Chapter 6: You even believe the agreement of a pirate?

After a moment of silence,

Arlong picked up the Devil Fruit and, while examining it, smiled and said slowly:

"That's right, the value of this Devil Fruit is worth 100 million Berries!"

Hearing this,

the corners of Nami's mouth couldn't help but rise slightly,

however,

before she could say anything,

Arlong's next sentence made her smile freeze instantly.

"But, our agreement was for 100 million Berries! And not a Devil Fruit!"

Nami subconsciously retorted:

"Bu, but the value of this Devil Fruit is at least 100 million Berries!"

Arlong shook his head and said:

"Nami, I said, our agreement was for you to use 100 million Berries to exchange for the village and your freedom, not a Devil Fruit; this has nothing to do with value!"

"Then give me back the Devil Fruit, I'll go sell it, and then bring the Berries to find you!"

Saying that, Nami reached out to grab the Devil Fruit in Arlong's hand.

However,

Arlong's hand holding the Devil Fruit suddenly retracted and dodged.

He weighed the Devil Fruit in his hand and laughed loudly at Nami:

"Hahahaha! Return it to you? Why should I return it to you?"

"Don't forget, you are an officer of the Arlong Pirates; isn't it expected to hand over the spoils of war!"

Hearing this,

Nami was instantly furious,

slammed the table hard,

and roared:

"Arlong! Don't go too far! Give the Devil Fruit back to me!"

Once these words were spoken,

Arlong's smile instantly faded,

and his whole face slowly turned cold.

He leaned forward slightly,

and said coldly:

"What, do you not intend to fulfill our agreement? Then, as punishment for breaking your promise, the protection fee for the village this month will double!"

Nami’s hands clenched into fists,

with such force

that her fingernails dug into her flesh,

and her palms were gradually stained red with blood!

At this moment, the anger in her heart had reached its limit,

and she longed to smash her fist into Arlong’s face!

But she could not do that!

Over these past years,

in order to scrape together this one hundred million berries,

she had exhausted every effort and used every means.

Now that she had finally obtained a Devil Fruit worth one hundred million berries,

she had thought she could finally trade it for the villagers' freedom and the peace of Cocoyasi Village,

yet it had all vanished in an instant.

This immense psychological blow

left her almost in despair!

Nami desperately wanted to fight Arlong to the death right now,

but she knew deep down that she could not!

Because the gap in strength was simply too vast!

In front of Arlong,

she had absolutely no power to resist.

He could kill her with ease,

or even massacre the entire Cocoyasi Village!

Only by maintaining that agreement

was there a glimmer of hope,

at the very least to preserve the lives of the villagers in Cocoyasi Village.

After a long silence,

Nami slowly loosened her clenched hands,

and with her head bowed, she said softly:

"Fine... fine, I understand. I will go and earn another one hundred million berries."

Seeing this,

Arlong could not help but burst into loud laughter.

"Hahahahaha!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Just at this moment,

the wall on one side of the room suddenly shattered,

and a cyan longsword flashing with cold light emerged from the dust,

striking straight toward the laughing Arlong!

Arlong’s expression changed instantly,

and in his haste,

he only had time to shield his front with his arms.

The next second,

the cyan longsword slashed across his arms,

and his entire body was sent flying backward,

crashing through the wall and falling directly into the sea behind the castle.

"Don't you have any self-awareness of how hideous your laughter sounds?"

Li Xiao scratched his ear,

turned his head to look at Nami, who was still sitting at the table,

and shook his head with some helplessness, saying:

"You actually believe a pirate's promise?"

The moment she saw Li Xiao,

Nami finally broke down.

She bit her lip tightly,

letting her tears flow freely down her cheeks.

In fact,

when Nami first left,

Li Xiao hadn't really paid much attention.

It was only later that he suddenly remembered

she was carrying a Devil Fruit,

and was likely going to find Arlong to fulfill their agreement.

Li Xiao knew very well

that this agreement was completely meaningless,

and that Arlong would never set Nami free.

A conflict was bound to break out between them,

so he had followed her.

However, that was only part of the reason.

Beyond that,

Li Xiao had other motives.

The burly captain of the Shark Pirates from before had been far too weak,

and couldn't serve as a benchmark for his combat power.

Arlong’s strength was undoubtedly much higher,

and should be enough to help him make a preliminary assessment of where his current strength stood in the pirate world.

Moreover, Arlong had a bounty of twenty million berries,

so if he killed him and collected the bounty from the Navy,

wouldn't he have his meal money for when he went to the floating restaurant? ===== CHAPTER 19 =====

Just as Li Xiao was calculating how long twenty million berries would cover his meals at the floating restaurant,

on the sea surface,

Arlong’s head suddenly burst out from beneath the water!

As a Fish-Man,

the ocean was his home turf.

Even after being blasted out of the castle by Li Xiao

and falling into the depths,

he could still easily float back to the surface.

However,

looking closely,

one could see the seawater around Arlong was slightly tinged with red,

the color of blood mixing with the sea. ===== CHAPTER 20 =====

Arlong raised his hands,

looked down,

and saw a deep wound on the outside of his arm,

from which blood was continuously seeping.

Arlong looked up toward the castle,

and through the human-shaped hole he had smashed in the wall,

he saw a young man holding a sword.

The cyan longsword in his hand

was clearly the culprit behind the wound on his arm.

"You brat, you're courting death!"

Arlong roared,

then pushed off with his feet,

leaped up,

and using several footholds on the outside of the castle,

quickly returned to the room from before!

However,

before he could even stand steady,

he saw a size-42 sole rapidly enlarging before his eyes!

Immediately following,

as a sharp pain erupted on his face,

his entire body was sent flying backward instantly,

and he was blasted off the castle once again!

Only this time, he didn't land in the water,

but in the plaza below the castle, kicking up clouds of dust.

Li Xiao ruffled Nami’s hair and said softly:

"Stay here and wait for me."

Having said that,

Li Xiao leaped down,

landing directly in front of Arlong.

At the same time,

Arlong had already stood up,

surrounded by many crew members of the Arlong Pirates,

all of whom were Fish-Men!

They held their weapons and glared fiercely at Li Xiao,

looking ready to swarm him at any moment!

As for Arlong,

having been blasted off the castle twice by Li Xiao,

he was covered in a thick layer of dust mixed with seawater,

and his skin was covered in abrasions, making him look quite disheveled!

But in reality,

given the robust physique of a Fish-Man,

aside from the sword wound on his arm,

the rest were merely superficial injuries!

It is worth mentioning that,

even now,

the Devil Fruit was still tightly gripped in Arlong’s hand,

not lost even after being blasted away by Li Xiao twice.

Clearly,

even for Arlong,

this Devil Fruit was quite precious.

Li Xiao extended his left hand toward him and said:

"Hey, let's make a deal. You return the Devil Fruit to me, and I'll cut you two fewer times later. How about that?"

Hearing this,

Arlong, who was already brimming with rage, could no longer hold back,

and instantly flew into a fury!

He didn't even bother with threats,

but immediately pulled out his large saw-blade,

and swung it at Li Xiao!

Seeing this,

Li Xiao raised an eyebrow,

held his Qing-Frost Sword horizontally in front of him,

and easily blocked the strike.

Arlong’s combat experience was clearly quite rich,

and seeing the strike blocked,

he didn't hesitate to kick toward Li Xiao’s side!

Li Xiao immediately took a small step back,

dodging the attack just in time!

At the same time, he applied a slight force with his right hand,

pushing the saw-blade aside,

while the Qing-Frost Sword took the opportunity to leave a small wound on the back of Arlong’s hand!

Although Li Xiao still didn't know exactly what level his strength was at in the pirate world,

dealing with a mere Arlong

was still effortless!

Therefore,

in order to more accurately judge his own strength,

Li Xiao did not go all out,

and could even be said to have used only a small fraction of his power!

Even so,

it was enough to easily handle Arlong’s attacks.

Arlong continued to attack Li Xiao with his saw-blade,

strike after strike,

with aggressive momentum!

Li Xiao parried every move,

occasionally retreating a few steps,

appearing to be on the defensive,

yet not even a corner of his clothes was torn,

and he remained completely composed!

Every time he launched a counterattack,

it left Arlong struggling to parry, in a state of panic!

Meanwhile, the Fish-Men of the Arlong Pirates had already scattered. ===== CHAPTER 21 =====