Outside Arlong Park.
Dozens of villagers from Cocoyasi Village wielded iron pots, brooms, and clubs as weapons, shouting for Nami to come out.
"All of you, shut up! Any more noise and I'll kill you all!" a fish-man threatened.
Genzo, standing at the very front and holding a wooden staff, roared, "Let Nami come out! And tell Arlong that from this day forward, we won't pay another cent! If you've got the guts, then kill us all!"
"That's right! I've had enough of being exploited by you fish-men! Today, we rebel!" a villager shouted, fearless in the face of death.
Nami ran out from inside the park at that moment, along with the fish-man who had gone in to report earlier.
She approached the villagers and tried to placate them, "Why is everyone here? Please go back for now. Even though the one hundred million Berries is gone, I can just go and save up another hundred million..."
Genzo stopped her from continuing, his eyes red.
"That's enough, Nami."
"Eight years. We let you suffer for eight years. We adults placed our hopes on you, letting you bear the burden of saving the village. We're truly sorry."
"You should go. Leave Cocoyasi Village and set out to sea."
"Today, we're going to fight these beastly fish-men to the death!"
As Genzo finished speaking, the villagers, men and women alike, raised their arms and cheered.
"That's right, let's fight them to the death!"
"We've been on our knees for eight years! Today, even if I die, I'll die on my feet!"
"We've watched Nami suffer for us for eight years. No matter what happens today, we have to protect her and let her escape."
"..."
The villagers roared. Nami was frantic, but nothing she said could change their minds. It seemed they were determined to resist, even at the cost of their lives.
The fish-men on the opposite side sneered.
A fish-man with a protruding mouth like that of an archerfish opened it and spat out a drop of water.
The water droplet was as powerful as a bullet, shooting toward a middle-aged male villager.
The man immediately blocked with the wood-chopping axe in his hand.
With a crack, the axe broke, and his body was sent flying, crashing to the ground.
Seeing this, Genzo was both shocked and furious. "These bastards are trying to kill us! Let's get them!"
Wielding his wooden staff, he was the first to charge toward the dozen or so fish-men.
The villagers surged forward as one, each trying to be the first, fearless in the face of death.
Nami was so anxious that tears welled up in her eyes, but she couldn't stop anyone.
She saw Nojiko also charging with a broom, and she grabbed her in a tight hug, crying:
"Nojiko, tell everyone to go back! Arlong is going to kill everyone!"
Nojiko patted her on the head and smiled. "Nami, these past eight years have taught me a lesson."
"And that is, when faced with oppression and injustice, you must resist! Resist with all your might, a life-or-death resistance!"
"The more you fear, the more you hide, the more you endure, the more brazen the wicked will become."
"We're not afraid of death, but we are afraid of continuing to cowardly endure this oppression, afraid of you continuing to suffer for us."
"Run, get out of here. If you can, go out to sea and find a powerful and just Marine. Have them kill these fish-men, and kill Luo Chen."
She forcefully broke free from Nami's grasp and charged forward with the villagers.
Fish-men are naturally powerful; neither their strength nor their defense was something the villagers could compare to.
The moment the two sides clashed, a dozen villagers were struck down, their blood spilling across the ground.
Seeing a fish-man about to deliver a killing blow to a fallen villager, Nami screamed at the top of her lungs, "Stop!"
Her voice echoed over the chaotic battlefield, sounding so powerless.
The fish-men wore expressions of mockery and derision, their attacks not ceasing for a moment because of her cries.
An octopus fish-man with six arms swung six long swords, instantly slicing through Nojiko's broom. The blades then slashed toward her face.
Nami's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks, her face turning ashen gray like a dead ember.
At that exact moment, the earth suddenly began to tremble.
The ground ripped open, and dozens of thick, green trees shot up from the earth. As if they were sentient, they extended with fluid flexibility, rushing toward the fish-men.
A towering tree grew in front of Nojiko.
The octopus fish-man's long swords struck the tree trunk but were unable to cut through it; they couldn't even break the bark.
This time, it was the fish-men's turn to cry out in alarm.
The dozen or so fish-men were all tightly bound by the sentient-like trees and lifted high into the air.
The villagers who had been under attack were rescued by the trees, saved from death.
This bizarre scene caused the battle-frenzied villagers to calm down, looking at each other in confusion.
The fish-men, suspended in the air by the trees, were also roaring and shouting, unable to comprehend what had happened.
"Hachi, hurry up and cut these trees down!" yelled the fish-man with the cannon-like mouth.
The octopus fish-man cried out anxiously, "I can't cut through them at all!"
He swung his six swords at the tree simultaneously, only managing to leave a white mark.
"Damn it, where did these trees come from?"
"There's a Marine over there. Did he do this?"
A fish-man pointed into the distance.
A young man in a Marine uniform was slowly walking toward them.
In this place, aside from the powerless villagers, he was the only Marine present.
The fish-men all looked over one by one.
The octopus fish-man, Hachi, shouted, "Hey, Marine! Did you do this? Let us go, now!"
Luo Chen's gaze swept over them. He raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist in the air.
The branches of the trees around Hachi instantly grew into a spherical cage, enclosing him, and then suddenly tightened.
With a blood-curdling scream, blood seeped out from the spherical wooden cage, dripping slowly onto the ground.
Hachi's voice was never heard again.
The group of fish-men was terrified, but at the same time, they couldn't contain their rage.
Their comrade had just been killed right before their eyes.
"You bastard! Boss Arlong won't let you get away with this!" the fish-man with the long, narrow mouth roared, his voice unusually loud, intentionally directing it toward the depths of Arlong Park.
Luo Chen shook his head, unfazed. His gaze swept across the dozen fish-men, and he clenched his fist in the air once more.
In an instant, the tree vines wrapped tightly around all the fish-men. The next moment, they suddenly constricted, and the wooden spheres shrank to the size of a human head.
A chorus of horrific screams erupted at that moment.
A muffled sound like a watermelon being smashed came from within the spherical wooden cages, and bright red blood dripped from the cracks.
Outside Arlong Park, all sounds of fighting and shouting ceased.
It was terrifyingly silent; every single villager from Cocoyasi could even hear their own breathing.
Most of the villagers, including Nami, looked at Luo Chen with a mixture of shock and joy, their expressions filled with gratitude. It seemed they were thanking this just Marine for saving them.
They were also amazed at the Marine's incredible strength, having easily killed more than a dozen fish-men.
But the expressions on Genzo's and Nojiko's faces were extremely grim as they stared intently at Luo Chen.
They said in low voices, "He's Luo Chen! The man who stole Nami's one hundred million Berries!"
Hearing this, the joy on the faces of Nami and the other villagers froze.
Nami, in particular, was overcome with rage. The hand holding her dagger was trembling, a testament to the indignation in her heart.
Luo Chen took in all their expressions.
He said nothing, his gaze sweeping over a few of the more seriously injured villagers. Seeing that their lives weren't in danger, he breathed a silent sigh of relief.
He had almost been too late.
If someone had died in this conflict because he had "borrowed" Nami's one hundred million Berries, Luo Chen would never be able to forgive himself.
As long as no one was dead, everything could still be worked out.
His gaze fell upon Nami.
The girl had shiny, smooth, orange-colored short hair and a beautiful, delicate face. Her large brown eyes, filled with anger, were staring right at him.