Cocoyashi Village - East Blue
The Strawhat pirates made their way to Arlong Park with Luffy in the lead, a look of serious concentration seldom seen on his face.
"What's the plan captain?" Zoro asked from his place to Luffy's left.
"I'll take out as many as I can with my devil fruit powers but since fishmen are ten times stronger my attack might not knock them all out." Luffy looked back to everyone over his shoulder to make sure everyone was following so far. "That's when Gin, Sanji, Johnny and Yozuku will take them out while they're weak."
"What about me captain?" Usopp asked nervously obviously concerned about the upcoming fight.
"I want you to hang back and support from a distance, you're the best shot I've ever seen so might as well make the most of that?" Usopp's chest visibly puffed out at the compliment.
"Ain't you forgetting someone captain?"
"You're still injured from your fight with Mihawk so I don't want you overdoing it. Now chances are Arlong's officers will still be standing, Sanji and Zoro they're gonna be down to you. Ussop will support from a distance again."
The straw hats all nodded at their captain's words, agreeing with his plan of action. Out of the corner of his eye Luffy noticed they were being followed and without slowing his pace he turned fully to take in the sight. Following behind the group was what appeared to be every villager on the island all carrying clearly improvised weapons.
Arlong Park came into view and Luffy eyed the thick double wooden doors and the ten foot surrounding wall with disdain. "Sanji, let's announce our presence." Luffy announced, Sanji stepped up beside Luffy in front of the doors and they both raised their feet and together kicked open the doors sending the doors flying into several fishmen knocking them out.
Every fishman in Arlong Park turned to look at the newcomers. "Which one of you is Arlong?" Luffy demanded as he scanned the area taking in the face of every fishman.
"I'm Arlong!" Luffy turned his glare upon the voice and saw a saw shark fishman with long straggly black hair under a brown ushanka and wearing a yellow cabana shirt with loose shorts. "And who are you!" Arlong sneered at Luffy.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw at pirates!" Luffy yelled back seemingly wanting to kill Arlong with his glare alone.
"Ha and what does Monkey D. Luffy want with me?"
"I'm here to kick your ass." Arlong immediately began laughing at Luffy's statement. Luffy however formed a ball of lightning in front of him between his hands. He then brought his hands together, squashing the ball of lightning between his palms before throwing his hands out to the side thereby creating a wall of lightning in front of him and with a thrust of his palms the wall of lightning hit every fishman in the courtyard.
The fishmen closest to Luffy were severely disfigured from the heat of the lightning and dead before they even hit the ground. A dozen fishmen further away were only knocked unconscious but that easily left at least two dozen more that had only been brought to one knee with spasms wracking their body.
Gin, Johnny and Yozuku dived in and began downing the fishman while Usopp took them out from a distance. Within moments Gin had bashed in the skulls of four fishmen while Johnny and Yozuku had behead six between them however the star of the show was undoubtedly Usopp who in the same amount of time had nailed ten fishman between the eyes.
"Chew, Hatchi, Kuroobi deal with this human trash!" Arlong barked to the three fishmen beside his throne like chair.
The octopus fishman from earlier jumped into the building behind them and returned a moment or two later wielding six heavy katana style swords. Zoro, wanting to clash with a swordsman like himself leapt forwards drawing Wado Ichimonji as he did so. Unfortunately for Zoro difference in the number of blades his opponent was wielding coupled with his injury courtesy of Mihawk meant that he was immediately on the back foot. It took every ounce of Zoro's skill not to be be cleaved in two as he blocked and parried.
"I'll be your opponent human filth." Kuroobi stated as he positioned himself in front of Sanji and got into a traditional karate stance. "I'm a level forty black belt in fishman karate human, you don't stand a chance."
Sanji dropped his cigarette and crushed it under his shoe as he took out and lit another one. "Tch, don't you realise fish shouldn't talk back to a chef."
Sanji's comment was enough to enrage the fishman as he believed fishmen to be the superior race and he was disgusted that a lowly human would dare speak back to him. Kuroobi was so enraged that he lashed out in a poorly executed tsuki. This punch, which normally would have been devastating to a human, was easily blocked by Sanji with his foot.
Sanji then dropped onto his hands and performed a handstand, spinning in place he kicked Kuroobi several times before he pushed off the ground and nailed Kuroobi in the soul plexus knocking him back several feet.
Kuroobi however was willing to use any part of his anatomy to his advantage and swiped several times with the sharp fin like appendages at his elbows forcing Sanji to bob and weave through these slashes. Just when Kuroobi thought he had created an opening he brought his right fist down in a hammer blow.
Sanji attempted to spin out of the way but was caught by a punch to the chest that sent him flying into the wall of Arlong's base. Kuroobi believed that would have been enough to kill the upstart human and so he began walking back to his captain to watch the others kill their human opponents. However much to his surprise he heard the sound of a lighter click behind him, turning he saw the human he believed to be dead nonchalently standing and lighting another cigarette.
"Is that it? The shitty old bastard kicked harder than that?" Sanji said with boredom obvious in his tone.
Growling Kuroobi launched himself at Sanji wanting to turn the human into little more than a red smear on the ground. Sanji once more attempted to spin around the strike however unlike last time this time he was successful and just as Kuroobi passed him he launched a roundhouse kick to the back of Kuroobi's head. The additional momentum from Sanji's pirouette was enough to knock the fishman out.
Sanji however wasn't prepared to take any chances and so he stepped beside the unconscious Kuroobi and stamped with all his might onto the downed fishmans neck snapping it and ending his life.
A smelt-whiting fishman strutted towards Usopp and spat a globule of water at his head. On nothing but instinct Usopp ducked the globule of water and watched as it impacted the wall behind him leaving a fist sized crater. Looking back at Chew he dived to side to narrowly avoid another projectile and jumping to his feet he pulled his second set of fully loaded pistols from their holsters.
Before the Chew could even take another step in his direction he unloaded every bullet in his pistols straight at Chew with each bullet hitting their mark. Ten bullets in total connected with the fishman, four of which had hit him in the head and no matter how strong and durable fishmen are nobody could survive that. Without ever knowing what had happened Chew fell to the ground dead.
Usopp went weak at the knees at the sight of the dead fishman not more than ten feet from him especially when he stopped and realised that it was by his hand that the fishman was dead. It was this precise moment that Usopp came to grips with what it would take to become a brave warrior of the sea and he made a promise to himself that no matter what he would never enjoy taking a life but he would happily end the life of someone threatening his new family.
"You know you're pretty good human, but you can't beat me each of my swords weight over three hundred pounds." Hatchi said cheerfulness still present in his voice despite being in what would most likely be a fight to the death.
Zoro gritted his teeth in frustration, he knew that he was the more skilled swordsman out of the two of them but one blade against six was proving to be an insurmountable task. As he maneuvered around the next blow he looked over the battlefield and saw that the others had taken care of the small fry and that was when he realised that Johnny and Yozuku didn't need their swords at this moment in time.
"Johhny, Yozuku!" Zoro called out and at hearing their names being called they gave Zoro their undivided attention. "Your swords. Throw them to me."
Despite it being a dangerous request, after all throwing a sword on a battlefield where your friends were fighting was not necessarily the smartest thing to do, such was their faith in Zoro the duo didn't even question him. The two simply threw their swords at Zoro aiming for about a foot from his left and right.
In one fluid motion Zoro spun in a circle transferring Wado Ichimonji to between his teeth as he did so while also catching Johnny and Yozuku's swords. A full three hundred and sixty degrees later he was once again facing Hatchi except now he was able to use the fighting style he had grown comfortable with over the years.
With a feral grin Zoro launched a counter attacked his three swords easily deflecting Hatch's six. In a moment of what seemed to desperation at the tide of the fight turning against him Hatchi swung all six of his swords from over his head down at Zoro attempting to overpower him with brute force alone.
Zoro sidestepped the amateurish strike before he brought the swords in his hands upwards slashing across Hatchi's side and back before spinning his head slashing him with Wado Ichimonji. Seeing the fishman on the floor Zoro threw the borrowed swords back to Johnny and Yozuku before resheathing his prized possession.
Hatchi however was not completely out of the fight and was on his hands and knees attempting to get back to his feet. Not wanting to kill the fishman that had displayed no malice throughout their entire fight he bashed him over the back of his head with his sheathed sword knocking Hatchi out cold.
Unfortunately it was at that moment that he became aware that at some point in the fight the wound inflicted on him by Mihawk had been reopened. The pain and bloodloss from the wound made Zoro go light headed then pass out. He was saved from face planting the floor by Johnny and Yozuku who both caught him under his arms and as gently as the could maneuvered him to the side of the battlefield.
Arlong let out a primal scream of rage at seeing his subordinates not only dealt with but dealt with so easily by what he believed to be an inferior species. That primal scream of rage was Luffy's cue and upon hearing it he blitzed towards Arlong as lightning, transforming back when he was right in front of him and headbutting Arlong as hard as he possibly could.
Luffy knew he was strong in fact he knew he was very strong which was why he was so surprised when his headbutt, which would have killed an ordinary human, only staggered Arlong slightly.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity and potentially allow Arlong to control the fight his hand, coated in haki, lashed out and grabbed Arlong by the nose. Holding him by the nose he lifted Arlong over his shoulder and smashed him into the ground cratering it before spinning around in a circle, while still holding onto Arlong's nose, and launching him into the building at the back of Arlong Park.
Luffy took his eyes off from where he had thrown Arlong to see that everyone else had finished their fights and were now looking at him. However in this brief moment Arlong jumped out of the building holding a large sword with jagged teeth and aimed the sword in in downwards slash aiming to decapitate Luffy.
The surrounding villagers all screamed in horror as their saviour who had brought the fishman pirates to the knees with only their captain left standing, something they had never even dreamed possible, was beheaded.
What they saw next shocked and terrified them in equal measure as Luffy's severed head which was flying away from his body emitted sparks of lightning from his neck. These sparks flew to the neck of his body, then like a magnet drew the two pieces of his body back together.
The villagers weren't the only ones shocked, only a moment ago Arlong had been grinning like a loon at the still standing headless body of the human that had challenged him. The glee he had felt transformed into confusion then shock when Luffy glared at him.
"Tsk, is that it fishboy?" Luffy asked mockingly.
Arlong swung his sword once more believing that what had just happened had been some kind of fluke. For the first time in a long time Luffy withdrew his own sword and blocked Arlong's strike meeting the force of his slash with equal force, something that surprised not only the fishman but everyone watching.
Then to add to everyone's incredulity he pushed Arlong's sword back with a flick of his own. The force of the flick knocked over several trees that had been behind Arlong. The shock at seeing a human being able to match him physically made Arlong pause and it was in that pause that Luffy struck, backhanding him and sending Arlong flying into the water.
Unfortunately for Luffy this gave Arlong an advantage. There was too much water for Luffy to use his lightning as even though water conducted electricity the amount needed to kill Arlong while he was in the water would potentially take out the entire island. The next advantage it gave Arlong was observed just a minute later as Arlong came fling out of the water in a surprise attack aiming to skewer Luffy through the heart with his dagger like nose.
Thinking quickly Luffy coated his palm in haki and grabbed the nose, stopping it just before it reached his heart but sending him skidding back several feet. With his other hand he planted his fist into Arlong's stomach knocking the wind out of him. Arlong attempted to do the same but all he got for his effort was a burned hand as where his fist had connected Luffy had turned into lightning.
With Arlong's nose still in his hand he swept Arlong's legs from under him and slammed him onto his back. Still not letting go of his nose he knelt on Arlong's chest, the with all his might he yanked Arlong's nose to the side bending it at a ninety degree angle about an inch from his face.
The breaking of his precious nose caused Arlong to let out a scream filled with agony. Not wanting to let Arlong off so easily Luffy delivered another headbutt and since Arlong was laid flat against the floor his head cracked of the concrete ground.
Luffy then got off him and picked him up by the fin at the nape of his neck and the belt of his shorts and spun in a circle several times gathering momentum before he let go of Arlong sending him flying into the second story of his base.
In a flash of lightning Luffy appeared in front of Arlong once more only this time in was in the room he had tossed him into. Luffy looked around the room and saw dozens of detailed maps that were hung up waiting for the ink to dry.
"What is this room?" Luffy asked coldly. However the only response from Arlong was pained whimpering. Luffy made his way over to a desk by the window which had several unfinished maps on it as well as a cartography pen covered in blood. "Is this...is this where you forced Nami to draw for you!" Luffy yelled and once again pained groans was the only response he received.
Not wanting the room that had caused his navigator so much misery to exist another moment Luffy transformed his entire body into lightning and sent it arcing away from him and into every nook and cranny of the room.
The spectators outside could only shield their eyes as the room the the two combatants had disappeared into was suddenly enveloped in an electric blue light that was so bright it was actually painful to look at. When the light eventually died down jaws practically hit the floor as where there was once a room now there was just a hole in the building the walls and edges of the room nothing more than molten slag.
Luffy stood where the window had been and looked down at the gathered crowd and spotted the orange haired beauty he was looking for. "You're my navigator Nami! You got that?" Luffy yelled down to her, his words and the actions behind them bringing a tear to her eyes. Luffy then kicked the blackened corpse of Arlong down from where he was stood, a few of the civilians actually vomiting at the sight of his charred and smoking corpse.
Jumping down Luffy made his way towards his crew checking to see if they were injured and saw aside from Zoro's previous wound and a slightly bruised Sanji that they were all unharmed. With the knowledge that his crew was fine he walked over to Nami, gently taking his hat off her head and putting it back where it belonged as well as giving her a warm smile that made her blush fiercely.
"Well, well, well what do we have here?" Questioned a weasley voice from behind the crowd. "I never thought Arlong would lose and especially not to some no name pirate scum like you. But I suppose branch sixteen will take him and take the credit," he said with a grin.
Several voices from the crowd all shouted at once condemning the corrupt marines, a few even shouted some choice insults that under different circumstances would have made Luffy burst out laughing. However right now he was furious, this marine was the same marine that had attempted to steal all the treasure Nami had gathered over the years to buy back her village.
Luffy began stalking towards him, his gait that of a deadly predator. The marine sadly did not notice the danger he was currently in and began ordering his men, who was staring at Luffy with fear, to begin restraining every pirate in the area.
When Luffy was just a foot away from the marine captain he grabbed him by his jacket, reared his head back as lightning began to arc from his forehead then slammed it straight into the nose of the marine captain. This was all the cue the Strawhats needed and they followed their captains lead. Within moments all the marines save their captain were dead.
Luffy dragged the corrupt marine captain to the edge of Arlong Park where the land met the sea and held the marine captains head under the water until his struggling became frantic before he pulled his head out.
"Now I'm gonna ask you a few questions and if you lie to me I'll kill ya, if you leave anything out I'll kill ya. If you bend the truth or if I think you're bending the truth I'll kill ya. If you forget anything I'll kill ya, in fact you're gonna have to work very hard to stay alive." Luffy said in deceptively cheerful voice before immediatly becoming deadly serious and barking at the captured marine captain. "Now do you understand everything I've just said?" Frantic nodding was the marines answer. "Good 'cause if you don't I'll kill ya."
"Let's start simple, what's your name?"
"Nezumi, ccccaptain of the sixteenth branch."
"Now you've been taking bribes from Arlong haven't you?" Luffy asked conversationally however when the marine didn't answer and merely looked shifty Luffy held his head under the water once more. Bring his head back out he asked, "Let's try that again shall we? Now you've been taking bribes from Arlong haven't you?" Nezumi only nodded his answer at the question. "How long?"
""Eeeight years." Nezumi stammered out every trace of his earlier arrogance and sense of superiority absent.
"Where's the money you were paid as a bribe?" Luffy asked his tone remaining pleasant but with a slight edge to it. Nezumi however didn't answer he just shook his head so Luffy stuffed his head back under the water.
Once Luffy brought Nezumi's head above the water once more he received the answer he was waiting for. "It's on a small island west of here." Luffy raised a disbelieving eyebrow at that statement. "It is I swear it sixty mile due west of here is a small island where I've built a holiday home. In the basement is a safe where I've saved anything I haven't spent." Nezumi added when he saw that his life may very well be in danger.
"Oh really," drawled Luffy. "And just how much is in this safe?"
"I'm not sure at least sixty million beli." Nezumi fired out as quickly as he could to stave off what he thought was going to be his execution.
Luffy smiled and patted his cheek. "There that wasn't so hard was it." He then turned to Sanji, "I want you to take Usopp, Gin and this filth and relieve him of his burden."
The trio just smirked evilly as they dragged Nezumi to his feet and hauling him away by the scruff of his neck.
Luffy turned to Nami. "You up for doing what you do best?" Luffy asked as he pointed to Arlong Park. Without answering, as she was worried he voice may still fail her due to her emotional state, Nami headed into Arlong Park to rob it of any valuables.
Luffy then turned to the crowd and smiled. "Errr I don't suppose any of you is a doctor, Zoro here could use one."
An elderly gentleman in a white lab coat stepped forward and offered Luffy a nod before assisting Zoro, who was awake once more, to his feet and escorting him to his doctors surgery.
"The rest of my crew should be back by tonight," the entire crowd gave Luffy their undivided attention worried that their saviour would be every bit the tyrant Arlong had been. "So what do you say we have a party." Luffy cheered at top of his voice and the relief the crowd felt at his words was palpable.
A second was all it took for his words to truly sink in and they all cheered as they began to dance their way home to spread the word to the other villages that Arlong was dead and they were free.
Luffy remained in the now deserted courtyard of Arlong Park taking in the moment of peace. It wasn't long before Nami returned from her task a bag of treasure and cash by her side, turning to face her he gave her a smile that brought a slight heat to her face.
That smile was all it took to send Nami over the edge especially after everything he had done for her this day and she launched herself at Luffy wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him fiercely. Despite being momentarily stunned by her actions Luffy's wits quickly returned and he placed one hand on the small of her back and his other cupped her face as he kissed her back.
Breaking apart Nami rested her forehead against his. "I just wanted to thank you, I never thought I'd be free of that monster."
"You're my friend Nami, all you had to do was ask."
Despite the sting from Luffy's use of the word friend Nami smiled. Taking his hand in hers she lead him back to Cocoyashi village.
The rest of the crew did indeed return later that night and Luffy was surprised with their haul. From Nezumi's hideaway they had returned with over eighty million beli and in it's place they had left a badly beaten Nezumi.
By ten o'clock that night the celebration was in full swing with every member of the surrounding villages congregating on Cocoyashi to join the festivities and meet the heroes of the hour.
The Strawhats were having the time of their lives. Gin and Zoro had gotten into a drinking competition with several locals and were currently busy drinking themselves into a stupor. Sanji was busy flirting with several beautiful young women at the same time and for once they were being receptive to his advances.
Usopp was in his element as he told embellished stories to a large crowd of onlookers from atop a stage with a megaphone in hand.
As for Luffy...well he was Luffy. He was attempting to sample every delicacy on offer however one was still eluding him. He'd been searching for some time for the elusive ham melon that he'd heard Sanji mention earlier however no matter how hard he searched he couldn't find a trace of it and he was starting to think Sanji invented it just to wind him up.
As he was searching the final table for the ham melon he felt someone grab his rear. Luffy spun around to see who had just groped him only to come face to face with Nojiko.
Stepping into his personal space and placing her hands on the table either side of Luffy she spoke. "Fancy seeing you here." Nojiko said in a sultry tone and with a playful smirk on her face.
"Ah, am I about to find out how smooth I have to be then?" Luffy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybeeeee. But it's getting late so I was gonna head home." Nojiko said biting her bottom lip.
Luffy got closer to Nojiko so that their noses were almost touching. "That's a shame I was looking forward to spending a bit of time with you."
Nojiko looked at Luffy through heavily lidded eyes. "We could always spend a bit of time together back at my place."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Luffy whispered in her ear.
Grabbing his hand Nojiko lead him back to her and Nami's house.
Nami was slowly eating breakfast the morning after the celebration. She was slightly disappointed that she had essentially been turned down by Luffy the previous day. This had caused her to drink heavily at the party the previous night and was the reason for her raging hangover. However as her sisters bedroom door opened and a dishevelled Nojiko exited dragging an equally dishevelled Luffy her mind froze a spoonful of cereal halfway to mouth.
"So I guess I'll see you later yeah?" Nojiko asked Luffy before planting a quick peck on his lips.
"Sure thing," and with a big Luffy style grin and another quick peck Luffy turned to leave. "Morning Nami," and with a wave in her direction he left.
In Nami's mind the cold shoulder she gave her sister over the next few days was totally deserved. Especially since the party celebrating the fall of Arlong lasted another four days and in that time she saw Luffy and her sister coming out of her sisters room twice and actaully caught them going at it twice on the dining room table.