Chapter 22

Rowan's heart beat rapidly as he calmed his mind. Raising his hands up, he stared at his bruised knuckles—caused by the excessive punches onto the resilient fish-men's skins.

Below him lied two corpses whose names used to be Kuroobi and Hatchan when alive. Above him was the bright moon that continued to shine obliviously, which Rowan looked at with an inexplicable flux of emotions.

Behind him were the villagers of Cocoyasi, gazing at him in awe and wonder. Even before the villagers became conscious of themselves, they were placing their hope in this 15-year-old boy.

"...Vahahaha,"

In this state, Rowan found laughing as he stepped over the corpses,

"So it is near."

The day in which he's been anticipating for the past 2 years was finally here. His patience has been rewarded, Rowan gleefully thought.

"...He's going," Muttered Sam as Rowan took a step, walking through the entrance of Arlong Park.

Just then, Nami came in running from the dark forest behind, while sweating profusely.

"Huff... huff..." Huffing and taking a stop next to Nojiko, Nami came to see the bloody scenery in front of her. Nojiko, Genzo, and many others called her name upon sighting her, but Nami didn't hear them—for she was too immersed in the view.

Nami exclaimed weakly, "The Arlong Pirates... they..."

"Yes," nodded Genzo who was next to Nami, partially dazed by the development of the current situation, "Rowan... he's dealt with them all, and is aiming for more." Raising his head up and gazing at the tall building in Arlong Park, Genzo muttered, "Truly the incredible fellow. I recall when he almost shot himself while handling a gun 2 years ago... heh."

"Genzo," Nako then asked, "Shouldn't we go help Rowan?"

"No, Dr. Nako." Instead of Genzo, it was Nojiko who answered, "We'll be standing in his way if were to join the fight. If Arlong decides to hold a hostage..."

"...Tch," Nako closed his mouth and frowned, disliking the sense of helplessness in him, "So once again, we're doing nothing but relying on the child."

Genzo and the other villagers faced Nako with some degree of shame in their demeanour.

"For the past 2 years, he's been suffering alongside Nami. Now, he is to suffer the torturous fight against that Arlong right after this intense battle he just had..." Nako sighed, "We've determined to stay strong. Yet, here we are, standing still."

"...Suffer, you say."

Nami whispered as she gazed at the distant building of Arlong Park knowingly.

"Throughout the years, the two of us went past many things. Though fun on rare occasions, our trips were mostly filled with agony. Rowan in these trips... he was the one who suffered more than I did, with him having come across many pirates and criminals of noteworthy strengths."

In the past, Nami was reluctant. She always doubted Rowan's strength and feared that something bad might happen to him. After seeing how the villagers were mercilessly handled by the Arlong Pirates 2 years ago, she didn't want anyone around her to get hurt for her sake.

But now, she came to realize. To Rowan, this wasn't a matter of whether he gets hurt or not. Rather,

"This fight tonight isn't another occasion of suffering for Rowan. Instead, it is the reward for all the hard work he's gone through. And…"

no one had the right to take this opportunity away from him.

…

BOOM.

Rowan was standing right outside of one dark room, with his left leg outstretched. The huge door was effortlessly broken by his strength, and within the room was one huge bed where Arlong was lying.

"...Huh?"

Upon the booming noise generated from the act of breaking the door, the snot bubble on Arlong's nose popped and his snoring sound ceased. Opening his eyes, Arlong shifted his eyes at the doorway and initially scowled in annoyance.

"What are you doing here... boy?"

Not even bothering to sit up, Arlong snarled in a threatening manner, "Daring to enter here as if you own this place... have you lost your mind? What is Kuroobi doing—"

Arlong, in the midst of his words, froze. Raising his body up with a gradually coming realization, he whispered,

"...That blood on your body."

Something was wrong, Arlong thought. Standing up and taking steps toward Rowan, Arlong muttered,

"What have you done?"

It's only been an hour or so since he decided to sleep. Arlong, just like any day, thought that there will be no issue even if he were to lower his guard. After all, they were the pirates from the Grand Line—the harshest sea that the weakling of the East Blue will never survive against.

Arlong, before he knew, found himself growling, "What have you done, puny human?!!"

One, will Kuroobi and others ever let Rowan—the teen covered by the blood—into his room? The answer was no. Two, will Kuroobi and others stay silent in this circumstance? The answer was no also.

<W-what about Rowan then! You've read the news, right?! About how he's defeated a pirate worth 17 million Beli, and— >

Arlong found a dread creeping down his spine as the realization hit him. His eyes headed to Rowan's back where the outside view was shown through the opened entrance.

"...You."

<Shouldn't we make some preparations for Rowan? He may come and attack us, you know!>

<...Preparations?> Mumbled Arlong back then,

<HAHAHAHA!!!>

<You must be kidding me, Hachi!!>

Ba-Bump. Arlong watched with disbelief in his eyes,

<You think too much, Hachi. Why should we, the superior race, harbour any fear for a mere human of the weakest sea?>

as he saw the plain painted with blood, along with the corpses of his crew.

<Ease your mind! 17 million, 8.5 million... do those bounties have any significance? Compared to our experience in the Grand Line, you know that they are of no worth at all!>

"KUROOBI!!!" Arlong couldn't help but scream, "HACHI!!! CHEW!!!"

<Stay positive! instead of worrying about a weakling, shahaha, think of how we'll be using that 100 million for ourselves— >

BOOM.

The recollection shattered as Rowan threw a punch at Arlong. It landed straight on Arlong's cheek, and along with the explosive noise, Arlong was subsequently sent crashing onto his bed, to which he immediately recovered and stood back up.

'I've been waiting for this day,' Thought Rowan with a cold expression on his face, 'The day in which Bell-mere's life was taken. The day in which my old man... was reduced into a mutilated corpse. I've been enduring such nightmares and struggling to escape from my weak self.'

Rowan's fist was bleeding slightly as his skin broke. However, he didn't feel a single bit of pain, and his eyes were busy focusing on Arlong who immediately stood back up. Growling in anger,

SWOOSH!

Arlong then quickly dodged Rowan's follow-up punch—

BOOM!

—or so he thought, before said punch suddenly bent and slammed onto his cheek for the second time as if Rowan was expecting Arlong to dodge from the start.

'How?!!!'

Arlong quickly rolled on the ground to evade an incoming kick,

BOOM!

"Kurgh...!!!"

Rowan's stomp landed straight on Arlong's chest, causing the latter to grimace from the stinging pain. The ground below him cracked from the sheer force, but Arlong wasn't even given the proper time to register the pain, as the stomp was immediately followed by another.

"Damn you!!!" Arlong screamed while barely managing to dodge the stomp. He attempted to stand up, but was knocked up as Rowan slammed his knee on the fish-man's chin.

BOOM! Onto the airborne Arlong, Rowan threw an uppercut. Arlong crashed against the ceiling as a result.

SWOOSH! Then, Arlong attempted to retaliate by pushing his feet against the ceiling and biting Rowan's neck with his extremely sharp teeth. Flying downward, his frightening jaw opened wide, and closed tight upon finding Rowan's neck in its grasp.

CLANG! The metallic noise resounded as Arlong's teeth clashed against one another. Rowan, leaning his body back, evaded Arlong's rapid attack with a swift reflex. Subsequently, Arlong, with his teeth gritted, had to watch as Rowan's bruised fist was flying in his way—

—BOOM! Arlong, groaning, was blasted back and rolled on the ground due to the force behind the punch.

"Huff... huff..." Rowan breathed rapidly as he lowered his arm. Standing back up right away, Arlong stared at Rowan in contempt.

"..."

Rowan's punch wasn't what it used to be 2 years ago. At this point, Arlong had to admit, that Rowan was no longer the brash kid that he once was.

"...Acting as if he's seen through my intent... Observation Haki...?" Arlong wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and gritted his teeth, "...No, it can't be. There is no way a boy like that can awaken something like that in this sea. I was simply shaken for the moment. Yes, there is no way my crew was killed by that kid alone... he's trying to make me lose my rationality. That blood must be someone else's."

Rowan's eyes narrowed as Arlong lowered his body,

"Foolish human..." Growled Arlong, "Whether pirate, marine, bounty hunter or swordsman, all of them fell under my superior physique."

Arlong's saw-like nose was directly aimed at Rowan.

'...That move,' Rowan's face gradually morphed into a deep frown, 'It's the same one from 2 years ago...'

One that killed his old man—for it was so fast that he, the previous royal guard and pirate, wasn't able to react.

"And what makes you different from them!!!" Arlong's voice boomed throughout the room which seemed to have attained a good deal of damage, "Relying on petty tricks to fight me... as if I would fall for it!!!"

Then, Arlong vanished, and Rowan's eyes gleamed—peering into Arlong's malicious intent,

'Here it comes...!'

"Shark On Darts!!!"

Rowan was met at a speed he's never experienced before—faster than the speed of bullets and cannons he's come across before, faster than any other foe he's ever faced.

"Tch...!"

Crossing his arms and raising his knees up, Rowan locked Arlong's face between his arms and legs, and managed to prevent the fish-man's saw-like nose from penetrating his heart.

'I've blocked it!'

BOOM!

But nonetheless, from sheer force alone, Rowan's back was slammed against the wall of the room. It immediately crumbled, and the two of them were flown out to the night's sky. Rowan coughed blood out from the impact of it.

"Look!!! T-there, two of them are out!!!"

The villagers, having been standing at a far distance away, widened their eyes as they saw Rowan quickly pushing himself off of Arlong with his legs and landing in a wobbly manner.

"Huff… huff…" Rowan then mumbled, "Petty trick? Check it out for yourself then."

Arlong, also landing on the outside ground, stood frozen as the view was fully unveiled.

"...Sha… ha… ha."

Stepping on top of the bloody plain, he initially forced a smile on his face. However, it immediately crumbled, and instead, his body began trembling in fiery anger. His sharp teeth clashed against each other into a grit, and his eyes shook, trying to register the scenery around him.

Without a doubt, the corpses were the fish-men, the crewmates whom Arlong recognized all.

"...How? How were you killed by those weaklings...?" Arlong questioned. With a hollow gaze, he stared at the dead body of Kuroobi, "This is literally the weakest sea of all possibilities…!

…Wake up."

Arlong's rage-filled eyes widened.

"WAKE UP!!! AREN'T WE THE SUPERIOR RACE?!!!!"

His voice contained a lingering sadness,

"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN OUR PROMISE TO CONQUER THE WORLD?!! TO MAKE ME THE PIRATE KING?!!!"

And Rowan's fists tightened at that.

"..Ah yes, that so-called plan of yours. Make Nami draw the map of the world, and utilize your advantage in the water to conquer the sea," Muttered Rowan, "You know, Arlong, I've been collecting your information for the past 2 years.

In the Grand Line, there are pirates renowned as the Seven Warlords, officially 'hired' by the World Government. In return for having their bounties nulled and some extent of piracy allowed, they are to become the literal dogs of the government... or so I heard."

Rowan chuckled, uncaring of Arlong's hostility,

"And of those, Jinbe, 'Knight of the Sea.'"

Arlong flinched upon hearing that name. His hostility momentarily halted, and he snarled, "...How do you know that name...?!"

Rowan, not bothering to respond Arlong's question, narrowed his eyes, "That pirate released the fish named Arlong into the East Blue, and that was the condition of him becoming the government's dog."

"...What?" Nojiko, listening from afar, expressed her shock, "...One of the... Seven Warlords?" She quickly turned to face Nami, who seemed just as shocked.

"The reason why no marines with adequate strength came to deal with you... it wasn't that the information didn't reach them. Rather," Rowan stated with certainty, "It was that they simply turned a blind eye on us, to keep that monster named Jinbe within their grasp."

"...And?"

"Vahaha... I'm just saying."

Lowering his body and raising up a random sword that was lying nearby, Rowan grinned,

"How are you going to conquer the world with Nami's maps, when you and your crew are hopeless weaklings that struggle to defeat one guy?"

"...Hopeless,"

Arlong's head lowered. The anger-filled shakes of his body intensified, and the growl of a wild animal exited from his slightly parted mouth.

"Weak… ling…?"

And then, as Arlong raised his head back up, his eyes were found to be morphed into a frightening form—slitted vertically like that of a predator's.

"Arlong's eyes... changed!" One villager exclaimed in nervousness, "They're the same eyes that a Sea King has when it goes berserk!"

"T-this..." Nojiko said with a cold sweat, "...This is the first time I've seen those eyes..."

Nami grimaced, but withstood with determination, fully trusting that Rowan will emerge victorious in the end.

"My crew's dead, and I'm being mocked..." Arlong whispered, before suddenly lashing out at Rowan,

"HOW DARE AN INFERIOR HUMAN DO THIS TO ME!!!!!"

Rowan, with full focus, swung the sword against Arlong's saw-nose.

CLANG—!!!