Kuina stepped forward, slowly raising her sword toward Colonel Mouse.
Her movements were deliberate, almost elderly, savoring his dread of approaching death.
As her blade rose, Mouse's trembling intensified. His eyes locked onto the glinting steel, its surface reflecting his panicked, disheveled face. Kuina's rising hand gripped his soul like a black hole, his gut churning.
A sudden urge hit him. Between his legs, a wet patch bloomed, growing until it burst like a flood, pooling beneath him in a shameful stream.
Mouse had wet himself, terrified by Kuina.
Her eyes dripped with disdain at his pathetic state. With a flash, her raised hand slashed down, a clean cut across his neck.
Mouse's shaking stopped. His eyes bulged, staring ahead, brimming with a desperate yearning for life. He tried to move, but his severed nerves betrayed him.
Darkness crept in, tugging his soul toward a hellish abyss. Time stretched, each second an eternity, as if a century passed in that fleeting moment.
His eyelids grew heavier until the last spark in his eyes faded, swallowed by the void.
He died ignorant of who she was, why she hunted him, why she'd risk a bounty to end him.
Kuina stood, flicking her sword backhand, splattering Mouse's blood across his corpse. The motion broke his body's stillness.
His head slid backward, thudding to the ground with a dull thump . His headless form, like a toppled domino, collapsed, limp.
Blood mingled with his urine, trickling into the nearby pool like a polluted stream.
Kuina gazed at the crimson flow, her disgust easing slightly. This is Mouse's filthy life, laid bare—his blood as corrupt as his soul.
She glanced indifferently at his corpse, then at the two marines behind him, fainted from fear. "What to do with these two? Kill them?"
She shook her head. "Nah, let Sora handle it."
Her gaze shifted to the remaining Fish-Men.
They felt that familiar, reaper-like stare lock onto them. The demoness was coming for them now.
Survival instinct shattered their fear, summoning a surge of strength. "RAAH!" they roared, dragging their exhausted bodies toward the pool—their only escape.
Since witnessing Sora's slash, they'd lost faith in Arlong saving them.
Veins bulging, they summoned strength they'd never tapped, desperate for the pool. In the sea, their Fish-Man nature could save them.
Seeing them flee, Kuina kicked off, whoosh, darting forward. The Fish-Men neared the pool, but despair struck—Kuina stood at their lifeline's end.
A blade flash erupted. In a heartbeat, every Fish-Man collapsed on the path to the pool. It wasn't salvation; it was a road to hell.
In the rubble of the right wall, Arlong lay motionless, dazed by a boulder's blow to his head, delaying his recovery.
In those dazed seconds, Arlong Park had become a bloodbath, his kin slaughtered.
Shaking his head, he clawed free amid rumbling stones. Lifting his gaze, his blurred eyes cleared, pupils contracting at the carnage. Hachi's bisected body in the pool sent him into a rage.
He treated humans as vermin but cherished his kin, especially those who'd followed him from Fish-Man Island to rule East Blue. Now they were dead—Hachi, a fellow ex-Sun Pirate, most gruesomely.
His eyes bled red, radiating bloodlust, pupils shrunken to pinpricks, his fury absolute. Staring at Hachi, a thought struck. He whirled to Kuina, suppressing his rage, and roared, "Kroobi and Chew—did you kill them too?"
They should've returned from tax collection. Their absence, and Kuina's path from Cocoyasi, suggested their fate. Though certain, he demanded confirmation.
"Those stinking Fish-Men collecting head taxes?" Kuina's cold stare met Arlong's, her voice icy. "They're probably sun-dried by now."
Sword unsheathed, she charged. "Worry about yourself!"
Arlong's blood surged, skin reddening, veins bulging like pythons coiling his body. His already massive frame swelled, a blood-red monster in motion.
Yanking Kiribachi from the rubble, he gripped it with both hands, raising it high, and slashed at the nearing Kuina. "Die, you inferior human!"
This strike, nearly twice as strong, burned his life force. Kuina couldn't block it.
"Fury Shark Sawblade!"
Kuina didn't try. She wasn't foolish. Blocking was impossible, but dodging was simple. Her eyes flashed red, Observation Haki active. She sidestepped left, Kiribachi's edge grazing her nose, slamming into the ground.
BOOM!
The stone floor shattered, shards flying. Kiribachi dug a crater in the earth, unchecked.
(End of the Chapter)