, with us all getting through this day alive and the Fishmen paid for the month, I will wait for the perfect opportunity and strike.

I wait for the right day when they are all spread out and then take them out one by one, assassinating them and killing them off without any risk to the villagers. I dislike the idea of being so sneaky and taking these guys out without even giving them a chance to fight back, but the villagers' lives matter more, and these guys are attacking our way of life.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT!! STOP IGNORING ME!!" I am brought out of my thoughts by a big blue hand coming towards me and grabbing roughly onto my shoulder, shaking me. I was so lost in my thoughts and plans that I didn't move out of the way or listen to Arlong, and now he is gripping me.

"A-ah. Okay, I will-" *ROAAAR* I was trying to calm the situation and resolve the problem, but I was interrupted by a piercing roar that suddenly rang out in the clearing. I quickly start to look around, wondering which Fishman let out such a bestial roar. I look left and right, but I don't see anything, and even the fishmen look a little confused. But that is when I remembered that they said another Fishman was travelling on land with a hostage, a little girl, and he must have...I quickly turn around to look towards the village, ready to run there as soon as possible to protect the villagers and-

"GRUAAAAGH!" I hear that all-familiar sound behind me, but this time it is so deafening and filled with anger, and I spin back around to-

A spurt of something hits me in the face as something else is thrown high up into the sky, spinning, but I can't quite see with whatever it is that is on my face, so I try to remove it. I hurriedly wipe my face with both hands so that I can get my vision back, did one of these guys spit ink at me or something, like an octopus Fishman?

Finally clearing my eyes, I drag my hands down my face and then look at them to see that they... are red. I stare, shocked for a moment, before lifting my head up to see the end of a black pole pointing towards my face, with sharp broad swords jutting out on one side of the black rod. The handle is like the handle of a katana, and it rests in the hand of Arlong, who wields the monstrosity of a weapon. But the most eye-catching thing about the sword is the red liquid slathering over its blades.

...Did I overestimate myself? That is blood that is on the word, just like there is on my hands and face... Is it mine? Was I cut down just like that, and I haven't even realised it yet? Has he cut my face up, and blood spurted out from there? What is going o-?

Something drops from the sky and lands roughly on the sandy beach, tumbling forwards to rest at my feet. Confused, I look down at it slowly and-

.

.

.

.

.

"...George?" His lifeless eyes stare back up at me, empty. His head resting on the sandy beaches, and I notice his body crumpled on the ground near Arlongs feet.

"GEEEEOOOOOORRGE!!!" I drop to my knees and go to touch him, but then I stop. I can't... I just can't touch him. I want to grab him, hold him and make sure that this is fake, that this is an illusion. But I know if I pick his head up, then I will lift it with ease because it is no longer attached to his body... I can't. I can't stop the tears from coming out.

"SHAHAHAHA!! STUPID ANIMAL!! Did you see that the stupid thing rushed out of the forest and tried to attack me? Shahahah. We fishmen are ten times as strong as humans. So no stupid weak ape is going to even hurt my pinky! SHAHAHAHAH" Arlong laughs, and his crew all laugh with him. Finding George funny...

I feel something rising from the very depths of my soul.

My best friend, who stuck by me all this time even if he didn't do much to help out. But he did. He did so much for me. He was there for me, no matter what. Even when I didn't have much food or money, and people weren't trusting me with any jobs, he stuck with me and didn't run off to live a better life in the forest and steal from Bellemere's orchard. He was lazy, dumb and funny. But he helped me when I needed it. With my jobs, with making my house, with my training, he never said no. He was my best friend.

It is powerful, unstoppable, and, most of all, vengeful.

"HAHAHAHAH!" And these... BASTARDS! ARE LAUGHING AT HIM! MAKING FUN OF HIM!!

It is like pure vitriol running through my veins, along my bones and into every cell of my body. And it wants out, this rage, this anger, it wants to rush out and enforce itself on the world, on these pirates.

"SHAHAHAHA!!" ARLONG!!! THESE FISHERMEN PIRATE PIECES OF SHIT!!! I WILL KILL THEM!! KILL THEM ALL!!!!

It bursts free.

"AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

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The sound of sobs wakes me up, the sniffling and cries assaulting my ears. I crack my eyes open, confused and look around to find myself in a room that has only a little light coming in through the window, which is covered by a curtain. My body rested on the rough hardwood floor, so I was not at my house because the floors of my house were smooth and clean. I spent a long time cutting down trees in the surrounding forest, and then George and I carried them... George...He's-

"Y-You..? Y-You're awake?" A quiet voice calls out, and I quickly turn around to find a young girl, around ten years of age, with orange hair.

"...What happened?" I ask, confused about how I came to be here and just what is going on.

"A-A-Arlong came and threw you in here. T-The fishmen were all arguing about you... S-Some of them wanted to kill you..." She reveals, confusing me further though I have worked out who this girl is. She is the one they kidnapped, who was supposed to be with a Fishman called Hachi.

I get up off the floor and start to walk towards the door of the house, determined to find these bastards and figure out how everyone in the village is right now. I am a little confused why they would want to possibly kill me since they were going to force me to work for them earlier, but I don't care about that.

"W-Wait!! Where are you going? Answer me!!" The girl cried behind me, and though I wanted to just ignore her and get on with my only goal right now, I answered her.

"I am going find Arlong and all the other fishmen. And then I am going to kill them." So I say, not stopping my steps as I continue on towards the door. The last thing I remember is seeing... seeing George... And then I felt a rush of feelings that overwhelmed me, rage being the predominant emotion which I still feel even now, and then I shouted, and something burst out of me. And then everything went black, and I awoke here.

But that doesn't change anything. I don't care what happened, or why they would kill me or even why they kidnapped the little girl behind me. I don't care about anything but making them suffer and die, so I am going to find them and kill them all.

"WAIT!! STOP, YOU WILL DIE!!" The girl shouts urgently, and I don't know why but my feet stall, and I am unable to take another step. For some reason, my body refuses to move. Am I a coward? Does the threat of death cow me into submission so easily? NO. I am not afraid to die, I already have died once before, and I know what comes after, and I do not fear it. The only thing I fear is what comes before death, and that is life, and I will not live a life in fear and pain.

I feel that strange feeling again and that powerful urge deep inside but not to the point of bursting. And I take a step forward. It hurts, it hurts to move, and I don't know why, and I don't care either. So I take a step forward despite the pain, that feeling deep inside supporting me and lifting me up, making me able to take on anything and keep going.

"PLEASE, STOP!! DON'T LEAVE!! YOU WILL DIE LIKE... like Bellemere..." Her words made me stop again, shocked to hear that familiar name. That crude lady that always sold me and George tangerines, even though George stole a lot from her. Is she dead?

"Who are you? How do you know Bellemere-San?" I say, stopping my path and turning around to look at the girl again. I start to walk towards her, paying more attention this time. She is approximately ten years old, with orange hair, and brown eyes, wearing a white dress with thick green outlines and straps that button over her shoulders, along with some brown sandals. There are a few bruises on her, and the skin around her eyes is red and blotchy. She has been crying immensely.

"I-I am Nami. Bellemere was my mother..." So that cranky woman had a kid, I would have never thought it given her less than motherly attitude, but I suppose she was never that friendly to us after the tangerine incident.

"Well, don't worry, Nami. I will avenge Bellemere-San. I am going to kill every last one of those pirates." I tell her, wanting to reassure her. But instead of the reaction I expected, she springs up and starts to shout at me.

"YOU CAN'T. THEY WILL KILL YOU. AND IF YOU DO KILL ONE OF THEM, THEN THEY WILL KILL YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE AS WELL. I HAVE MADE A DEAL WITH ARLONG. IF I CAN GET ONE MILLION BERRIES, THEN HE WILL FREE THE VILLAGE AND LEAVE. SO YOU CAN'T LEAVE, YOU WILL DAMN EVERYONE!!" She roars with determination, nothing like the little girl that was crying in the corner a second ago.

"I will not kill one of them. I will kill all of them. Or I will die trying. They will not harm the villagers because then that would be less money for them. So I would be the only one to die." So I tell her, and then I try to move and leave again, but my body refuses to listen to me. I can't move towards the door no matter what, so I stop trying to walk to the door and just focus on moving, wondering if the fishmen poisoned me or something. But I then move perfectly fine, but the moment I decide to walk towards the door and leave, I freeze and can't walk.

"NO!! NO ONE ELSE HAS TO DIE!! STOP BEING SELFISH!! DON'T TRY TO DIE!! STAY ALIVE!! STAY HERE!!" She shouts, tears leaking from her eyes. And to my shock, my body becomes able to move again, but I know for a fact that my body will stop if I try to leave this room... No... She ordered me, and I listened whether I wanted to or not.

Fuck...

She is the one... The one who I have imprinted on...

The condition has come into effect...

[AN: I can already hear a lot of rage because of this, but this was never wish fulfilment. I want to make this like a proper one-piece origin story. Like Luffy had Foosha village, Bluejam and Sabo. So this is the way it is going, and the imprint thing is not as bad as it may seem, so chill out and wait to see what happens next]

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