The ruins of Arlong Park echoed only with ragged breathing and the salty wind from the sea.
"Hey, Chopper, how's he doing?"
Luffy's voice carried a hint of fatigue, yet remained as bright and clear as ever.
Under the soft press of Chopper's fuzzy hooves, Crane's eyelids fluttered before he slowly "regained consciousness." His dazed eyes swept across the worried faces surrounding him, finally landing on Nami's brown eyes, sharp and unreadable.
"Where… where am I?"
His voice was frail, laced with the tremble of someone who had narrowly escaped death.
"You got kicked by Arlong and passed out cold," Sanji replied, exhaling a ring of smoke, his tone slightly helpless.
Crane's expression instantly contorted with fear, like he'd relived the moment all over again.
"Arlong? Kicked… me?"
He abruptly sat up, only to clutch his chest and fall back with a groan, as though he'd been struck by sheer terror.
"I don't remember. I don't remember anything!"
Clutching his head, his body curled up into a tight ball, trembling uncontrollably.
Yet beneath that cowardly façade, a storm of raw power was beginning to awaken in his limbs.
It was a power that felt as familiar as breathing, a sensation of belonging, of fusion. He could feel the tides of the ocean in the distance as if they were the pulse of his own body.
Buried in the crook of his arm, Crane's mouth curled into a tiny, hidden smile of pure elation.
The bloodline of the fishmen… was his now.
Nami knelt in front of him, her eyes sharp like a blade.
"Why were you there?"
Her voice was soft but pressed down with unshakable authority.
"You were at the heart of Arlong Park. Everyone else was trying to escape, so why were you running in?"
Crane slowly looked up, tears glistening on his cheeks, his eyes overflowing with terror and confusion.
"I… I just wanted to find a place to hide."
His voice choked, every word dragged from his throat with visible effort.
"I saw this big column… I wanted to hide behind it… but I was too scared, my legs wouldn't move…"
"Then I tripped… and ended up right in front of that fishman monster…"
His sobs were gut-wrenching, his "cowardice" so vivid it seemed etched into his very soul.
Nami stared at him for a long, long time, long enough that even the air between them began to freeze.
Eventually, she let out a sigh and stood.
"What an unbelievably stupid coincidence."
Crane lowered his head, concealing the flash of calculation in his eyes.
[System Notification: Fishman bloodline and Serrated Power currently undergoing fusion...]
[Warning: Due to forceful extraction, genetic rejection detected. Fusion progress stalled.]
A sharp pain bloomed beneath his skin.
Crane's pupils contracted. Beneath the skin on the back of his hand, several shimmering blue-green scales briefly surfaced, then vanished.
He immediately activated his remaining chakra reserves, forcefully suppressing the anomaly.
The sustained drain turned his face even paler, his breath ragged. His body looked frail, sickly, even.
Perfect for his "weak and feeble" disguise.
The Going Merry set sail once again, heading toward the entrance of the Grand Line: Loguetown.
Newly boarded sniper Usopp stood at the bow, passionately boasting of his daring exploits leading "8,000 men across the sea."
"I am the battle-hardened Captain Usopp!"
Suddenly, a wild gust of wind whipped up towering waves that slammed against the ship, rocking the Merry violently.
"Waaaah! We're gonna capsize!"
A scream erupted, one even more desperate and panicked than Usopp's.
Everyone turned to look and found Crane huddled in a corner of the deck, hands over his head, trembling like a leaf in autumn. His posture was textbook perfect, his panic so convincing that even Usopp went quiet out of secondhand embarrassment.
For the first time, even Usopp felt a flicker of sympathy.
This guy… might actually be more timid than me.
And so, Crane's reputation as the "Most Cowardly Straw Hat" was officially cemented.
The night fell heavy, the sea dark as ink.
Crane was on night watch.
After making sure no one was around, he quietly walked to the edge of the ship.
He inhaled deeply, then plunged his entire head into the cold sea.
No breathlessness.
Instead, a sensation of unity, of returning to his origin.
The sea no longer resisted him. It welcomed him, extending like another limb of his own body.
He could see clearly, schools of fish dozens of meters away, and even the gentle exhale of distant coral reefs.
When he focused, he could manipulate the water ever so slightly, a weak swirl forming in front of him at will.
Crane lifted his hand from the sea, clenched it into a fist.
Power… speed… far beyond what he had as a ninja.
He picked up a discarded piece of timber from the deck, fingers straight like a blade, and slashed.
Shhk!
Wood chips flew. The edge of the plank gleamed like polished steel, clean, precise, deadly.
This was the [Serrated Power].
Loguetown.
The chaos sparked by "Smoker the White Hunter" chasing Luffy had plunged the entire city into disorder.
People scattered like sardines in a stirred barrel.
Crane was in the crowd, wearing just the right amount of panic on his face.
A sudden jolt from behind sent him toppling with a yelp, right into a large wooden barrel filled with water by the street.
"Someone fell in!"
"Quick! Pull him out!"
Panicked voices rang out.
But underwater, Crane calmly opened his eyes.
The world slowed to a crawl, everything became clear.
Using his fishman vision, he could see Smoker's every move.
The transformation into smoke, the path of his jitte, the Navy's encirclement patterns, everything was within his grasp.
Then, up on the execution platform, Buggy the Clown let out a wild laugh and lit his special "Buggy Bomb," aiming it toward the fleeing Nami and Usopp.
A deadly threat.
Underwater, Crane's eyes turned sharp.
Kicking off the barrel's sides, he channeled his entire strength into his right hand, unleashing a razor-thin, high-pressure jet of water.
It flew soundlessly, but struck like lightning.
The water bullet pierced the fuse of the Buggy Bomb at a critical junction.
BOOM!!!
The shell exploded midair, half a second early.
The fiery blast and shrapnel screamed past Nami and Usopp, blowing a gaping hole in the wall behind them.
Shaken, the two turned back, convinced they'd just gotten incredibly lucky.
No one noticed the "miraculous coincidence."
Suddenly, the sky went dark.
A storm-like gust swept across Loguetown, ripping the lid off Crane's barrel.
Dragon, the revolutionary, had arrived.
He rescued Luffy with a swirl of wind and turned to leave, the Marines too stunned to stop him.
But in that moment before vanishing into the storm, Dragon's piercing gaze swept across the soaked "nobody" climbing out of the barrel.
Dragon's brow furrowed, just barely.
From that seemingly harmless boy, he had sensed a faint, inhuman scent, one that belonged to the sea… to a fish.
Crane's heart stopped for a beat.
He immediately doubled over, coughing violently, as if choking on seawater, gagging so hard even bile seemed to rise.
That tiny aura was perfectly concealed by his extreme physical reaction.
Back on the Going Merry.
The crew cheered in celebration of their successful escape from Loguetown.
Crane sat in a corner, quietly drying his wet hair, his usual fearful expression firmly in place.
But then, his system interface flashed red.
[Emergency Trial Activated: Baroque Works Conspiracy Detected!]
[Within 30 days, the host must make contact with and copy the Devil Fruit ability of an agent ranked Mr.5 or higher.]
[Reward: Perfect Fishman Bloodline Integration.]
[Failure Penalty: Bloodline Rejection, You will mutate into an uncontrollable, mindless half-fishman, and permanently lose your "human" identity!]