The moment the wooden door exploded, sawdust blasted into the warehouse like shrapnel.
Darius Flint's metallic skin was the first to feel the sting, wood splinters embedding into his arm. But the pain was nothing compared to the fire burning in his chest.
He stepped in front of Nami, shielding her as Johnny burst into the warehouse. Moonlight spilled across the saw-armed Fishman, his twin blades whirring as they carved blue arcs through the night air. The grinding teeth screamed with a sound that could strip flesh from bone.
"You little rat!" Johnny's scarred face twisted with frenzy, the deep gash under his left eye twitching as he sneered. "Arlong-sama said I can't kill you yet, Nami. But that don't mean I can't take a piece first. Let's start with a leg!" His right saw shrieked to life, wind from its spin lifting the fringe of Darius's hair.
Darius's pupils contracted sharply.
He could see the dried blood caked between Johnny's saw-teeth—blood shed by the villagers, each drop tied to Nami's years of tears.
His metallic fist clenched with a grinding snap.
[Warning. Target equipped with Sea Stone-reinforced saw-blades. Suggest Saw-Tooth Fruit fusion compatibility: 25%.]
The system's voice echoed in his ears, but there was no time to think. Johnny's left saw came down with murderous force.
"Back!" Darius shoved Nami into the corner, taking the blow head-on with his right arm.
Sparks erupted in a violent spray. The impact rattled his bones—his fused body, already reinforced by the Saw-Tooth Fruit, cracked under the corrosion of Sea Stone. Fractures crawled like spiderwebs across his metallic skin.
Pain tore up his spine, but Darius gritted his teeth and smirked. "That's all you've got?"
Johnny froze for a heartbeat.
The boy's eyes had changed. They no longer held the frantic look of someone desperately protecting a friend. Instead, they gleamed with the cold focus of a predator who had found a weakness. Golden flecks danced in his black irises, like embers in the dark.
[Observation Haki… perception unlocked.]
The system's tone sharpened. Darius's temples throbbed.
Suddenly, Johnny's movements slowed. He could see the hitch in the Fishman's right saw, rotating a fraction of a second slower than the left. The slight bend in his knee, betraying the wear on the old joints. Even the subtle bob of his Adam's apple before his next snarl.
"Nami!" Darius roared, shifting just half an inch.
As Johnny's right saw swept for his waist, a shadow streaked through the air. Nami had hurled an anchor with desperate strength. The chain whipped across Darius's shoulder, coiling around Johnny's ankle.
"You little brat!" Johnny staggered, his saw biting into a wooden pillar instead. Splinters rained down as he tried to wrench free, but the stumble cost him a beat.
That was all Darius needed.
He kicked off the ground, flipping backward. Using the chain's tension, his metallic leg carved a silver arc through the moonlight, smashing into Johnny's temple.
"Crack!" The impact shattered part of the Fishman's headgear. Johnny slammed into the wall, debris crashing around him.
Darius landed hard on one knee, but his arm didn't pause. His saw-arm vibrated with a deadly hum. He drove it into the joint gap of Johnny's mechanical saw.
Johnny's scream split the air, metal shrieking with it. Darius's saw-arm chewed through Sea Stone, grinding deeper despite the agony tearing through his own arm. He locked his grip tighter.
Nami rushed from the corner, iron bar in hand. She smashed it into Johnny's knee with a cry. "This is for Miss Kaya!" Another strike hit his wrist. "And this is for Belle-Mère!"
"Enough." Darius yanked his saw free. His skin peeled back from raw metallic red, dripping with his own blood.
Johnny collapsed, twitching as green lubricant leaked from his ruined saw-arm.
[Warning. Abnormal resonance detected. Saw-Tooth Fruit and Observation Haki fusion coefficient rising—critical threshold approaching.]
The system's voice was urgent. Darius's chest heaved. He stared at his right hand. Silver metallic veins pulsed with golden threads, darting beneath the skin like living lightning.
Nami's hand trembled as she clutched her iron bar. She glanced at Johnny's ruined form, then looked at Darius. "Is he… dead?"
"Not yet." Darius wiped blood from his mouth and ruffled her hair with his burning-hot fingers. "But the Arlong Pirates will pay their debt soon."
The sea wind howled outside. Heavy thuds echoed closer—something massive was moving.
Johnny stirred, a guttural roar ripping from his throat. Blood vessels bulged crimson in his eyes. The green oil bubbling from his joints hissed into smoke.
"You little bastard…" His voice rasped like grinding gears. His saw spun faster, the blue glow solidifying into a lethal blade. "I'll cut you into scraps and feed you to the sharks!"
He kicked forward like a cannonball, crossed saws shredding half the warehouse wall in a storm of splinters. Moonlight flooded in, painting his face in madness.
[Observation Haki: perception expanding.]
Darius's vision sharpened again. He saw it—the thin tube inside Johnny's elbow, pumping red fluid into the saw. A berserker drug. That explained the sudden surge of power.
He yanked Nami behind the broken wall. "Stay clear of his arm—two meters at least!"
Johnny lunged, his saw veering mid-swing. It locked onto Darius's waist, biting into his skin. Pain like molten salt tore into his flesh as Sea Stone shredded his nerves.
"Bajiquan: Breath Hold!" Darius bit down hard on his tongue, the iron taste of blood filling his mouth. The pain vanished into numb clarity. His pupils turned gold, Johnny's movements slowing to a crawl.
"Now!" He stomped the ground.
Nami reacted instinctively. She bit her finger, smearing blood over the octopus tattoo Arlong had branded on her arm. The mark writhed, bleeding purple-black curse threads.
Johnny faltered, his saw lagging for an instant.
Golden lines surged from Darius's hand. His metallic arm extended, forming a spinning blade of silver light—the Saw-Tooth Whirlwind. He hurled it straight at the elbow joint.
"Clang!" The blade pierced the tube. Red potion sprayed across Johnny's face.
But the Fishman only cackled. His saw split open, gears unfolding. "Fool! That was only the first stage! Now witness the true Saw-Tooth Storm!"
His left saw detached, floating midair, whirling into a storm. Hundreds of miniature saws spewed out, slicing the warehouse in a rain of steel.
Darius covered Nami with his back, sparks showering as teeth scraped his armor. Even with Haki guiding his senses, cuts riddled his sides.
"Nami! The contract!" he shouted.
"Almost!" Nami's hand bled over the tattoo. Golden light seeped from the curse, resisting. "It's sucking me dry!"
Her glow synchronized with Darius's. His right hand blazed golden, metallic veins resonating with her mark. He pressed it against her arm.
[Conqueror's Haki detected. Curse structure collapsing.]
The black threads snapped one by one. With a final burst, the tattoo shattered into light, dissolving like stars in the night.
"NO!"
A thunderous voice roared from outside. The warehouse shook as Arlong stormed in, jagged saw-nose glinting, three Fishmen armed with harpoons at his back.
His gaze locked on the fading light around Nami's arm. His eyes bulged. "You destroyed my contract? You dare defy me!"
"Go!" Darius grabbed Nami, leaping for the shattered window.
[Warning. Incoming Fishman Karate: Spear Wave.]
They hit the seawater just as Arlong's attack shattered the warehouse behind them. Saltwater closed over Darius's head.
When he surfaced, he held Nami close. His right arm still glowed, the Saw-Tooth Whirlwind reforged into a sharper blade, silver dripping like moonlight.
Arlong's roar echoed across the waves. "Chase them! Alive or dead!"
Torches lit the shoreline. The Arlong Pirates gave chase.
Darius wiped blood from his face, golden patterns burning across his arm. He smirked at Nami. "Now it's our turn to collect what's owed."
The blade gleamed in his palm. Soon, it would drink Fishman blood.