Some weeks later, the Arlong Pirates encountered one of the great dangers of the ocean.
"S-SEA KING! There's a Sea King over there!"
"Dammit, change course! We have to stay away from it!"
"At least it's still far away…"
Floating over a kilometre away was an immense beast. It was about half as tall and wide as the hull of the Arlong Pirates' ship, and several times longer. Its skin was coated in greenish-brown scales the size of shields. Two fins of unequal size—though even the smaller was taller than a person—sat on top of its back. At the front of its body was an enormous mouth with many sharp teeth jutting out, while above this mouth were the comparatively small eyes and nostrils.
A Sea King… Arlong thought, looking at the beast through a telescope. It's been years since I last saw one… This particular one shouldn't be an adult yet, it's still got plenty of growing to do…
But even an immature Sea King could easily sink a ship. Indeed, there were many tales of Sea Kings sinking entire fleets into the depths. And while fish-men might be able to survive in the sea indefinitely without ships, that wouldn't help if they were smashed to a bloody pulp first.
Arlong looked down at his hands. There were several calluses there now, proof that he was doing proper work again, fighting again.
"Kuroobi..." Arlong said towards the nearest of his officers. "Are you prepared to take a risk?"
Kuroobi's eyes widened in surprise. He looked at Arlong then at the Sea King again, and smiled. "Yes, Captain Arlong. I've been aching to test my fists against a real opponent again, instead of the weaklings so far on this voyage."
"And what about you, Hatchan, Chew?" Arlong asked. "What do you think of taking on the biggest catch the sea has to offer?"
That was exaggeration, since the Sea King in question wasn't fully grown. The biggest of Sea Kings… were more forces of nature than mortal beings. Still, it didn't really change his point.
"Nyoo!" Hatchan replied, drawing all six of his swords. "I'm ready to show that bastard how an octopus fights!"
"I'm ready for this, choo," Chew replied.
Arlong nodded. "You can keep steering us away!" he shouted towards the ship's current helmsman. "But the officers and I are heading out to kill a Sea King!"
The regular crew of the Arlong Pirates blinked in surprise, then cheered. They shouted "It's been too long since we got to eat Sea King!" and "Cut that bastard to shreds!".
Let's see… if we're going to do this, then I'll need… Arlong thought.
Arlong hurried to his cabin to take out a large sword. It formerly belonged to a human soldier, one who no longer had need of it or any other weapon. It had been a two-handed sword in that human's hands, but Arlong's greater stature allowed him to wield it one-handed.
This is no replacement for Kiribachi, Arlong thought, reminiscing on the blade he'd wielded since his days in the Sun Pirates. But it should do for now.
Then Arlong remembered just why he had no longer had Kiribachi. He remembered being slammed through the floors of his own home. He remembered losing consciousness, having failed to protect his men from defeat and later capture.
Do I really… deserve to have their respect, after all this?
Arlong couldn't afford to hesitate, not when he had a Sea King to slay. He clenched his sword tightly, nodded curtly to his officers, and then the group of four leaped overboard.
Warm seawater surrounded them. Kicking their legs powerfully, the group of four fish-men made their way towards the Sea King.
Even if it's a young one, it's still too big for use to use most of it… But that's something to worry about after we kill it.
Out loud, Arlong asked, "Does everyone remember what to do?"
"It's not something we could ever forget," Kuroobi replied. "We take up position on both sides of its head, and…"
Arlong listened until he was satisfied with everyone's knowledge of the plan.
They continued swimming for fifteen minutes. They slowed their pace as they neared the Sea King, to avoid alerting it, and split into two pairs.
Arlong and Chew swam towards the left side of the Sea King's head, while Kuroobi and Hatchan split off to swim towards its right side. They kept observing their target as they closed the distance, but it did not stir. It had its eyes closed as it basked in the sunlight.
Definitely a young one, without the experience to teach it that even small things can be dangerous, Arlong thought. He gripped his sword more tightly. Thanks to us, it'll never get the chance to learn that.
When both pairs were in position, Arlong gave the signal.
"NOW!"
The Sea King opened its eyes, but it was too late to react. Arlong jumped out of the water and buried his sword in its left eye, right up to to the hilt.
"RRRRAAAAGGGHHHH!"
Hearing the Sea King's anguished roar was downright painful at such close range. But Arlong did not falter. He drew back his right hand and delivered a mighty palm strike to his sword's hilt, driving the weapon in like a nail beneath a hammer.
Hatchan must be doing the same from his side. So right now—
Arlong gripped the Sea King with both hands and then looked down. The Sea King had opened its mouth to roar—creating an opening for Chew to exploit.
A projectile of water shot out from Chew's mouth as fast as a canonball. It struck somewhere inside the Sea King's cavernous mouth, causing it to roar again.
The Sea King submerged its body and thrashed around, no doubt trying to crush its attackers. Arlong held on with all of his strength, trusting in his men to stay safe as well. The surrounding sea was already crimson with Sea King blood.
From a considerable distance away, Arlong heard a shout, one loud enough to be heard even over the churning water.
"Fish-Man Karate: Thousand Brick Fist!"
A powerful shock struck the Sea King from below, pushing even its massive head upwards. More blood gushed from between its jaws.
Arlong took one hand away from the Sea King and grasped the water.
Guh… doing this and not letting it slip away…. isn't easy! But I still remember the lessons!
Exerting almost every muscle in his upper body, Arlong pulled the water forward and into the Sea King's ruined eye, striking with the force of a battering ram.
Another deafening roar resounded through the sea, along with another cloud of blood.
"We just need to keep this up!" Arlong shouted to his men. "Hatchan, if you cut at its fins—argh!?"
The Sea King thrashed around even harder than before, throwing Arlong away. However, Arlong kicked against the water, regaining control of his movement, and he took stock of the situation.
Half its brain must be crushed by now! We can't let our guard down yet, a single good hit would crush any of us… but we can win this!
All three of Arlong's officers were still alive. They might have minor wounds—it was impossible to be certain in this red-tinted water—but they were still very much capable of fighting.
And Arlong might have had no sword now, but he was far from harmless. He swam forward, dodged a wild swipe of the Sea King's head, then punched its side with all of his strength. Scale shattered and muscle was pulped beneath his fist.
"GRAAAAAAOOOORRGGHHH!"
Enraged, the Sea King brought its head around and tried to swallow Arlong whole. Yet that just opened it up to a flurry of sword slashes from Hatchan. When it turned towards this new threat, Kuroobi and Chew struck it from the opposite side.
The battle continued for what felt like several minutes, with every second being a furious struggle of life and death. The fish-men attacked the Sea King again and again, drawing blood from hundreds of different places.
"I've only got two swords left, nyoo!" Hatchan said, his other four having already shattered. "But they're more than enough!"
"This is a tough one!" Chew said. He sucked up water for another shot, then spat it out, annihilating the remnants of the Sea King's right eye.
"Still moving?" Kuroobi said. "Then you can taste my fists again!"
"You Sea Kings might be the biggest things in the sea," Arlong said, grasping water with both hands. "But we fish-men are the most dangerous!"
-ooo-
And in the end, one dead Sea King floated up to the surface of the ocean.
Arlong looked around. His three officers were slightly battered, but none seemed to have any serious injuries. There were no animals around, all having long since fled from the intense battle.
"I'm okay, Captain Arlong!" Hatchan said, forestalling the inevitable question.
"Though… we'll probably be feeling sore in the morning, choo," Chew said, wincing slightly.
"It was an exciting fight, but now it's over," Kuroobi said. "Let's bring the ship over."
Arlong nodded absentmindedly while flexing his fingers.
There might've been four of us fighting, but still… back in the old days, we never would've had so much trouble with a Sea King of this size…
Arlong thought back to the days of the Sun Pirates. Fisher Tiger had never been one to brook weakness: his crew had the choice of either training themselves to the bone or of leaving the ship. Most chose the former, resulting in a formidable pirate crew that had clashed with Marines and slain Sea Kings again and again, never with any casualties.
That said, a good part of their success had been due to the two titans of the crew, Fisher Tiger and Jinbe. Either of them alone could probably have defeated the rest of the crew… something Arlong knew very well, having been beaten bloody by Jinbe's fists some years ago.
Thinking on it now… I've been lazy. That whale shark always went on and on about how he'd gotten his strength from hard work, and Brother Tiger said something along those lines too. But I never trained as hard as I could have… spent more time getting into arguments and gloating over money…
Not anymore. Once we get back to Fish-Man Island, I'll look around for anyone who knows how to use Haki, it's a skill I should've learned long ago. And I'll see about getting a proper replacement for Kiribachi…
-ooo-
Twenty minutes later, the ship had pulled up next to the dead Sea King. While Arlong and his officers rested, the rest of the crew were hard at work processing the carcass.
It was a shame that most would have to be discarded. Even if they completely filled up the merchant ship's hold with Sea King meat and blubber and scales and bones, it wouldn't even be a twentieth of the Sea King's mass. The rest would just rot and become food for the rest of the sea's creatures.
And we might not even be able to fill up our hold all the way, it would make the ship less manoeuvrable, Arlong thought. Still, what we gather today should keep us going all the way to Fish-Man Island.
A few swords were uncovered during the processing of the Sea King's carcass, including Arlong's two-handed sword. All were broken due to the tremendous stresses of the battle. It was no real loss; they could obtain new swords soon enough, and their bodies were already quite lethal without any weapons.
At one point, Hatchan walked out of the captain's cabin and approached Arlong.
"Excuse me, Captain Arlong," Hatchan said. "I just looked at the map, sorry if that's a problem—"
"No, no, that's not a problem at all," Arlong said. "What did you need to look at the map for?"
"I saw there's an island close to here," Hatchan said. "Looks like it's not even a day away, nyoo. So I thought we could stop there and sell the rest of the Sea King."
Arlong frowned. "That's a human island. And we are not only fish-men, but pirates on top of that."
"Sure, but lots of islands still trade with pirates!" Hatchan pointed out. "And we've got Sea King here, one of the more valuable things on the market! As long as we don't cause any trouble there, I'm sure they'll buy it from us!"
Arlong considered this suggestion for a few moments. Hatchan wrung his hands nervously as he waited.
Those inferior beings would almost definitely look down on us… but Hatchan's right, they'd almost definitely be willing to buy our Sea King. And business with humans can be very profitable… our arrangement with Nezumi lasted eight years without any problems.
Sighing, Arlong gave his agreement.
-ooo-
It took about two days to reach Merion Island. Even though there were favourable winds, the ship was slowed down by having to tow a Sea King behind it. Another problem was the endless assault of hungry fish and dolphins who kept sneaking bites from the valuable cargo. Chew spent most of his waking hours spitting at the thieves to scare them away, and when he was asleep, other crew members temporarily entered the water to continue the boring task.
Eventually, an island of sandy beaches and forested landscapes came into view. As Hatchan had predicted, there were a few pirate ships among those docked at the ports. After all, even pirates needed to resupply and to sell off their booty, while there were many merchants who'd accept stolen goods that were valuable enough.
Hatchan disembarked to handle the sale, since he was the best at winning the trust of humans. Kuroobi accompanied him, since the octopus fish-man could be… quite naive at times, if in an endearing way. Many of the regular crew also disembarked to try out the local taverns.
Arlong himself remained on the ship. He had no desire to expose himself to the judgemental gazes of humans, not without a very good reason.
Instead of remaining idle, Arlong walked around the ship. He checked on the condition of the ship itself—so far, there was no damage that would necessitate a shipwright's repairs. He checked on the supplies of ammunition—these were running low due to some recent battles, so it would be good to restock while they were in port. He talked with the few crew members still on the ship.
Hmm, I never knew that Kaneshiro had a hobby of drawing pictures, until now…
About an hour after their arrival, Hatchan and Kuroobi returned to the ship, now accompanied by a small group of merchants. Arlong walked out to meet them.
The merchants quivered like small children at the sight of Arlong, who sneered down at them.
"S-So this is our captain…" Hatchan said, gesturing wildly with his hands. "And this is the Sea King we caught, nyoo! All you need to do is pay the agreed amount and it's yours! Then we'll be on our way and everyone's happy!"
After a few more tense moments, the deal was settled. The Arlong Pirates untied the dead Sea King from their ship and retied it to one of the many piers. Hundreds of human labourers began working on the massive carcass, looking like a swarm of ants on top of a hunk of meat.
With their pitiful strength, it might take them weeks to finish the job, Arlong thought. Well, it doesn't matter to us. We may never see this island again.
The merchants paid partly in goods, such as ammunition for the ship's cannons. The rest was paid in cash in the form of a box filled with bundles of notes.
Over the next few hours, the rest of the crew trickled back to the ship, a few staggering due to the alcohol in their systems. Arlong had been a bit worried they might get into trouble, but it seemed the humans of this island knew better than to pick fights with superior fish-men.
As soon as all of the crew was on the ship, the Arlong Pirates set off... now richer by some eighteen million berries.