After holding back for so long, Maude finally made substantial progress.
Upon forming the fourth physique star frame, Maude was exhilarated.
His excitement, however, didn't leave a good impression on the fish-men watching him.
But Maude didn't care about their feelings. After calming himself, he turned his murderous gaze toward the remaining fish-men in the area.
Including Arlong, there were about forty fish-men left.
Hatchan, however, was nowhere to be seen.
Given Rayleigh's connection to Hatchan, Maude had no intention of targeting him anyway.
Someday, Maude knew he would visit Sabaody Archipelago, and when that time came, a formal meeting with Rayleigh would be inevitable.
Before that, Hatchan could serve as a messenger.
As for what would happen to Hatchan after the Arlong Pirates were destroyed—that wasn't Maude's concern.
To put it bluntly, potential threats have levels.
From what the original story showed, Hatchan's potential threat level wasn't worth mentioning.
"Come."
Maude pointed his blade at the remaining prey.
Faced with Maude's overwhelming aura, the fish-men exchanged uneasy glances, their earlier fearless aggression nowhere to be found.
This human was clearly different from any they had encountered before.
One slash, and one of their own would fall—who could withstand that?
"You all, step back."
At that moment, Arlong's voice rang out.
Those two words, "step back," were like music to the fish-men's ears.
Without hesitation, they began to retreat.
"Oh?"
Seeing this, Maude wouldn't let them have their way. Without delay, he charged forward.
In an instant, several more fish-men fell under his blade.
Watching Maude mercilessly slaughter his retreating comrades, Arlong was enraged.
Even if he suspected Maude might be a human returning from the Grand Line, there was no way he could back down now.
"You're asking for death!"
Arlong grabbed the massive saw-like blade, Kiribachi, handed to him by a subordinate, and strode forward to face Maude head-on.
The fish-men, seeing Arlong's furious state, felt a surge of confidence and cleared the path for him.
In their minds, no human could withstand an enraged Arlong.
Gripping Kiribachi with both hands, Arlong charged past his retreating subordinates and closed the distance to Maude.
Shark On Darts!
The serrated blade tore through the air as Arlong swung it downward, aiming to cleave Maude in two.
If this attack landed, Arlong was confident he could bisect Maude with a single strike.
"Your strength isn't bad, but you're far too slow."
With a flash of red in his eyes, Maude sidestepped, letting the massive blade sweep past him and embed itself into the ground, shattering the stone beneath.
Unaffected, Maude stepped forward and swung his blade in a horizontal arc toward Arlong's chest.
If he could take Arlong down with a single strike, Maude could quickly finish off the remaining fish-men.
Otherwise, Arlong's death would likely prompt the others to leap into the sea and escape.
Maude had no intention of letting even a single experience point slip away.
As he swung his blade, Maude considered all these factors.
Arlong, however, had only one thought: to kill Modder.
After his Shark On Darts attack missed, Arlong was wide open.
But as a former member of the Sun Pirates, Arlong wasn't so inexperienced as to leave himself defenseless.
His countermeasure was hidden in the webbed palm gripping Kiribachi: a concealed stash of sake, a devious backup plan.
Facing Maude's slash aimed at his chest, Arlong decisively released Kiribachi and took a step back.
This retreat widened the distance between him and Maude's blade while giving him space to hurl the sake at Maude's face.
These two swift decisions showcased Arlong's combat experience.
"Die!"
Arlong flung the sake from his palm, forming a water bomb aimed directly at Maude's face.
At such close range, the water bomb was sure to severely injure Maude, even if Arlong took a hit in the process.
"So you had a trick up your sleeve."
Maude halted his advance, crouching low to let the water bomb sail over his head.
Shhhk—!
At the same time, his blade, Chidori, carved a straight, horizontal wound across Arlong's abdomen.
Had he not dodged the water bomb, this slash would have ended the fight.
"He dodged…!"
Seeing Maude evade his attack, Arlong's fury erupted.
Ignoring the gash on his abdomen, he lunged forward, aiming to impale Maude's head with his serrated nose.
Maude didn't retract his blade. Instead, he lifted his right leg and delivered a fierce upward kick to Arlong's jaw before the attack could connect.
Boom!
A burst of air rippled out from Arlong's chin.
The force of the kick made Arlong's eyes roll back, lifting him off the ground.
Before Arlong could ascend, Maude pulled back his leg, twisted his waist, and delivered a spinning kick to Arlong's side.
Thud!
"Gwah!"
Blood spurted from Arlong's mouth as his muscular body flew sideways.
The sheer force of the kick sent Arlong crashing through a wall, leaving a gaping hole. He skidded across the ground for dozens of meters before finally coming to a stop.
At that moment, Nami, Nojiko, and Genzo, who had rushed over from Cocoyasi Village, arrived just in time to witness Arlong's battered form lying motionless on the ground.
They stared in stunned silence at the sight.
Arlong… had been sent flying.
Inside Arlong Park, Maude turned to the shattered wall where Arlong had been blasted through.
The strength he'd honed in his legs wasn't for nothing.
Those two kicks were enough to take Arlong out of commission.
Still, Arlong's combat acumen had surprised Maude.
That devious trick with the sake, hidden in his webbed hand, was something not shown in the original story.
It seemed one couldn't rely solely on the original narrative to define a character.
"As the main dish, you can stay down for now," Maude muttered to himself before turning his attention to the remaining fish-men.
"As for you lot, none of you are escaping."
With Arlong incapacitated, Maude moved to eliminate the remaining fish-men with overwhelming speed.
To prevent them from fleeing into the sea, he bypassed the nearby ones and targeted those closest to the water first.
Witnessing Arlong's defeat, the fish-men were gripped by fear and attempted to escape by diving into the sea.
But Maude had anticipated this, cutting off their escape routes entirely.
When the bloodbath finally ended, the ground was littered with dozens of fish-men corpses.
Sheathing his bloodstained blade, Maude stepped over the bodies and walked out through the shattered wall to the open field beyond.
During the frenzy, some blood had splattered onto his face and clothes.
Outside, Maude noticed Nami, Nojiko, and Genzo.
He spared them only a glance before shifting his focus back to Arlong's prone body.
At this moment, harvesting Arlong's experience points was his top priority.
Seeing Maude, covered in blood, emerge from Arlong Park, the trio from Cocoyasi Village seemed to realize something.
The flicker of hope they had felt earlier now roared into an inferno of belief.
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