Johnny's saw-toothed blade hovered just three inches from Nami's back when Darius's left foot ground into the blood-stained planks of the dock, carving a deep mark.
This was the opening maneuver he had drilled three thousand times in his former life's special forces training—the "wrist lock" from the Returning Spear technique.
His left hand's web was still bleeding, yet his muscles locked together like perfectly meshed gears. He even heard the hiss of hydraulic pressure in Johnny's mechanical arm, a shrill sound sharper than any reactor to him.
"Nami!" His roar was rough. His left hand sprouted into a clawed grip—his nails nearly cutting into his own palm. It was not pain, but fear at being a half-second late.
Johnny's pupils narrowed. He had expected that Darius would long since be beaten by his mechanical prowess. Instead, he saw someone with feral agility, like a panther whose tail had been stepped on. Though wounded, Darius was twice as fast now.
Johnny's saw-toothed blade scraped the top of Nami's hair. Sparks flew across the wood. At the same instant, Darius's left hand clasped the seam of Johnny's armored wrist guard.
"You're asking for death!" Johnny barked, twisting his mechanical arm backwards. Black hydraulic oil sprayed from a ruptured line.
But Darius's fingers dug in like steel nails embedded in alloy. His knuckles turned white under the strain. In his mind's eye flashed diagrams of joints he had memorized long ago. He recognized that Johnny's mechanical arm was built from modified standard Marine arm armor, connected with Phillips-head bolts.
With a swift motion, his right palm morphed into a claw. He locked Johnny's elbow in a deadly grip—an "elbow lock" from the Eagle Claw grappling style, taught to him for exactly this kind of confrontation.
"Crack." The noise of metal twisting rang louder than thunder.
Johnny's mechanical arm jammed. The saw blade skewed and gouged a deep half-foot trench into the dock. Vibrations jounced up Darius's palm.
A system prompt thrummed in his mind:
"Fusion complete! Obtained Saw-Tooth Fruit basic form: metallized right hand can unleash high-frequency vibrating cuts. Current fusion progress 1.2, random skill triggered — Penetrating Shot (Beginner)."
Before he could fully register the message, his right hand gleamed metallic. The sheen crawled from his fingertips like liquid silver. Even the wound there acquired a thin layer of gleaming plating.
He twisted with lethal intent. Johnny's mechanical arm cried a final metallic howl as fragments and shards flew away, black fluid spurting.
"Ah—!" Johnny cried out, staggering backward. His mechanical limb lay useless, revealing a mangled stump of flesh and wires beneath. His arrogance fractured into fear. He attempted to flee toward the ocean, but Darius kicked him down before he took two steps.
"You trying to run?" Darius pressed the metallized hand to his nape while stepping on Johnny's neck. "Who was it just now that threatened to turn me into minced meat to feed the Fishing Village people?"
Johnny trembled, barely sputtering out "mercy" before Darius activated a high-frequency vibration surge. His collar sheared apart, though his skin remained unbroken.
"Get lost," Darius said, releasing his foot. "Take your men and never set foot here again."
The pirates, pale and terrified, scrambled to drag Johnny back toward their broken ship. Only the crash of waves against the dock and Nami's hurried breaths remained.
"Nami?" Darius turned. He realized she had somehow broken free of her chains. She knelt on the wooden boards, clutching the brass compass to her chest. Her hair was streaked with blood; her eyes were bright with a mixture of shock and something else.
"You…" she whispered, staring at his glowing right hand. "What just happened? Your hand…"
He glanced at it. The metallic sheen was fading, receding like a tide. Normal skin emerged underneath. Even the old wound had turned into a fine scab.
He gave a small twitch at the corner of his mouth. "You may call it… a specialty."
Nami didn't speak. She stood abruptly, lifting the compass toward him, but her fingers shook. "Who are you, really? Why did you save me?"
"Because you're a Navigator." Darius didn't step back. "When I saw you using that compass to calculate the tidal curves, I recognized someone who could draw the most accurate sea charts."
Nami's hand faltered; the compass drooped. She looked down at her bloody palm, her voice trembling: "I planned to use that money to free the village."
"You don't need to," Darius replied, pointing at the retreated pirate ship. "They won't try again."
"How can you guarantee that?" Tears welled in her eyes. "Pirates don't give up after one failure—Arlong…"
"So we become partners." Darius extended a steady hand. The metallic glow was gone. "I need someone who can map the Grand Line. You need someone who can protect you from trouble."
She stared for several seconds, then smiled faintly. She tucked the compass into her waist and gently brushed blood from his palm. "Know this: my sea charts are expensive."
"Agreed." Darius was about to say more when a cough sounded behind them.
Village Chief Garp emerged by the dock, leaning on his cane, holding an aged logbook embossed with a faded anchor emblem. "Xiao Yu, that move just now… truly astonishing." He shoved the logbook into Darius's arms. "This belonged to my grandfather. He sailed with Captain Roger across the Grand Line."
Darius held it. As his fingers brushed the cover, a yellowed fragment of sea chart slid out.
"Keep it." The Chief turned slowly, his silhouette stooped like weathered rock. "When you set off… you may need this."
Nami leaned close and gasped, her eyes widening. "This mark… is it a tributary of Reverse Mountain?"
Darius remained silent. He stared at the anchor emblem. A system prompt flickered:
"Rare item detected. Enable analysis?"
Above, distant purple clouds churned in the sky. The Chief's cracked hand traced the anchor motif. He tucked the logbook into Darius's arms firmly. On the flyleaf was a faint carved webbing, glowing blue in the sunlight. "My grandfather recorded dangerous currents and hidden reefs. A treasure like this should not rot here."
When Darius's skin touched that flyleaf, a new system prompt exploded in his mind:
"Sea Stone energy residue detected. Analysis progress 15%.
S-rank mission triggered: Travel to Water 7 within 72 hours and prevent World Government agents from hijacking the archaeology team. Reward: Devil Fruit fusion evolution (fusion progress +2.0, unlock cross-system fusion). Mission failure: fusion progress resets to zero, lose one acquired skill."
His pupils narrowed. His right hand subconsciously touched his chest. If his fusion progress reset, he might lose the metallized vibration power. Worse, he'd lose the cross-system fusion permission—the prerequisite for "Ultimate Fusion" in the system interface.
Before he could think further, his waist tightened. Nami had gripped the corner of his shirt. Her nails dug into the fabric; black oil from Johnny's arm stained her hair. But her eyes blazed with resolve.
"I know the fastest route to Water 7," she said, voice trembling despite her strength. "You have to promise me—after everything there, bring me back to Cocoyasi Village and defeat Arlong himself."
Darius looked down at her. Her fingers were shaking, yet her arm was straight and resolute, like a bowstring drawn taut. He recalled how, while chained, she carved tidal equations into stone with her fingernails—etched to different depths.
"Arlong…" he repeated. Memories of the Fish-Man Pirates and their debts flashed through his mind. "Is he what haunts your nights?"
Nami stepped back, her compass clinking. She faced the sea. "I spent eight years making sea charts to buy freedom for my village. That man stole the money, yet still demanded we die. Johnny was his top engineer. Now his mechanical arm is ruined…" Her voice shook. "Arlong's ship is much faster than Johnny's craft—he'll arrive before we even set sail."
Before she finished, Darius heard a distant roar—not waves, but something massive moving beneath the horizon.
He followed her trembling finger. A dark mass stretched along the horizon, growing in size. What had been a dot became a looming fortress. At the bow, a carved shark head snarled; no flags flew. Instead, dozens of seabird corpses hung from the rigging.
"That's the Saw-Tooth Shark," Nami hissed. "Arlong's flagship. It holds thirty rotating cannons below the waterline." She grabbed Darius's wrist and tugged him toward the village. "To the dock! I hid a swift sailboat—"
"Wait." Darius held her hand. A faint metallic aura flickered from his palm, then faded. He looked into her eyes. "You said Johnny worked for Arlong?"
She nodded. "He modified weapons. Even Arlong's Saw-tooth Broadsword was his creation. Now this… will drive Arlong insane."
Darius slid the logbook into his arms. He cast one last gaze at the sea. On the flyleaf, the Sea Stone carving glowed faintly in the shadows. The mission's countdown blinked in his mind: 71:58:23.
He touched the wound at his neck—still smarting from Johnny's blade. "Nami, how long did you say the route to Water 7 takes?"
"Four days, with fair winds and no obstacles," she bit her lip. "But Arlong could be here in three."
"Then we must depart within three days." Darius's metallic right hand rested on her shoulder—not glowing, but firm. "I promise: I will defeat Arlong. But first," he nodded toward the looming silhouette, "let them see what happens when someone provokes the wrong person."
Her eyes lit. She stepped back and ran toward the village office, hair streaming behind her. "I'll fetch the sea chart! The Chief's logbook gives me a clue on Reverse Mountain. Combined with my tidal data—"
"Keep it for now," Darius interrupted. He pointed to the Chief kneeling by a torn page on the ground. "Help him move villagers to the cave in the back hills. Johnny's men may set traps." He touched his waist: the cross bolt from Johnny's mechanical arm was tucked there. Its metallic edge faintly pulsed with residual vibration. "I'll confront Arlong's vanguard."
Nami's lips parted, but she nodded. As she turned, her compass scraped across stone. She paused, looked back: "Darius!"
He turned. She bit her lip, ear tips reddened. "If you come back… I'll tell you the secret in my sea chart—about that Reverse Mountain tributary."
He offered a calm smile. His right hand caught the moonlight. "Bring the ink. You may help me revise the map live."
She disappeared toward the village office, orange hair trailing like fire in the wind.
The old Chief whispered, "The cave in the back hills has three forks—at its innermost lies my grandfather's reserve of gunpowder." With his cane tapping the ground he disappeared into the dusk.
Darius looked back at the shark-headed ship. His hand pressed over the logbook on his chest. The countdown still ticked. He felt the metallic power within him—Saw-Tooth Fruit's energy waiting to evolve.
Night fell. Torches along the dock flickered in the breeze. Darius crouched behind a pier beam, inspecting the parts he had removed from Johnny's mechanical arm.
A soft noise above. He looked up: Nami, like a shadow, was climbing over the courtyard wall. Moonlight caught dewdrops in her hair.
He stayed still, his grip on the logbook tight. The Sea Stone pattern glowed faintly blue. Anchor eyes watching.
From the sea came the crash of the Saw-Tooth Shark's anchor chain. The vanguard leapt onto the dock. Their steps drummed like war drums.
Darius inhaled deeply and rose, his metallic right hand gleaming in the moonlight—a blade about to be drawn.
The lead Fish-Man bore a trident overhead. In silver moonlight, the tip shimmered with lethal intent.
He roared, charging with his crew like wolves. Darius sidestepped the first assault. The trident plunged into the wood, shards flying.
He kicked the attacker hard to the gut. The Fish-Man grunted, stumbling back. Others pressed in from all sides, weapons brandished.
Darius weaved through them, his metallic hand releasing high-frequency slices. Each swing sang with sharp whistles. Steel clashed, sparks flew.
A Fish-Man attacked from behind. Darius twisted, caught his arm, and released a vibration shock. The scale-wrapped limb cracked. The Fish-Man shrieked, flesh peeling.
Darius seized the moment—he activated Penetrating Shot (Beginner). A sleek vibratory beam shot from his hand like an arrow. Wherever it passed, Fish-Men collapsed in agony.
They were relentless, though. Charging forward, the onslaught intensified.
He felt fatigue slipping in, sweat soaking his back. He spotted the mechanical parts he had dropped. A spark of cunning—he collected them and converted them into projectiles with high-frequency vibration, launching them into enemy ranks.
They struck true—Fish-Men fell, bleeding and stunned. The threat receded, giving Darius breathing room.
He steadied himself, inhaled deeply. This fight was far from over. Arlong's vanguard was tougher than he expected. Yet in his eyes burned only determination. He would hold this line—protect Nami, defend the village, and buy time for the real battle ahead.