Noyer chased all the way to the shore. Watching the figure rapidly disappear beneath the water's surface, he could only sigh in resignation.
Fish-men are fish-men — their speed underwater is no joke.
Noyer said resentfully, "Damn it! Why does Arlong have ES pills? He didn't use them in the original story!"
What he didn't know was that if he hadn't driven Arlong to such desperation, that guy would have tossed this forbidden drug with its severe side effects into the trash within a couple of days.
Arlong was like a thorn, constantly threatening Bell-mère and the villagers.
Noyer's expression turned cold.
Hunt him down! Absolutely can't let him live!
Just then, the system's voice rang out.
『 Ding! Host has Successfully Rewritten an Important Plot Point! Doubled Rewards: Observation Haki Awakening Introduction ×1, Fish-Man Karate Training Manual ×1, Red Talent Copy Card ×1, White Talent Copy Card ×10! 』
{T/N: Introduction and Begginer are the same thing in this sense, that he awakens the Haki at a very low level and then he can train from now on.}
A series of cold system voices bombarded Noyer's mind, leaving him dizzy. Then came wild elation!
Observation Haki had awakened too. That meant only Supreme King Haki remained among the types of Haki.
And with the Talent 〔Supreme King Constitution〕, obtaining it at 17 years old was inevitable!
Besides that, Fish-Man Karate was also an excellent combat technique.
This martial art wasn't exclusive to fish-men — humans could train in it and become very strong too. When trained to a certain level, it even granted the ability to manipulate water.
Most importantly, it could replace the useless Talent 〔Sheriff Martial Arts〕 that Noyer had copied from Genzō earlier.
After acquiring that Talent, he'd discovered it was completely worthless — only barely useful for self-defense, and useless against skilled martial artists. So he'd turned to swordsmanship instead.
Like in his earlier duel with "Wild Bear" Kembla. When his sword broke, a barehanded Noyer could only take a beating, relying on his physique alone.
Now it was great — with Fish-Man Karate, a combat technique famous even in the New World, he could make up for his shortcomings. More importantly, it didn't take up a Talent slot. He could train in it himself.
Later he'd find a chance to replace Genzō's Talent.
As for these Talent Copy Cards — getting the Red Copy Card back was nice. But what use were so many White Copy Cards?
Through experimentation, Noyer was quite certain: White Talents were all minion abilities.
But there was no helping it. Something was better than nothing…
He sighed deeply, withdrew his gaze, and turned to walk toward the villagers.
"Noyer!"
Seeing the pirates driven away, the villagers cheered excitedly and surged forward, surrounding him.
Leading the charge were two adorable little girls. Nami and Nojiko dove into Noyer's arms, nuzzling and hugging him, making him laugh heartily.
Bell-mère wore a hearty smile, looking with satisfaction at her child being celebrated as a hero among the villagers.
"Ohhhh!"
Before long, the villagers lifted Noyer high into the air, then with a collective heave, threw him toward the sky.
Tossed into the air, he held a little girl in each hand, the two little ones laughing like sparrows.
"Long live Noyer!"
"Long live Noyer!"
"Long live Noyer!"
Being tossed up and down made Noyer a bit dizzy, but he still laughed smugly, "Hahaha, keep it low-key, low-key! Your boy is just that… Holy crap, who's touching my goods?!"
◇◆◈◆◇
After all the commotion, everyone finally remembered their poor sheriff lying on the ground, half-dead.
Genzō's face looked like he'd eaten crap!
He'd been sprawled there for ages, smelling dirt, and not a single person had come to help him up!
Which bastard had even stepped on him?!
Everyone hurriedly helped Genzō up.
Only then did his expression improve. He said weakly, "Alright, let's go back to the village. Hurry and find me a doctor…"
A villager nearby immediately perked up and shouted with a smile, "Genzō-san is right! Let's hurry back to the village and throw a banquet!"
"Throw a banquet, throw a banquet!"
"Ohhh — " Genzō erupted in fury, tongue clicking: "Bakayaroooo!!"
Night fell, and the day's weariness came to an end. In the darkness, people covered up all negative emotions, resetting their mood to zero.
Yet Cocoyasi Village, which would normally be silent at this hour, was still bustling and lively.
In the center of the village square burned a massive bonfire. On the grill beside it were various types of roasting meat, coated with sauce. The succulent meat was roasted to a red-golden color, its surface glistening with oil and giving off waves of mouth-watering aroma.
Sitting around the bonfire, Noyer had his arms around several burly men from the village, laughing as they told jokes, played drinking games, sipped wine, and shot the breeze.
Nearby, Nojiko and Nami curiously examined the wine in the barrel, taking tentative sips.
Their eyes lit up instantly. Each girl filled a cup to the brim, clinked glasses, then gulped it down in one go. The two little beasts let out satisfied wine burps, completely oblivious to Bell-mère quietly approaching from behind…
Hunting time!
Smiling women weaved through the crowd, carrying platters of food to everyone.
Someone started singing, and a large group joined hands around the bonfire, dancing to the off-key tune.
Bell-mère held Noyer's hand, Noyer held Nojiko's, and Nojiko led Nami. The two little ones were black and blue, behaving themselves perfectly.
The family stood in the center, performing some dance that even they didn't recognize, looking incredibly awkward. Everyone burst into laughter.
The late-night revelry continued until the early hours. Only when everyone was too exhausted to dance did they stop, lying down on the ground and falling asleep right there.
Bell-mère dozed off leaning against a table. Noyer fell asleep snoring in the grass, spread out like he wanted to make a snow angel.
The only ones still awake were two adorable little girls.
Nami hugged the wine barrel, giggling foolishly. She pointed at the collapsed villagers and said to Nojiko, "Look at these guys — down after just a few cups. They're such lightweights!"
Nojiko nodded frantically in agreement, "Total lightweights!"
The two looked at each other and smiled. Their cups clinked, and they shouted, "Bottoms up!"
Under the moonlight, villagers lay collapsed on the ground while only two figures stood tall like champions.
No one knew just how badly they'd get punished the next day!
◇◆◈◆◇
While Noyer and the others celebrated their victory at the banquet, some unfortunate souls languished in the darkness of night.
On a small isolated island, a group of Fish-men lay collapsed on the ground.
The sawshark Fish-man at the front had a deep sword wound across his chest. His webbed hand covered his mouth, but couldn't stop the blood gushing from his gaping maw.
"Arlong!!"
The three Fish-man officers who had been unconscious had already woken up. Seeing him coughing up blood, they hurriedly gathered around with concern.
Kuroobi looked at the nearly dying Arlong with grief and indignation, "If it weren't for that human! How could we have ended up in such a state!"
Chew stretched his already deformed mouth, his dead fish eyes filled with fear, "That guy isn't human at all! He's a demon!"
Hatchan covered his bleeding wound, his voice breaking, "What should we do next?"
The Fish-men fell silent. This defeat was the most devastating blow they had ever suffered.
They had retreated from the Grand Line to the East Blue because they firmly believed Fish-men were the most noble race. They had returned to conquer humans.
Who could have imagined that before they could even begin their grand ambitions — before they could dominate the East Blue — they would be brought to their senses with a single slash by some human brat from a tiny village.
"I will prove that Fish-men are the strongest race…" A broken, intermittent voice rang out, and the Fish-men's spirits jolted.
Arlong straightened from his half-kneeling position, his eyes glowing red with brutality and hatred, his weak tone still carrying intense determination.
"Back to the Grand Line!"
"What?!"
Kuroobi and the others exclaimed in shock.
"I can't get stronger in this place. I need stronger stimulation!" Arlong laughed maniacally, sending chills down the Fish-men's spines.
And so, Noyer single-handedly changed Arlong's life trajectory, creating an even more powerful opponent for the future.
◇◆◈◆◇
But that was still far away for Noyer. At this moment, he was still sleeping on the fluffy grass.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. A strange feeling disturbed his peace of mind, making him agitated and causing his whole body to shiver.
Was this his awakened Observation Haki sensing something?
Noyer carefully felt it out, then had an epiphany… He needed to pee!
He ran to a small grove outside, clutching his crotch. He aimed and opened the floodgates.
Ah! That's so much better!
Noyer whistled as he swaggered along the nighttime path. Suddenly, he heard the creaking of someone stepping on wooden planks.
With his keen hearing and sharp eyes, he stopped and looked toward the distant pirate ship. Under the hazy moonlight, two figures moved back and forth on the vessel.
This was Shark Superb, Arlong's ship. When Noyer had chased after that guy earlier, they'd left the ship here.
He raised an eyebrow. Did Arlong bring people back? Just to steal the ship?
Noyer grabbed his sword and hurried over.
Using the moonlight, he reached the ship's side. He lightly tapped several wooden planks as footholds and silently climbed to the top of the mast, looking down at the deck.
Two people in casual clothes stood on deck. Despite the darkness, Noyer could make out that they were women.
Both looked around seventeen or eighteen. Each had a long sword at her waist, and judging from their movements, they were in good physical condition.
One of the women searched the ship inside and out, then suddenly sat down and started talking.
"Sister! Is this really the Arlong Pirates' ship?"
It would have been fine if she hadn't spoken. But when she did, Noyer nearly lost his balance and fell.
Her voice was so loud! Like a thunderclap in the middle of the night. He wondered if the woman next to her had gone deaf from the noise.
Before he could react, the other girl's voice was even louder, yelling, "Keep your voice down! We're supposed to be sneaking in!"
Noyer nearly dropped to his knees. Ladies, where the hell are you from?
To have gone so many years without being hacked to death — your good fortune runs deep.
"Arlong! That guy commits all kinds of evil and has destroyed so many villages! This time we must kill him!" The younger one completely ignored her sister, yelling at the top of her lungs.
Noyer couldn't take it anymore. Sitting on the mast, he called down, "Are you two Arlong's enemies?"
"Who's there!"
The two sisters reacted quickly, immediately shouting.
"Be careful, sister. To hear his voice before seeing him — he must be an expert!"
"That's right, little sister. Stay close so we don't get ambushed!"
Noyer looked speechlessly at the two spinning in circles on the deck, "Look up."
The sister's heart tightened. She quickly warned, "Don't look, little sister. It's definitely a trap!"
The younger sister had a sudden realization, "You want to ambush us when we look up? Don't even think about it!"
"My sister and I are the two smartest women in the village!"
Noyer laughed in exasperation. Does your village have no other women?
He couldn't keep talking to these two geniuses, or he'd probably get a brain hemorrhage.
Noyer jumped down to the deck. He looked at the two sisters on high alert before him, "Who sent you to find Arlong?"
Getting closer, he realized these two girls were actually quite pretty. Each had a side ponytail — one on the left, the other on the right.
Their looks weren't stunning, but they weren't ordinary either. Their features were delicate and pleasant, each with a beauty mark on her flushed cheek. They wore crop tops and shorts with swords at their waists, looking like wandering martial artists.
Such fine young ladies — what a shame they have mouths…
"We're bounty hunters, here for Arlong's reward." The one with the louder voice was the older sister.
She pulled out a wanted poster showing Arlong's fierce face, with numbers written below — ฿20,000,000.
This must be the pirate with the highest bounty in the East Blue right now. No wonder bounty hunters would be tempted.
"Well, your timing is pretty bad. Arlong has already been dealt with by me." Noyer spread his hands helplessly.
"Dealt with?"
The older sister said in surprise.
The younger sister was skeptical, "Just you, a little brat? That's a 20-million-berry pirate!"
"20 million berries — is that supposed to be strong?" Noyer asked flatly, striking a cocky pose.
The younger sister nodded seriously, "Absolutely strong. He could squash you many times over! If you could beat him, my family's ancestral graves would spring back to life."
"…"
Her level of idiocy could compete with the one in my family…
Noyer was left speechless once again. He finally had a chance to show off, and no one would play along.
He looked at the two bounty hunters with disinterest, "Well, you can try me then."
He slowly drew his sword, sharp energy emanating as the blade left its sheath.
"Come on, have a go with me and you'll see!"
◈◈◈
T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
If you want to enjoy a large catalog of good novels with excellent translations: MrBlackWing
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)