"Don't joke around."
Aken looked around, broke into a cold sweat, and gave a bitter smile. "These are fish-men, you know. What help could I even offer? Any one of them could slap me flying with a single hit."
Speaking of which...
Earlier, when he was still pedaling his bike on the ridge, rushing toward this place, he had seen from afar that the ones landing ashore were fish-men, and his heart instantly sank.
He had seen the reports about these guys in the newspaper.
They were all pirates who once belonged to the Sun Pirates, coming from the Grand Line to the East Blue. Their strength was something no pirate group in East Blue could even compare to.
But who could have expected—
In less than twenty minutes after landing, this group of fish-men had already been completely turned into corpses.
Even though he had seen how exaggerated Shano's body training was before, how could that compare to personally witnessing the pirates from the Grand Line all wiped out?
"Shano," Aken said with emotion, "you really are a monster through and through. Looks like our Cocoyasi Village is finally going to have someone truly remarkable step into the world."
"Really?"
Shano laughed heartily, stretched lazily, and stood up.
"But right now, I just want to go home and take a good nap. Cleaning up the battlefield here... I'll leave it to you, Uncle."
Aken nodded, about to say something, but suddenly widened his eyes and looked behind Shano.
What's going on?
Shano turned around too—and happened to see the sea not far away violently churning.
A large sea beast, covered in green spots and looking a lot like a cow, burst out of the water, staring blankly at the ground full of corpses.
"Moo moo?"
Only then did he remember—that was the sea beast raised by the Arlong Pirates, wasn't it?
Popping up now... is it trying to take revenge for Arlong?
Shano grinned, stepping up to the front of the deck. He was no longer the little kid who once had to bow his head and endure even when facing a Sea King.
The Moo Moo was even several times bigger than the Sea King, but with Shano's current physical strength, it probably wouldn't even survive a single punch.
Moo—!
Who would have thought, the next moment, Moo Moo threw its head back and let out a happy call, then spat a large mouthful of spit at the corpses on the ground with a "ptooey," and afterward, bowed its two front limbs towards Shano…
"Did I see that right, Shano?" Aken on the shore was astonished. "This guy... is it thanking you?"
Seems like it.
Shano was also dumbfounded, his clenched fist now not knowing whether to punch or not.
But Moo Moo didn't give him much time to think—turning around with a leap, wagging its tail happily, it jumped back into the sea, quickly disappearing without a trace.
"This scene feels kind of familiar."
Shano rubbed his chin, falling into deep thought.
Is there a possibility... that maybe it's not Shirahoshi who's the true Poseidon, but actually me?
...
Half an hour later.
Villagers began arriving one after another, helping clean up the battlefield at the dock.
Earlier, when the children brought the news about the pirates landing, the entire village had been in chaos. Only after hearing that Shano had rushed over did everyone finally feel at ease.
And Shano didn't let them down—he actually fought alone and wiped out the entire pirate crew.
As for the bloody scene near the dock...
Nobody thought it was too cruel or anything. They only believed that these pirates deserved to die. Without Shano, it could easily have been their own bodies lying in blood today!
Especially after Aken called the other villages around the island to check on their situations—
He was shocked to find out that neighboring Kesha Town had been completely destroyed by the Arlong Pirates, with most of the villagers dead or injured.
While filled with anger and sadness, everyone couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts—and then gratitude.
Thankfully, Cocoyasi Village had produced an incredible strongman!
That was the only reason they avoided such a tragic fate.
...
On the path between the coconut trees.
Shano had his arms folded behind his head, strolling leisurely toward home. He wasn't running, nor using "Soru" to speed up—his pace was even slower than an old man taking an early morning walk.
Since awakening his memories, it had already been four years. He hadn't relaxed this much in a long time.
Arlong was dead.
The Arlong Pirates were finished.
This meant that the dark cloud hanging over Cocoyasi Village had finally disappeared. The heavy stone pressing on his heart also shattered completely.
"What a beautiful day,"
Shano looked up at the blue sky and white clouds, his mood relaxed and happy.
Pulling back his drifting thoughts, he casually opened the system panel.
The battlefield cleanup was left to the uncles of the village, but the spoils of war—he naturally wouldn't forget.
Before Aken had arrived, he had already tested almost everything he could offer up for sacrifice.
With piles of named fish-man corpses, he had plenty of chances to experiment, which helped him gain new understanding of the system's rules.
Besides offering up beloved personal items—
Body parts like arms and legs seemed to be the system's limit. He couldn't directly sacrifice whole corpses, and even cutting off heads didn't work.
Small heads were even worse.
It was as if the system was restricted by some "harmony god," refusing to accept anything too dark, bloody, or cult-like as sacrifices.
Shano could understand, though.
In the end, based on the information shown on the system panel, he tallied and organized everything.
For example, cadres like Salt-grilled, Little Wu, and Pizarro, who had big muscles but little character development, gave very little points, averaging only thirty or so.
While stronger cadres like Kuroobi and Hatchan gave somewhere between eighty and two hundred points.
Even added together, they were far less valuable than Arlong.
After chopping off Arlong's arm—the one with the red tattoo—and sacrificing it, he got an impressive eight hundred points. Enough to buy a pretty good training manual from the shop.
Good stuff shouldn't be wasted.
Shano patted his pocket, where Arlong's nose and several of his fangs were still stored. He was planning to freeze them somewhere hidden later, and offer them up one by one whenever the system's cooldown ended.
Kind of shady behavior, sure—but Arlong probably wouldn't mind.
"Big bro!"
A familiar voice suddenly called out. Shano looked up to see Nojiko and Nami running over excitedly.
"You really beat all the invading pirates, didn't you?"
"Yeah." He scooped them both up, smiling. "But you guys are late—the fight ended a while ago."
"Hmph, I knew it! Easy peasy! Some kids in the village were even worrying that you couldn't win alone. What a bunch of fools—don't they know you're the number one swordsman in East Blue?"
Nami, why are you still spreading lies!
Shano rubbed her head helplessly. This little rascal—she was the one with no judgment! How many times had she secretly watched him train, and still hadn't noticed that he totally sucked at swordsmanship?
"Are you taking us home?" Nojiko asked.
"No way!"
Nami pouted, shaking her head furiously like a rattle drum. "We just snuck out! We still want to see what those pirates look like!"
"Too bloody. Not suitable for kids. No going."
Shano grabbed Nami, who was trying to slip out from under his arm, and ignored her mouth puffing up like a teapot. His gaze landed on her arm.
Then he looked at Nojiko's too.
Both of their little arms were clean and white, without any tattoos—no need for knives, no stabbing, no crying and screaming...
"Hey! Big bro! Why are you staring like that!"
Nami glared at him, not satisfied. "Planning to tattletale to Bellemere again? I took a bath last night, okay? Even washed my hair!"
"How sensible you are."
Shano laughed out loud, lifting his two little sisters up high above his head, then setting them onto his broad shoulders.
Bathed in the warm afternoon sun, he strode proudly toward home.