Chapter 100

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[Upps, I uploaded it early. Well... this's tomorrow chapter]

On the other hand, Aqua, with the Goddess's robe tied around her waist, hummed a cheerful tune as she walked back to the ship.

Through the semi-transparent pale pink robe, a huge bird egg the size of a basketball was faintly visible, wrapped within it. 

As for the fine wine she was eagerly looking for, it was nowhere to be seen.

Here's what happened: While searching for a tavern in Loguetown, Aqua happened to pass by a vendor selling various types of eggs.

And then, she instantly took a liking to the unusually large, exquisite bird egg on the stall.

Thinking, 'A child hatched from such a big egg must be super cute', Aqua promptly asked for the price.

The vendor, apparently not in the habit of reading newspapers, failed to recognize Aqua's identity.

Looking at her delicate aqua-blue eyes, he casually extended two fingers.

"Two million Berries, right? I just happen to have that!"

Fortunate enough to have just enough money on her, Aqua, elated, dropped the two million given by Zyhark for buying wine and happily picked up the huge egg and walked away.

This move left the vendor utterly baffled.

This giant egg was found near Navy Island by a friend of his who ran a sea trading business and was consigned for sale here.

Since he didn't know what species it was, he priced it at twenty thousand Berries—already hundreds of times the price of a normal egg!

Never did he imagine that this stunningly beautiful girl would throw down two million Berries without a second thought!

He made a fortune!

Fearful of her changing her mind, the cunning vendor quickly packed up his stall and disappeared without a trace...

Just as he feared, half an hour later, Aqua, having made a full circle in Loguetown, returned to the same street.

Only, the girl holding the egg was not there to return the purchase.

"Although it looks a bit familiar, I didn't see that egg-selling stall," Aqua muttered determinedly, looking around, "Surely this Goddess hasn't lost her way, it's just a similar road!"

Good heavens, she didn't even realize that a "strange road" rather than the "original road" was a more serious indication of the problem, still pleased with her own accurate judgment...

Thus, the foolish Goddess continued on her way back to the port.

During the journey, many passersby recognized her from the newspapers and greeted her.

Aqua responded with a smile, handing out the flyers of the Axis Cult that she had brought along.

In promoting the Goddess of Water, her usually lazy self was quite enthusiastic!

So, after more rounds around the area, as her silhouette appeared again on the street, she finally realized from the flyers in the hands of shop employees that she had indeed gotten lost!

"Damn Zyhark, that jerk must have cursed me!" she thought, recalling Zyhark's instructions before she set out.

Otherwise, how could the respected Goddess of Water possibly lose her way? She had been keeping track of the route!

The more Aqua thought about it, the more it seemed possible, given that Zyhark was the type to gain new abilities periodically.

Thus, she cast a powerful purification spell on herself.

Brilliant blue light bloomed on the busy street immediately.

Those who witnessed such a holy scene were amazed, and some hesitant residents signed their names on the flyers without a second thought!

Although they weren't as fanatically devout as the followers in Fuschia Town, they still contributed a bit of faith power to Aqua.

Besides this unexpected gain, the purification magic released by Aqua not only failed to dispel the non-existent "curse of Zyhark" but also attracted a group of extremely vicious pirates.

"Really understanding, knowing that we were looking for you and even exposing your location," said the muscular fish-man gang as they walked up at the end of the street, cleared by the frightened people.

Leading them was the captain of the Arlong Pirates, Arlong.

With a brutal smile on his lips, he held a brand-new newspaper in his hand.

Realizing that Loguetown was not suitable for plundering after seeing the latest newspaper and remembering that the so-called "Goddess of Water" was in this town, Arlong immediately changed his strategy.

Being able to summon water at will was a perfect tool for them as fish-men.

If they could capture her, not only in the sea but also on land, they would be able to unleash their full combat potential and become the strongest race without any weaknesses!

"So, human, just join us and become a companion of mine, Arlong!" Evil Dragon said, stopping in front of Aqua, his tone cold and unyielding.

"No, who would want to join you stinky fish smelling of fish all over!" Aqua refused on the spot, correcting him with a disgusted face, "And, I am not some human!"

"Then don't blame me for being harsh," the fish-man's eyes turned cold immediately.

The fish-man officers as well as a group of fish-man underlings, angrily drew their weapons at their waists.

The atmosphere instantly became tense, and the crowd scattered.

After yesterday afternoon's conflict escalated, they already knew that this group of fish-men pirates was part of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, a force not even the town's Colonel Smoker could handle!

...

Meanwhile, in another area of Loguetown.

Zyhark, still unaware of Aqua's encounter, walked out of the town's only steel and alloy processing factory with Meowth.

Meowth's back was tied with a new flintlock rifle, almost as big as its waist, and its already fierce cat face was filled with displeasure.

"Zyhark, I just saw it, a welding machine counter price is only eighty thousand Berries, but they wrote one hundred seventy thousand on the material list!" Meowth said, its anger hardly contained.

"That jerk obviously wants to extort us, why did you agree to it, Meow?!" Recalling the factory owner's smug, deceitful expression made Meowth's anger uncontrollable.

As a member of the notorious Team Rocket, it had always been them robbing others, never being treated like a fat sheep for slaughter.

Zyhark lowered his head, looking at Meowth's indignant appearance, and couldn't help but feel a bit pleased.

Although it had just joined, this guy had already begun to consider the whole team's interests.

Putting aside strength and personality, just this point was very good!

"Meowth, what do you think I am like?" Zyhark asked an unrelated question.

Hearing this, Meowth looked up and scrutinized him for a while, giving a rather direct evaluation: "Seems gentle and easy-going, but actually probably a sinister and vicious guy, Meow?"

"Thanks for your praise, pretty accurate," Zyhark said with a smile.

As he had said to Aqua a long time ago, he didn't feel that being cunning and deceitful was a demotion to himself.

"If that's the case, why did you casually give them a million Berries as a deposit, Meow?" Meowth's confusion deepened.

Manufacturing robots required a lot of things, besides the necessary steel, welders, generators, there were also various scattered parts and tools, as well as necessary loss budgets.

After the other party's false round-off, the total price amounted to nine million Berries!

Zyhark glanced back at the steel factory, and said to Meowth with a serious tone, "Meowth, that's not a deposit, but the final transaction price..."

He had no intention of repaying the money he borrowed from the pirates, and some mere iron black factory wanted to take advantage? What a joke!

"What do you mean?" Meowth's pupils suddenly became round and bright.

It seemed to understand something.

"That's why I was so enthusiastic about shaking hands and thanking the other party just now. If that guy had seriously talked business with us, that would have been a troublesome thing," Zyhark said with a smile.

Meowth, who caught the sinister smile at the corner of his mouth, shivered.

Its judgment was indeed not wrong, this man beside it was the most terrifying existence in the entire team!

It was truly a pleasure for the cat, this familiar villain style...

After regaining its senses, Meowth's mouth also revealed a vicious smile.

At this moment, the styles shown by one person and one cat looked so harmonious.

"Where are we going next, Meow?" Meowth asked.

Due to the large variety of material quantities, the steel factory needed time to prepare, and the collection could be completed at the earliest by the afternoon.

"Let's walk around, it's a good chance for you to get more familiar with this pirate world."

After handling the matters of blades and machines, Zyhark's nerves relaxed considerably, pondering that he should also find some good wine for the foolish Goddess at home.

—Intuition told him that with Aqua's way of doing things, she definitely couldn't have bought the wine smoothly with two million Berries.

Although doing so would only boost that guy's arrogance, there was no helping it, who made her his companion?

After all, she was someone with a severe intelligence deficiency, well, a pitiful goddess, it was not quite appropriate to always scold her, maybe occasionally treat her to comfort her...

Thinking this, suddenly, Zyhark heard the sound of a motorcycle "tut tut tut."

Looking up along the sound, he saw thick white smoke continuously emerging from the distance on the street.

Smoker riding a smoke-powered amphibious tricycle was heading straight this way.

A stylish tail flick, and the tricycle stopped in front of Zyhark and Meowth.

"Smoker, what's the matter?"

Seeing Smoker's heavy, serious face, Zyhark instinctively felt that what he was about to hear was probably not good news.

Was the foolish Goddess causing trouble again?

Or was King suddenly beaten down by a challenger?

"Zyhark, there's a very troublesome matter," Smoker said, biting a cigar in his mouth, his expression grave, "Arlong Pirates have kidnapped Aqua."

"What did you say?!"

Despite being mentally prepared, the development of the situation still exceeded Zyhark's expectations.

Considering the characteristics of fish-men, he almost instantly guessed Evil Dragon's purpose in kidnapping Aqua.

But given Aqua's personality and temperament, how could she be easily captured?

Normally, a torrential flood would have already descended upon Loguetown, so why was there not even a hint of disturbance on his end?

The situation seemed worse than imagined!

"I didn't expect that before I could settle accounts with them, they took the initiative to move against my partner..." Zyhark's eyes suddenly turned ice cold.

Feeling this intense murderous intent, Smoker was slightly taken aback.

From the time they met, this restaurant owner of a similar age had always been calm and gentle.

Although he didn't think that a man who had continuously defeated several big pirates would be a simple guy, personally feeling this huge discrepancy still inevitably shocked him.

"Do you know where they are now?" Zyhark asked.

"According to the intelligence, they should be in the town center's execution square."

Because this incident involved the Shichibukai, Smoker felt it tricky, "Get on the bike, I'll take you there."

"No need, I know the way."

"The motorcycle is faster..."

Smoker hadn't finished speaking when a shadow flashed before his eyes, and Zyhark's figure was already gone!

Was this man hiding his strength when he fought with Mr. Garp yesterday?

Looking at the empty space in front of him, Smoker's pupils shrank, his resolute face filled with shock.

He naturally couldn't know that compared to yesterday, Zyhark's physical condition had improved a level!

Zyhark maintained a high-speed moving state, shuttling through the spacious streets.

The execution square was very easy to recognize, being accessible from all directions.

Soon, he arrived at Loguetown's central square, where the Pirate King Roger had once been executed.

The usually crowded square was now eerily quiet, all passersby and tourists scared away by the fish-men pirates standing in the middle.

Although rare, from the shattered fountain pool, it was not difficult to see that a battle had taken place here.

"Shahaha! Just this level, and you dare call yourself the Goddess of Water?" Watching the blue-haired girl struggling while tied up, Arlong couldn't help but let out a piercing laugh.

At first, he thought she was a tricky opponent, but after a battle, except for a grandiose flame punch, she didn't pose any threat at all.

Moreover, this fool even tried to attack him, a fish-man, with water streams, truly a complete idiot!

"Seafood bastard, let me go! How dare you do this to a noble goddess!"

With her aqua-blue hair disheveled, Aqua, although looking unharmed, appeared quite disheveled.

"Just agree to join us, and naturally, you'll be untied."

Having witnessed Aqua's ability to create water streams, the naturally cruel Arlong couldn't let her go.

"Dream on! You're even dirtier than a devil, you stinky salty fish!" Aqua retorted angrily, her hands and feet bound.

Hearing this, a fierce light flashed in Arlong's eyes.

Always considering fish-men as the noblest race, he couldn't tolerate such degradation.

"It seems I need to let you witness the terror of fish-men..."

The moment his words fell, a ferocious light surged in Arlong's eyes, and he swung his clenched huge fist, smashing it towards Aqua's head.

Even knowing that the punch would hurt, Aqua still widened her eyes, not showing a trace of fear.

Bang!

The moment the fist struck, a shadow flashed, and with the added speed, a strong force blasted the unprepared Arlong, sending him crashing heavily into a distant shattered fountain.

"Really, you're too slow, Zyhark."

"This way, you're not worthy of being the chief follower of the Axis Cult!"

Looking at the handsome face close at hand, Aqua, although super annoyed, complained, but a bright smile was clearly evident on her lips.

As soon as Arlong swung his fist, she had captured Zyhark's familiar aura with her strong perception.

"You foolish goddess, you still have the nerve to speak! They were about to take you away, how come there was no sign of resistance? Where's your proud apocalyptic flood?!"

Zyhark didn't want to give Aqua any face.

However, Aqua's next words made him stop in his tracks.

"But but, didn't you specifically instruct before departure not to cause trouble, this goddess has firmly remembered!"

Aqua raised her head, her dirty face showing a proud expression as if saying, "I didn't cause trouble this time!"

Although those aqua-blue eyes still looked very foolish, Zyhark couldn't feel any disgust this time, but rather a bit of self-blame.

Being beaten in front of the townspeople and having to endure not fighting back, one can imagine how difficult it was for the bad-tempered and face-loving Aqua.

Yet, she still endured and did it!

"Aqua, you are my partner."

Zyhark untied the ropes binding Aqua, rarely speaking gently, "Special circumstances require special handling. In situations like this, it's okay to cause a ruckus, even if you flood the entire town, I won't blame you."

"Really? Then here I go!"

"These damned stinky fish, I've been super annoyed with them!"

Once instructed, Aqua's style instantly returned to normal, gripping the Goddess staff in her hand, she began chanting a spell on the spot, wanting to drown all the fish-men in the square with a catastrophic flood.

"All my followers in this world, heed the command of the Goddess of Water, Aqua."

Zyhark: "..." Damn goddess, you made me emotional!

"Wait, Aqua, let me handle this."

Under Aqua's puzzled gaze, Zyhark slowly drew his new swords from his waist, stepping forward to face all the fish-men pirates gathered with Evil Dragon.

The sharp blades shimmered with a chilling light, bringing an incredibly oppressive cold aura.

No matter what, Arlong had to die today!

(End of Chapter)