Crossing the entire block, a figure appeared in Taro's line of sight.
It was a young girl wearing a yellow straw hat, with orange hair, a light green camisole, and black shorts.
Her left arm was bleeding, and a bandage was wrapped around her left hand, while her right hand covered half of her face as tears streamed down.
Nami!
Taro felt a surge of excitement, but his excitement was merely because it was his first time seeing a member of the main cast, not because he had any designs on Nami.
After all, Luffy would later say, "Don't make my navigator cry." If Taro had any designs on Nami, he'd likely be beaten to death!
Besides, Taro was now a Marine. If he rashly got involved with pirates, Garp might beat him to death as well.
A gust of wind blew, nearly blowing away the yellow straw hat on Nami's head. She quickly reached out to grab it, then realized someone was standing in front of her.
Taro looked at Nami awkwardly. "Uh, I was just hesitating whether to go around. Believe it or not, I mean no harm!"
Seeing that Nami didn't speak and only looked at him warily, Taro scratched his forehead. "Um, do you need a bandage? Your arm is still bleeding."
Nami's expression relaxed a bit, and Taro breathed a sigh of relief. "But I don't have any bandages. If you know where some are, you can tell me."
Nami still didn't speak, perhaps not yet recovered from her grief, but her eyes swept toward a nearby house.
Taro immediately understood. He ran into the house, found some bandages after a short search, and held them out to Nami.
Nami didn't take them, looking at Taro with a strange expression. Only then did Taro realize it was indeed inconvenient for Nami to bandage herself with one hand.
He gave an apologetic smile, knelt beside Nami, tore off a piece of bandage to wipe away the blood on her arm, and then roughly bandaged her wound, tying an incredibly ugly knot.
"That's it, it'll have to do." Taro also knew his technique was terrible and spoke first. "I have to head over there. Do you want to come along or rest for a bit?"
Taro pointed ahead.
Nami's gaze sharpened, her tone somewhat stiff. "Who are you? Why are you going there?"
"My name is Taro," Taro quickly waved his hands. "Don't misunderstand, I mean no harm. I'm just going to take a look."
"Take a look? At what?"
Nami continued to press him.
"You definitely wouldn't believe me if I said I was going to see the scenery," Taro sighed helplessly. "Don't ask so much. If you're not going, I'm leaving first."
Taro stood up and was about to run.
Nami, however, also stood up, holding the straw hat on her head.
Taro paused for a moment and nodded. "I'm in a bit of a hurry. Just make sure to keep up."
Then, without further hesitation, he dashed forward.
Taro was a bit anxious. A lot of time had already been wasted, and he didn't know how far the fight had progressed. This definitely wouldn't be like the anime where it lasts for over 10 episodes; he had to hurry.
The more anxious he was, the faster he ran. By the time he snapped out of it, Nami was nowhere to be seen behind him. Taro looked at the spire of the Arlong Park building that had appeared in his sight, sighed, and ran back.
Nami was also surprised to see Taro rushing back, but in the next second, she almost cried out in alarm.
Taro ran to Nami's side and, without a word, suddenly reached out and grabbed her waist, hoisting her onto his shoulder and running... "Blegh..."
Taro set Nami down by the courtyard wall of Arlong Park. As soon as Nami's feet touched the ground, she leaned against the wall and started dry heaving. It took a while for her to recover. Just as she was about to angrily scold Taro, she found that he had already slipped through a hole in the courtyard wall.
Fishmen lay scattered all over the courtyard. A Fishman with a saw-toothed nose and a yellow shirt sat on some ruins, laughing loudly. A swordsman wearing a dark green bandana and a blue short-sleeved shirt knelt by the pool, peering into the water.
Arlong!
Zoro!
Hmm? Where were Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp?
Taro was a bit dazed. What stage of the fight was this? Where had everyone gone? How much had he missed?
Arlong, who was laughing loudly, was interrupted by Taro's sudden entry. He coughed violently a couple of times and roared angrily at the dazed Taro, "Who the hell are you?!"
Taro was also startled. How did he end up right in front of the man himself just by crawling through a random hole? He had intended to just observe from the sidelines.
He composed himself and tried to put on a harmless smile. "I'm just passing through, just came in to take a look."
"You guys carry on, I'm leaving now."
After saying that, he slowly backed away, wanting to retreat.
Arlong had just been mocking humans for being trash and was enjoying himself when he was forcibly interrupted by Taro. He was incredibly annoyed and couldn't possibly let Taro off so easily.
With a slight exertion of force, he broke off a piece of rubble and hurled it at Taro with a "boom."
Taro did a donkey roll, tumbling several times on the ground to dodge it. This was a Move he had learned while watching street brawls in Foosha Village.
It was pathetic, but it worked!
"Don't! I really was just looking." Taro climbed back up from the ground and brushed the dust off himself. "You guys continue, just ignore me."
Worried that Arlong would continue to be relentless, Taro watched him cautiously and slowly sat down against the wall.
Seeing Taro's actions, Arlong snorted contemptuously and ignored him.
Seeing this, Taro also breathed a sigh of relief. That was close.
But it was a blessing in disguise; he was now closer to the center of the battlefield and could see more clearly.
"Gurgle, gurgle."
Some splashes suddenly rose from the nearby pool, followed by a person emerging from the water.
Yellow hair, blue striped shirt.
Sanji!
Sanji climbed onto the ground, knelt on one knee, supported himself with his right hand, coughed up some water, and panted heavily.
"Anyway, get the hell up here, you stinking fish. I'm going to settle this with you."
Sanji suddenly stood up, pointed at the water, and shouted.
Immediately after, a Fishman also climbed out of the water.
"Here it comes, here it comes. The fight's about to start."
Taro's heart pounded as the tension on the field intensified.
He activated the Minor Formless Skill and focused his attention on the group, striving not to miss a single Move.
[Collier learned successfully]
[Épaule learned successfully]
[Côtelette learned successfully]
[Selle learned successfully]
[Poitrine learned successfully]
[Gigot learned successfully]
A series of System prompts almost made Taro burst with joy. Awesome, a whole set of consecutive leg techniques.
Sanji's final "Gigot" kick sent the Fishman flying. The Fishman struggled to his feet and shouted:
"Ultimate Straight Punch: Thousand-Tile Punch"
Sanji dashed forward two steps, leaped high into the air, and delivered a "Mutton Shot." His foot landed squarely on the Fishman's face, kicking him directly into the wall.
[Ultimate Straight Punch: Thousand-Tile Punch learned successfully]
[Mutton Shot learned successfully]
Since Sanji dodged the Fishman's Move, its effect wasn't visible, but Sanji's Move was truly cool.
What a haul!
"Slurp," Taro sucked in some drool.