11. Fish Caught In A Tornado

Merry went from her mad run across the ocean to a much more sedate three knots as I cut off the wind that had been the driving force for such speed. Marlin was set back down into the water (though the tow line was kept in place for now) and then I stood on Merry's figurehead next to Luffy, spy glass out while Luffy looked through his new binoculars. On either side of the figurehead the others also looked out at our destination.

"You going to be able to grab what you need when we hit half a mile from the outer wall Captain?" I asked, frowning at the shut water gate I could see. That was going to have to be dealt with before we started.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I could grab the top of that flag pole from here." Luffy said with a nod.

"Alright, let me just confirm where the target is." I said before I collapsed the spy glass and pocketed it before bursting apart into a small gust of wind that shot over the water a foot above wave height, zipping through the gap in the outer wall and up over the closed sea gate. A minute later, I rematerialized in front of the gate on the right side door pointing right at the seam of the door with my right hand while my left was held out in the classic 'hold' sign.

Once I had judged that Merry was half a mile out (which should allow the others to join me and Luffy relatively quickly) I counted down from five then literally blew the gates open. (Part of what had taken me so long was unlocking the gate from the other side with no body noticing)

An instant later, Luffy's arm shot past me, grabbing a pillar and as Luffy grappled himself over the water, I shot in with him. All of the fishmen were still stunned by the gates opening up and weren't able to react as Luffy and I shot in side by side. Two seconds after the gate was opened, me and Luffy slammed into our target together, his right foot and my left firmly planting themselves next to each other into Arlong's chest. An instant later, physics came into play and Arlong was blasted through his beach chair like throne, through the door of the first floor of the main building, through the back wall, through the outer wall of Arlong Park, and flew an additional hundred feet over the rice paddies outside before finally landing to a skidding stop, throwing up a plume of water.

As Luffy and I landed in front of the ruined chair, we said together "Knock, Knock."

Challenge: Making An Entrance: Work with Luffy to launch Arlong through the main building and the outer wall at the start of the fight. Reward: seastone tips for air glider.

Challenge Complete

Story Start: Arlong Park

There was stunned silence from the fishmen pirates that Luffy and I were now amongst. But a few moments later, a fishman that looked a bit smaller than the rest with green skin asked a little nervously "Uh, who's there?"

That had all of the other Fishmen snap glares to the questioner who flinched back. Luffy though grinned and said "Sanda-totha."

The fishman looked confused and asked "Sanda-totha who?"

"Sanda-totha face!" Luffy called before kicking the fishman in the face, the sandal on his foot leaving an imprint on his face as he was blasted into the perimeter wall.

"He deserved that." A pufferfish fishman stated flatly and several of the other fishmen nodded equally flatly.

"Don't just stand there, get them!" A manta ray (Kuroobi according to Nami's explanation) ordered as he leapt towards us. Luffy swayed around his punch loony tune style and I grabbed the fist before swinging my body up and around, my torso turning to wind as it passed through Luffy's head and slammed my shoe into Kuroobi's face as I gleefully cackled out "Boot to the head!"

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed as Kuroobi staggered back with a broken nose. A moment later, we split apart as an enraged Arlong shot through the doorframe of the main building, hands grasping at the pair of us. Luffy's expression went from amused to dead serious in an instant and his hand lashed out grabbing Arlong's ankle before the shark could dive into the water. Luffy reeled his arm back in before slamming his other fist into Arlong's back slamming him into the concrete ground.

Well, my Captain clearly had called dibs on the fight he wanted. I burst apart in order to go around it before reforming in front of the recovering manta ray and rabbit punched him in the throat with an armored up fist collapsing his wind pipe. The fishman's eyes went wide as his hands went to his throat. Before I could finish him off though he dove for the nearby water, clearly intent to use his gills to continue breathing. Well we couldn't have that now could we? I imitated my captain by grabbing his foot and yanked him back, grunting as I spun and threw him up over my head then down onto the concrete. Before he could recover, I flung an air blade from my right hand which decapitated him. One asshole down, a whole lot more to go.

"Kuroobi!" The octopus shouted in shocked anger before he made a loud trumpeting sound. I sensed a large presence rapidly approaching from under the surface of the water and thought 'I can't let whatever that is damage the Merry.' I sent an omnidirectional blast of wind out that threw all of the nearby fishman away from me, and more importantly, my Captain's fight with Arlong before I burst apart into wind and zipped over the water, giving a push to the stern of the approaching Merry as I passed to get it the last hundred feet to the sea wall a little faster as I went around it. I noted as I passed how Usopp was in the crow's nest, using the height to snipe over the wall those who were closest, leaving several fishmen with tobasco sauce in their eyes and unable to see anything properly due to the tears in their eyes. They would be the first to fall when the rest of the crew stormed the place.

Right now though, I was more concerned with the large monster I could sense rushing towards us under the water, no more than three hundred feet from the Merry. The air howled as I began hurling a massive wall of it down into the water, splitting it like my name was Moses (and incidentally giving Merry another push as the water fled my technique). The rushing monster shot out of the water into open air and I just had enough time to see it blink in confusion before it fell on the ocean floor with a loud THUD sound. Looking down as I continued pushing more water away from it, it looked like a giant cow that had been turned into a large sea creature. As ridiculous looking as it was though, it was clearly a threat to deal with.

'Still, it's just an animal, no need to be too harsh on it.' I thought to myself before the majority of the wall of wind that had been pushing down changed direction and instead began circling. (I kept enough wind going downwards that the Merry wouldn't be pulled into what happened next.) The water of the ocean that had been pushed further out to sea was now pulled back and inward into a rushing whirlpool around the creature who let out a distressed cry as it was mercilessly spun around in the current. It was only about thirty seconds before the whirlpool grew upwards into a water spout, catching everyone's attention (even Arlong and Luffy pausing their fight at the sight of it) and as it grew larger, the sea monster was clearly seen being whipped around in ever faster circles as it traveled up to the top of the funnel five hundred feet in the air. Then it reached the top of the funnel and-

"MOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!"

"And he is out of here!" I shouted gleefully as I reformed in order to better appreciate the view of the massive sea creature being launched out to sea, swirls in its eyes as it landed ten miles out. My aerosense allowed me to detect the massive splash it made upon slamming into the water and despite myself I felt a small anime sweat drop form on the back of my head as I said "Maybe that might have been a bit much for the critter..." After a brief moment, I shrugged and said "Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine."

Challenge: Bad Bessie: Keep the sea monster Momoo from taking part in the fight with the Arlong Pirates or damaging the Going Merry. Reward: Five Thousand Berries.

Challenge Complete

Turning back inland, I zipped past the Merry, taking the time to clap the hand Usopp offered me with a shaky grin before I continued back into Arlong Park and landed next to Johnny and Yosaku to ensure they weren't overwhelmed by the biologically stronger fishmen.

As my air glider stabbed into a machete wielding fishman's shoulder, Johnny shot me a grin and said "Boy, am I glad you're on our side Big Bro!"

Yosaku gave a nervous chuckle and said "Yeah, the less tornadoes I have to face the better."

I grunted even as I yanked my staff out of the screaming Fishman's shoulder and slammed an armored fist into the pirate's sternum. His scream choked off and he curled inwards around the blow before I grabbed the back of his head with my free hand and slammed it into my armored knee dropping him. A minute of hard combat that left all of the nearby fishmen laying on the ground knocked out or dead, I took the chance to see what was going on with the others.

Zoro was a whirlwind of blades leaving the fishmen he was fighting in similar states as he held his white blade in his mouth and a pair of utensil knives in his hands that he was using to launch short lived wind blades that were a surprisingly good substitute for not having a pair of katanas in them. The Octopus I had been told to leave to him was already laying on the ground knocked out, six sword hilts held limply in his hands with sheared pieces of metal where the blades should have been and a long slash from left hip to right shoulder. Oof, the bounty hunter had pulled a Mihawk on him.

I blinked at the term and thought 'Can it actually be called that if I kept Mihawk from doing that last strike in the first place?' A moment later, I shrugged it off for a later time and continued looking around.

Sanji and Gin were operating as a surprisingly effective team as they dealt with the mooks in another part of Arlong Park, brutally taking advantage whenever Usopp created an opening for them with his sniping.

And Luffy was...

KER-RASH!

...apparently using Arlong as a wrecking ball inside the main building of Arlong Park going by how Arlong's head and torso burst out of the fifth story wall before he was yanked back in leaving a hole that joined the other twenty five similar such holes my aerosense was picking up scattered around the building's walls. Eesh what a monster, that kid was definitely the grandson of Garp. ... and there goes the building's structural support.

Now grinning, I used a nifty trick I had worked out back on the island to turn only my vocal cords to air, vibrating them just so to sound like a certain Ed Boy as I called out "LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING!"

The rest of the crew had just long enough time to give me a startled look of confusion before the entire building collapsed like a house of cards.

"LUFFY!" Nami shouted in terror from where she had been kept on the Going Merry (Captain's Orders).

I scoffed and said "Oh please, the day a falling building takes out a Monkey is the day Sengoku and Kong start wearing kilts and playing bagpipes together."

Sure enough, the rubble had barely finished falling before a section exploded back upwards and all of our heads shot up to follow Arlong's bruised and battered body rocketing up into the air before a red blur shot up after him, resolving into Luffy who went horizontal then spun his torso on itself like he was wringing out a rag. The next instant, Luffy's legs and arms started spinning in opposite directions and we heard "Gomu Gomu Double Buzzsaw!"

"Oooh!" I shouted with a wince as the opposing forces of Luffy's limbs snapped Arlong's spine like a tooth pick, never mind his arms. That was one shark never swimming again, if he was even alive still. Never mind, Arlong was screaming like the damned. Well, he was before Luffy stopped spinning and shouted "Gomu Gomu Stamp!" as his sandaled feet slammed Arlong back into the rubble throwing up a second dust cloud.

As Luffy came to a landing beyond the debris, I focused my Observation Haki a little more on Arlong. Somehow the bastard was still breathing but he was DEFINITELY out cold. When a glance at Luffy showed him uninjured even as he beat the dust off of his vest, I couldn't help but grin and vibrate the air all around us to sound like the Mortal Kombat announcer as it said "FLAWLESS VICTORY!"

"SHISHISHI!" Luffy laughed at that, some of the others doing the same while the rest looked a little freaked at the loud voice without an obvious source. Nami though didn't care about that, instead leaping down off of Merry's bow and bolting for Luffy, pulling him into a hug that I bet if he wasn't rubber would have left his ribs in the same shape as Arlong's.

I smiled at the sight but frowned when I saw a pair of eye stalks poke out of Luffy's vest pocket. Staring at the stalks, I asked "Luuuffy, where'd that snail come from?"

Luffy perked up and pulled it out as he said "Oh! I saw this little guy in the building while I was fighting the shark bastard. I didn't think it' be safe to leave him there so I grabbed him. Good thing I did too or he would have been squashed, Shishishishi!"

"Unbelievable, guy grabbed a phone while he was fighting." I muttered to myself with a shake of my head. Deciding to put that behind me, I took the focus of my aerosense off of Arlong Park specifically and instead began going through what I was sensing of the island in its entirety and said louder "Nami, we need to deal with anyone currently out around the island, who's missing here?"

Nami startled a little in surprise before she frowned and looked around. It said things (most likely bad) about what she had gone through that she didn't flinch at all of the corpses mixed with the knocked out fishmen and a few moments later, she said "We're missing ten Arlong Pirates."

I pulled out my phone even as I asked "Any of them have bounties?" As Nami blinked at that and thought, I opened up the Bounties tab on my Challenges App. Ignoring the bounties I could collect now for a moment, I looked up at Nami who seemed to understand what I was going for and listed out the names of the missing crew. They were (not sorry for this) small fish compared to Arlong and his three lieutenants but they did have bounties so I knew who I was looking for as I used my aerosense to match the shape of bodies I was feeling with pictures. A few long minutes later, I said "Alright, good news, bad news. Good news is that I can detect eight of these guys above water. Bad news is the last two are no shows meaning they're likely under water. Those eight are also not all together, there are two groups of three and one group of two."

Nami frowned and asked "Are they in these directions?" She pointed in three different directions, and when I nodded said "Watch points. I can mark out where they are, give me a few minutes to make a couple of rough maps for you guys."

I nodded and after a moment of thought, said "Captain, permission to scout the surrounding waters for the last two?"

Luffy nodded and said "Go ahead Matt."

With permission given, I spun my glider open then took off into the air, reaching fifty feet which should be too high for any submerged fishmen to see while I hopefully could still scan all the way down to the ocean floor with my non aerosense augmented Observation Haki.

It took a short while, but halfway around the island I felt two sentients in my Observation Haki seemingly just chillaxing under the waves, deep enough that I was fairly certain they were on the ocean floor. Coming to a stop and folding my glider back into staff form and hanging in the air, I eyed the waves at where I could feel them for a moment as I considered. I was pretty sure I could send wind blades down that deep but it would kind of be like shooting in the dark in regards to aiming. I could also do either another Split Red Sea or waterspout... After a couple of moments of thought, I nodded and said "Yeah, that seems like the best bet."

With plan in mind, the air around me began spinning inwards rapidly forming a cylinder which grew downwards before it breached the surface of the ocean and began sucking it upwards like a shop vac even as the twisting current continued reaching deeper into its depths. I sensed the fishmen's alarmed surprise as they were suddenly sucked up from the ocean floor, being put through the spin cycle of hell before being spat out of the top of the twister into my waiting hands. The pair were so insensate from the spinning that me cracking their skulls together to knock them out honestly seemed a little redundant. Still, better safe than sorry.

It was as I was halfway back to Arlong Park when my aerosense detected the inbound ship heading for the same destination as I was. When it managed to get close enough for visual identification I saw the seagull on the flag and the word Marine spelled out on one of the sails. Giving a groan, I said "And now we've got these guys to deal with."

And we didn't have time to remove Merry's Jolly Roger either since they were likely already looking at the island with spy glasses. Lovely.

END

Standard Reminder to vote on the bimonthly poll for what storie I work on. I'll be changing up my routine so that one of the two stories I definitely work on will be those that haven't been updated the longest.