Cocoyasi Village.
The weather was bright and clear. The air was filled with the fresh scent of grass, and a gentle breeze brushed over the tender green blades. Ants crawling through the grass were instantly sent swaying and tumbling, as if the end of the world had arrived.
Suddenly—
A streak of white light flashed.
Logan dropped straight out of the sky.
"Ah—ah—damn you, System!"
Still midair, Logan cursed furiously. He hadn't expected the system to teleport him into the air.
Cursing aside, he quickly calmed down. His feet stomped against empty space—
and somehow found purchase.
It was as if invisible steps existed in the air itself, allowing him to hover effortlessly.
This was Moonwalk (Geppo)—one of the Marine Six Powers, and among the hardest to master.
For Logan, it came naturally.
Step by step, he descended as though walking down an unseen staircase, finally landing on the soft green grass.
He took a deep breath, savoring the fresh scent of the field, and muttered to himself:
"Moonwalk is still just a technique for staying airborne. It's nowhere near true flight. If the system would just reward me with a Flying Nimbus, I wouldn't have to work this hard."
Raising his gaze, Logan spotted a tower-like structure near the distant shoreline. In a village filled mostly with single-story houses, it stood out starkly.
"That must be Arlong Park," Logan said. "I'll sign in there first and see what kind of reward I get."
With that, he slung Zhenhai onto his back and walked forward.
The soil was soft beneath his feet, each step leaving behind a shallow footprint.
Before long, Logan arrived at the gates of Arlong Park. He looked up at the imposing structure and nodded.
"Didn't expect Arlong to have such refined taste."
At the entrance, Hatchan—an octopus fish-man and one of Arlong's officers—was fishing lazily. He immediately noticed the white-haired young man carrying a massive sword.
"Hey, human!" Hatchan shouted while still holding his fishing rod.
"Get out of here! This isn't a place you're allowed to enter. Arlong Park doesn't welcome humans!"
Looking at the honest-looking Hatchan, Logan felt a bit of goodwill toward him and had no intention of killing him.
Instead, he casually asked, "Hatchan, have you seen Luffy?"
"Luffy? Never heard of him!" Hatchan shook his head vigorously—then suddenly froze.
"Wait—how do you know my name? I've never seen you before!"
Hearing this, Logan relaxed.
Good. That meant he wasn't too late yet.
Luffy hadn't fought Arlong.
Logan pushed open the gates and walked inside.
"Hey! I told you to leave!" Hatchan dropped his fishing rod and jumped up angrily.
"If you keep this up, don't blame me for getting rough!"
Logan ignored him.
Just as Hatchan stepped forward to block him, he realized—
The human had vanished.
Logan's figure flickered.
When he reappeared in the courtyard, dozens of fish-men turned to glare at him with savage expressions. Some didn't hesitate at all, drawing weapons and charging straight at him.
Logan sneered.
Against trash like this, he didn't even need Zhenhai.
His body flashed repeatedly. In less than three minutes, relying solely on his physical techniques, he knocked every fish-man in the courtyard to the ground, leaving them completely incapacitated.
Only then did Hatchan, who had been fishing outside, hear the commotion. He rushed in, about to shout—
—and was instantly dropped by a single chop to the neck.
Logan looked at the fish-men scattered all over the courtyard and sat down lazily on a chair in the center, frowning slightly.
"I clearly followed the system's instructions and came to Arlong Park. So why hasn't the sign-in triggered?"
"Is there some hidden condition?"
After thinking for a while, Logan stood up and searched the upper floors and tower carefully.
Still nothing.
Since that was the case, he decided not to leave.
Waiting here for Luffy was the best choice.
Using Moonwalk, Logan stepped through the air several times and landed atop the tower. He sat cross-legged beside Arlong's pirate flag, closed his eyes, and began to rest.
Not long after—
Creak.
The wooden gate below slowly opened.
Arlong stepped inside.
The moment he saw the bodies of his fallen fish-men comrades strewn across the courtyard, his face darkened instantly.
Scanning the area, he soon spotted Hatchan lying on the ground.
Arlong rushed over, lifting Hatchan in his arms and roaring in rage:
"What happened here?! Who did this?!"
The other officers also noticed the scene. Seeing even Hatchan knocked unconscious, they instinctively stepped back.
They all knew—
When Hatchan got serious, his strength was nothing to scoff at.
"Hatchan! Wake up!" Arlong shouted furiously.
"Tell me who did this! I'll avenge you all!"
Hatchan slowly opened his eyes, dazed. After a moment, he spoke:
"It was… a human. I've never seen him before, but he knew my name. White hair… a swordsman… his sword was huge."
"That bastard ambushed me!" Hatchan clenched his teeth.
"I won't let this go!"
Arlong let out an enraged roar.
"Brothers! Search the entire island immediately! Anyone with white hair—kill them on sight!"
"Yes, Boss Arlong!"
Just as the fish-men prepared to rush out, one of Arlong's officers strolled in lazily—
dragging a long-nosed pirate behind him.
When this officer saw the bodies all over the ground, his expression changed instantly.
"Boss Arlong… what happened here?"
"Chew," Arlong growled unhappily, "where did you go? If you'd been here, our brothers wouldn't have suffered this!"
Chew casually tossed the long-nosed pirate forward.
"I caught this long-nosed pirate."
"So what?" Arlong said coldly.
"Catching trash like this is meaningless. I'm going to kill that white-haired swordsman to vent my rage!"
The long-nosed pirate—Usopp—who was trembling on the ground, immediately perked up.
"Right! I'm useless!" Usopp shouted desperately.
"Even if you catch me, there's no point! I'm just trash—please let me go!"
One of the officers sneered.
"This long-nosed guy must be with that white-haired bastard. Boss Arlong, let's kill him first."
Usopp's face went pale.
"I only know a green-haired swordsman!" he yelled.
"I don't know any white-haired swordsman!"
Arlong pulled out a dagger and slammed it into the ground right in front of Usopp's nose.
Coldly, he said:
"Whether you know him or not doesn't matter."
"I'll cut off that long nose of yours first… then slice you apart piece by piece."
"Let me vent my anger a little."
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> patreon.com/lucarioTL