Chapter 18: Navy Captain Shocks Nojiko by Lifting House with Bare HandsHe followed the finger and saw the fish-man lying motionless in a pool of blood. The wooden stick in his hand clattered to the ground, and tears instantly streamed down his face.
"Dad... Waaaaah... Someone avenged you!"
Nokia Ko, frantically grabbing his hair, yelled at Luffy, "Don't you guys understand how serious this is?! This is Arlong's direct subordinate from the Arlong Pirates!"
"Even if you kill these two weaklings, there are still hundreds of ferocious fish-men behind them, and those terrifying executives will come for revenge! You'll die! We'll all die!"
Luffy, seeing Nojiko on the verge of collapse, found it rather amusing: "Why not just kill them all? It's no big deal."
"You think this is like slaughtering chickens and ducks?! Those are fish-men! Monster fish-men born with strength more than ten times that of humans!"
"Look at all these houses upside down! These were all toppled by the Fish-Man Pirates' executives with their bare hands! Bare hands!"
Nojiko waved her arms excitedly, trying to make the arrogant boy understand the difference in strength.
Luffy, however, leisurely walked to a huge, collapsed house—a two-story building, now upside down in the dirt.
Luffy gently placed a hand on one corner of the house and turned to ask, "You mean like this?"
Boom!
A loud crash, dust flying everywhere.
The several-ton house, with a single hand from Luffy, instantly flipped over in mid-air and crashed to the ground. Although still a ruin, at least it was righted.
Nojiko and the little boy's mouths formed an "O," their eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.
"Who...who are you?"
Luffy grinned, revealing his signature smile:
"Marine Headquarters Captain, Monkey D. Luffy."
"Marine!? You're a Marine!?"
The little boy looked at Luffy excitedly, hope rekindling in his eyes. "The Marines have finally come to rescue us?"
"What, doesn't it look like it? Although I'm dressed a bit casually now."
Luffy had swum all the way from the sea; his cool "Justice" cape was long gone, so he now looked like a straw hat boy in a red vest.
The little boy stared at the dead fish-man, shaking his head frantically. "So alike! Absolutely! Only the Marines can defeat bad guys!"
"Hey, is this really okay? This is a fish-man, from Arlong's pirate crew with a 20 million Berry bounty!"
Nojiko frowned. Although he had just demonstrated his power, she was still worried. "If they find out you killed his crewmate, even if you're a Marine captain, Arlong will tear you to pieces."
Luffy chuckled, a sly glint in his eyes. "As long as we destroy the evidence and don't find out who did it, isn't that enough?"
Nojiko was stunned. "Destroy the evidence? How?"
Then, she witnessed a scene she would never forget.
Luffy bit his finger, his hands moving swiftly like butterflies forming hand seals: "Water Release: Water Prison Technique! Summoning Technique: Thousand Shark Devour!"
A muffled thud.
A massive, spinning sphere of water appeared out of thin air, completely enveloping the two fish-man corpses. Then, the space inside the sphere seemed to tear apart, and countless ferocious small sharks sprang forth, their jaws filled with sharp teeth, and began to frantically tear at and devour the fish-man corpses.
This was the ruthless ninjutsu that Kisame Hoshigaki used in the original story to cleanse his own ranks, and even to commit suicide!
Soon, the entire sphere was stained a shocking dark red with blood.
With a soft "poof," the sphere exploded, turning into a pool of blood that seeped into the ground.
The two enormous fish-man corpses had completely vanished from the world, leaving not even a bone fragment.
Nojiko and the little boy swallowed hard in shock, feeling a chill run down their spines.
This method of disposing of corpses… it feels even more terrifying and evil than Arlong's! Is this really the righteous Marines?
"In short, this isn't a safe place to stay. You should come back to the village with me and lay low for a while. Since you're a Marine, perhaps we can confront Arlong head-on once your reinforcements arrive."
Nojiko let out a long breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Luffy nodded, offering no objection. His purpose in coming here was to stage a spectacular rescue for Nami, the "Little Cat Burglar," when her defenses were at their weakest.
Only after experiencing true despair would Nami genuinely and wholeheartedly follow him to sea.
Soon, Luffy followed Nojiko through a path to a lush orange grove.
A gentle breeze carried the refreshing scent of fruit.
"Eh? This is the orange grove that Aunt Bellemere planted herself? It's thriving! She clearly put a lot of care into it."
Luffy looked at the trees laden with golden fruit and couldn't help but exclaim in genuine admiration.
Nojiko, walking ahead, froze abruptly, as if struck by lightning. Her face hardened, and she whirled around, staring intently at Luffy. "Who are you? How do you know Bellemere's name! She's our deceased mother!"
Luffy paid no heed to Nojiko's alarmed expression, casually strolling through the orange grove where Nami had grown up, as if it were his own backyard.
"Didn't I tell you? My name is Luffy, a Marine Captain who stands up for justice."
Luffy casually plucked an orange, peeled it, and popped a segment into his mouth: "Ugh! So sour!!"
Instantly, Luffy's face contorted with nausea.
These oranges cultivated by Bellemere were nothing like the sweet tangerines Luffy had eaten in his previous life. They were more like limes specially prepared to prevent scurvy among sailors at sea—extremely sour.
Nojiko's expression darkened at Luffy's overly familiar and unassuming manner. "What exactly are you doing here?" she asked.
"Well, my disobedient navigator ran away, so I came to pick her up and bring her home."
Luffy, seemingly undeterred, popped another orange segment into his mouth. Though sour, it was undeniably thirst-quenching. "This stuff is sour, but it really does quench thirst."
Nojiko looked at Luffy warily. "Navigator?"
Luffy nodded, looking at Nojiko with a playful glint in his eyes, and slowly said, "That's right, what's her name again... oh right, Nami!"
Nojiko's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, her heart skipping a beat: Could it be that Nami had managed to scam this Marine captain out of money?
After all, Nami had been stealing pirate treasure to raise funds for years.
Nojiko quickly stopped leading the way, feigning confusion as she asked Luffy, "Nami? Who's Nami? I don't know anyone with that name."
But her room still displayed a photo of her and Nami. Her mind raced, trying to figure out how to distract Luffy or prevent him from discovering Nami.
Nami was already living a life worse than death with that vampire-like Fishman Pirates; if she were to get involved with the troublesome Marines on top of that…
Luffy, watching Nojiko's clumsy acting, couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Alright, stop pretending. Don't be so tense. I'm not here to collect a debt from Nami. Literally, she's my crewmate, my navigator. I heard my crew's hometown is suffering under the oppression of a bunch of fish-men, so I came here specifically to free my dear navigator from their shackles."
Nojiko breathed a slight sigh of relief, but the wariness in her eyes hadn't completely disappeared.
"What, suffering under oppression? You've got it wrong. Nami is known as the 'Witch,' she's a high-ranking member of the Fishman Pirates, she's with those fish-men!"
Nojiko tentatively said to Luffy, trying to scare him off with Nami's infamous reputation.
"Of course I know. I even know about the 100 million Berry bet between Nami and Arlong."
Luffy's smile faded, and he shook his head silently. Back at the Baratie, he had vaguely sensed the heaviness behind Nami's smile.
This is why Luffy, seemingly carefree in the original work, always displays an absurdly high emotional intelligence in crucial moments.
"Originally, given my temperament, I planned to just charge in and wipe out the Fishman Pirates. Unfortunately, that silly girl Nami was extremely worried I couldn't beat those weaklings, and even more afraid that if a war broke out, her beloved family would suffer at Arlong's hands."
"That's why she chose to run back to Cocoyasi Village alone, preparing to use the 100 million Berries she'd painstakingly saved over the years to fulfill that damned promise."
Nojiko's face instantly lit up with ecstatic joy: "You mean... Nami finally saved enough money?"
Luffy nodded: "Just that slippery Alvida Pirates and that treacherous Black Cat Pirates of Kuro alone contributed no less than 30 million Berries to Nami's income."
"Plus, the savings Nami has painstakingly accumulated over the years are enough to raise the ransom to redeem the village."
"That's wonderful! That's wonderful! Nami can finally stop living a painful life burdened by heavy shackles!"
Nojiko's eyes welled up with tears, and her voice trembled.
"You also think that Arlong will keep his promise?"
Luffy tilted his head, looking at Nojiko curiously.
"No,"
Nojiko shook her head resolutely, her eyes icy cold, "That kind of scum, Arlong, would never keep his promise."
"But this way, we won't have to continue being a stumbling block and burden to Nami."
Nojiko's voice was low and resolute as she spoke to Luffy, "Actually, everyone in the village knows the real reason Nami joined Arlong's Pirates. To redeem the village, she had to force a smile every day in front of the enemy who killed her foster mother, Bellemere."
"She had so many opportunities to escape, to break free from Arlong's control, but for the sake of us useless villagers, Nami never complained, silently drawing sea charts and stealing money for the Fish-Man Pirates."
"We couldn't bear to see the hope in that once innocent little girl's eyes shatter, but we all knew in our hearts that the day Arlong broke his promise would come sooner or later."
"So we've all been prepared, waiting for that day. If money is useless, then we'll use our lives to fight our way out and send Nami into the free sea."
Luffy listened to Nojiko's statement and fell silent, feeling the orange in his hand grow even more sour.
Indeed, the people of Cocoyasi Village were not a bunch of spineless cowards.
If it weren't for protecting the last glimmer of hope in that eight-year-old girl's heart, and not wanting her years of endurance to be in vain, they would have already fought the fish-men with their hoes.
An eight-year-old girl was enduring humiliation and living for everyone; what reason did these grown men have not to cherish the life Nami had traded her dignity for?
So all these years, they had been acting, waiting.
And now, the moment of truth had finally arrived.
Whether the outcome was life or death, Nojiko felt only a sense of relief, genuinely happy that Nami was about to be freed from this damned bondage.
Luffy looked at Nojiko, who was resigned to her fate, and sighed softly.
Nami, who had lived a life of constant struggle between life and death since childhood, had certainly suffered.
But these villagers, suppressing their inner ferocity and feigning obedience, hadn't had it easy either. After all, they lived under the oppressive and brutal rule of the Fish-Man Pirates, every single moment filled with fear and humiliation.
Sometimes, a quick death isn't so terrible; what's terrifying is this long, endless wait for death.
Luffy looked at Nojiko, shrugged, and broke the heavy atmosphere: "Um, won't you invite me in for a cup of hot tea? This orange is way too sour."
"Aren't you afraid of Arlong at all? He's a terrifying Fish-Man with a 20 million Berry bounty, ruling over 20 towns around here!"
Nojiko looked at Luffy's relaxed expression and couldn't help but remind him again.
Luffy didn't answer directly, only gazing in the direction of Arlong's Paradise, his eyes deep: "Nojiko, this world is vast, far larger than you can imagine. Arlong, a frog in a well who only knows how to be a king or a tyrant in the East Blue, is really nothing to be afraid of."
Just then, a villager, panting and sweating profusely, ran into the orange grove.
"Nojiko! Something terrible has happened! Arlong… Arlong has come to the village with his officers!"
"It seems it's because Mr. Gen's secret weapons have been exposed!"
Nojiko's face instantly turned pale: "What did you say?!"
Then, ignoring Luffy, she rushed frantically towards the village square.
Luffy, meanwhile, followed leisurely, hands in his pockets, as if taking a stroll.
Soon, Luffy followed Nojiko to the central street of Cocoyasi Village.
The street was deserted, eerily silent, save for a group of large, powerful fish-men of various shapes and sizes, surrounding a middle-aged man with a windmill on his head and a scarred face.
"So you're the one with the weapon?"
A terrifying fish-man, over two and a half meters tall, with a massive dorsal fin, a serrated nose, and a mouth full of sharp teeth, stared down at the kneeling man.
That was Arlong the Sawtooth, captain of the Fish-Man Pirates.
"Ah, that's right. I've always enjoyed collecting weapons. So, under your rule, even personal hobbies are being taken away?"
The windmill above A-Jian's head spun wildly in the sea breeze, making a rattling sound. His scarred face was etched with defiance; these scars were irrefutable evidence of the inhuman torture he had endured over the years.
"Hmph, a hobby?"
A-Long scoffed contemptuously, speaking mockingly to A-Jian, "Weapons only breed evil and violence; they are the greatest destabilizing factor threatening the peace of my A-Long Empire."
The surrounding fish-men burst into laughter, their shrill voices seemingly expressing deep agreement with A-Long's twisted logic.
Meanwhile, Nojiko hid behind a corner of a house, gritting her teeth, her nails digging into her flesh.
Luffy had silently appeared behind her, peeking out and clicking his tongue. "So this is Arlong? Seeing is believing, really. He's got a very whimsical appearance, uniquely ugly."
Nojiko jumped in fright, quickly turning around and putting her hand to her lips in a "shh" gesture, her eyes filled with terror.
Luffy helplessly shrugged, indicating he wouldn't speak.
It seemed everyone in town had been brainwashed, believing the fish-men to be invincible gods.
However, this was precisely what Luffy admired. These villagers knew that resistance was suicide, but when Arlong was in danger, the anger in their eyes didn't diminish at all.