Chapter Forty-Four: The Dragon's Playground

"Is that Nami?"

The fighting at the dock had naturally caught the attention of the villagers living nearby. At first, seeing someone standing up to the fish-men, they wanted to cheer them on. But what followed made their blood run cold. That man in the white suit was killing the fish-men with such cruelty—he couldn't possibly be a good person either, could he?

With these thoughts swirling in their minds, the villagers kept watching the battle from their homes, peering out secretly. It wasn't until Nami came ashore with a green-haired man and a little girl that they began to sense things might not be as they imagined.

Working up their courage, one of the bolder villagers left his house and ran toward Nami.

"Darren, why did you come over?" Nami turned and immediately saw Uncle Darren approaching, alone.

"Nami, who are these people?" Uncle Darren wasted no time with niceties; he wanted to know the purpose of these strangers. The villagers trusted Nami, but feared she might be deceived by these outsiders. After all, the man in the white suit had seemed proper and gentlemanly, but his brutality toward the fish-men was chilling. The dock, once whole, was now littered with mutilated bodies and rivers of blood from his battle.

"Uncle Darren, you've misunderstood. They're here to help us," Nami replied with a smile, explaining, "This is Zoro—he's staying here to protect us. This is Koby, and this is little Donna."

"The man in white earlier is Roland, a companion I met overseas. He's incredibly strong and plans to join the Navy. He came here first after hearing about my situation, to deal with Arlong."

Uncle Darren was still skeptical, for aside from this small group who seemed decent enough, the others looked anything but trustworthy.

"By the way, Uncle Darren, could you gather the other villagers here?" Nami suddenly said. "I'm worried that once Roland starts fighting, some fish-men might come over to threaten him using you. With only Zoro here, he can't watch over the whole village."

Uncle Darren glanced at Nami, then at the green-haired man, and ultimately nodded in agreement, turning to run back to the village. After all, those questionable strangers had not harmed them—in fact, they were cleaning up the battlefield—so there was no reason to doubt them without cause.

Soon enough, at Uncle Darren's summons, the villagers of Cocoyashi gradually gathered, greeting Nami as they arrived.

The news that Arlong would soon die filled them all with joy. Under Arlong’s oppression, they had spent the past decade living in constant fear, terrified that a single misstep might provoke the fish-men and bring disaster upon themselves and their families. Now, finally, someone was willing to stand up to Arlong, freeing them from their torment.

"Nami, you’ve finally returned—"

The last to arrive at the dock was the village sheriff, Mr. Ajian. Ever since Belmer's death, he had cared for Nami and the others. To him, Nami was like a daughter.

"Mr. Ajian, where's Nojiko? Isn’t she here?"

…

Meanwhile, inside Arlong Park.

Kuroobi's face was dark as he listened to the fish-men’s report, crushing the armrest of his chair to powder.

"Is Hatchi really dead?"

Beside Kuroobi, Chew the kissing fish-man looked equally grim, repeatedly confirming the truth of the report.

Among all the fish-men who had come to the East Blue, apart from their leader Arlong, the three officers were about equally matched. Now that Hatchi was dead, what did that mean? It meant the man who killed Hatchi—the one in the white suit mentioned in the report—was stronger than any of the officers.

If that man really fought his way here, what would they do?

"Has Arlong returned yet?" Chew glanced at a fish-man soaking in the pool.

This morning, Arlong had gone personally to meet that greedy Colonel Mouse to pay this month's protection fee. If they didn’t pay, Colonel Mouse threatened to expose what happened in Gosa Town a few days ago.

If the outside world learned that the massacre at Gosa Town was caused by the Arlong Pirates, it wouldn’t be Colonel Mouse and his useless Navy coming after them, but the elite Marines from Loguetown headquarters.

Having come from the Grand Line, they knew better than anyone the strength of the headquarters Marines. Arlong’s claim that fish-men were stronger than humans was just bluster for these East Blue locals. They knew the truth far better than anyone.

"The boss won’t be back until the afternoon," the fish-man calculated the time, answering with a sour expression. He understood exactly what Chew meant, but Arlong’s schedule was beyond their control. If anyone was to blame, it was that disgusting Colonel Mouse, who sent the threat yesterday demanding protection money. Had it not been for this, Arlong would still be here, and they wouldn’t have to worry about the man in white.

Among all the fish-men in Arlong Park, even with all three officers combined, none could match Arlong.

"Looks like we’ll have to hold out until the boss returns," Kuroobi stood, his face heavy. With Arlong gone, all they could do was stall for time. Every fish-man believed that as soon as Arlong appeared, any crisis would be resolved.

Arlong, who left the Sun Pirates, was not someone any small-time fish-man from Fish-Man Island could compare to.

"That’s all we can do," Chew nodded slowly, gathering the fish-men nearby to relay their plan. The few dozen fish-men left in the park were their final strength. As for those at the dock, they had already resigned themselves to their sacrifice. If even Hatchi was no match for the man, how could the others hope to win?

Now, their only task was to conserve strength and stall for time. Revenge would have to wait until Arlong returned.

"Yo, so this is Arlong Park? Looks pretty ordinary—"

An utterly arrogant voice suddenly rang out. The fish-men turned toward the sound, just as the park’s main gate was smashed apart by some force, sending dust billowing.

As the dust slowly cleared, a man in a white suit stood outside the gate, his face twisted in mockery as he looked at them.

He was covered in blood, face and body alike. Kuroobi, recognizing the scent from his familiarity with his own kind, knew immediately that all of it was fish-men blood.

Seeing this, Kuroobi’s face went livid, fury blazing in his eyes. Though he’d prepared for the loss of their comrades, the smell of so much blood struck him to the core, filling him with rage.

There were only so many fish-men in East Blue—lose one and there’d never be another. Especially today, so many had died, including their dear friend Hatchi.

"Are you angry?"

Roland watched Kuroobi’s changing expression, smiling brilliantly. Striding boldly into Arlong Park, his eyes swept the surroundings as he said, "What a nice place. It’s a pity that after today, it’ll vanish. I almost feel reluctant to destroy it."

In the anime, this park seemed simple, but upon arriving in person, Roland realized the depiction was far too understated. When the story introduced Arlong Park, it was said to be modeled after the amusement park on Sabaody Archipelago—how could it possibly be just a few swimming pools as shown in the animation?

No matter how impressive the park was, Roland had no intention of preserving it. It was Nami’s nightmare, her most painful memory; only by destroying it could she truly break free from her past.