After defeating the Dragon Pirates, the villagers of Cocoa West Village finally began to calm down after letting out all their emotions.
As for Kairos Flint, he didn't touch the treasures stored in Arlong Park. He left all of it for Nami to deal with.
After all, he had only stepped in at Nami's request to settle this matter. The wealth hoarded by Arlong and his crew came from years of oppression and exploitation of the surrounding villages. It rightfully belonged to the people, and Kairos had no interest in claiming it for himself.
Of course, if he had decided to take it, no one would have objected. From their perspective, he was the hero who had defeated Arlong—the tyrant who had ruled over them for eight years. If the hero wanted a reward, who could say no?
But Kairos wasn't that kind of man. Out at sea, when defeating pirate crews, he would claim treasure, since there was no way to trace its origin. Even if someone claimed to know, how could he verify they weren't exaggerating to get more? He didn't waste time trying to unravel that mess.
Nami's approach to the situation was simple and effective. She tallied the total number of households in the surrounding villages and divided the treasure equally among them.
Sure, there would be some inaccuracies, but it was the fairest way possible given the circumstances. If they tried to calculate how much each family had lost over the years, it would be a nightmare. And even then, there wouldn't be enough to go around.
Much of the money had already been siphoned off during the years Arlong bribed Colonel Nezumi. That was how the fishmen had stayed in power for eight long years—by paying off the Navy.
No one could say how much Nezumi had taken during that time. But now, with Kairos in charge, anyone harboring selfish thoughts kept their mouths shut. They accepted Nami's redistribution plan without complaint.
After all, this was the man who had single-handedly taken down the entire Dragon Pirates. If the pirates could dominate them, surely someone even stronger could do the same.
Fear of Kairos's strength loomed large.
The treasure distribution process took the rest of the afternoon to complete.
Eventually, the news of the Dragon Pirates' destruction reached Colonel Nezumi.
When he heard that the pirates had been defeated and their treasure distributed to the villagers, he flew into a rage and immediately rushed to the scene—with a detachment of Navy soldiers in tow.
But by the time he arrived at Arlong Park, everything was gone.
The treasure had already been given out.
He stormed in with his troops, clearly with bad intentions.
"You're the one who killed the Dragon Pirates?" Nezumi asked arrogantly, his sneering tone doing little to hide his rat-like face.
"That's right. Got a problem with it?" Kairos replied coolly as he stood.
Kairos was a little surprised. He hadn't expected the news to spread so fast. It had only been half a day. He figured Smoker would have arrived first.
Apparently, that had been overly optimistic.
It was clear now—Smoker wouldn't arrive that quickly.
Nezumi didn't waste time. "We've received word about the Dragon Pirates. You just so happened to take them out. Good job, I suppose. Now, we're here to recover the corpses of those criminals... and take that woman behind you into custody."
He gestured at Nami.
"According to our intel, she's affiliated with the Dragon Pirates. Don't obstruct Navy justice."
It was obvious what he was trying to do—salvage the situation by claiming credit. The treasure was gone, so he couldn't take it. But if he took the corpses of the fishmen pirates and presented them as if his own Navy unit had defeated them, he could score some easy accolades.
It would cement his position.
And as for Nami? He remembered her from his dealings with Arlong. She'd been collecting 100 million beli, a fool's errand in his eyes—but she'd probably accumulated a decent amount of money.
If he arrested her, he could easily torture the location of the rest of her money out of her. It would make this trip worthwhile.
"Colonel Nezumi," Kairos said darkly, "I suggest you don't make a mistake. If I can wipe out the Dragon Pirates... I can make sure none of you leave here alive."
There was steel in his voice. A warning not to be ignored.