The sea was cold as death.
Usopp and Johnny hauled themselves onto the rocky shore, gasping for air that tasted of salt and smoke. When they raised their heads, the sight stole what little breath remained.
"By the seas..." Johnny whispered, his voice trembling.
Cocoyasi Village wasn't just damaged—it was annihilated. Houses lay splintered like kindling. The central well had been smashed into rubble. Deep gouges scarred the earth, some filled with seawater, others with the dark stains of things Usopp didn't want to identify.
"One swing," Johnny said, pointing to a footprint in the mud the size of a rowboat. "One swing from a Fishman did that."
Usopp's hands shook as he counted the destroyed homes. Twenty? Thirty? His mind flashed to Zoro, alone on that boat with those monsters. The swordsman was powerful, but against creatures who could level buildings with casual blows...
"We need to find help," Usopp said, but the words felt hollow. Who could help against this?
A shadow moved at the edge of the village.
Both men froze as a Fishman emerged from behind a collapsed barn. It wasn't the massive one from the boat—this one was leaner, with eyes that scanned the ruins like a predator hunting wounded prey. It carried a spear tipped with what looked like shark teeth.
"He's looking for something," Johnny breathed.
"For Zoro," Usopp realized. "He's checking if Zoro was really alone."
The Fishman's head turned toward their hiding place.
"Run!" Johnny hissed.
They scrambled backward, but Usopp's foot caught on debris. He went down hard as Johnny vanished into the undergrowth. The Fishman's footsteps approached—thud, thud, thud—each one shaking the ground.
Usopp's heart hammered against his ribs. He could play dead. He could—
A child's cry cut through the air.
From a half-standing house, a boy no older than ten stumbled out, followed by a woman with blue hair who yanked him back. The Fishman's attention snapped to them.
"Chabo, no!" the woman cried.
The boy—Chabo—had picked up a broken plank, holding it like a sword. "You killed my father!"
The Fishman laughed, a wet, gurgling sound. "Another human fool. I'll make this quick."
Usopp's body moved before his mind could protest. He stood, slingshot already in hand.
"Hey! Over here, you overgrown guppy!"
The Fishman turned, its yellow eyes narrowing. "Another one?"
Usopp's hands trembled so badly he could barely load a pellet. "That's right! I'm Captain Usopp, brave warrior of the sea! And I've got... a secret weapon!"
He fired. The pellet bounced harmlessly off the Fishman's scaled chest.
The creature sighed. "Pathetic."
It moved faster than anything that size should. Usopp barely registered the spear butt swinging toward his head before darkness swallowed him.
***
Pain. Throbbing, insistent pain.
Usopp groaned as consciousness returned. He was on a cot, the smell of citrus and herbs filling his nostrils. Through blurred vision, he saw orange trees stretching beyond an open window.
"You're awake."
The blue-haired woman stood over him, pressing a cool cloth to his forehead. The boy, Chabo, hovered nearby, eyes red from crying.
"Why..." Usopp's throat felt raw. "Why did you hit me?"
"To save your life," she said flatly. "That Fishman would have killed you. Knocking you out made you look like another victim in the rubble."
"She's right, mister," Chabo whispered. "Nobody fights the Fishmen. My dad tried. Now he's gone."
The woman—Nojiko, she introduced herself—helped Usopp sit up. "Every village on this island has learned that lesson. We pay Arlong's tribute. We keep our heads down. We survive."
"But they destroyed your village!" Usopp protested.
"They destroyed buildings. They left most people alive. That's the bargain." Nojiko's voice held no emotion, as if she'd recited these words a hundred times. "Chabo here wanted revenge. I told him what happens to boys who seek revenge against Fishmen—they join their fathers in the graveyard."
Chabo looked at the floor. "I'm going back to my mom. She's all alone now."
After the boy left, Usopp studied Nojiko. Her hands were calloused from farm work, but there was an intensity in her eyes that didn't match her resigned words.
"You're not just a farmer," Usopp said.
"No. I'm a survivor." She handed him a cup of water. "Now tell me why you're really here. Before you decided to play hero."
Usopp hesitated. "I'm looking for someone. A navigator named Nami."
Nojiko went very still. "Why?"
"She's... a friend. From my crew."
The cup Nojiko was holding cracked. Not from pressure—from her grip. "Your crew."
"We got separated. I think she might have come home—"
"This is her home," Nojiko interrupted, her voice suddenly sharp. "This house. That orchard. She grew up here."
Usopp looked around with new eyes. The simple room took on meaning—the carefully repaired chair, the shelf with weather journals, the faint pencil marks on a doorframe charting a child's growth.
"You know her," Usopp breathed.
Nojiko turned to face him fully. "She's my sister. Adopted, but my sister all the same."
Hope surged in Usopp's chest. "Then you can help me find—"
"Nami works for Arlong."
The words hung in the citrus-scented air.
"What?"
"She's been a member of the Arlong Pirates for eight years." Nojiko's expression was unreadable. "Their navigator. Their thief. Their treasure keeper."
Usopp's mind reeled. The map room on the Going Merry. Nami's expertise. Her willingness to steal from pirates. Her insistence on handling all the money...
"But she saved our village!" Usopp protested. "Back in Syrup Village, she helped us fight pirates! She laughed with us! She was happy!"
"Happy?" Nojiko's laugh was bitter. "Nami hasn't been happy since she was eight years old. Since our mother died trying to fight Arlong."
The pieces began clicking into place, forming a picture Usopp didn't want to see.
"She betrayed you," he whispered. "She joined the pirates who control her hometown."
Nojiko's eyes flashed. "You understand nothing. Why are you really here? What do you want with her?"
Usopp stood, his head swimming. "I need to think. All this... the village destroyed... Zoro might be dead... and Nami..."
He moved toward the door. "I found our ship. I should just go. This isn't my fight."
"Smart choice," Nojiko said, but there was something in her voice—a tension. "Leave this island. Forget you ever met Nami. Fighting Arlong means death. That's not a metaphor—it's a statistical fact."
Usopp paused at the threshold. "Why do you care if I live or die?"
For the first time, Nojiko's composure cracked. Just a hairline fracture, but enough. "Because Nami brought you here. And if Arlong finds out she's been sailing with other pirates..."
She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to.
Usopp stepped outside into the orange grove. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of blood and gold. Somewhere out there, Zoro was either fighting or already dead. Somewhere out there, Nami was with monsters.
And somewhere in this grove...
Usopp turned back. Nojiko stood in the doorway, backlit by lamplight.
"You said your mother died fighting Arlong," Usopp said slowly. "But this farm is perfectly maintained. The village is destroyed, but this place is untouched. How?"
Nojiko's silence was answer enough.
"The tribute," Usopp realized. "Nami's treasure. She's not just working for them—she's buying your safety. Your sister is a pirate so you can grow oranges."
Nojiko's hand shot out, grabbing Usopp's collar. Her eyes burned with eight years of suppressed fury and grief. "Listen carefully. Nami has a plan. She's had it for eight years. And if you interfere—if you drag your crew into this—you'll get her killed. Do you understand?"
"What plan?" Usopp demanded.
The sound of splintering wood echoed through the grove.
Then a voice—deep, watery, and terrifyingly close:
"I smell strangers."
Nojiko's face went pale. She shoved Usopp toward the trees. "Run. Don't look back."
But it was too late.
Emerging from between the orange trees was the Fishman from the village, his spear gleaming in the twilight. And beside him, held in a grip that made her wrists bleed...
Was Nami.
Her eyes met Usopp's. In them, he saw no betrayal. No guilt.
Only sheer, undiluted terror.
The Fishman smiled, showing needle-like teeth. "Well, well. Nami, you didn't tell us you were expecting company from your... other crew."
Nami's voice was a broken whisper that carried through the still grove:
"Usopp... please run..."
But the Fishman's free hand was already drawing back, water coalescing around his fist into a swirling, deadly sphere.
"No," he gurgled happily. "Let's see how this pirate handles a real Water Bullet."
The last thing Usopp saw was Nami's desperate eyes before the world exploded in crushing blue.