Chapter 12: Chapter 13: Tohru Wants to Eat Fish-men! I'll Pay This One Hundred Million!
"Nami, quickly take your friends and leave! The fish-men are coming!!!"
Genzo, the only police officer in Cocoyasi Village, shouted his urgent warning.
When Nami brought Sora and the others home yesterday.
Nojiko had made backup preparations, contacting Genzo to help monitor the fish-men's movements.
Never expecting the fish-men to move faster than imagined, seemingly with some specific purpose.
"How could this happen? How were we exposed?"
Nami staggered, her originally rosy face suddenly turning pale.
"What's wrong? Nami, what's this about fish-men? Are there fish-men on this island?"
Kuina asked.
"Fish-men? Fish that look like people? How do they taste?"
Tohru's eyes lit up.
Bonk~
Sora lightly tapped Tohru on the head.
"Don't even think about it. I won't eat fish-man meat or your tail meat!"
As a human, Sora naturally couldn't accept the meat of any humanoid creatures.
As for Tohru's tail meat, now that Tohru was his woman.
Sora could accept her body fluids, even her jade feet reluctantly, but tail meat was still off the table.
"Alright!"
Tohru responded obediently.
Nojiko nearby: "???"
What... what's going on?
What kind of background do these friends Nami brought back have?
How could they be thinking about eating fish-men!
Those are the terrifying fish-men!
"No problem, there's still time! We can still make it!"
Snapping back to reality, Nami bit her silver teeth and turned to look at Sora, who was still explaining fish-men knowledge to Tohru.
"There's no time to explain. Sora, we can still make it if we leave now. I'll explain the details after we leave this island!"
Nami said while trying to pull Kuina away.
"Hahahaha!"
Just then, jarring laughter came from both ends of the road.
On the left and right sides of the road, several fish-men appeared, surrounding everyone in the middle.
"It's too late to leave now, Nami!"
Fish-man officer Kuroobi sneered mockingly.
"This is our Arlong crew's territory. Thinking you can leave without paying a price is rather wishful thinking!"
Fish-man officer Chew laughed coldly.
"Nami..."
Kuina wanted to do something but was stopped by Sora raising his hand.
"These guys..."
Tohru's eyes narrowed dangerously, her pupils gradually taking on a vertical slit shape.
But without Sora's instruction, she wouldn't act rashly either.
"Arlong!"
Nami took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the unease and anxiety in her heart.
She ignored the other fish-men, focusing her gaze on the leader, Arlong.
"They are my friends, just here as temporary guests for one night. Give me some face and let them leave!"
Nami said, trying to appear calm.
"Nami, you are my partner. I have to give you some face, but..."
Fish-man Arlong grinned.
"Rules are rules. You know that on this island, it's 100,000 for adults and 50,000 for children. This has been the iron rule enforced since seven years ago. Even staying just one day is the same!"
"Fine! 250,000 berries, I'll pay!"
The usually money-obsessed Nami agreed without hesitation.
Before she could go back to get the money.
"Wooooh!"
"Boss Arlong!!!"
"We've struck it rich! We've struck it rich!"
"Some fool buried a huge sum of money in the ground!"
"Now it's great—we found it, so it's ours!"
The fish-men's ecstatic voices came from the orange grove.
Hearing their words, Nami's face immediately turned deathly pale.
Her heart prayed that it wouldn't be what she was thinking.
However...
Things went against her wishes.
When she saw the box the fish-men were carrying.
Nami's legs went weak and she collapsed to the ground.
Because that was her seven years of hard work.
The 80 million berries she had saved through constant adventures at sea, trying every means to make money to ransom back her village.
Just needing to work a little harder, in another year or so, she could have saved up 100 million berries.
Now, everything was ruined.
"Bastards, put it down! That's Nami's seven years of hard work!"
Genzo shouted emotionally, unable to tolerate it any longer.
Not only he, but everyone in the village knew about Nami's efforts.
The next second.
With a bang.
Genzo was kicked flying by a fish-man.
"You have no right to speak here!"
Fish-man officer Kuroobi said coldly.
"Arlong, that's the money my sister saved to buy back the village. There should be over 80 million in there. We'll gather the rest and give it to you today!"
Nojiko spoke calmly, trying to salvage the situation as much as possible.
But today, Arlong's crew had come specifically for this money, specifically to torment Nami—how could they possibly grant her wish?
"No, no, no. If Nami had brought me this money before today, perhaps I could have kept a record. But now it's too late. Not to mention whether this is really Nami's, even if it truly is, now that it's been found by my people on my territory, it belongs to me. Don't you think so, Nami?"
Arlong looked at Nami.
"Arlong, you never intended to honor the agreement. Even if I gathered 100 million berries, you wouldn't return the village to me! That was just a dream you wove for me!"
Nami stared coldly at Arlong, finally understanding everything.
"No, no, no, how could you think of me that way, Nami? Our agreement is still valid. As long as you can gather 100 million berries, I'll return the village to you!"
Arlong said smugly.
"Don't be discouraged by one failure. You're a very talented woman. Even without this money, it's just a matter of spending a few more years. Work hard—I'll always be waiting for you to ransom back your village!"
Arlong spoke 'encouragingly,' looking like he had Nami completely figured out.
He was certain Nami wouldn't turn against him here, not just for the village's sake.
But also for her friends, who had returned to the village for the first time in seven years.
For these so-called friends to leave safely, she would have to continue enduring humiliation and suffering.
Thinking this, the pleased curve of Arlong's mouth grew wider.
Just then.
"I see, I understand now!"
Finally, Sora broke his silence.
"In other words, as long as Nami can gather 100 million berries, you'll get lost from this island, right? If that's the case, I'll pay this 100 million berries!"