A/N: This chapter's kinda... violent in its own way. Violent in a way a certain sadistic former Celestial Dragon would be and kind of has been, even in implication. You've been warned.

Chapter Four: Arlong

It was nearly midday when the six Humans finally had Arlong Park in their sights. It took longer than it should have, thanks to needing to dodge Fish-Men that would have normally found and exposed them, but they were now all quietly hiding in a grove near a side-entrance.

"This is it, alright?" Kappa said. He looked at the other five, not entirely sure he was doing this. While Chabo carried one of Genzo's axes, Tamanegi some throwing stars and caltrops, and Piiman a slingshot of all things, Ninjin and Rika seemed to both be unarmed. The motley crew before him made the long knives in his own hands seem simply deadly, not to mention professional. "Are you sure that this is what you all want to fight with? I see some of us are a little more properly armed than others."

"This is the weapon of a brave warrior of the sea," Piiman insisted.

"It's a slingshot."

"It's still a weapon—we don't have anything else with good range. Tam's throwing arm's shit."

"Hey!"

"It's true!"

Seas below and skies above—they were going to die.

"Kalyv has a better weapon and he has one of the hatchets we use to chop firewood."

"Kakkun, please don't bring me into this."

"They need to know how fucked we are if they think they can go in like this. One of our first priorities should be finding the armory—can't go in guns blazing if we don't have guns."

"You already said that's the other side of the compound!" Piiman grimaced. "We'll have to enter through there!"

"You can't be serious," Tamanegi gulped.

"Deadly—it's either we make this, or we all die trying."

"I'll take my chances," Rika chuckled. "So, you sure you know your way around there?"

"Since I'm the only one here who's actually been inside, then yes," he said. He thought momentarily about a mission long ago—the first of his early days in the Resistance—and steeled himself with a deep breath. "Alright; what's your plan, Captain? I imagine you have one, considering all the confidence that is just radiating off you like it is the sun and you are the sand."

"Get me to where Arlong is," she said, cracking her knuckles.

"That's not exactly what most people call 'a plan'," Tamanegi mentioned. Rika laughed at that, unfazed by his words.

"Shishishi—it is to me. Now are we going to get in there or are we just going to stand out here talking about it?" She only waited a second before dashing off towards the door in the side wall, surprising the rest of the party. Weren't they just talking about how they needed the other side of the compound?! They clamored to rein her back in but it was too late: she had already opened the door and ran inside.

"She's a fucking crazy-person!" Kappa cursed as the five men ran in after her. They were relieved to see that the room they were in was empty save for some supply stores, though it also meant that Rika had gone past another door and was nowhere to be seen.

"Like I said: we haven't exactly been in a real fight before," Piiman reminded Kappa as they ran through the corridors of Arlong Park. They mostly went unnoticed, only to come across Rika having stopped in front of a large Fish-Man over three meters tall.

"What in the hell are you lot doing in here…?" the Fish-Man wondered in Eastern, more confused than anything. He did not have time to react before a panicking Piiman used his slingshot to hit him in the face with a ball of paint, blinding him in order for them to go past.

"What sort of an ineffective piece of shit is that?!" Kappa snapped.

"Hey, it's working," Piiman fired back, only for his stomach to drop.

»Intruders!« the blinded Fish-Man shouted. His native tongue sounded positively alien to the island's newcomers and sent chills down the spines of the two who'd been there before. »There's intruders in the South Wing! Humans!«

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" Chabo grimaced, running as far from the blinded Fish-Man as he could. The group, led by Kappa, ran through Arlong Park with surprising efficiency. It was clear that the full force of the pirate crew was not around, as there were few reinforcements and a lack of Human shock troops—it had been the perfect time to strike after all. With a well-placed punch from Ninjin here and some sliced hamstrings thanks to their varying bladed weapons there, they were able to make it to the grand courtyard, where the worst of them seemed to be waiting for them.

Arlong the Saw was there, sitting upon his throne.

»Would you look at that…?« the Fish-Man chuckled in his native tongue. »I should have known things were getting too quiet. The Human scum have sent an attack squad for me.«

"Arlong," Rika announced, "you are going to remove yourself from the Conomi Islands and leave these people alone! I need a navigator if I'm going to head to the Grand Line, and your being here is stopping him from joining!"

"Shahahaha, you?! Sail the Grand Line?! Don't make me laugh." His Eastern was well-practiced, but accented, driving in the fact that the blue-skinned shark-man before them wasn't originally from the island. He stood; even had he not been standing on a platform, he towered over the Humans. "You pieces of scum would barely last ten days, let alone long enough to need any sort of competent navigator. Who do you think you're on the prowl to steal?"

"That's none of your business," Rika said. "Now pack up and leave, or suffer the consequences."

Arlong and the rest of the Fish-Men who were gathered around broke into laughter. Few of them had ever heard anything as funny as the insignificant Human standing before their leader, and it showed.

"Aren't you a little pistol?" one of the Fish-Men chortled.

"Yeah—I haven't seen guts like hers since that ginger girl! What was her name?"

"Nami," Arlong said, his face growing serious. "She was the only Human who was on-par with us, because she was better at navigation than anyone from any species that I'd ever seen." He glared at the Humans in front of him, keeping his composure as rage simmered underneath. "Even she betrayed me and left this place in the end, went to hide somewhere away from here, and do you want to know what happened…?"

"You murdered nearly the entire village," Chabo finished. Arlong grinned toothily.

"Oh…? Nearly…? That sounds as if you're a loose end for me to tie up." Chabo took a step back—shit.

"Rika…" he muttered, "might be a good time to break out that Devil Fruit right about now… turn into a bear or smoke or… whatever it is you do."

Rika stood resolute as her companions all began to back in close together—there was nothing that was going to sway her.

"Last chance, Arlong," she said. "Leave, or you'll be sorry."

"You're a Human and I'm a Fish-Man; even though we're both unarmed, I can take you in a fight… unless you think your rag-tag goon squad is going to do the heavy lifting for you."

"They're not going to do a thing," Rika grinned. Arlong laughed.

"No drawn-out fight? No dividing your generals amongst mine? No grand battles that your kind is so terribly fond of? No speeches and Human cockiness, thinking that just because you're born for the Surface, that means you're loftier than the rest of us?"

"Yeah… I need none of that."

"Shahahahaha… how do you propose you win this fight?"

She held out both her hands, fingers splayed out, and braced herself in a slightly wider stance.

"Looks like someone has been reading too many comics in the paper," Arlong scoffed. "What do you call that attack? Hmm? Tell me, Sparking Red, what trick you have up your sleeve… if you had any? Shahahahaha… or let me guess… you're Poison Pink? Siren Yellow?"

The rest of the Fish-Men laughed.

"Obh, obh… she fancies herself Sora… how pathetic."

Rika grinned.

"Parasite."

In an instant, Arlong's stance grew stiff, the Fish-Man looking entirely shocked. He moved his limbs around awkwardly, taken aback at the fact he was even moving.

"What in the hell is going on?!" he snapped. He took the gun from his belt and began shooting at some of the other Fish-Men, killing them.

"Boss!? Why are you doing this?!"

"It's not me! I can't control myself!" Arlong claimed. Rika took her left hand and held it above her head, expression smug as she did so. Her fingers continuously twitched and moved as though she was playing multiple different sorts of musical instruments at once.

"Spiderweb," she said. Translucent, iridescent strings created a cage around her and the other Humans, surprising them. It was not until one of the Fish-Men attempted to attack them and sliced their fist open on the strings did it fully register as to what was going on.

"I've never seen a Devil Fruit like this!" Kappa marveled. "Since when can you do that?!"

"I really don't think this is the time to be nitpicking!" Piiman hissed.

"Arlong the Saw," Rika said, raising her voice and lowering her expression into a scowl. "I gave you three chances and you squandered them. Now members of your crew are dead. What do you have to say?"

"Fuck you, puny Human," he sneered. "These islands will be mine until the day I die."

"Suit yourself."

Arlong turned the gun on himself next, blasting a bullet through his temple and out the back of his skull. His corpse grew limp, yet stayed standing.

"You monster!" one of the remaining Fish-Men growled. Arlong's corpse raised the gun in its hand and fired, hitting the Fish-Man in the shoulder.

"My aim's always poorer this way," Rika frowned. She stepped out of the Spiderweb and climbed the short stairs that led to Arlong's throne, standing next to his corpse. His blood was spattered all over the chair, making it so that she deigned sitting down. "Your leader is dead—go back to whatever underground cave you swam up from. This island and archipelago are now under my protection, and I will not stand for you defiling them with whatever trafficking and extortion operations you have going on here."

"Who in the hell are you?!"

"I am Straw Hat Rika, Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and Future Pirate King! I carry the will and ambition of many from the past, so that I might find the destiny of this age! Leave now, or risk joining the likes of Arlong."

"The other Bosses will take care of you, Straw Hat!" a Fish-Man declared as he stepped back. "Arlong the Saw was one of Five! The other four are still out there!"

"I think you mean three," she replied. There was no emotion in her voice, in her face, as she stared down the Fish-Man. He swallowed hard, unnerved by her tone.

"There are four other East Blue Bosses," he repeated. "Arlong was only one of them…"

"…you're saying the others will come for me…? Others like Morgan…? Are you really banking on me possibly not knowing that he is very much dead, killed by the weapon that made him feared the lands over? I don't know what sort of control you have on information, but that is last year's news."

"Oh shit," Tamanegi whispered, his knees beginning to shake. The other Humans looked at him, still terrified themselves, now with extra concern.

"What's the matter, Tam?" Ninjin asked.

"That's why she said to not go to Shells Town," Tamanegi realized. "She killed Axe-Hand Morgan."

"Last night I would have called bullshit on you," Chabo squeaked, "but I'm believing this with increased certainty every second."

"I didn't realize that Rika was so scary," Piiman shivered. The five men watched as the Fish-Men all began to run from the courtyard, choosing their lives over sharing their leader's fate. The Spiderweb faded as the last Fish-Man vanished from sight and Arlong's corpse dropped heavily. Rika then staggered, stumbling down the steps until she crashed into the other Humans.

"Wow… I really am not all that good at maintaining it on big things yet," she laughed weakly. She looked up at her navigator, grinning manically—the man whose arms she was in was able to keep his end of the bargain—before giggling in her lightheadedness. It was such a complete turnaround from how she was moments ago that the others were experiencing whiplash. "Kappa…? What's that you said about there being food here?"

It was all the man could do to not fall over in shock.

"Let me get this straight: it sounds like you just killed your second East Blue Boss, and your main concern right now is food?!"

"That's why I said that although toast is tasty…" She tried to stand up on her own, only to wobble and have Chabo catch her instead. "…I can't do it on toast alone. Strings take a lot of energy, you know. These puppets are heavy, especially when they resist so much."

Her five companions all looked at one another. Things just became infinitely more complicated. Ninjin took and threw her over his shoulders, carrying her like a sack of rice as they began their search of the compound—there had to be something in there for them to eat.

A/N: translation notes are as follows: kalyv = idiot; obh obh = an expression analogous to oh dear