And now, this pirate crew that terrified the entire East Blue had been completely wiped out by Lorne alone in such a short time.
Genzo looked at Lorne's excessively young face, his heart churning with stormy waves, but there was more relief and gratitude for having survived the ordeal.
Lorne didn't continue to tease him; he leaped down from the railing and landed lightly on the pier, still holding the two frozen heads with the ice rope.
"This ship, and the remaining miscellaneous matters at the port, I'll leave to you to handle, Uncle Genzo."
Lorne pointed at the huge shark spabu,
"How to dispose of it, you and the villagers can discuss it among yourselves. Consider it a gift to the village before I leave."
After speaking, he didn't wait for Genzo's response; his figure shimmered in the air, and accompanied by a scattering of ice crystal fragments, he vanished from the spot instantly.
"Hey? Lorne, you..."
Genzo stood alone in the empty port, staring at the huge pirate ship, his mind completely blank.
Solved? A gift for the village? And the person just disappeared?
Genzo pinched himself hard; the intense pain told him this was not a dream.
He looked down at the few bloodstains that hadn't yet dried on the ground, then looked up at the valuable ship, and finally let out a long sigh, a smile of immense complexity appearing on his face.
Lorne's figure appeared at the lookout point on the back mountain of the island, from where one could overlook the entire island.
He had no intention of sailing out on that huge shark ship; he couldn't handle it alone, and the target was too big.
He still had to say goodbye to the villagers and, by the way, see if he could trade for a smaller boat. He always saw things through to the end; since he had received their care for a few months, he couldn't just leave without saying goodbye.
Soon, what happened at the pier spread throughout Cocoyasi Village as if it had grown wings.
Previously, the news brought back by the children about the pirates landing had plunged the whole village into huge panic and chaos.
The villagers locked their doors and windows, hiding in their homes shivering, praying for the future of the village and their own lives.
Many villagers had even prepared for the worst.
When Genzo returned with the astonishing news that the vicious Fish-Man pirate crew had been completely wiped out by Lorne, almost no one dared to believe it.
It wasn't until people plucked up the courage to come to the port one after another and saw with their own eyes that huge pirate ship flying the skull flag and the traces of the battle on the shore that they recovered from their shock and erupted into earth-shattering cheers.
That handsome young man who had lived in the village for over three months, always politely greeting everyone and occasionally helping villagers with work, was actually a powerful person with immense strength!
Immense joy and gratitude dispelled all fear.
The villagers spontaneously started to take action; some began to repair the damaged pier, while others surrounded the huge pirate ship, passionately discussing its use.
"This ship is so big! It's bigger than all the fishing boats in our village combined!"
"Take off that scary shark head, repaint the ship, and it'll be a top-notch ocean-going merchant ship!"
"That's right! With it, we can transport goods to further places to sell!"
The villagers' faces were filled with beautiful longing for their future lives; the despair and panic from just moments ago seemed like a thing of the last century.
At the same time, at the cliff with a wide view on the back mountain of Cocoyasi Village.
Dealing with this bunch of small-fry like Arlong didn't even manage to arouse much interest in him.
The only thing that made his heart ache a little was those two executives he had smashed into pieces; a perfectly good ten-plus million Berries were just gone like that!
He was enjoying the post-battle tranquility when a slight sound of footsteps suddenly came from behind him, along with a voice carrying a hint of hesitation and vacillation.
"Big Brother Lorne, are you... going to leave soon?"
Lorne turned around and saw Nami and Nojiko had arrived behind him at some point.
Both girls' faces carried a hint of worry inconsistent with their age; clearly, the cheers and discussions in the village had reached their ears too.
Lorne looked at them and a gentle smile appeared on his face.
He walked up slowly and reached out his palm to rub the two girls' little heads, feeling the softness of their hair.
He didn't deny it, nor did he offer much explanation; he just spoke softly in a tone that was matter-of-fact yet carried a hint of distant melancholy:
"Yeah."
"A traveler will not stay in one port forever."
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