Chapter 23

Up high in the night sky, the broken blade flew. As the moon's light gleamed upon the blade, the villagers stared at it with a dazed expression. Then, when they lowered their gazes,

BOOM.

Arlong, without a sliver of rationality, was wildly thrashing like a savage. Iron-hard saw-nose, sharp teeth that instantly regrew upon breaking, and naturally resilient body. The ground cracked. The walls and other structures that define Arlong Park crumbled down one by one. To the eyes of the villager, this fish-man—far stronger than any other fish-men who were previously killed by Rowan—was the literal definition of a monster.

BOOM.

And yet, something was strange. It was only the surrounding objects and structures that received Arlong's wrath. Rowan, standing in the middle of ruination, was somehow evading all the Arlong's incoming attacks, flying projectiles, and all that contributed to the ongoing chaos. There was barely any noise in his footsteps, and within the night, he moved like a ghost—honed by his years of bounty hunting, and more importantly, thievery.

SWOOSH!

Arlong suddenly appeared right in front of Rowan, with his hands holding onto the sharp set of detached teeth—his own that he forcibly detached from his mouth.

CLANG—!

The gaping teeth closed as Arlong strengthened his grip. But instead of biting onto flesh, they clanged against one another, as Rowan leaned downward at the last moment to dodge said attack.

SWOOSH!

Arlong instantly retracted his arms back and thrust his nose forth. Pulling his chest back at the last moment, Rowan evaded it. In this position, Arlong brought his hands—still holding onto teeth—forward, about to pierce Rowan's arms with them. Noticing this, Rowan jumped up and slammed his knee right onto Arlong's forehead,

BOOM!

Arlong's head was knocked back as a result, and judging by the bruise on his forehead, Rowan's attack just now had an effect. Subsequently, Rowan pushed his body off of Arlong, flipped up, and landed on top of the wall—damaged to some degree—of Arlong Park.

"Grr..."

However, Arlong didn't seem to have registered the pain. With his body still in a bent-back form after Rowan's blow, his slitted eyes were frighteningly locked onto Rowan.

"GRAAAA!!!" With a savage-like growl, Arlong jumped toward Rowan. Rowan simply raised his right foot up and slammed it down; such force was enough to completely crumble down the wall, causing Arlong to miss as Rowan descended.

BOOM! Then, Rowan's fist was blasted onto Arlong's exposed chin. Arlong's sharp teeth cut through the inner flesh of his own mouth, drawing blood. In addition, he was sent flying up from the force behind the punch.

At the same time, the blood splashed out from Rowan's fist as the bruises and cuts worsened. But to the awe of the villagers, Rowan grinned from delight instead of expressing pain. Crouching down and propelling himself up to the airborne Arlong,

CLANG!

Rowan tilted his head to the left to evade the detached set of teeth on Arlong's hand. Using the momentum to rotate his body, he slammed his right foot onto Arlong's cheek and completed his kick, sending the fish-man down to the ground.

BOOM!

The villagers gulped in anticipation. They were currently witnessing, the brutal battle between the two strongest of the East Blue.

"..."

Arlong, with his bloody teeth gritted, raised his body up from the pile of rubbles. Then, he slammed his fist on the ground right below him,

BOOM!

causing all the rubbles to momentarily be bounced up from the recoil. Rowan watched as one huge saw-like sword revealed itself underneath, to which Arlong snatched it by the hilt.

'...Kiribachi.' Rowan thought knowingly as he crouched down and readied himself, 'The same sword that was used during the fight against my old man.'

BOOM!

At the next moment, Arlong was suddenly next to Rowan, slamming his saw-like sword down to the ground.

SWOOSH!

Arlong immediately pulled it out and swung it horizontally at Rowan. Rowan leaned down,

SWOOSH!

then jumped up to dodge the following circular slash. Backflipping and nimbly moving backward, Rowan watched as Arlong tenaciously chased after him, madly swinging the giant saw-like sword as if it was featherweight.

BOOM!

The wall crumbled. The central building of Arlong Park wobbled as its base was in process of being decimated. Rowan grabbed the rail on the second floor to further propel himself up, to which Arlong continued chasing after like a drill.

Left. Right. Vertical slash downward. Boom, followed by the breakdown of the floor. Currently running throughout the second floor of the central building, Rowan was operating his Observation Haki and reflex to their utmost limit, preventing even a single strike from landing on him.

BOOM! As Arlong's blade broke through the door, Rowan kicked one piece of the destroyed door at Arlong's approaching face. Arlong angrily slammed his saw-nose against it, cracking it into multiple smaller pieces. Rowan used this slightest gap of time to take hold of one sheathed sword that was held in place nearby, unsheathed it, and,

CLANG—!! Two blades met one another. Arlong, with the use of his much superior strength, pushed his blade with ease, but Rowan, having expected this, immediately loosened the grip on the blade, letting it fly back from the force and stab the wall.

As Arlong was momentarily looking at the flown-back sword, Rowan successfully landed a kick on Arlong's chest, causing the fish-man to take a few steps backward. Arlong instantly dashed forth with rage, but Rowan hopped back, landed on the stabbed blade on the wall, and jumped upward while punching the ceiling.

BOOM!

The ceiling broke, and Arlong, expecting Rowan to enter the third floor, jumped toward the hole. However, in contrary to his expectation, Rowan utilized the opposing force of the ceiling to propel himself down and landed back on the second floor. Arlong's slitted eyes widened as Rowan was now right below him, pulling out the blade from the wall as he was in midair.

And then, Rowan threw the sword with all his strength.

CLANG—!!!

Arlong blocked it with his saw blade, but was knocked further up as a result, crashing against the ceiling of the third floor. Meanwhile, Rowan jumped up and caught the falling sword by its hilt, and placing his foot on the floor of the third floor, propelled himself once more and swung the sword at the falling body of Arlong, who met with the slash of his own.

Clang.

However, Rowan wasn't aiming for a direct confrontation. Tilting the sword at the last moment, Rowan twisted his body and let the force behind Arlong's sword bypass him. With a squeaking noise, his blade scratched against Arlong's saw-sword, and placing the heel of his right foot on the nearest wall, Rowan pushed himself at the still-airborne Arlong who was now below him, intending to punch—

"SHARK ON TOOTH!!!"

Then, Arlong suddenly embedded his saw-sword on the wall and propelled himself back up with vigorous strength. And Rowan didn't manage to see this one through.

'My Haki...!'

Arlong was right in front of him with his sharp teeth wide open,

'The reserve—'

BOOM!!

One instance of Observation Haki's malfunctioning—due to him having ran out of reserve—resulted in Arlong's teeth shredding Rowan's chest. The former's nose penetrated Rowan's shoulder, and due to the force behind the attack, the two of them were sent crashing into the top-most floor of the building.

"Cough!!" Rowan vomited blood as Arlong pulled his nose out of Rowan's shoulder. Falling to the floor of the top-most floor, Rowan rolled before hitting against one wooden table that lied nearby.

"Huff... huff..."

The pain was quite extreme. Even after dodging countless attacks and landing multiple strikes, one attack was enough to weaken Rowan to this extent. And Arlong was still standing, grinning murderously at him.

"Don't get in my way anymore... useless human."

Rowan's hazy vision cleared, and Arlong was in his sight once more. The huge fish-man, step by step, was closing in at him, intending to behead him with that saw sword.

Then, another thing entered his sight: a piece of paper, slowly descending.

"...This room."

This is when Rowan realized that they were in the cartography room.

"..."

The paper landed on the floor, and Rowan attained a clear view of it.

...It was a map, drawn by Nami without a doubt. The details were superb, and judging by the shape of the island, the surrounding sea—it was the map of Oshiro island, one that the two of them visited before.

"Shahaha... that girl surely is a genius, isn't she?" Arlong chuckled, "Even if you search the whole world, you won't find someone who can draw maps as accurately as these! And... there is nothing more tragic than to waste those god-given talents that she possesses!!!"

Calming his breathing down, Rowan leaned his back against the table. Placing his hand and feeling the wooden texture, he grimaced, thinking of just how much the two of them went through.

"For Nami, there is no better happiness than to stay here and continue drawing maps... for the sake of my ambition, that is!!!"

Then, Arlong suddenly stopped. The brief grin disappeared, and frowning in another surge of rage, he yelled,

"...AND YOU DESTROYED IT ALL!!!!!" Arlong's eyes burned in hatred, "THE BIGGEST EMPIRE, WITH ALL HUMANS AT MY DISPOSAL, WRIGGLING LIKE THE USELESS PRIMATES THAT YOU ARE!!!! THAT WAS MEANT TO BE YOUR FATE!!!!! AND YET—"

"Fate."

Rowan whispered dryly at that,

"There it is, the word that I hate the most."

He was reincarnated into this world, knowing that there was someone given the role of the 'main character.' The extras suffer, and the innocents receive miserable fates—all for the sake of lightening up the feats of the main character who will save the day.

To some extent, Rowan attributed this was the reason why his father was killed. If the man named Monkey D. Luffy is the main character of this story, if Rowan is to be a gear of the plot who intensifies the tragedy of the Cocoyasi Village, and if his fate was to die a hopeless death...

'If my fate is to be a slave for someone, to be a tool for someone else's shine, then I'll defy that very fate.'

Rowan's been struggling. Though he didn't know how to get strong, if there was any specific way to easily attain strength in this fantastical world, he's been trying his hardest every single day.

"...Is that your last word, human?"

The saw-like sword, Kiribachi, was slowly lifted up by Arlong. Arlong, whose eyes exhibited rage, hatred, and underlying glee—that he'll get to avenge his crew—then swung it horizontally,

PUK.

The blood splattered as Rowan blocked it with his left arm. The sword pierced through his flesh in a gruesome manner, and Arlong let out a jovial laugh.

However, Arlong then frowned. He couldn't push or pull the sword out—it won't budge. In this state, Rowan raised his right hand up, tightened it into a fist,

BOOM!

and slammed it down on the blade—shattering it into two pieces.

Tap.

A strange turn of situation. Bleeding profusely and struck by the sword that would've effectively killed any average man, Rowan nonetheless endured it and stood back up.

<Look. When you throw, wrist snap is the key. Wrist. Snap. Swing like this. Got it?>

<Oh, so you came again, eh Rowan~? Ohoho, I can see that you gained some muscles there. What, here to ask me for the next step? Hm...>

Arlong, gazing at his broken Kiribacho with his face twitching in annoyance, dropped the weapon.

<100,000 Beli for one human adult, and 50,000 Beli for one human child!>

<...I really wanted to buy you girls a lot of things... whether it be new books or clothes. Forgive me...>

Plop. The blood trailed down from Rowan's skin and plopped onto the floor, drenching the map in crimson red. The 15-year-old boy, dripping in blood and his left arm injured quite severely, shrugged the pain off and walked at Arlong—the fish-man who was a few feet taller. Arlong, snorting and unfazed by the smaller human approaching him, lowered his body and aimed his sharp nose at his foe.

"SHARK ON DARTS!!!"

From a close distance, Arlong propelled himself at Rowan. Rowan's chest was right in Arlong's view, and he subconsciously smile at the last second, anticipating his victory—

—Tap. Before the saw-nose pierced through the teen's chest, Rowan directly blocked Arlong's nose with his left hand. The blood poured out as the skin on his left palm was ripped open as a result, but Rowan didn't care.

Arlong muttered, "...What—"

BOOM!

Rowan then slammed his right fist down onto Arlong's forehead. Arlong, shocked by the force behind the blow, tried to wriggle his way out of Rowan's grasp, but to no avail.

BOOM!

Lifting his right fist back up, Rowan slammed it down once more. The blood splattered all across the room—one from Rowan's right fist that began bleeding from punching the tougher skin of fish-man.

BOOM!

From this encounter, it seemed as if Rowan was receiving greater damage than Arlong. However, the former continued punching the latter, and Arlong, unable to escape from Rowan's grasp, found a horror slowly creeping down his spine.

BOOM!

"G-gahh..." Arlong coughed blood out from the smashes on his head. His skull felt as if it was about to explode, and he found the strength in his body loosening as his world began to spin—

BOOM!

"Puny... hum—"

BOOM!

It was a success, Rowan thought. Arlong's head was slowly being reshaped as he continuously hammered it down.

"G-Gurghh—" Arlong, then, finally managed to pull his nose out from Rowan's grasp—

BOOM! Before Rowan's fist slammed Arlong's head yet again. Arlong dropped to the ground, and groaned. From the stress on his brain, his eyes began letting out tears of blood.

"...Vaha,"

Wondering what was happening, Arlong raised his head up while in a lying position,

and found Rowan's foot descending onto him,

BOOM.

repeatedly.

"Vahaha,"

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Arlong's right eye popped out of its socket as Rowan's foot landed directly on his face, breaking his nose and landing a vigorous impact. Arlong's teeth broke and regrew,

BOOM.

and broke right away as another stomp landed.

'Fish-men...' Arlong tried to speak, but to no avail, 'F-Fish-men...'

BOOM.

'We-We are... superior—'

That's when Arlong came to sight through his remaining eye, of what expression Rowan was holding on his face.

It was a psychotic grin full of joy. Rowan's own blood continued to splatter as he endlessly pummeled Arlong down, but the teen didn't care.

From his eyes, the tears poured down and mixed with the blood. Though the grin was full of joy, his eyes exhibited that of a sadness.

Ba-Bump.

And this is when Arlong felt fear—fear of dying. Against the hands and feet of this madman, there was nothing that he could do.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

"VAHAHAHAHA!!!"

The floor below Arlong cracked as Rowan's assault didn't end. Then,

the entire building collapsed, engulfing Rowan and Arlong as the two of them dropped all the way to the lowest floor.

BOOOM!

…

The cloud of dust arose and covered up the view. The villagers from the outside gulped and waited, wondering who's the victor of this fight.

Then, as the dust settled down, the pile of ruins shook slightly.

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