Hiccup and the others were completely shocked with Ruffnut's announcement and could scarcely believe what they had just heard.
"You can't be serious," said Tuffnut.
"Yeah, it's true," said Ruffnut as she sat down. "She and Fishlegs were traitors all along, the two of them together have been earning favours from Arlong so that they can have the treasure buried in Leefside Village all to themselves. Astrid is nothing more than a cold-blooded killer and Fishlegs is nothing more than a spineless collaborator. They won't stop until they get what they want, they had us for the entire time!"
Hiccup then approached her and grab the helm of her shirt. "Be quiet! Say another word and you'll regret it!"
Toothless immediately intervened. "Easy, Hiccup. This has nothing to do with Ruffnut."
"Believe whatever you want, but I know what I saw! Astrid killed Snotlout and Fishlegs doing even raise a finger to help him!" Ruffnut yelled.
"I don't believe it!" Hiccup yelled defiantly. "There's no way that Astrid would kill Snotlout in cold blood and Fishlegs wouldn't let anyone die in front of him. They wouldn't do that to their friends."
"B-But I saw it!"
Toothless then send something behind them and turned around to see Astrid and Fishlegs standing there before them.
"Was that about friends, Hiccup?" said Astrid.
"Astrid?" Hiccup blinked as he turned around to face the two of them. "Fishlegs?"
"What are you doing here?" Astrid asked.
"What are we doing here? You are our friend, we came to get you, the two of you," said Hiccup.
Astrid shook her head. "You really don't get it, do you?"
"Then have you care to explain," Hiccup suggested.
"Friends? Don't make me laugh, you're just pathetic enough to deserve each other," she said plainly.
Ruffnut then immediately rose to her feet and charge towards her. "Damn you, you killed him! I watched you do it! And now Snotlout is gone!"
"Yep, that's right, so why do you kill me and get your revenge," Astrid suggested.
Ruffnut blinked. "What?"
"Word of the wise, because of your friend stupidity Arlong is prepared to kill Toothless along with his entire crew and I don't care how monstrously strong you guys think you are, you're no match for the real monsters. I promise you that if you stay on this island you will die. So you have a choice to make between life or death."
Fishlegs nodded. "There's nothing left on you on this island, you would be wise to take your ship and sail off out of here."
Toothless looked at Astrid. "Astrid, where is Snotlout."
"With the fishes," Astrid answered.
"Stop playing," said Toothless and immediately reached for Light Fury as he made a dash to water.
Ragnar then quickly dashed towards him and swung a kick at him forcing him to back away. "Don't do anything rash, we don't know the full story yet."
"But can't you see what's happening here?" Toothless asked.
"Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear," said Ragnar and the immediately looked at Astrid. "Besides, you should never count someone get into you see their body right in front of your eyes."
"It seems pretty clear cut to me," said Astrid folding her arms. "You should follow Fishlegs' advice and get out while you can, you outsiders have no right to butt in this island's affairs. Don't you get it yet, the only reason why we got close to you idiots was to rob you of everything you had. But now that you're broke it looks like the dream is dead so take your shipping go."
"You should try finding another navigator who is a more trustworthy," Fishlegs advised and then looked at Astrid. "As well as finding a first mate without anger management issues. Then go to the Grand Line and continue on your quest to finding the One Piece or whatever."
Astrid nodded and pulled out her battleaxe. "Just leave here! You're an eyesore!"
The twins growled furiously, but Astrid just remain calm.
"Goodbye," said Astrid.
Hiccup looked at her. "Astrid." He then shook his head. "I'm not leaving, not quite yet."
Astrid clenched her fist and cleared at him. "Then just go ahead and die!"
Then she and Fishlegs then ran off down the road leaving everyone behind bewildered and confused.
Meanwhile Bard had grabbed Astra and was dragging her down towards the shoreline.
"Come on, hurry up!" he yelled.
"What's the deal?" Astra asked.
"The Marines are here! We're saved!" Bard announced happily. "Some survivors from Longdale managed to contact the government and they told them what happened. Now the Marines are here to rescue us all!"
Everyone had gathered around the shoreline watching as a Navy vessel was making its way towards the coast.
"See!" Bard pointed happily when they reach the shoreline. "Finally it's over, now we get to leave this horrible place!"
Astra, however, remain quite sceptical.
The Commodore in charge of the Navy vessel began looking at his men up and down.
"So this is the infamous Arlong Park," he said noting the compound. "What has the world come to when pirates come can set up such an occupant base?" He then looked at his men. "Listen up, men. Our noble mission today is one of extraction, we must rescue the survivors of the town of Longdale, which was savagely destroyed by the Arlong Pirates, but I'm left to wonder would our brand of swift and terrible justice allow us to simply overlook the decadent fortress of these unchecked brutes?"
"Sir, no, sir!" all the men announced.
"Correct! Our unit must annihilate Arlong and his men! Prepare for battle at once!"
"Yes, sir!"
Arlong soon got the report of the Navy ship just outside the compound.
"Is that right, Marine Branch 77," he said as he sat on his deckchair.
"That's right, that's what I said," Chew nodded.
"A newcomer," he said. "We'll have someone to negotiate with the man in charge. If 2 million isn't enough from keeping them trying anything funny, then kill every last one of them."
However, the Navy ship then fired a cannon ball directly at Arlong Park and it headed straight towards Alrong himself.
"Oh no, the Marines have opened fire!" a Fishman panicked.
"Arlong, watch out!"
Arlong merely opened his razor sharp mouth and caught the cannonball with his teeth. He then slammed his jaw shut demolishing the cannonball in an instant.
"Whoa, he crushed the cannonball."
"Those jaws are terrifying."
Seablade looked at him. "So what now? Are the talks…"
Arlong spat out some iron. "Cancelled."
The Fishmen then immediately cheered, because that was music to their ears.
"All right, let's do it!"
"I've been waiting for a good fight!"
"More like a bloodbath!"
"Hold on guys, not so fast," said Chew calmly. "There's no need to expend so much energy just to take out trash."
"The just leave it to us," said Octron.
"What foolish humans they are to pick a fight with us," said Seablade. "In our own waters too."
"Those Marines don't stand a chance against three of our leaders."
A Fishman laughed. "I doubt that ship will make it through a full three minutes."
On the Navy ship, the Marines had noted that the first attack hadn't done anything.
"That's odd," said the Commodore.
"Commodore, it would seem as if that cannonball was a dud," said a seaman.
"Fire another, this is a signal for open hostility. Never drop your guard when you're dealing with Fishman."
"Sir!"
There were about to fire another cannonball, but then suddenly shooting out of the water was Chew. He then immediately spat out some water which struck a seaman so hard that he was not to the ground.
"Man down!"
"It's one of them," said a seaman as Chew landed on the deck. "Attack!"
Immediately the Marines drew their pistols and swords at Chew.
"Stand down, right now!" the Commodore ordered. Everyone then turned to face him and he looked directly at Chew. "One of Arlong's men, yes? I am Commodore Pan of Marines Branch number 77. Allow me to elaborate, you see we are somewhat well-known elite Marine unit. Do you understand what I'm telling you, Fishman? If you wish to live, surrender and immediately!"
Chew, however, just struck him with his water gun and the Commodore was knocked to the floor.
"Commodore!" his men yelled.
"What have you done to him?"
"You killed him!"
Then suddenly the entire ship began to shake.
"What's all this shaking?"
"Don't tell me there's Fishmen under the ship."
In fact there were, Seablade was beneath the ship and had just torn the rudder off.
The Marines were beginning to panic and Chew just sat there on the side looking bored.
"I am really sorry to inconvenience you like this, but we just took the liberty of removing your rudder. Is that okay?" Chew asked.
The Commodore, who was alive, looked up at him. "You what?"
The men were relieved to see that he was alive, but he was badly wounded.
"Don't worry, I didn't hit any of his vital organs," Chew assured. The entire ship then shook once more. "Commodore, I have a question, it's just hypothetical of course, if one was to move a large reef directly at your strong current what do you suppose would happen to the ocean?"
The Commodore's eyes widened. "What?"
In the sea, Octron was actually moving a large reef towards the front of the current the Navy ship was using.
"No, moving a whole reef that can't be done," the Commodore said horrified. "It's just not possible!"
Unfortunately, was possible and Seablade was directing Octron towards the current directly in front of the Navy ship.
"Put it down over there, Octron," Seablade ordered.
"Right," Octron nodded and placed the reef directly into the current.
Immediately the entire current that the Navy ship was in began to change drastically. Now directly in front of them was a large whirlpool and they were getting dragged in towards it.
"Commodore, a giant whirlpool has just appeared!" a seaman cried.
"The rudder isn't working!"
"What?" the Commodore gasped.
"I told you, we remove the rudder," said Chew civilly. "So now this rudderless ship is heading straight to the sea floor."
Everyone then immediately began to panic as the ship began to enter the whirlpool and was being ripped apart and there was nothing the Marines could do.
On the shoreline, all the villages just grasped in horror, because they had just witnessed the destruction of the Navy ship. They had placed everything they had on that ship, but in a manner of minutes it was demolished.
"They're dead," said Bard as he fell to his knees.
Astra wasn't particularly surprised. "That's right and so was hope. Time to face the truth, there's no way to escape Arlong's control."
Arlong was smiling broadly as his lieutenants returned from their attack.
"I bet you're tired," Arlong assumed.
"No, I didn't even break a sweat," said Seablade. "We know everything about the waters, from the winds to the depths. It was quite easy."
"With our expert knowledge of these waters, no one could beat us," said Octron.
"True, let's not forget about Fishlegs' charts," Chew reminded holding out one of Fishlegs' sea charts.
"I checked those before I move the reefs, it even tells the flow of the current and everything," said Octron impressively.
Seablade nodded. "Indeed. They are excellent charts, if we can persuade Fishlegs to do this for all the world's oceans we would be the undisputed rulers of the sea for ever."
Arlong sighed. "I know, Fishlegs is brilliant. In fact he could be critical in the creation of the Arlong Empire, it's just a shame…"
Octron frowned. "A shame?"
"He promised to let Fishlegs and Leefside village go once Astrid earns other hundred million Gil," Chew explained.
"Oh, no!" Octron cried and looked at Arlong. "Seriously? Whatever you do you can't let Fishlegs leave, you can't. Say that it isn't so, boss."
Arlong sighed. "I have to. That is what we agreed with Astrid eight years ago, I'm the kind of man who always keeps my promises when it comes to money. Always."
Meanwhile Hiccup and the others were still in the middle of the road and all of them were thinking over with what Astrid and Fishlegs had said.
"Hey, Toothless, what in the world are you thinking?" Ruffnut asked looking at Toothless.
"Did you forget that Arlong is out to kill us?" Tuffnut asked. "We should be running away."
"Now that we know what Astrid and Fishlegs really like there isn't a single good reason why we should stay on this island."
"My reason for staying here is there," said Toothless gesturing to Hiccup, who had moved an inch since Astrid and Fishlegs left. "I'm staying because he's staying."
"Don't be stupid, Toothless," said Tuffnut. "Are you saying you want to bring them back too?"
Toothless looked at the two of them. "Something doesn't add up, Astrid had a perfect chance to kill me but she saved me. Hiccup is aware of that and he's trying to figure out what is really happening on this island and I have to say that I'm curious as well."
"Toothless?" Ruffnut blinked.
The twins looked at one another and could tell that Toothless was serious.
"Right, understood, you're not leaving," said Ruffnut. "Sorry to cut over union short, but I won't stay. My role as guide ends here."
"Yeah, I'm with you sis," Tuffnut nodded. "I mean we may be a couple of muttonheads, but even we know that this is crazy."
"Fine, I'll see you around," said Toothless.
"Until we meet again," said Ruffnut as she and her brother waved as they walked away.
"Take care you guys!" Tuffnut yelled.
"You too!" Toothless yelled back.
The three of them just sat in silence, clearly neither one of them knew what the next move was going to be.
Ragnar then looked at Toothless. "So? What do you think is going on?"
"I don't know," said Toothless honestly. "I just don't get it, if Astrid was so coldhearted why would she save me and then go ahead and kill Snotlout. There's also something I don't understand, Astrid looked as if she wanted to murder Arlong during our conversation and Fishlegs looked as if he had a few things to say."
Ragnar closed his eyes. "Something tells me that the situation here is not so cut and dry. Though I think Astrid doesn't have the heart to kill Snotlout, no matter how annoying he is."
Unbeknownst to anyone, Snotlout was in fact alive and he was running down the road wearing a dry cloth over his head.
Snotlout began to remember that Astrid had actually saved his life. 'When she did that, Astrid stabbed her own hand to make it look like she stabbed me. I can't believe she did that for me, but it's a good thing she did otherwise I would be fish food right now for sure.
'But what I do now? A real man wouldn't run away after being saved by such an attractive young woman. Though if I go rushing in their house surely die and her treachery will be exposed, the only thing I can do now is join up with Toothless.'
He then looked up and saw Hiccup and the others sitting along the road in front of him. 'Speak of the devil, he is actually here and Hiccup is with him.'
Toothless looked at Hiccup. "You been quiet for some time. What do you think of this situation?"
Hiccup looked up. "You remember when I was caged by Buggy the Clown, she and Fishlegs had an opportunity to kill me, but instead they saved me. Beforehand she told me that her one wish was to get 100 million Gil and she mentioned that a pirate had taken someone she cared about away."
Ragnar looked at him. "You think this has something to do with Arlong, don't you?"
Hiccup nodded. "I do."
"Okay, well about her killing Snotlout?" Toothless asked.
Hiccup got up and turned around. "How are you asking yourselves?"
Toothless and Ragnar blinked and immediately turned around and to their amazement they saw Snotlout rushing towards them.
"Hey, guys!" Snotlout waved.
"Snotlout?" Toothless stared.
"He's alive?" Ragnar gaped.
Snotlout looked at Toothless. "You look like you've seen a ghost?" He then saw Ragnar blinked. "Hey, you're that cook from the restaurant. I guess you finally decided to join us."
"That's right," Ragnar nodded. "And don't mind Toothless, we just heard that Astrid killed you."
Hiccup then approached him. "But it seems as if that was a massive exaggeration."
"Technically it is the truth, but Astrid did save my life," said Snotlout.
Hiccup looked at him. "Tell us everything."
Astra was making her way back home and then heard the sound of smashing glass. It sound as if someone was ransacking her home and that's when she saw Fishlegs sitting outside on the porch.
Fishlegs looked at her with a sympathetic look and she knew who was causing a ruckus inside almost instantly.
Astra sighed and made her way inside and found Astrid sitting at the table and saw that her place was lately wrecked.
"Geez, Astrid, you sure know how to trash a place," said Astra. She then noticed that Astrid was looking a little upset. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," said Astrid shaking a head which was pressed against the table. "I'm just resting a little, that's all."
Astra then pulled up a chair and sat down opposite her. "You mean you been pouring over a treasure map after wrecking a house is how you relax?"
"I did tell her to take her frustrations out on a tree," said Fishlegs as he sat next to her.
Astra looked at Astrid and had a feeling she knew what was up. "You're not fooling me. Now fest up already, what's bothering you?"
"Something happened to make me mad, it's nothing," said Astrid plainly.
Astra sighed. "Those guys who are they?"
Astrid and Fishlegs eyes widened and they looked at her.
"You know?" Astrid gasped.
"Yeah, I met a guy named Snotlout, he was a bit snobbish not to mention a little arrogant," said Astra and then looked at Astrid. "Astrid, I heard that you smiled with them. We both know that's rare for you as a matter of fact I haven't seen you smile in years. Come on, tell me who these guys are."
Astrid just remain quiet and Fishlegs was feeling a little awkward. Astra could tell that he wanted to say something, but not while Astrid was listening.
Deciding it was a lost cause to convince Fishlegs to say anything, she focused on Astrid. "Come on, you can tell me anything remember."
"I had planned to forget about them," she said plainly. "I thought that I could just arrest them from my mind, but the more I tried to erase them the more I remembered."
As Astrid began to remember all the time she spent with Hiccup and the others, she remember the happy times as well as the bad. That one journey with Hiccup was unlike anything she had ever experienced, it was like they were family and they were unlike any pirates she had ever come across.
As she thought about those memories she began to fall asleep which left Fishlegs to explain their journeys with Astra. He even described the fights with other pirates they experienced, how they saved Snotlout's island and their adventure on Jack's island.
"The truth is when we were with them the only thing we forgot about was the pain that we bear," Fishlegs explained. He then looked at Astrid, who was now fast asleep. "If it were possible, we would join up with those guys and sail around the world."
"Now I see," said Astra as she looked at Astrid. "Yeah, that would hit her hard. To think that someone would actually showed up for her. Friends… that word means pain. It breaks her heart."
Meanwhile Snotlout had just finished his tale to Hiccup and the others, explaining the conversation that Astrid and Fishlegs had with Arlong as well the details of how Astrid managed to save his life.
"So that's it, that's how Astrid pretended to kill me and make sure that I could escape from Arlong Park," said Snotlout with his arms folded. "Looks to me as if she has some sort of hidden motives are hanging out with a bunch of renegade Fishmen."
"Obviously," said Ragnar. He then looked at Hiccup. "Looks like you are right."
"The question is what we do next, we going to destroy Arlong Park?" Toothless asked.
"Let's hold on, it might be best if we try and figure out what's going on first," said Ragnar.
"It's no use either way," said a voice behind them. They immediately turned around and saw Astra standing there. "No matter what you guys do Arlong's rule won't come to an end."
"Astra," Snotlout stared.
"You know her?" Hiccup asked.
"She's Astrid's big sister."
Ragnar blinked. "Now this is certainly gotten more interesting."
Toothless looked at her. "What you mean that it's 'no use'?"
"Just trust me, don't get yourself involved in what's going on here and leave Astrid and Fishlegs alone," said Astra. "I'll explain the situation."
"Situation?" Ragnar questioned.
"You mean you can tell us why they joined up with Arlong's group?" Snotlout asked.
Astra nodded. "Yeah, and if that doesn't get you to leave I don't know what will."
"Then tell us, I have to admit I'm curious," said Snotlout.
Hiccup closed his eyes and walked off. "I only have a pretty good idea on what's going on."
"But we barely know anything?" Ragnar questioned.
"Astrid already told me everything I need to know, Snotlout just proved my suspicions."
"Then were you heading?"
"For a walk," he said simply.
Snotlout stared at him. "A walk? You mean you're not going to listen to this!"
"I already said I know pretty much what's going on here," said Hiccup without turning around.
Astra looked at the others. "And who's he?"
"That would be our Captain," Ragnar smiled. "I wouldn't worry about him, but I think the rest of us want to know what's going on."
"I second that," said Toothless as he sat down against a tree. "We'll hear you out, but I can tell you right now that it won't make a bit of difference."
"I'll listen too," said Snotlout. "I for one would like to know what's going on around here."
Astra just looked back at Hiccup as he walked off into the distance. "I see. He's the reason why this was hard for her."
Meanwhile at Leefside Village another naval ship had just arrived and the entire village were excited.
"Look there is a Marine ship at the shore!"
"It's Branch 16 ship! Maybe headquarters is finally taking action after what happened to Branch 77."
However, walking onto the port was the captain that Arlong had been bribing.
"I'm Captain Rattus of Branch 16," he said looking at everyone. "Now then Constable Goodwin, please step up and make it snappy."
Goodwin then took several steps forward. "Yes, Captain. I'm the one that you're looking for."
"You, huh?" he said looking up and down him. "Take me to Astrid's house right now."
Goodwin blinked. "Astrid, but why? I don't understand what's going on, Captain."
"Lead the way that's all you need to do."
Astra looked at Ragnar on the others as she began to tell her entire life story.
"At the beginning, it all goes back to 8 years ago, up until that day when we were still little children she lived here in the village. Astrid and I will never forget as long as we live, her name is Bel."
