Pirate: This Marine has two Rinnegan.

Garp slammed his massive fists together in front of his chest and said excitedly,

"Good lad, I knew he was no ordinary person. I'll have to test his strength properly next time we meet!"

Sengoku ignored Garp's sudden excitement and spoke to Tsuru.

"Let's hand this over to the propaganda department and have them focus on promoting it within the Navy. That's also what the World Government wants."

Tsuru nodded and led Garp and Aokiji away from there.

After Garp and his group left, Sengoku fell silent again, looking down at the picture of Chiga hanging on the newspaper Garp had left behind.

Chiga, smiling, has particularly striking Rinnegan eyes. She is facing the camera with her palm facing the camera, and a black vortex appears in her palm. It's unclear how the photo was taken.

Sengoku spoke softly to Chiga's photo.

"Is it good or bad for you to be exposed to the world so quickly, Chiga?"

Chapter 51 The Arlong Pirates

Naval training camp

Zefa also received news from Chiga. He was initially surprised as well, but after calming down, all that remained was a strong sense of pride. Yes, he was proud of Chiga!

Recalling the moments he spent with Chihiro at the training camp, Zephyr couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle, muttering to himself,

"I never imagined you'd reached this level. Keep it up, the future is yours, Chika!"

In the girls' dormitory, her roommate excitedly handed Ai Yin a newspaper, muttering to herself,

"Ain, look, Uchiha Chika is in big trouble!"

Upon hearing this, Ai Yin, who had been in low spirits, suddenly widened her eyes. Her roommate's words were clearly ambiguous, and she thought Qian He was in mortal danger.

She snatched the newspaper from her roommate's hand, her eyes trembling slightly as she read it word by word with trepidation. Finally, Ai Yin breathed a long sigh of relief.

It's good that Chika is alright!

Her roommate found Ayn's reaction strange and, unwilling to give up, said...

"That Chiga injured Rayleigh! That Dark King Rayleigh! The Pirate King's right arm!"

Ai Yin remained unmoved, simply nodding to indicate that she understood. Seeing this, her roommate also lost interest and returned to her own bed to rest.

After her roommate left, Ai Yin sighed softly, quietly picked up the newspaper in her hand, and looked at Qian He's photo. As she looked at it, Ai Yin unconsciously raised a hand and gently stroked the photo, murmuring,

"Are we from two different worlds after all? Can you please slow down? It's so hard, so hard to catch up with you..."

On a warship,

Gion gently stroked Chiga's photo on the newspaper, then pressed that side tightly against her chest, thinking to herself,

"The battle must have been very dangerous. I'm so sorry I couldn't be by your side..."

East China Sea, Cocoa West Village

The slightly taller Nami hurried home, holding a newspaper in both hands, and shouted to Noki, who was tending to the orange tree.

"Sister Noki, we have news about Chiga-nii!"

With a snap, upon hearing Qianhe's news, Nuoqi, a first-year high school student, was so excited that she accidentally cut off an unripe orange.

Normally, she, who loves oranges the most, would be heartbroken, but this time she had no time to pay attention to the poor little orange.

A pair of small hands quickly patted the apron, and Nojiko eagerly took the newspaper from Nami's hand and began to read it carefully, word by word.

Nami clasped her hands together in front of her chest and said with an expression of adoration,

"Chiga-nii is really amazing! He beat that Hades Rayleigh so badly that he fled in disarray, and the news even got here!"

Hearing Nami's words and seeing her expression, Nojiko covered her mouth and laughed.

This Nami, when Chiga was around, always went against him, always facing him with a disdainful look.

But as soon as Qianhe left, she kept muttering about him just as much as I did, and now she's making no attempt to hide her admiration.

Gently raising her hand to stroke Nami's head, Nami squinted her eyes, enjoying her sister's caress for a moment, then opened her mouth and said...

"Let's go tell Bellemere the news; she doesn't know yet!"

Nojiko nodded, took Nami's hand, and prepared to go out to find Bellemere.

Once outside the house, the two little ones ran happily along the country lane, when suddenly...

boom!

"Ouch!"

Nami covered her head and sat on the ground with her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in the shadows.

"Huh, why is it dark?"

With teary eyes, Nami looked up to see what was in front of her, but when she looked up, she was so frightened by the creature in front of her that she couldn't speak.

It was a humanoid creature nearly three meters tall with a shark-like face. Standing in front of Nami, it was like a wall. Behind it stood fish-faced creatures of similar size. A pungent fishy smell made Nami feel nauseous.

Nojiko, who followed, was also quite frightened by the creature in front of her, but her status as the older sister gave her the courage to walk to Nami's side and help her up.

Nami, who had stood up, looked at the creature still blocking her way and said, trembling,

"Who...who are you?"

The creature lowered its head and looked coldly at Nami and Nojiko, causing the two to shiver involuntarily.

After a brief standoff, the creature grinned, revealing rows of sharp, serrated teeth, and emitted a cold sound.

"Humans? I am a noble fish-man, a lowly human! Quickly gather everyone in this village to welcome the noble Evil Dragon Pirates! Otherwise, I will slaughter every single human in the entire village!"

Upon hearing Arlong's words, Nojiko's pupils contracted, and she grabbed the terrified Nami and turned to run back into the village.

Arlong, the captain of the Arlong Pirates, watched the two little ones run off with a wicked grin on his face, arms crossed. He then waved his hand...

"Men, follow me into the village and teach those lowly humans a lesson, let them know the might of us merfolk!"

"Oh!!"

A group of fishmen followed Nami and Nojiko, marching in a grand procession towards the village.

"Belmel! It's terrible! A bunch of monsters have entered the village! Waaaaah!"

Nojiko found Bellemere at the village chief's house, along with the village sheriff, Kensuke. Upon seeing Bellemere, Nojiko couldn't help but burst into tears.

She was, after all, still a thirteen-year-old girl. There were no adults around, and as the older sister, she couldn't cry. What would Nami do if she cried? So when she saw Bellemere, she couldn't hold back anymore.

Holding Noki high in her arms and gently patting her back, Bellemere turned to Nami and asked,

"Nami, what exactly happened? What kind of monster was Nojiko talking about?"

Nami, who had been standing there blankly, finally snapped out of her daze and answered tremblingly.

"They're all so tall, and they all have fish faces. Oh, and they said they're the Arlong Pirates!"

Fish-faced? The Arlong Pirates? Bellemere's heart sank. She already knew where they came from; they were a pirate crew made up of fish-men.

She knew a little about fishmen. They were born with a physique many times stronger than humans. It was said that their arm strength was generally ten times that of humans. The most troublesome thing was that most fishmen hated humans!

This is trouble...

Bellemere's face grew increasingly pale. After a moment of silence, she turned to Nocigo and said...

"Nojiko, take Nami and find a secluded place to hide. Don't come out!"

Nojiko nodded blankly, then suddenly remembered something. She quickly shook her head vigorously, gripping Bellemere's clothes tightly with both hands, and said urgently,

"And what about Bellemere? Why didn't you hide with us?"

Bellemere tried her best to appear relaxed, and spoke in an extremely gentle tone.

"I'll come find you in a bit, but I need to inform the other villagers first."

Nochiko clearly didn't believe it; her intuition told her that something terrible was about to happen.

Seeing that Nojiko refused to leave, Bellemere grew impatient and shouted at him.

"Listen to me! Take Nami and leave quickly, don't let me down!"

This was the first time Bellemere had ever lost her temper so badly with Nojiko. Nojiko was always obedient and sensible and had never angered Bellemere before. This time, she was clearly very anxious.

Nojiko knew that Bellemere was worried about them, and that if she and Nami stayed, they would only be a burden to Bellemere.

Wiping away her tears, Nojiko silently pulled up the stunned Nami beside her and ran towards her home.

Behind them, Bellemere watched Nojiko and Nami's retreating figures, a loving smile on her face, and murmured, "Nojiko, Nami, my lovely daughters, you must live on!"

Chapter 52 Crisis! Chiga Arrives

"Nojiko, where are you going?"

"Let's go home!"

"Go home? But didn't Bellemere tell us to hide first? Our house is too conspicuous, isn't it?"

Nojiko didn't continue answering Nami's question, but instead fell silent and pulled Nami along, speeding up their pace.

Finally, the two returned home.

Nojiko rushed into her bedroom and took out the Flying Thunder God Kunai that Chiga had given her from under her pillow.

Nami looked at Nojiko in disbelief and said,

"Even at a time like this, you're still thinking about the kunai that Chiga gave you?"

Noki shook her head, the words Chiga had said to her when she left echoing in her mind.

"If anything dangerous happens in the village while I'm away, hold this and call my name in your heart."

She clutched the kunai tightly to her chest, not knowing what the point of doing so was, but right now, the only thing that could give Nojiko hope was her brother Chiga.

Nami grew anxious, grabbed Nojiko's sleeve, and shouted,

"Let's not waste any more time. Let's find a place to hide first, and not let Bellemere down!"

Hearing Nami's call, Nojiko nodded as if waking from a dream, and the two turned to leave the house that could no longer give them any sense of security.

However, just then, several gunshots rang out, and the two were immediately startled and stood frozen in place.