Crack, crack, crack,
A series of lights flashed across the gate of 'Arlong Park,' and the thick gate shattered into various geometric shapes, scattering on the ground.
"Who are you?"
Facing the angry and shocked fish-men near the gate, the answer they received was:
A flash of blade.
Splat, splat!
Roman and Zoro walked into Arlong Park from the left and right, and behind them, two fish-men slowly fell to the ground.
"What!"
"You dare to cause trouble in Arlong Park?"
"Take them down—"
"Wait a minute..."
Although a cautious officer told them to 'wait,' these idle fish-men, perhaps used to bullying ordinary people, rushed at Roman and Zoro without hesitation! Many of them were even unarmed, attacking with bare hands—
Splat, splat, splat, splat,
In a series of sounds of blades cutting through flesh, the so-called fish-men, who were supposed to be physically superior to humans, were no different from dead fish in front of true 'masters.'
"Ahhh~~ my comrades!!"
"Trash is still trash,"
Roman flicked the blood off his sword, the clean weapon now pointed at the tall figure who had just jumped up from his chair.
"Hey, are you Arlong?"
"Who are you? What are you doing on my turf!"
Facing Arlong's dark and angry question, Roman calmly replied.
"We are pirates, from the Straw Hat Pirates."
"As for why we're here:"
Thinking of Nami crying and hurting herself on the ground, Roman's face darkened.
"You made our 'navigator' cry!"
?
What kind of ridiculous reason is that!
"Your navigator..." Despite Arlong's rough appearance, he was actually cunning and sly. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to collude with the Marines for eight years and even avoid Luffy's grandfather's 'wild hunt,' becoming a tyrant in this corner of the East Blue.
"We don't even know—"
??
"Could it be," the fish-man named Arlong frowned, thinking of a possibility.
"Are you the unlucky fools Nami tricked?"
"There are two mistakes in your words,"
Roman gripped his two knives and strode towards Arlong, ignoring the surrounding fish-men.
"First, Nami didn't deceive us."
"Second, meeting Nami was not an unlucky thing for us."
Roman, who was striding forward, stood in front of Arlong. Although he wasn't short, he seemed small compared to Arlong's 2.6-meter frame...
However, battles are never just about height or strength, but:
"Third, you shouldn't have—"
Let me get this close!
Swoosh—
Roman's two knives suddenly slashed upwards towards Arlong! It was as if he was performing two 'quick-draw' techniques simultaneously!
The speed of the sailor's knives instantly changed from extremely slow to extremely fast, so fast that they seemed to cross the boundary of time and space, disappearing in an instant. When they reappeared, it was accompanied by a rain of blood, and two powerful slashes roared forward.
"Paper Dance - Dual Quick-Draw!"
For a moment, the slashes crisscrossed, and the cold light was dazzling! It made Zoro, who was behind, blink.
Roman, you said you didn't know swordsmanship...
"Tch,"
However, Roman, who had landed a hit, jumped back with a dissatisfied snort, as a giant fist smashed into the spot where he had just stood! The hard stone slabs on the ground shattered like tofu.
"Human, how dare you!"
"Don't be impulsive, Arlong."
Cansong, holding a broken fish-man corpse in one hand, stopped Arlong's pursuit. At the critical moment just now, he had suddenly pushed Arlong aside and pulled an ordinary fish-man over to "block the blade." Otherwise:
Just by looking at the fish-man's upper half in his hand, one could tell how dangerous Roman's move had been!
"Cansong, and you!"
However, Arlong, who had been saved, was ungrateful and glared angrily at the red-skinned fish-man Cansong.
"You used a fellow fish-man as a shield—"
"Arlong, leave this enemy to me."
Facing Arlong's anger, Cansong released the corpse in his hand and stepped forward to face Roman.
"If I lose, I am willing to endure the 'Sun Punishment.'"
Hiss—
The other fish-men, who had been complaining, immediately fell silent. Although fish-men, like humans, could live on land, they needed a lot of water to keep their skin moist. Dryness was their greatest enemy.
The "Sun Punishment," as the name suggests, was a cruel punishment.
A few hundred pounds of a strong fish-man, tied under the scorching sun for days, would be dried into a few dozen pounds of "fish jerky"! It was the most brutal punishment for fish-men.
"This is troublesome."
Roman frowned. For him, there were no constraints like "fairness" or "righteousness." Whether it was a sneak attack or a trick, as long as it led to victory, it was a useful tactic.
Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to severely injure Arlong in the first move. The upcoming battle would be tough. Moreover:
"Who are you?"
Roman looked at the middle-aged fish-man in front of him, who looked more like a fisherman than a pirate, and frowned. Although his memories of his past life were vague, Arlong's subordinates should only have three leaders, right?
He glanced at the three clearly "different" guys standing next to Arlong: a six-armed goofy octopus, a long-lipped perverted fish, and a fish-man with arm bones like knife fans in a karate outfit.
So who was this red-skinned guy...
"The Counterattacker Roman, I didn't expect to meet you here." The other party called out Roman's name, making Roman frown.
"You know me?"
"Heh, I didn't expect to be forgotten so quickly."
The red-skinned fish-man shook his head self-deprecatingly, then his expression turned serious.
"You should remember the name 'Flame Pirates,' right?"
—!
"You're Captain Cansong?"
No way, this guy chased me all the way from the North Sea...
"If you're looking for revenge on the 'Silver Pirates,' that's unfortunate."
No wonder this guy looked familiar! Roman remembered now, this guy was the captain of the 'Flame Pirates' in the North Sea, a group wiped out by the Silver Pirates. It was said that their captain was away at the time, but who would have thought...
"Is that so?"
However, the other party assumed a fighting stance.
"As the battle captain of the Silver Pirates, you're also on my revenge list."
"So there's no room for negotiation? Fine—"
As soon as the word "fine" was spoken, Roman rushed at the opponent like a whirlwind!
The sword in his hand, cold as snow and thin as paper, reflected the sunlight, and as the twin blades swung, they shone like dazzling lightning, sealing off all escape routes for the opponent.
The fierce momentum and pressure of the blade wind condensed into a bloody and ferocious aura, pressing heavily towards the red-skinned fish-man, causing ripples in the pool twenty meters away, making the ordinary fish-men watching tremble with fear!
Facing Roman's cold twin blades, the red-skinned fish-man took a deep breath and then:
"Whoosh—"
The fish-man named Cansong's whiskers stood on end, his face turned fiery red, and he exhaled a stream of blue flames that condensed into a long blue fire column several meters long, bringing a wave of surging fire, enveloping Roman from above!
??
&#*#&￥*
Flames rushed towards him, and Roman could only leap back! He immediately canceled the 'Paper Dance - Iron Armor' on his body and even discarded the two swords in his hands! However, he was still engulfed by the flames. Although Roman rolled on the ground to extinguish the fire, it was useless!
The flames clung to his skin, burning and seemingly trying to burrow into his flesh. Roman had to quickly create several layers of paper on his skin and then discard them. Although this increased the fire on his body, it expelled the 'thing' that was burning into his flesh.
Seeing the effect and color, Roman wrinkled his nose and grimly voiced his guess:
"This is... phosphorus!"
"That's right," the fishman Cansong on the other side exhaled, releasing a string of sparks.
"I am a 'dark-colored cardinalfish' type fishman. I can absorb phosphorus-containing organic matter from food and store it in my body, then spray it out when needed."
Damn—
Roman's face darkened. A fire-breathing ability, and one that used the unquenchable phosphorus! This was a perfect counter to his fruit ability.
"Zoro,"
Helpless, Roman glanced at the three-sword-style... now one-sword-style green-haired swordsman beside him.
"Sorry, I'll have to drag you into this."
"Hehe, just what I wanted."
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