The moment Kuroobi saw Rowan and the others land in Cocoyasi Village, a malicious grin spread across his face.
The Arlong Pirates had made Cocoyasi Village their base and ruled over more than twenty nearby villages. They had already turned the surrounding waters into their own airtight territory.
Because of that, most ships that passed through these seas would steer well clear of the area.
Only the clueless ones would sail straight in.
And once they did, the Arlong Pirates would squeeze them hard.
If anyone dared resist, there was only one outcome:
death.
In Kuroobi's eyes, this time would be no different. After all, in the entire East Blue, the Arlong Pirates were the top dogs. So far, no pirate crew in the East Blue had a bounty higher than theirs.
Humans in this sea were just too weak.
They had no ability to resist.
"Pathetic humans, do you even know where you are?"
Kuroobi strode forward with several underlings, surrounding Rowan and the other two.
Rowan didn't answer Kuroobi's question. Instead, he turned to Hashirama and asked, "Should we just kill them all?"
He genuinely had zero goodwill toward these fish-men who preyed on humans.
The moment Kuroobi heard that, he flew into a rage.
He had never seen such arrogant humans before. To look down on mighty fish-men like this was practically a capital offense.
"Pathetic human, you're asking to die!!!"
Kuroobi immediately took up a Fish-Man Karate stance. He had already decided—he was going to capture these humans and torture them for three days and three nights until they understood their place.
But before he could make a move, several arms sprouted from his body.
Then, with a series of sharp cracks, Kuroobi and his underlings all had their necks twisted by those extra arms.
Rowan was startled, because the one who acted wasn't Hashirama.
It was Nico Robin.
Seeing the surprise in Rowan's eyes, Robin smiled and said, "Surely you didn't think I'd never killed anyone, Rowan."
Ever since the World Government branded her the Devil Child, countless people had seen her as a walking treasure.
If she had managed to live this long, then naturally she wasn't some innocent little lamb.
Lies, betrayal, and murder had long since become part of daily life for her.
The story never fully showed every part of her past, but Robin certainly didn't think of herself as a good woman.
Rowan came back to himself and said, "I just didn't expect you to be that decisive."
Of course he knew Robin wasn't some pure-hearted saint, but he still hadn't expected her to be so ruthless and efficient.
"If they're enemies, then you deal with them like thunder," Robin said.
Hashirama nodded in agreement. "If they're enemies, then you wipe them out cleanly. Getting sentimental with your enemies is the stupidest thing you can do."
"Yeah, I'm not buying that for a second," Rowan said flatly. "If you were really that decisive, then what about Madara Uchiha? Wasn't he your enemy too?"
Hashirama immediately flushed red and started babbling about how Madara was different, how Madara wasn't an enemy, how Madara and the other Uchiha were completely different kinds of people, and so on.
The atmosphere instantly became a lot livelier.
After that little interruption, the three of them officially entered Cocoyasi Village. Quite a few villagers saw them, but none dared come forward. Instead, they all kept their distance.
The reason was simple.
Some of them had seen Rowan's group kill members of the Arlong Pirates, and they were terrified that if they got too close, the Arlong Pirates would settle the score with them later.
At the root of it all, they simply didn't believe Rowan and the others could actually deal with the Arlong Pirates.
After all, the Arlong Pirates had ruled this place for a full eight years, long enough to grind these people numb.
In the original story, the villagers only found the courage to rise up against Arlong because Nami had grown up right in front of them, and they knew exactly how hard she had fought to save this village.
To them, Nami was like one of their own children.
So they were willing to risk their lives for her.
But to them, Rowan was just a stranger. No matter how kind they were, they weren't about to throw their lives away for strangers.
Rowan didn't say anything about the way they avoided him.
Just as they saw him as a stranger, he saw them the same way.
The real reason he came here to deal with Arlong was mostly for himself.
It was like doing a quest in a game. You did it for the reward—surely not for the NPCs, right?
No way, right?
Surely nobody actually does quests for the NPCs.
As for where the Arlong Pirates' base, Arlong Park, was located, Rowan didn't need any NPC to guide him.
Arlong Park was built so lavishly that it stood in stark contrast to Cocoyasi Village.
Rowan wasn't blind. There was no way he wouldn't notice it.
And even if he somehow missed it, there was still Robin.
Her conjured arms could sprout eyes, letting her see things at a distance. Finding Arlong Park was easy.
"I've got good news and bad news, Rowan."
After using Hundred Eyes Bloom, Robin decided to be a little playful about it.
"What's the good news?" Rowan asked.
"We found Arlong Park. Aside from the fish-men we already killed, every remaining member of the crew, including Arlong himself, is inside. And from the looks of it, they still don't know Kuroobi and the others are dead."
Rowan let out an "oh."
That really was good news. At the very least, it meant they could wipe out the entire Arlong Pirates in one go.
"And the bad news?"
Robin said, "The bad news is that Nami doesn't seem to be in Cocoyasi Village right now, so your dream of playing hero and rescuing a beauty may have just fallen apart."
Rowan couldn't help going silent.
But after thinking about it, he wasn't surprised at all.
In order to save up the hundred million berries needed to buy Cocoyasi Village back from Arlong, Nami spent very little time in the village.
Out of 365 days a year, she was probably out stealing money for more than half of them.
Where else did you think the tens of millions of berries buried in the tangerine grove came from?
So it was perfectly normal that she wasn't here.
"Whatever. If she's not here, she's not here. It's not like I planned on using a good deed to pressure her into anything."
He turned to the other two.
"So—Arlong Park. Which of you wants to deal with it?"
Before Robin could answer, Hashirama volunteered.
"I'll do it."
Rowan nodded. "Alright, it's yours. Just make sure you make a big scene. I want everyone to see it."
"No problem."
Hashirama agreed immediately. After confirming the direction of Arlong Park, he vanished from the spot in an instant.
Body Flicker Technique.
Hashirama had mastered that jutsu to an absurd degree too. To outsiders, it barely looked any different from teleportation.