Two mornings later.
Aken was humming a little tune as he pushed his bicycle along the field path outside the village entrance. The weather was pleasant, just right for patrolling.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew by, sending his wide-brimmed police cap flying off. He hurriedly parked his bike and bent over to pick it up.
The little windmill on the cap had gotten wet again. He wiped it for a long time before finally getting it clean. Feeling a little wronged, Aken carefully put the hat back on.
He had only made this new one last night. The one he made a year ago had mysteriously disappeared a few days ago without a trace.
Why was this happening? And who could it be that kept targeting such a worthless little windmill?
To this day, Aken couldn't figure it out no matter how much he thought about it.
Just as he straightened up, he suddenly saw, far off in his field of vision, a few kids who often played by the dock running toward him in a panic, constantly glancing back as they ran.
When they saw him, they immediately started shouting, "Uncle Aken! Bad news, bad news!"
"Pirates! There's a pirate ship coming at the dock!"
What?!
Aken's face changed dramatically. He immediately swung his leg over his bike. "I'll go check it out! You guys hurry back to the village and tell everyone to escape to the mountains—"
Wait, the mountains?
His movements froze for a moment as he suddenly realized — this was not the era where Coco Yashi Village was helpless against just any random pirate.
There was a monster stationed deep in the mountains now!
"You guys grab any adults you see along the way and go find Shano!" he quickly changed his orders. "Tell him to come to the dock at once. This is the most urgent thing — don't delay, you hear me?!"
"Got it, Uncle Aken!"
Watching the kids run off, Aken then rode his bike as fast as he could toward the dock, biting his lip. But deep down, he still couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy.
Coco Yashi Village had enjoyed peace for several years now.
But this time — what level of pirate could it be coming?
If, by terrible luck, it was one of the most powerful pirate crews in East Blue...
Could Shano really handle it?
...
Deep in the mountains.
The black-haired boy was gripping a giant tree, weighing two to three tons, and swinging it like a golden staff. He was having great fun when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a white figure flashing through the sky.
"Moonwalk!"
— Whoosh!
Shano launched himself upward, and after a few flickers, appeared midair, blocking the newspaper bird's path.
"Quack!!!"
The news bird let out a startled duck-like scream, its feathers puffing out in shock.
It was responsible for the East Blue region and had only heard from companions that there were flying humans on the Grand Line — it had never actually seen one until now!
"Today's newspaper, please," Shano said, flicking a 50-berry coin into the post bag around its neck.
With his mastered Moonwalk, he could hover midair for a few seconds — just enough to pull out the newspaper. Before he could open it, however, his body started falling.
The news bird grabbed the coin and stared dumbfounded at Shano's falling figure.
— This guy is seriously opening the newspaper midair? Not even worried about smashing himself to death?
"Princess Otohime assassinated?"
Staring at the headline, Shano held the paper tightly, motionless, allowing his body to freefall.
A few seconds later — boom! — he crashed heavily onto the mountain top, blasting a huge crater into the ground with dust flying everywhere.
By the time the dust settled, he had finished reading the article. His brows furrowed deeply.
So Arlong coming to East Blue and Hody Jones killing Princess Otohime... happened in the same year?
Two generations of scum... no, fish-scum... truly birds of a feather. Always doing evil without missing a beat.
Folding the newspaper away, he stepped out of the crater he had smashed and walked to the southernmost peak, doing something he had repeated countless times over the past year — gazing toward the dock.
"Arlong... Arlong... why haven't you come yet..." he murmured almost unconsciously.
But in the very next moment, his gaze froze.
Far on the horizon, a massive pirate ship had appeared, sailing straight toward the dock.
Under the fluttering skull flag, the ship's figurehead was carved into a fearsome shark jaw.
The sea breeze blew past the mountaintop, and the figure standing there remained still for a long time.
After a while—
"Arlong..."
A voice, half crying and half laughing, finally floated out full of grievance. His body stretched, and his whole frame shuddered, muscles twitching in a spine-chilling ripple.
"You've finally come..."
"I missed you... I missed you so much..."
The moment the words fell—
Crack, crack! As the arch of his foot tightened, countless web-like cracks suddenly spread out from under him, crawling crazily down the mountainside. The entire cliff groaned under the pressure.
BOOM—!!!
In the next instant, the air exploded with ripples, and the massive, muscular figure vanished from the spot. The cliff completely collapsed behind him.
When he reappeared, he had already instant-shifted to the top of a coconut tree dozens of meters away, crushing the trunk into a tightly bent bow shape. Using the rebound force, he shot himself fiercely into the distance!
...
Thud!
With a heavy crash, the Shark Saw No. 1 forced its way into the dock, mercilessly smashing the wooden pier into splinters.
Tap tap tap — dozens of large, burly figures leisurely descended from the ship, stepping over the wreckage onto land.
"This is Coco Yashi Village?"
Glancing at the village in the distance with smoke curling into the sky, a kissing-gourami fishman named Chew raised his eyebrows.
"It's a lot bigger than it looked on the map, huh? Seems like if we search thoroughly, we can squeeze a good amount of money out of this place, chuu~."
"I just think it's a pity," said another officer, Kuroobi, with a cold face, arms crossed.
"Not even a little excitement. It's been ages since I stretched my muscles... but in this tiny village, finding someone worthy of exchanging fists with me is practically impossible."
He wore a dark blue outfit, his muscles bulging. Around his waist was tied a black belt signifying his Fishman Karate rank. His hair was tied into two small topknots, and he looked very hard to mess with.
Slap.
A giant purple hand suddenly landed on both of their shoulders.
"Sha-hahaha—! Enough with the chatter, boys."
Arlong grinned, showing a mouth full of sharp fangs.
"Now that we're on land, it's time to shout our Arlong Pirates' declaration."
He spread his arms wide, and the fishman pirates behind him all drew their weapons, grinning fiercely.
"Pathetic, tiny humans!"
Arlong roared at the distant village.
"From this moment on, this village—no, this whole island—will be ruled by us!!!"
"Sha-hahaha!!!"
Amid the wild, arrogant laughter, the Arlong Pirates strode off the dock, marching grandly toward the village.
But just after they turned a corner—
They found four fallen coconut trees stacked together, blocking the path to the village.
"Hmm? Someone did this?"
Kuroobi squinted his eyes, sneering coldly.
"Scared stiff just from seeing a pirate ship, huh? Naive. You think something like this can stop us?"
"Look closely, someone's sitting on top," Chew said, giggling as he pointed at a figure sitting on the stacked trunks.
"Hey, little guy," Chew called out teasingly. "Trying to protect your village all by yourself? Tsk, tsk, tsk... not bad, at least you've got guts, I'll give you that."
The figure sat there silently, head bowed, fists clenched and trembling slightly, seemingly trying hard to suppress his fear.
Finally, after hearing the praise, the figure slowly looked up, revealing a clean and handsome young face.
Under the mocking gazes of the many fishmen, he gave a shy and embarrassed smile:
"...Thanks."