Conomi islands - Arlong Park.
On the outskirt of Arlong's Park, hundreds of villagers gathered, looking at the shattered main's gate with caution as they stood a distance away from the Park.
The fishmen have left a deep fear planted in their bones, so despite noticing the gate and the wall beside it destroyed, the villagers didn't dare to get close to that place, afraid some fishmen would pop out of nowhere and start killing them for trespassing their 'sacred' place.
Nojiko and Genzo, who were at the front of the crowd, looked at each other before the former asked, " Should we move forward and search the building ?!"
" It's calm there, and I can't see anything from here!" Genzo squinted his eyes and replied.
Just as the two were contemplating whether they should move forward or not, they noticed four individuals coming out of the building.
Nojiko and Genzo immediately recognized the group as they both exclaimed in unison, " It's them!".
.....
After emerging from the Park, Austin, followed by his three subordinates, noticed the crowd's presence far away.
Shortly after, Austin spotted Nojiko and Genzo running toward them.
' It seems it's time for the last show. So I should wrap things up here.' - Austin smiled, thinking.
"Sir Austin! Sir Austin!" Nojiko yelled as she came running toward the group.
" Yo, so you all came here ?!" Austin smiled and greeted them casually.
" Sir is...Arlong...?!" Genzo couldn't finish his question as Austin interrupted him.
" Yeah, they are dead!" Austin pointed at his subordinates, who were holding Arlong, Kuroobi, and Chew's heads.
" This!...This..." Genzo looked in shock at the fishmen officers' heads. The poor man didn't even know how to react.
Nojiko, on the other hand, quivered at the sight as tears started forming in the corners of her eyes.
Austin examined the upcoming villagers before shouting for everyone to hear.
"In my Name, Ray D Austin, Captain of The Black Storms Pirates..." He stopped momentarily, looking at them before stating, "I hereby announce the End of Arlong's pirates."
The villagers stood rooted in their positions, shocked by the news. They couldn't believe what they had just heard.
" Arlong's rule ends today," Austin shouted before turning to look at the tall Park building behind him, saying, " And so is his symbol should be erased as well."
Austin grinned before using his 'Geppo' (Moonwalk) coupled with his wind ability to kick the air and float high in the sky.
' The last time I upgraded my Devil fruit, I received a new skill that I hadn't tried yet.' - Austin smirked, thinking. - ' I think it's time to try it out!'
Spreading his two arms widely, Austin activated the skill for the first time, calling its name loudly, " Wind Tornado!"
The villagers were looking at Austin's figure floating high in the air with mouths wide open and didn't notice the wind gathering above Arlong's Park.
But soon, they snapped back from their daziness when they felt the wind moving fast toward this place as if a massive storm would descend any time. So they hurriedly run away, moving distant away, getting as far away as possible from the Park.
In the distance, Zero, who was standing beside Brain and Sebas, started laughing while puffing his chest in pride. "Hahaha, It's really a sight to behold. You don't get to see a person creating a storm out of nowhere, "
"It's only natural. He is our lord, after all!" Brain replied with a savage smile on his face, clearly enjoying the marvel scenery created by his lord.
Sebas, on the other hand, looked at his lord's appearance as he murmured in realization, "Storm... Black clothes...Black Storm, huh?"
Austin used his skill, 'Wind Tornado', and created a huge tornado to wipe out the entire Arlong park. He floated high in the sky, looking closely at the beauty of the Storm forming, enjoying this spectacle.
It didn't take long before a massive tornado formed and began destroying everything in its path. The Park started to collapse as it took less than 2 min for the enormous natural disaster to erase the entirety of Arlong Park to the ground.
Nojiko watched from a distance the massive tornado forming and its descent upon the Park with many emotions in her eyes, remembering the suffering and pain she had felt and endured during these last 8 years.
After the total demolition of the Park, Austin quickly dismissed the tornado and used 'Geppo' to appear beside his subordinate again.
The villagers at the side were looking at him with stupefied expressions.
" Impale those heads on the ruins so that everyone can see them," Austin ordered his subordinates, who left to do so.
They planted the heads of Arlong and his two other officers on sticks before leaving them on top of the Park's ruins, in a clear show of power and physical evidence of the End of the infamous Arlong Pirates!
The villagers looked at the four men with different emotions in their eyes, such as gratitude, respect, fear, and amazement. Some even looked at Austin with worship in their eyes as if they were looking at some sort of God walking on earth.
Austin noticed their stares and sighed, thinking. - ' Well, you can't blame them, I was standing in the air, and I just, literally, created a tornado out of nowhere! ... They had never seen something like this before, so it was only natural that I appeared like some supreme being to them.' - Austin shook his head.
"It's over ... Arlong park has fallen ... we are free!" One of the villagers spoke, breaking the silence and waking up the crowd from their trance.
"Everyone! This is not the time for us to be the only ecstatic ones! " Nako ( the village's doctor ) stated, gathering the attention of the villagers before adding with a smile, " We need to inform everyone on the island about this big incident."
"Yeah! "; "He is right. We must tell the other the good news! "; "We are free! "
The villagers started cheering, hugging each other, and enjoying their freedom again.
Nojiko glanced at Austin and his group and smiled, murmuring in a low voice," I'm happy this nightmare has finally ended. Nami will surely be happy when she returns!"
Genzo, who was standing next to her, said in a daze, "To think we would end up being saved by pirates from pirates...you never know what's gonna happen next."
Nojiko moved toward Austin and bowed her head, saying. "Thank you for your help. We will never forget what you did for us today."
" You should thank Sebas here." Austin smiled as he pointed at Sebas, adding jokingly. " He did all the work, and we just ended up taking the credit!"
" Thank you, mister Sebas!" Nojiko thanked Sebas as well.
" I have only done what I was told to do," Sebas replied with a gentle smile.
" Now!" Austin glanced at the celebrating villagers and said to Nojiko, " We still have some other things left to do, so we will leave you to enjoy these happy moments."
" Huh? Are you already leaving, Sir Austin ?!" Nojiko asked with a gloomy expression.
" No, we just have something to take care of first. " Austin smiled gently at Nojiko, who was stunned for a moment by the latter's smile and handsome face, but then she regained her composter and said excitedly.
" We are preparing a huge party to celebrate this occasion. It would be great if you could attend, especially since many of the island's residents will probably want to see all of you, " Nojiko said with pleading eyes.
" Hmm," Austin thought for a moment before asking, " Where is the party gonna be held?!"
" In our village, Cocoyashi village!" Nojiko replied excitedly, with clear expectations in her eyes.
" Alright, after we finish our work, we will be coming to participate as well," Austin replied, smiling.
" Great!" Nojiko happily replied.
" Alright, see you later miss Nojiko!" Austin said and then disappeared using 'Soru', followed by the rest of his subordinates, who did the same, leaving the stunned Nojiko standing there alone.
"Huh, they are really something else!" Nojko smiled bitterly before leaving toward the villagers.
.....
Meanwhile, Rayan had already arrived at the Navy ship and was sailing back to the Navy 16th base, Nezumi's unit's home base.
Some Navy soldiers who were unconscious before started waking up. They quickly noticed the ship was moving and hurriedly went to check what was happening.
It didn't take them long before they found Rayan standing alone on the ship's deck.
" Sir! What happened?" One of the soldiers asked, clearly confused.
" We have been attacked by that blue-haired swordsman, and you all got knocked out quickly!" Rayan looked at the soldiers and added, " I only managed to survive by pretending to be unconscious and waiting until he left to rescue you all."
The soldiers were embarrassed and couldn't help but feel gratitude toward Lieutenant Commander Rayan.
" What happened to Captain Nezumi and other Lieutenant Commanders, Sir?" Another soldier asked.
" Probably dead!" Rayan's response shocked all the soldiers present.
One of the soldiers said in a panic, " How could that be possible?!"
" Didn't you notice that he knew we were under the command of Captain Nezumi and come specifically for us?!" Rayan asked with a solemn look.
" That's right!" Responded the soldier who received Brain first.
" Not only that, but on the way back, the ship passed by Arlong Park ... and I noticed that the Park was destroyed. " Rayan dropped another bomb on the shocked soldiers, horrifying them more.
" So Arlong Pirates are probably all dead as well," Rayan added in a grave tone.
" What?!" The soldiers exclaimed in unison.
" Those responsible for these are real monsters! ... I sneaked close to the Park and took some pictures of them so that we could at least bring some of their information back to the headquarter," Rayan said casually.
" You are really brave, Sir!" A soldier replied in admiration. He couldn't help but feel awe toward his superior because he would never come close to those monsters if he was in his place. Hell, he would have run as far away as he could instead because if even the almighty Arlong died at the hands of those monsters, then what could he, a messy weak soldier, do to them!
" Even Arlong is dead! " A soldier trembled as he murmured.
" If it wasn't for Lieutenant Commander Rayan, we would probably be dead too," Another one added in realization.
" Indeed!" All the soldiers couldn't help but feel thankful for Rayan's bravery and cleverness
" You are my underlings, and I'm your superior, so I only did what I'm supposed to do!" Rayan said humbly, earning looks of awe and gratitude from the scared soldiers.
" Anyway, get ready. We need to retreat and report back what happened here! ... Those people are out of our league!" Rayan instructed.
" Yes, Sir!" all the soldiers responded respectfully in unison before quickly leaving for their jobs.
Glancing at the Navy soldiers' back, running hastily on board, and stirring the ship, Rayan scoffed in his mind. - 'Fools!'
He smiled and glanced at the sea while formulating a believable story in his mind. A story he would recount to the HQ, with him, of course, being the hero who saved the day.
Looking at the sea's surface, Rayan smirked and murmured zealously in a low voice, " Everything is for the sake of our lord!"
_________________________
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