Chapter 16: Shark Superb! The Arlong Pirates Attack!
A new day on Fishman Island where Ash and Pikachu prepared breakfast for the crew to which most of the boys and even Robin joined in the kitchen to eat. "So how was it to talk to Weak-hoshi yesterday at the palace?" asked Luffy. Despite the thoughtless insult, Ash smiled.
"Luffy, I did make sure to give you and every Straw Hat a good word," he lied. "I wouldn't go making childish insults like that." Robin and Chopper giggled, thinking their Vice Captain made a good comeback.
"Anyway, what did you and Shirahoshi talked about?" wondered Franky.
"What else? Pokémon! I explained how I acquired Lapras and Snorlax before finding you guys."
"Of course, you'd be talking about that," scoffed Usopp. "But then again, that's your life before that accident. I would've been rather surprised if you talked about your enemies, Team Rocket and what to watch out for." Ash snickered before looking to Sanji. The grumpy disposition told everyone his emotion to Ash swimming with the princess.
"Sanji, if you were around, I would've allowed you to join me in seeing Shirahoshi. You don't have to be sour grapes because of that."
"I'm not sour grapes!" snapped Sanji.
"Alright, so you don't mind that I'm heading back to have more face-to-face with her. I see what you want." The grumpy cook shed tears, a sight Zoro sneered.
"That's the face I'd like to see when he loses the wager," he huffed a chuckle. Robin came up with a question for Ash.
"You've gotten to know us for sometime, Ash," she spoke up. "If you had a choice between all of us, who would you want to bring home among us?" Ash blinked to the question before closing his eyes to think. The thinking didn't take long.
"It would be Nami." Other than Sanji, the others gawked. "She's been a big sister to me and already, she feels like family I never knew I had." All smiled, including Sanji.
"A big sister, huh?" he chuckled. "If that's how you feel about her, I shouldn't have to worry too much." As the group ate Ash's breakfast, Nami met up with Shirahoshi in her room in Ryugu Palace.
"You seem more in control of yourself since we last met," Shirahoshi noted.
"Well, ever since Ash joined the crew, I've felt like I got something I didn't know I lost or had," Nami expressed. "He's been such a classy guy that I feel at ease whenever he's helping Luffy or Brook or Robin for that matter. Funny enough about Robin and how close she gets to Ash…" Shirahoshi looked on, curious. "She does treat him like his mom back home in Pallet Town. Suffice since he's been mistaken for another mom's son a couple of times." Shirahoshi hiccuped to the news before letting out a laugh.
"That's gotta be funnier than how Ash dressed as fruit to lure his Snorlax!" The information made Nami burst out in laughter.
"That's rich!" Both cackled for a good minute before they eased up. "I deserved that..." She smiled and looked away while Megalo wondered what's on her mind. "It still amazes me to how Ash can still live his life despite not having a dad to come home to…" Shirahoshi gasped to the detail about Ash.
"He… has no father?"
"We don't exactly know if he's dead or alive… though, he's responsible for him and if he doesn't want to show his ass, he's gotta pay through the wallet." Shirahoshi felt bad for Ash, having to live without a father.
"Despite that, he's a great young man to have a great conversation. He's incredible for what he does, and even my father and brothers have felt trustworthy around Ash and his Pokémon…"
"For sure, it's no question why we elected him as Vice Captain. One of the smartest things Luffy's ever done." Shirahoshi's smile reemerged. Suddenly, she had a question for Nami. She fidgeted on her wonder.
"Nami, is it all right if I ask you something? I don't want it to be personal..." Nami didn't seem to mind the princess asking.
"Sure… What's on your mind?" Shirahoshi twiddled her thumbs in nervousness.
"Do you, um… Are you in love with Ash?" Nami gawked to the question. She shuttered, feigning to answer.
"Well… I, uh… Oh god!" She took a deep breath before making her confession. "Okay, here's the deal… It's not that I'm not in love with him… He's better than about all the boys on the Sunny by far… but Ash has shown compassion to everything he's seen and done. We've had moments like sleeping on a hammock and him bringing the treasure from Nezumi's fort. Hell, he even promised to pray for Bellemere if we find our way back to Cocoyashi Village." Shirahoshi seemed pleased with the words used. "If anything… Ash is the little brother I never knew I needed. Maybe I could ask him sometime this afternoon… I'm sure he feels the same way." Shirahoshi smiled to the admittance.
"A little brother… He's been a ray of sunshine, even 10,000 meters below where the sun can't touch us." Nami nodded before returning a question.
"So, why ask?" Shirahoshi bobbed her head before facing Nami, cheeks rosy red. Nami saw the cheeks and gasped to the discovery. "Wait a second… Is it love?!" Shirahoshi's cheeks became redder as she bobbed a nod to the navigator. Nami's squeal made the fish outside scatter. "My goodness!"
"Well, he's… everything I want in someone I'd love: he's nice, gentle, humorous… I've never smiled so much in my life. He's not Captain Luffy who made me cry after he barged in my room." Nami sighed and shrugged her shoulders to the shenanigans from her captain.
"That's Luffy for you: never thinks things through."
"But Ash..." Shirahoshi began to float about as she swooned, falling backwards onto her bed. The princess's face still red, Nami determined her emotions.
"It's that deep, huh?"
"So deep, I would love for him to be my husband." Nami smirked to know of Shirahoshi's hearts on Ash. "I wonder how my father and brothers would feel about asking for Ash's hand in marriage." Nami huffed a chuckle to the idea. Neither one knew of a serious threat entering Fishman Island. At the Mermaid Cove, gossip between the mermaids swirled around. Among the mermaids were Camie and the quintuplets as they also got a refreshing swim.
"Come on, Camie!" spoke Ishilly. "You had to admire Ash as well, right?"
"Like his young face," listed Lulis.
"And his physique," added Fillonce.
"And his passion," Adele checked.
"Not to mention his Pokémon," Hiramera jotted. "Like Pikachu and Lapras… also that little Squirtle." Camie shuttered in thought to what the mermaids mentioned.
"Now, come on," she winced. "He may be charming but he's still a lot younger than any of us!"
"Don't be like that, Camie," Sora whined. "He's great for a swim and knows how to have fun!" The quintuplets had their weigh.
"Ash is fun," Ichika started.
"He is really fun to have around," Nika agreed.
"He's not that enjoyable!" disagreed Sonka.
"He does seem happy," Yonka pointed out.
"Is that what kind of human he is?" wondered Yonka Two. Camie and Adele laughed to the quintuplets' points of view. That's when a shadow covered the cove. The mermaids gawked to the new shadow as they spotted a huge ship above. Chew, Jessie and Meowth arrived and fired nets at the mermaids, their screams echoing. Chew's hair was flaky white.
"Talk about da catch of da day!" the Alley Cat Pokémon sneered.
"Now, let's hoist these fish into the tank!" ordered Jessie. As the nets started to rise back up to the Shark Superb, the cries of the mermaids seemed to go unheard. Back on the Sunny, Ash and Pikachu stood by the bow with their visit to Shirahoshi on the cusp. Ash looked to the sky, wondering how long he'll be here with the Straw Hats until he returns to Misty, Tracey and Togepi.
"You know, I bet Togepi wouldn't mind Shirahoshi holding him," Ash thought. "After all, he wasn't afraid of Charizard and Tracey's Scyther." Pikachu remembered the scene. Suddenly…
"Hey, Ash!" spoke Zoro. Ash and Pikachu turned to see Zoro and Sanji approaching.
"This can't wait any longer," Sanji groaned. "Ash, you need to decide." Ash blinked to the request.
"Decide?" he repeated.
"We made a wager to see which one of us would be the better teacher," Zoro explained. "It's between me with swordplay and Curly Brows with cooking." Other Straw Hats heard the wager and began to come out.
"Whoa, a wager!?" gawked Luffy.
"What's the wager about?" asked Brook. Robin, Franky and Chopper also became interested with the wager.
"Way to go, Moss-Head," Sanji growled. "Alert the crowd, why don't you?" Zoro growled at Sanji.
"You're the one who wanted a result!" he snapped back. Zoro returned to face Ash about his judgment. He seemed indecisive.
"You two have helped me with strength and cooking," he pointed out. "I can't thank you two enough for that…"
"But which one: Me or him?"
"We don't like it even between us," he advised. "It's one or the other." Ash feigned to answer between the cook and the swordsman.
"Those two don't have to do this to the Vice Captain," Usopp murmured. Fortunately, he wouldn't need to. A wail of a siren echoed throughout Fishman Island and the MotR spoke up using the speakers.
"Attention, Fishman Island!" he spoke. "We're under the invasion of the Arlong Pirates! I repeat! We're under the invasion of the Arlong Pirates!" Luffy, Sanji and Zoro gasped to the news.
"Well, that's not good," the moss-head growled. The news made everyone wonder where the pirates would emerge from. Sanji had a guess to where the Arlong Pirates would be at.
"They're docking at Mermaid Cove!" he yelled before getting off the Sunny.
"Wait, pervert!" Everyone followed Sanji to Mermaid Cove where they saw the mermaids tied up by the fins. Nami and Shirahoshi swam down to the same location where a horde of Fishmen stood with white hair.
"This looks familiar…" noted Robin. "Weren't the New Fishmen Pirates like this as well?" Numerous fishmen turned to the Straw Hats. One of them was a gray shark with a yellow Hawaiian button-down shirt and forest green cargo shorts. His nose looked like a spear-shaped saw. Luffy recognized the sharkman.
"It's been awhile, Arlong," he snarled. The sharkman turned to Luffy with a sawtooth grin.
"Straw Hat Luffy," he sneered. "It has been… Good to see you haven't changed too much." Seeing Arlong, most of the Straw Hats viewed the fishman.
"So he's Arlong, the fishman who killed Bellemere," Robin realized. "Quite fitting that it's a shark only hunting for pray."
"Indeed," Zoro acknowledged. "But his hair was as black as Ash's. Why is it white?" Arlong eyed the new people by Luffy's side.
"Some new faces, I see," he noted. "Some weird animal hybrid wearing a helmet, a walking skeleton, a cyborg and a grown woman." Chopper felt offended by Arlong's callous naming.
"I'm a reindeer!" he snapped back.
"You're shark meat by the time I'm done with everyone." Ash didn't react since he'd been left out. He did spot Team Rocket in tying Hachi's many arms.
"Now, let's see you get outta dese!" mewed Meowth. Hachi couldn't move, his arms and legs in knots and rope.
"I'm sorry, girls!" he whined. Seeing Team Rocket, Ash and Pikachu growled.
"I knew we'd see them again," Ash groaned. "Team Rocket…" Jessie, James and Meowth gawked to finding their enemy 10,000 meters with them.
"The twerp!" they gawked. Arlong heard the Rockets and figured the relationship as Nami and Shirahoshi arrived.
"So you know that brat, huh?" he studied. "It's hilarious how he's got a much bigger bounty than the three of you combined." Ash sneered to the comparison.
"Even more when you three only make half of our reindeer's bounty," he chuckled. Usopp saw more white-haired fishmen exiting the Shark Superb.
"Do you have any idea how we reacted to seeing those posters!?" roared Jessie. "I never have been so humiliated that not only did they not get a proper picture, they gave me a bounty I never asked for, let alone something as pathetic as only FIVE BERRIES!" When Nami arrived, she saw the prize nearly achieved when they boarded the Sunny before.
"Okay, cat!" she snapped. "That coin is worth more than the bounty on you!" Meowth snarled to the demand.
"Dis charm's part of me!" he hissed. "I'd be less a Pokémon if I lost it!"
"You're already less of a Pokémon by siding with a murderer!" Arlong heard and saw Nami, almost infatuated with her figure.
"Nami, my, how you've filled out so well," he grinned. "I'd say your body's more suitable than your and Nojiko's foster mother!" Nami scowled to Arlong's mock.
"Never compare me to Bellemere, you bastard! You're the reason my life's been Hell!" Ash started to see the connection of the two arguing while Brook began to hiss himself.
"So, you're the one who's tarnished sweet Nami from her happiness," he fumed. "And I see that you're following Hordy's example of using Energy Steroids. What madness are you trying to accomplish?" Arlong chuckled, a scoff to Brook's question.
"Why should you care?" he replied. "With this army, I'll take over my former home and use Poseidon's power to wage war on those who killed Tiger." Jessie came forward with a chilling follow.
"Not to mention that after eating a Devil Fruit, I'll be more powerful, with or without Pokémon," she alerted. "Sure, it's disgusting to eat- had to wash the taste out of my mouth- but you won't be able to stop me, and get back at the rubber boy for copyright infringement in using our name to his foolishness!" Learning the detail, Ash could only imagine what power she obtained. Robin decided to educate Jessie on being a user.
"So, you've taken a Devil Fruit to become powerful," she started. "Then you should be aware of the consequences. By eating a Devil Fruit, you do gain powers depending on what the fruit is known for, but you've forfeited your ability to interact with the seas and oceans and it's for a lifetime. One dip and you sink like a rock. Did you really think eating one only has benefits?" Jessie scoffed to Robin's explanation.
"You're saying that because you want to protect the twerp from what I'm about to do." Luffy took offense to Jessie's tease.
"He's not a twerp!" he screeched. "He's our Vice Captain!"
"I don't care if he's the king of the world, he's still a twerp, thief!"
"I'm a pirate, not a thief!"
"Who cares!" Jessie crossed her arms before flexing her chest out.
"Here it comes…" Franky warned. Jessie grinned before she began to morph. When her transformation finished, she turned into… a cockroach. She shrunk and looked up to the enemies in shock.
"What?! This can't be! What happened?!" All saw the transformation, some a little speechless.
"I believe her Devil Fruit's a Zoan-Type," Robin weighed.
"Now, I've seen everything," Brook gulped. "I'd say it's a good thing she didn't have the Energy Steroids, otherwise things would've been worse off for her."
"I heard that!" scowled the cockroach. She reverted back and became enraged. "What the heck did I just get?! It's useless!" Robin took mental notes of Jessie's new, if pathetic, abilities.
"Now, I see," she concluded. "I've heard the Marines routinely test Devil Fruits and some of them are rejects, though they've got names. If I were to guess, you got the Baka-Baka Fruit. The powers react to your intelligence level. Considering what you've transformed into, your IQ is nowhere near Ash's, let alone mine." Jessie growled greatly, not wanting to hear anymore lip from the archaeologist.
"If you're so smart, you can tell me how to get rid of this!"
"There's only one: death." Jessie didn't want to accept that answer.
"Excuse me! That's not gonna work!" Ash glanced to the captured mermaids, finding the quintuplets in a net.
"What are you planning to do with those kids?!" he ordered an answer.
"Those five?" guessed Kuroobi. "That's for us to know and you to die for!" The Arlong Pirates charged which scattered the Straw Hats.
"Ash!" called out Sanji. Ash leaped up from a diving fishman and got to the cook's side. "Ready for the duel threat?"
"Oh yeah!" smiled Ash. Sanji's leg flared up instantly and he lifted it. Ash smacked the leg with his forearm which began to burn.
"Diable Jambe…" they muttered. The fishmen came within arm's reach when Ash sprinted and delivered a flurry of blazing punches, scorching the fishmen.
"Fire Punch Flurry!" Sanji leaped forward with his burning leg and in lightning speed, kicked the burnt pirates.
"Poêle à Frire: Spectre!" he shouted. One more punch and kick sent the fishmen flying.
"Inferno Tendres!" they finished. Nami had her staff and Pikachu on the ready. More fishmen charged.
"Thunderbolt Tempo!" she shouted as she twirled her staff, a black cloud forming around her. Other fishmen entered, getting lost in the cloud. Suddenly, the black cloud became yellow with a blast of electricity as Nami and Pikachu emerged untouched. Those inside were shocked and couldn't move. Usopp spun to Ash with a request.
"Hey, Ash!" he called. "We need your Pokémon!" Ash nodded and threw a few of his Pokéballs.
"Bulbasaur, Charizard, Snorlax, I choose you!" he summoned. The balls opened before the three Pokémon emerged. Bulbasaur landed by Usopp who nodded to a plan.
"Hey, Bulbasaur… I need a few Leech Seeds." Bulbasaur nodded before sprouting some seeds from the bulb and Usopp plucked them as fishmen came forward. "This redefines my Pop Greens! I call this: Pop Green Succubus!" Usopp fired the Leech Seeds that split open and snared the fishmen. Quickly, the vines began draining the fishmen of their energy. "Now use Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur flung vines where they knocked down the pirates. Chew chased Ash where he stopped by Luffy.
"There's no escape from us," Chew proclaimed. "You're dead… Chew!" Ash and Luffy smiled before the Captain got on his Vice Captain's back.
"Catch us if you can!" sneered Ash before both vanished. Chew frantically looked around for the two.
"Where are Chew!?" Luffy and Ash appeared in several spots. Close, Chew punched but it's an after-image, not harming them.
"Gum-Gum…" shouted the leaders. Finally, the two appeared between Chew. "Shadow Gatling!" Ash and Luffy launched several punches like a pair of machine guns. Chew's chest caved in from the broken ribs and became embedded by force in a wall. He wasn't conscious. He remained stuck for a minute before peeling off. More pirates wanted to make sure there weren't anymore surprises. However, a giant mech appeared which looked a lot like Franky.
"SUPER!" he shouted. The fishmen became scared at the sight. "Behold: The Franky Shogun!" It did a pose while the fishmen began to backpedal. That wasn't a good move after Chopper transformed into a man-like body with muscular legs.
"Jumping Point!" he shouted. All watched as Chopper soared high in the sky. Snorlax got to his feet. "Body Slam!" Snorlax nodded before jumping high in the air. The fishmen wondered what to do.
"Catch it!" one figured. "The Energy Steroids should catch it!" Unfortunately, Snorlax slammed the ground and propelled the fishmen to the sky. Chopper transformed again to the Kung-Fu Point. The fishmen could only watch before getting pummeled. Zoro got to Ash with a pair of swords on hand.
"My turn!" he called before tossing Ash the swords. Pirates came after the two as Zoro position himself behind a kneeling Ash, arming the swords in hands and mouth while Ash spun the swords backhanded with the arms crossed.
"Roronoa Zoro, you're ours!" one fishman growled. Both swordsmen prepared to strike.
"Five-Sword Style!" they shouted together. The fishmen jumped. Ash and Zoro vanished before launching strikes on the group. "Hydra Star!" The two reemerged behind the fishmen as they sheathed swords. All fell to the multiple slashes. Charizard flew over with Nami on his back.
"Like the fact that Ash told us what moves you can use," she mentioned. "You ready?" Charizard nodded before Nami took a section of her staff off. "Now, Flamethrower!" Charizard breathed a massive flame. "Gust Sword!" The blast of wind turned the Flamethrower into an inferno blaster and scorched more of the pirates and Team Rocket. Meowth smashed into a wall and the charm from his head came off. Pikachu came over to find it and pick it up while Meowth panicked.
"Where's my charm!?" he cried. Arlong stomped his foot before facing the Straw Hats.
"Enough!" he yelled. Everyone stopped. "I did not come home to be humiliated by humans! I want the power!" Luffy growled, ready to fight captain-to-captain.
"If you had a problem with us before," he started. "It's much bigger. Your pirates are still weak, despite the Energy Steroids." That's when Ash placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder. The Straw Hat turned to Ash.
"Now that I've seen Arlong, I'll take him on," he offered. "Besides, Nami's a part of my life… and Arlong needs to be held accountable."
"You sure?" Ash lofted a nod.
"So, the 75 million Berry Vice Captain wants to challenge me?" scoffed Arlong. "I'd be happy to take you down… and if you care about Nami, killing you will make it more satisfying." Challenge accepted, Ash now faced a challenge against a fishman bent on domination. It's a one-on-one battle to save the mermaids.
TO BE CONTINUED...