With Arlong's dead body in front of him, Noah felt a strange sense of misconduct, as if he was doing something wrong by killing another living being like him.
But then he thought about everything that had happened and everything that would happen if it weren't for him being here, the guilt diminishing as he reaffirmed these facts. Even if he wasn't one of Arlong's victims, Nami, Nojiko and all the surrounding villages were. And that was enough for him to eliminate any guilt from his heart.
And he also didn't have much time to analyze his guilt when he felt two bodies hitting him hard. Thanks to his post-fight weakness, he was brought to the ground as well.
"Hey!" Feeling the impact of Nojiko and Nami, Noah just fell to the ground while hugging the two. It wasn't as if he was going to complain about having them like this too.
"Noah!! You really did it!! I-I-I-" Nami was showing her genuine happiness when the tears inevitably came. And when she looked at Arlong's unmoving body, she felt a weight the size of the planet lifting from her heart and shoulders, forcing her to bury her face in his chest to cry.
"I know you don't want this title, but you are a hero." Nojiko was more restrained and just shed a tear of happiness. Even on the floor, she hugged Noah and whispered softly in his ear, "You are our hero…"
"I'm starting to like the title." Smiling at the two women, he just stroked their heads as he rested a bit.
Whether he wanted to or not, this fight took a significant toll on his body and spirit. Even so, with only internal injuries due to excessive effort, it showed that he was at the limit of his abilities when facing someone as powerful as Arlong and his crew alone.
While they were on the ground venting their feelings, a large group of people began to approach Arlong Park, led by Genzo. And as soon as they arrived and saw the scene there, they all began to collapse on the ground in joy.
"Arlong has… finally… ARLONG HAS BEEN DEFEATED!!" Genzo shouted with happiness, raising his arms as if in surrender to the feeling in his chest.
"WE ARE FREE!! FINALLY FREE!!"
A chant began to sound with all the villagers crying and smiling with joy, knowing that they were no longer subject to the suffering and torture brought by Arlong.
"Noah!! Where is Noah?!" Genzo, who controlled his happiness more easily, only noticed the girls around a body on the floor, seeming to cry. His expression quickly went from joy to terror, "No... Noah d-died?"
"HOW??"
The villagers also quickly stopped their chant when they heard him stammer. Naturally, everyone knew who Noah was, the man who faced the danger to liberate them.
And with the news that he was dead, everyone's heart also sank.
"I can't believe it... Noah died for all of us, for our freedom..." Genzo began to murmur words as he felt his old heart bear another burden of death. His head dropped as he tried to prevent the old tears from coming.
And without him paying attention, Noah got up with the help of Nami and Nojiko.
"He's alive!!" The villagers suddenly saw him alive and well, and started to shout with joy.
"Yes, he is alive! Alive in our hearts as the hero who saved us, alive as the one who overcame life's adversities and brought peace-" Genzo kept mumbling, not wanting to look up.
It seemed that his many years as a sheriff took a toll on his mental sanity.
"Old man, are you wishing for my death?" Noah, who naturally heard this, complained with a smile on his face as soon as he got close.
"How?" Genzo quickly looked at the big guy in front of him, alive and strong, and put a quick smile on his face, "Noah!! Cough Of course not, don't mind the nonsense of this old man. Come, my son, let's celebrate your victory!"
"FREEDOM!!" The villagers began to sing naturally, leading the way to the village and ready to have a party.
Noah, who was also smiling, took two little red orbs and one more purple orb and ingested them, feeling the great amount of energy surging in his body at once and recovering the damages.
Apart from his spiritual energy, which allowed the manipulation of wind and was harder to recover, he would be ready for another fight in a few minutes. This was one of the main benefits of these orbs, to be honest. Of course, if he ingested a big orb, his wounds would actually explode, and that's why he took two small orbs.
Nami and Nojiko, who were by his side at the moment, saw this somewhat magical action of him and were curious, but did not ask anything. They knew that a man's secrets were his greatest weapon or weakness.
While they were happily walking back to Cocoyase Village, a navy ship quickly docked ashore next to them, catching everyone's attention.
°°°
"Chi chi chi chi, just wait a moment, villagers!"
As expected by Noah, with a laugh as disgusting as his own face, Nezumi, accompanied by a squadron of armed sailors, come down from the navy ship they were on and stopped everyone's passage.
"Who was responsible for that mess?" Nezumi pointed directly at Arlong Park, his eyes already shining with intense greed for the treasures that were there.
But contrary to what he expected, none of the villagers moved, as if his words were worth nothing. Neither Nami or Nojiko cared to say anything, just supporting Noah, thinking that he was still tired.
"It was me!" Genzo suddenly stepped forward, looking directly into Nezumi's eyes. "I was the one responsible for eliminating the Arlong Pirates. I left my weapons there, so you can check."
"Just you, peasant?" Nazumi looked at Genzo with contempt, clearly not believing him, "If you open your mouth again to lie to me, I will order your execution for disrespecting authority."
With his words, the villagers started to become tense, nervous that something might happen to them. Nami was also looking intently at Nezumi, as if she wanted to tear him to pieces.
"You-" Genzo, clearly already knowing who he was dealing with, still raised his hand fearlessly.
But, just as he was about to speak further, a tall figure passed by his side, standing in front of everyone. And looking at that tall, brave figure, it seemed that everyone had become more at ease.
"I was the one responsible. Is there a problem?" Noah was not in the mood for conversation and immediately took the lead.
"Yes, there are many problems." Hitting who he wanted, Nezumi again put on his rotten fish smile and continued, "Even though you have defeated all of them, you are not carrying any kind of bounty paper, which makes your actions useless. So you won't receive any reward for having defeated the Arlong Pirates."
Nezumi began to make up lame excuses and nonexistent rules to take full credit for the defeat of the Arlong Pirates. The way the sailors behind him didn't dare to react also showed that they were all in collusion and accepted it.
After only three new rules, Noah completely lost his patience.
"Shut the hell up." Noah began to walk towards them, his eyes seeming to penetrate Nezumi's soul, who was shocked by his response. He continued after that, "We all here already know what kind of sailor you are, so let's cut the bullshit."
His sudden words caused great shock to everyone, both for the villagers and sailors, as well as for Nami and Nojiko. Nami mainly, who saw how he took the lead and seemed to be speaking for her when confronting Nezumi.
"Sailors!" Nezumi took a step back as he nervously swallowed his saliva, trying to keep his face of justice, "If he gets any closer, you are allowed to fire."
"Is this how you always resolve your disputes?" Noah smiled at him, finally firsthand observing the rot of the so-called Marine Justice. Without stopping walking, he continued, "Murders, robberies, extortion, bribes... I wonder what else you can be good at…"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Nezumi was sweating a little as he felt the danger that Noah seemed to impose, while also being internally shocked by the truth, "Men, if he takes one more step, open fire!"
Stopping at the exact moment he said this, Noah withdrew his smile and looked deeply at Nezumi.
"Of the many crimes you committed during your time here, the worst was accepting everything that happened to this island. And don't get me started on how you teamed up with Arlong to confiscate Nami's money." Pausing a little so that his words would fall on everyone's ears, he continued, "You sincerely never thought that someone who had more power than you could kick your ass one day, didn't you?"
With the silence that followed, the truth shocking all the villagers, Nezumi became nervous when he saw Noah draw his sword from the sheath with his thumb.
Swoosh! Slash!
Faster than anyone could react, Noah suddenly accelerated and unsheathed his sword, splitting in half all the weapons in the hands of the sailors.
'What is he doing?? This fool will be pursued by the navy!' Genzo thought in terror, watching everything he was doing.
After that, using the sheath, Noah hit the back of everyone's neck. Not even the commander, who was second in command after the captain, was exempt from fainting on the ground. And only Nezumi stood still and shocked, looking at him in terror.
"You are making a big mistake! If you lay a hand on me, know that you will never again be able to go unpunished in the four corners of the world!" Nezumi continued stepping back in fear until he tripped and fell. Even so, he continued threatening, "You will forever have a bounty on your head, and the Navy will always be on your tail!"
"Perfect, just the way I like it." Noah smiled at him before lifting his foot and disappearing.
Kick! Bang!
With a kick in the face, Nezumi flew away as a line of blood followed and some teeth were left in the way. Without giving him a chance to recover, Noah appeared right in front of him and punched his diaphragm, fragmenting and completely destroying it.
"Noah!" Nami shouted at him, knowing that he could go too far. She didn't want to prevent Nezumi from dying, but rather that Noah would not be punished for it. Just thinking about him getting a reward because of her, her heart ached a little.
When he was called by her, Noah looked in her direction and understood what she was thinking. But then he laughed at her innocence, almost finding it cute. Looking at the unconscious Nezumi, he just shrugged and left him the way he was.
'Yes, he has many chances of surviving with a destroyed diaphragm...' Talking to himself, Noah walked towards them, but stopped halfway.
Holding the commander of the 16th Branch Base of the navy, he punched him in the face, forcibly waking him up.
"What-" The man tried to say something, but was punched again in the face and remained silent, realizing the situation he was in.
"Glad you're not a heavy sleeper." Noah joked a little before continuing, "Let's get serious now. I know that YOU know about your captain's actions, so let's not play 'I don't know'. Tomorrow you will return all the money that was stolen from the villages of this island, and even the money that was confiscated over the years. And don't mess with me, you won't like the outcome. Understood?"
"Y-yes!" With no other option but to accept, the commander stuttered as he thought about the kind of mess his captain had gotten him into.
"Great, then you can take your little friends back." Throwing the commander back on the ground, Noah watched his actions.
Waking some soldiers, they started to take their still unconscious colleagues to the ship, and Nezumi was also taken. The nearly dead captain was in such a precarious state that even the old witch who takes care of Chopper would struggle to keep him alive. As for the sailors, they looked extremely scared that Noah could do something against them, only relaxing when the ship was far from the island.
"Boy, you know they're going to come after you, right? With a lot more people than this." Genzo approached and looked at all of them running away.
"I know." Noah looked at Nezumi's ship in the distance and smiled, "But I need a good ship and a large amount of labor to renovate it…"
And as if his words were very enlightening, everyone understood what his goal was here. Nami and Nojiko approached him and stood on either side of him, wearing huge smiles on their faces.
"A good ship? The Navy's ships are the best." Nami arrived beside him and in her mind she could only imagine the scene of her sailing with him. And she didn't let him realize she was blushing.
"You are bad for stealing from the Navy like this." Nojiko approached him too and stood by his side, watching the ship go away. She then turned with a smile to him, lightly hitting his waist with hers, "Is it wrong for me to like this?"
"I wouldn't say that." Noah smiled at her, but soon turned to the villagers of Cocoyase Village, "Come on, folks. We have a party to make!"
"PARTY!" The people quickly forgot everything that happened here as if by magic and began to sing their freedom again.
And in this way, the Arlong Pirates no longer posed a danger to Conomi Islands, nor to the East Blue. The people were free from the tyranny of pirates... and now from the navy too.
°°°
Standing at the edge of the pool in Arlong Park, Hatchan was shocked and wide-eyed, looking at the destruction and bodies around the site.
"What the hell..." Putting his hands on his head, he felt an overwhelming emotion within him. And at the same time, he was feeling an intense fear of whoever had done this.
In this way, he made the smartest decision he could at the moment...
Run.
¨¨¨¨
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