章節 49: Chapter 49

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Chapter 25– Confrontation On The Horizon.

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It was just another morning, working on this stupid fucking park. Why is it called a park? I have absolutely no idea. I mean, it doesn't have any rides or slides or anything. All it is is a big building surrounded by walls with a water entrance. Nothing theme or water about it. He just wanted a massive defensible compound that looked nice, but he wanted to call it a park.

Honestly, this thing is massive as well. Most of our time was spent cleaning the surrounding area and terraforming the land to make the foundation for exactly what he wanted. We had to cut a lot of the surrounding woodlands, though thankfully, we didn't go far enough to disturb George's rest. There was no sand there anymore. The little beach I made my home on no longer exists. All of the sand was dug and shovelled out to make way for the concrete foundation we had laid out.

And then, we had got to work on the surrounding walls of the compound, starting with the white concrete wall surrounding the compound, including the water entryway from the ocean, including a gate in the water preventing entrance with two watch towers on either side of it. And then, another section after that is made with a brick wall which opens to the ocean. And then inside the compound, with a large patio in front, is a big pagoda-like building, the rooms getting smaller as you go up, and there are five floors.

To the right of it, when facing Arlong Park from the ocean, there is a section of grasslands that was filled with water due to the terraforming of the land. Naturally, the Fishmen did not much care about this since they had no problem with the water, but my workers did, which is why I had a raised walkway made that goes to the main road and leads to the entrance of Arlong Park, which is in the east wall. Also, deciding to make use of the new watery lands for everybody, we turned them into paddy fields.

That was the end product, at least, but right now, we have gotten the base and foundation laid along with the walls being mostly done, and we have an excellent framework for it set in place. As much as I hate this place and the fact that I am making it, I am learning a lot as I go along from the other craftsmen, and we have worked tirelessly to get this done before Arlong gets pissed and someone ends up paying for it.

With me leading this project due to Arlong's favouritism or perhaps cursed attention, I had to pull my weight. Though at first, it was hard, ordering around and directing people older and more experienced than myself, that was mostly me finding it difficult. They all cowered before Arlong, and in their own words, I stood up to him, and so they don't mind following my orders. So after I got used to it, I had to order, delegate and direct a multitude of me in order to get this project done to a good standard and in a short amount of time.

Today, the sun was bright, and the seas were peaceful. One would ordinarily call this a good day, enjoying the heat and relaxing under the rays of the sun. But not us. We have been working tirelessly under the shine of this hot sun day after day, overworked and tired, yet forcing ourselves to carry on with hardly a break. We are here from the second the sun rises to the second it sets, working as much in the daylight hours.

This day should have been no different, with us slaving away until the sun sets, and we go home to try a rest before getting up the next day to start again. But our morose downcast mood is interrupted, a wave of workers suddenly getting excited and cheering, and when I look up from my work, I understand why. There, in the distance, is a fleet of marine ships heading in our direction. Three ships, to be specific. I don't know what constitutes a fleet. How many do you need to call it a fleet?

Wait, why the hell am I focusing on that? There are bloody marines heading here, three ships full, and they are heading directly for us, which means this has been planned, and they have someone feeding them information from the island. Why do I say that? Well, it is because there are no Fishmen here. Why are there no Fishmen here? Well, that is ultimately down to me.

Initially, Arlong would be along every so often to check up on us and check on the progress of the construction. But I put a stop to that when I agreed to the timeline he gave me in exchange for him leaving and not coming back until it was done, on account of his presence scaring and slowing down all the workers. He agreed since he wanted to have his home built, but then when another Fishmen decided to drop by and push his weight around, I immediately stopped all work and went to see him, demanding that all Fishmen stay away from the area so we could work in peace. And they did.

Naturally, this news would have spread all over the island to all of the villagers, but the fact remains only the workers knew initially, so they must have spread it around. And now, someone used that information when contacting the Marines to provide them with a breaching point where there will be no Fishmen around. Fighting the Fishmen at sea would obviously be disadvantageous for them as the Fishmen thrive in the water, but getting and forcing the battle to be mostly on land will even the odds.

I would estimate there are at least thirty men on a ship, and with three ships, that makes ninety men. My guess might not be accurate, but the number of men incoming is above fifty, which is almost five times the amount of the Arlong pirates, who only have ten pirates, eleven if we count Momoo. But they are all Fishmen, said to be ten times as strong as a human, so can this amount really put up a good fight. Let's hope so. Hopefully, they have someone that is capable because I have seen just how far human strength can go.

Still, those ships are pretty far away in the distance, and it will take them at least another five minutes to get here. I would not have spotted it with it being so far and myself being so focused on my work, but some of the men here did. Meaning they were expecting it. I can only assume it was one of the workers here that had called the Marines like Nami had told me two weeks ago at dinner. Still, is two weeks long enough to rally the troops, the truly strong marines, from the Grand Line? I doubt it, but then again, I have no clue just how long the travel time is.

I make sure to tell the men to stay right here, not wanting to risk any of this information to leak out in their excitement and making its way to Arlong and his crew so they can go on the attack. Still, the ships are all the way out at sea, and this is hardly the only spot on the island that can see them though I don't think there are too many villages situated with an ocean view. And there are only ten pirates on the islands, so if we are lucky, then they will be caught unaware and-

I see a flash of blue to my right, in the midst of the trees, and the only blue things that I know are mobile on the island right now are the Fishmen. I see it darting through the woods to my right side, heading inland to the path leading to the other villages. Immediately I drop everything I am doing and spin around to bolt off into the distance. But, of course, I couldn't trust a pirate to live by his word, and of course, he would have someone watching over us n secret since we might try to fuck the house up to bring it down on them after they start living there, which was a thought I had to be honest, but I didn't think it would work and would only serve to piss them off.

To my surprise, whoever it is in the trees is very slow, but given that I have only ever fought against Arlong, who is the captain, I may have been overestimating the Fishmen as a whole. Nevertheless, I sprint and manage to get in front of the Fishman, who reveals himself to be one of Arlongs top pirates, the guy with the big lips who I have heard being called Chew. Surprisingly, he was still a long distance from me as I had sprinted over to block him as fast as I could, but I had gotten far ahead of him.

Spotting me, the blue-skinned Fishman stalls for a second, confusing me as I would have thought he would have tried to barrage straight through a kid like me, but he stops for a second with caution, and I can see it in his eyes that he is reevaluating the situation. Seeing that, I didn't move and decided to stay here to prevent him from leaving since he chose to keep his distance from me. Still, is it just me, or is this guy fatter than the last time I saw him? Like seriously, his belly looks enormous in the distance, and is it getting bigger- OH, SHIT!!

"Hyappatsu Mizudeppo! (Hundred-Shot Water Gun)" The Fishman's mouth suddenly widens, and a massive spray of blue erupts from his mouth. Obviously, from hearing his words, I know that it is actually water. Neverminding any of that, I quickly dive to the right and take cover behind a particularly big tree, wary of the water, as it was just described as a hundred shots from a gun. And it was a good decision as well since immediately a barrage of noise assaults my ears, and apart from the rushing of water I hear I can also listen to the breaking and shattering of wood, as countless trees are torn apart from this water attack which I had no idea was possible.

Seeing literal trees being blown apart from the force of the water shots, I quickly lower myself even further down behind the tree until I am flat against the ground, decreasing the risk of any of the shots getting lucky and hitting me. And once again, it is proved that I made a good decision as the tree I am hiding behind suddenly has a section of it blown apart, and the tree suddenly breaks and falls to the right. Thankfully the stump is still there and provides sufficient cover for me.

Being aware of just how deadly this ability is and the fact that all of the Fishmen could be capable of this suddenly makes me a lot more wary of the whole pirate group. If all then of them pull off a water move like this in a synchronised manner, then they could probably obliterate hundreds of people at once. And now, even with the water shots stopping, I find myself cautious, not willing to put my head out yet. If this guy is capable of one hundred shots in a widespread manner, then surely he could be capable of a single accurate, deadly shot, and if I poke my head out, then I could lose it immediately.

Instead, I decided to wait here and allow my opponent to think his previous attack had felled me. Then, when he advances in surety and closes in on me, I will hop out and begin a close-range match, knowing that I am faster than him and will be able to deal with him in close combat. Which is a good plan, except after a minute or so, I hear no sounds, and nothing has happened, and I can't afford to keep my eyes off my opponent for this long. Since he is a fish, maybe he has echolocation or something and knows where I am and is setting a trap.