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"You bastard, how dare you do such a thing to Arlong!"
"I can't let you go!"
At this moment, Kuroobi and Hatchan, two officers of Arlong's crew, finally reacted. With ferocious expressions on their faces, they raised their legs and marched toward Ikki, who was standing behind Captain Nezumi.
"Now that you've seen what happened to Arlong, why bother taking action against me?" Ikki shook his head and patted Captain Nezumi on the shoulder. "I'll handle this quickly. Wait here for me."
He turned around and walked toward Kuroobi and Hatchan.
Captain Nezumi now had the opportunity to turn around and look at where Arlong had been standing before.
"Arlong... fell down?!"
Even though he already knew that Arlong might have been knocked down, Captain Nezumi still swallowed in horror when he saw Arlong lying on the ground, his eyes rolled back white.
"Knocked down Arlong in an instant—who is this man?!" Captain Nezumi murmured, turning to look at Ikki. "Is there such a bounty hunter in East Blue?"
But before he could contemplate further, Ikki's body transformed into golden lightning that streaked past Kuroobi and Hatchan.
The two fishmen immediately clutched their abdomens and fell to the ground with expressions of pain on their faces.
This wasn't over yet. After Kuroobi and Hatchan fell, the lightning that Ikki had transformed into continued its path, striking down every member of Arlong's crew in succession.
When Ikki returned to his original position, Captain Nezumi was shocked to see that all members of Arlong's pirates had fallen to the ground, howling in pain.
"Hey, come to your senses."
Ikki, who had used his fists to subdue Arlong's pirates, walked up to Captain Nezumi, raised his hand and tapped his face.
Captain Nezumi took two steps back in horror, but soon his expression turned shrewd as he straightened himself before Ikki.
"Well, you did a good job," he said. "Defeating Arlong's crew is no small feat. I will give you their bounty money later."
Captain Nezumi approached Ikki cheerfully and even attempted to raise his hand to pat Ikki's shoulder, but Ikki's glare stopped him in his tracks.
"Haha, you're quite strong," Captain Nezumi continued nervously. "I will take the members of Arlong's crew into custody first. You can come to my Marine Base to collect the bounty later, how about it?"
Ikki looked at the rat-faced Captain with interest.
"You are really thick-skinned. I saw clearly the deal you had with Arlong just now."
Ikki placed his hand on Captain Nezumi's shoulder, his face suddenly becoming solemn.
"If you don't want to fall to the ground like Arlong's crew, use your Den Den Mushi to help me contact Captain Smoker in Loguetown. Also, tell your men to put their guns down. You should know that ordinary flintlock guns have no effect on the truly strong."
As he spoke, Ikki turned his head and glanced at the Marine soldiers surrounding him, all pointing their flintlock guns at him. Every Marine soldier whose gaze met Ikki's felt as if a cold wind passed by their necks. Their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Then... well, may I ask why you want to contact Smoker with the Den Den Mushi?" Captain Nezumi's throat bobbed up and down as a sense of dread filled his heart.
"There's no need to ask. Of course I'm reporting you," Ikki replied with a smile. "After all, you, a Marine, have been engaged in shady dealings with pirates. I can't expect you to properly handle the affairs concerning Arlong's crew."
Naturally, Ikki had no intention of letting Captain Nezumi go free. However, Ikki didn't want to become a Marine target himself because of his actions against Captain Nezumi. At least not now, when his power wasn't sufficient.
In this situation, handing over Captain Nezumi to the justice-obsessed Smoker was the optimal solution. The distance between Cocoyasi Village and Loguetown made this practical as well.
As for evidence, Ikki believed that if Smoker was willing to investigate, he would easily find proof of collusion between Captain Nezumi and Arlong's crew.
As the Captain of the 16th Marine branch, Captain Nezumi had allowed more than twenty village chiefs in the sea area under his jurisdiction, including Cocoyasi Village, to be ruled by Arlong's pirates for many years. Anyone with common sense would question such blatant negligence.
"No, no, we can't let that madman come—"
Captain Nezumi shook his head repeatedly, trying to dissuade Ikki, but Ikki had lost patience. He silenced the Captain with a punch to the stomach, the powerful impact instantly rendering him unconscious.
Seeing this, the surrounding Marine soldiers instinctively opened fire on Ikki. But ordinary flintlock bullets could never touch him. As soon as he stepped on the ground, his body became ghostlike, swiftly moving among the Marine soldiers.
In mere moments, all Marine soldiers except one had fallen to the ground.
"This is really troublesome," Ikki sighed, shaking his head.
He retrieved the Den Den Mushi from Captain Nezumi and approached the only Marine soldier still standing.
"Hey, seeing as you're standing next to Captain Nezumi, you must be his right-hand man or something," Ikki said. "How about you contact Captain Smoker for me? While you're at it, why not tell him what you've been doing here?"
Ikki held out the Den Den Mushi with one hand while pressing Zangetsu against the Marine's neck with the other.
"I... I understand," the Marine soldier replied, his cheek twitching nervously.
He finally dialed Loguetown under Ikki's threat. After a moment, the call connected.
A steady voice came from the other end of the line.
"This is Smoker from Loguetown..."