East Blue, Cocoyasi Village.
The houses in the village were in a state of disarray. It seemed as though something had rampaged through the town.
In fact, it was true. Just two days ago, Arlong had taken Nami's sister and the sheriff, Genzo.
Originally, everyone thought Arlong had broken the agreement, so they immediately gathered together. Later, they discovered it was because of Nami.
"It's all because of Nami. The money you have to pay every month is doubled."
"And that's only because you aren't close to her. If you want to hate someone, hate Nami. She's the one who made your lives so miserable."
Leading them was Kintaro of the Arlong Pirates, accompanied by over twenty fishmen. After speaking, he cut off one of the ears of the beaten-down Genzo in front of everyone.
"As for these two, one will be executed by a thousand cuts, and the other will be thrown into the water dungeon."
Kintaro held the ear high and tossed it to a subordinate, telling them to send it to Kuroobi, who was about to set off.
Then he sneered and taunted the hundreds of Cocoyasi Village residents, "Of course, you can also choose to resist."
Naturally, some villagers could no longer bear it and picked up weapons, wanting to resist.
But the result... was having every bone in their bodies broken. Then, the Fishmen erected wooden racks in the center of town and hung the rebels upon them.
There were 24 in total, which later became 32. The additional ones were villagers who had risked their lives to bring them water and food.
Pisaro, holding two musical instruments, sat watching from a tall building not far away.
Watching the humans' displays of affection, whenever he discovered someone secretly delivering water or food, Pisaro would laugh heartily and lead over a dozen Fishmen out.
They would catch those people, beat them mercilessly, and then hang them on the wooden racks, letting the sun bake these humans who dared to resist to death.
Every time this happened, Pisaro would feel immensely happy.
Watching humans suffer, wail, and bleed reminded him of his compatriots who had been kidnapped from Fish-Man Island. His heart was filled with the pleasure of revenge. Because of this, he followed Arlong unswervingly.
He wanted to pen these humans like livestock and torture them until they died.
Similarly, at times like this, at the top of the building inside Arlong Park, Arlong would laugh heartily and clap, sharing this interesting scene with Nojiko, who was trapped in an iron cage.
The cage hung outside the building and had been modified. The lower half was made of iron plating and filled with sewage. The upper half consisted of iron bars. Thick chains suspended a blue-haired girl, her hands crossed and tightly locked by the chains.
Her lower body was submerged in the sewage and her skin had already discolored.
The water dungeon and water torture were undoubtedly agonizing, especially since Nojiko also had to endure the scorching sun during the day. It could be described as utterly inhumane. By now, she was at death's door.
Arlong didn't care. Compared to what those humans had done to his compatriots, this was merely the interest.
However, he was very unhappy because... that woman had not begged for mercy even once so far.
"You can't hold on much longer, can you? If you keep this up, even if your lower body doesn't rot away, you'll die of dehydration and thirst."
Arlong sat in a wide chair, looking mockingly at the woman in the iron cage outside the window. "Ultimately, Nami is the one who caused all this, not you..."
Having said this, he couldn't continue, because the woman in the cage gave no reaction. No words, no movement, not even a slight struggle. Only her steady breathing proved she was still alive.
"Bastard human!"
Arlong suddenly grabbed a wine bottle from the table and hurled it fiercely at the woman in the cage.
The bottle shattered against the iron bars, splashing wine, some of which landed on Nojiko's face. She silently licked off the wine, replenishing her fluids as much as possible.
"Do you think I don't know what you're thinking?"
Arlong stood up abruptly, staring coldly at the delicate yet resilient woman in the cage. "Using this attitude to provoke me, then conserving your strength to live longer, waiting for Nami to bring people to save you, right?"
There was no answer, only silence.
Arlong laughed as if provoked, "You human, you're quite interesting, completely different from those idiots."
"You've succeeded. I will spare your life until you witness the end with your own eyes."
He stared intently at the woman in the iron cage, but still received no reaction. It was as if the one waiting for death in the cage wasn't her, but him.
This suffocating silence reminded Arlong of the human Marine named Borsalino, whom he had once encountered and who had defeated him.
Wearing a yellow suit, with monkey-like features and an incredibly casual tone, it was as if he had never even been in Borsalino's eyes.
He took a few deep breaths and walked to the window, his low voice incredibly powerful. "When the time comes, you will see how Nami kneels and begs me to spare your life."
"You will hear her wail in regret over her own stupidity, and you will see that Hiroto she placed so much hope in kneeling before me."
"Mere humans have no right to say no before my race."
Nojiko remained silent, a sense of calm passing through her lowered eyes.
As Arlong said, she had her own plans. She believed in her sister's judgment and her feelings for everyone. If she really made such a decision, it meant she must be certain. She believed wholeheartedly that the man named Hiroto could kill Arlong and save everyone.
Although she didn't know who Hiroto was, she believed in her sister. That person named Hiroto must be very powerful and incredible.
But... if things didn't go as well as expected, it didn't really matter.
Rather than letting Nami be held back by her and everyone else, staying in Cocoyasi Village to suffer, it would be better to take this opportunity to fly far away.
In that case, her death would be worthwhile, wouldn't it?
As for the others...
Nojiko knew very well that if Nami hadn't given them a glimmer of hope, if Nami hadn't persisted...
Everyone would have fought the Fishmen to the death long ago.
Arlong seemed to want to say more, but just then, a loud noise suddenly came from the distance. He instinctively looked over and found that at the edge of the building's overlook, a cloud of dust was rising.
'An enemy attack?'