Hope you've enjoyed it so far. Now for the conclusion of Nami's journey to Oykot...
"Who's out here demanding an audience with me?"
She lay motionless, curled in a ball beneath the hydrangeas as the deep roaring voice reverberated all the way from the other end of the grounds. Slowly, she raised her head and peered out at the expansive garden she'd landed in. Manicured shrubs and ornamental trees dotted the area in aesthetically pleasing patterns across the greenway while a stone path led to a large central pool complete with waterfall. While not quite the size of Arlong Park, it was certainly much prettier and not at all what she'd expected from a pirate's abode.
The trespasser gasped as soon as she realized she wasn't alone. A woman lying on her stomach in a lounge chair appeared to have fallen asleep while sunning herself by the pool. Nami crept out of the bushes, taking cover behind a nearby tree. She glanced from the pool to the open glass doors leading into the mansion. Pausing to pick up the rumpled robe, hat and sunglasses sitting on a table near the sleeping sun bather, Nami donned the articles as a hasty disguise before slipping through the door into a large kitchen area.
She hurried past an old lady standing in front of the stove, stirring the contents of a pot with her back to the girl. Pulling the wide brim of the sun hat down over her face, Nami crossed quickly into the living area.
Her eyes roved the open floor plan, searching for anything of value. The house was sparsely decorated with a grand, fully stocked bar inside a large, central alcove commanding all the attention. Carved mermaids swam across the woodwork, along shelves and over various pieces of furniture. A large painting of a seductive-looking blonde woman (most likely the same one lying out by the pool) hung in a prominent place over the landing. Instinctively, the girl headed for the second floor.
Quickly locating the master suite, Nami marveled over the enormous bathroom complete with the most spacious shower and tub she'd ever seen. Staring down at her ripped, dirty, blood encrusted clothing, she longed to try them out, but now she had to grab whatever booty she could find within the uncertain window of time she had left.
On her way to the closet, she heard faint voices carried through the open window facing the front gate. The girl glanced out to see who she assumed was Captain Butler standing face to face with Bane. A pair of nearby henchmen abruptly opened the gate and yanked the still ranting Bane inside the walls where they headed for the house.
Nami dove for the closet door. Doing her best to ignore the rows of beautiful shoes and outfits - she went straight for the jewelry box instead. When she cleared out every piece of gold she could find, filling her stolen hat with them, she emerged unsure where to head next. There had to be a stash of money somewhere - hopefully not locked in a safe where she couldn't get to it. Her uncertain stare gradually met her own reflection in the large mirror across the wall.
"Madam, is everything okay?"
The girl's head whipped toward the bedroom doorway as the old lady from the kitchen suddenly walked in. She then looked down to see where her wounds had dripped a steady trail of blood across the floor.
Their eyes met and Nami's stomach dropped. Any second now and the grizzled woman would start screaming; Butler would realize it was a trap and his men would kill Bane, and then her. She glanced desperately around for any means of escape, but the old woman merely stared curiously back at her, then down at the jewel-filled hat in her hand.
A strange familiarity toward this woman she'd never laid eyes on before stirred in Nami. The older lady wore her frosty apricot hair in a thick braid down her back and a plain cotton dress beneath her apron. She'd probably lived her whole life in Oykot and would have remembered the way things were long before the local government collapsed into pirate rule. Did she ever imagine herself working as a housekeeper for a murdering pirate kingpin? Nami wondered if she had any family left or if they'd all met some tragic end. Was there anyone she still had to support - grandchildren perhaps?
"Can I help you with anything," asked the woman, addressing the thief just like she was any a normal guest.
"Uhhh...Well I, ummm..." A flustered Nami was rendered momentarily speechless.
Without missing a beat, the aged cook bumped her hip against the beveled mirror along the wall. The large glass panel appeared to shift upon impact to the girl's increased bemusement.
"I don't know what good it'll do, but you might try here," the old lady replied cryptically before turning to walk back out of the room.
Nami watched her leave, staring slack-jawed at the doorway for several long moments before a burst of loud shouting from downstairs startled her back to the present. Bane, based on everything she heard going on below, was still affecting his bizarre act to entice Butler's curiosity.
"I know your game! You've got me where you want me and now you think you're gonna torture something out of me - but you and I both already know the truth, Butler! I've said all there is to say - you might as well go ahead and kill me right here on your bearskin rug!"
The entire plan (or lack thereof) was quickly going off the rails. With matters rapidly escalating in the living room, and Nami having no clue regarding Bane's thought process, she needed to move immediately. She had no intentions of joining him in a shallow grave somewhere along the rocky shores at the bottom of the hillside.
Nami grabbed the edge of the mirror, pushing it further away from the wall; it was indeed a hidden door. The murkiness on the other side made ascertaining how large the interior was or what might be lurking within virtually impossible. Nami shuddered as she forced herself to step inside, recalling the incident of the skeleton in the cave all too vividly. Of its own accord, the panel abruptly shut behind her with a click and panic immediately clenched her anxious gut. An overhead light flickered on in the next moment and she found herself standing in the middle of a closet-sized room before a large black box sitting on the floor. Just what she'd been dreading - it was a safe.
She rubbed her eyes to ensure she wasn't imagining the giant vault. she then reached out a hand to touch the cold metal surface, running her fingers over the dial of the combination lock. She'd successfully cracked just such a device only once in her life. About a year ago she'd snatched a small safe during one of her raids on a pirate ship. Unable to open the vault, she'd spent months spinning the dial while traveling back and forth to Cocoyasi, trying her best to feel the clicks of the tumblers as they fell into place only to come up short. It was frustrating, but it was something to fill long spans of time between journeys. She'd eventually come to the conclusion she'd never get into the box until one day, as the final turn swiveled into place for the one thousandth time, the door magically popped open.
Her reverie was cut short by a loud burst of gunfire below her feet and Nami let out a short scream, diving to the floor. Someone else below also screamed.
The shots rang out for less than ten seconds, however, Nami remained panting and motionless in a ball until she heard footsteps echoing slowly up the stairs. Whimpering, she scampered to the far corner of the room - realizing for the first time that the secret panel actually served as a two-way mirror with the transparent side in the hidden room. Even though she couldn't be seen from the other side, the girl felt exposed and crouched behind the large safe in the middle of the room as the footsteps grew louder.
A dark figure strode into the suite and stopped before the mirror. Nami squeezed her eyes shut and huddled tightly against the cool metal. Butler the Betrayer was here, and he could smell the blood of a pirate thief creeping through his house - any minute now and it would all be over.
"Hello? You up here, girlie?"
Nami's eyes popped open. She twisted round to take a second look at the dark figure looming on the other side of the mirror.
"Bane," she gawked, "is that you?"
"Yeah. Where in the hell are you? There's blood drops leading all the way in here."
She was so relieved and astounded she could barely get her footing as she tripped toward the mirror. "I'm in here! You're alive? How are you actually alive right now?"
Bane squinted in confusion at the voice coming from the other side of his reflection. "I dunno, magic mirror, you tell me."
With a disgusted huff, Nami slapped the glass pane which sprang open, hitting Bane in the nose.
"Ow!"
"Sorry, I didn't know it was going to do that - honest." She stepped out, noting how amazingly unscathed he appeared. No one would ever have guessed he'd just sauntered in from a shoot-out. By comparison, she was a ripped and bloody mess after having simply jumped a wall.
"You look like you've been mauled by a dog," he observed.
"Well, you didn't exactly fill me in on your master plan, so I was forced improvise," she snapped back.
"I see you found something," he pushed the mirror door aside, peering in at the secret cache.
"Actually, the housekeeper came up and showed it to me... You didn't do anything to hurt her did you?"
He made a face, "No, I'm not generally in the habit of slaughtering innocent domestic servants; I didn't even see a housekeeper. I did see his gal-pal right before she bolted out the door in her bikini bottoms, but I didn't shoot her either."
"Are they - Butler and his guards - are they all dead?"
"Yeah, they are," Bane affirmed, crossing over to examine the safe, "but this might pose a bit of a problem."
"I was afraid of this, but...I think maybe I can crack it," said Nami, staring hard at the formidable box.
The man let out a long exhale, "We don't have all day long for that."
"It won't take all day long," declared the girl, growing doggedly hopeful in the face of his doubt, "I've done this before - I know I can open it!"
He cast a deliberating glance at her, remaining silent for a long moment before replying, "Well, we can't carry it out like it is - how long do you figure it'll take you?"
"Hmmm," she looked from the safe back to the increasingly impatient Bane as he awaited her reply, "give me fifteen minutes."
"Alright, I think we can afford to spare that but remember - the longer we stay here the more dangerous it gets."
"Right," she muttered, jumping straight to work.
"And don't waste my time unless you actually know what you're doing," he warned her.
"Let me concentrate!" She waved him off, pressing her ear against the device.
Nami allowed her fingers to experience the gentle clicks as she slowly spun the dial. When she felt a slight anomaly, she paused and spun the opposite direction. She repeated the same sequence a third time, coming to a stop as soon as she felt an almost imperceptible bump in the locking mechanism. Nothing happened. A cold sweat began to creep across the girl's forehead. She heard Bane sigh in frustration. Ignoring him, she swiveled the lock in the opposite direction and stared over.
"Your fifteen minutes are up."
She jerked her head up, her deep concentration momentarily shattered. Nami locked eyes with the looming bounty hunter. "Okay. Just give me one more chance; I'm almost there. I can feel it."
"One last chance, then I'm leaving whether you come with me or not."
She could tell he didn't believe her, but Nami took a slow, steadying breath and slipped back into a state of deep concentration. She pushed aside all fears and anxieties of what might happen in the next moment. All that existed was the lock and her fingers, quietly melding into one single machine. Nami turned the final number, feeling it tumble softly into place. The lock clicked and the door came loose.
A squeal of joy escaped unbidden from her lips as the cat burglar pushed open the safe door to reveal a compartment stuffed full of berries.
Even Bane let out a gasp and sank down on his haunches to get a better look at the fortune inside. He pulled out a stack, running his thumb across the notes. "So, what did we decide again? fifty-fifty?"
"Yes, we did," she replied, pulling out several more stacks and peering all the way to the back of the safe, "So that's 20 million each."
"What? How do you know?"
"I can just tell by the number of stacks," maintained Nami, imagining how all that money would look lining the inside of her coffer. She also had to force herself to return to the present and attempt to wrap her head around the incredulous news her accomplice had previously announced. "How is it possible that you took out not only Butler the Betrayer, but all his men as well - and all at once? You aren't even armed!"
"You think not," he smirked, pulling his jacket back to reveal a pair of flintlocks, "Didn't I tell you I was fast?"
"But still..."
"Hey, grab a couple bags and let's haul this loot out before we run into any new trouble."
000
The downstairs was a shambles. Nami flinched when she saw the carnage of blood and bodies strewn across the parlor. She didn't want to look too closely, yet she was fascinated to know how he'd managed to do it outnumbered as he was by at least five to one. Indeed, most of the men - including Butler - appeared to have been very neatly shot with one lethal hit. One guard, who'd seemingly fought back, lay pinned against the couch by a fire poker.
Shuddering, she quickly shouldered her pillowcases full of berries and jewelry, hurrying after the very deadly man she'd come with.
The scenery gradually degraded into slums the further into the valley they descended, with most of the larger buildings gutted and crumbling as lean-to shacks lined the streets. For the first time, Nami felt like she was actually robbing the unfortunate inhabitants of Oykot rather than just a ruthless pirate. She could very easily have wound up on these streets herself (if she'd even managed to survive at all) were it not for Belle-Mere.
There was no way of helping it. She couldn't think of a better use to put to the wealth she carried on her back than freeing the enslaved people of Cocoyasi. Perhaps the people of her birth land might also benefit from the overthrow of Butler in a small way by starting to take their country back from the wreckage. She knew it was a long road ahead for them and more than likely, the vacuum left by Butler's death would quickly be filled by some other rival criminal.
"How do you plan to collect the bounty for Butler," she asked as they hustled through a side street and into the concealing brush, "I mean without his actual body?"
The bounty hunter brought out something from his bag. "With this guy," It was one of the surveillance den den mushi, "he saw the whole thing - and he's also going to see me take out Sawtooth Arlong."
Nami pursed her lips, shifting the heavy load on her back. "But you've already got 20 million plus the bounty for Butler, isn't that enough for you?"
"You're not trying to go back on our deal now are you," he shot a look over his shoulder at her.
"I'm not," she sighed, "I just don't understand this obsession you have with him; I don't think you realize what you're getting into. Arlong is in a totally different league than every other pirate you've ever dealt with before."
"I understand - that's why I want to do it. It's not really about the bounty; I've got plenty of money. Defeating weak pirates is boring, but I'm not quite ready for the Grand Line yet. First, I need a real challenge: Saw-Tooth is the biggest fish in these waters." He cocked his head at her, "Didn't you also come out here because you wanted a bigger payout?"
The two gradually crossed the beach to their boat where they began hastily loading their goods. Nami scanned the area for any nosy officials but thankfully saw no one. Everything seemed to be going a little too smoothly. She certainly hadn't expected the ease with which they'd pulled off the Butler caper; she'd never even had a chance to lay eyes on the man until after he was dead. Thanks to Bane Murdock, whom she'd met under the most unlikely circumstances, she'd seen nearly a dozen dead men and was now almost twice as rich as she'd been before - it was amazing what one afternoon could bring.
Maybe it was fate that had brought him to her, and she should embrace the opportunity to let him take Arlong off her hands, but it was all happening too fast for her to fully process. Once again, she felt a storm brewing on the horizon.
"First off, you need an actual plan. You'd better not try to wing it like you did today, or else you'll be the one who winds up dead," she said as they rowed back out to their boats.
"That's where you come in," he replied, "I'm counting on your insights as his surveyor. What can you tell me about the monster? Does he have a routine or a weakness we could exploit?"
"He has a crew of over fifty fishmen who are all ten times stronger than the average human, while Arlong himself is probably about ten times stronger than the average fishman! One time I tried poisoning him, but he even managed to pull himself out of a coma with no lasting effects - it might even have made him stronger. He can catch a cannon ball in his teeth and chew it up like a piece of gum..."
"Alright! I asked about his weaknesses. Surely there's something about him that can be exploited."
"If you fail, then it'll be more than just your own neck on the line - he'll know I was involved too," Nami declared, "So for both our sakes you'd better know what you're up against!"
"Duly noted," he returned.
"Another thing: they patrol the waters around Conomi almost constantly, so you can't cruise in on that sleek raiding boat you've been traveling around on unless you want to be swarmed by the crew. You also can't get a boat anywhere on the islands; they destroyed them all."
"That shouldn't be a problem," said Bane, "I'll just find something low key to travel over there on and leave it anchored somewhere discreet; you can smuggle me the rest of the way if necessary."
Nami cast an anxious glance at the deep abrasions over her body, "Speaking of boats, I need to get back to mine and treat my wounds."
000
The pinnace, a literal ghost ship now, remained moored off the coast with its smaller tag-a-long - The Berry Bandit. The ever-opportunistic treasure hunter couldn't help wondering about the barrels still stored in the hold of the pirate raider, but the bounty hunter assured her they were mainly filled with stolen goods which the pirates had intended to trade for money. Furthermore, there was no room left on her boat after the haul they'd just brought in. Satisfied, Nami cut the line and allowed her sloop to drift far away from the gruesome reminder of her near disastrous arrival to Oykot.
Her storage compartment was so crammed full, she needed to remove items just to make room for all the newly acquired riches. She crouched inside her cabin, made even more cramped by the various tools and supplies she now had to share her limited space with.
While Bane slipped off to find a suitable boat to travel to Conomi, Nami gingerly applied bandages to herself. She'd stripped off her ruined clothes and bathed the scrapes and now wore the stolen pool robe as she hastily finished up. She didn't like the idea of being alone and naked for any length of time on these dangerous waters.
Applying her last bandage, the girl crawled toward her stack of spare clothes. She suddenly felt a definitive thud just outside the cabin. Nami reached for her staff right as the door burst open.
"Anybody home," a bedraggled man with a shock of white hair and a full beard shouted as he barged in on her.
Nami struck out with her weapon, hitting him squarely in the gut with the butt of her pole and knocking him backward on his ass. The breathless intruder stumbled back onto his feet even as Nami charged forward, striking him across the head. While the shabby man grabbed the boat's railing for support Nami aimed another blow at him which he narrowly managed to duck.
"Alright, alright! Sorry!" He leapt quickly back into the dark water he'd emerged from, swimming for his own dilapidated boat bobbing not far away.
The girl watched until he'd climbed aboard and continued on his way in the direction of the harbor.
"Everything alright," a voice suddenly broke into her reverie.
A startled Nami glanced over to see Bane's arrival in a new cutter boat. She quickly pulled her disheveled robe closed and scuttled for the cabin, "Fine. I just want to get out of here as soon as possible!"
"Sounds good to me - let's head for Conomi."
They plotted a course on Nami's map that would take them through a port town where they could load up on extra supplies for the long journey.
Bane kept a low profile, not wanting to be recognized before he got to Cocoyashi for fear it might alert the fishmen to his presence, instead handing over a stack of his own cash to his traveling companion and instructing her on what to buy.
Nami ran his errands and her own without complaint, quietly taking inventory of the strange man. Over the past few days of travel, he'd gradually revealed more about his fighting strategy when it came to being outnumbered or overpowered and she'd decided he was slightly more strategic than she'd first assumed. Clearly, he was doing something right because his record didn't lie - nor did her own two eyes.
She, in turn, began to share whatever she thought might be useful to him regarding Arlong. She gave an account of the fishman's daily routine, his quirks and tendencies - even his favorite food and beverages. Bane silently absorbed the information, storing it away for further contemplation.
"It seems to me," observed Bane at one point, "that his biggest weakness is how arrogant he is."
Nami raised her eyebrows, wondering if he realized how that statement sounded coming from him.
"He's so sure of his own strength, he just assumes he can never be beaten by anyone - especially any human," the soldier of fortune continued.
"That sounds about right," agreed Nami. "So, any ideas on how you're going to deal with him?"
"I've got a couple of them cooking on the back burner, but I'll have to see how things pan out. I'll be counting on you to keep in touch with me," he replied. Their boats sailed side by side as Bane reached for something lying on the deck and brought up yet another large snail with a receiver on its back. "I also grabbed a couple of regular den den mushi from Butler's place; I'll keep one and give you the other. Use it to reach out the moment you notice an opportunity or if you need to warn me about anything."
"I guess," Nami hesitated, "but I need to figure out where to hide it first."
She left the bounty hunter on the furthermost island of the archipelago - a very small but densely vegetated speck of land where nobody lived, and which was rarely visited. She knew this to be the very edge of Arlong's territory. Even the fishmen paid little attention to such an insignificant sliver, rarely giving it more than a brisque swim-by during daily patrols. Just before the island, a cluster of several craggy sea stacks stood. Here Bane concealed his cutter, lowering the sails and mooring the vessel to the large rockface. Viewed from the other side, the boat was nearly invisible and Nami was fairly confident it wouldn't be discovered.
The teenager traveled the rest of the way home amidst a strange mixture of elation and panic brought on by her sudden fortunes. After packing the berries safely away she made her way back to Arlong Park.
"Long time no see," boomed a voice from behind,
Nami whirled around to see Arlong sauntering toward her from the direction of town. He appeared in a good mood, which immediately put her on guard.
"Welcome back, nakama," he pronounced down at her from a jagged grin, "I trust you had a productive voyage."
"Moderately I guess," she replied regarding the single most successful robbery she'd ever pulled off.
"Well, keep at," he chuckled before indulging in a long luxurious stretch.
"What have you been up to," she quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Taking a walk; surveying my villages..." he trailed off smugly.
"How nice for you," She retorted, knowing whenever Arlong decided to visit a village it never meant anything good for the inhabitants. The last known victim of one of his "surveys" was now dead by drowning and there'd probably been other far less willing victims since that time.
The thought of an upstart bounty collector taking his head for a hideous trophy grew ever more appealing. Nami found her attachment to such an outcome rising to an almost alarming level and had to forcefully remind herself not to get her hopes too high. She was like a starving man on the verge of finally catching a fish: could the cocky Bane really deliver on his highly implausible plan? After everything they'd discussed, did he truly understand the sheer danger the apex fishman posed? She had no choice but to wait and find out.
000
"Forgive my forwardness, but are you aware there's an unmarked sailing vessel currently moored at the furthermost island of your territory?"
Arlong looked back at Captain Nezumi as if he'd just sprouted a coat of gray fur and a long tail to compliment the mouse ears on his Marine cap.
"I only ask because I was under the impression that nobody around here sailed anymore and I thought it odd."
The two men stood directly outside the gates of Arlong Park. This time, the Navy official had arrived in a smaller less conspicuous watercraft than the usual war ship he patrolled on. Having just finished up their business, Arlong had started to make his way back to the inner court and his ledger but now faced his naval accomplice with a mixture of laughter and bemusement.
"Is that right? I'll have the boys look into it."
"You don't seem too concerned," observed Nezumi. "If you'd like, I could investigate the island myself before I head out."
"No, that won't be necessary," Arlong waved him off, "Don't waste your time; besides, I'm sure it's not anything to worry about."
"Are you sure," the rodent-like man plucked at his whiskers as he frowned up at the pirate.
"I'm positive," assured Arlong. "Who knows? Maybe things're about to get a little more interesting around here - Shahahahaha!"
000
The waxing moon had already begun to rise over the village below as Nami stood on the balcony just outside her window. Something was in the air; she could feel it. The pirates moved about the grounds and skimmed through the pools as usual. Between discussions with his officers and other members of the crew, Arlong sat at his station under the porch awning, poring over expenses and each member's cut of the monthly tribute money. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, however the surveyor couldn't shake the feeling that tonight was the night Bane needed to act. After all, the longer the assassin squatted on the island the greater the likelihood of his eventual discovery. She prayed she was right.
While the evening wore on, Nami feverishly cranked out sea charts by the light of her oil lamp. Finally, wiping sweat from her brow, she stood and opened her window to peer into the silent darkness. Only crickets and the chirping of thousands of frogs could be heard outside. The faint light from the tiki torches burning below revealed an empty courtyard.
She made her way downstairs, observing Arlong asleep in his chair - a collection of bottles on the table beside him. She stood silently for a minute while scanning the courtyard, but no one else from the crew was anywhere to be found. Some of them were still inside the fort - drinking or sleeping; the rest were spread out along the ocean floor or perhaps off island entirely, blowing their cut of the islanders' hard-earned tribute. The girl continued on her way until she'd reached her boat.
"What's up?" Bane's voice came from the other end of the den den mushi.
"Arlong's drank himself to sleep and he's sitting alone out on the porch as we speak."
"Okay, I'll take it from here."
"Do you have a plan," harped Nami for the hundredth time, "what do you intend to do afterward?"
"Are you inside The Park at this moment," he asked her in return.
"No, I'm on my boat."
"Good. Stay there. I'm probably going to have to run like hell once this is all over, so in case we don't meet again - have a nice life."
"Be care-"
Bane disconnected the call. Without wasting another moment, he dashed for his supplies and loaded everything into the rowboat. Ten minutes later he'd landed on the main island of Cocoyasi. Bane, doused in sea water, reached his forearms deep into the dark silty soil of the surrounding rice paddies and slathered himself from head to toe in the black mud. Having never actually set foot within the fishmen's fort before, he easily found the East Gate described to him by Nami. Just as the girl had insisted, it was unlocked.
The bounty hunter let out a low scoff. He had one big factor in common with the young thief: he also hated pirates. Anyone who'd followed the various news articles written about him knew of his strict upbringing as the son of a Navy captain back in Loguetown and how he'd rebelled against his father, even landing in jail for a brief period after a fight with Navy personnel. He could have easily joined a pirate crew or even started one of his own, but the idea had never appealed to him. Quite frankly, he found it revolting. Clearly, he still couldn't escape his old man's influence.
Letting himself in, the assassin crept along the side of the castle, a canister of kerosine at his side as he slowly dribbled it along the wall. He quickly turned the corner to find the great saw-nosed monster, Arlong himself, sprawled out in his chair in the middle of the porch.
The fishman reeked so much of booze that Bane almost felt the lamp oil wasn't necessary. He splashed a generous amount of it in the doorway before setting the cannister down and placing the surveillance snail a safe distance away. He then retrieved the can and stood directly behind the enormous pirate. Saw-Tooth Arlong remained dead to the world - soon he would just be dead.
With one fluid motion, Bane grabbed the nearest tiki torch while he upended the rest of the cannister over the sleeping shark-man's head. The oil cascaded down the massive torso; Bane saw his target's narrow eyes spring open right before he threw the torch in Arlong's lap.
Bane sprang back, tossing a second torch at the fort. Fire engulfed Saw-Tooth who immediately leapt from his chair and straight into the pool. A gigantic fireball erupted as the burning oil shot to the surface of the cold water, exploding upward with all the fury of a volcano, knocking the bounty hunter momentarily off his feet. From inside the smoldering fort, the first shouts were beginning to ring out.
Still covered in dark mud, Bane did his best to dissolve into the shadows where he intended to escape as soon as the deed was done. He knew Saw-Tooth was still alive and now was his best and only chance to finish the job. His hand traveled to his sword. He didn't have to wait long. The shark-man shot out nose-first like a bullet toward the spot occupied by the hitman only seconds earlier. The enraged pirate pivoted, his flashing eyes landing on the human.
Arlong, nose leveled like a spear, charged as Bane swung the sword just in time to parry his attack. The force of the fishman's blow knocked him through the air, but the younger man rolled back onto his feet, weapon at the ready. Arlong charged again; this time Bane was prepared for him. Right as the charred sawshark started to skewer his human opponent, Bane dodged, lunging his sword at Arlong's gut. The blade, however, came to an abrupt halt before it could slice open the fishman's belly. The hitman glanced down in shock to see Saw-Tooth catch the edge of the sword bare-handed only to crush the steel in his fist, fragments of the ruined saber clattering bloodily to the pavement.
Bane Murdock, the rookie bounty hunter and unmatched brawler, knew immediately that it was over. He gaped back into the predatory eyes, now shining not only with the roaring fire but a hideous glee as Arlong lifted him high into the air and hurled him into the dark pool.
A panting Nami reached the gate just in time to see Arlong dive in after the doomed man. She'd seen the fiery explosion all the way from the rice paddies. Of course, she couldn't just stay on her boat at such a time; she had to at least ensure that Bane succeeded and made good on his escape even while she maintained a safe distance from the commotion. Now it was excruciatingly obvious that everything had gone horribly wrong.
Nami struggled to control her breathing as her knees began to shake uncontrollably. From the second story balcony, crew members leapt to the ground as fire engulfed the first floor. Some carried armloads of blankets and other materials which they immediately employed to staunch the flames. Meanwhile, nothing stirred on the surface of the ominously calm pool.
The girl knew even before Arlong emerged hurling the lifeless body of Bane onto the walkway that the worst had occurred. She shut the gate back, unable to watch any longer. Swallowing the bile that rose to her throat, she bolted back to her boat to quickly ditch the den den mushi given to her by the late bounty hunter before it was discovered by her fishman overlords. She would then have to return to Arlong Park as soon as possible in order to ensure she was accounted for.