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Chapter 46: That Feeling Must Be Terrible.
Upon hearing this...
The Fish-Men in Arlong Park gradually realized that a group of humans had come to cause trouble!
Arlong narrowed his slender fish eyes, observing the figures in the smoke and dust.
He wasn't wearing a Marine coat with "Justice" emblazoned on it, nor was he particularly tall, which meant he wasn't the Marine Admiral he was most concerned about.
Arlong, relieved, leaned back in his chair and asked casually, "Who are you?"
He didn't take them seriously; they were just a few people here to challenge him.
In the East Blue, he hadn't yet encountered a power strong enough to rival his own.
Snap!
The wine jug in Nami's hand dropped to the ground with a "clunk," wine spilling everywhere.
She stared blankly at the gradually clearing figures, her eyes filled with surprise and panic.
Why had they arrived early?
What on earth had happened? Hadn't Ganyu told them her plan?
Arlong glanced at her, asking with interest, "Perhaps you know them?"
"No..." Nami stammered in a panic, at a loss for words.
"Of course she knows us, she's... my navigator!"
Below, the angry voice that had just told Arlong to get out rang out again, this time with a hint of pride.
Nami's expression instantly stiffened, and she almost wanted to scream in frustration.
What on earth was Luffy babbling about?!
However, there was still a chance for redemption.
Nami adjusted her expression, forcing herself back to her usual coldness: "I don't know them, and I've never joined any other pirate crews."
"Hah," Arlong sneered, his eyes full of mockery, "They've come knocking on our door, and you think I'd still believe you?"
He seemed unsurprised by Nami's "betrayal," as if he had long anticipated this day would come.
"Brother Arlong, I said before that humans can't be trusted, and she should have died long ago," Kuroobi said coldly, taking two steps towards Nami, seemingly ready to attack her.
"What... what do you want to do?! Don't forget, I still have your gang's mark on my arm." Nami took a few steps back, raising her left arm to reveal the blue tattoo.
During her speech, she kept glancing down, signaling to her companions to leave first.
But the people below seemed oblivious to the situation, showing no reaction.
"A mark?" Chew, another Fish-Man officer, scoffed from the other flank, "Don't be naive. Even with that mark, you'll always just be a lowly human!"
Nami's face darkened, but she wasn't hurt by Chew's callous words.
She was simply worried that most of the Fish-Men present hadn't taken the medicine, and fighting their companions now could be very disadvantageous for them.
But Arlong, thinking she was scared, rose to stop the two of them.
"Hey, don't actually kill our surveyor lady. If she dies, who's going to draw our sea charts?"
In his eyes, Nami's most important role was drawing sea charts.
"If we don't kill her, then breaking her legs is acceptable, right?" Kuroobi asked.
Arlong feigned thought for a few seconds, then grinned, revealing his mouthful of jagged teeth, and let out his characteristic "Shahaha" maniacal laughter:
"What a great idea! With her legs broken, she can stay in her room and focus on drawing sea charts for us!"
His laughter caused a deafening roar of mirth throughout Arlong Park.
All the Fish-Men looked at the human girl who had lived with them for eight years with mocking and cruel eyes, devoid of any pity.
Amidst the harsh laughter, Nami seemed affected as well.
She slowly lowered her head, her orange bangs obscuring her expression.
Only the occasional tear that fell to the ground seemed to tell everyone of the girl's sorrow and despair.
After a suffocating silence, her trembling, clearly choked voice softly emerged, as if she had expended her last ounce of strength:
"Arlong, you promised me... that if I could collect 100 million Berries, I could buy Cocoyasi Village from you. Was that promise also a lie?"
"Ah, you mean that." Arlong scratched the back of his head exaggeratedly, then burst into laughter again. "Of course I was just joking! Even if you could actually collect 100 million Berries, I'd have plenty of ways to take it all away!"
He leaned forward, his voice venomous. "After all, as long as you can't produce 100 million Berries, I haven't broken my promise! Shahahaha!"
Arlong's laughter echoed through the park, and he watched with satisfaction as Nami's head bowed and her shoulders trembled.
To him, nothing was more enjoyable than newssing human despair firsthand.
On the Grand Line, he would repay the humans ten times the humiliation they had inflicted on Fish-Men in the East Blue.
But that wasn't enough. His true ambition was to establish a Fish-Man kingdom in the East Blue. A kingdom where Fish-Men reigned supreme, and all humans were reduced to their slaves...
"I knew it."
Suddenly, a dispassionate voice came from in front of him.
Arlong's expression stiffened, and he stared in surprise at the orange-haired girl who had suddenly lifted her head.
However, despite the tear tracks on her face, there was no hint of despair.
Only immense hatred and disgust!
Just like the expressions of those powerful humans who had once gazed down at him on the Grand Line.
"Arlong."
Nami's face was devoid of expression, and she spoke in a cold, taunting tone he had never heard before: "I heard from one of my companions... that you used to be... a 'slave.' To the very humans you despise most?"
She deliberately emphasized the last word, then tilted her head slightly and smiled.
"That feeling must be terrible, right?"
The moment her words fell, Arlong, who had just been mocking others, suddenly had a completely changed expression.
"You... you... you dare...!!"
As if his deepest, most shameful and despairing memories had been reawakened, Arlong trembled all over, his face turning exceptionally pale, and his voice was squeezed out almost word by word, through gritted teeth.
Not only himself, but the arrogance and mockery on the faces of the several Fish-Man officers around him and the Fish-Man minions below also vanished without a trace at this moment.
Some of them didn't have experiences like Arlong's, but they all knew this was the sorrow of the Fish-Men and Arlong's taboo.
No one dared to bring up this matter in front of Arlong.
Looking at the mocking smile on the girl's face, Arlong felt as if he had been transported back to his humiliating days as a slave.
Endless shame and fury completely overwhelmed his rationality.
"Bastard!!!"
Arlong's face twisted like a demon's, letting out a heart-rending roar. A thick arm shot through the air, heading straight for Nami's head, mere inches away!
He had used almost all his strength in this attack, and his physical capabilities, which were more than ten times that of a human, were enough to shatter rock.
Bang!!
An extremely violent impact sound rang out in front of Nami.
But unexpectedly, Nami was not smashed to pieces by the furious Arlong as expected.
&Look; A hand appeared out of nowhere, gripping Arlong's disproportionately thick wrist as tightly as the strongest iron clamp!
No matter how purple Arlong's face turned or how much his muscles bulged with effort, he couldn't break free from that hand.
Nami stood behind the person, completely unharmed, her face no longer showing cold mockery, but a reassuring, moving, and joyful smile.
"Us."
The straw-hatted boy had his back to her. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable firmness, echoing through the suddenly silent Arlong Park.
"If someone breaks into another pirate crew's territory and causes trouble, I... get very unhappy!"