After thoroughly defeating both the pirates and the corrupt Marines, Jerry and his crew left behind quite a mess—two separate piles of bound prisoners consisting of the Arlong Pirates and the 16th Branch marine.
The Black Star Pirates acted as if nothing unusual had happened and calmly set out on the road toward Cocoyasi Village, their destination unchanged despite the unexpected detour.
"Jerry, those Arlong Pirates and that rat Captain Nezumi have been working together to terrorize these villages for years. We can't just let the surviving members off easy..." Deuce spoke seriously, sharing the intelligence he had gathered during their questioning of the captured fishmen. After a moment's consideration, he made a suggestion: "I think we should let the villagers themselves decide what happens to the remaining Arlong Pirates."
"Sounds reasonable to me." Jerry nodded in agreement, and the rest of the crew voiced no objections to this approach.
Bonney's expression fell slightly as she spoke up. "I was really looking forward to visiting Fishman Island, but seeing how these fishmen acted..."
Carina smiled warmly and patted the young girl's head reassuringly. "Don't worry, Bonney. There are plenty of kind-hearted mermaids and fishmen on Fishman Island. Don't let these particular scumbags ruin your opinion of an entire people."
"Really?" Bonney looked up hopefully at the older crew members around her. She clearly didn't want to abandon the travel plans she had discussed with Kuma so easily.
Seeing everyone nod in confirmation, and recalling Carrot's earlier vivid descriptions of the underwater kingdom's wonders, Bonney's face broke into a bright smile once again. "Then I definitely still want to go see it!"
The crew chatted casually as they walked, and soon found themselves entering the outskirts of Cocoyasi Village proper.
"Hmm? What's this? Are you all here to welcome us?" Jerry remarked with amusement.
Upon entering the village center, they immediately noticed a large group of villagers gathered on the main road, all facing the direction from which the pirates were approaching.
Leading the crowd was a middle-aged man wearing a patrol officer's uniform. His weathered face bore old scars that spoke of past hardships, and a small decorative windmill was attached to his hat—a curious touch that made him stand out.
He stepped forward cautiously and asked with obvious surprise, "Hello there, strangers. Who are you people? And why are you coming from that direction?"
Acting as the diplomatic representative of the Black Star Pirates, Deuce also took a polite step forward. "Ah, hello! We thought that building over there was some kind of amusement park, so we decided to check it out..."
"You went to Arlong Park?!" The middle-aged patrol officer—Genzo—exclaimed in shock, and the other villagers immediately began talking among themselves with obvious concern.
A moment later, Genzo collected himself and asked urgently, "Those fishmen didn't hurt you, did they? Please tell me they didn't do anything terrible!"
Noticing the mixture of curiosity and genuine worry in the villagers' eyes, Deuce scratched his head somewhat sheepishly. "Well, they certainly tried to do something to us, but we ended up defeating them all in self-defense."
Upon hearing this revelation, the villagers stood in stunned silence for several seconds before erupting into confused chatter.
"What? Are you seriously telling us the truth?"
"That group of fishmen was actually defeated?"
"Is this real? Are we dreaming right now?"
"It would be incredible if it were true..."
Looking at the varied expressions on the faces of the people before them—disbelief mixed with desperate hope—Deuce and the others exchanged meaningful glances. They could clearly see just how severely these innocent people had been oppressed by the lawless pirates and their corrupt Marine collaborators.
"We're not joking around, and we understand that you've all been—" Deuce began earnestly, but was suddenly interrupted by the sound of hurried footsteps and excited shouting coming from the direction of Arlong Park.
"Everyone! Everyone, listen to me! The Arlong Pirates... they've been defeated!"
A pretty young woman with distinctive short orange hair came running toward them at full speed, wearing casual clothes and shouting breathlessly as she ran. Her voice carried a mixture of exhaustion and pure elation that was impossible to fake.
"Nami! What... what did you just say?" The villagers' shock was palpable, but unlike their earlier skepticism, they no longer dismissed this as some kind of cruel joke. This was someone they knew and trusted completely.
Nami skidded to a halt in front of the crowd, bending over with her hands on her knees as she caught her breath from the frantic sprint.
When she raised her head again, her face was already streaked with tears of joy.
Her entire body was trembling with emotion as she looked directly at Genzo, her sister Nojiko who had just pushed to the front of the crowd, and all the other villagers who were waiting with expectant, hopeful expressions for confirmation of this miraculous news.
Nami tried desperately to calm herself down, but found it nearly impossible to contain her overwhelming emotions.
She pressed her lips together tightly and nodded silently, as if trying to find her voice. Then, as if a dam had finally burst, Nami rushed toward Nojiko in absolute ecstasy and screamed at the top of her lungs:
"It's true! Arlong and all his crew have been completely defeated! We're finally, truly free!"
BOOM!
The moment those words left Nami's lips—someone they all knew and trusted implicitly—the villagers' carefully restrained emotions finally exploded beyond all control.
They cheered with wild abandon, hugged each other tightly, laughed until their sides hurt, and danced with pure joy in the village streets.
Some people cried tears of happiness, while others loudly vented emotions they had been forced to suppress for nearly eight long years of oppression.
The Black Star Pirates watched this deeply moving scene unfold before them in respectful silence. To them, such displays of liberation were not entirely unfamiliar.
During their various sea voyages over the past few years, Jerry and his crew had defeated local pirates, corrupt Marines, and oppressive kingdom forces on other islands, and had witnessed many people react in similar ways when tyranny was finally overthrown.
When the villagers had gradually calmed down enough to think clearly again, Carina stepped forward with a wave and a friendly smile. "Nami! Long time no see."
Nami, who had just finished wiping away her tears and was chatting excitedly with Nojiko and several other villagers, turned around in complete astonishment. "Carina? Is that really you?"
Nojiko, whose short blue hair contrasted nicely with her sister's orange locks, turned toward the newcomers with curiosity. "Nami, do you know these people? Apparently they're the ones who defeated the Arlong Pirates."
The unexpected reunion between Nami and Carina immediately captured everyone's attention.
The two young women smiled warmly at each other and began briefly introducing the people around them to their respective groups.
At the enthusiastic suggestion of several villagers, everyone decided to walk back toward Arlong Park together so the townspeople could see the evidence of their liberation with their own eyes.
During the journey, conversation flowed freely among the mixed group. When the villagers learned that Jerry and his crew were also pirates, they experienced a brief moment of panic and uncertainty.
However, as the people gradually realized that this particular group of pirates harbored no ill intentions toward them—instead engaging in friendly jokes and casual conversation—they slowly began to set aside their automatic prejudices and suspicions.
When the villagers learned the shocking truth that Arlong's crew had been secretly collaborating with the local Marine branch all these years, their anger reached new heights. They cursed those corrupt sailors with clenched teeth and voices full of righteous fury.
Throughout this entire process, Nami's expression kept changing as conflicting emotions played across her face. Having been deeply traumatized by pirates since childhood, she had always harbored an intense hatred for all piracy.
Even when she had been forced to collect 100 million berries to buy Cocoyasi Village's freedom from Arlong, Nami had specifically chosen only pirates as her targets for theft—a form of poetic justice that helped her cope with the moral compromise.
During those grueling years when she had worked day and night, sacrificing everything to save her village through her own efforts, she had never once placed her hopes in the Marines for rescue.
The irony was almost too much to process: the ones who had finally saved her village were pirates themselves.