Chapter 21

"...Eh?"

One fish-man, carrying a bag full of heads belonging to marines who lost their lives against the Arlong Pirates, let out a dumbfounded remark.

"...Torches?"

The sky was dark, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. However, the scenery in front of him was bright in contrast; such brightness was generated from multiple torches, held by the villagers who were filled with a grim resolve.

Genzo, the one standing foremost, narrowed his eyes upon coming across said fish-man. The fish-man turned his head around and looked at the villagers. Scratching the back of his head, he eventually cracked out a laughter,

"Hahahaha! I suppose that I won't even have to go to village for this!"

Dropping the bag, fish-man let the decapitated heads roll out of it. As villagers gazed at the rolling heads with dark expressions, fish-man stated,

"Behold! Yet another batch of fools came over, trying to take down our invincible crew! Arlong-san told me to hang these around in your village, but now that all of you made it here, you can do it in my stead!" Placing his hands in his pockets, the fish-man then snorted, "And what's with those lights? Are you celebrating something? Geez, you should be sleeping for your health—gahh!!"

Immediately after he said so, the fish-man was forced to close his eyes, for salt was thrown to his way by Genzo.

"W-what are you doing?!!" Rubbing his eyes, the fish-man cried.

"...For 2 years, we haven't been wasting our time." Genzo mentioned, "Are all fish-men truly ten times stronger than humans? Are all of them truly undefeatable? From afar, we've been observing you folks at every opportunity available."

Taking in a deep breath, Genzo took out a pistol and aimed it at the still eye-rubbing fish-man's head,

"And indeed... it was true that your strengths are out of bounds. Lifting up those heavy boulders like nothing, and building that massive Arlong Park by yourselves alone... in terms of brute strength, you were at least ten times stronger than us.

However, you weren't necessarily hard-skinned contrary to what we initially believed, for the accidental cuts and falls were sufficient to draw blood from you. Though you may be strong, unlike that Kuroobi's fins on his arms, your skins aren't bullet-proof."

"H-HEY!" Still rubbing his eyes, the fish-man cried, "What are you talking about?!! Why did you—"

BANG.

One bullet pierced through the fish-man's skull. The blood burst out from the back of the fish-man's head. The fish-man wobbly took steps back and opened his reddened eyes wide.

"...But of course, one isn't enough," Remarked Genzo, grimly,

'...And so are we... we aren't enough to defeat Arlong.'

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The fish-man dropped dead to the ground. Ignoring the blood that spread onto the surrounding dirt, Genzo and the villagers resumed walking.

Eventually, in front of them stood a huge door—the entrance of Arlong Park. Dark in the night, with torches as the main source of light apart from the moon, the door seemed more menacing than during the day; some villagers couldn't help but gulp, realizing what they were about to do now.

"...Hu." Genzo released a deep breath as he placed his hand on the door.

The weather in Cocoyasi village is usually warm and humid. However, tonight seemed different, being quite cold such that he grew goosebumps all over—though Genzo wondered if they were born out of his nervousness rather than the weather itself.

'...This is our only hope.'

This village was already doomed. If marines cannot rescue them, and if Nami's endeavour will never be rewarded, then fighting until the very end was all that they could do. And they were far too ashamed to ask Rowan for help, one who's been next to Nami all along when none of them were.

Genzo put force behind his hand, attempting to push the door open—

Creak,

—before the door opened by itself. Beyond the opened door were many fish-men, standing with their respective blades out and ready to combat.

"Bright light in this dark. Noises of gunshots not far away from here." Standing frontmost was Kuroobi, coldly staring at the villagers with an underlying amusement. Taking steps forth, he snorted, "Do you take us for idiots?"

The sight of tall and broad fish-man standing was enough for villagers to momentarily forget their rage. Genzo too, found himself sweating all over.

But nonetheless, he lifted up his pistol once more, and fired—

Swoosh! Kuroobi, moving at a speed faster than any villager here, effortlessly smacked the pistol out of Genzo's grasp.

The villagers lowered their bodies and raised up whatever was in their hands. The fish-men pirates laughed at the sight which they believed to be miserable.

"RAAAAA!!!!!" One villager, letting out a scream to elevate his hatred for the pirates, charged forth with his rake aiming Kuroobi's chest. Unfazed, Kuroobi gazed at the charging villager by the corners of his eyes. And then,

CLANG! The rake was powerlessly knocked out of the villager's hand as the octopus fish-man, Hatchan, intervened with a sword of his own. The villager, having fallen down to the ground, held his swollen wrist in pain.

"D-don't you dare touch Kuroobi, you bastard!!!" Hatchan shouted angrily.

Genzo let out a troubled frown, "Mogly...!!"

"Shh..." Kuroobi raised his finger up and shushed, "Arlong-san is sleeping, and we don't feel like waking him up because of something untrivial like you primates. So keep your mouths shut."

The fish-men walked out of the entrance and triumphantly approached the villagers. Overwhelmed by their confidence, the villagers took several steps back. In the previous determination's stead, there only remained the fear of death; after all, one clash of the villager named Mogly was enough to realize—that the executives of Arlong Pirates were far stronger than the one whom Genzo previously killed.

"Since you were related to Nami, we've been fairly generous. It was due to her existence that you were kept alive and our Arlong Park was kept at this size instead of expanding. If it were not for her, you would've died a long time ago." Kuroobi revealed a grin of his own, "Just now, you threw away that privilege. Though we may be generous, we surely aren't forgiving..."

Genzo gritted his teeth and quickly drew another pistol in his holster. Following suit, Nojiko, Dr. Nako, Sam, and everyone present—even the villager with swollen wrist—charged, knowing that the longer they stalled, the more intense the fear will be.

"...Hah," As Genzo aimed his gun at Kuroobi, Kuroobi snorted, for he was ready to block it anytime with his fin.

Then, suddenly, Genzo tilted the gun at the last moment. With his eyes still facing Kuroobi, he fired.

BANG!

With deadly accuracy, the bullet struck right into the eye of one running fish-man instead of Kuroobi. Said fish-man fell face-first while holding his bleeding eye. The villagers attempted to close in and stab him, but the other fish-men came in,

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

and knocked the villagers away with vastly superior strengths.

"Ugh..." One of the fallen villagers grimaced. Staring at his hands, he noticed that they were trembling; one clash was enough to render him exhausted.

"You sneaky little shit..."

Kuroobi angrily glared at Genzo. Genzo glared back before shooting at a different fish-man,

CLANG!

which was blocked by Hatchan's sword. Simultaneously, the other fish-men aggressively swung their blades against the villagers. The villagers desperately blocked with their own, but were sent flying with their weapons out of their grasp.

"Tch...!"

With a troubled frown, Nojiko lifted up the crossbow with an arrow loaded. She was about to fire—

"As if that's going to hurt anybody!"

A hand suddenly came in and crushed the weapon with a grip alone. With a thumping heart, Nojiko turned her head and saw the emerald-skinned fish-man, Chew, towering over her.

Chew smirked, "Any last words, girl?"

"NOJ—"

BOOM.

Genzo, hearing Chew's statement, urgently turned, only to be slammed down to the ground by Kuroobi's fist. Chew expressed amusement at that and threw away the crushed crossbow.

"Well?" Chew raised his hands up and shrugged mockingly, "Though we have no idea why you guys decided to throw your lives away like this,"

"Heh," Kuroobi chuckled lightly as he kicked Genzo out of his way, causing the latter to cough blood out.

"Chew Chew~!" Chew leaned and shrewdly smiled right at Nojiko's stoic face, "At least you've been some entertainment to us~!"

"..."

However, Chew then frowned in confusion. Not responding to his mockery, Nojiko stood still, gazing at the dark behind him. Chew raised an eyebrow and expressed annoyance,

"Why you little—"

PUK.

A knife was driven into Chew's temple before he could perceive the attack. As his head screamed in pain and his body was in the midst of falling, Chew managed to sight the black-haired bounty hunter who was drenched in blood.

Then, as Chew's head hit the ground, he saw a sandal descending his way,

CRUNCH.

The other fish-men, who were occupied with fallen villagers, all froze. It was the blood of their fellow crewmate, one that they haven't seen for years since their arrival at the East Blue. Furthermore, Chew, being the executive along with Kuroobi and Hatchan, were among the strongest of their crew. The fact that such a man was murdered in an instant...

"CHEW?!!" One fish-man cried.

"You... you're that boy with Nami." Kuroobi whispered in a shaky tone, trying to calm his mind down and think as rationally as possible.

Hatchan gulped with a visible tremble of his body, stunned by this sudden turn in the situation, 'T-the exact situation that I feared of...!'

"Rowan," Muttered Nojiko as she stood still. Her head lowered and gazed at the Chew's corpse, before looking back up at the teen.

No word was spoken from Rowan. With his facial expression covered by the dark, he simply looked at Chew's corpse below his foot. His eyes seemed lazy at first glance, but when one looked closer, he or she will discover... that they were burning in pure contempt.

CRUNCH.

Several fish-men winced as Rowan raised his foot up and crushed the already-mutilated corpse. It was a gory sight to witness, but the fallen villagers found an odd satisfaction in their hearts as they watched Rowan's violent deed.

CRUNCH.

"...Oi," Kuroobi, unable to hold in any longer, growled, "Get that disgusting foot off of Chew."

CRUNCH.

"Oi!!"

Rowan didn't listen. Simply focusing his attention on the corpse, he repeated the action of lifting his foot up and slamming it down. Each time he did so, the blood splattered and further soaked him wet.

Kuroobi, gritting his teeth, roared, "OI—" before stopping as the moon lightened up Rowan's form.

There was no emotion evoked from his facial expression, nothing at all. With a stoic and somewhat lazy demeanour, Rowan impassively crushed the corpse over and over again. Overwhelmed by the intruding chill down his spine, Kuroobi unconsciously took a step back.

CRUNCH.

Rowan's mindless repeats finally ceased. Raising his head up, Rowan used his thumb to wipe away the sprinkle of blood on his cheek. Then, facing Kuroobi, Rowan said in a monotone,

"What's with that face on you?"

Kuroobi was seething in anger. With a reddened face, He lowered his posture, clenched his fists, and got himself into a stance of a particular martial art.

Narrowing his eyes, Rowan leaned down and grabbed the blood-covered knife that was embedded within the crushed skull of Chew's corpse. Taking it out and flipping it, Rowan gazed at Kuroobi,

"Isn't it natural for a fisherman to butcher fish?"

Kuroobi lost at that.

"SHUT UP...!!!" Kuroobi snarled, "As if backstabbing is considered a victory!!! If you fought a proper fight, there's no way Chew would've lost!!!"

Closing his eyes and calming his breathing down, Kuroobi then dashed at Rowan and punched forth,

"Fish-Man Karate: Hundred Tile True Punch!!!"

SWOOSH!

Kuroobi's eyes widened. Just before his fist landed on Rowan's chest, the latter moved a step to evade it with ease.

BOOM. Then, Rowan's punch followed, smashing right onto Kuroobi's dumbfounded face. Kuroobi, with his head cocked back from the blow, rapidly took multiple steps back to prevent himself from falling. Trails of blood ran down from his nose, which he wiped while stiffly lowering his head back down. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face held that of disbelief—

"KUROOBIIII!!!!"

CLANG!

At the next moment, Hatchan was standing between Rowan and Kuroobi, blocking the bloody knife of the former with his swords. Kuroobi, not having had enough time to react, flinched with a cold sweat on his back.

Rowan, instantly letting go of the knife without hesitation, then punched right onto the crossed blades of Hatchan. With a boom, they were effortlessly broken from sheer strength, and Hatchan was knocked right onto Kuroobi as a result.

"Huff... huff..."

Falling down to the ground, Kuroobi breathed rapidly. Hatchan, expressing that of pain, groaned while lifting his body up to a sitting position. But quickly restoring their mental state, the two of them immediately stood up,

BOOM.

which Rowan responded by simply slamming his fist on top of Kuroobi's head. Kuroobi spilled blood from his mouth, and his neck—with a crunch—evidently broke from the blow. Kuroobi instinctively held his neck and groaned.

SWOOSH! Tilting his back subsequently, Rowan dodged Hatchan's broken blade that flew in.

"ARM BLADE SLASH!!!" Kuroobi, ignoring his broken neck, charged in and slashed his fin at Rowan. With narrowed eyes, Rowan saw that Hatchan was running into him at the same time. Lowering his body at the last moment,

CLANG!

Kuroobi's arm fin and Hatchan's broken blade clashed against one another, rendering both of them surprised. Seizing the opportunity, Rowan blasted his fists onto their faces. Few teeth flew out, and the two's eyes whitened from the impeding agony—

BOOM!

BOOM! BOOM!

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Rowan punched forth non-stop at the two airborne fish-men, at accelerating speed. The other fish-men watched this with their jaws agape, and by the time the flurry of punches was over, Kuroobi and Hatchan were reduced to mincemeats, barely alive.

The other fish-men, watching this, turned their heads to one another and nodded grimly. One tried running inside the Arlong Park while the other slowly approached the fallen Genzo, trying to use him as a hostage. Rowan's eyes shifted to said fish-men and rapidly dashed.

BOOM!

Rowan's kick straight-off landed right onto the running fish-man's abdomen. Said fish-man was blasted right onto the other fish-man looking for the hostage and caused both of them to fall.

"Urghh..."

The remaining fish-men, still frozen in their spots, simply watched.

"Huff... huff... what in the world..." Watching all this from some distance away now, with other villagers who retreated to get out of the crossfire, Genzo's tone shook in disbelief. Forget how Rowan, the boy whom he wasn't planning to involve in this matter, made his entrance just now.

The fact that the Arlong Pirates, the strongest pirate crew of the East Blue where each member possesses strength at least ten times stronger than human, were struggling against the boy whom Genzo's been familiar with for ages...

"...Am I dreaming?"

BOOM!

"""AHHHHH!!!""" Multiple fish-men were knocked high into the air as Rowan moved. The blood splattered everywhere, the bones broke with horrifying sounds, and the victims cried in fright and pain, unable to conceal their terrified expressions any longer.

Violent and wild. It wasn't a scene where villagers usually come by, and those who do so would generally express horror.

"...D-do we..."

However, such generality didn't apply to those of the Cocoyasi Village. Instead of fright, there existed a twisted delight in them.

"Do we truly stand a chance...? Rowan..." One villager, who was bleeding from his head, murmured, "Can he really beat them?"

"...Pirate Slayer."

Hugging himself to calm down the tremors of her body, Nojiko whispered. Her eyes locked onto Rowan as he ruthlessly killed fish-men one by one,

"The title of East Blue's strongest bounty hunter..." Nojiko's lips quivered, "...So it wasn't for nothing."

BOOM!

Kuroobi and Hatchan saw through their hazy visions that Rowan was walking toward them with his bloody fists clenched tight. Surrounding them were the oozing blood from multiple corpses, of those who used to be the Arlong Pirates when they were 'alive.'

Rowan stopped right in front of the two.

"Ha..."

Facing the sky, he took in a deep sigh full of emotions. In one instance, his eyes held tears of sorrow, but as he blinked, there remained nothing but a gleam full of vigorous rage.

Kuroobi, gritting his teeth, tried to turn and run into the Arlong Park out of desperation.

Hatchan, tearing up in guilt, whispered at the last moment, "...I'm sorry—"

BOOM.

"I don't want your apology," Growled Rowan, "Go to hell."