Answer:
D.
Step-by-step explanation:
On the basis of the given excerpt, the readers can infer that the fishermen were told stories about the barbarians with exaggeration.
The line that there were some alarmingly hairy faces and plenty of big noses, though! suggests that they were exaggerating about their features to make them fearful of the barbarians. The barbarians were the people of the new world, described as evil and brute by the Japanese empire.
Therefore, option D is correct.