At the Navy's 16th Division Headquarters, the office of Captain Nezumi known among his men as "the Rat" sat in disarray.
Nezumi leaned back in his chair, his boots resting arrogantly on the desk as he flipped through a newspaper, pretending to care about the latest happenings across the seas. The room was filled with the faint smell of cheap cigars and ink.
Bang!
The door burst open. A young naval recruit stumbled inside, panic written all over his face.
Nezumi's eyes shot up in fury. He slammed the newspaper down, his face twisting with rage.
"Are you out of your mind, boy?! You don't know how to knock?" he bellowed, slamming a palm onto the desk so hard that his coffee spilled. "What's wrong with you? You think you can just barge into a superior's office? You want me to throw you out and wear your rank instead?"
The young recruit froze, trembling as the Captain's tirade echoed through the room.
"Have you no sense of hierarchy?!" Nezumi barked again, but his tone began to waver. The raw fear on the recruit's face told him this wasn't a casual mistake. Something serious had happened something bad enough for the boy to risk his neck.
With a heavy sigh, Nezumi slumped back in his chair, pretending indifference.
"All right. Speak. If this isn't important, you can start packing your bags."
The recruit swallowed hard. "S-sir… it's… it's Arlong… Arlong is dead!"
Nezumi froze.
"…What?"
"Ugh, this is so boring…"
Ryan Quinn rested his chin lazily on top of Nami's head, his arms loosely wrapped around her slender neck as they stood on the quiet shore.
"Why's it taking him so long? Did that rat go take a dump or something?" Ryan groaned.
Nami gave a nervous, awkward chuckle. "Heh… maybe…"
All around them lay the unconscious bodies of Navy soldiers. A few stragglers stood trembling in the distance, clutching their rifles but too scared to use them.
One of them a nervous young recruit led a sweating, wide-eyed Captain Nezumi toward the pair.
"Th-these two… they're the ones who brought Arlong's head for the bounty…" the recruit stammered.
"Oh?" Nezumi squinted, studying the scene. A beautiful woman, and Nami.
They killed Arlong?
Impossible. His mind scrambled to make sense of it. Maybe they poisoned him? Maybe Nami betrayed him?
It couldn't have been a fair fight. No one in the East Blue could defeat Arlong head-on.
The fish-man had a saw-toothed nose, bones like steel, the strength to lift entire houses, and jaws powerful enough to bite through a cannonball. Even underwater, he was a deadly predator able to turn ordinary seawater into a barrage of deadly projectiles.
Against that? Humans stood no chance.
That's why Nezumi had partnered with Arlong in the first place. By aligning with him, he could extort villages and rake in wealth without fear.
But now this recruit was telling him Arlong was dead?
No. That couldn't be right.
The only explanation was poison. No human could kill Arlong in open combat.
Nezumi's trembling hand reached for his pistol. He aimed it straight at Nami and Ryan.
"Nami, you traitor!" he snarled. "Arlong treated you well, and you repaid him with poison? Have you no loyalty? Do you want to see Cocoyashi Village burn for this?"
"Poison?" Ryan blinked. "What are you even talking about?"
He stepped away from Nami, still holding her hand, and tilted his head slightly, his expression flat.
"I'm here to exchange a pirate's head for a bounty," he said calmly. "Are you paying or not?"
Ryan already knew the answer. Nezumi wouldn't pay. In fact, he'd probably try to arrest them.
But that was fine. Whether the rat paid or not, he'd die here today.
Still, appearances mattered. If he didn't at least ask first, how would he justify killing a Navy officer later? It was all about keeping the paperwork clean especially if the Navy ever tried to dock his bounty reward.
Money was important.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Impudent wretch! Die!" Nezumi roared, firing without hesitation.
Ryan didn't even flinch. The moment his right hand clenched, a black sword shimmered into existence its blade veined with faint crimson lines that pulsed like living veins.
The bullets screamed toward him. He lifted the sword and gave it a lazy flick.
The bullets vanished disintegrated into nothing before they even reached his face. The air stirred from the motion, a gentle breeze brushing through his and Nami's hair.
For a moment, everything was still.
Ryan hadn't even used magic. For trash like this, it wasn't worth the effort.
He turned slightly, glancing at the frightened soldiers nearby. "You all saw that, right? He fired first. This is self-defense."
Then he was gone.
A whisper of motion. A blur of black and red.
In the blink of an eye, Ryan stood before Nezumi. The Captain's pupils shrank to pinpoints as he stared into those golden eyes cold, emotionless, endless. A chill ran down his spine, sweat beading on his brow. His heart skipped a beat.
He understood now.
He'd provoked a monster.
"She's… really that strong…" he muttered weakly, just as the sword descended.
The blade cut through the air with a low hiss.
And then there was only the sound of blood spilling across the floor.