One Piece: Wudang Bai Ye, Vice-Captain of the Straw Hat Crew

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Eight years ago, a well-known fish-man pirate crew on the Grand Line split up over differences in ideals.

Led by Jinbei, some of them went on to form the Sun Pirates again—this time legally recognized as pirates.

But a portion of the crew, with Arlong at the head, left the Grand Line entirely. They came to the East Blue and founded the Arlong Pirates.

Having built up deep hatred for humans, and having suffered constant discrimination and oppression on the Grand Line, Arlong and his followers had grown into twisted, bitter monsters.

They wanted to make the humans here suffer—pay double for everything they'd endured in the past.

And so, Arlong came to a region of the East Blue and crushed twenty villages with brute force.

Eventually, he took control of the whole area.

He even built Arlong Park, modeled after the fancy Sabaody Park he'd always admired.

As for how he managed to build such a massive kingdom in East Blue? The answer was simple: he had someone covering his back.

Inside a room in Arlong Park—

SMACK!

A thick wad of Berries landed on the table. A cocky, arrogant voice followed:

"Here's this month's payment. Go ahead, take it~"

"Colonel Nezumi!"

The one speaking was a blue-skinned fish-man with a saw-shaped nose.

This was Arlong, captain of the Arlong Pirates.

"Squeak squeak squeak—you really are the perfect long-term business partner."

Another voice chimed in. As he spoke, he casually grabbed the cash off the table.

It was none other than Colonel Nezumi, wearing his Navy uniform, his face sporting those weird three-whisker marks on each cheek. He grinned from ear to ear.

As he stuffed the money into his pocket, he said:

"Well then, I won't say no. Thanks, Arlong."

"Hahaha, no need for formalities at this point."

Arlong burst into loud, cruel laughter, his expression twisted and full of smug satisfaction.

"Money—that's the one thing you can always count on in this world, right?"

Ever since Arlong came to this region, he'd been living his best life.

There weren't even any decent fighters here. Thanks to the fish-men's physical strength—ten times that of humans—he'd built the foundation of his kingdom in no time.

The next step? Loot the place dry, just like the nobles at Sabaody Archipelago.

With enough money, he could even buy back his fish-man brothers.

That's why, in Arlong's kingdom, everyone had a price tag. Adults had to pay 100,000 Berries, kids were 50,000.

Every single person in the village had to cough up their own head tax.

As for what happened to those who couldn't—or wouldn't—pay? Arlong figured he was already being generous.

Turns out, yeah… with money, you really can do whatever the hell you want.

"Squeak squeak squeak, damn right—money's a beautiful thing!"

Colonel Nezumi echoed Arlong's words, clearly just as thrilled.

For a moment, the room felt weirdly harmonious.

Hard to believe a Navy officer and a pirate could be laughing and joking together like this.

But that's just the truth—It was because of Captain Nezumi's existence...

That the Arlong Pirates were able to rule over twenty villages for a full eight years.

And for someone like that, naturally—

"Naturally, we gotta ruin his reputation and destroy him completely!"

Right after Bai Ye finished explaining his plan, the Merry Go arrived at Nami's hometown—Cocoyashi Village.

As everyone got off the ship, Zoro asked:

"So, what are we gonna do with these two?"

He said that as he tossed two fishmen onto the ground in front of the group.

One of them had pale skin and a bright red dorsal fin on his head—a koi fishman named Ajian, who was in charge of gatherings in the Arlong Pirates.

The other one had reddish skin and carried a gourd of booze at his waist—a salmon fishman named Salt-Grill, who was the banquet head of the Arlong Pirates.

Even though they had Nezumi acting as a shield for them, to keep outsiders from noticing anything, Arlong had still arranged for patrols within the waters he controlled.

Since they were fishmen, they didn't even need ships. That made it way easier for them to stay hidden and carry out sneak attacks.

In the past, thanks to that advantage, they basically never failed.

Too bad today, they ran into the Straw Hat crew.

First, they attacked the Merry Go, which triggered a trap Bai Ye had set. Then, they got frozen solid by Bai Ye right in the water and were caught alive on the spot.

"Nami! Are you seriously betraying Arlong?!"

Ajian shouted at Nami, full of rage.

"Hmph, I knew it—humans are filthy creatures. You can't trust them,"

Salt-Grill sneered with a look of disdain.

But the very next second, Bai Ye stepped on his mouth and shut him up.

"Guys like you, who force others into loyalty with threats—what right do you have to judge Nami?"

Everyone besides Bai Ye was also pissed off at the two fishmen.

"Let's just cut them down," Zoro said flatly.

In his not-so-complicated brain, cutting them was the simplest solution.

Luffy, standing off to the side, said, "I'm gonna go find Arlong and punch him into next week."

Hearing both of them, Bai Ye sighed a bit, but still said:

"Don't be so hasty. You'll get your chance to fight, don't worry."

"But remember why we're here—this is about helping Nami get her revenge."

"So can you calm down for now, just for a bit?"

As he said the last part, a golden light began to shine in Bai Ye's hand.

After finally getting Zoro and Luffy to chill out, Bai Ye looked down at the two fishmen.

A dangerous smile crept across his lips.

He squatted down and said to them, "Lucky you. I've got something new I wanna try on you guys."

Cut to the next scene—

Ajian and Salt-Grill suddenly appeared at Arlong Park.

"Hey, weren't you two supposed to be out on patrol? What're you doing back here?"

At the entrance, the two fishmen ran into Hatchan—a fellow officer in the Arlong Pirates, also an eight-sword style swordsman.

But when Hatchan asked them, neither of them responded. They just walked straight past him, heading toward Arlong's room like nothing else mattered.

"Hey, hey, HEY!!!"

Hatchan called after them a few more times, clearly confused.

"What the heck's wrong with those two today?"

He thought back to how stiff and robotic their movements seemed earlier—something definitely felt off.

But then he brushed it off, thinking maybe he was just overthinking things. Right at that moment, another officer, Chuu, called for his help, so Hatchan pushed the weirdness out of his mind for now.

Back to Ajian and Salt-Grill—Once they were out of Hatchan's sight, they quickly arrived in front of Arlong's room.

Completely ignoring the laughter coming from inside, they just pushed the door open and walked in.

"Boss! Bad news! Nami… she actually saved up the whole 100 million Berries!"

"Yeah, boss! She told me to let you know—once she finishes counting it all, she's bringing the money straight to you."

Before Arlong even had time to react, the two of them spilled everything like a broken dam.

"What?!"

Arlong's face twisted in shock. "That girl actually managed to save up 100 million Berries?!"

"It's true, boss! I saw it with my own eyes—it really was the full 100 million!"

Salt-Grill added, nodding seriously.

Just then, another voice rang out—Captain Nezumi.

"Squeak squeak squeak... Sounds like you've got a bit of a problem on your hands, Arlong."

"....."