A/N: There's no excuse for me writing this instead of another chapter in one of my unfinished stories except for the fact that I just re-read this arc and was hit with inspiration. Besides, I didn't have anything posted in this section yet and that's not acceptable for someone who's a big a fan of One Piece as I am.

There's blood everywhere.

It's on his chest and his arms and his back; the scarlet liqued smeared into his hair and his clothing. Even from where she's standing Nami can see the bruises forming, where Arlong's finger dug into flesh, large dark marks spreading on his neck.

Crimson rivulets run down his neck and onto his shoulders, his back, joining the ever growing mess on his skin; the mer-man has claws and they're digging into the swordsmans neck, deeper and deeper, the skin bursting beneath them.

There's a trail of blood coming from his mouth, too. It's trickling out of the side of his mouth and running down his chin. Red drops fall onto Arlong's arm but the mer-man doesn't loosen his hold.

A hand flies to Nami's mouth and she can hear the villagers gasp and mutter behind her. She's standing yards away from the fight but the wound, huge and gaping, on his chest is just as visible as the other ones covering his body.

The green-haired man had been fighting vicously only moments ago but now, with Luffy having been freed and Sanji having resurfaced from the lake, his body was limp. Arms hung uselessly at his side, blood running down them to splatter into macabre patterns on the cement floor. His legs were dangling several inches from the ground, the tightening fist around his neck all that held him up.

The bandages that Arlong had ripped from his chest, stained with dirt and blood and salt water, dropped to the floor at the mer-man's feet. Arlong's grip seemed to loosen for a moment, brief but it was there, when his eyes fell on the wound that it had been covering.

From his right shoulder to his left hip; the wound was deeper than any other that Nami had seen before. Blood gushed from the cut, running down his front, soaking into his pants, pooling on the ground beneath him. The skin was peeled back from the cut in spots, jagged and rough, proving that it hadn't happened in this fight.

It wasn't something that normal people would be able to move with, let alone fight with, but he had been. He'd been running around and swimming and jumping and fighting, oh God, he'd been fighting like nothing was wrong. But now...Now his fight was over.

...Luffy had been freed from the water imprisoning him.

Sanji had beaten the mer-man that he'd been fighting.

Nojiko wasn't hurt...

Nami watched in stunned horror, because that man had been fighting for her and now there wasn't anything that she could do to help him, as Arlong flung Zolo away from him. There was something akin to horror, understandable, on the mer-man's face when he did.

Zolo skidded across the water, body still limp, before slamming into the wall next to Sanji.

Behind him, the stone wall cracked.

And he didn't move.

Dead, Nami thought, he's dead! Because that was what would happen with a normal person. But then his eyes opened and he was speaking to Sanji, blood gurgling from his mouth with every word that she couldn't quite make out, and the chef just shook his head and lit a ciggarette.

And then Luffy was talking to Arlong, more serious than Nami had seen him in a long a time, and the fight was happening again.

But Nami couldn't help herself when she glanced over at Zolo again and one thought ran through her mind...

He really was an unstoppable demon. But he'd been fighting for her, not for his dream or his captain or anything else.

Her.

And she wasn't sure what to think about him anymore.