At Nami's words, the villagers instantly fell silent. The wariness on their faces faded somewhat, but they remained on guard.
Some villagers even spoke up to warn her:
"Nami, don't be fooled by them! You know that damn Nezumi—they're in cahoots with Arlong!"
Nami hurriedly tried to explain, but Ivan stopped her.
After holding her back, he turned to look at the distant village road, where a cloud of dust was rising. Beneath that dust was a group of Fish-Men who had rushed over upon hearing the news.
Ivan strode toward the Fish-Men, glancing back at the villagers with a smile. "I know you don't trust me, but that's fine. You'll believe me soon enough."
Seeing this, the villagers hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.
They vaguely sensed that this Marine before them seemed different from scum like Nezumi and his ilk. They wanted to stop him, to prevent him from clashing directly with those Fish-Men.
After all, in the villagers' long-held understanding, Fish-Men were invincible beings. Even Marines were no match for these monsters.
But it was already too late. While they hesitated, the Fish-Men had already closed in.
At the front of the group was a red-skinned goldfish Fish-Man.
The goldfish Fish-Man, Jōshō, watched Ivan slowly approaching them and sneered contemptuously:
"Hahaha, another worthless Marine trash who doesn't know when to quit! Daring to come to us looking for death—you really have a death wish!
Brothers, take him down! I'm going to pound him into paste!"
"That's right, finish him! Show the Marines what we're made of!"
Noticing the Fish-Men's reaction, Ivan instantly understood.
It seemed Hachi hadn't delivered the message here at all. These guys had no idea of his strength.
But that was just fine—it meant he could wipe out all these Fish-Men in one go!
Watching the snarling Fish-Men charging toward him, Ivan raised a hand and extended a single finger.
A sharp, deep blue light suddenly swirled around his fingertip. With a slight twist of his wrist, he drew a horizontal line in front of his chest:
"One Sword Style: Azure Horizontal Slash!"
The moment his words fell, a piercing sound of tearing air exploded!
A condensed blue slash transformed into a straight horizontal line, tearing through the air. In an instant, it swept past the group of Fish-Men and struck the ground behind them.
The next moment, the sound of flesh tearing echoed incessantly.
The Fish-Men at the front were still frozen in their punching stances when their bodies suddenly stiffened. Neat fissures silently bloomed across their waists.
In barely a moment, these jeering Fish-Men were cleanly bisected at the waist, blood and entrails splattering across the ground!
Amid the agonized cries of the numerous Fish-Men, Ivan turned to face the stunned villagers of Cocoyashi Village behind him.
He lightly adjusted the round sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, a bold smile curling at the corner of his mouth:
"Hahaha, so it's these small fry who've been tormenting you so much?
Follow me. Today, I'll help you clean out this rotten flesh for good!"
Without another glance at the villagers' reactions, he strode directly toward the towering Arlong stronghold in the distance!
Behind him, the villagers erupted into an uproar.
They never expected this suddenly appearing Marine captain to genuinely want to help them!
Even more unexpected was the sheer power of this Marine officer, capable of unleashing such a formidable attack with just his index finger. Perhaps he truly could defeat the terrifying Arlong!
Tears of excitement streamed down their faces as they unanimously followed Ivan toward Arlong Park, determined to witness the tyrant's demise with their own eyes!
However, along the way to Arlong Park, the villagers still made a point to warmly engage Nami in conversation.
This only deepened Nami's confusion. Choking back sobs, she asked, "I... I've been constantly hitting and scolding you all this time. Why are you still so kind to me..."
The villagers exchanged glances, their smiles growing even more gentle.
Finally, Nami's older sister Nojiko embraced her and gently explained:
"Nami, everyone knows you joined the Arlong Pirates for our sake, and that you put on that hateful act for us too.
So no one hates you at all. Instead, we've all been worried about you—we just pretended not to know."
Those words shattered the dam holding back Nami's surging emotions, and she burst into tears: "Waaah..."
Noticing the scene behind him, Ivan allowed a faint smile to curl at the corner of his mouth.
Leading such a large group naturally slowed their pace, but Ivan didn't mind. He knew that after he'd killed dozens of Fish-Men, Arlong would undoubtedly come to kill him.
After all, in Arlong's eyes, humans were as lowly as pigs and dogs, while every Fish-Man was his flesh-and-blood brother bound by kinship!
Sure enough, before long, a large number of Fish-Man figures appeared ahead of the crowd.
At the very front stood a towering, burly figure over two and a half meters tall.
It was none other than the leader of the Arlong Pirates, the sawshark Fish-Man Arlong himself!
Even from a considerable distance, Arlong's arrogant, domineering laughter, carried by the sea breeze, rolled toward them:
"Sha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You lowly humans, I never thought you'd actually dare to band together and defy me. Perfect timing—I'll slaughter every last one of you to serve as a warning to the other villages."
But his glee abruptly ceased. Arlong halted, swept his gaze over the crowd, and suddenly his expression darkened like ink as he growled:
"Where are my brothers? Where are they?"
Arlong suddenly realized that among the crowd, there was no sign of his Fish-Man brothers. A terrible premonition instantly gripped him.
Ivan shrugged, feigning helplessness. "When you encounter fish, of course you kill them. What else? Keep them for the New Year?"
"You... you... you vile human!" Arlong was instantly enraged.
These brothers of his were elite Fish-Men who had followed him through life-and-death struggles all the way back from the Grand Line!
They had once stood together in the Sun Pirates, weathering decades of storms side by side. Their bond had long surpassed even that of blood relatives.
But now...
Dozens of brothers who had shared life and death with him had fallen at the hands of this human he regarded as nothing more than an ant!
Arlong's eyes burned crimson with rage. His mouth stretched wide in extreme fury, nearly reaching his ears, as he snarled through gritted teeth:
"Vile humans, I'll tear every one of you to shreds!"
Before the words fully left his mouth, he charged forward at the head of his enraged Fish-Man horde, rushing straight toward Ivan and the others.
Faced with this scene, the villagers behind them turned pale. After years of brutal rule, the terror of the Fish-Men was already deeply etched into their souls.
Moreover, the Fish-Men were inherently stronger than them. They were no match for any single Fish-Man, so they dared not fight them.
Ivan had never expected much from these villagers in the first place. After all, for those at the bottom, a severalfold difference in arm strength meant a crushing advantage.
His tone was calm as he gave orders to Tashigi and the others: "Tashigi, take these villagers farther away. Leave these Fish-Men to me."
Patton looked worried. "Major Ivan, are you going to take on so many Fish-Men alone?"
Ivan saw through Patton's concerns. Glancing at the charging Fish-Men, he lightly stretched his limbs.
"Hahaha, who do you think you're underestimating? I'm plenty strong!"