After hearing the chilling declaration of war and seeing the carnage outside, Hachi immediately drew the six sabers hanging from his waist. Six strong, muscled arms, thicker than any human limb, flexed as he flourished the blades, their edges gleaming like polished silver under the unforgiving sunlight that streamed through the castle's broken walls.
Standing tall in front of the terrifying little girl, his expression hardened, shifting from shock to a primal, unwavering resolve.
He knew she was dangerous. The ground outside was already littered with the mangled bodies of fallen Fish-Men — strong, hardened comrades who had been defeated in minutes by this slip of a child.
But Arlong was more than a captain; he was their king, their pride, and the very symbol of Fish-Man dominance over the contemptible humans. Without him, the entire Arlong Pirates would crumble, their dream of a Fish-Man paradise sinking into the sea.
"Your opponent is me next," Hachi declared in a low, guttural growl, his cluster of purple tentacles writhing on his head in palpable tension. The air around him seemed to thicken with the scent of saltwater, sweat, and impending violence.
Mina tilted her head slightly, her golden hair catching the light as she studied the six-armed, humanoid octopus before her. Even for a ninja who'd faced monstrous beasts, powerful demons, and hardened assassins, this sight was unsettling. The Fish-Men had strange, unsettling forms — half-human, half-beast — and their utter, baseless arrogance made them even more repulsive.
The first one she fought, the manta-ray fish-man who spat water blades, had been nauseating enough with its slimy skin and aggressive sneer. Arlong, for all his strength and ferocious appearance, looked like a brute and fell quickly under the spiraling force of her Rasengan. But this one… Hachi, with his slick, wet skin, bulbous head, and squirming limbs, was on a whole different level of unpleasantness. It was a visceral revulsion that made her stomach clench.
"Ugh… you're so disgusting," Mina said bluntly, her voice laced with genuine disdain as she wrinkled her perfect little nose.
The words hit Hachi like a punch to the chest, stopping the blood cold in his veins. His six eyes bulged in pure, unadulterated fury.
"Disgusting?! I'm the handsome guy of the Fish-Man world!" he bellowed, veins bulging visibly on his forehead, looking ready to burst. His immense pride, built over years of being a respected warrior, simply could not stand such a profound insult from a human — much less a mere child. It was a complete dismissal of his very being.
With a deafening roar that shook the already precarious walls of the castle, he lunged forward. The six blades, each one a flash of deadly steel, spun in a dazzling, chaotic flurry of motion.
"Six-Sword Style: Shin shun, tako age, taikai---New Year's Octopus Opening Body Collapse!"
The ground split beneath the furious, simultaneous swings of his sabers, the castle stones cracking and splintering. Dust and debris scattered everywhere, obscuring the battlefield momentarily. The sheer force of his attack sent tangible shockwaves across the courtyard, enough to knock a normal man off his feet.
But Mina didn't flinch — she had already drawn a kunai, a simple silver blade, meeting his six-fold strike head-on.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The metallic sounds of collision echoed brutally through the shattered interior as sparks flew between sword and kunai, a tiny blade somehow holding the line against a torrent of steel.
Despite the dizzying flurry of six blades coming at her from every angle, Mina's movements were supremely calm and precise, her footing barely shifting as she deflected strike after strike. Her body moved with a grace born of constant life-or-death training.
'So fast!' Hachi thought, his massive jaw grinding his teeth together. Every time he committed to an attack, she was already gone — sidestepping, ducking, or parrying with impossible, almost supernatural timing.
It was as if she could see the future of his attacks, knowing precisely where the blades would land a moment before he swung them. His six arms were moving at maximum velocity, fueled by rage, yet she made his movements look slow.
Mina's eyes narrowed slightly, her analytical ninja mind processing his technique. His movements were powerful, possessing immense physical force, but they were ultimately predictable. Each sword followed a rigid, established rhythm, a pattern that lacked true, unpredictable speed or refined technique.
Compared to her older brothers' lightning-fast and flawless swordsmanship — the kind that could cut the air with surgical precision — this was indeed child's play.
"You're so weak," she said coldly, her voice cutting through the din of clashing metal. "I thought six swords would make you strong. It just looks like six ways to miss."
The insult stabbed deeper than any kunai could have. It attacked his skill, his identity as a warrior.
Hachi's rage, already at a boiling point, erupted. "You little brat! My swordsmanship ranks second on Fish-Man Island! No human can withstand the Hachi Sword!"
His six arms blurred again, the blades cutting through the air like spinning turbines, creating miniature gusts of wind. He swore on Arlong's name to slice her in half, to silence her contemptuous voice forever. He pushed his body far past its limit, attempting a maneuver so fast it should have left her no escape.
From a distance, hidden behind a crumbling pillar, Kuroobi, the black-belt karate master of the crew, watched the battle with grim satisfaction and a heavy sense of urgency.
"That's it, Hachi," he muttered to himself, his lips peeled back in a snarl. "Keep her busy. Don't let her near Arlong. Once he recovers, we'll make her regret this day a thousand times over."
He strained, hoisting the massive, unconscious body of Arlong onto his broad shoulders, dragging the gigantic saw-shark fish-man toward the sea. The crashing waves were their salvation — the ocean was the Fish-Men's undisputed domain. Once they reached the water, Kroobi knew, no human could ever catch them. Escape would be guaranteed.
Inside the castle, amidst the chaos of the duel, Nami spotted the fleeing Kroobi. Her face contorted with a visceral, burning rage, a decade of suppressed fear and hatred finally unleashed. Her eyes flashed with the memory of her adoptive mother, Bellemere, lying dead.
"Everyone! Stop him! Don't let Arlong escape!" she screamed, her voice, raw with emotion, carrying over the battlefield like a thunderclap.
The villagers — men and women who had suffered under Arlong's decade-long tyranny, whose lives had been crushed under the weight of his impossible tribute — heard her and surged forward. They were a motley group, armed with hastily grabbed spears, axes, and simple farming tools, but their eyes burned with an indomitable, focused fury. They rushed past the dueling Mina and Hachi, their minds fixated only on the sight of their oppressor being dragged away.
"We'll end this today!" one of the villagers, a grizzled old man who had lost his home, shouted, his voice cracking with emotion.
"For Bellemere!" another cried, the name a rallying point, a declaration of justice.
Seeing the furious mob pass, their weapons held high and aimed at his captain, Hachi panicked. His concentration shattered. The protection of Arlong was his first and highest priority.
"Don't you dare touch Arlong-Sama!" he roared, his six eyes darting away from Mina to glare at the humans. "I won't let you pass!"
But in that crucial, split-second moment of distraction—
Shlick!
Mina's kunai, moving faster than the human eye could track, pierced straight into his heart, finding the only truly vulnerable spot in his immense, thick torso.
Hachi's six eyes went impossibly wide, registering the pain and the immediate collapse of his strength. "W–What… how…? I was just overpowering you…" he gasped, his voice weakening.
Mina looked up at him calmly, her expression unchanged. The shock of his death had not even registered on her face. "Did you think you were winning?" she asked softly, her voice carrying a chilling lack of concern.
"Who gave you that illusion?"
Her voice was flat, emotionless — almost pitying, as if she were speaking to a small, misguided insect. With a swift, practiced flick of her wrist, she withdrew the kunai. Hachi gasped, a sickening gurgle of blood bubbling from his mouth, and then his massive, six-limbed body collapsed, his once-feared blades clattering uselessly onto the broken stone floor. The great swordsman of Fish-Man Island was dead.
Mina didn't spare him another glance. His challenge had been a minor, momentary distraction. Her focus had already shifted toward the sea — where Kroobi was desperately dragging Arlong's limp, but still alive, body toward the waves.
The villagers chased, fueled by adrenaline and years of repressed vengeance, but Kroobi, a master of Fish-Man Karate, was incredibly fast, bounding across the sand toward the surf. The gap between them was closing, but not quickly enough.
The moment Kroobi's feet touched the foamy edge of the surf, a cruel, triumphant grin crossed his face. 'I win,' he thought, his chest swelling with relief.
'Once I'm in the water, I'll be unstoppable.' His strength in the ocean was many times greater than on land, and he knew he could easily fend off the entire mob of weak humans.
Nami's heart clenched in her chest, a feeling of devastating defeat washing over her. Even Sanji, who was sprinting at an incredible speed, couldn't close the remaining twenty feet.
"Damn it!" she yelled, tears of frustration stinging her eyes. "If he gets into the ocean, it's over! He'll escape forever!"
But Mina wasn't done yet. Her expression, which had been blank, hardened with renewed intensity. She drew another kunai, a specialized Flying Thunder God weapon, and hurled it forward with pinpoint, casual accuracy. It spun end-over-end, a streak of silver aimed not at Kroobi, but past him, embedding itself securely in a large, saltwater-dampened boulder a few feet away.
Kuroobi turned, his Fish-Man instincts screaming danger, just in time to see the weapon glowing faintly with blue chakra. He immediately recognized the lethal signature from her previous fight.
That technique again! he thought in terror, a cold dread washing over him. She's going to teleport! I can't let her grab Arlong!
He braced himself, muscles tensed, ready to block her from behind the second she appeared, planning to unleash a powerful Water Shot into her back.
But in the next instant—
Mina appeared directly in front of him, the space between them collapsing in a flash of yellow light. She materialized between Kroobi and the unconscious Arlong, cutting off his path to the sea.
Her right hand was already a blur, spinning with blinding, focused blue energy. It was the same weapon that had defeated Arlong, now aimed at the last major pillar of the crew.
"Rasengan!" she hissed, her voice a low, fierce whisper.
Kroobi's eyes widened in profound, ultimate disbelief.
Front?!
There was no time to react, no time to adjust the hundreds of Fish-Man Karate counters he knew. The swirling, explosive sphere of chakra slammed into his abdomen, right over his diaphragm, releasing a concentrated explosion of rotational force that sent him flying backward like a ragdoll.
His chest caved instantly under the incredible, non-elemental pressure, his black vest shredded to ribbons as he crashed violently into the rocky shore behind him.
The waves, moments before his salvation, now swallowed him whole, his body motionless as he sank beneath the churning, salty surface. The Fish-Man Karate master was drowned by the very element he was meant to rule.
An eerie, profound silence fell over the battlefield, replacing the cacophony of metal and screams. Only the dying crackling of scattered flames and the distant, rhythmic crash of waves against the coast could be heard.
Mina exhaled softly, the residual glow fading from her hand, leaving only a faint scent of ozone in the air. She stood motionless for a long moment, a solitary, golden figure against the backdrop of destruction, her mission finally complete.
Arlong's reign of terror, a decade-long nightmare of tribute, fear, and murder that had gripped the people of Cocoyasi Village and the entire island chain, was unequivocally over. He lay limp and defeated, his crew scattered, broken, or dead.
The villagers stood frozen, their axes and spears lowered, staring first at the still body of Hachi, then at the bubbling water where Kroobi had sunk, and finally at the small child who had accomplished the impossible. A collective, staggered breath seemed to be drawn by all of them.
Then, the silence broke. A cry of sheer, overwhelming relief burst from one of the women, followed by another, and soon the entire courtyard was filled not with shouts of war, but with the sobs of the saved. They rushed toward Nami, embracing her, their silent, mutual suffering finally given a release.
Nami, shaking, walked over to the defeated body of Arlong, her whole life flashing before her eyes: the fear, the maps she drew, and the agonizing, false hope of her savings. She looked at his monstrous form and then to Mina.
"Mina..." she whispered, her voice thick with emotion and disbelief. "It's... really over, isn't it? He's gone."
Mina simply nodded, her gaze sweeping across the liberated village, her focus already shifting to the long journey home and the lessons learned in this strange, new world. The village was safe, the mission successful.