Chapter 53: Walking Into the Lion’s Den

A group of so-called “upright men” couldn’t wait to jump out and distance themselves from Colonel Rat, drawing a clear line and presenting themselves as staunch enemies of corruption. They clamored noisily, exposing every dirty secret of Colonel Rat without mercy.

One by one, Colonel Rat’s secret dealings with Arlong were ruthlessly brought to light. Nami’s rage burned ever hotter as she listened, and she wished she could personally see Colonel Rat punished.

Now she understood: all these years of seeking help from the Navy to no avail was not just because some local officers were negligent, but also because corrupt scum like Colonel Rat had been smoothing things over for Arlong all along.

Yet even after all Colonel Rat’s misdeeds had been thoroughly exposed, those righteous “heroes” refused to quiet down, barely short of staging a full-blown “undercover agents’ grievances” meeting. The scene was as raucous as a marketplace.

“Silence!” Smoker’s cold command cut through the din. “All of you know very well how clean your records are! If any of you keeps talking, I’ll deal with you the same way as Colonel Rat—right now!”

Instantly, the crowd fell silent.

“Now,” Smoker turned to the ashen-faced Colonel Rat, “tell me again—why are you here?”

“I—I…” Colonel Rat’s brow was damp with cold sweat, and no matter how he strained, he couldn’t get a word out.

After a long moment, knowing he could no longer deny anything, Colonel Rat could only tremble and confess his crimes: “I’ve been shielding the Arlong Pirates, helping the fish-men cover up their misdeeds.”

“Heh!” Smoker’s snort was laced with barely contained fury. “You, a navy colonel tasked with upholding justice, have brazenly taken bribes and let pirates run rampant for years! You… you deserve far worse than death!”

“I am guilty!” Colonel Rat, seeing that denial was futile, pleaded with feigned sincerity: “I am willing to accept court-martial!”

This was the colonel’s last, desperate gambit… If dealt with by military law, he wouldn’t be executed on the spot, but would instead be delivered to Navy Headquarters for trial. There, there would be plenty of opportunities to manipulate the process. He could hardly hope to walk away scot-free, but saving his own life was not out of reach.

That was exactly what Major Hammer had counted on before.

Witnessing this all-too-familiar scene, Garen silently tightened his grip on his greatsword and sidled closer to Colonel Rat.

But before Garen could even raise his blade, a heavy jitte had already come crashing down on Colonel Rat’s head, splitting it open and spilling red and white matter everywhere in an instant.

“Court-martial?” Smoker slowly withdrew his weapon, his face still cold. “Too late. You resisted arrest with violence—you’ve been executed on the spot…”

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Arlong’s territory, the beach.

When Kuroobi and Hachi, leading a group of terrified fish-man underlings, fled back to the shore, they ran straight into Arlong and his crew, who had rushed back following the sound of cannon fire.

“Boss Arlong!” Hachi said, flustered, “The Navy is attacking!”

Not that it was necessary to say—Arlong had already spotted the two navy ships closing in on the coastline.

“So it’s just the Navy…” Arlong actually breathed a huge sigh of relief. Having just read the sensational news, he’d feared that the fearsome figure from the headlines had come to help Nami, who’d hitched her fortunes to a big shot, seek revenge.

Earlier, Wallace—thinking of the coming pirate suppression—had deliberately appended a conspicuous subheading to his article, reporting the false news that Nami, Garen, and the Navy had parted ways in Loguetown. So Arlong had no idea that the “East Blue Knight” with admiral-level strength was actually aboard one of the very ships he was watching.

“Boss Arlong!” Kuroobi added, “One of the navy ships attacking us belongs to Colonel Rat. I thought he’d come to collect his usual payment, but that rat started firing on us the moment we met!”

“What?!” Arlong was stunned, his mind—just now full of panic—suddenly flooded with rage. “That shameless scum! After all the money I’ve paid him, now he wants to double-cross me?!”

Arlong’s huge fists clenched, his bulging muscles trembling with murderous intent.

“Wait a minute…” Staring at the ships drawing ever closer, he turned to Kuroobi and Hachi, displeased. “Why did you all swim back to shore? The sea is our battlefield!”

“Um…” Hachi’s face showed lingering terror and hesitation. “There’s a really weird guy among those marines. He can talk underwater, he doesn’t drown, and he swims even faster than us fish-men. He killed seven or eight of our brothers before we could react! Even Momoo the sea cow was knocked out with a single sword strike.”

As he spoke, the look on Hachi’s face became ever more vivid—a portrait of “it’s not that our side is weak, it’s that the enemy is a cheat.”

“Kuroobi and I just couldn’t bear to risk more lives, so we decided to pull back and get your help, big brother.”

But to Hachi’s dismay, Arlong, having just calmed down, now felt his heart seize up with anxiety again.

“So… just how strong is this guy?” Arlong’s anger faltered, and he asked in a wary tone, “Compared to me?”

“He shouldn’t be stronger than you, boss,” Hachi replied earnestly.

Kuroobi nodded in agreement, “I’d say he’s still a notch below you, boss Arlong!”

Neither Kuroobi nor Hachi were the type to flatter or lie—one was blunt, the other naive—so their words were believable. Arlong immediately let out another sigh of relief.

“Good. Then it can’t be that East Blue Knight…”

Even as Arlong was carefully weighing the enemy’s identity, another fish-man officer stepped forward, his face full of indignation.

This was Chu, the kissing fish-man. Unlike most fish-men, his features lacked the usual sharp fangs, instead sporting two peculiar, protruding lips. Chu’s special ability was to store water in his mouth and unleash it as powerful water bullets thanks to his unique oral structure.

Hearing Hachi and Kuroobi’s downcast report, Chu was thoroughly unimpressed. “If this guy isn’t even as strong as boss Arlong—why are you all so afraid of him?”

Before Hachi or Kuroobi could answer, Chu went on, “We fish-men are invincible in the sea—how can you lack even the courage to fight?”

“Hey!” Hachi, ever the good-natured one, held his peace, but the hot-tempered Kuroobi couldn’t help snapping back, “I told you, that guy is stronger than us! If we didn’t come back for boss Arlong’s help, would you rather we sent all our brothers to their deaths?!”

Chu scoffed, invoking fish-man supremacy, “We fish-men are ten times stronger than humans! With so many brothers here, how could we possibly lose to a human in the sea?”

“You…” Kuroobi glared, then pointed at Chu’s oversized lips in exasperation. “You really are a kissing fish-man—always spraying your teammates with spit!”

“Scoundrel!” Chu’s blue skin flushed red with anger. “Are you discriminating against my fish type?!”

The differences among fish-men were often quite stark—shark and whale types were naturally more robust, while kissing fish-men were born with comical thick lips. Where there are people, there are categories; where there are categories, there are barriers and prejudice. Even humans in the same city have their local and outsider distinctions; why should fish-men, another intelligent species, be any different?

“So what if I am prejudiced against your fish type?” Kuroobi, now thoroughly worked up, didn’t care about political correctness within the crew. “All you do is talk! If you think you’re so tough, go show us!”

“Fine!” Chu, his anger now ablaze, accepted the challenge without hesitation. “I’ll go!”

“Be my guest!” Kuroobi turned away in a huff.

Arlong, after a moment’s thought, agreed to Chu’s impulsive plan. He wanted to test the enemy’s strength with another subordinate anyway.

“Chu!” Hachi, ever the well-meaning one, warned with concern, “We’ve already lost seven or eight brothers to that guy… Please be careful!”

“Hmph!” Chu ignored his goodwill, replying with pride, “Just watch me lead a dozen brothers and sink those two navy ships! You can all sit back and get ready to mop up the survivors!”

With that, Chu called for a group of underlings and swam off toward the navy.

He hadn’t gotten far when two fish-men, faces stricken with terror, came fleeing back.

“Bad news! Brother Chu’s been cut down by the marines too!”