"You… how did you…"
Nezumi's voice sounded like an invisible hand had clamped his throat.
Shrill and grating.
His beady eyes stared at Hawk, filled only with terror and disbelief.
One hundred thirty-five million four hundred ninety thousand Beli.
Hawk had actually said the number exactly.
The reason Nezumi remembered it so clearly was because every week he went to the basement of the abandoned manor to count it by hand, and to savor the intoxicating scent clinging to the Beli.
"What… what did you do with my money?"
Nezumi's reason was drowned by towering fury and panic. He jabbed a finger at Hawk. "Men, to me, now."
"Arrest this insubordinate bastard. He dared to embezzle Marine property."
"This is mutiny."
"This is outright mutiny."
Several cronies behind him reflexively drew their guns.
They were instantly subdued by the marines who had come with Hawk.
"You… what do you think you're doing?"
Seeing this, Nezumi grew even more frantic. "I am the highest commander of the 16th Branch. Are you rebelling?"
Silence was his only answer.
The marines around him, those he treated like weeds and whose pay he skimmed at will, looked at him with eyes cold and disgusted.
As if watching a petty clown performing a clumsy act alone on stage.
Highest commander.
Heh.
When you docked their pay, ignored aging equipment, left brothers hungry and the wounded untreated, did you remember you were the highest commander.
Now the vast hoard you squeezed from the people and pried from between our teeth has been found by Lieutenant Colonel Hawk.
The lieutenant colonel said seventy percent goes back to the civilians you and Arlong ruined, and the remaining twenty percent to the brothers who bled in battle.
This money is not only being returned to the people. It is being returned to us.
How many brothers of the 16th Branch have homes in these waters.
Whose family wasn't harmed by you and that fish-trash Arlong.
Sending it back means putting it in our own families' pockets.
And you still expect us to back you.
If the lieutenant colonel hadn't spoken, the brothers would already have acted, smashed your face and kicked your jewels to bits.
Arlong hadn't moved. He had been observing Hawk.
For this young marine lieutenant colonel to neutralize the outer guards without a sound, and even keep Momoo from making a stir, was beyond the ability of an ordinary branch officer.
This might not be so simple.
Nezumi's eyes slid to Arlong and he seized on the last life-saving reed.
He scrambled on hands and knees toward Arlong, shrieking, "Arlong, help me."
"This bastard is rebelling. Kill him for me. Kill every one of these disobedient marines."
Arlong still ignored him.
To him this human marine was just a dog that wagged its tail for Beli.
Now that his leash had snapped, all he could do was bark helplessly.
Seeing Arlong unmoved, Nezumi panicked even more.
He gritted his teeth, pain flickering across his face. "The money. One hundred thirty-five million four hundred ninety thousand Beli."
"That bastard embezzled it. Kill him for me and we split it fifty-fifty."
At that number, something finally changed in Arlong's gaze.
Sixty-odd million for his half was no small sum.
His creed was simple: the best thing about Beli is that Beli can be trusted.
And he wanted to see what this young marine who had dared break into Arlong Park, dared sit in his chair, dared ignore his presence, really had.
A mere branch lieutenant colonel, and so arrogant.
Sha ha ha ha.
Arlong slowly rose. His towering body radiated pressure.
He did not look at Nezumi. He fixed his eyes on Hawk.
"Boy."
Arlong's voice was low and threatening. "Humans are always so greedy and stupid."
"Your time is up."
With a hiss he stamped the floor. His whole body shot at Hawk like an arrow loosed from the string.
His speed was astonishing. His vast hand, sharp as a shark's fin, whistled through the air straight for Hawk's head.
The inborn might of a fish-man was on full display.
Hawk watched Arlong's charge without a ripple in his eyes.
When he had chosen a path for martial arts, the system had offered swordplay and other fighting styles.
The three Haki and physique were the foundation and could not be changed.
But martial arts could be chosen freely.
He chose fists.
Pugilism.
Why.
Because as a man, nothing is more satisfying than fist-to-flesh combat.
The sound of bones breaking is the most beautiful symphony.
He stood up unhurriedly and twisted the cigarette out in the ashtray.
"Come."
Ink-dark Armament Haki flooded over his fists like spilled dye, deep and solid.
He sank his weight, left leg forward and right leg back.
He settled into a bow stance, steady as bedrock.
Then his right fist drew power at his waist, muscles snapping taut, and it drove forward like a fired shell with a violent twist.
"Bow Stance, Drive Punch."
Boom.
The solid iron fist crashed square into Arlong's face.
Crack.
The sound of shattering bone was crystal clear.
Arlong's eyes flew wide. In his pupils, Hawk's indifferent face gleamed.
He had no time to feel the agony of a crushed bridge of the nose and broken teeth. There was only an irresistible force lancing through his entire body.
A tremendous shock surged from Hawk's fist.
With a whistling rush Arlong's body was struck as if by a speeding train and hurled back even faster than he had come.
Bang.
He smashed through the wall behind him. Stone and wood shards sprayed.
He was buried deep in the courtyard wall in a cloud of dust and made no sound.
The tower fell dead silent.
Nezumi's shrill tirade jammed in his throat. Only blankness remained on his face.
He rubbed his eyes and stared in disbelief at where Arlong had vanished.
No way.
Where was Arlong.
Where was the all-powerful Arlong who could do as he pleased.
The most highly bountied terror of the East Blue, someone even Nezumi didn't dare provoke lightly, was just gone.
The officers of the Arlong Pirates were frozen where they stood. They even forgot to lift their weapons.
Boss Arlong was a powerhouse from the Grand Line.
And a human marine had sent him flying with a single punch.
The marines who had charged in with Hawk had a light blaze up in their eyes that words could not describe.
They all straightened unconsciously, their breathing roughening.
They had known the lieutenant colonel was strong and merciless to pirates.
But who would have thought he was this strong.
Facing the East Blue's overlord Arlong, he crushed him in a single blow.
So this was Lieutenant Colonel Hawk's power.
This was the Blood Eagle, Lieutenant Colonel Rayne Hawk, who made every pirate in the East Blue tremble.
The marines moved at once, cutting down the Arlong Pirates who still hadn't recovered their wits.
Ding. Eliminated the pirate Arlong with a 20,000,000 Beli bounty.
Gained 2,000 Justice Points.
Current Justice Points: 24 plus 2,000 equals 2,024.
Hawk glanced at the system panel, pleased by the deposit.
He turned back to the collapsed, bloodless Nezumi on the floor.
"Hawk."
Nezumi let out a screech like a cracked gong and crawled toward him, face a mask of terror and fawning.
"I'm the one who promoted you."
"Have you forgotten? Back when you were a Seaman Third Class…"