Cocoyasi Village.
A red-haired woman lay in the dirt, coughing blood.
"Cough… I don't have that much money,"Belle-mère rasped. "I only saved enough… for the kids…"
Beside her, two little girls clung to her and sobbed their hearts out.
Belle-mère looked at them, eyes full of pain and unwillingness.
"Nami… you have to be happy from now on, okay?"
"Nojiko… I'm counting on you to take care of Nami."
"Belle-mère, no! Don't say stuff like that!"Nojiko cried.
Little Nami turned, staring up at the looming fishman.
"I'm begging you," she sobbed. "Please don't hurt Belle-mère! If you want money, I'll find a way to get it. Please don't hurt her…"
"Tch. Brat, were you not listening just now?"Arlong sneered.
"Adults are a hundred thousand berries. Kids are fifty thousand."
"If you can't pay, then one or two of you die. Hahahahaha!"
His cruel laughter made Nami stumble backward in fear.
"Na…mi…" Belle-mère forced out, "Come here."
"Belle-mère, please… don't go, please…"
"Be good, Nami. You have to live happily. No more troublemaking, okay…"
"I don't want that! I don't want it!!" Nami wailed.
Just then, another fishman walked out of the house, holding some sheets of paper.
"Arlong, look at these charts."
Arlong took them, eyes narrowing.
"Mm? These are… pretty detailed sea charts. Who drew these?"
"I did!" Nami blurted out, eyes suddenly bright with hope.
Arlong glanced at her, amused.
"You?"
"Hahaha!"
Nami panicked.
"It's true! I drew them! As long as you don't hurt Belle-mère, I can draw more for you! I can draw lots of charts!"
"Brat, you're thinking too small," Arlong said coldly.
"The rules I set are the rules. No money means death. That doesn't change."
"You—!"
"Which means…"
Arlong pressed the pistol to Belle-mère's head.
"You're useless now."
He laughed wildly.
"Still, thanks for leaving me such a nice little treasure."
"With this little thing…"
"Becoming Pirate King isn't far off! Hahahahaha!"
The fish-men behind him howled like beasts.
"Roar! Roar!"
Arlong leered.
"Any last words? For the sake of this little one's talent, I'll let you say a few."
Belle-mère looked at her two girls one last time.
She closed her eyes.
"…Good-bye, Nami. Nojiko. Eat properly… no more being naughty…"
"Belle-mère!!" Nami and Nojiko screamed. Around them, the villagers stared in horror, frozen.
Arlong bared his teeth.
"That's your last line?"
"Then die."
He started to pull the trigger—
"Oh?"
A lazy male voice cut through the air.
"I thought I just heard the words 'Pirate King'?"
In the next instant, Arlong felt a presence behind him.
A pressure like a falling mountain crushed his body, locking his joints in place.
The fish-men stared past him, eyes going wide.
"Who's that?!"
Nami and Nojiko also looked up, stunned.
A tall Marine in a black coat stood behind Arlong, one hand in his pocket, expression dark.
"Oi, oi,"Tokikake's voice came from further back, slightly out of breath. "How are you this fast, brat?"
Gion didn't waste time talking.
Her long leg flashed out, heel smashing the pistol from Arlong's hand. In the same motion, she stepped in front of Belle-mère and the two girls, shielding them.
"A… Marine?" Arlong blurted, shocked.
Why were Marines here?
Hadn't he already worked out a deal with that rat from the 16th Branch?
All around, rifles were raised. The late-arriving Marines aimed their guns at the fish-men.
"Ch-click."
"Oi. Fish trash."
Jin lifted his hand, fingers shaped like a pistol, pointing at Arlong's head.
"You didn't answer my question."
"Did you go mute, fish trash?"
Bang.
An invisible bullet of compressed air tore through Arlong's knee.
"Gah!!"
"Mm. You're too ugly to be standing while you talk to me," Jin said mildly.
Bang.
The other fishman leg exploded in blood as the air bullet punched through.
"AAAAHHH! DAMN MARINES!!" Arlong collapsed, face twisted in agony as he screamed into the dirt.
"It's the Marines! We're saved!"
"We're saved… we're really saved…!" Villagers burst into tears, relief and hysteria mixing on their faces. Moments ago they'd all been choked with terror.
Nami and Nojiko clung to Belle-mère, looking up at Gion.
"Miss… are you here to rescue us?"
"Yes," Gion said softly. "You're safe now. We're here."
She'd heard everything earlier. She didn't dare imagine what would've happened if they'd been a minute later.
Jin rolled his neck, then looked down at Arlong.
"Well, if it isn't Arlong of the Sun Pirates."
"So, after Jinbe begged for you and got you released as his little 'becoming a Shichibukai' condition…"
"You didn't go hide in some ditch."
"You crawled out here to make trouble instead?"
Tokikake looked down with disgust.
"Pathetic," he said coldly. "To think you're from the same crew. Stain on fish-men. That traitor Jinbe should've let you rot."
"Shut up!!" Arlong howled. "That TRAITOR! TRAITOR TO FISHMAN ISLAND!!"
Jin's finger stayed pointed at his forehead.
"Tsk tsk. How pitiful."
"Fishman simp gets you out of prison and you still can't just hide quietly."
"Of all seas, you just had to come to the East Blue?"
He smiled slowly, eyes turning cold.
"Did you not know I hate human trash the most?"
"No—wait."
"That's wrong."
"You're not human trash."
"You're fish trash."
"DON'T TOUCH ARLONG!!" one of the fish-men roared.
Seeing the Marine in the black coat with his "gun" hand at Arlong's head, the remaining fish-men panicked.
"If he dies, you're all dead!!"
"Mm, you're right," Jin decided. "Letting him die quickly would be boring."
He lowered his hand, lips curling into a wicked grin.
From where she stood, Nami suddenly felt like the scary one here… wasn't the fishman.
It was this Marine big brother.
Belle-mère, bandaged just enough to not bleed out, watched with a fierce light in her eyes.
Jin flicked his hand.
"Alright, boys."
"Entertainment time."
"No guns."
"Do whatever you want to these fish-men."
"Leave the octopus alive."
"He's useful."
"Hehehe… been waiting for that, Boss," one of the Marine "thugs" chuckled, cracking his knuckles.
"Let's have some fun, boys!"
"Damn you!!" a fishman snarled. "What are you bastards trying to do—"
"You'll find out," one Marine said cheerfully.
"Get 'em."
He lunged, fist smashing into a distracted fishman's jaw.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
All around, fish-men were tackled and mauled by broad-shouldered Marines, fists and boots flying.
"Damn you, damn you! You inferior humans—!"
A sharp-mouthed fishman puffed up his cheeks, aiming a jet of water—
Kuro blur-stepped in front of him.
"Oh? A fishman?"
"I wonder if your blood looks the same as ours."
"Cat Claw… Rend."
His claws flashed. Blood spattered.
"You mongrels!! Fishman Karate—Three Hundred Watt Punch!!"
A burly fishman roared, fist cocked.
"Big Fist versus Big Fist!!" Jango shouted.
He hopped in and slammed his own fist forward.
Off to the side, Tokikake watched the chaos, face twitching.
"White Ghost. Were your subordinates always this… uh… unique?"
The word psychotic hovered unsaid.
Jin glanced over as one of his sailors, laughing like a maniac, jumped on a fishman and stabbed him repeatedly.
"Yep," he said, not bothered at all. "Especially when it's trash."
Another Marine—in a cat-claw gauntlet—methodically chopped off a fishman's limbs.
Tokikake sucked in a breath.
"That's… brutal," he muttered, watching a fishman's arms and legs fall to the dirt.
All around, villagers turned pale and looked away from the gore.
"This is too much…"
"Someone, take the kids inside!"
"Young ones, don't look!"
Gion hugged Nami and Nojiko close and turned them away from the carnage, face tight.
"White Ghost," she said sharply, "these are still prisoners. You're torturing captives. You'll be punished for this."
Jin didn't flinch.
"Tch. Then punish me."
"What are they going to do? Throw them into prison, let them come back out in a few years, and do it again?"
He spat.
"Disgusting."
Gion decided there was no point arguing. She carried the kids and helped Belle-mère inside.
Outside, Jango was still pummeling an already dead fishman's head, not stopping until bone and brain pulp sprayed.
"Damn you!! You dare treat noble fish-men like this—"
Arlong tried to push himself up.
Jin slapped him back down, palm smashing his face into the dirt.
"Shut up, fish trash."
Ten minutes later, the battlefield fell quiet.
Of all Arlong's crew, only Hachi and Arlong still breathed.
Jin curled his finger.
"Bring me the octopus."
A thoroughly beaten Hachi was dragged over and dropped at Jin's feet.
"Oi, octopus."
"Go back and tell Jinbe."
"If he's unhappy about this, he can come find me."
"And if he really wants revenge…"
"Tell Rayleigh, too."
"R…Rayleigh?" Gion, who'd just stepped back outside, froze.
"You mean Dark King Rayleigh?!"
Jin nodded breezily.
"Yeah. This octopus knows him."
"Honestly, I've been wanting a match with Rayleigh."
Tokikake stared at him like he'd lost his mind.
"You are completely insane," he said. "That's a legend. A walking calamity."
"Legends bleed too," Jin said, eyes gleaming.
"And until I fight them, I don't know how high that wall really is."
Gion exhaled slowly.
"…What now?" she asked.
"Now?" Jin looked down, then casually grabbed Arlong by the neck.
"First…"
"Roll out of my sight, octopus."
He booted Hachi away.
The octopus fishman staggered to his feet, eyes vacant.
He didn't even dare look back. The mighty Arlong Pirates had come here as conquerors. Now he was the only one left.
Arlong's labored breaths hissed through broken teeth.
Jin dragged him out into the open street.
"Now then."
"The three of you spying back there…"
"How about trying the taste of revenge yourselves?"
"Us?" Belle-mère gasped.
She hurriedly pushed Nami and Nojiko back toward the house.
"You two stay inside."
"Don't come out, no matter what."
"Okay…" The girls nodded, still shaken.
Outside, Jin tossed a pistol to Belle-mère.
"Well?" he asked.
"Want to kill this fish trash yourself?"
Belle-mère didn't hesitate.
She took the gun in both hands, eyes burning, and fired.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Every bullet smashed into Arlong's face.
You could hear how much hate she'd been swallowing down all this time.
When the gun clicked empty, Jin grabbed the corpse by the collar and hauled it aside.
"It's over," he said simply.
"Clean up the mess. I've got somewhere to be."
Belle-mère bowed deeply.
"Thank you, Marine-san. My name is Belle-mère."
Jin shook his head.
"No need."
"Marines are supposed to kill pirates."
"That's the job."
Villagers rushed forward, talking over each other.
"Please, at least stay for a meal!"
"Let us thank you properly, Marine-san!"
"That's right, let's throw a feast! Eat and drink your fill before you go!"
Jin glared.
"Shut it."
"We're Marines, not pirates."
"Taking down pirates is our duty."
"We don't need a reward."
His gaze swept over them.
"You should be cleaning up your own village first."
"Form up. We're withdrawing."
"Yes, Boss!" his men chorused, snapping into a neat line and heading back to the warship.
As they walked away, Jin called back over his shoulder to Belle-mère.
"Woman."
"Understand now?"
"In this world, being weak is a crime."
"Don't be stupid about it."
Gion and Tokikake followed, both glancing back once at the devastated village.
Then they turned their backs on it and walked up the gangplank.
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