Chapter 44

"Hm, oh, the brat is finally back. Shahaha! Amarillo Detoro, you are quite impressive for a human, though that means you are still incredibly weak. It is a good thing that you aren't so fragile since you have a lot of work to do." Arlong says, looking back over his shoulder at me with a vicious grin and a malicious glint in his eyes while Nami's stern gaze wavers as she looks on worriedly. A sinking feeling begins to stir in my gut, and I try to inquire further on the matter, but all I can manage is a questioning grunt, my head still not settled properly though Arlong seems to intuitively understand.

"Shahaha! There is a reason I destroyed your home, I am not a cruel man, after all, and I would not do such a thing for no reason. This will be the ground for our new home, and sadly your home was in the way of my new vision, so it had to be removed." He punctuates his point by lightly kicking a piece of debris which used to be a supporting beam in my house, and sending it flying across the ocean, watching it disappear with glee. And I just look at my home, reminded by his action that my house has been destroyed and once more, that impossibly large rage bubbles forth, ready to spill forth and make itself known, and yet I can not act on it.

"And with it gone, the construction of Arlong Park can begin, the construction you will be in charge of. Before it was destroyed, I looked around your home, and it was quite nice. You did a good job on your own home, but I expect you to do a better one with my own." My rage, unable to be released, starts to fester inside me, but I cannot act on it. This guy destroyed my home and now expects me to be the one to build on top of the remains for his and his crew's new house or park or whatever. And now that Nami's orders are back in effect, I can't act on it anymore, so it is best to try and stifle these feelings now than allow them to start hurting me.

"Shahaha! Aren't we lucky, boys! Not only did we find a single prodigy child, but we found two! One of the little geniuses will draw us a map, and the other will build us a home and then whatever else we need. SHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" He starts to laugh uncontrollably as I and Nami glare daggers at him, which he clearly feels but ignores, not bothering himself with us or our feelings as he already has a hold over us. Myself and probably Nami really hate this man, but that doesn't seem to bother him, and there is no getting out of this.

"W-Wait, it took me four years to build my home, and you want me to build a place big enough for your entire crew. There is no way. You would need materials, money and a lot of labour, more than just myself, to get it done. Oh, and I am not going to fucking do it. So instead, I will figure out a way to pay that fucking tax, so you can go find some other idiots to build your park." I try to quickly debunk what he is asking me to get out of it before I realise I don't need to try and worm my way out of it and can just say straight no. Why should I?

This fucking asshole is going to kill my best friend, destroy my home and take over the entire island and then expect me to happily build on the shattered remains of my home a new building for him and his ilk. Like fuck that is going to happen. I don't care if this mother fucker decides to kick the shit out of me or whatever. I literally have nothing left, and I refuse to bow down before him.

Before, I had my home, and I had George, and that was really all I really had. Sure, I have the villagers and Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee, but they can look over themselves and those people, while friendly, aren't as close. The villagers I know purely through the quantity of time I spend in the village, running into them and talking to them in my jobs and while they are nice they only really bother with themselves and even my bosses, if I don't do a good job, then they wouldn't keep me around.

And Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee, while I appreciate everything they have done for me, they got rid of me at the end of the day. They didn't leave me helpless, but I was kicked out because the other kids disliked me and were scared of me when they were the ones picking fights with me. So they got me a home, but other than that, they got rid of me and kept their distance because I proved to be too much trouble.

And then, when Captain Nezumi came along, and he stopped the little bit of help in the form of money that they were giving me, they just let it happen. The only reason Captain Nezumi was even able to do such a thing was because I no longer lived at the orphanage, so the easy solution would have been to just bring me back in. But they didn't. They let me go with no support to fend for myself. Now admittedly, I can look after myself, but they didn't know that. I was just a child, a capable child, but a child all the same, and they kicked me out because it was easier for them. Right now, at this moment, I don't care about this island. It could go burn for all I care, but there is no way I am listening to this fucker.

"Hoh? You don't want to? Shahaha... You fucking brat! You think-" Arlong starts quite calmly, but I can hear the burning fury building as he talks. His voice was getting more severe as he turned around to pin me with a furious glare, and I was getting the distinct feeling that if I wasn't going to work for him, then I wasn't going to get the chance to pay the taxes. I would end up sleeping with the fi- ew, no. They would probably end up eating me, but I don't give a shit. I refuse to bow down, I have nothing left to lose, and I am sure that Arlong can see that as I glare right back at him as I stand back up on my two feet.

"HE WILL DO IT! SAY YOU WILL DO IT, DETORO! HE WILL DO IT. HE IS JUST UPSET BECAUSE HIS HOUSE IS GONE!!" Before Arlong can get too riled up and before I can say too much, Nami quickly shouts and draws his attention and, in the process, cements a command for me that I have to obey. Nami has given the order, and now I can feel it deep inside that I will have to build this fucking Arlong Park.

"Hm, are you Detoro? Are you going to build my new home on top of this pile of shit you used to call home?" Arlong says, purposely demeaning me and being a prick about it. He is making this incredibly difficult on me, pushing me to the very brink and seeing if I will crack, and I can see that he is finding pleasure in pushing me into this moral quandary. But, unfortunately, the decision is out of my hand, and so I grit my teeth and nod my head in affirmation.

"...Yes. I will do it. But I will need materials and a workforce, and you will have to specify exactly what you want." So I say, going along with the new restriction rather than trying and fighting it only to hurt myself and end up doing it anyway when I can resist no longer. Right now, the only hope I have is that this command will fade eventually, just like the one Nami placed on me not to attack the fishmen that disappeared a few minutes ago, allowing me to attack Arlong before Nami made it again.

I theorise that commands and orders have to have intent and feeling behind them, which could be both a blessing and a curse. For example, she could order me to do something, but if she doesn't actually want me to do it, then the command will not come into play. Also, if she wants me to do something but doesn't correctly tell me, then I don't have to do it. Instead, she has to say it to me for it to come into effect. And also, commands don't have to be rescinded by Nami. They can be lifted and fade on their own, depending on the circumstances.

Just like earlier, the command Nami gave after I woke up and met her in that shack and revealed my intentions to kill them all. She gave it to me, and it was in effect since I couldn't leave the shack if I intended to kill any of them, but for some reason, later on, the command disappeared. Thinking back, it was after burying George and coming back and seeing Arlong order my home's destruction that the restriction was taken off.

My only guess is that after seeing and helping me bury George's body and feeling my hurt, and then seeing their dastardly behaviour in destroying my home, Nami no longer felt that I should not kill them. Instead, she thought that I had every right to, even if it was just for an instance. But an instance was all that was needed for the order to disappear, and she would have to make her intentions known again to have it placed back on me.

"Whatever, go sort it out, brat. Go find some other humans and the materials, and then we will talk. Now leave. The sight of you is bugging me." Arlong says, uncharacteristically not doing his evil laugh and then shooed me away with a hand. I swear, everything this beast does is purposely done to anger me, and for a second, I think I can see a glimpse of a smile on his face when he sees me grit my teeth out of anger.

The bile inside me begins to rise, and I find it unbearable to keep it down, but I am not allowed to attack him. But there is more than one way to relieve yourself of anger, and while violence is almost everybody's go-to, there is always cursing. So I take a deep breath, and my mind quickly starts filtering through all the swears and insults I have in my dictionary to begin insulting the pieces of shit before me and lessen this weight inside of me.

"Stop, please, Detoro. Don't mess it up now. Just wait, and be patient." Nami, seeing that I was about to make a wrong move, quickly stopped me and whispered to me quietly. She grabs my hand and starts to pull me away from the beach, and I have no choice but to follow, but I still stare back, looking at the fishmen with pure vitriol. For some reason, Arlong looks a bit disappointed as we leave with no further words. The sadistic bastard probably enjoys this.

With Nami leading me by the hand, we walk back along the path, and when Arlong and his crew, and more importantly, my home, disappear from view, I finally stop staring backwards, and some of my anger begins to bleed away. I then turn to Nami, not questioning where we are heading since I don't particularly care at this moment and instead look at her questioningly.

"Don't push it and ruin things, Detoro. I know it is hard, I want to smash his face into pieces as well, but we can't. We will just die for no point. We have to be patient, and then soon, this will be solved. People will notice this. Merchants and traffic will stop coming through here, cut off and then the marines will investigate and come kill these bastards. We just have to be patient." Nami explains quietly, as if afraid that the pirates behind us would still somehow be able to hear us. This is actually viable since some fish have echolocation and stuff, so maybe they could.

"What happened to getting one hundred million berries and buying the island back? You changed your tune, didn't you?" I say because her plan before was just to gather that money no matter how many years it would take. And now, suddenly, she has realised that is a dumb, stupid plan and reverted to something that makes more sense.

"I- I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I wasn't thinking. And then, seeing that stuff... back there, I just... Whatever, come on, let's go." She says, not properly confirming what had changed her mind. Personally, I think she got a lot more time to reflect as she made that decision under duress, stuck inside a shack. Plus, she then helped me bury George and then saw them destroy my home. Something in there changed her mind.

"Where are we going?" I don't have a home anymore, and I can't stay with any of the villagers since they have their own selves and their families to look after. So I don't know where to go now, and I am definitely not staying back there with those assholes.

"We are going to my home..."

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