Moonlight shattered across the waves like fragments of silver.
When **Darius Flint's** metallic arm collided with the hook claw, a system alert stabbed through his mind like a needle.
**[Warning: Hidden toxin detected.]**
**[Weapon contains concealed barb.]**
**[Toxin Type: Impel Down Corrosive Agent.]**
**[Recommendation: Immediate disengagement.]**
Darius's jaw clenched so tightly his molars ached.
Now he understood why the hook had felt wrong.
The Sea Stone threads wrapped around the weapon had only been bait. The true killing mechanism lay hidden inside the hollow section near the hook's tip.
"Nami!" he barked.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl leaning out of the abandoned ship's porthole, seawater dripping from her hair. In her hands she held half of a rusted anchor.
Pete's hook was still embedded in Darius's arm.
The corrosive toxin hissed against the fusion layer like acid poured onto steel.
Pain spread through the metal seams like thousands of ants chewing through bone.
Darius twisted his wrist sharply.
The sand covering his metallic arm instantly condensed into a rough armored plate.
**Elemental Armor.**
It was a skill he had gained after integrating the **Suna Suna no Mi**.
The protection wasn't strong enough to fully block the poison—but it bought him half a second.
Pete's visible eye gleamed under the moon.
He clearly hadn't expected Darius to take the blow head-on.
The moment the hook's poison mechanism activated, the pirate grinned viciously.
"You little brat… wait until Arlong-sama—"
His words stopped abruptly.
**WHOOSH!**
Nami's anchor crashed downward.
The bronze flukes hooked perfectly around the chain attached to Pete's weapon.
The girl bit her lip as she pulled back with all her strength.
Her fingers tapped the ship's railing three times in quick succession.
It was her **Three-Point Positioning Technique**.
First: read the wave rhythm.
Second: calculate the swing arc.
Third: use weight to counter recoil.
The trap-disarming drills she had practiced alone inside the abandoned boat finally paid off.
"Come here!" Nami shouted.
Pete's body jerked violently.
The chain snapped tight, and the pirate was yanked off the reef like a hooked shark.
His hook was still lodged in Darius's arm.
The chain dragged both of them in opposite directions.
The corrosive poison seeped deeper into Darius's arm.
Cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
Then the system spoke again.
**[Saw-Tooth Fruit armor-piercing amplification detected.]**
**[Fusion rate increased by +5%.]**
The metallic patterns on Darius's arm flared to life.
Dark grey armor split into jagged saw-tooth lines that crawled up toward his shoulder.
His pupils flashed faint gold.
Observation Haki surged.
He remembered his master's **Eight Extremities Fist** teachings.
*Strike the joints first. Break the tendons.*
Darius drove his metal hand forward like a blade.
The strike followed the hook chain's motion and landed precisely on the outside of Pete's elbow.
**CRACK!**
Pete screamed.
Bone shattered.
His arm twisted grotesquely.
The hook slipped free and plunged into the sea.
But the poison continued burning through Darius's arm.
He pressed forward immediately.
His left leg swept Pete's knee.
His metal-coated right leg blurred through the moonlight, sand swirling around it.
**Sandstorm Step.**
Pete slammed into the reef.
Blood bubbled from his mouth.
But the pirate suddenly smiled.
When he had been thrown earlier, something hidden in his boot had struck the rocks.
Now a faint purple smoke leaked from the cracked casing.
Darius's Observation Haki flared in warning.
He stopped.
The corrosion had spread past his forearm.
Blue-purple veins appeared beneath his skin.
Pete lay on the reef, laughing weakly.
"You think… Arlong-sama only gave me two hooks?"
His hand slid into his boot.
Purple smoke seeped through cracks in the reef.
The ocean wind shifted.
Far away, the patrol boats' sirens grew louder.
Three mast lights glowed like red eyes racing toward the reef.
Darius kept his gaze locked on Pete.
The poison had already reached his shoulder.
**[Toxin Erosion: 37%]**
**[Immediate treatment recommended.]**
He ignored it.
Pete's fingers reached the pull ring of the smoke bomb.
"You little brat…" the pirate whispered.
"This is Arlong-sama's newest toy."
Click.
The nearly silent sound echoed across the reef.
Suddenly—
Darius's Observation Haki flared violently.
Metal gears grinding.
Behind the reef.
"WATCH OUT!"
Nami's scream cut through the roar of the waves.
She leaned over the rail, sea chart flapping wildly.
"Iron cages! They're hidden in the reef!"
Darius's pupils shrank.
Inside the smoke, three massive iron cages rose slowly from the cracks between the reefs.
Each one was chained with thick iron links.
Their bases were anchored deep into the seabed.
Pete's boot hadn't contained only a smoke bomb.
The metal tube was a detonator.
"A tide trap!" Nami shouted.
"At low tide the cages stay underwater… but when the tide rises—"
Her voice trembled.
"They'll wedge between the reef and the ship!"
"The hull will be crushed!"
The poison burned through the fusion layer and reached Darius's collarbone.
He could hear flesh sizzling beneath his skin.
But his focus locked onto the cages.
The nearest was only five meters from the stern.
Chains glimmered like coiled snakes beneath the water.
"System," Darius growled.
"When does **High-Frequency Vibration** recharge?"
**[Cooldown complete in 0.3 seconds.]**
**[Toxin erosion: 42%.]**
**[Immediate medical treatment advised.]**
"To hell with the wound."
His metallic arm began vibrating.
High-Frequency Vibration.
The ability he had gained from integrating the **Goro Goro no Mi**.
He remembered laboratory calculations.
At **100,000 hertz**, even hardened steel would fracture from metal fatigue.
"Nami!" he shouted.
He grabbed the mooring rope and channeled the vibration through it.
"Call the cage angles!"
Nami scanned the chart instantly.
"Left cage fifteen degrees north!"
"Middle cage directly behind the stern!"
"Right cage—thirty degrees off the rudder!"
Darius moved.
Three blinding strikes.
The first shattered the left chain.
The second crushed the middle cage lock.
The third carried a burst of blue lightning through the blade.
The final chain snapped violently.
The cage collapsed into the sea.
Pete's laughter suddenly turned hysterical.
"You think… that's the end?"
He forced himself upright.
Another small metal cylinder rolled from his boot.
"Arlong-sama said… you should sink beautifully."
The sea suddenly roared.
A massive shadow rose beneath the water.
Darius's Observation Haki detected it instantly.
A **Sea Stone gate**.
Three stories tall.
It rose slowly from the seabed, carved with serpent patterns glowing faint blue in the moonlight.
The chains above it tightened.
The entire reef churned.
The abandoned ship rocked violently.
Nami stumbled and grabbed the mast.
The sea chart slipped from her hand into the water.
The system alarm screamed.
**[Warning!]**
**[Massive Haki detected.]**
**[Source: Above Sea Stone Gate.]**
**[Threat Assessment: Emperor-level (lower tier).]**
Cold sweat drenched Darius's back.
He had felt Crocodile's Haki before.
That had been like a desert sandstorm.
This…
This felt like the crushing pressure of the deep ocean.
Now he understood.
Pete had never been meant to survive.
This entire trap was bait.
Nami suddenly grabbed the anchor rope.
"The tide peaks in two minutes!"
"I'll throw the anchor to the reef beside the gate!"
"We can squeeze the ship through the gap!"
Her eyes shone under the moonlight.
"Trust me!"
Darius swallowed.
He remembered her practicing alone days ago.
Now she was calculating angles even with trembling hands.
The Sea Stone gate broke the surface completely.
A dark figure stood on top.
Massive arms rested on the gate's edge.
Every knuckle looked like iron.
The system alarm shrieked.
**[Toxin erosion: 58%]**
**[Detoxification ability recommended.]**
Darius ignored it.
Nami had already thrown the anchor.
The rope tightened.
The ship groaned as it shifted.
Pete crawled toward the final detonator.
And the dark figure slowly raised his head.
"Little bug."
The voice thundered across the sea.
Darius's ears rang.
The tone was like rusted chains scraping against stone.
"The price of breaking a contract…"
The Sea Stone gate trembled violently.
The figure stomped once.
Cracks spread across the stone like spiderwebs.
Water froze into spikes at his feet.
Then evaporated instantly in the heat of his body.
Darius stared upward.
And finally understood.
This was no mere pirate.
This—
Was **Arlong**.
The real Arlong.