Arlong realized his earlier threats were useless the moment Nami struck first.
"Use seawater to attack! Everyone, move!" Arlong bellowed.
Seawater is the bane of all Devil Fruit users—Logias included.
"Kill her!"
"Nami, you traitor!"
A chorus of guttural roars erupted as the fish-men slammed the water, hurling it toward Nami.
"Lightning Drop."
Expressionless, Nami pressed her palm down. Silver bolts crashed from the sky.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Thick spears of lightning fell without warning, skewering the charging fish-men. The weaker ones flipped belly-up in an instant, eyes rolling white.
"Arlong—eight years of pain. I'm paying it all back today."
"Die."
Boom—boom—boom!
Dense lightning swallowed all of Arlong Park, sealing every path of retreat and unleashing an indiscriminate storm of destruction.
"Captain, help!"
"Run—run!"
Under Nami's control, the silver bolts slithered like vipers through the ruins, harvesting lives one after another. Miserable screams tore through the sky above the park.
The commotion drew the people of Cocoyasi Village. When they saw the scene, their eyes widened, disbelief filling their pupils.
That person… Nami?!
Arlong Park had become a fish-men graveyard.
Within moments, more than half the crew lay dead beneath the thunder. Before a calamity like this, most fish-men had no power to resist.
"Not enough… not enough." Cold light burned in Nami's eyes. Ignoring the cost, she poured out even more power.
Rrrrraack!
Columns of lightning as thick as bowls hammered down. Buildings collapsed throughout Arlong Park, dust billowing to the clouds. The few fish-men still breathing lost all thought of fighting and scattered in panic. Some unlucky ones were crushed flat by falling rubble.
"Looks like Nami is truly angry," Kaya murmured.
Aboard the Going Merry, Kaya and Makino watched with hushed awe.
"It's the first time I've seen Nami this fierce," Makino said, tongue-tied.
"Let Nami vent," Reno replied softly. He understood her heart. Eight years of hatred—released in a single day.
Under the relentless thunder, Arlong Park was reduced to ruins. Curious villagers gathered at the broken gate.
Face flushed and breath a little ragged, Nami finally lowered her hand. Minutes later, the thunder cut off. Silence fell. The ground was charred black.
"Arlong, get out here."
She'd kept most of her attention on him. She knew he wasn't dead.
Cough. Cough.
From somewhere beneath the rubble came a rasping cough.
"Nami!"
The voice crawled up from hell.
A heartbeat later, Arlong shoved the debris off his body and dragged himself free. His eyes were bloodshot; his saw-shaped nose was snapped in half. He'd survived the barrage by luck alone—and been half-destroyed for it.
"Heh… Arlong, you really are hard to kill," Nami mocked. "Your crew's gone. Yet you're still breathing."
As the dust thinned, Arlong finally saw the truth.
His fish-men were dead.
Most had fallen to the lightning; a few were crushed beneath the collapsing buildings. Even Hachi in the pool hadn't escaped fate. Only Arlong still clung to life.
"Nami! Damn you!"
Arlong's roar split the sky.
Nami walked toward him, the corner of her mouth curling in a cold, taunting smile. "The pain you gave me… isn't even half of what you deserve."
"Lightning Spear."
A spear of densely packed thunder coalesced in her grip, the tip leveled at Arlong.
"Nami! I'll kill you!"
With no way out, Arlong let out a final howl and charged.
Nami's smile turned cruel. She didn't hesitate. The spear left her hand.
Whoosh!
With a ripping shriek, the lightning lance punched through Arlong's chest. Raw thunder flooded his body, tearing his life apart from within. Spent and broken, he crashed into a pool of blood, limbs twitching, breath hanging by a thread.
Nami strode forward and looked down at him like a queen of storms gazing at an ant. "Arlong, look at you now—how pitiful."
He could no longer speak, but hatred still burned in his eyes.
"Then take that hatred below," Nami said, voice low. "Repent to my adoptive mother—to everyone you murdered."
Her palm opened. Lightning roared once more.
With a crack like the world breaking, Arlong went still—forever.
For a moment, Nami swayed, dazed. Had she really done it? The monster that once seemed invincible… dead by her hand.
Something inside her shattered—like a lock breaking at last.
She lifted her head to the sky and whispered, "Mom… I killed Arlong. You can rest now."
Just then, Reno drifted down with Kaya and Makino at his side. The Going Merry remained suspended in the clouds above.
At Nami's side, Reno gently pulled her into an embrace. "It's over."
Nami nodded hard, gratitude shining in her eyes. Meeting Reno had been the luckiest turn of her life. He had given her a new dawn.
"Reno, come home with me. If my sister hears Arlong is dead, she'll be so happy." Nami laced her fingers with his.
Reno smiled and shook his head. "Not yet. There's one fish that slipped the net."
"Get out here!"
…