【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Nami-san~" Sanji excitedly twisted his body into a noodle shape.

"He's completely healed!?" Chopper looked at Sanji in disbelief as he greeted Nami just like two years ago. He never expected that Sanji would be healed just by glancing at the mermaid princess.

"Is that true? That Hody guy!" Jinbe exclaimed incredulously after Nami finished explaining the situation at Ryugu Castle. "I never imagined such a major event could have happened at Ryugu Castle!"

"How are Zoro and the others?!" Luffy asked.

"I don't know, I want to go back after I see you," Nami explained.

"I can't believe my father was captured!" Bai Xing cried.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect to get you involved so quickly." Jinbe sighed and said, "I'll get straight to the point. You're the ones who stopped Arlong's gang's atrocities in the East Blue, right? Thank you."

The Straw Hat crew looked calmly at Jinbe, waiting for him to continue.

Lucci and Ace exchanged a glance. They had both seen the report, but they didn't know what it had to do with Jinbe, or why Jinbe had acted so guilty.

"I hope you can accept my apology. I was the one who released Arlong to the East Blue 11 years ago!" Jinbe said in a deep voice.

Qi glanced at the shocked Nami. He knew how devastating this news would be for her, especially since Jinbe was Luffy's friend.

Sanji took a drag of his cigarette, glanced at the shocked Nami and the guilty Jinbe, knowing this would be a difficult conversation. "I'll go prepare some tea."

While Sanji was preparing tea, Ace turned to Lucci and asked, "Where did you guys go before?"

"We were saved by the mermaids at the Mermaid Cafe," Lucci said, finding a comfortable spot to sit down and looking at Luffy, who was comforting the crying mermaid princess.

"Then we received an invitation to visit the royal palace. I don't know how Luffy did it, but we met Princess Shirahoshi and came up with a way to get her to the sea forest by having her stay in the shark's mouth."

Lucci laughed as he finished speaking, "Luffy's method is indeed effective."

"Very well, you've been charged with kidnapping the mermaid princess," Ace retorted.

"We're pirates, aren't we?" Lucci chuckled. "What does it matter if there are charges?"

"Your tea." Sanji smiled and handed the tea to Lucci and Ace. "Black tea."

"Thank you." Lucci nodded and accepted the gift. After watching Sanji leave, he immediately spun around and fawned over the ladies. "How can anyone act so fond of women?"

Ace laughed. "Isn't it interesting? The crew Luffy found."

“Indeed.” Lucci nodded in agreement.

"How are you feeling?" Ace asked Lucci, who was drinking tea with his head down.

"What?" Lucci looked at Ace with some confusion, just as Sanji's questioning voice suddenly rang out.

"Jinbe, I will not forgive you unless you provide a reasonable explanation!!"

Ace and Lucci immediately turned their attention to Luffy, who was confronting Jinbe, seemingly about the navigator. The two got up and walked towards the group.

“To be honest, Nami’s hometown is an island ruled by Arlong, and she herself is one of those who suffered greatly because of it.” Sanji looked at Jinbe with a serious expression. “So if you don’t have a reasonable explanation, I will not forgive you.”

Nami pursed her lips as painful and desperate memories flashed before her eyes. Hearing Jinbe's words, Nami pulled her thoughts away from those memories and looked at Jinbe calmly.

"It seems you've really suffered a lot!"

Sanji glared angrily at Jinbe. "Don't talk like it's none of your business!"

"No matter what, even now I will not feel the slightest pity for Arlong..." Nami looked calmly at Jinbe. Although she would not forgive Arlong, everything she saw in Sabaody Archipelago was completely contrary to what Arlong said about fish-men being superior to humans, especially...

Nami looked at Jinbe and asked, "Why is Arlong Park, which Arlong built, exactly the same as Sabaody Park?"

Next, Hachi explained to them that Sabaody Park had always been their most longed-for place. Although the Fish-Men showed great dislike for humans, they had always longed for the world inhabited by humans since childhood.

Two hundred years ago, fish-men and mermaids were classified as fish and suffered discrimination. It wasn't until the Ryugu Kingdom became a member state of the World Government two hundred years ago that they were able to break free from the fish classification.

But precisely because of their previous identity as fish, humans felt that fish could not be on equal footing with them, so they hated the fish-people even more, and the degree of discrimination became more and more serious.

Lucci lowered his head and took a sip of tea. The prejudice between fish-men and humans was a long history. He didn't understand what kind of changes would be needed to eliminate the prejudice and discrimination between the two races, but it was because of this long history of discrimination that countless hatreds and angers were bred, and these hatreds and angers were passed down by them.

Therefore, whether it is humans or merfolk, as long as one side passes on this anger and hatred, this war will never end, and this discrimination will never disappear into the long river of history.

"In order to change this corrupt history, two great figures stepped forward. One was Queen Otohime, who was Princess Shirahoshi's mother. She kept persuading the islanders to coexist with humans."

"Another one is Fisher Tiger, the hero who liberated slaves. He called for a break with humanity, committed a forbidden act in the world, attacked Mary Geoise alone, and rescued countless slaves. Later, he led the fish-men who were originally slaves to form the Sun Pirates." Jinbe's face flashed with sadness as he said this.

"That guy named Tiger... I feel like I've heard of him somewhere before!" Luffy frowned and recalled.

Lucci glanced at Luffy. The only thing Luffy would remember was that someone important had told him the story of Fisher Tiger. With that in mind, Lucci turned his attention back to the story Jinbe had told.

The Sun Pirates that Jinbe leads now are probably the remnants of that time. He had already guessed the general ending of the story even before hearing it. In any case, it will be a magnificent story of reform by two heroes.

To be honest, he wasn't very interested. Knowing about the past, which had already happened and couldn't be changed, was of no use. This history was irrelevant to them. Whether it was humans or merfolk, their discrimination or conflicts, or wars, none of it mattered to them. They were pirates, and they only did what they wanted.

Lucci found a place to sit down. Luffy was already lying on Ace, clearly asleep. Ace was the same; even with a rubber head lying on his stomach, it didn't affect his sleep. Lucci... was back in Luffy's shadow. Lucci looked down at the cup in his hand; he hadn't made up his mind yet.