"The… the captain got hit?!"
The surrounding Marines froze for a split second—then snapped back to reality, lifting their rifles as the black gun barrels swung toward Luffy.
"Y-You madman! You attacked a Marine captain!"
"Fire! Shoot him!"
"I'd like to see you try."
Just as fingers were about to squeeze triggers, a cold voice—ghostlike—whispered right next to their ears.
"WOOONG—!!"
Ronan had already appeared at Luffy's side without anyone noticing.
He didn't thrust his spear.
He swung it—one brutal horizontal sweep.
But Ronan controlled the force. He didn't aim for bodies.
He aimed precisely for the rifles.
"CLANG-CRASH—!!"
Metal shrieked.
In an instant, more than a dozen rifles were knocked out of Marine hands—some smashed midair into useless scrap, scattering parts across the ground.
"Ah! My hand!"
The soldiers clutched their numb wrists, staring in terror at the man holding that black iron spear.
Ronan stood one-handed, spear tip slanted toward the ground. A tangible killing aura rolled off him—the leftover blood-stench of slaughtering dozens of fish-men.
"Don't move."
His eyes swept over them like ice.
"Whoever moves… dies."
Under Ronan's Asura-like pressure, those Marines—bullies who only preyed on the weak—began trembling, exchanging panicked looks, no one daring to step forward.
After all, you only get one life.
And these people had just erased the Arlong Pirates—monsters of the East Blue.
With no one stopping him, Luffy sat on top of Captain Nezumi and rained punches down like a storm, each hit drawing another squeal.
"S-Stop! I'm a Marine captain! This is a crime!" Nezumi cried, swollen-faced, begging like a pig at slaughter.
"Move, Luffy."
Nami walked over.
In her hands was a sturdy wooden club she'd picked up from the ruins of Arlong Park.
Her eyes were cold.
Luffy stopped and silently stepped aside.
Nami inhaled—then swung.
"SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!"
"You bastard—colluding with Arlong!!"
"Spit it out—everything you swallowed!!"
She shouted as she struck.
This wasn't just a beating.
It was eight years of humiliation finally being expelled from her bones.
Every blow felt like it shattered another piece of her helpless past.
Minutes later, Nezumi had become a swollen wreck—barely conscious, too weak even to scream.
"Hah… hah…"
Nami threw away the broken club, panting, the long-stagnant poison in her chest finally loosening.
"It's not over."
Ronan walked up, looking down at Nezumi like he was scrap meat.
No pity. Not a trace.
"Nami. Luffy. For someone like this, bruises aren't enough."
"People like him don't learn. If you let him crawl back, he'll use his authority to harm the village again—maybe even retaliate worse."
Ronan crouched, his tone so calm it was frightening.
"To stop him from poisoning the East Blue any further… I suggest we cripple him."
"W-What…?" Nezumi's swollen eyes widened in horror. "N-No… please…"
"CRACK!"
Ronan didn't listen.
His fingers locked onto a joint, and he snapped it with a clean, cruel precision.
"AAAAAAHHH!!"
Nezumi screamed like a slaughtered pig.
Then the other arm.
Then both legs.
"CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!"
Ronan moved like an experienced surgeon—except he wasn't saving a life.
He was delivering a sentence.
In moments, all four limbs were broken at the joints, pulverized into disabling damage.
In a world with limited medical care, it was essentially a lifetime of helplessness—no more abusing power.
"Take him."
Ronan stood and spoke to the Marines, who were already halfway broken from fear.
"Y-Yes!!"
They moved like pardoned prisoners, scrambling to lift Nezumi—now a screaming, limp heap—and dragged him back toward the ship.
The warship fled the harbor in disgrace and vanished into the dusk.
The sea breeze swept through the ruins, carrying the last echoes away.
Nami stood on the shore, watching the ship disappear, and finally let out a long breath.
"He got off easy."
She said it softly—yet her lips lifted in a small, relieved smile.
"But… Arlong is gone, and Nezumi's been dealt with. From now on… Cocoyasi Village won't be crushed by anyone again."
The storm that had hung over her for eight years finally cleared.
She turned back to her crewmates.
And looking at them, her eyes started to shine again.
Once, she fought alone—struggling in despair.
Now, she had people she could lean on.
"Everyone…"
Nami smiled—bright, genuine, more beautiful than the sunset.
"Come home with me."
"To our village—let's have a feast!!"
"YEAHHH!!"
The cheer rose into the sky.
...
Cocoyasi Village.
The last light of day poured over the battered land like melted gold.
The shadow that had smothered the village for eight long years disappeared with the collapse of Arlong Park.
"Everyone… knew?"
Nami stood beside Nojiko, looking at the familiar faces—faces she'd tried so hard to protect—and tears trembled in her eyes.
"Silly girl."
Genzo's pinwheel spun with a soft rattle. His scarred face broke into a gentle smile.
"If we didn't play along, you'd feel like everything you did meant nothing. You would've pushed yourself even harder to protect us. How could we bear to expose you?"
"Nami… you've suffered enough."
"Welcome home, Nami."
The villagers gathered around her.
No blame.
Only aching compassion.
In that moment, the final wall inside Nami shattered completely.
She wasn't the "traitor" carrying the village alone anymore.
She was Belle-mère's daughter.
She was Cocoyasi's child.
And in the center of the square—
Arlong, once the "East Blue tyrant," now lay like a dead dog, limbs twisted, bones ruined, bound in heavy chains.
Behind him were the remaining fish-men—heads lowered, stripped of all arrogance.
Ronan stood nearby, watching the criminals who had been the villagers' nightmare for so long, his gaze cold.
This was his answer to the village.
And in its own brutal way, his interpretation of justice on the sea:
Evil pays.
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