OP: My Aircraft Carrier Evolves#104+105: Reaping the East Blue! Nami's Shock, a Crushing Battle, and an Instant Kill!

"Nami..."

When Nami bolted from the house, Nojiko and Genzo were right behind her.

They followed her to the hill behind the village—to Bell-mère's grave.

In the faint moonlight, Nami’s eyes immediately fell upon the blackened skull.

Even charred and broken, she recognized it instantly.

Arlong.

That bastard.

First came the shock. Then, a wave of elation. But it was immediately crushed by a flood of painful memories—a decade of agony churning in her heart.

Nami’s head bowed.

Her hand flew to her left arm, covering the tattoo. The physical pain was long gone, but the ache in her heart was as raw as ever.

Her strength gave out, and she collapsed to her knees before Bell-mère's headstone.

Her fingers traced the cold stone.

"Bell-mère!" Nami threw her head back, her voice a raw cry that tore from her throat.

In that single cry, all the pain, all the bitterness of the last ten years, finally broke free. The tears she had held back for so long came pouring out in a torrent of unrestrained grief.

She sobbed, her cries echoing through the quiet grove.

Nojiko and Genzo, who had followed her, slowed their pace as they heard her anguished cries.

They knew.

They knew just how much pain that little girl, with her forced smiles, had been carrying all this time.

Even a grown adult would have likely broken under the strain.

They could never have done what she did.

Genzo's eyes grew moist. He stood where he was, watching in silence.

Perhaps this was for the best. To let it all out.

In that moment, Nami was finally just a fifteen-year-old girl, finally able to cry her heart out in front of her family instead of holding it all in.

Nojiko walked forward. She hadn't been through what Nami had, but she had been fighting her own battle to survive. She knelt and wrapped her arms around her sister.

And they cried together.

—————————

Back in the tangerine grove, Carina was devouring the food like a starving wolf.

Only after she had downed a full glass of tangerine juice did she finally let out a long, satisfied breath.

"You said earlier that a pirate crew was on its way tonight," Jin said. "Which one?"

"It's an alliance," Carina explained. "They were worried they couldn't take on a Fish-Man from the Grand Line by themselves, so several crews joined forces on an island about a two-day sail from here. Nami and I went undercover with one of them and found out about their plan to launch a surprise attack tonight. We stole a boat and came to warn you."

Jin gave a slight nod. That wasn't surprising. The words "Grand Line" still commanded a certain level of respect.

"So, which crews are we talking about?"

Carina eyed them. "You're not scared, are you?"

Scared??

A faint smile played on Jin's lips. Robin and the others looked completely unfazed.

If this were the Grand Line, they might have been a little tense.

But this was the East Blue.

It was clear Jin wasn't afraid. He was sizing up the potential loot.

"We're scared, we're scared!" Jin said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "We're terrified. Quick, list some of the big names. Scare us a little."

Carina and Nami were a team—one a cat burglar, the other a sly fox. Both were sharp as a tack. Nami was clever, but even she had been outsmarted by Carina in the past.

She saw right through him. His words said "scared," but his eyes—they were practically laughing.

The pirates of the East Blue... they're nothing to these people, are they?

"Alright, fine," Carina said. "I'll give you the big names. Mad Treasure. Heard of him? He's a vicious bastard who'll do anything for treasure. He's also a Devil Fruit user."

Jin's eyebrow shot up.

Not bad. A surprise right off the bat.

He remembered now. Mad Treasure was from the Heart of Gold. User of the Paramecia Chain-Chain Fruit. He was also the reason Nami and Carina had gone their separate ways. Five years from now, when they met again, Carina would be the star songstress of Gran Tesoro.

"Who else?" Jin prompted.

"The Trump Pirates," Carina said. "They say they control the East Blue's entire underground arms market. Their captain, Bear King, has a bounty of 11,600,000 Berries. I hear he's a Devil Fruit user, too."

The name was familiar. From the second movie, Clockwork Island Adventure.

The Trump Pirates had taken over an island of clockmakers and forced them to build weapons. Their captain, Bear King, was the user of the Paramecia Hard-Hard Fruit. And his officer, Honey Queen, was the user of the Paramecia Liquid-Liquid Fruit.

The former didn't leave much of an impression.

The latter, on the other hand... she had to take her clothes off to use her ability. A nice figure.

Carina ticked off another finger. "The Black Cat Pirates. Kuro of a Hundred Plans. He's a dangerous one."

Kuro? The boss from Usopp's introductory arc. His "Pussyfoot Maneuver" was pretty impressive in the early days. This was three years before Luffy set out to sea—the exact year Kuro was planning his "retirement."

"The Eldoraggo Pirates. Their captain, Eldoraggo, is obsessed with gold."

Jin smiled faintly.

So he'd managed to draw him out after all.

Still, to get more than one Devil Fruit out of this... it was an unexpected windfall.

"There are also a bunch of smaller crews, ten or twenty men each," Carina added. "A whole mess of different flags I didn't recognize. Most of them are just cobbled-together groups that form one day and fall apart the next. But all together, they've got some numbers. With the ones I mentioned, we're probably looking at over a thousand men."

A pirate alliance of over a thousand?

The crew was surprised.

"Somehow, I don't think this is just about Arlong," Robin mused. "Is there another target?"

"The Krieg Pirates," Carina said. "I heard them talking. They're on their way, too. It was the news that the Krieg Pirates were coming that forced all these smaller crews to team up."

Tashigi's eyes widened. "The Krieg Pirates? That's the largest pirate fleet in the East Blue right now. Their commander, Don Krieg, has fifty ships and over three thousand men. They're a dangerous bunch."

Tashigi couldn't help but worry. When she had learned of Jin's plan to deal with the pirates, she had enthusiastically offered her cooperation.

"Over four thousand pirates?"

Jin, on the other hand, was ecstatic.

It was true what they said: the lone hunter starves.

If you want the real feast, you have to go for the big game.

"So," Carina said, probing, "what's your plan?"

"You'll see when they get here," Jin replied.

"And the gold?" she pressed. "What about the golden treasure?"

"The golden treasure?" Jin smiled. "Isn't it on its way here right now?"

"Huh?"

Carina's mouth fell open. She understood. "This was all a lie?" she said, her voice filled with disbelief.

"A lie? Of course not," Jin said smoothly. "Woonan's treasure is real. It might even be hidden on this island. If you can't find it, that's just your bad luck."

"What?!" Carina was fuming. All this time, all the adventure and hardship she'd gone through with Nami—it was all for the treasure!

And it was all fake?

<><><><><><><><>

In the dead of night, just before dawn.

The calm sea lapped at the shore. Several small boats rode the tide onto the beach, and a dozen or so pirates scrambled out, heading inland.

In the distance, the allied pirate fleet waited, their ships clustered together, each crew wary of the others, all waiting for news from their scouts.

On the deck of the Bezan Black, Kuro sat in a chair, his slicked-back hair and glasses giving him a scholarly air. He wore a long coat, the epaulets adorned with a black cat skull.

He had already been planning his retirement.

But the lure of Woonan's gold was too strong.

One last score, and he could use the gold to buy a noble title in some kingdom and live an even better life. Why bother with trying to steal some rich girl's inheritance?

And even if he failed, he still had his backup plan.

Besides, the entire East Blue Marine force was currently in a frenzy, hunting down the Spade Pirates. Their attention was diverted from the Conomi Islands. It was the perfect opportunity.

With his strategic mind, the probability of success was high.

And was the treasure real?

Captain Nezumi was a man Kuro could trust. And he had delivered the information with his dying breath.

Kuro wasn't the only one thinking this way. Every pirate who had come here had their own agenda. If it weren't for the threat of the Krieg Pirates, none of them would be working together.

After a short while, some of the scouts returned.

"Well?" everyone gathered around, anxious. "What's the situation on the island? Is Arlong's crew still there?"

The news of the Arlong Pirates' demise hadn't fully spread. For the sake of profit, someone had deliberately intercepted the information and was misleading the other pirates. And, as always, the story had become distorted as it passed from person to person.

"Look!" the scout said excitedly, holding up a piece of gold.

"Where did you find that?"

"In the village. And at Arlong Park."

"What?"

"When we went ashore, the village and the park were completely deserted. Looked like they'd left in a hurry. But there was still some gold scattered around. And deep cart tracks, leading into the mountains. My guess is that the boat that escaped before came back and warned them. Arlong's crew and the villagers all fled together. But they can't have gotten far, not with all that gold."

"Are you sure it's the treasure?"

"It has to be. Just the gold that was left behind must have been over a hundred pounds. Can you imagine how much the real treasure is?"

A hundred pounds?!

The pirates were stunned. They all swallowed hard, their eyes gleaming with avarice.

If that's what they'd left behind... how much had they taken with them?

"Quick! To the island! After them!"

"Let's go, let's go! We have to get the treasure before the Krieg Pirates get here!"

"Woonan's treasure is mine!"

The news from the scouts revitalized the exhausted pirates. They swarmed toward the island like a pack of wolves.

Gin, disguised as an ordinary pirate, was among them.

He quietly dropped a small barrel overboard. It contained a special spice that would allow Don Krieg to track them.

—————————

The island of Cocoyasi Village was not small. The village itself, along with Gosa Village, had once been a thriving community. But Gosa Village had been destroyed shortly after Arlong's arrival. The island had orchards, fertile fields, and a mountain spring. It was completely self-sufficient—which was why Arlong had chosen it.

The pirates charged onto the island, following the cart tracks. They soon found that the tracks split off in different directions. They decided to each take a path and trust to luck.

Kuro led his men, including Jango and the Meowban Brothers, up the path into the mountains.

As the sun began to rise, a golden light glinted through the trees.

"That's..."

"Gold!"

"It's gold!"

Cries of excitement filled the air. In a clearing, several overturned carts lay on the ground, and a massive pile of gold bricks was scattered around them, forming a small mountain.

Kuro pushed his glasses up with the heel of his hand. In the reflection of the lenses, he saw a figure standing behind the pile of gold.

"I've been waiting for you," Yonji of Germa 66 said with a smirk. With a wave of his hand, a line of rifles appeared from the trees, and the air erupted with gunfire.

The sound of gunfire echoed across the island.

The other pirate crews had all run into ambushes.

"Dammit! Who are they?!"

"We've been had! This isn't gold! It's gilded copper!"

Gin ran for his life. "I have to get this information to Captain Krieg!"

But he didn't get far. A series of arms sprouted from his body, twisting him around and slamming him to the ground. He struggled, but his joints were twisted and broken. Robin's training had not been in vain.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A sonic beam shot from Eldoraggo's mouth, shattering the giant trees and plowing a furrow in the ground.

But to his shock, the man across from him stood in the path of the blast, completely unharmed.

"My turn," Jin said.

With a single Finger Pistol, he shot a hole through Eldoraggo's forehead, then opened a Munch-Munch space and swallowed him, teleporting him to the demonic carrier.

"One down," he said, and vanished, heading for the next Devil Fruit user.

It was a complete rout. No one could withstand a single Finger Pistol from him.

The gap in their power was just too great. It was a series of instant kills.

The only reason Jin had gone to the trouble of luring them onto the island was because he was worried they would scatter if he attacked them at sea.

And besides, there was still a bigger fish to catch. He couldn't afford to scare them off.

—————————

Outside the island, the massive fleet of the Krieg Pirates approached.

"Gunfire?" Don Krieg laughed. "So it's begun. The fight for the golden treasure. It's useless. I, Don Krieg, will be the final victor."

Just as he was reveling in his own ambition, a strange music began to drift across the sea.

The BGM kicked in—The Sword Society Overture.

"What's that?"

"Look! Behind us!"

"Is that a cloud? It looks more like a sandstorm!"

"Don't be ridiculous! How can there be a sandstorm at sea?"

The demonic carrier appeared behind the fleet, shrouded in a massive cloud of roiling, yellow dust.

It was a Logia-type Earth Fruit.

A sky full of yellow earth.

Even the demonic carrier was swallowed by the cloud as it charged toward the spread-out fleet at a speed of over forty knots.

It grew closer and closer, the dust storm like a stampede of a thousand horses, completely obscuring the surface of the sea.

The dust storm slammed into the fleet. In an instant, the pirates were blinded, the dust clinging to their clothes, their hair, the decks of their ships, seeping into every crack and crevice.

From a distance, the entire Krieg fleet was enveloped in the yellow cloud, which slowly began to twist and churn.

In the space of a few breaths, the dust storm receded, coalescing back around the demonic carrier like the rings of a planet.

And the massive Krieg fleet... was gone.

Not even a splinter of wood was left behind.

They had been swallowed by the demonic carrier.

Inside, with the power of the Castle-Castle Fruit, Ai had separated them into different levels, where they were now being hunted down by the soldiers of Germa 66.

Kuma, who had been idle, smashed Pearl's iron shields with one paw swipe and shattered Krieg's golden armor with another.

There was no challenge at all.

With the annihilation of the Krieg Pirates, the battle on the island was drawing to a close. The entire operation had taken less than an hour.

Having witnessed this absolute slaughter, Nami and Carina were so stunned they could barely breathe.

"So... so strong..."

"Is this the terror of the Grand Line?"

"The pirate alliance of the East Blue... they didn't stand a chance."

It wasn't just them. Genzo and the other villagers were terrified. So these guys were the real monsters?

For the first time, they had a visceral, unforgettable understanding of their king's power. A sense of awe, bordering on terror, bloomed in their hearts. It was the natural submission of the weak to the strong.