"Sha-ha-ha! You're telling me to choose how I die?" Arlong sneered, glancing around the battlefield.
Sure, his grunts were getting their butts kicked, but so what? The enemy captain and the other two strong-looking guys were being held up by his top officers.
To him, that meant their top fighters were pretty evenly matched.
Plus, this pretty boy in front of him wasn't even the captain.
'I'll just take out this punk,' Arlong thought, 'then go help my guys. Victory's in the bag.'
Why was he so confident? Because that Nezumi had only given him a vague warning about the Straw Hats earlier that day.
Shortly after, he heard Nami was back and the whole crew mobilized.
Fishmen like him didn't bother with human newspapers, so they had no idea who these guys really were.
If Arlong had known Ray had the same bounty as Buggy, he might have thought twice.
…
With that in mind, Arlong shot Ray a cruel grin.
"Pretty boy, why don't you choose your death first?"
Hearing that, Ray's expression went ice-cold.
"You've got a lot of nerve."
Arlong's taunt was the last straw.
In an instant, Ray unleashed his full aura.
It wasn't just killing intent; it was a suffocating, demonic power that crashed down on Arlong like a tidal wave.
Arlong's vision swam, and his legs almost gave out.
'What is this? Why does he suddenly look so much taller?'
Even though Ray was only 1.88 meters tall—kinda short compared to Arlong's 2.3-meter frame—to the fishman, he now looked like an unclimbable mountain.
Sweat poured down Arlong's back as he desperately leaped backward.
He knew if he didn't get some distance, that crushing pressure would break him right then and there.
"What the hell are you?" Arlong gasped.
Ray didn't even answer.
He just flickered forward and buried his fist in the fishman's gut with blinding speed.
The impact sent Arlong flying like a cannonball, smashing straight through several huge rocks before he finally crashed to a stop.
The villagers' jaws collectively hit the floor.
Some of them had orange juice dribbling out of their open mouths.
"Dear gods," Genzo muttered. "If that punch had hit my head, it would've turned to mush."
He was suddenly very sorry for glaring at Ray earlier.
Nojiko's legs felt like jelly, and she had stars in her eyes.
"I need to ask Nami what her teacher's hobbies are later..."
The other villagers were even more stunned.
Arlong, the monster who had terrorized them for years, was just taken out in a single punch by this masked man.
The visual was just too much for their brains to handle.
…
On the other battlefields...
Hachi, Kuroobi, and Chu all saw what happened and immediately jumped away from their opponents, their eyes wide with shock.
"Was Arlong really that weak against that guy?"
"If that white-haired dude is so strong, why isn't he the captain?"
Hearing that, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji all cracked a smile.
"Because I'm the captain," Luffy explained with simple, perfect logic.
"That's why Ray isn't."
Zoro and Sanji had been about to give a proper explanation—that Ray had said he wasn't suited for it—but after hearing Luffy's answer, they figured that made perfect sense too.
So they just shut up.
Chu wasn't buying it.
"You were barely holding your own against me! What makes you think you're so great?"
Luffy just grinned. "Looks like we've been goofing off too long and they think we're weak. Zoro, Sanji, finish 'em up."
Their mouths curled into smirks.
"Aye, Captain!"
In an instant, the vibe from the trio completely changed.
"Tch, stop putting on airs, you damn humans!" Kuroobi yelled, charging at Sanji.
Sanji's eyes narrowed.
He moved with a speed that was completely different from before.
"Neck Shot!" he shouted, his leg swinging around and kicking the fishman square in the back of the head.
Kuroobi's brain felt like it had been scrambled.
He grabbed his head, veins bulging. Leaving an opening like that in a fight is a death sentence.
Sanji blew out a smoke ring.
"Feel that? That's the power of 60,000 meters of high jumps. Lamb Shot!"
A straight kick smashed right into Kuroobi's face.
The massive fishman was sent flying nearly a hundred meters, completely out cold.
At almost the same time, Luffy one-punched Chu into next week.
Zoro also stopped playing around, easily spotting the flaws in Hachi's six-sword style.
With a single slash, he broke all of Hachi's swords, then hit him with the back of his blade, leaving the octopus bleeding and unconscious on the ground.
Only as they were losing consciousness did the three fishman officers realize the horrible truth.
'Oh crap... all three of these guys are at least as strong as the boss... We're so screwed.'
…
The villagers erupted in cheers.
"And I was worried about them! Turns out they were just toying with their food!"
"This is so satisfying! Those fishmen are finally getting what they deserve!"
But then, a little girl tugged on her mom's sleeve.
"Mommy, is Hachi going to die? He saved me from drowning a few days ago. Can we ask the big brothers to spare him?"
Her mother looked down at her, her face serious.
"Whether he lives or dies... I think that's for Nami and Nojiko to decide."
The girl knew what terrible things the fishmen had done to Nami's family.
Torn, she slowly walked toward Nojiko.
…
Meanwhile, Nami, Usopp, Chouchou, Johnny, and Yosaku had finished cleaning up the rest of the fishman grunts.
They all regrouped with the Monster Trio and turned to watch Ray's battlefield.
In the distance, Arlong crawled out of the pile of rocks he'd been buried in.
He hadn't been humiliated like this in years, and the animalistic rage inside him completely took over. He charged at Ray at top speed.
To the villagers, he looked terrifyingly fast.
To Ray, he was moving in slow motion.
Before Arlong could even get close, a golden whip of light snapped out and sent him sprawling to the ground.
Arlong glared at Ray, his eyes bloodshot, and tried to get up, only to be whipped down again.
Fueled by pure hatred, he kept trying to stand, and every single time, Ray lashed him until his skin split open.
Finally, Arlong stopped moving, completely broken.
Under the stunned gazes of the crowd, Ray dragged the bleeding, nearly unconscious Arlong with his light whip, pulling him step by step back towards Nami.
…
The villagers' minds were blown.
All they could see was the image of Ray torturing Arlong.
If they didn't know how evil Arlong was, they might have actually mistaken him for the victim.
"Is this really Nami's friend?"
"So terrifying… The Arlong Pirates were defeated just like that."
"Not just defeated, they never even stood a chance."
"I almost pitied Arlong for a second. Good thing I slapped myself awake."
"Man, watching these fishmen get beaten feels so good."
"I wanna go hit 'em a few times, too!"
Just then, Ray arrived back at Nami's side.
He smiled at her. "Feeling better?"
Nami just sighed and shook her head.
They had murdered her mother and tormented her for eight years.
How could a simple beatdown make that anger go away?
Ray knew she'd say that.
The final step to freeing her heart was for her to do it herself.
"Fight Arlong, Nami," he said.
The suggestion was met with immediate backlash, especially from Sanji.
"Ray, what are you saying?! You want Nami-san to face that vicious beast?!"
"Nami-san, let me take care of your anger for you!" he declared. "Just tell me how you want this fish dead!"
He raised his leg, ready to kick Arlong's head clean off.
But Luffy reached out and stopped him, his voice uncharacteristically serious.
"Today is Nami's fight. Don't interfere."
Zoro suddenly got it.
"Ah, I see," he said. "Stop making trouble, you crappy cook."
Naturally, the two of them immediately started arguing again.
…
Nami was silent for a long time.
Finally, she looked up at Ray and Luffy.
"Thank you," she said.
She took the straw hat off her head and handed it back to Luffy.
"Earlier, it was our fight together," she said, her voice filled with a new strength. "Now, it's my fight alone."
With that, she raised her orange-gold staff and pointed it right at Arlong's head.
"For Bellemere's sake, I'm going to defeat you with my own two hands."
----------------------------
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