"What do you mean by small place? This is my hometown!"
Nami puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
"Hahaha."
Guts grinned, then reached out and gave her cheeks a playful squeeze. In the next instant, his hand shifted to the right slamming against the steel door beside them.
With a deafening crunch, the reinforced door folded like paper. A massive dent caved inward, leaving a gaping hole. Without hesitation, the two of them stepped through side by side.
Inside, the raucous noise of the Arlong Pirates came to an abrupt halt.
When Arlong finally saw Nami standing behind Guts, his shark-like face twisted.
"Nami… what's the meaning of this? You actually brought a human here?"
Nami clenched her teeth so hard that dust ground between them. After a moment, she spat out in a cold, trembling voice:
"Arlong… for taking Bell-mère's life… you will pay for it today!"
Arlong froze for a beat, then threw his head back and erupted in laughter.
"Fwahahahaha! I thought you returned for something serious, but this? What's wrong with your head, Nami? Or let me put it another way this lowly human is supposed to be your savior?"
"Ahahahahaha!!!"
The Fishmen under Arlong roared with laughter, their voices filling the hall.
Puff! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, dozens of Fishmen collapsed, skulls caved in, blood spraying across the floor.
They never even screamed, just dropped lifelessly where they stood, their heads bursting open like crushed melons.
"What… what!?"
Hatchan reeled back, clutching his throbbing head. His tentacle brushed across wet warmth blood. Unlike the others, he hadn't died instantly, but the pain left him dizzy.
"What happened to them?!" he shouted in disbelief.
All around him, the surviving Fishmen with speaking roles in the anime wore the same stunned expression.
Because in their eyes… Guts hadn't even moved.
"Huh. That's a first...being called 'lowly human' by someone."
Guts touched his chin with mock interest, a dangerous smile spreading across his face.
Anyone who knew him like Shisui and the others would recognize that expression instantly.
It meant someone had just pissed him off badly… and was about to pay the price.
"You inferior human! What did you do!?"
Arlong clutched his bleeding head and roared at Guts in fury. There was no one else present, no other suspect only this man standing calmly before him.
"The former Fishman slave, defeated by Kizaru and thrown into Impel Down. The only reason you pathetic bastards were ever released was because Jinbei became a Shichibukai. And now… you're standing here, talking shit to me like you're important?"
Guts spoke with a light, almost cheerful smile.
But the words were sharper than blades, cutting straight into the fragile pride of Arlong and his crew.
"Y-you bastard!!!"
The death of Fisher Tiger… the crushing defeat at Kizaru's hands… these were humiliations Arlong and the others could never erase. And now, hearing it thrown in their faces...they snapped.
Fueled by the pain they never wanted to remember, the Fishmen ignored their wounds and charged at Guts in a frenzy.
Nami's heart skipped. Even though she knew none of them could ever lay a finger on him much less hurt him, her body still reacted, shrinking back instinctively behind Guts's broad frame.
"In the words of a guy who loved farming aura…" Guts smirked. "'It's hard to walk among ants without stepping on them.'"
The charging Fishmen didn't even realize what happened. In the blink of an eye
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Their heads exploded, bodies collapsing one after another in grotesque silence.
"…See? Hard to control, after all."
Guts sighed, shaking his head. "Smashing eggs with mountains… no matter how gentle you try, it's almost impossible not to break them."
But this time, Arlong, Hatchan, and a few of the key members weren't dead. They spat blood and writhed in pain, but they clung to life.
Which was exactly what Guts wanted.
"How could I let you die so easily?" He crouched in front of the broken Fishmen, grinning wickedly.
"I'd rather sell you off at the seafood market in Loguetown. Let you watch your own meat get carved up and eaten by the very 'inferior humans' you despise. Now that… would be exciting."
"D-damn human! Even if I die… I won't make it easy for you!!!" Arlong roared, veins bulging.
"Wow, I'm so scared~."
Guts mimicked Borsalino's lazy drawl with exaggerated mockery, just to rile Arlong up further. Then his grin widened.
"Boost."
A crimson aura erupted from his body, wrapping around Nami in a sudden surge of heat and pressure.
"Ahhh! C-Captain, I'm glowing! Something weird is building up inside me!!"
Eyes wide, Nami clutched at his clothes, trembling as unfamiliar energy pulsed through her.
Guts's eyebrow twitched at her choice of words, but he only chuckled.
"Don't worry. It's my ability. It boosts your strength. Give it a little time, and you'll be able to deal with these fish-fodder yourself."
He glanced back at Arlong, whose face was turning crimson with rage.
"After all… instead of being killed by me, wouldn't it be far more fitting if the one to kill you is the very person you least expect?"
His gaze flicked to Nami.
To be honest, Guts had long thought that Nami's cowardice wasn't because she lacked strength, it was because the trauma of her past had never been cut off at the root.
Now he wanted to see. If Nami killed Arlong with her own hands this time… would she still cower behind fear? Or would she finally change?
"This… this can't… No, Captain! How could I!?"
Nami shook her head frantically, eyes wide with disbelief. Her voice cracked, desperate.
She couldn't imagine it. She couldn't imagine killing Arlong with her own hands.
"Even if you don't believe in yourself…"
Guts placed a heavy hand on her head, steady and reassuring.
"…Believe in me instead."
And with that, he pushed her forward, straight toward Arlong who was already preparing to strike.
As Guts finished speaking, Arlong's eyes flashed dangerously. He raised his right hand, forming it into a sharp hand blade, and lunged forward not at Guts, but straight for Nami's neck.
"Ahhhh!!!"
Nami screamed, eyes squeezed shut, and thrust both fists forward in desperation.
Click!
Her fists collided with Arlong's hand-blade. But instead of Nami's bones shattering...
"U—ahhhh!!!"
Arlong's arm bent at a grotesque angle. The bone snapped, twisting unnaturally as searing pain tore through him. His scream shook the air.
"How about it, Nami? Doesn't this kind of death suit their fragile dignity better?"
Guts walked toward her with a smile, while Nami stood frozen, staring at Arlong in disbelief.
"Th-this… did I… do it?" she asked in shock, eyes wide with a flicker of hope.
"Of course. Didn't I say you could? Now do you want me to finish him, or…" Guts began.
But before he could finish, Nami shook her head. For the first time, her eyes burned with resolve.
"No. I… I want to avenge Bell-mère myself!"
For all the times she had stolen and deceived, Nami had never taken a life. This was different. This was her nightmare.
Her trembling hands picked up a fallen sword, its weight heavy with everything she carried inside. Even as she stood over Arlong, her grip quivered uncontrollably.
Pop
A large hand pressed gently over hers. Guts.
She turned to look at him, and her eyes brimmed with emotion gratitude, admiration, dependence all tangled together.
With his steadying touch, Nami drove the blade forward.
Arlong's hate filled glare burned to the very end as Hatchan's blade pierced his throat. His roar turned into a wet gasp, then silence.
When the last breath left him, the nightmare that had chained Nami for nearly ten years finally dissolved. To Guts, he was just a weak Fishman. But to her it was freedom.
"Uuuuhhh!!!"
Nami fell to her knees, covering her tear-streaked face with trembling hands. She sobbed not in despair, but in release.
This time, her crying wasn't helpless. It was liberation.
Guts placed a hand gently atop her head. He didn't speak. Comforting people had never been his strength.
Gradually, Nami's sobs quieted.
As Arlong Park collapsed around them like a crumbling castle, its reign ended. Arlong and his crew were no more.
Hatchan and the others didn't escape either. Unlike Luffy's path...Guts left no one alive.
He wasn't as kind.
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