Watching as William and his crew sailed away, the Fish-Men stood by Arlong on the shore for quite some time before one of them cautiously spoke up, "Boss Arlong?"
Though Arlong wasn't a cruel captain who would slaughter his subordinates on a whim, even the dullest Fish-Man could see that Arlong's fury and murderous intent were barely contained.
"That despicable, lowly human dares to insult me repeatedly!" Arlong spat out the words through clenched teeth.
Behind Arlong, a Fish-Man who had been released by William hesitated before speaking the truth, "Captain, this human is very powerful. We should be cautious around him. On land, only Boss Jinbe might be able to defeat him."
Arlong turned abruptly, glaring at the speaker with pupils narrowed like a hungry Sea King's, terrifying in their intensity. "You said 'on land.' Humans, these lowly creatures, can only survive on land. That man is a Devil Fruit user and fears the sea even more. How can you, a Fish-Man superior to humans, be afraid of a mere human?"
Arlong's voice rose to a roar: "The sea is ten, a hundred times wider than the land. Therefore, Fish-Men who can live in the sea are ten, a hundred times superior to humans. If not for the sake of my comrades and my plans, I would have destroyed their ship first and left them stranded on the island. Like sharks surrounding prey, I would have waited in the sea for the perfect moment to hunt him down. Do you think I endured his insults for any other reason?!"
"You're right," the Fish-Man lowered his head, whether out of agreement with Arlong's reasoning or simply fear of Arlong's demeanor.
The scene grew quiet for a moment. After venting his anger and explaining his humiliating behavior before William to his crew, Arlong pushed past the Fish-Men blocking his path and stormed toward Nami's mapping room.
Bang!
The door to the mapping room swung open violently, startling Nami, who sat at her desk drawing. Ink splattered onto the half-finished chart in front of her, causing her slightly chubby face to scrunch up in distress.
"How many charts did you draw today?" Arlong asked, his face dark as he examined Nami's work for the day.
Nami was still mourning the ink stain when Arlong suddenly roared, and with a "thud," her head was slammed onto the desk by Arlong's massive hand, causing a sharp pain.
The ten-year-old girl's small head was dwarfed by Arlong's hand, and with his immense strength, it seemed like he could crush her skull at any moment.
Ignoring Nami's frantic struggles and flailing hands, Arlong spoke coldly, "You've been slacking off? Why is today's work no better than before? It's even less! I want you to speed up your progress, understand?"
"I've done my best!" Nami screamed at the top of her lungs.
In truth, Nami had lied a little. She had been observing the situation outside, and after seeing Arlong's crew "politely escort" William's group off the island, a thorn of curiosity had lodged itself in her heart. She wanted to know what relationship those humans had with Arlong's crew.
"If you don't want to die, and you don't want your entire village to be buried with you, you'd better speed up!" Arlong pressed her head into the desk again before releasing her, cursing at the sobbing Nami, "You damned humans are like rats. I haven't exterminated you like pests. Keeping you alive and letting you join our crew is a privilege! You should work hard to repay me! Understand?"
Nami didn't respond, and Arlong's expression grew fiercer. Seeing this, the tearful Nami reluctantly stammered, "Y-yes."
After venting his frustration over his humiliation by William on the only human around him, Nami, Arlong finally left the room. One of his Fish-Men subordinates asked, "Boss Arlong, what do we do now?"
"Find more human villages and get Beli from them to ransom our comrades," Arlong said in a low voice. "Then head to the sea and accelerate the exploration of this region's data and information!"
…
"A chart?"
A week after parting ways with the Arlong Pirates, in the captain's cabin, William looked at a report from Cocoyasi Village, lightly pressing his temples as he muttered to himself, "Those Fish-Men have the same idea as me?"
William hadn't invented the hot air balloon for amusement. Although he hadn't seen airplanes in this world, he knew there were techniques like "Sky Walk" that allowed people to move in the air. Thus, a hot air balloon, which might seem like a sitting target in the sky, had limited military use. He invented it for mapping the East Blue's geology and terrain, and for meteorological exploration.
The power of nature, even in this world where individuals could fly and move like gods, was not something many dared to ignore.
The Edd War that once captivated the world and left a significant mark in history was altered by weather conditions.
At the outset of that naval battle, the infamous pirate Shiki, known as the "Golden Lion," surrounded the Roger Pirates with his fleet, despite them having only one lonely ship. From a strategic standpoint, Shiki had every advantage. But in the end, the nearly defeated Roger Pirates were saved by a sudden storm. Shiki and his fleet were mostly sunk, and in an unfortunate accident, a ship's helm lodged itself into Shiki's head.
The once invincible and feared Shiki and his flying pirate fleet were devastated by this storm. Without this natural disaster, Roger might not have reached the end of the Grand Line successfully, might not have been hailed as the Pirate King, and might not have ushered in the Great Pirate Era.
History was rewritten due to this natural coincidence.
William, though not hoping for the kind of miraculous luck that helped Roger, at least didn't want to end up like Shiki, losing a crucial battle due to ignoring the "weather forecast."
Moreover, the East Blue was William's home base. At the very least, he hoped to understand the environment and climate here thoroughly.
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