Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

The Fishman's Rule

Usopp rubbed his cheek due to the pain he was experiencing at the moment. He looked at Nami's sister who was currently trying to kill him with her glare; she would've succeeded given how fearsome she looked at the moment, but Usopp pulled himself up, and yelled, "What the heck was that for? Is that how you treat your guests?" Nojiko arched an eyebrow and what followed were sounds of punches and kicks with Usopp beaten to a pulp after it. He knew at that moment that he should choose his words wisely, so he asked, "Can I know why you turned into a hostile threat to my safety all of a sudden?"

The blue-haired girl now calm or as calm as she can be, given that someone just mentioned ruining her sister's life work casually said, "Are you morons insane? You want to die. My sister has been working her entire life to fulfill the debt to Arlong, and you people want to come along and simply ruin everything." This remark caused Usopp to tilt his head in confusion. He was pretty darn sure he mentioned that they will only attack the fishman if he played chicken and back out of the deal.

The boy replied, "Are you sure you heard what I said?" the girl continued to glare at him, "I said we'll attack if he broke the deal with Nami. We know how important his deal is." He thought for a moment and added, "Although to be honest, my captain does favor beating him up, he respected Nami's wishes that she wants this to be resolved peacefully."

This didn't help alleviate Nojiko's worries; if anything, it even made them worse. She looked at the boy with the fury of a thousand angry harpies, and said, "So your captain is suicidal and the only reason he hasn't stormed Arlong's base is my sister wanting him to stay on the side." The look of anger disappeared as she said, "Why does my sister get associated with wired people?" she then began to rub her forehead.

Usopp then said, "Look I know that the fishmen have been wreaking havoc here for years, but we won't do anything unless Nami wants us to. Plus, you aren't even sure if he's going to honor his word at the end of the day; that's the only reason my captain even suggested beating him up because something sounds fishy here, and I'm not talking about the fishman."

Nojiko looked at him, and even though she was still angry at him and his captain for even suggesting fighting Arlong; they made a few good points. What guarantee there is that Arlong will actually stay true to his word? It was well known that he bribed the local marines to turn a blind eye to all his crimes; what is the guarantee that he wouldn't send them to take all the money her sister stored all those years? The guarantee ironically was Arlong's love for money, but that still wasn't enough to stop him if he wanted Nami to stay in his crew. What was worse than that is the people who wanted to face him are Nami's friends. She could imagine how scared she was when they told her that they wanted to fight him. she doesn't want them to die not for her sake at least.

Nojiko then said, "Look, I know you guys mean well, and I'm sorry for punching you, but I think it's for the best that when your captain arrives that you all leave the island. you people don't know how the world works around here. You'll only cause trouble for yourself and us."

Usopp on the other hand didn't look convinced. Sure, he was deathly afraid of facing off against fishmen, but he was still going to do it because he was going to be a brave warrior of the sea. He stared at her a little bit and asked the million berrei question, "Alright suppose that I left the island, and we didn't face off against Arlong and his goons. What will you do if Arlong backed out of the deal then?"

The girl didn't answer him, but her silence was all that he needed to hear. They didn't have anything to do, if that ever happened or they could attack themselves which by itself is a huge catastrophe since they'd be walking to their death. He looked her in the eyes and said, "So the best thing you have at the moment is a transparent dream of Arlong agreeing to honor his deal, and at the same time you refuse any type of help or assistance since it contradicts the way of life you all are used too." He massaged his forehead, "You know this is going to be hypocritical coming out of me of all people, but you can't hide from your problems forever."

Nojiko only frowned at him, "You don't get it; these are fishmen we're talking about. They're stronger than a normal human. Off course, we're hoping that he will honor his deal, but we can't do anything if he doesn't." Nojiko crossed her arms. "So please, when Nami comes back, take your boat and leave this island. don't end your life in an impossible mission. You people don't even understand what're standing against."

Usopp still wasn't convinced; sure he was a coward, but he knew that eventually, he'll have to face fishman in the grand line. The rumors regarding Arlong say that he was from the grand line, so if anything they'd be only delaying the inevitable. They were going to clash against fishmen whether they wanted or not, and knowing Luffy he'll definitely want that. He replied, "Look, we're going to the grand line, so you have to know that we're going to come across foes that are tougher than fishmen and fishmen themselves, so it can't be helped."

The blue-haired lady bit her lip. She knew he was right, but at the same time, she didn't want her island to be turned into a pirates' testing ground or dueling arena. She wanted a solution for the Arlong problem years back, but what can she hope to achieve at this point? She sighed as she said, "Look, come with me, and I'll let you see the situation for yourself; maybe then you'll be convinced to leave the island. we don't need more problems than there already are. We have enough on our plate."

The boy nodded as the woman stood up, and ushered for him to follow her to her town. He didn't know what she hoped to achieve from this, but he knew he can't just run away. Luffy depended on him to help Nami, so he will do just that; he will find a way to help her and her village…

…he just hopes that he won't enter something that's way over his head.

Back in Arlong park, Nami was celebrating with Arlong on her return to the island. she was now downing a huge cup of booze that could knock out an elephant. The only one who can compete with her was Arlong himself. The rest were soft, and couldn't handle it although the manta ray man always hated her for it.

Their party was suddenly stopped when someone crashed through the gates, "Arlong, there was a human for Gosa village that tried to attack us. What are your orders?"

The blue fishman looked at him, and asked, "What did he look like, so I can catch him when I find him?" the other man blinked for a little as he replied, "I think he had a long nose and was wearing a yellow bandana."

Arlong put his bottle of booze down as he said, "I think he might be ending in Cocoyashi given that it's the nearest village he can go to." He rubbed his chin, "I have to go there too since something came up."

Nami meanwhile could only curse Usopp for attracting the fishman's attention.

Usopp followed Nojiko to Cocoyashi. Her village and Nami's end goal, but when they arrived. She pointed him in a certain direction, and told him, "Watch" the boy was confused not getting the point of this, till he popped his head out and looked at the center of the village.

In the center, a man with many scars sat under an umbrella as he watched the people go on with their day. Someone was selling someone else food. Children were playing around on the streets with their mothers yelling at them to stop. Some people were sitting and reading the news about the world while others were just daydreaming. All of their activities were going well till…

…someone came yelling, "Arlong, he's coming to the village. Did anyone of you fail to pay him this month?" The individual screamed afraid that his village might face the same fate that befell Gosa village.

One of the villagers then replied, "Of course, we always give our money hand-to-hand and in front of everyone so he can't say we didn't." this raised more questions about the reasons Arlong might come till the scarred man replied, "He's probably coming for me since they found a weapon collection in my house." The man was known as Genzo, and he was the town's mayor of sorts.

Everyone looked at him worried, but he said, "I want everyone to enter their houses, because things may get messy if he arrives and sees all of you here." He noticed that they were still standing so he yelled, "What did I say? Go and hide."

Everyone then ran into their houses like their dear life hanging onto a thread, but once they entered their homes they were plastered to the windows waiting for what was coming to happen. Genzo sat alone under the umbrella that was protecting him from the sun, but he suddenly felt a larger shadow above him, "Arlong, to what pleasure do I owe this visit?"

The blue fishman laughed, "Are you getting old Genzo, or are you playing dumb we both know why I came today?" the fishman looked at him directly in the eye as he added, "Aren't you the one who was caught having weapons in his house?"

Genzo nodded knowing that lying at this point will only bring destruction to his town, "True, I won't lie about this, but it's a simple hobby that I had since I was a child. I always liked to look at weapons." He looked down at the ground, "Are hobbies now a crime and forbidden?"

Arlong chuckled as he said, "Yes, in your case; it's forbidden. You see I hate weapons since they only breed hatred and war. And I personally don't like war. Weapons also bring the instruments that are meant to destroy peaceful places so I'm against it."

Back with Usopp, he gaped at Arlong's size, "Wow, that's huge and I thought Krieg was a monster. This guy looks like he can bench press him with all of his crew."

"Yes, that's Arlong." Nojiko said, "He's inhuman. He's a fishman, so do you get why you need to leave now before things get even worse for you." At this point, the boy was focusing on the interaction between both parties.

Arlong said, "Listen here, I have 20 villages under my control, and quite recently rebels have been popping up left and right. You don't have any hand in it, do you?"

The man wanted to glare at him, but he knew that Arlong will use this as an excuse to level the village on their heads, so he replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I can barely walk, I can barely feed myself, how do you think that I can fund rebels?" A lot of the fishman were agitated at the way their leader was, but Arlong wasn't bothered, "True. What you're saying is true."

He then added, "But because of those rebellions villages are being demolished. Just like Gosa, they thought that they can challenge their superiors and they ultimately paid the price. That was a lesson for the other villages to learn from, and I hope it went to all of you that if someone fails to pay the tribute, everyone suffers alongside him."

With Usopp, the long-nosed boy looked at Nojiko as he said, "He's serious. I thought the tribute was optional."

The girl shook her head as she said, "The tribute is practically the price for our lives. Arlong says as long as we can breathe, we can pay. No one is exempted from this. Men, women, the elders, children. Everyone has to pay it, or else we're all destroyed. Gosa was an example that. one man failed to pay though he begged Arlong for one more day, the village was destroyed and turned into rubble; you saw the handy work there."

Usopp's eyes almost popped from his head as he said, "All that for one person. Is that a little overboard? I mean couldn't he let them off with a warning."

Nojiko smiled as she felt like he was joking, but she shook her head, "That's the life under Arlong. With his radical racial views, killing a human to them is liking drinking water to us." This left Usopp shocked as he couldn't imagine someone being so trigger-happy; well there is Kuro, but he's a special kind of evil.

Arlong in the center of town opened his arms as he yelled, "Hear me well people of Cocoyashi. All you have to do here is collect money and give me your tribute. This is your life mission. You don't need to worry about anything else. I need enormous sums of money and you can provide." He looked at the sky as he yelled louder, "Because thanks to your tribute, conquering the east blue will become attainable. This will be known as the beginning of the Arlong empire."

Usopp looked at him with wide eyes as he said, "Arlong empire; is that even possible?" he went pale as he remembered his hometown, "Does that mean my hometown too?" he remembered Kaya and fear began to run through his veins. The girl was already weak, but she was returning to her health. If Arlong made his move, Kaya would be hurt and go back to square one.

Nojiko replied with nonchalance, "Well, whatever is going to happen will happen, so I can only advise you to go back to your loved ones and spend as much time as you can with them. In the meanwhile, we can only sit and watch…" she stopped for a moment before adding, "For the time being that is…"

"the time being…" Usopp wondered before he heard a grunt. He looked over the side with Nojiko only to see Arlong manhandling Genzo who was bleeding from his head.

The fishman held the guy as he said, "Weapons to me are a sign of rebellion. To me, it is a sign that someone is trying to disturb the peace that I worked hard to achieve in my lands." He shook the man as he talked to him. The man was silent as Arlong carried on, "So, just to be sure no one gets any funny ideas, how about I end you all together? This way we won't have more worrying hobbies on our hands."

Usopp was stunned as he said, "What? All of this for some weapons?"

He looked to his side only to find a space. He noticed that Nojiko had already left him and ran toward the center, "Are you insane? That guy is going to kill if you go any closer." The girl didn't pay any mind to that as she made her way to the center.

She yelled at the fishman, "What do you think you're doing Arlong? We all paid the tribute like we always did. You know that out of all of the villages, Cocoyashi is the most loyal to you. How can you even think that we're thinking about rebelling against you?" She clenched her fist as he said, "So let go of Gen." People tried to stop her but to no avail.

Arlong looked at her, "I did say that weapons are a clear sign of rebellion, didn't I? and yet, he broke the rule. He left me no choice but to kill him." he gained a vicious smile, "Or do you prefer the fate of Gosa where I destroyed the entire village on your heads." He got the desired effect when everyone went quiet.

Arlong began to laugh arrogantly as he began to taunt everyone, "Listen here you scum bags, if you as so much lay a finger on any of us, you won't live to see another day in this village. It won't remain another hour." Everyone looked at him in fear knowing that their tyrant for the last eight years is serious in his threats.

Genzo looked at the people looking at him with fear in their eyes for him, but he also saw that they were about to fight. That would cause a huge problem down the line. It would all the sacrifices that were made to become dust. He didn't want that, so he said, "Everyone, go inside your houses. There's nothing to see here. If we wanted to resist we would have done that years ago, and if we do it now all of our efforts in the last 8 years will be thrown down the drain, so please don't do anything stupid for my sake." He took a deep breath adding, "We all swore that we'll live didn't we? Doing this we'd be throwing that promise away. We must keep enduring to live"

All the villagers looked at him unsure what to do. On one hand, they knew he was right, but on the other one, how can they stand idle and watch one of their friends and neighbors get killed without moving a muscle?

Arlong laughed grabbing the man's head as he mocked him, "Well said. Living is important because if you live, you get to enjoy life." He then proceeded to smash his face into a wooden beam much to the villagers' horror, "everyone in their lives must know their position and status, and you see this man right here understand that. he knows that resistance is futile, so he accepted his fate."

Everyone gaped in fright as Arlong lifted Genzo bloodied forming declaring, "You need to know something that not everyone in this world is born equal."

He then threw Genzo to the ground, "Humans are best living under the dirt."

The villagers began to get slowly railed up as voices of anger began to fill the area causing Arlong to smirk under his breath, but Genzo quickly lifted his hand saying, "No, don't kill yourselves. If we all die here everything we'll come to an end, you all must live on."

Arlong grabbed Genzo from the waist, "Let this be an example to any idiot who harbors thoughts of rebelling against us. Watch closely…" Arlong swung toward the ground, "…as I make a warning of him to the rest of you."

The fishman was able to finish as a huge explosion enveloped him, "Gun-powder explosion." A voice that no one recognized rang out. This caused Arlong to let go of Genzo who fell to the ground with a thud.

This by itself caused a new issue for the fishmen; how did this? They received their answers when someone yelled, "Look over here."

All the fishmen looked at him as they yelled, "Identify yourself."

"Who do you think you are."

Usopp merely laughed putting on his best brave façade, "You don't know who I am. Pity, I captain Usopp of the Usopp pirates, conqueror of hundreds of countries and islands…"

The fishmen looked unimpressed, "Usopp… doesn't really ring a bell…"

"No, I don't I ever heard of him…"

Usopp continued with his rant, "I have thousands of followers that will obey my every command to the letter." Meanwhile down there, the villagers looked at him shocked as they wondered who he was except Nojiko.

At this moment, Arlong stood up growling, "You say you have thousands of followers. I couldn't care less, since I'll just stump them all." He looked at the long-nosed and he couldn't be less impressed.

One of Arlong's subordinates yelled, "Boss, he's that guy from Gosa village." This caused Arlong to pale as he said, "Oh no. he caught me, and he isn't afraid of my lies."

Arlong snarled, "Even though you're just a mere human, you dared to attack me." in a blink of an eye Arlong was beside the house that Usopp was standing on. The man lifted the house as he yelled, "Filthy little bug, learn your place." He then threw the house away causing it to smash into another house.

This caused the boy to hold onto it for dear life, as Arlong's men looked at their boss, and one of them said, "Boss, please calm down. If you continue like this you'll destroy this village." Another added, "It's easy to destroy them, but we need the funds."

The blue fishman scoffed, "If I destroy it, then we'll conquer another village to make up for the lost funds of this island."

Meanwhile, a fishman looked and yelled, "Look, he's still alive." This caused Arlong to yell, "Go and catch him. Bring him to Arlong park to decide his fate."

The other fishman nodded their heads to avoid their leader's wrath, as they knew not to annoy him when he was in a bad mood.

Usopp landed on the ground as he looked behind him and saw fishmen coming for him, so he ran like the wind. "Hey you, stop right there." The boy turned and used his slingshot, "CERTAIN KILL EGG STAR"

The projectile hit the fishamn's face as he began to complain from the horrible smell. This caused all of them to look with anger at Usopp who quickly ran away with a huge burst of speed, so he can keep his life and not die today.

Back in the village, the villagers began to swarm Genzo who Arlong left alone in rage after he was attacked, one of them said, "Gen, are you alright? Arlong messed you up really bad this time."

The man lifted his hand as he said, "I'm fine, so please don't worry yourselves about me. I'm sure that I can manage." He looked at the ground as he added, "And I'm sorry for all the trouble that I caused." Genzo knew that if he didn't have that weapon collection then Arlong wouldn't have used that as an excuse to attack the village and terrorize its citizens.

All of the villagers voiced their opinions reassuring the man that he wasn't at fault, but it was their rulers' ridiculous laws and rules that caused what happened today.

One of the villagers asked him, "Gen, do you have any idea who was that boy who saved at the last moment?" Genzo rubbed his chin; he had never seen the boy before so he simply shook his head as he said, "I'm afraid that I'm unfamiliar with him. I never saw him before in my entire life."

The other villagers nodded their heads, but they all turned to a voice, "Hey, what's going on?"

They looked at the source with looks of anger, disgust, and disdain. The villagers began to slowly empty the town square not wanting to interact with Nami who looked at them, and felt extremely hurt, but didn't show it on her face due to years of acting.

She walked up to Genzo and Nojiko asking them the same question, "Honestly Nami, you of all people are asking that? I think by now you should know your friend's handy work." Nojiko answered her. the girl sighed, "I think curiosity got the better of me." during this time, Genzo kept quiet.

Nami and Nojiko began to walk together till they reached the cliff of the island where they saw a small grave. Nami sat in front of the grave as she spoke to it, "Hello Bellemere, I know it's been a while since I talked to you, but I finally did it. I finally managed to gather the amount needed to buy this village."

Nojiko's eyes widened as she said, "You're kidding." Nami shook her head as she said, "My new captain gave some of the money he and his girlfriend have been saving for their trip, and it managed to up the total."

Nojiko smiled, "well that's great, but I kinda have some bad news for you…"

Nami looked at her as Nojiko told her what happened and she could only say, "WHAT?"

Back at Arlong park, Hachi was sitting on the rocks roasting a wild boar. He stood up and yelled, "MOMOO, IT'S TIME FOR LUNCH." The fishman waited for a bit, but the creature he was calling for never appeared. Unbeknownst to him, the creature did emerge from its lair, however, it sniffed something else and followed it.

On the boat with Luffy and the others, Luffy was now sitting with Robin beside him as they both enjoyed their lunch with both Sanji and Zoro, however, due to their love antics Zoro was having a hard time eating not from them but from the love cook who was crying rivers over how unfair it was for Luffy to have someone like Robin in his life. Zoro looked at him, "Can you stop? I'm trying to eat my meal in peace, and your stupid ramblings are disturbing the peace, you perverted cook."

This was all that it took for the fire of anger to ignite inside Sanji who looked at Zoro and said, "What did you say, you second-class swordsman?"

A tick formed on Zoro's head, "Care to repeat that, curly brow." This caused the two men to jump on each other as they both tried to beat the crap out of each other while Robin shook her disappointedly.

Suddenly the water around began to move. They looked around unable to understand what happened when a huge shadow covered the ship. They all looked behind them only to see a huge monster that looked like a huge cowfish. It looked down at them, or more specifically at their food. This caused the guys to yell, "It's a sea monster."

Luffy looked stunned as he remembered the coast guard of their island, "Wow, that's so huge compared to the one on my island." Robin could only nod as she marveled at the sight in front of her.

Sanji looked at it as he began to think of ways to cook it efficiently, "Cow, and it swims… you don't see that every day."

Robin added, "Hmm, this thing doesn't belong here. If I'm not mistaken, this cowfish is from the grand line, and its size is far greater than any seaking I ever saw."

The huge beast put its head down, as it began to sniff the food; this caused Luffy to go into a panic as he yelled, "It's after our food. Don't worry I'll protect it." The boy then stretched his arm back and yelled, "GUM-GUM PISTOL"

This caused the beast to groan in pain as it was thrown back into the sea with Luffy yelling at it, "Never try to come after my food ever again."

This made Zoro facepalm wondering why did he end up with a glutton for a captain, "Did you have to pick a fight with monster, Luffy?"

They looked only to see the monster is up and running. This time Zoro unsheathed his sword as he said, "At least next time, let me be part of the fun."

Both Zoro and Luffy were quickly kicked in the head as Sanji yelled, "You freaks of nature, don't attack something that only wants to eat since it's hungry." Sanji knew that hungry is something that can't be helped and since he's a chef, he must feed others whether be it people or animals for that matter.

The gentle chef approached the beast, "I'm sure you're injured and that's why you came to us." He held his hand to the huge thing ushering it to eat, but the monster then opened its huge mouth and was about to eat, Sanji kicked it, "DIE" The huge beat was then launched into the air and landed in the water.

Zoro scoffed, "What happened to feed those who are hungry? Did you back away so quickly?" Sanji looked at him with an annoyed expression as he replied, "If you weren't looking that thing was about to bite my hand off."

Momoo raised from the water a sit roared and lunged for the small vessel, as Sanji said, "Huh, looks like it came for seconds. I'll be happy to oblige." The man jumped into the air under the thing's neck, "Collier…" he said before kicking Momoo under its neck, "…Shoot." And with that Momoo crumbled into the water as Robin looked at it with a small frown saying, "They could've thrown the food for it to eat."

Back at Arlong park, the huge fishman looked around in anger as he was about to destroy everything in his path. He was still angry that the human attacked him. One of his subordinates said, "Boss, you need to calm down. You can't let one lowly human get to you."

Arlong looked at him as he replied, "I'll only calm down when I have his head under my feet."

Someone then said to him, "Then it's your lucky day, we managed to catch him before he escaped from the island, and we thought that you would have the honor of killing him." Arlong looked at the human in front of the human who was shivering in fear inside of Chew's grip.

Arlong smirked, "Where's all that macho that you showed at the village? Did it disappear when you saw me for real? You know killing you would really be an insult to me. I don't think I can even look at you due to your current look."

Usopp smiled as he tried to save his life, "Well, how about you let me go then? I mean there's no one point in killing me. and what happened at the village is just my people's way of saying hello to each other."

Chew then punched him saying, "Do you think that's really going to work on us you filthy scum."

Arlong looked at Chew and said, "Go and kill him." Usopp began to panic till someone yelled, "What's going on here?"

Usopp smiled in relief as he saw Nami approach the park. He yelled, "Nami, help me. these people are insane; they want to kill me."

Nami looked at him with little care in her eyes, "Why should I help you? You're just one of the idiots that I robbed blind." She laughed a little, "Please, don't tell me you came all this way to bring me back. That's really sad if you ask me." though on the outside she was laughing, on the inside, it was a different story altogether, she was nervous as hell trying to find a way to save this idiot's life without exposing herself.

Usopp who didn't catch the memo yelled, "What? I'm your friend Nami. The only reason we came here was to help you, and now your betraying us." Usopp at this point didn't believe that Nami played them all for idiots.

The girl laughed clapping her hands, "Well done, I used you and your pathetic crew of ragtag pirates to get what I want, and that's the money to fulfill my agreement with Arlong, and first thing tomorrow he'll have them, but did you honestly believe that I thought as any of you as friends?" Nami was mentally crying that the idiot didn't get what she was trying to do, but that was a problem for later.

Arlong meanwhile went pale. He heard Nami's words; she managed to collect all the money needed to fulfill their agreement, but that means he has to let her go; the problem with that theory was that it wasn't happening in a million years, so he pushed his thoughts to find a solution for this problem aside as he smirked at Usopp, "See this little human," Arlong pointed to Nami's shoulder where her Arlong mark was, "She's one of us. Hell, she is one of the most vicious people I have ever known. She's ruthless. She's ready to kill her own mother just to have money."

Usopp looked at Nami who looked uncomfortable. He finally understood that Nami was merely acting seeing how she zoned out when her mother was mentioned, but he was returned to the world of the living as Arlong said, "Now what to do you? How do I kill you? Should I hang you? Or should I cut your feet and legs off, and leave you to dry off just to make an example out of you?" Usopp paled in fear as he heard the man plotting his death in so many different ways.

Usopp quickly blurted in fear, "You don't want to do that, or you'll suffer the consequences." He didn't know what came over him, but the shocked face of Nami was all he saw as he understood that he made things even worse, and if there was any chance of survival he managed to blow it at this moment.

Arlong just laughed hard as he looked at him, and said smugly, "Oh please, tell me what are those consequences that I should be very afraid of human. I bet it's something so horrifying that I won't see it coming." Arlong wrapped his arm around Usopp as he said, "Now go ahead and tell me."

The boy gulped as he mentally berated himself, "My captain will come for you, and he will beat the living snot out you and your fishmen if you harm a hair on my head." Usopp declared, but his feet were shaking taking away the effect of the threat.

Arlong laughed, "If that's all then let him come, I'll tear him to ribbons."

Usopp looked at him saying with fear evident in his voice, "I wouldn't so confident if I were you, my captain managed to defeat Don Krieg, the same man that you used to avoid." This caused Arlong's laughter to die as he was reminded of a sore topic. On one of his ventures outside the island, he came across Krieg and they fought, but the man tricked him and managed to force them to retreat.

One of Arlong's subordinates looked at Usopp with anger as some tried to attack him, but Arlong lifted his hand saying, "Anything else before I kill you, human."

Usopp knew right now that he was one step away from death's door, so he had to pull all the stunts he had, "Plus, my captain's first mate is the pirate hunter Zoro, and we're tight. So you want to mess with the friend of a man known as a demon in human skin." The mere mention of Zoro's name caused goosebumps to travel through the lower members of the fishman pirates. Even Arlong was curious about him.

"Is that so, then let him come. I always wanted to fight with a human who can keep up." This caused Usopp's face to pale as he heard Arlong's words, and realized that his words had had the opposite effect.

Arlong looked at him, "Alright, I decided how to kill you…" he was cut off by a shout, "Wait! Don't."

Everyone looked back at Nami shocked that she stopped Arlong as one of the fishman asked themselves if Nami was going to betray them. Kuroobi quickly voiced his opinion, "Are you planning to betray us Nami?"

The girl scoffed; she never liked the manta ray fishman. He was always skeptical of her and just wanted to kill her. he had ridiculous views about humans; to her, Arlong was a human rights activist when she compared him to his lieutenant.

"No, and you know there's no reason to betray when I'm one day away from buying this village." Kuroobi scoffed; he always hated the girl aside from the fact that she was human, she was also cunning as a cat waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"No, I wanted to be the one that does the honor of killing this fool." She looked at Usopp dead in the eyes, "Perhaps, this would work as a warning for that captain of his not to come here."

Arlong smirked, "Well, why didn't you say so…" he walked and handed her a knife saying, "Go for it."

Usopp looked at her as he said, "Nami, don't do something that you'll regret later on. Put that knife away, so we can talk about this peacefully…" he didn't have a chance to finish what he was saying as Nami was right in front of him as she plunged the knife toward him saying, "This is for the best." She also whispered something to him as he clutched his abdomen taking a few steps back, and fell into the ocean.

Arlong laughed as he patted Nami on the back saying, "Well done, Nami. Heartless as ever." The girl didn't say anything as she walked away with the knife in her hand. She looked back and said, "I'll be here tomorrow with the money." She then walked to her home.

Arlong frowned as he walked to Hachi who was watching the entire thing and told him to go bring him, someone.

Off the coast of Conomi islands, a small ship could be seen hauled by a huge sea cow. Luffy sat in front of the ship as he yelled, "Nami, here I come to help you."

Author's notes:

Welcome guys to a new chapter of my fanfic, in this chapter we saw the rest of Nojiko's and Usopp's conservation, Arlong's rule, Momoo the sea cow getting hammered by the crew, Usopp getting captured, and Nami apparently killing him. I know some of you might be wondering why I kept the 'Usopp getting killed scene', but the reason is simple; it just shows how much Nami is willing to sacrifice for the people who she sees as friends, and I kinda like it. In the next chapter, we'll see Luffy's arrival and some other stuff.

As always please take care of yourselves, put a review telling what you think of the current chapter, and leave a comment telling me which Arc you are most excited for.

And finally, I hope you all enjoy reading my work and see you next time with a brand new chapter.