Chapter 42 Have You Finally Arrived

Two mornings later.

Genzo was humming a cheerful little tune, pushing his bicycle along the field path just outside the village entrance. The weather was pleasant and comfortable, perfect for a patrol.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind swept by, sending his wide-brimmed police cap flying into the air. He hurriedly parked his bicycle, leaned down, and bent over to retrieve it.

The little pinwheel attached to it was wet again, and it took him quite a while to wipe it clean. Genzo put it back on with a somewhat aggrieved expression.

He had just finished making this one last night. The one he made a year ago had inexplicably vanished without a trace a few days ago.

Why on earth, and precisely who could it be, that kept targeting a worthless little pinwheel?

To this day, Genzo remained utterly baffled.

Just as he straightened up, he suddenly caught sight of a few children who frequently played by the dock running toward him in a panic, constantly looking back over their shoulders.

The moment they saw him, they began to yell anxiously, "Uncle Genzo! It's bad, it's bad!"

"Pirates! Over by the dock, a pirate ship is coming!"

What?!

Genzo's face drained of color in utter shock. He immediately straddled his bicycle. "I'll go check it out. You kids head straight to the village and tell everyone to hide in the mountains..."

Wait, the mountains?

His movements suddenly froze as it hit him. The Cocoyasi Village of today was no longer a place helpless against just any random pirate crew that happened to show up.

Up in those mountains resided an absolute monster!

"Grab the adults you meet along the way and go find Shano!" he corrected himself on the spot. "Tell him to get to the dock right now. This is of the utmost importance, no delays allowed. Did you hear me?!"

"Understood, Uncle Genzo!"

Genzo watched the children run off into the distance before resuming his ride toward the dock. He bit his lower lip, a lingering sense of unease gnawing at his heart.

The peace in Cocoyasi Village had lasted for several years. What level of pirate crew was arriving this time?

What if—what if his luck was so abysmal that it turned out to be an overlord-class force like the Krieg Pirates?

Could Shano really withstand something like that?

......

Deep within the mountain range.

A black-haired youth was gripping a giant tree weighing two to three tons, swinging it around like a golden cudgel with evident enjoyment. Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a white figure sweeping across the sky.

"Moon Walk!"

—Swish!

Shano sprang up from the ground, flashing through the air a few times to intercept the News Coo.

"Squawk!!!"

Startled into a duck-like screech, the News Coo’s feathers ruffled all over in fright.

It was in charge of the East Blue sector, and though it had heard stories from its partners about humans in the Grand Line who could fly, it had never actually witnessed one with its own eyes!

"Today's newspaper, please. Thank you." Shano flicked his finger, and a fifty-Berry coin dropped neatly into the mailbag hanging in front of the bird's neck.

His mastery of the Moon Walk was sufficient to keep him suspended in mid-air for several seconds, but no sooner had he retrieved the newspaper than he began to fall before he even had a chance to unfold it.

The News Coo picked up the coin in its beak, staring blankly downward at the plummeting figure.

—This guy actually had the leisure to open and read a newspaper while falling? Weren't they afraid of falling to their death?

"Princess Otohime assassinated?"

Gazing at the front-page headline, Shano gripped the newspaper motionless, letting his body drop in free fall.

A few seconds later, he crashed heavily onto the mountaintop, blasting out a massive crater amid a violent splatter of dust and debris.

By the time the dust cleared, he had finished reading the report and furrowed his brow.

So Arlong coming to East Blue and Hody Jones murdering Princess Otohime happened in the very same year?

Two generations of scum... no, fish-scum. Truly cut from the same cloth, committing evil deeds with synchronized timing.

Putting away the newspaper, he stepped out of the self-created crater in a few strides and headed toward the southernmost edge. Doing what he had repeated countless times over the past year, he habitually gazed out into the distance toward the dock.

"Arlong, oh Arlong, why aren't you here yet..." he muttered almost unconsciously.

The very next moment, however, his gaze froze and he stopped dead in his tracks.

At the edge of the horizon, out of nowhere, a massive pirate ship appeared, sailing directly toward the dock.

Beneath the fluttering Jolly Roger, the figurehead at the bow was carved into the terrifying shape of a serrated shark jaw, looking immensely fierce.

The sea breeze blew past, leaving the figure atop the mountain peak completely motionless for a long time.

After a long while.

"Arlong..."

A voice that sounded half-crying and half-laughing finally drifted out, filled with an eerie resentment. He stretched his limbs, his muscles emitting a chilling shudder and twitching sound that could make one's spine crawl. "You've finally come..."

"I really, really missed you so much..."

The exact instant those words fell.

Crack, snap. As his arches gradually tensed, countless spiderweb-like cracks suddenly erupted from beneath his feet, spreading wildly downward along the mountain face as the entire cliff groaned under an unbearable burden.

Boom—!!!

The next second, the air violently detonated into layers of ripples, and the massive muscular humanoid figure vanished from the spot as the cliff entirely collapsed.

When he reappeared, he had instantly shifted to the top of a coconut tree dozens of meters away, his stomp bending the trunk into a tightly coiled bow. Utilizing the rebound force, he launched himself fiercely into the distance once again!

......

Thud!

Accompanied by a violent impact, the shark-themed ship, the *Shark Suprob*, forcefully rammed into the dock, mercilessly crushing the wooden pier into splinters.

Tap, tap, tap. Dozens of exceptionally bulky figures leisurely disembarked, stepping off the debris-covered ground onto solid earth.

"So this is Cocoyasi Village?"

Glaring at the distant village with wisps of cooking smoke curling upward, the kissing-gourami fishman officer named Chu raised an eyebrow:

"It's still quite a bit bigger than it looked on the chart. Looks like if we search thoroughly enough, we can still squeeze out a decent chunk of cash, chu-mee~"

"I find it rather disappointing."

Another officer, Kuroobi, maintained a cold expression, arms crossed over his chest, and spoke indifferently:

"Not a shred of surprise. It's been a long time since I last stretched my muscles, but what can you do? Finding someone in a hick village like this who's qualified to exchange punches with me is as hard as ascending to heaven."

He wore a dark blue martial arts uniform with a muscular physique, a black belt indicating a Karate rank tied around his waist, and two small hair buns on his head, making him look exceptionally unapproachable.

Smack.

A large purple hand suddenly landed on the shoulders of the two fishman officers.

"Sha-ha-ha-ha—! Cut the idle chatter, you lot."

Arlong grinned, exposing a full mouth of sharp fangs. "We've already set foot on land. Time to follow my lead and roar out the declaration of the Arlong Pirates."

He abruptly spread his arms wide, and the fishman pirates behind him grinned hideously as they drew their blades from their scabs.

"Boring, pathetic humans!"

Arlong laughed wildly toward the distant village, "From now on, this village... no! This entire island will be ruled by us!!!"

"Sha-ha-ha-ha—!!!"

Amidst the rampant laughter, the Arlong Pirates marched out of the dock and formally advanced toward the village.

However, just past a corner, they found four fallen coconut trees laid horizontally across one another, perfectly blocking the path leading to the village.

"Hmm? Man-made?"

Kuroobi narrowed his eyes, sneering. "Did they lose their nerve from just seeing the pirate ship in the distance? Naive! Thinking something like this could block our path?"

"Look closer, someone's actually sitting on top of it, chu-mee~"

Beside him, Chu chuckled and pointed toward the black-clad figure seated upon the tree trunks.

"Hey, little bro, are you trying to protect your village all by yourself? Tsk tsk tsk, whatever else, that kind of courage is truly admirable!"

The opponent had been sitting quietly the whole time with his head lowered in silence, fists clenched and trembling slightly as if desperately fighting to overcome his terror.

Hearing the praise, he finally lifted his head, revealing a delicate and clean youthful face.

Amidst the mocking gazes of the various fishmen, he smiled rather shyly and embarrassedly:

"...Thank you."