Buzz!
Before Shanu's palms even landed, the whirlwind generated forced Arlong's cheeks inward. Alarmed, his battle-honed instincts kicked in, and he instinctively shrank back.
Awkward as it was, it worked.
Boom!
The air quivered where his head had been, bursting his eardrums and drawing blood from his nose.
Even a half-second's hesitation now could have flattened his head.
Shanu didn't give him a chance to think. His hands didn't split apart, but descended as one, aimed directly at Arlong's crown.
"Damn human!"
Arlong, terrified and furious, opened his gaping maw, snapping at Shanu's arm.
"Oh?"
Shanu, noticing Arlong no longer dodged, narrowed his eyes in mild interest, extending his right arm to meet the bite.
He was asking for it.
Arlong's gaze was feral.
Foolish human, thinking he could underestimate me! He didn't realize that his sharpest weapon wasn't his massive saw—but his jagged teeth!
Crack!
The familiar taste of salt and iron filled the air, accompanied by the sound of breaking.
Arlong grinned, only to freeze in shock—the shattered teeth weren't Shanu's, but his own.
The gushing blood? Not Shanu's muscle, but his gums.
"Bite, go on, bite more."
Shanu's expression was blank as he pressed his arm inward. "Why stop now?"
"Ugh… ugh!"
Arlong thrashed violently, trying to spit out the iron-like limb, but to no avail. The arm inched closer to his throat.
"I heard you could crush cannonballs from warships with your teeth. Why so weak today?"
Shanu pushed further. "Skipped breakfast?"
"I'll give you my arm! Plenty of protein—get your energy back!"
His calm tone grew sinister.
Arlong's eyes rolled back, jaw stretched to its limit, faint cracks forming in his skull.
The iron-hard arm rotated inside his mouth, grinding his remaining teeth and flesh like clothes in a washing drum.
"Ugh…!"
Near suffocation, Arlong's consciousness blurred. Only his survival instinct remained, flailing claws against Shanu's chest and arm, leaving mere scratches.
"Let go of Captain Arlong!"
A roar erupted behind him—Chiu and two other fishman officers charged forward with knives.
Shanu glanced briefly.
Strangely, though they were actively attacking, their faces were etched with fear and despair, much like Captain Erwin.
He ignored them, even boredly.
The same scene was about to replay.
Chiu's eyes widened, staring at the advancing terror and Shanu's indifference. Not a hint of hope—only despair.
He'd watched Kobachi wield six blades, each 300 kg, and still couldn't breach Shanu's defense. What chance did they have?
And Arlong couldn't ignore it.
In a flash, three blades struck Shanu's back.
They pierced?!
Chiu's initial relief quickly turned to horror.
The blades entered precisely where Shanu had contracted his lat muscles, leaving a seam gap by design.
Clang!
In the next instant, the bulging muscles explosively expelled the three blades.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Three fishmen, unable to dodge, were impaled on coconut trees, necks pierced, blood streaming down the bark.
No, no!
Arlong, witnessing this peripherally, was stricken with grief—tears streamed down.
"Run! Hurry! My foolish comrades, can't you see? This human… no! This monster is beyond you!"
"You… crying?"
Shanu's gaze amusedly examined him. "I almost pitied you, thought about letting you live. But as the saying goes, crocodile tears aren't worthy of sympathy."
He looked again toward the fleeing fishmen.
With nearly all officers dead and Arlong powerless, the remaining fishmen panicked, scrambling toward the sea like their parents had been stingy with legs.
Shanu leaned down, whispering in Arlong's ear:
"Oh right, you're a shark, right? Doesn't matter, all the same anyway."
At that instant, he grabbed Arlong's head, fingers locking, and surged after the fleeing fishmen!
He activated Razor, the scenery blurring as the two sides of the landscape flashed by, Arlong's lower body smashing through trees, consciousness scattering.
Crack!
At the shattered pier, Shanu stopped.
A glance revealed the purple-skinned fishman dragged hundreds of meters, bloodied, leaving winding streaks on the dirt.
"Dead?"
Shanu frowned slightly, a hint of disappointment in his expression. "So this… was all you could do?"
He hadn't even unleashed his full power yet.
Shaking his head, he tossed Arlong's corpse aside like trash, eyes scanning the remaining fishmen fleeing onto the Shark Spabbu.
"No! That monster is coming!"
A fishman screamed, noticing him. "Move! Run!"
"The ship needs to turn, we can't escape!"
"Then jump into the sea, swim! He can't follow us in water!"
Shanu snickered. He never left loose ends.
Geppo!
He stomped, vanished in a flash, and reappeared atop the high mast.
From this vantage, every fleeing fishman was in full view.
Some leapt into the sea. Shanu's expression unchanged, he raised his right arm, finger aimed at a fleeing head.
Shigan!
A shockwave erupted from his fingertip, obliterating the fishman's skull instantly. Without looking, he moved to the next target before the first's brain splattered.
The wind carried the stench of salt and iron-heavy blood.
Genzo's legs trembled. Stepping carefully through the trail of severed limbs and blood, he reached the pier.
The scene mirrored the rural road earlier—corpses floated on the deck, in the sea, everywhere.
What had just happened?
Could it be…
That figure, racing ahead toward the sea, had single-handedly ended the battle?
"Sha… Shanu?" Genzo called, hands cupped around his mouth, voice echoing. "Where are you?! Are you okay?!"
"Here, Uncle Genzo."
The voice came from above.
Genzo finally noticed the figure atop the massive ship, seated motionless on the mast, calmly observing everything.
"Looks like you're a bit late, Uncle," Shanu said, lifting a slightly weary face—not from physical exhaustion, but the tension of prolonged vigilance finally eased.
Seeing Genzo's stunned expression, he smiled faintly:
"All the pirates are dead, not a single one left. A pity, though—I didn't even give you, a mere village cop, a chance to contribute."