บท 6: Chapter 5
2 years finally passed by.
Over 2 years, Rowan threw himself into tortures even worse than before.
One-finger push-up, one-finger pull-up, lifting up a boulder, grabbing onto the branch of a tree with his body parallel to the ground for hours, name the hardest exercise that you can think of. Rowan probably did it.
His punch was now capable of cracking a boulder in one go. His kick could cause a moderately thick tree to be ripped off from the ground. In comparison to a weak and scrawny boy that he was 4 years ago, he indeed made a drastic improvement.
Was that enough? Rowan didn't know. However, he did all that he could do.
The village has finally reached its limit; today was the day.
Rowan checked his attire, which consisted of the knuckle gloves for his hands and metal helmet to protect his head and neck, that craftsman made for him. This was the best Cocoyasi village could do for him, with Arlong sucking them dry of money.
Rowan exited Genzo's house, and was met with the villagers crowding around him.
"Are you ready?" Genzo asked with serious face.
Rowan returned with the nod. "It's all or nothing; today, everything will be decided."
Several men stepped up, with Johnny and Yosaku, two best swordsmen (mediocre) that the village got.
"Johnny, Yosaku, when did you two return? I thought you were working as bounty hunters." Genzo exclaimed his surprise.
"We got contact from Sam," Johnny answered stoically. "What kind of men will be, if we were not to join this coop?"
"We tried to contact the other marine branches to request for a help, but it seemed that without a sure evidence, they couldn't dare to act." Yosaku stated, "After all, Arlong... is someone with ties to one of the Seven Warlords, Jinbe."
"...F***." One villager muttered in anger.
"Therefore, Rowan, you are our only possible chance. We will try to provide you distractions at least, so please," Yosaku gazed at Rowan with a mix of hope and guilt, "defeat Arlong for us."
"Thanks. I will be relying on you guys for this." Although he felt shouldered with burden, Rowan too nodded with seriousness.
Rowan knew that what they are about to do now is a reckless action. However, seeing the bottled-up rage within the villagers that was about to explode any day, he knew he could not delay any longer. He did not wish to see anyone else die anymore, rather if it's due to the rebellion, or due to the inability to pay rent.
Rowan began to take off his steps towards the Arlong Park, with villagers following behind.
"Stop!!" Suddenly, they were faced against Nami, who hurriedly ran towards them after seeing the commotion.
"What are you guys trying to do!!" With her arms open wide, she attempted to halt the movement. "You guys can't beat Arlong!!"
"Nami, over the years... we found out what sacrifices you were making for us. There is no need to suffer anymore." Rowan stepped up, and gently pushed her to the side.
"Just, just wait a bit longer! When I gather 100 million Beli, Arlong promised me to free our village!!" Nami desperately said, in hopes of changing the minds of the villagers.
"100 million?" Rowan chuckled darkly as he lowered his head, shadowing his eyes. "Nami, a filth like Arlong won't keep his promise—this I can guarantee you."
Rowan gently placed his hand on Nami's shoulder, "We got no more option. Village is out of money and Arlong's tyranny continues. If we are going to die anyway, I'd rather die along with Arlong and his brainless fish pirates, rather than beg for life."
Lifting his head back up, Rowan had a furious expression, with the veins popped out of his forehead and crazed looks on his eyes. Without a further ado, he passed Nami and continued to walk towards Arlong Park.
"Trust in him, Nami. I believe that Rowan can beat Arlong." Nojiko spoke softly, with a hope in her eyes.
"Village will no longer abide by Arlong's tyrany!!" Genzo firmly gripped on his gun.
"You guys don't understand!! You don't know how strong Arlong and his crew are!!!" Nami shouted fiercely, but the villagers did not listen.
Nami couldn't do much but stare at her tattoo hatefully. Everything she held dear to, will be gone today. She knelt down on the village ground, void of the usual liveliness.
_____________
After a triumphant walk towards Arlong Park, Rowan and the villagers stopped in front of the huge gate that lied in front of them: the entrance of Arlong Park.
'Time to put my trainings into use.' Rowan clenched his fist, and punched the door as hard as possible. To everyone's surprise, the entire door flew back with a visible fist dent in the middle, before crashing onto the Arlong Crew, who were partying.
*BOOM*
"Who dares?!!" Arlong shouted in fury as he and the crew walked out of the smoke unscathed.
"ARLONG!!!" Looking at the hateful visage of Arlong, Rowan could no longer control himself. His fists clenched in an absolute fury, Rowan ignored Arlong's crew members and began to walk towards Arlong.
Hearing Rowan's furious outburst, Arlong revealed an annoyed expresion.
"Kill him!!" He ordered to his crew members, who charged at Rowan, however, were blocked by the villagers, who grouped up together like zombies.
"We will hold them off! Go Rowan!" One villager shouted out to Rowan as he struggled to hold himself against the large blade slammed by one fish-man.
"You think a puny human such as yourself can defeat me?!" Arlong angrily shouted, before lunging towards Rowan with a blinding speed.
'As expected, he's really fast.' Using his leg strength, Rowan quickly jumped up to dodge Arlong's strike.
In the midair, Rowan rotated his body, before letting his body fall while using the momentum to kick towards Arlong.
"Ha, what can a mere kick do?!" Looking at Rowan, Arlong held out his arm to respond against Rowan's fast descend.
*BOOM*
Unlike what Arlong predicted, the force behind Rowan's kick was far greater, and as the result, he crashed into the ground!
'Don't give him any chance!!' Before Arlong could bring himself up, Rowan continually slammed his foot on Arlong, pushing him down even further.
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
The loud repetition of noise caused all nearby quarrels to cease and stare at Rowan's beat-down on Arlong.
"Arlong-san!!!" The fish-men cried out in anger, but before they could help him, they were bombarded by the villagers grouping up on them. The villagers were like zombies, as even if one fell, the other one quickly replaced the spot, not giving the fish-men any time to take a breath.
Under normal circumstances, such normal humans will not pose any threat to them. However, when they are scattered and each one of them had to face tens of villagers on their own, especially when some of them even possessed guns, with the exceptions of few tough fish-men like Kuroobi, they were evenly matched.
"ENOUGH!!!" Arlong blasted out of a hole, despite the attacks he received from Rowan.
To Rowan's shock, Arlong only seemed to have mild injuries! As Arlong readied his stance, Rowan grimaced.
"Shoryo no Mizu!!" In contradictory to Rowan's expectation, who thought Arlong will charge towards him, Arlong shot a jet of water that flew towards him in an incredible speed!
Straining his muscle to extreme, Rowan barely managed to dodge it. However, at the same time, Arlong dashed in front of him, and before Rowan could react, he was punched in the gut.
*Cough* Rowan crashed into the wall behind as he vomited blood. Arlong was much stronger than he anticipated!
"Tooth attack!" Arlong attempted to bite onto Rowan's neck, who managed to dodge at last second by rolling on the ground. In response, Arlong quickly threw a punch towards Rowan.
Rowan jumped up using his hand, in order to dodge Arlong's punch. Right after, his feet landed on the wall, before shooting forward towards Arlong, with his two hands clamped onto one another, forming a fist.
Arlong had no time to react, and received a a blow on the chest, however, he endured! Subsequently, he bit down on Rowan's shoulder, causing him to cry in pain!
"Urghhh!!"Rowan was thrown as Arlong ripped a piece of flesh on his shoulder.
Rowan felt dizzy; it was his second time, after his death, that he received such a pain! However, he knew better than anyone, that if he collapse here, his whole village will suffer!
Shakily, Rowan managed to stand back up, earning an annoyance from Arlong.
"A human can never defeat a fish-man!! Especially a weakling like you!!" Arlong snarled before taking out his saw-like sword. "After I deal with you, I will kill every single human in this island!!!"
"*Huff*... as if, *huff*... I will let you!!" Rowan held his firm gaze onto Arlong.
'Even after all those trainings I have done, I am still inferior to Arlong in terms of strength! In order to win, I have to play smart!' In truth, he was quite capable in physical means. However, Rowan lacked experiences and techniques in contrast to Arlong; this led to him believing that his strength falls short against Arlong.
Rowan readied himself, and the moment Arlong charged at him with his sword, jumped up, causing Arlong's sword to be stuck on the wall.
Following that, Rowan faked a kick on Arlong, who let go of the sword to respond with a punch, however, hit nothing but the air. At the same time, Rowan, who landed back on the ground, grabbed Arlong's sword and pulled it out from the wall.
Arlong growled before shooting up towards Rowan in a straight fashion, with his sharp nose pointing towards Rowan.
'Let's see which is stronger, your weapon or your nose!'
Rowan slammed the sword on the ground as Arlong flew towards him, causing his nose and sword to collide.
*BOOM*
Unexpectedly, his sword broke! However, at the same time, Arlong's nose got bent.
Standing back up, Arlong grabbed his nose and twisted back into place, without a sign of pain on his face. Afterwards, he pulled out his broken teeth, and surprisingly, new teeth grew right away.
Letting out a cold sweat, Rowan looked at his bleeding shoulder.
'I don't have much time left. I have to finish this fast, but how?'
"Keep running away like a coward you are!! It won't change anything!!" Suddenly, Arlong jumped inside the pool lying next to them.
'Arlong is a fish-man, which means... he must have some aptitude to water too!' Rowan thought. 'To counter him... retreat to high place!'
Rowan quickly jumped up towards the roof of the Arlong's castle, however, it was at that exact moment that Arlong shot out from the water at extreme speed!
"As expected of a human! Stupid!!" Arlong grinned menacingly as he sped towards Rowan, who was in mid air, with extreme speed.
This was when Rowan realized his mistake. To think Arlong can propel himself in such a manner, Rowan never thought that such a feat was possible.
'Damn, no!' Rowan braced for an impact as Arlong smashed into him, and they crashed into the building, causing a dust to rise and block their views.
*BOOM*
*Cough* Rowan inspected his body, which had a bleeding hole at stomach, due to Arlong piercing him with his nose.
"Do you know what room this is? Shahaha, this is where Nami has been drawing maps for past 4 years!! Once she completes the map, we, the fish-men, will dominate the world!!" Arlong held out his hands with a laugh. "And also, this room will be your grave."
"Hehe..." A weak laugh was heard from Rowan, causing Arlong to frown.
'4 years. In just a span of 4 years, my family, friends, everyone in this village... just how much did we suffer?'
"4 years to draw, huh? Guess how long it takes to destroy.. *cough*" Rowan coughed blood, but nonetheless, grinned.
'Arlong is tough. But he did not receive as much damage because unlike him, my hits are blunt. Which means...' Rowan glanced at a sharp piece that he acquired from Arlong's broken sword. 'My one final chance. Even if I were to die... I will take Arlong with me!!'
"You..." Arlong became cautious, as he realized that Rowan's action may delay his plan.
In order to throw Rowan out of the mapping room, Arlong rushed towards Rowan's who was down. However, in the next moment, Rowan changed into a curling position with his feet touching the edge that connects the floor and the wall.
When Arlong reached at point proximity with Rowan, Rowan suddenly shot his legs up with all his strength, and stretched out his arm, holding a sharp sword piece on his hand.
*Crack* Rowan slammed the piece of sword into Arlong's neck with all his strength, which was followed by a sound of bone crunching. At the same time, Rowan's hand was broken and bleeding due to holding the sharp piece with his bare hand.
Arlong's eyes widened in disbelief, before his grip on Rowan loosened, and collapsed onto the ground, dead.
*Cough* Rowan coughed out blood, however, limped towards the broken hole of the room, while dragging Arlong's corpse with him. He got one more job to do.
"ARLONG IS DEAD!!!" Rowan threw Arlong's corpse out of the room, causing it to fall onto the ground.
Hearing this, everyone's eyes widened.
"Arlong-san!!!!" Fish-men cried in disbelief, as Arlong with broken neck came into display.
"Arlong is dead!!" Villagers cried in joy, before turning our gaze back to the fish-men. "Exterminate rest of them!!!" Without a regard for their life, villagers maniacally rushed towards those fish-men, blindly swinging and shooting their weapon. In the chaotic situation, one by one, fish-men began to fall. As the weaker fish-men fell, the villagers joined to help others, grouping up on the bigger fish-men.
They looked like a swarm of zombies, with blood splattering everywhere. Even the Arlong pirates never experienced something as terrifying as this: the sheer hatred and maliciousness, oozing out of everyone's eyes towards them!
"Damn it!! Everyone, retreat!!" Kuroobi shouted to the other fish-men as he cut few villagers at once. However, those villagers, although holding their deep gash, continued to glare at Kuroobi.
Some threw their weapon, some even bit on his shoulder. When he severed their limbs, they punched him even if it dealt no damage. Fish-men have never seen anything like this. To them, it felt as if they were in hell!
Eventually, only the officer fish-men, Kuroobi, Hatchan and Chew managed to escape, while all the others were slaughtered.
However, the casualty on the villagers were much more severe. More than half of those who joined the fight were killed, and more than half of the remaining lost a limb.
Nami, who heard large commotion, rushed towards the Arlong Park, only to witness a brutal scene, a scene full of corpses and blood splashed everywhere.
'Mom, dad, Pob... I've done it guys. I hope you guys rest in peace...' Bleeding everywhere, Rowan wobbled, before the darkness consumed him.
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