"These are conversations"

And these are Ryuki's narrations

Hello my beloved readers! It's chapter 20! I'm really sorry about my irregular schedule. I'll try harder! Promise!

-/\-/\-

It took me a while to vent and calm down. It has been quite a while since I've had an outburst of similar degree. But, with a certain helpful rat as a punching bag, I managed.

I took one final look at my work before running towards the village. I want to check up on Nojiko, Nami, and the old man.

When I got to the center of the village, Nami was the only one there. She sat in the middle of the road with a bleeding shoulder. I couldn't tell what kind of face she's making since a straw hat is obscuring it.

That looks like Luffy's straw hat. Oh! Shit! It's that scene! I missed it! Ahhhhh. Also, those morons. They left her bleeding in the middle of the street?!

I un-equipped my gauntlets and walked toward Nami. I tore out strips of fabric off of my gi on the way, making sure to only get the clean part. The noise alerted Nami of my presence and she whipped her head to look at me.

I kneeled down next to her busted shoulder and used one of the fabrics to wipe clean the wound and use the other strip to wrap it. I did everything in silence, ignoring Nami's stare.

When I'm sure that Nami's not going to bleed to death, I stood up, pat her head, and walked toward Arlong Park. I'm fairly sure that's where everyone is headed. Nami didn't follow me, but I can still feel her stare on my back.

When I saw a giant cow appearing in the middle of the Park, I sped up into a full sprint.

"GOMU GOMU NOOOOOOOO SPINWHEELLLLLL." A shout came from my destination, accompanied by the giant cow flying off toward the ocean.

Oh shit. That must have been Luffy. I have a really bad feeling for some reason.

I hurried up even more.

-/\-/\-

From afar, I can make out the villagers crowding a section of the wall of Arlong Park, where I assume was once its gate. I can make out a blue skinned fishman standing among them. The situation seemed dangerous for the humans.

Suddenly, the fishmen's face burst into flame and he flew backward.

"Your opponent is ME." Usopp shouted from a few yard away.

"If you want to die so badly, I'll kill you right now!" the fishman shouted back and chased after Usopp, completely forgetting about the villagers.

Oh gods, the fighting has started. Please let me not be too late. Pleaseeeee.

I heard Luffy screamed as he draw a parabola line in the air with the block of cement on his feet and hit water.

Shit.

I wanted to go saved the captain; but unfortunately, another fishman came out from the former gate. He towered over the villagers and only wore a pair of white shorts and a black belt. His skin tone consisted of pink and white stripes from head to toe, giving him an odd and slightly disturbing rippled look. The more dangerous parts of him are the spikes protruding from his back and elbow.

"Chu is such an idiot. He forgot to deal with the rebels. Oh well, I can cover for him." He said and raised his hand to strike.

I did a marvelous flying jump kick to his face.

"DENIED!" I yelled out, just because.

"Ryu-aniki!" the hunter duo shouted happily.

"Ryuki!" Nojiko called behind me.

"Hey, hope I wasn't too late."

Everyone else gasped. I can see Zoro fighting a pink skinned fishman with six arms who uses swords, who I'm guessing is an octopus. Sanji was another fishman with grey skin who might be a stingray. On the far side, a blue skin fishman with saw-like nose sat smugly on the ground.

The fishman I kicked recovered and stood back up. His face held a perfect print of the sole of my combat boots.

"YOU!" He growled.

"Me!" I cheered.

"How dare you kick me?! How dare you harm my beautiful face, you worm!?" He roared.

Beautiful? Oh wow, he's confident.

"I, Shuuro-sama, will make you pay!" He charged me.

I jumped back, out of his way and lead him away from the villagers.

Shuuro have quite an interesting fighting style. He uses a lot of swiping elbow moves and showing his back, where his spikes are. He relied on speed a lot and most of his moves seem to aim to get me with a spike. After one of them hit a tree and turned it purple, I decided it is best not to touch them, at all. So I dodged with everything I have.

"Hey, Shuuro, right? So what are you? A sea urchin?" I taunted.

"BITCH. IT'S SHUURO-SAMA TO YOU! AND I'M A LIONFISH." He roared.

Oh ho? Quick to anger! That's a very bad disadvantage for a fighter. A great advantage for me though!

I kept on dodging the lionfish fishman. I'm going to guess that he's not used to fighting for a long time, because he gets more and more frustrated as our dance went on.

Suddenly, Sanji flew straight between us. Taken by surprised, I froze for a second, not wanting to hit Sanji by accident. Shuuro took the chance and slammed into me.

"Fuaaaafuafuafuafuafuafua. I got you now, little bastard!" He laughed.

Then the fishman bastard started jumping and dancing on my torso. Despite not being able to breath properly as my lungs were forced close. I can't help but notice Sanji standing up and went back inside the wall.

"Alright, enough playing around. Time to finish you." Shuuro declared.

He stepped off of me and raised his hand. He pointed his fist to the sky and aim his elbow directly on top of my heart. He strikes.

But he never hit his mark. I had caught the spike with my left hand mere inches away from my chest.

"You're still alive? Fuafuafuafua, not for long!" He smirked, "You touched my spike! They are coated with enough poison to kill a seaking in one minute! Fuafuafuafua."

"You know, your laugh is kind of weird." I commented, "Also, you really need to look carefully at your opponents."

I reached up with other hand and with a sharp jerk; I severed the spike from his elbow. I was nice enough to leave a small stump of it to make sure that he won't bleed out. Shuuro doesn't share my sentiment though, considering how colorful his string of curses is.

"Honestly, you expect me to be stupid enough to grab those things barehanded? I'm not that stupid. Also, my gauntlets reflect sunlight like crazy, how can you not see them?" I show him my covered arms.

"! #$%^&^%$#$% (&#^%#$!#" He shouted back and swipe at me with his other elbow.

I grabbed the spike and broke that one, too. I gave him a deadpan look. Why would he think that I wouldn't break the other spike if I had already broken one?

Shuuro was furious, I can tell. His anger has finally consumed him. He no longer fights with any kind of style, just furious punches and kicks. He became sloppy and it makes my mind wander.

Hmmmmm. I wonder if the chi system on fishmen is the same with the one on human. Well, only one way to find out. I do have a few newly named moves to test out.

"Hey Shuuro. Are the chi system on fishmen similar to human?" I asked him, weaving out of a dangerous swipe.

"Fuck you!" He snarled while trying to take my head off.

"Meh. Doesn't hurt to ask." I shrugged and dodged.

An explosion rang out from Arlong Park.

This time, it was Shuuro's turn to freeze. Sadly for him, that small opening was all I need. I stepped straight into the starting position of basic Water…

"Water Style: RIPTIDE."

…And unleashed my full knowledge of the chi system on Shuuro. Every known chi points for muscle control were hit. For the last attacks, I thrust my palms into the two points on his Pectoralis Major (the chest muscles) and propelled him away from me. Shuuro went flew pass the villager into the Park and never got back up.

Well, at least the sedation points are correct. So are the alarm and stimulation points, considering how his muscles are all tense. Hah, they're going to hurt like a bitch when he wakes up.

I walked in and stood next to Zoro and Sanji.

"Kuroobi, Hachi, Shuuro." Arlong whispered.

"In the end, they're just 'seafood salad'. A fish take on a cook? Not in a million years." Sanji put on his boots irritated. "This game is ours."

"Game?" I asked.

"Later." Zoro groaned.

Arlong stood up, and clenched his fist. He looks about to burst a vein.

"You killed so many of my beloved brethren, one way or another. Don't you think you've gotten a little caught up in the moment?!" He demanded.

Zoro staggered to his feet:

"Oi, when you said Luffy's HALF okay, what did you mean?" He asked.

"Well he's not going to die." Sanji replied.

"But he's still stuck down there, isn't he." I felt like face-palming.

"Yeah. I gotta go underwater again for a bit." Sanji confirmed. "But it doesn't look like this guy plans on letting me do that."

We watched Arlong's every move. Then he flung water at us. My first instinct said dodge, but I didn't react fast enough. The drops of water hit my torso like a cannonball. I felt my feet left the ground and the air rushed out of my lungs. I managed to land on my feet but dropped to my knees. All I could do was try not to cough up my innards.

What the fuck was that? Oh gods, it was just water! So why does it feels like one of shisho's punch? Gah, shit. Focus! Breathe! In! Out! In! Out! Good!

I stood back up after getting my breathing to a normal rhythm. Sanji also shakily stood up. However, Zoro stayed down, the bandage on his torso was died red with blood.

"To kill humans like you, a little water is all it takes!" Arlong sneered. "That's the different between you humans and us fishmen!"

"Cut the crap!" Sanji kicked him.

Arlong dodged him and threw more water at Sanji and hit him in the face.

"You should all give up. You're lives aren't all that important anyway." Arlong said.

"Bastard! All lives are important!" I shouted.

I went for a sucker punch to the guts, with a little twist, literally. I ended up with shots of water to my guts.

Gods damn that hurts.

"ARLONG!" Someone bellowed.

We turned to the source of the voice. Nami is here.

"Nami-aneki!" The hunter bro exclaimed.

"Nami-san!" Sanji said.

"Nami!" I said

"Nami-chan!" The villagers gasped.

"Yo, Nami! I was just giving some loser pirates a demonstration of our power. What brings you here? Shahahahaha." Arlong laughed.

"I'm here to kill you." Nami answered coldly.

"To kill me? Shaaahahahahaha." Arlong laughed. "You still haven't given up. How many times have you tried to kill me, these past eight years?"

The villager gasped. Their rage was visible. I share their sentiment.

"Murder, poison, assault. Has it ever worked?" Arlong continued, "You should know better than anyone else, that we can't be killed by you humans so easily. Listen, you can never kill me, and you can never run away from me. Nami, you'll remain as my cartographer. Besides, you know I've been good to you. I really hope that you'll continue making maps for me. Shahaha."

Damn, this dude really like to monologue. Shit, Luffy, where the hell are you? Aw gods, my guts. Man, I might be out of shape. Shit. I've been too lax the past three years.

"So, how does this sound?" Holy shit, he's still going? "Because of what happened, normally I'd kill all of these people, except you. But, if you decide now to return to the Arlong Pirates, I'll spare the people of Cocoyashi village. But these guys won't be, they were too foolish." He pointed to us, then used his foot to flip Sanji over, kicked on to my back and stepped on my chest, feet sideway.

Fuckkkk. Why do these bastards like to step on my lungs so much? Screw you, fishy. Screw you. Wait, no, no screwing. Shit, shit, shit, need air! Starting to go to delirious!

I pawed at his feet, only to prompt him to step harder. Bitch.

"So, it's your choice. If you choose me, the people of your village will be safe. Or you could choose to fight against me with these fools. But, these guys that you hoped to rely on are in such bad shape right now, I don't think there is any way to avoid a tragic ending." He pounced his foot, the one on my torso, "Nami, are you MY nakama, or, are you theirs?"

"Everyone, I'm sorry. Will you die with me?" Nami asked.

"YOSHAAAAAA!" The villagers shouted in reply.

"So you wish to be slaughtered." The sashimi commented.

Suddenly, a giant geyser sprouted in outside the Park.

"There he is. All that's left is for me to take care of the block on his feet." Sanji huffed.

"What? So that's how it is." Zoro used his sword to stand up, "Make that 30 seconds, I can't hold on longer than that."

"That's more than enough!" Sanji ran for the water.

Ah shit, my vision is starting to blur.

Arlong stared at the water until Zoro sliced his face open.

"That's not what you should be worried about, you half-fish."

"Didn't I tell you to never say that word again?" Arlong growled, "Looks like you're about finished, Zoro!"

That's it, I've had enough.

"FUCKING SASHIMI, GET OFF ME." I wheezed and jammed my knuckles into Arlong's tibia (your shin bone).

"GAH!" Sashimi yelped and staggered back.

Oh air, sweet air!

I flipped out of the way and tried to stabilize my breathing. I can faintly hear someone say my name.

"TAMAGO BOSHI!"

Arlong intercepted the egg that flew toward his face. Sadly, it was an egg, so it splattered everywhere.

"I've got you covered, Zoro, Ryuki!" Usopp's voice sounded far off.

We all turned toward the walls.

"Usopp-aniki! Are you alright?" Yosaku called out.

"How brave! He's facing him without fear!" Johnny praised.

"Oh yeah, I fight with no fear!" Usopp boasted from the hole that Sanji made earlier.

"WHY ARE YOU OVER THERE?!" The villagers shouted.

I can feel the sweat drop that formed on the back of my head.

"Usopp!" Nami cheered.

"Hey Nami, check it out! One of their guys, one of them was finished off by me. ME, of all people!" He pulled his mouth out, "A guy with a face like this, Huahahahahahaha, These fishmen are nothing!"

Dang, good job, Usopp.

"Chew, you bastard…" Arlong muttered in disbelief.

"You bet'cha. My appearance, signals the climax of this battle! Get ready for the big finale!" He shouted. "Hey Arlong! Over here, dork! USOPP WAGOMU!"

"You want to be the first to die, Roronoa Zoro?" Arlong ignored Usopp.

Wait, did this bastard just decide that I'm not a threat and ignore me? Bitch that will be your doom!

"I will not die," Zoro moved first, "Allow me to break that ugly nose you love so dearly!"

Zoro's blades were not sharp enough to cut through Arlong's saw nose.

"Fool." He laughed, "I love it because it's unbreakable. If you weren't hurt so badly, you might have given it a bruise or a scratch."

Then Arlong proceeded to push Zoro back, using his nose like a sword. I was about to jump in when:

"Look! Over there!" Johnny shouted.

I followed where his fingers were pointed. Amongst the rubble stood a six-armed fishman.

"AH! That octopus jerk woke up!" Yosaku shouted.

The octopus were tensed, his arms were up, like he as defending himself. But from what?

"Wait, shit! I thought the rubber band was coming!" He waved his arms.

Oh gods, he's an idiot!

Behind me, I can hear Usopp claiming something.

"Roronoa Zoro! I won't let you get away with this!" the octopus noticed Zoro, "Watch how I kill your nakama in the water!" He ran toward the water.

There are two strange points in what he said. One, it's underwater, how the hell is Zoro supposed to see? Two:

"You're forgetting about ME!" I decked him across the face and launched him at the far wall. "Really, do I look that non-threatening? I mean, come on, I have spiky gauntlets for crying out loud. They're even covered with blood!"

"Pretty boy, you will regret that!" Hachi, I think, shouted from the other side of the wall.

"You know, watching your wounds are a very important thing." I commented. "After all, if you don't, they might re-open."

"Huh? What are you talking about? No matter. TAKOYAKI PUNCH" He sent a flurry of punches at me.

Only to freeze as the cuts on his torso reopen, almost showering me with blood.

"I did warn you." I shrugged.

"GAH!" Zoro shouted in pain.

I whirled around, the sight that greet me with horrendous. Arlong had ripped Zoro's bandages off. Without anything to help hold it together, the wound on his chest ooze blood. The cut span from his right shoulder all the way down to his left hip. By all rights, he should have been dead by now.

When Arlong raised his hand with the intention to finishes off my green-haired friend, I panicked. I grab a random gun from a random lackey that was on the ground and charged the bastard.

"HEY FISH FACE! DROP HIM!" I shouted and drop kick Arlong's elbow.

Arlong dropped Zoro and side stepped, then he punched at me. I twisted out of the way, landed safely on my feet, whipped out the gun, point the nozzle at the fishy bastard's face, and…

BANG!

…

…

…

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU MISS A SHOT AT POINT BLANK?!" The villagers and my crewmates scream in unison.

Oh shit. I forgot.

You see, for all my training, I've never been good with guns, bows, or any other projectile weapons. I'm bad enough at them that shisho said I'm cursed. I even have a standing order to never rely on any shooting, throwing, propelling, or any other things of the same way.

However, when faced with the prospect of losing a friend, I forgot. And now I had to pay the price, because the next thing I saw was a webbed hand coming for my face. Then white hot pain sear through my head.

I am confused and dazed. Why is there a hand on my face? Ugh, everything hurt. Why can't I feel the ground? Why does everything feel so distant? GAH. WHAT'S GOING ON?

Another shot of pain snapped me out of my stupor. I regained my focus and assess my situation, which is kind of bad: Arlong is currently having fun with dangling me off the ground by my head. My bloodied head, mind you. He must have slammed me on the pavement.

I can faintly hear someone screaming my name. Not that I realize who it was due to the sound of my own blood rushing to my head.

"Shaaaaaahahahahahaha! You stupid little monkey! You think you can best me?! The great Arlong?! Shaaaahahahaha"

I tried to get out of his grip. But before I could even grab Arlong's offending arm, I heard Luffy's happy scream resounded all around. And then comes the dread when I felt his hands on my shoulders.

Ooooooohhhh no. No no no no no no NOOOOOOOOOO

"RYUUUUUUUUUU! GOMU GOMU NOOOOO SWIIITTTCCCCCHHHHHHHH."

"LUFFYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY." I screamed as I soar through the sky.

Pain seared through my brain, again, when I hit water head first. As soon as I regained my bearings, I tried to swim up.

Gods dammit Zoro, these physical jokes are your responsibility! First the slope and now this? You owe me, dammit. You owe me big time!

I was cradling my head and waiting for the pain to pass when I heard Luffy:

"Of course I don't know a damn thing about swords, you dumbass!" He shouted, "I don't know how to organize the crew, either. I don't know how to navigate. I can't cook. I can't even lie! I know that I need others to HELP me if I want to keep on living!"

"Shahaha. You sure are useless." Arlong laughed, "How pitiful. And such a pitiful guy is their captain? They must really resent you! Why should they risk their lives to save someone like you? Someone they can't be proud of, why should you be their captain? What can you do?"

"I can beat the crap out of you!" Luffy declared.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Kahahaha, that goes without saying. Kahahahaha."

I stood up to my feet and circled the outer wall of Arlong Park. The sound of cheers, screams and explosions accompanied me. However, the sound of Luffy's continuous pained scream sped me up.

I reached Usopp but couldn't see Arlong or Luffy anywhere.

"Usopp! What's going on?" I asked.

"Ryuki! You're ok!" He cried, "Arlong went berserk and chased Luffy up the top floor with this giant sword! They're inside!"

I staggered toward the villagers. They hunter duo noticed me, but Nami seemed to be in her own world. We waited and waited, but nothing happened.

Suddenly, a desk flew out. Then a chair, and then a bookshelf. Then a bunch of paper flew out and covered the sky. It took me moments to realize. They were maps. The maps that Nami were forced to draw.

The top of Arlong Park exploded. Luffy's leg stretched high up into the sky. When it came down, Arlong Park cracked right down in the middle. After little delay, it all came crashing down.

Everyone panicked and ran away from the destruction. Nami didn't budge.

"Nami, let's go." I told her.

"But Luffy…Luffy's still in there!" She objected.

"Tch, fine." I gave in.

I stepped in front of her and tuck her head down, shielding her from the debris. The plume of smoke washed over us, carrying bits of rocks. I can barely feel them, but the ones slamming into my open wound do hurt quite a bit.

Once the smoke cleared, I stepped back to take a look at the Park. Or more like the ruin of it. We waited with bated breath. Until Luffy popped out from the top of the rock pile.

"Luffy!" Nami called.

"AAANIIIIKIIII!" the hunter bros cried.

Luffy stood in silence. He seemed to be catching his breathe. Then he shouted:

"NAMIIIII! YOU ARE MY NAKAMAAAA!"

Glancing at Nami, I noticed that tears were streaming down her face.

Then everyone start chanting "we won" over and over. Finally, the cheers erupted.

Arlong Park has fallen.

The villagers collected Luffy and threw him in the air. I stood back and watch it all happen. They dropped him around the twentieth time. Luffy being Luffy, just laughed:

"That was awesome!"

Nami put the famous Straw Hat (yes, it deserve the capital) back on his head. Luffy jumped up and they high fived.

"Chichichi. Everybody freeze!" An obnoxious voice said.

Oh hell no. Not you again.

I whirled around and sure enough, there he was: Nezumi and crew in all their ratty glory. I can feel the surprise from all the villagers around me. I can quite understand. I mean, they're marines who came here looking all clean and smug. Right now, only about half of their original number came. Even then, none of them is in good health, bruise littered their faces.

"Chichichi. I might not be able to get that one million beri but Arlong's bounty and riches should still be something." He muttered, "Alright, everyone make way! I, Captain Nezumi of the Marine's 16th battalion, will be taking over from here!"

"Did no one ever teach you about time and place?" Zoro asked.

It took Zoro 5 seconds to wipe the floor with marine uniforms.

"A-A vill mack yu p-pey fur dis, yu – yu pastad!" (1)The rat sputtered out.

I let out a sigh and stepped on Nezumi's back.

"Looks like you didn't learn your earlier lesson. Eh, rat?!" I snarled.

Nezumi's face, which was paled from blood loss, paled even further when I reached for him. A slender hand stopped me. Nami held my elbow and shake her head.

"May I?" She asked.

I nodded and step back. Nami crouched down and grabbed Nezumi's face.

"Remember me?" She grinned.

Then with lightning fast movements, Nami pulled out her staff and pounce is skull off the ground.

"That's for shooting Nojiko."

Then she twirled the staff and skipped him across Arlong Park's pier.

"And that's for messing up Bellemere's tangerine groves."

"Thanks Nami. That was satisfying." Nojiko winked.

"And there's a thousand more where that came from, jerk!" Gen shouted.

When Nezumi finally reached shore, Nami pulled on his ratty mouse-tache.

"Now, you guys will take care of cleaning up after the fishmen, and help reconstruct Gosa village." She ordered, "But, you will not touch even the slightest bit of Arlong Park's Riches! They belong to the people of this island. Understood?"

"Ow ow, A'll do ad yu seyy…" (2) Nezumi cried.

The villagers ended up dumping the whole marine platoon into the sea and let them swim home. On his way out, Nezumi shouted:

"I'll remember this, you lousy pirates! Straw-hat guy! Your name is Luffy, right?" He glared, "You're the captain, aren't you? I won't forget this! You're gonna be big, after messing with me! Too late for amends now! I'll make you sorry! Mark my word!"

The fact that he said all that with a straight face while underwater and swimming away made me snickered.

"He said we're gonna be big." Sanji tapped his cigarette.

"How does he know I'm going to be the pirate king?" Luffy asked.

"He wasn't talking about that, you numbskull!" Zoro scolded him.

Added with Usopp freaking out, and I ended up laughing.

As the villagers ran to get the news to the rest of the island, my crewmate and I stayed back and told each other about our fight. We joked and laughed.

My elation was cut short when Nami realized something and wheeled on me as everyone else laughed. She grabbed the front of my gi any me down to face level.

"I remember now, Ryuki. Where. Is. My. MONEY?!" She snarled.

"Oh shit." I squeaked.

-/\-/\-

(1) : "I-I will make you p-pay for this, you-you bastard!"

(2) "Ow ow, I'll do as you sayy…"

Me: Hey guys! First off, there are no questions since last chapter!

Ryuki: Therefore, there is no answer in this chapter!

Me: Instead, I will be making a treat for all of my fans!

Ryuki: It's a little thank-you for you all that have followed and faved my story.

Me: I hope you're all enjoying Ryuki's story, adventure and suffering.

Ryuki: The next chapter will be a special chapter!

Me: Can you all guess what's it's gonna be like?

Aliahra: No, what is it like?

All: See you all later! XD