Hiroto withdrew his hand and tossed Pisaro's corpse into the ruins.
Turning around, the Cocoyasi Villagers on the stakes had been let down, and a large crowd of figures, both men and women, emerged around the intersection.
"Genzo!"
Nami hurriedly ran over and helped up a man covered in blood. He wore a pinwheel hat, half his face was bloody, and his whole body was so thin he was barely recognizable.
"Nami..."
Genzo looked up at the panicked Nami, wanting to say something. But then he looked around at the strangers, the Fishmen's corpses, and... Hiroto, who was slowly approaching.
He had first seen him on a bounty poster, knowing this was Head-Chopping Swordsman Hiroto with a bounty as high as 70 million berries. He was also Nami's protector and the reason Arlong had taken Nojiko away.
Finally, Genzo's lips moved, and he spoke calmly, "I won't die. Go do what you have to do."
Saying that, he looked at Hiroto, struggled to his feet, and then knelt down. He buried his head deep in the dirt. "I only beg of you, kill Arlong, bring back Nojiko, and make the nightmare of the Arlong Pirates disappear from this island forever."
Genzo's words were like a rising wind, creating ripples on a lake that spread outward.
Thus, the Cocoyasi Villagers who had stepped out of their houses followed Genzo in pleading with this outsider.
Behind them, a dense crowd of Gosa villagers who had followed also appeared.
Kalei, leading them, looked at the crowd of kneeling villagers and at Hiroto and the others standing at the end. After a moment's thought, he also wanted to kneel, and the Gosa villagers following him instinctively did the same.
At that moment, however, Kalei saw the man beckon to him. He hesitated for a moment but still walked over.
Then, the old flintlock musket in his hand was taken by the man.
Bang!
The gun fired suddenly, accompanied by cold words.
"Stand up. You are not allowed to kneel."
Hiroto lowered the gun and handed it back to Kalei. "I'm just passing through. I have my own purpose."
Saying that, he looked at Kalei. "The gun is in your hand. What is your purpose?"
"I..."
Kalei paused, his face flushing. "I'll go with you. I want to kill Arlong and tear down that building."
"Then we're going the same way."
Hiroto looked at the Cocoyasi villagers kneeling before him and asked, "What about you?"
No one answered but Genzo stood up, his eyes burning with anger, followed by all the Cocoyasi people.
Placing their hope in outsiders was because they had no other choice.
Besides kneeling and begging, what else could they do?
But Hiroto gave them another choice.
Kalei shouted, "Guns in hand, follow me!"
The people of Gosa Village and Cocoyasi Village merged, hundreds and thousands of people gathering with their anger.
Nami, her eyes red, watched this scene, unable to stop her heart from racing.
Zoro suddenly asked, "What is the point of doing this?"
Hiroto seemed to understand what he was asking and said calmly, "What they lost, they must take back themselves. Not just here, but in even more distant places, I want to see scenes like this."
"...Is this your ambition?" Zoro grinned.
This feeling... it didn't seem too bad.
Carina didn't speak, just looking at Hiroto thoughtfully.
At this moment, she finally caught a glimpse of Hiroto's true character. Hiroto had become somewhat unfamiliar, yet he seemed more real in her mind.
"Let's go. This battle should end. Leave the front to Zoro and me. Carina, you find Nojiko and protect her. As for you, Nami... follow along. You will see the end of everything."
Hiroto turned and assigned tasks to his companions, then strode toward Arlong Park.
That strike just now should have already attracted Arlong's attention. It didn't matter how things developed. To him, Arlong was now just a fish waiting to be slaughtered.
Soon, Hiroto and his group, leading the massive crowd, arrived at Arlong Park.
The high walls, the tower-like building standing within, and the iron cage hanging at the top of the tower.
Inside the wide-open gates, Arlong sat casually on a beach chair, with a group of lackeys standing behind him.
"Is it you?"
Hearing the noise, Arlong slowly stood up.
His cold gaze landed on Hiroto at the front and the massive crowd of humans.
He revealed a sinister smile.
Humans were indeed foolish, placing their ethereal hope in others?
Only strength mattered in this world, and he possessed strength far superior to theirs.
"You..."
Arlong stood up, about to say something but he saw Hiroto glance at the iron cage at the top of the tower, then draw Shigure.
Violent wind and fire descended in an instant, rising from the ground like a typhoon. Within the roaring wind and fire, a crimson slash soared upward.
Swoosh!
An incredibly blinding red light filled Arlong's vision, and a bone-chilling sense of crisis stimulated his senses.
He instinctively raised both arms to block, curling his entire body into a ball. However, the surrounding Fishmen weren't so lucky. They didn't even have time to react before being swallowed by the crimson slash.
The slash, seven meters wide and fifty meters long, was like a roaring dragon. In the next instant, it plowed through the ground, leaving behind a deep, scorched black trench.
The slash galloped recklessly through Arlong Park, followed immediately by the blinding fire of an explosion.
Boom!
Amidst the thunderous roar, half of the towering building vanished, and the smell of burning flesh accompanied the dust and smoke as they splashed into the sky.
Rolling heatwaves scorched the faces of everyone present, and a suffocating scene was revealed after the dust and smoke dissipated.
The sizable Arlong park had been split in two... no, half of it was simply gone.
A large number of scorched, dying Fishmen lay on the jagged, flaming ground like dead fish washed ashore.
At the end of that hundred-meter-long, two-meter-deep slash trench where flames still flickered...
There knelt Arlong, his body charred black like a grilled fish.