Chapter 51: Lies and Lies

Cocoyasi Village.

Nami rowed a small boat toward shore, carrying a wooden chest in her hands.

The treasure stolen from Gao Wen’s ship had been entirely exchanged for cash—exactly one hundred and twenty million Beri.

All of it is here.

This is her only hope of redeeming the village.

“With this, I will surely redeem the village!”

“I…”

Nami’s mind flashed with the faces of Gao Wen and the others; her steps hesitated slightly, then resumed instantly.

She passed through the empty village.

The surroundings remained as they had always been—no one around, not even street vendors remained; this was the same place as in his memory.

What was different was the absence of the stares that had once been everywhere, now completely gone.

“Everyone…”

Nami understood perfectly: it wasn’t just the stares that had vanished, but the people themselves. An unexplained unease stirred in her heart.

Nami unconsciously quickened her pace, rushing toward the orange grove at the village’s edge.

Nokigao had already been waiting there.

Seeing Nami return, Nokigao’s expression turned icy:

“Why are you back?!”

Nami blinked in surprise, then smiled and lifted the chest in her hands:

“Nokigao, I’ve gathered enough money to redeem the village!”

Nokigao pressed her lips tightly together:

“You can’t redeem it!”

“How can you say that? I’ve spent these years beside A Long —he’s never broken a promise about money!”

Nami spoke with full confidence, her face lit with hope—but the more she spoke, the more Nokigao felt a needle-like pain in her heart:

“So… his agreement with you was to bring this money to her, right? But what if you never get it to him?”

Nami’s pupils shrank.

She remembered the treasure she had lost earlier.

She had doubted her judgment before—how could Karina possibly know where her village was, or where she’d hidden the treasure?

But if not Karina, then who?

The answer was almost obvious.

Nokigao voiced it for her:

“From the beginning, he never intended for you to redeem the village. It was all just his game.”

“Watching you go from hope to despair, then giving you hope again—just to satisfy his own perverted desires!”

“Every single penny you hid, they knew about!”

“There’s no hope, Nami.”

“I’ve prepared a boat for you in the orange grove. Take this money and run—now.”

“Live somewhere else, where there are no villagers who’ve always treated you badly, isn’t that right?”

Nami stubbornly shook her head:

“Where are everyone? Where’s Jian?”

Nokigao remained expressionless, instinctively lowering her gaze to avoid Nami’s eyes.

Nami instantly understood the source of her unease, and demanded sharply:

“They went to find A Long ? They’ll die!”

In desperation,

Nami spun around—but her shoulder was instantly pinned by Nokigao.

Slap!

A crimson palm print marked Nami’s cheek.

Nokigao pulled her hand back and nearly roared:

“How long will you remain this naive?!”

“This was a decision made by all of us. Rather than be your burden forever, they’d rather die beneath A Long ’s claws—you—!”

Mid-sentence, Nokigao’s voice cut off. Nami’s tears had already spilled, her voice trembling like a child’s whisper:

“So… sister, now I can’t leave any more.”

Saying this,

Nami broke free of Nokigao’s grip and sprinted toward A Long ’s territory, still clutching tightly to the chest she saw as her only hope.

She believed it.

If she could bring the money to A Long ’s face, even that man, no matter how cruel, would keep his promise about money!

…

…

…

At the same moment.

A Long ’s Paradise.

The Gate.

Jian held a rusted flintlock pistol, carefully checking whether it could still fire.

It was a weapon he had secretly hidden when A Long first arrived at Cocoyasi Village—long neglected, its internal parts now heavily rusted.

Behind him stood a group of villagers armed with farming tools and wooden clubs.

They marched fiercely toward A Long ’s Paradise.

“Damn it!”

“What kind of life has Nami lived these past years? That child carried the hopes of all of us—and in the end, it was all a lie. A Long never intended to fulfill his promise.”

“I can accept him taking everyone’s lives—but I cannot accept him crushing Nami’s hope like this!”

“Fortunately, all her miseries end today. Without us as burdens, she’ll surely live well—after all, we’re just a group of people who treated her badly.”

“Damn fish-man!”

…

Suppressed voices of anger rose from the crowd.

Some trembled with instinctive fear of fish-men; others stumbled, hearts heavy with dread; some even glanced warily around, terrified of death.

But not one person retreated.

Jian walked ahead of them, head bowed, listening to their murmurs, his thoughts tangled.

“If Nami could hear these words, she’d be happy. But she can’t hear them—and never will.”

Suddenly, the image of the woman who used to tease him with vulgar jokes flashed before his eyes.

If not for the A Long Pirates, would I have had a chance?

Jian thought this, and a blush, just like the one from years ago, rose on his face:

“Belmer, you had a wonderful daughter~”

A breeze blew.

The windmill on Jian’s head rattled loudly.

His chaotic emotions suddenly stilled; he lifted his gaze toward the distance.

A Long ’s Paradise had arrived.

“A Long !”

The two fish-men at the gate, their eyelids drooping, raised their eyes. Seeing the furious mob before them, their expressions first flickered with surprise, then turned entirely to mockery:

“Looks like these humans still have some courage. But what meaning does resistance hold against absolute power?”

“Do you understand the consequences? Everyone here will die.”

A fish-man named Yan Shao slowly rose to his feet—his height, over two and a half meters, made him seem like a giant to these commoners.

Not to mention the fish-men’s innate physical strength, which surpassed humans by several times, even dozens of times.

When such innate superiority manifested in reality, it became the natural oppression of a predator. A single glance from Yan Shao caused several villagers to collapse, legs buckling.

But instantly, their companions pulled them back up—they had come here with no intention of returning alive.

When life itself is abandoned, what is there left to fear?

Jian raised his rusted flintlock, face cold, and shouted:

“I want to see A Long !”

As he spoke, Jian pulled the trigger.

The moment the flintlock spat flame, Jian’s years of accumulated rage surged with the bullet toward the distant fish-man.

(End of Chapter)