42 Chapter 42: Realization

Third Person's PoV:

As interesting as watching the ocean waves constantly ripple about in the wind is, something much more exciting, in the opinion of a certain transmigrator, was about to take place.

During the entire East Blue arc in the original story, the Arlong Park saga was most likely the biggest highlight. Not just for character development, but for plot advancement as well.

Josh was calmly staring at the island that was already in view. Not a note of panic could be seen on his face. Not to mention himself, Luffy would be enough to beat Arlong without help from anyone.

Although this was the case, something was bothering him ever since they got near the island. The thought of the consequences for his actions of changing the plot did not occur to him at the moment, yet a feeling of dread couldn't help but surface. Maybe he didn't want to see Nami stabbing herself repeatedly on the arm.

"Hey, I just saw a shadow moving by the edge of the island." Usopp suddenly shouted. He was on lookout. As a person who could potentially have anxiety problems, he wanted to make sure that everything was going the way it should, thus he kept a close eye on the shorelines of the island.

"That could be a scout. There are fishmen stationed around the perimeter to keep a look out on the sea for any vessels approaching the island." Walking up to the sharpshooter, Nami added her own conjecture. Josh also agreed with her thoughts.

Squinting her eyes and covering them from the sun with one hand, Nami focused her sight on to the mentioned place. This was for naught as the silhouette was long gone.

"Should we take 'em out?" Zoro asked. He also walked up to the front most part of the Going Merry with a hand on his only remaining Wado Ichimonji.

"No, it's too late. He's already gone. Probably ran off to inform the rest of the Pirates." Nami informed the rest of them. Josh merely shrugged as he thought it wasn't a big deal.

"So where do we anchor down? I don't see a port." Usopp pointed out, a bit worried. Although it didn't matter where they parked the ship, Usopp was worried that someone would attack the Merry while they were gone. As the Merry was given by Kaya, Usopp treasured her as if she was Kaya herself.

"You guys need to stop worrying...all we need to do is kick their asses." Luffy came up to them and proclaimed with a confident grin. He put both his fists together in a show of strength.

'At least we're not getting on the island like Luffy did with Sanji's boat in canon...' Josh thought. Secretly relieved that, so far, the Merry had been relatively untouched.

As there was no port city on the small island, the crew could only make do with what they had and just anchored the Merry to the nearest coast.

One by one, they got off the Merry in high spirits, even Johnny and Yosaku were rearing to go after contemplating Nami's past. Josh was slightly disappointed that nobody, namely the fishmen pirates, came to "greet" them. If only he knew...

As the first order of business, the crew decided to check on the situation with Cocoyasi Village before they took any action. By Nami's insistence, everyone walked leisurely towards the small village.

Soon, they finally neared the village and the bad feeling Nami had before—multiplied. Shouts and war cries rang out all over the village and they could faintly hear it from their location.

Quickening her steps as her heart rate increases, Nami rushed over to the end of the tree lines and the sight that greeted her caused her to almost tumble down in relief.

She thought that the fishmen pirates came to find trouble with the villagers and the people were no longer able to endure it, as a result, decided to revolt. However, with no scaly bastards in sight, a sense of relief washed over her. That relief was quickly replaced by confusion and worry as she wondered what they were all doing.

Soon enough, the rest of the crew also emerged from the forest and the sight that greeted them made them halt in shock. From their eyes, everyone was able to see a bunch of angry normal civilians who were armed with pitchforks, knives, metal bars, or wooden bats.

'Were these people planning to burn a witch at the stake?' Were the first thoughts of a certain blonde.

Calming his wild imaginations, Josh scanned his surroundings and confusion was written on his face. 'Was this supposed to happen? This scene...are the villagers planning to fight against the fishmen pirates already?'

It made no sense to Josh. From his memory, this should only happen after they got to the island...not before. So what changed? Josh's active imagination even pointed towards this world being different from the original One Piece.

'But then...everything that was supposed to happen, happened. This can't be an AU (Alternate Universe)' with no conclusive reasoning in sight, he could only put those thoughts at the back of his mind as he, once again, focused on what was happening before him.

Nami hurriedly went over to the raging villagers to inquire about exactly what was going on.

"Everyone..what's wrong? Why are you all armed?" She spoke up even before she reached them.

Hearing that familiar voice, the people turned their heads behind them to spot an orange head who was slightly panicking.

Looks of shame and guilt came over them as they thought back on the incident that occurred not long ago. Some of them even had their heads down as tears welled up in their eyes once again.

"I-it's Na-chan..."

"Na-chan's back?"

"What happened while I was gone?" Seeing the looks of shame on the villager's faces, Nami's visage became even uglier as she questioned. The frown on her deepened.

"It's that bastard Arlong. He..he took all of y-your money and...and...Genzo-san—" the self assigned leader stepped forward and started to explain. His voice quivered as anger slowly overtook his words.

"What happened to Gen-san and my money!!?" Without even letting the man finish his explanation, Nami quickly interrupted him upon hearing a few keywords.

"Arlong had the marines come over and confiscate all of your money. Genzo-san couldn't just let them take it like that...so he—he confronted them. I'm sorry, Nami-chan. Genzo-san passed away. Your sister, Nojiko, was also sho—" the man continued with his explanation. Everyone gathered there felt ashamed that they allowed Arlong to do something like that.

Without hearing the man out until the end, Nami dashed away at top speed towards her house. The upper parts of her face was shadowed so nobody was able to see her frantic and desperate eyes.

There was another person who was shocked still by the news that was just delivered. Josh denied what was said just now furiously in his mind. Without thinking about anything further, he left Luffy and the others behind as he chased after the running girl.

A few minutes later, Josh came upon the orchard that grew the famous tangerines. As he was slightly behind Nami, the girl had already reached the house before him.

Right in front of the house, there was a man lying there, motionless. On top of him was a weeping woman with blue hair. Josh saw Nami almost stumble and fall over as she hurriedly went over to the lying man's side.

Seeing this sight, Josh couldn't do anything but stand there on the side. Watching silently as the two women wept over their loss. Genzo was like a father to both Nami and Nojiko, especially after Bellemere passed away.

Realization donned on him as the blonde's face slowly contorted. His mouth was hung slightly open with his lower lip quivering occasionally. His brows were furrowed and eyes narrowed. A disgusting feeling slowly bubbled up inside him. The feeling of guilt was filling Josh's entire being at this moment.

'Did I...cause this?'