"TRIIIINN!"
With the sound of shattering, Arlong's serrated sword broke into pieces.
"No! Kiribachi!"
Arlong screamed pathetically.
"You…"
Still in the air, Arlong looked at me with blood in his eyes.
"Getting upset just over that, Arlong?" I asked provocatively.
"It's Arlong-sama to you!" While still in the air, Arlong puffed up his mouth, then spat out: "Water Bullet!"
A water bullet shot toward me.
I don't know why, but when I saw it, I didn't feel fear.
It was fast, but not fast enough. Powerful? Maybe.
Holding the Hook in my hand, I simply defended against the shot.
"Bleng!"
"Water Bullet!"
"Water Bullet!"
"Water Bullet!"
Seeing that I defended myself, Arlong, who had begun to fall, fired another water bullet.
The sounds of the shots weren't as loud as a gun, but they weren't silent either.
Watching that, I used the Hook and managed to block all the attacks while stepping onto the edge of the magic carpet.
"Bang!"
"Slide!"
Arlong hit the icy ground, sliding.
His eyes turned upward, looking in my direction.
Not far off, the Fish-men crew approached Arlong.
"Let's attack together, Arlong-san. He's strong." Hatchan said, ending with a nyoi sound.
Although the others didn't say it, it was clear they felt the same, and I saw anger and humiliation flash across Arlong's face.
As arrogant as he was, I understood very well how humiliating it must have been for him to hear that.
Flipping the carpet upside down, using it as a springboard, I shot toward the ground.
"Whooosh!"
I had never moved so fast, my arrival came with the sound of a jet.
With the Hook in an attacking position using both my hands like a baseball player, I struck Arlong when I reached him.
He only had time to cross his arms in front of his chest.
"BANG!"
"CRACK!"
"AHHHHH!"
With eyes bulging and mouth wide open, saliva flying out, Arlong was sent flying while curled in a V-shape, heading toward his castle.
"Arlong-sama!"
"Arlong-san!"
The Fish-men shouted in despair.
Meanwhile, Arlong's body slammed into the castle.
"BOOM!"
The impact was so great that another part of the castle began to collapse.
"Onyou. You're going to pay for what you did to Arlong-san!" Hatchan, with his six octopus arms, held six swords and began slashing through the air as he walked toward me.
"Tentacle-sword Overloand!"
Shaking my head, I began spinning my Hook in the air, then, using the force of the spin, I hurled it in his direction.
"Haah!"
An involuntary cry came from my mouth.
In a straight line, the Hook flew toward Hatchan.
"This is nothing!" Hatchan shouted, placing the six swords in front of him like a shield.
"Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!"
Consecutive cracking sounds echoed as despair became visible on Hatchan's face.
"Onyoahhhhhhhhhh!"
When the Hook hit him, he let out a pitiful scream, being pushed back with his tentacles flailing in the air—this time not to attack, but limp, as if they had no more strength.
I pulled the Hook back as Hatchan crashed against the wall surrounding the castle.
"Gulp!"
Even in the darkness of night, I saw the faces of several of them turn pale.
Chew, one of the officers of the Arlong Pirates, shouted: "Guys, don't be fooled, he's just one and a human while we are many and proud, powerful fish-men!"
"Yes, Chew is right." Kuroobi, with fins on his forearms, took a fighting stance.
"NOAH!!!"
From Arlong Park, Arlong shouted as he pushed off a wall that had collapsed on top of him.
Making the Hook's rope appear, I began spinning my Hook in the air.
After sending Arlong flying and Hatchan too, I gained some confidence.
Before, I still wasn't entirely sure of myself, but now, I knew that although it wouldn't be easy, it wouldn't necessarily be impossible for me to defeat them all.
"Ahh? Where did he go?"
Using the hat's ability, along with the darkness of the night, I began disappearing before their eyes.
"Stay on alert!"
"Damn it, how did he do that?"
"Don't let your guard down!"
While they searched for me on the ground, I was in the sky again, standing on the magic carpet.
"Whoosh!"
"He's up there!"
When I fired the Hook, my location was noticed, but it was already too late.
Going very fast, the Hook reached Kuroobi.
He smiled, thinking he had dodged it, but I whipped the rope, touching his neck, and then pulled!
"Kuroobi, watch out!"
The fish-man's warning shout came too late.
My pulling strength was strong enough that Kuroobi had no time to react.
Even when he tried to defend himself, the Hook surrounded half of his head and with the power behind the yank, a bloody scene became visible to everyone.
Half of Kuroobi's head was cut off as blood spouted like a fountain.
"Kuroobi!!!"
"Noah, you evil demon!"
"Murderer!"
'Is this for real?'
Hearing that from them completely surprised me.
These are the same ones who massacred my village and enslaved them?
Seriously, they called me that after one of them was killed?
That was far beyond irony.
"Shark on Tooth!"
Coming like a hurricane, Arlong spun at high speed toward me with his mouth wide open.
'Is he an idiot?' I thought.
What surprised me the most was that he was soaked, I don't know if he hit a water pipe when he was sent to Arlong Park, and even with the spinning and the water coming off his body because of that, he didn't get rid of the water completely.
I could've used the Hook to attack, but I changed my mind.
Almost hitting me, I simply left the Hook on the magic carpet and extended my hands, which quickly grew 30 cm.
I saw in Arlong's eyes that he felt revitalized by my actions.
However, I didn't care whether he thought I was foolish for doing that or not.
My hands began to get cold, layers of ice formed and I saw his panic appear when he realized it, but he had already reached me.
And with the air around starting to freeze, making his friction with the cold air—which began to freeze—reduce his spin, and when my hands touched his mouth and he clamped down trying to bite my hand off, what happened was me freezing his body from the inside out.
His gaze turned desperate.
"Devil Fruit…" The words came from his mouth in a broken voice.
His body began freezing at an incredible speed.
I saw pain show in his eyes as he was slowly frozen.
At this point, I was glad that my ability wasn't that strong yet—if it were stronger, Arlong wouldn't feel as much pain while being slowly frozen.
Turned into a human popsicle, I jumped over him.
"Arlong-san!!!"
Hatchan shouted from a distance.
Followed by other screams.
Some tried to catch him before he hit the ground.
But, I'm not that kind.
"No!!!"
Even without fully understanding, when I grabbed my Hook, they must have already predicted what I was going to do.
"Hahh!"
With a shout, I threw my Hook.
"Whoosh!"
The shot came with a slicing sound, soon followed by the sound of ice breaking into pieces.
"Crack!"
When Arlong was hit, his pieces scattered through the air, falling toward the fish-men who now, several of them, were crying.
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[Mission "Defeat Arlong" completed! 150 GP has been credited to your account and 1 Special Gold Gacha Coin can be claimed!]
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At other times, I might have been happy seeing that, but I wasn't in the mood for it, turning my gaze to the Arlong Pirates.
"Now you cry?" I shouted: "And when you killed my people, did you ever think this could come back to you, huh!?"
Strangely, my shout silenced them.
However, that silence didn't last long until Chew shouted: "We are superior beings, we are the evolution. We are the fish-men, our lives don't compare to the lives of you mere humans!"
I looked at him as if my eyes said: Are you seriously saying that?
However, that was also the last straw for me.
"If that's what you think, then you might as well join your captain." Saying that, I made the magic carpet get pulled back and strapped it to my waist belt, and on my feet, ice began to appear as I started sliding at high speed, holding the Hook in my left hand.
Before, I didn't intend to show this ability, but since I've shown it, I have no more reason to hide it.
Creating a large amount of ice was something difficult for me, but generating ice on my feet while using it to slide proved to be easy.
The humid air, being very close to the sea, helped a lot with that.
I don't want to become a cold-blooded killer. I'm not against killing, but I don't want to think that everyone has to die.
However, I simply couldn't forgive them.
Even Hatchan. Although I started to like him a bit in the anime, this was no longer part of the anime. This was part of my life, my family—Nami, Nojiko, and the rest—suffered a lot because of them.
My eyes became colder.
They must have seen that, because I saw some of them back away.
"He's a Devil Fruit user!" another one shouted.
"Onyooh, I'm going to kill you, Noah!" Hatchan stood right in front of where I was heading.
"I'd like to see you try." I said those words coldly.
I don't know what came over me, but when I decided to kill them, my determination was even greater than when I decided to kill that band of pirates.
I don't know if it was the intensity with which I said it, but Hatchan stepped back a few steps with sweat on his forehead.
With his spiky white hair, I struck him with the Hook as I reached him.
Another fish-man attacked me from my right side.
From the corner of my eye, I looked at him and my right hand stretched out and my punch hit his face, sending him flying.
When my hand returned to normal, I looked at Hatchan.
The Hook, upon hitting Hatchan's head, deformed his head in a way that looked like a valley—his mouth, which looked like a horn, spat out a lot of blood and broken teeth.
His eyes turned white while he didn't die immediately, but fell unconscious.
Another one tried to attack me during that, but I spun my body on one foot and with the other foot extended, my foot stretched to hit the jaw of the round-headed fish-man with huge teeth sticking out from the bottom.
His eyes bulged and he was sent upward, spinning, opening his mouth while screaming loudly.
I'm smaller than all of them, but when I reached Crew, who was 2.57 meters tall, my feet stretched and I extended my hand to his throat.
His effeminate face didn't bring me the slightest sympathy. I squeezed my hand around his throat.
"Let me go...!" he said in a suffocated voice.
His hands grabbed my arm, he tried to squeeze, maybe hoping it would make me let go of him, but his strength wasn't great enough to overcome my current defense.
"Gyojin Karate!"
One of them attacked me, using a karate strike.
I pulled my feet in, dragging Crew with me and then used Crew as a shield.
"BANG!"
Kuroobi's karate strike hit Crew's back full force.
That made Crew muffle a scream while his eyes rolled back.
"You demon!" Kuroobi shouted, pulling his hand back.
I looked at him with disinterest. His words no longer reached me.
I was determined to kill him too.
As if it were a chicken's neck, I kept squeezing until my strength was enough to crush his throat.
I admit that when I completely crushed Crew's throat and his head went limp, falling to the side, it terrified me in many ways, but I hardened my heart.
I knew I had to have an iron heart at that moment.
Letting go of his neck, I looked at Kuroobi.
My eyes made him back away.
"Noah... Don't forget that Nami is also one of..."
"Don't you dare speak her name with that filthy mouth of yours!" I didn't let him finish and shouted loudly.
That only brought back memories of how terrible our lives had been because of them.
And, when I screamed, I saw some of them falling with their eyes rolled back white.
Kuroobi didn't pass out, but his expression turned tense.
"What was that?" he murmured.
'No one can know I have this... At least not now!'
I knew what it was and what it meant.
Now, I was even more determined not to let any of them live.
I grabbed my Hook and with full force, I attacked Kuroobi.
"BANG!"
"CRACK!"
He used his hands to defend himself, but it was in vain, he didn't have Arlong's durability, although he was a tough guy.
The moment the edge of the Hook struck him, his body below the armpits was split in two.
Even after being cut, his expression was still one of disbelief.
He was the only one who managed to stay conscious—the rest had fainted.
Even so, I wasn't going to spare them.
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Hi! Just stopping by real quick to let you know that I'll be posting early chapters on my Patreon. At the moment, chapters are available up to chapter 16, but my goal is to publish at least 2 chapters per day over there — and 1 chapter per day for free.
If you want to follow the fanfic in advance, here's the link to my Patreon:
pa treon.com/Tozoku
Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.