"You two must be from out of town, huh?"
A sharp-nosed fishman casually draped an arm over Renji Kai's shoulder and the other over Douglas Bullet's, speaking in a leisurely tone.
Renji turned to look at him, puzzled. "What's the problem?"
"Haha, do you even know whose turf you're standing on?" the fishman laughed loudly.
"Whose turf?"
"Ever heard of the Arlong Pirates? This is our territory!" the fishman said proudly.
"Ohhh, so you're with the Arlong Pirates. I was wondering why the symbol hanging outside town looked so familiar. Turns out it's from that loser-led pirate crew," Renji said with sudden realization.
Arlong, the leader of the Arlong Pirates, was a fishman and a former officer of the Sun Pirates. After leaving them, he started his own crew. When he returned from the Grand Line, he began his campaign to dominate the East Blue.
He raided and conquered over 20 villages across the sea, including Cocoyasi Village, Nami's hometown, where he established his so-called "Arlong Empire."
Douglas Bullet, having been imprisoned for twenty years, naturally had no idea what the outside world had become.
"Are the Arlong Pirates strong?" he asked.
"They claim to be the strongest pirate crew in East Blue, but the bounty on their leader is only 20 million Berries. What do you think?" Renji explained.
Hearing that, Douglas Bullet almost cursed out loud. Twenty million Berries? That wasn't even worth a finger of his. And this was supposed to be the highest bounty in East Blue? That said a lot about how weak the pirates here were.
"Hey, punk, what did you just say?" The sharp-nosed fishman glared. "Did you call our captain a loser? You got a death wish or something?"
At that moment, the other fishmen in the tavern stood up one after another, having heard what Renji said.
"Douglas Bullet," Renji said, turning to him with a smirk, "I've never actually seen you fight before. They say you're a real beast. Mind giving us a little demonstration?"
Sure, Renji could defeat these small fries himself and earn reputation points, but that would use up one of his limited possession attempts. Each use required 1,000 reputation points, and wasting one here wouldn't even get him that much.
Even though he'd already gained over 400,000 reputation points during the Impel Down incident, that still wasn't enough to redeem a Hashirama Senju character card.
So he had no intention of wasting effort for such minimal gain.
Besides, he was curious about just how powerful this man he recruited—a man said to rival the "Dark King" Rayleigh—really was.
Douglas Bullet gave a cold chuckle. "You're insulting me."
He didn't wait for Renji to respond. In a flash, he surged forward, closing the distance to the sharp-nosed fishman.
Before the fishman could even react, Douglas Bullet's hands turned pitch black—a sign of Armament Haki.
Then, in a single instant, his seemingly indestructible fist smashed square into the fishman's face.
BOOM!
With a dull thud, the fishman was blasted right out of the tavern.
"Kill him!" the other fishmen shouted in unison.
But before they could move, Douglas Bullet was already among them.
Moments later, every fishman in the tavern lay on the ground—lifeless.
The bartender, just emerging with two mugs of rum, froze in place in shock.
Douglas casually walked back, took the mugs from the bartender, and handed one to Renji.
"Dude," Renji said with a laugh, "that was a bit overkill, don't you think? Using Armament Haki against nobodies?"
Armament Haki was one of the three main types of Haki. It boosted both defense and offense, and even allowed attacks to hit Logia-type Devil Fruit users whose bodies could normally avoid physical damage.
When Douglas's skin turned jet-black, Renji knew exactly what he was using.
The key feature of Armament Haki was that it could make a person's body as hard as steel.
"Hmph. So you know about Armament Haki too. You asked for a little demonstration, so I gave you one. Just a taste of what people from my era can do," Douglas replied, taking a large gulp of rum.
"Oh, I know a lot," Renji said with a grin. "Like how that guy Arlong and his band of bottom-feeders are probably already on their way here to pick a fight."
He took a sip of his rum—and immediately coughed.
"Damn! That stuff's strong!"
Douglas burst out laughing. "Haha! Still too green, I see. Rum is one of the strongest drinks in the world. I could down several mugs when I was just fifteen!"
Renji rolled his eyes and took another sip, but decided he still preferred real-world Maotai. He put the mug down.
It was then that the shocked bartender finally snapped out of it and said urgently, "You two should leave quickly! If one of Arlong's officers comes by, you won't be able to get away!"