"What do we do?! What do we do?! What do we do?!"
Nami shook Norton's shoulders frantically, her voice distorted by fear.
"We're all going to get eaten by that Sea King!"
The massive flat shark-like Sea King was slowly swishing its tail. The enormous travel ship looked like nothing more than a toy perched on its back, while its shadow pressed heavily over the sea like the dim light of a dying sunset.
The deck had already fallen into chaos.
Despair filled every face.
In front of a Sea King this large, humans were no different from ants.
"There's no way we survive this…"
"It's over! My life is over!"
"What rotten luck! First pirates, then a Sea King—since when was the East Blue I know this dangerous?!"
...
Amid those hopeless voices, everyone looked drained, as though all hope had already been extinguished.
The atmosphere of despair spread like a fog.
And yet, in the middle of it all, Norton remained perfectly calm.
"Relax. I'm here," Norton said to Nami.
But even hearing those words, Nami still couldn't calm down.
The situation was awful.
There was a huge hole in the bottom of the ship, and even the shipwrights could do nothing about it. They'd been lifted onto the Sea King's back, and the creature seemed to find the ship amusing, as if it were playing with a toy balanced on its spine.
Every time it jolted, the keel let out a strained groan, and the cracking of the wood sounded like the ticking of a countdown clock.
Even if the monster suddenly lost interest and dumped them back into the sea, the ship was far too damaged to make it to the next island.
What were they supposed to do—swim to land?
Please.
There wasn't a single fish-man on board.
"Damn it! I can't die here yet!" Nami cried, tears streaming down her face.
"Don't worry. If you stick with me, dying isn't an option." Norton patted her head, then looked toward Sanosuke.
The trace of guilt hidden in Sanosuke's eyes had been deeply buried.
But Norton still caught it.
Then the ship lurched violently again.
The Sea King had apparently grown bored of its little game of "balancing the ship."
It suddenly twisted its body.
The whole world tilted and collapsed in an instant.
The ship exploded apart under the unstoppable force, breaking into a storm of splintered planks and snapping ropes. Screams and wails were torn apart by the wind and the roaring sea.
"AAAH!!"
"Help!"
"If I get another life after this, I swear I'll never be a pirate again! I'd rather marry the mayor's fat daughter!"
...
The screams came one after another.
Nami fell through weightless emptiness, her eyes clamped shut, her heart pounding so hard it felt ready to burst through her chest.
Is this it? she thought. Am I going to die?
Then, in the next moment, the sensation of free fall vanished.
The impact she had expected never came.
Neither did the sea.
A powerful arm had caught her.
Trembling, she opened her eyes—
And found Norton's face right in front of hers.
'Damn he's really handsome…' Nami muttered inwardly.
"Hold on tight," Norton said softly.
Before she could react, he hoisted her onto his shoulder.
Nami let out a startled cry.
"What are you doing?!"
Norton said nothing.
Still falling through the air, he simply threw an utterly ordinary punch at the Sea King below.
The force of the punch whipped up a violent gale. The crushing pressure condensed into a visible shockwave that slammed brutally into the Sea King's vast back, wide as a stretch of land.
The sea exploded.
A terrifying depression dozens of meters wide caved into the Sea King's back. Scales shattered. Flesh twisted and sank inward.
The Sea King let out a thunderous cry of pain.
Norton raised his hand again, preparing to throw another punch.
Before the punch even came, the overwhelming force behind it had already begun to gather once more—a pressure strong enough to flatten mountains and overturn seas.
But that second punch never fell.
Instead, everyone heard a huge cry ring out—
The Sea King was wailing.
Wailing like it was begging for mercy.
Humans and Sea Kings could not communicate directly, but Sea Kings possessed intelligence on par with humans.
They were not like ordinary sea beasts that could be tamed.
Legend said only Poseidon, the Ancient Weapon known as the Sea King's ruler, could command them.
And yet at this moment, everyone could clearly feel it.
This Sea King had backed down.
This colossal creature was afraid of Norton's fist.
The sea suddenly fell into a strange silence.
The Sea King calmed down.
Only the faint sounds of wreckage falling into the water remained, along with everyone's heavy, uncontrollable breathing.
Norton slowly lowered his fist, looked toward Sanosuke, and grinned.
"Looks like my fist is above your bad luck!"
Sanosuke stood there dumbfounded.
A thought flashed through his mind again like lightning.
Could it be that Norton really was the master he had spent his whole life searching for—
The one capable of suppressing his bad luck?
Nami twisted her waist and slid down from Norton's shoulder, staring blankly at his face.
This guy was way too ridiculously strong.
And more importantly—
He was nothing like other pirates.
Once again, her heart fell into conflict, and the thought of giving up on running away surfaced again.
The others, filled with relief after surviving disaster, gathered around Norton and showered him with praise.
"Mr. Norton, that was incredible! You actually took down a Sea King with one punch!"
"Thank goodness you were here!"
"We're saved!"
...
After a brief round of flattery, the duke stepped forward.
"Mr. Norton, what do we do now? The ship is destroyed, and we…"
Although Norton had defeated the Sea King, the ship had been wrecked beyond repair. It could no longer sail. If they weren't standing on the Sea King's back, they wouldn't even have a place to stand.
"Simple," Norton said. "We make this fish carry us to land."
"But we're still at least a full day away from land," Nami said anxiously. "And humans can't communicate with Sea Kings…"
"Hey! Can you understand me?" Norton shouted at the Sea King as though he hadn't even heard her. "Since you wrecked my ship, you're taking me to land. Otherwise I'll kill you and turn you into fish soup!"
The Sea King seemed to understand him.
It let out a low cry—
And actually started swimming.
"It moved! It really moved!" Nami cried out in delight, turning to Norton. "How did you do that?"
"Maybe it's just talent." Norton rubbed his chin.
He didn't really know how to explain it.
Ever since he was little, he'd been able to communicate with all kinds of animals. Even if he couldn't always understand their cries, they always seemed able to understand what he said.
A reverse version of the Voice of All Things?
Norton didn't think so.
At the moment, he still hadn't awakened Haki. His fists had always been enough to solve every problem, and he had never yet encountered a situation desperate enough to force out that kind of power.
Sometimes being too strong was a hassle.
Invincibility could be lonely.
That was exactly why Norton had been so eager to set sail.
"Hey! Big fish, swim that way!" Nami copied Norton, pointing in a direction and shouting at the Sea King.
The Sea King didn't react at all.
"What's wrong with this stupid fish?" Nami complained.
Norton burst out laughing.
Biting her lower lip, Nami shot him a furious glare.
"Don't laugh!"
"Fine, I won't laugh… ha…"
He said that, but he kept laughing anyway. Only after a while did he finally point in the same direction Nami had indicated and shout:
"Hey, stupid fish! Swim that way!"
The Sea King let out a low cry and obediently swam in the direction Norton pointed.