Arlong lounged on his throne, a look of bored amusement on his face as he stared at the mountain of his defeated subordinates. He picked his sharp teeth with a casual air.
"So," he mused, his voice a low rumble. "The one who did all this… was the Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro." He chuckled. "With the highest bounty in all of the East Blue, it's only natural that a little bounty hunter dog would come sniffing around my park." He looked down at the terrified, captured Usopp. "The question is, where is he now?"
"I-I don't know!" Usopp stammered, sweat pouring down his face. "I've never met the guy in my life! Please, just let me go!"
The lie was so pathetic it was almost insulting. Arlong's amusement soured into a cruel, calculating look. "I see. Well, if the hunter won't show himself, we'll just have to give him a reason." He grinned, a flash of razor-sharp teeth. "We'll execute his little long-nosed friend here as an appetizer. That should bring him running."
Usopp's blood ran cold. In a fit of pure, unadulterated panic, his eyes darted to the one person in the room who had shown him even a sliver of confusing kindness.
"NAMI!" he screamed. "HELP ME!"
The plea hung in the air, a damning accusation. The other Fish-Men officers, Kuroobi and Chew, turned their suspicious glares back towards Nami.
Usopp, realizing he had just put her in an impossible position, felt a surge of defiant, protective anger, not for himself, but for the captain she had betrayed.
"Nami, how could you?!" he berated her, his voice cracking with a genuine, heartfelt disappointment. "After everything he did! After he fought to save you! Luffy… even now, he still trusts you! He believes in you! He thinks you're our navigator!"
Nami's cold facade trembled for a fraction of a second. "Shut up, you idiot," she hissed, the words a shield against the truth of his statement.
Their tense standoff was interrupted by a cheerful, clueless voice. "Heyyy! I'm back! Did I miss anything?"
Hatchan, the octopus Fish-Man, waddled into the throne room. He took in the scene—the mountain of unconscious bodies, the captured human, the palpable tension—and his simple mind struggled to catch up. He was even more surprised when he was told it was Zoro who had caused all the damage.
"Zoro? But he was so nice!" Hatchan exclaimed. "I just gave him a ride to Cocoyasi Village! He said he was a guest looking for Arlong-san!"
The revelation that Zoro was actively seeking him out brought a wide, predatory grin to Arlong's face. "Excellent. So the prey is walking willingly into the shark's jaws." He then looked back at Nami, his eyes narrowed. The suspicion had returned.
"Nami," he commanded, his voice leaving no room for argument. "This long-nosed brat is an associate of your former victims. He is a nuisance. Prove your loyalty to the Arlong Pirates. Kill him."
The command was absolute. A death sentence for Usopp, and a final, inescapable test for Nami. From the nearby bushes, Johnny, who had been scouting the area, watched in silent horror, his body frozen.
Nami's face became an unreadable mask. She slowly drew a small, wicked-looking dagger from her belt. She walked towards Usopp, her steps steady, her eyes cold as ice.
Usopp stared at her, his mind a whirlwind of fear and betrayal. Was this it? Was this who she really was?
"DIE!" Nami screamed, her voice a chilling roar.
She raised the dagger high and plunged it downwards.
From Arlong's point of view, it was a perfect, clean stab. He saw the blade sink into Usopp's side. He saw the boy's body convulse, a spray of red blood erupting from the wound.
Johnny gasped from the bushes, his hand flying to his mouth.
To complete the act, Nami shoved Usopp's limp body off the platform and into the deep pool of water below. "There," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "The trash is taken care of."
The Fish-Men erupted in cheers. Their trust in her was now absolute. "See! She's one of us!" "A true cold-blooded witch!"
Nami turned back to Arlong, her face a mask of cold professionalism, though no one saw her clutching her own bleeding hand behind her back. She had stabbed herself to create the illusion, a secret act of painful sacrifice.
"Now then," she said, forcing her voice to be steady. "About my village…"
But before she could finish, a new commotion began. The sea surrounding Arlong Park began to churn and boil. A massive, terrified sea cow—Momoo—came rocketing towards the shore, its eyes wide with panic. And tied to its horns, being pulled along like a bizarre water-skier, was a small boat.
On that boat stood Luffy, Sanji, Yosaku.
They had arrived.
The entire Straw Hat crew, pulled ashore by a hijacked sea beast, had come to challenge the most feared pirate crew in the East Blue.