Chapter 45: The Gloom Lifts

“Stop joking.”

Genzo looked around, breaking into a wry, embarrassed smile as sweat gathered on his brow. “These are fish-men we’re talking about. What could I possibly do? Any one of them could send me flying with a single slap.”

Come to think of it—

When he had been cycling along the ridge toward the harbor and spotted the figures coming ashore in the distance, only to realize they were fish-men, his heart had nearly stopped.

He had read reports about these men in the newspapers.

They had all once belonged to the Sun Pirates, sailing from the Grand Line into the East Blue. Their strength was far beyond that of any pirate crew in the East Blue.

Yet who could have imagined that, less than twenty minutes after landing, every last one of them would already be a corpse?

Shano had witnessed how absurdly powerful Xano could be while tempering his body, but nothing compared to the shock of seeing pirates from the Grand Line wiped out before his very eyes.

“Xano,” Genzo said with a sigh. “You really are a monster through and through. It looks like our Cocoyasi Village is finally going to produce a truly remarkable figure.”

“Is that so?”

Xano laughed, stretched lazily, and rose to his feet.

“But right now, all I want is to go home and sleep in. I’ll leave the cleanup to you, Uncle.”

Genzo nodded, but before he could say anything, his eyes widened and his gaze fixed on the area behind Xano.

What was it?

Xano turned around and saw the sea in the distance churning violently.

A massive sea beast covered in green spots, with an appearance remarkably similar to a cow, emerged from the water and stared blankly at the corpses scattered everywhere.

“Moo-moo?”

Only then did Xano remember. Wasn’t this the sea beast raised by the Arlong Pirates?

Had it surfaced to avenge Arlong?

Xano grinned and leaped to the front of the deck. He was no longer the little brat who had been forced to swallow his pride when facing the Lord of the Coast.

Momoo was several times larger than the Lord of the Coast, but with Xano’s current physical strength, it probably could not withstand even a single punch.

“Moo—!”

To his surprise, Momoo threw back its head and let out a joyful cry. Then it spat a huge mouthful of saliva at the corpses of the fish-men before bending both forelegs together in a gesture of respect toward Xano.

“Am I seeing this right, Xano?” Genzo exclaimed from shore. “Is it clasping its forelegs to thank you?”

It certainly seemed that way.

Xano was stunned as well. His clenched fist hovered uncertainly, and for a moment he had no idea whether he should throw the punch.

But Momoo gave him no time to think. It turned around, leaped into the air, and plunged joyfully into the sea, its tail whipping behind it. Before long, it had vanished without a trace.

“This scene feels strangely familiar.”

Xano stroked his chin, sinking into thought.

Could it be that Shirahoshi was actually an impostor, and Momoo was the true, legitimate Sea King Poseidon of this generation?

…

Half an hour later.

Villagers began arriving one after another to help clean up the battlefield at the harbor.

When the children had first brought news that a pirate crew had landed, the entire village had fallen into panic. Only after hearing that Xano had rushed over did everyone finally calm down.

And Xano had lived up to their expectations. He had single-handedly annihilated the entire pirate crew.

As for the excessively bloody scene around the harbor…

No one thought it was too cruel. Everyone believed the pirates had deserved their fate. If not for Xano, they might have been the ones lying in pools of blood today.

The feeling became even stronger when Genzo called the surrounding villages on the island to ask about their situation.

To everyone’s shock, Kesha Town next door had been completely destroyed by the Arlong Pirates. More than half of its people had been killed or wounded.

Outraged by the news, the villagers were also filled with lingering fear and gratitude.

Thank goodness their Cocoyasi Village had produced such a formidable fighter.

Only because of him had they been spared a tragic fate.

…

On the country road beneath the shade of the coconut palms, Xano strolled leisurely toward home with both arms folded behind his head.

He was not running, nor was he using Soru to hurry along. In fact, he was moving even more slowly than an old man taking his morning walk.

Four years had passed since his memories awakened. It had been a very long time since he had allowed himself to relax so completely.

Arlong was dead.

The Arlong Pirates had been destroyed.

The dark clouds hanging over Cocoyasi Village had finally dispersed, and the great stone that had weighed upon his heart for so long had shattered completely.

“What beautiful weather.”

Xano raised his head to admire the blue sky and white clouds, feeling relaxed and content.

After gathering his thoughts, he casually opened the system panel.

He had left the final cleanup to the village men, but he naturally had not forgotten to claim the spoils.

Before Genzo arrived, he had already tried sacrificing nearly everything that could be offered.

There had been a great many fish-men corpses, most of them with names and identities, providing him with ample opportunities for trial and error. He had also gained a new understanding of the system’s rules.

Aside from treasured personal belongings, it seemed that limbs such as arms and legs were the limit of what the system would accept. It was completely impossible to sacrifice an entire corpse directly. Even severed heads were rejected.

The smaller head was out of the question too.

It was almost as though the system itself had been restricted by the Great Crab of Censorship. Things that were excessively dark, bloody, or obscene simply did not qualify as offerings.

Xano could understand that.

In the end, he used the information flow on the system panel to organize and tally everything.

Officers such as Chew, Kuroobi, and Pisaro, who had little substance and barely any presence in the story, provided pitifully few points—an average of only twenty or thirty each.

The more capable officers, such as Kuroobi and Hatchan, provided somewhere between several dozen and two hundred points.

Even all of them combined fell far short of Arlong.

Xano had cut off the arm bearing Arlong’s red tattoo and sacrificed it, receiving a staggering eight hundred points—enough to purchase a decent cultivation manual from the shop.

Naturally, such a valuable resource could not be wasted.

Xano patted his trouser pocket. Inside were Arlong’s nose and several of his fangs. They were reserves. Later, he would freeze them in a concealed place and sacrifice one whenever the cooldown ended.

The behavior was perhaps a little shameless, but Arlong probably would not object.

“Big brother!”

A familiar voice rang out.

Xano looked up and saw Nojiko and Nami running toward him excitedly.

“You really defeated the pirates who invaded us, didn’t you?”

“Mm.”

He picked up one girl in each arm and laughed. “But you two are late. The battle has already been over for quite a while.”

“Hmph! I knew it! Easy as pie! Some of the children in the village were worried that you might not be able to beat them all by yourself. What a bunch of fools. Don’t they know what it means to be the greatest swordsman in the East Blue?”

Nami, why are you still making things up?

Xano rubbed her hair with exasperation. The one with no judgment was clearly her. She had watched him train so many times and still failed to realize that he knew absolutely nothing about swordsmanship.

“Are you taking us home?” Nojiko asked.

“No!” Nami protested, shaking her head like a rattle drum. “We only just snuck out! We still want to see what those pirates look like.”

“It’s too bloody. Not suitable for children. You’re not going.”

Xano grabbed Nami as she tried to wriggle free from beneath his arm. He ignored the way the little girl’s mouth had turned into a pout and instead glanced at her arm.

Then he looked at Nojiko’s.

Both little arms were clean and fair, without the slightest trace of a tattoo. Neither of them would ever need to take a knife to their skin, stabbing and cutting until tears of pain streamed down their faces…

“Hey, Big Brother, what are you staring at?” Nami glared at him unhappily. “Are you secretly planning to complain to Bell-mère again? I took a bath last night, and I washed my hair too!”

“Why, aren’t you a responsible little girl.”

Xano burst out laughing. He lifted both sisters high over his head, then settled them onto his broad shoulders. Bathed in the warm afternoon sunlight, he strode toward home.