Chapter 61: The Monster Trio! Only You Are Our Navigator!
"Shahahaha! Isn't this Nami?!"
A sickening laugh echoed through the woods, breaking the already tense atmosphere.
The bushes rustled, and a dozen tall Fishmen with various skin colors walked out.
Leading them was a Kissing Fishman with a long mouth.
He held a spiked mace in his hand and scanned Luffy's group with contemptuous eyes, as if looking at rats in a gutter.
"What's wrong, Nami?"
The Fishman leader had a playful look, looking down his nose at everyone.
"What's with this group of weak-looking humans? This isn't according to the rules."
"Did you bring them? Hey, hey, you're not thinking of bringing these inferior races to rebel against Big Brother Arlong, are you?"
As he spoke, the surrounding Fishmen let out ear-piercing laughter.
"Shahahaha! Rebellion? With just these lowly humans?"
"Hey, Long-nose over there, your legs are shaking! Shahahaha! You didn't wet your pants, did you!"
Faced with the Fishmen's unconcealed malice and killing intent, the cold mask Nami had struggled to maintain completely collapsed in an instant.
It was a shadow that had loomed over her heart for eight years, a nightmare named "Despair."
"No... no..."
Nami's face was as pale as paper, her body trembling uncontrollably; she wanted to explain but couldn't make a complete sound.
She subconsciously wanted to leave Tatsuya's embrace, trying to draw a line between herself and these "invaders" to protect them.
However, extreme fear and long-accumulated pressure caused the long legs she was so proud of to lose all strength at this moment.
"Ah..."
Nami cried out, her knees buckling as she fell backward uncontrollably.
However, the expected cold and hard ground did not come.
A warm and powerful arm steadily supported her back.
Nami looked up in a panic, and what met her eyes were Tatsuya's black eyes, still as calm as water.
"Be careful, Miss Navigator," Tatsuya said softly.
This scene completely enraged the Fishmen opposite them.
"You bastard!!"
The Fishman leader flew into a rage, veins popping on his forehead.
"You filthy, lowly human! Who gave you permission to touch Boss Arlong's Cartographer with your dirty hands!!"
"Die!!"
Accompanying the roar, a dozen Fishmen brandished their scimitars and spiked maces, pouncing toward Tatsuya and Nami like demons.
They were aggressive, their killing intent boiling over.
Nami's pupils shrank, and she instinctively tried to push Tatsuya away: "Run, quickly..."
However, Tatsuya remained motionless.
He held Nami somewhat stiffly and said with a smile.
"Don't be afraid, Nami."
"But... someone is even angrier than I am."
The words had just fallen.
"Whoosh—!!"
A black afterimage, carrying a belly full of rage, was the first to break through the air.
"Where did these... stinking fish and rotten shrimp come from!!"
Black suit, blond hair, curly eyebrow.
Sanji's figure instantly appeared in mid-air, a raging fire burning in his visible eye.
"How dare you shout in front of a beautiful lady! You ill-mannered trash!!"
"Collier Shoot!!"
"Bang!!"
A fierce kick slammed precisely and brutally into the necks of the two Fishmen at the very front.
With an explosion of massive power, those two Fishmen, who were ten times stronger than humans, didn't even let out a grunt.
Their eyes bulged out instantly, their necks twisted at bizarre angles, and they flew backward like cannonballs, crashing heavily into the woods behind them.
"W-What?!"
The remaining Fishmen hadn't even reacted yet.
"Shring—"
A clear sword chime rang out.
A green figure cut into the battlefield like a ghost.
Although Zoro was covered in blood-soaked bandages and his walk was a bit unsteady, at this moment, a terrifying, Shura-like grin appeared on his face.
He held Wado Ichimonji in one hand, his eyes as sharp as a hawk's.
"Just as well, I've got a stomach full of anger from being cut by that Hawkeye guy with nowhere to vent..."
Zoro's figure flashed, his blade light as white as snow.
"Then I'll use you small fry to vent my anger!"
"Puchi! Puchi!"
Several sharp slashes flashed by.
Several Fishmen wielding large blades didn't even see the trajectory of the sword before blood sprayed from their chests and they fell to the ground screaming.
Zoro flicked the blood off his blade and slowly closed his scabbard, looking disdainful.
"Too weak, it doesn't even count as a warm-up."
In the blink of an eye, more than half of the Fishman patrol had fallen.
The Fishman leader was scared out of his wits as he watched this, his hand holding the spiked mace trembling.
"You... you monsters... who the hell are you?!"
He turned his head and saw the boy wearing a Straw Hat who had been standing still, and thinking he was an easy target, he roared and charged with his spiked mace.
"Die! You Straw Hat!!"
Luffy stood there without dodging.
His face was expressionless, and just as the spiked mace was about to hit his head, he simply threw a punch.
"Bang!!!"
His fist slammed hard into the Fishman leader's face.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment.
Immediately after, the Fishman leader's entire face caved in, and he didn't even have time to scream.
His eyes rolled back, and he spun through the air like a ragdoll before crashing heavily to the ground, never to move again.
Three seconds.
In just three seconds.
This desperate situation in Nami's eyes had been completely crushed by these three "monsters" in a flash.
Dead silence returned to the woods.
To one side, Nojiko covered her mouth, her eyes wide with disbelief as she watched this scene.
These Fishmen who made the villagers tremble with fear and had ruled the Village for eight years... were actually dealt with like ants?
"Phew..."
Luffy pulled back his fist and adjusted the Straw Hat on his head.
Ignoring the Fishmen on the ground, he walked step by step toward Nami and Tatsuya.
He had put away his usual playful expression.
His deep black eyes were now filled with unprecedented seriousness and persistence.
He looked at the orange-haired girl who was still trembling in Tatsuya's arms and spoke in a low, powerful voice.
"Do you want us to leave, Nami?"
"But..."
Luffy reached out and pointed at the unconscious Fishmen on the ground, his tone firm and unquestionable.
"No matter how many reasons you have, no matter who the opponent is..."
"Only you! Are the Navigator I've decided on!!"
"If these are the guys standing in your way..."
Luffy clenched his fist and looked at Nami with burning eyes.
"No matter how many times it takes! We will send them flying!!"
Boom—
These words were like a heavy hammer, ruthlessly shattering the final line of defense in Nami's heart called "strength."
Eight years of grievances.
The heavy burden of carrying 100 million Berries alone.
The pain of having to force a smile in front of the one who killed her mother.
At this moment, in the face of her companions' unconditional trust and powerful strength, it all completely burst through.
"Ugh..."
Nami could no longer maintain that fake, cold mask.
She stopped struggling and stopped pushing away.
She was like a drowning person who had finally caught a life-saving straw.
She turned her body and gripped the clothes on Tatsuya's chest tightly.
She buried her head deep into the chest of this Vice Captain, who had always seen through her but continued to accept her.
"Uwaaaaaa—!!!"
On this sun-drenched afternoon, on this land full of nightmares.
Nami let out a heart-wrenching cry, pouring out all the pain of these past years.
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