Chapter 16
Brutal Torture
Arthur moved with noticeable slowness. Five bullets had pierced his body—one of them lodged in his foot—along with extreme exhaustion and the complete depletion of his strength.
All of these factors made every step he took feel like a silent torment.
Even so, he did not stop.
He did not retreat.
His resolve was clear… Arlong had to die.
Arthur stood before Arlong.
The difference in height was obvious; Arlong's massive body towered over him, yet the true presence belonged to the other side.
In Arthur's hand was a sword, held firmly without hesitation, as if pain no longer meant anything to him.
The sword moved suddenly.
A single upward strike from below.
Arlong felt a harsh cold sweep through his legs. He tried to look down, but his body lost balance, and he crashed violently to the ground.
An indescribable pain exploded through his limbs.
He looked again…
And the shock struck him.
His legs… severed from the knees.
Arlong's scream tore through the air—a creature's scream, one who understood that his end had begun.
He cried out while trembling, "Stop! Please… stop! Don't kill me!"
Had Arthur looked with the Eye of the Sky, he would have known that Arlong was merely a scoundrel at level fifty, posing no real threat.
As for Arthur… he had risen to level seventy.
The difference was no longer debatable.
Arthur smiled with terrifying calm, then pulled a small blood-stained dagger from his inventory.
He raised it before Arlong's eyes and said in a low voice,
"This… is the knife Nami used when she tried to end her life… to escape your rule, you bastard."
Arlong's body trembled violently.
He understood now.
This was not a battle… it was revenge.
Arthur sat beside him, took hold of his right hand, and began peeling the skin away calmly and steadily, as though performing an ordinary, insignificant task.
From the fingers… up to the shoulder.
Then he moved to the left hand.
Even more slowly.
Arlong would faint from the pain and terror, only to awaken and find the torment continuing.
Meanwhile, the villagers watched the scene.
Pale faces.
Trembling bodies.
Many began vomiting from the horror of what they were witnessing.
Luffy and his companions arrived at the site of the massacre.
The place was crowded with villagers, but half of them quickly fled from the brutal sight, clearing a path for the crew.
They stepped forward… then another step…
Until their bodies froze in place.
Arthur had lit a fire beside him.
He was roasting Arlong's flesh… and forcing Arlong to eat it.
Life had long since vanished from Arlong's eyes.
He no longer begged for survival… but for a quick death.
Arthur did not grant him that mercy.
He peeled his face.
Removed his eyes.
Cut out his tongue.
Broke his nose.
Severed his left ear… then the right.
He mutilated his body with deliberate slowness.
At that moment, Nezumi attempted to flee with fifty navy soldiers.
But Arthur sensed them.
He seized a sword lying on the ground and hurled it.
The blade pierced Nezumi's head, killing him instantly.
Arthur spoke in a calm tone, almost peaceful:
"If any one of you takes another step…
you will receive the same treatment as this bastard.
Is that clear?"
Luffy and Zoro rushed toward him.
Not to save Arlong…
But to save Arthur from himself.
From completely falling into the darkness.
Yet before they could reach him, Arthur raised the dagger…
And brought it down hard upon Arlong's head.
And everything ended.
Luffy and Zoro arrived too late.
They looked around…
The place was an unbearable hell.
All the fish-men had been slaughtered with unimaginable brutality.
Not a single one remained.
As for Arlong… his mutilated body lay before them, 85% of it flayed, and all the torn flesh was in his stomach.
Arthur smiled and looked at them.
A small… bloody smile.
His left eye was gone, nothing but a dark hollow.
He said calmly, "You're here, guys…
So I can say you didn't explode.
I was worried about you, truly."
Then…
Arthur collapsed to the ground.
Unconscious.
Exhaustion, blood loss, mental and physical strain…
All of it combined.
He had surpassed his absolute limits, and his body shut itself down.
---
Two Weeks Later
Arthur slowly opened his eye.
His mind was blank… empty.
His body screamed in pain with every breath.
He tried to move, and his body trembled slightly.
He clenched his teeth and sat up on the bed with difficulty.
He looked around.
A quiet room, its furniture beautiful and simple.
On a nearby chair… Zoro was seated.
Arthur spoke in a weak voice, "Zoro… where are we?"
Zoro lifted his head and smiled in relief. "You finally woke up, you bastard… everyone was worried about you."
He moved closer and sat beside him, then spoke, "We're in Nami's house. It's been two weeks since you fainted. Everyone thought you were dead… the doctor said you were on the verge of death. You went too far this time, Arthur."
Arthur gave a faint smile. "I agree… but what's done is done. Where's the rest of the crew?"
Zoro was about to answer… then sighed quietly and said, "We've been taking turns. Every day someone comes to look after you. The others are outside now… waiting for you to wake up."
He finished speaking, then walked to the window and opened it, raising his voice slightly, "Arthur's awake, guys."
Zoro stood by the window, a faint smile on his face.
Moments later, Arthur heard hurried footsteps outside, then—
Boom!
The door burst open.
Luffy was in front, with Nami and Usopp behind him, while Sanji came last with calm steps and a reassuring expression.
They all rushed toward Arthur at once.
"You finally woke up, you idiot bastard!"
"How are you? Are you in pain?"
"How dare you be that reckless and do something like that?!"
Their voices overlapped all at once.
Arthur froze for a few seconds in surprise, then burst out laughing.
He laughed loudly, until tears formed in his single eye.
"Guys… please, one at a time."
They began speaking to him in turns, checking on him, asking about his condition, his pain, his awareness… until the atmosphere calmed somewhat.
Then Nami spoke in a low voice, carrying clear sadness, "Guys… could you leave us alone for a bit?"
Everyone looked at her, exchanged glances, and quietly left the room, waiting outside the house.
Nami sat on a chair near Arthur's bed.
For a few moments, she remained silent, her head lowered.
"How are you, Arthur?"
She said it softly.
Arthur gave a small smile and lightly tapped his chest. "I'm fine now… better than I was.
What about you? And the village?
Is everyone okay?"
Nami did not answer immediately.
She lifted her head and looked at him seriously.
"Arthur… tell me the truth.
What happened to your eye?
Every time I ask someone, no one answers me.
Even Luffy—and he's so stupid—doesn't give me an answer.
Everyone says: ask Arthur.
Tell me now… what happened to your eye?"
Arthur opened his remaining eye with exhaustion and disbelief.
'Damn it, guys… couldn't you come up with a convincing lie?
Why leave all this burden on me?'
He sighed, then spoke calmly, "My eye? Well… I'll tell you the truth. I lost it during my fight with the navy when we were at Sanji's restaurant. The attack was violent, and my eye was severely damaged. Then after my battle with Don Krieg and his men, and with Mihawk… I could no longer see through it. And that was the end of it."
It was a lie.
But a lie he chose deliberately.
He did not want Nami to feel guilty, or to blame herself for what had happened.
Nami stared at Arthur for a while, but she remembered what had happened at Sanji's restaurant—how the projectile had struck Arthur and how he fought, and so on.
Little by little, she truly believed him.
Nami let out a breath of relief.
She relaxed…
Then felt sorrow.
Relieved because she had not been the cause of his lost eye.
Sorrowful because he had lost it at the very beginning of his journey.
Nami spoke with Arthur for a long time, about the village, about the people, about the days he had spent unconscious…
Then she finally stood. "You need more rest."
She said it quietly, then left the room.
The moment Nami exited, Arthur sighed and asked the system,
'System… tell me, I can't restore my eye even using the elixir, right?'
|Yes.
You cannot.
Although the elixir is capable of healing those near death,
your eye was not lost in external combat.
You traded it for the elixir yourself,
and therefore… it cannot be restored.|
"Useless system…
You made me lose my eye so easily."
Arthur sighed inwardly.
'Perhaps in the future I'll find some way.
For now… my body has recovered by about 75%.
We need to leave Nami's island.
We've stayed here for two full weeks.
It's time to set sail.'
---
You can contact me through my official page on the following Accounts:
telegram:
miraclenarrator
tiktok:
miracle_narrator
instagram:
miracle_narrator