"Just a bit more to the left… and set it down!"

"That's the last panel! We're done for today!"

"Now it's time for dinner!"

Arlong watched the construction crew swim away from a single-storey house, just the latest of hundreds of houses on the main deck of Noah. Said crew were mostly locals from the Fish-Man District, but one of them was a builder from the main island.

There was friction before, but now they seem to be working pretty well together… Arlong thought.

Arlong swam at a lazy pace, passing hundreds more new houses. The ship had plenty of space on its main deck, enough to take the entire population of the district—well over a hundred thousand people in all—with room to spare. There was even more room within the ship itself, but that remained unutilised for now. After spending so long living in the shadows, the people of the district were just glad to be able to bask in the light.

Eventually, Arlong reached the starboard edge of the deck and peered over the side. The former Fish-Man District had been in the shadow of the gigantic ship, but most of it was now gone, cannibalised for materials to build the new town atop its deck.

It's been four and a half weeks—about a month—since that fight… the surface-dwellers would never be able to relocate an entire town this quickly.

…Or could they? I shouldn't underestimate them anymore, not after everything I've been through. The natural strength of fish-men doesn't mean much when some humans can easily smash buildings…

Arlong thought back to how he—or rather, the people of the Fish-Man District—had managed to make it this far.

-ooo-

For the only the second time in his life, Arlong had come to Ryugu Palace. And this wasn't just a quick visit to one of the outer rooms, quite the opposite.

"You have done another great service to Fish-Man Island, young Arlong," said a giant-sized coelacanth merman with bushy orange hair and a matching beard. A pearl-studded golden crown sat atop his head, while an ornate golden trident rested in the crook of his left arm. "Those murderers will never kill again." His brows creased in quiet fury. "Nor… will they ever see the light of day again."

Arlong privately thought that if the Neptune Army had been even half-competent, they could have caught Hody's gang long ago, regardless of how careful the latter group was. But even he wasn't so stupid as to say that aloud here. The king of Fish-Man Island might have retired from combat decades ago, but Arlong had no doubt that Neptune could snap him like a twig if provoked. And if Fish-Man Island still had the death penalty, Arlong had no doubt Neptune would've killed Hody personally for what he'd done.

"Just… doing my civic duty, Your Majesty," Arlong said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arlong noticed some of the Ammo Knights who were standing off to the side. They were visibly discomforted by his presence, though they too weren't stupid enough to say anything out loud.

"You have a known history of getting into trouble, Arlong," King Neptune said. "But what you have done today is more than enough to be pardoned for that… and other actions you may have done."

Neptune's eyes bored into Arlong. It was clear he'd heard of Arlong's history in the East Blue—a king had better access to information than regular citizens, and news of a fish-man crew's defeat wouldn't have escaped his notice.

"He has changed, Your Majesty," said Ahab, who was standing next to Arlong. "I swear that on the name of the Sun Pirates."

King Neptune nodded slowly. "Then I shall trust your judgement." He turned back towards Arlong. "It seems you refused any kind of reward last time. But you agreed to this audience this time because there is now something you want."

"Yes," Arlong said. "There is. I'm hoping to fix up the Fish-Man District."

That caused quite a stir in the audience hall. Courtiers and guards whispered to each other behind webbed hands. From the sounds of things, many of them thought he had to be lying, trying to wheedle reward money out of the king to spend on his own amusement.

But Arlong didn't pay them any attention. He faced the king of the island head-on… and to his credit, the king seemed to be taking him seriously.

"I've been thinking about this for a while, Your Majesty, and I've figured out the things that the district needs to improve. First, it needs to be moved. In its current spot in Noah's shadow, farming is difficult, and everyone's constantly depressed. The people need to be moved to somewhere with sun."

That resulted in more whispering. This time, however, many of the whispers sounded guilty… just as Arlong had been hoping for.

A long time ago, Queen Otohime had addressed the entire island via the official broadcast. She'd pointed out that they all lived in Fish-Man Island, rather than in any other part of the ocean floor, because of the sunlight and the fresh air here. Ahab had told Arlong of this, shortly before the current audience, and now Arlong was exploiting it.

"If I may interject…" said a seahorse merman, the island's current Minister of the Right. "I can see that moving the Fish-Man District's people into the sun would be good for them. Then are you suggesting that they move into the main island?"

Many of the people in the audience hall looked scandalised by the idea. Arlong couldn't fully blame them, since it was true that the district was full of criminals. But they'd never be able to change unless they were given the opportunity.

At Arlong's side, Ahab clenched his many fists. After seeing the people of the district with his own eyes, he was clearly frustrated at how they were perceived by the rest of Fish-Man Island. Arlong might have felt touched by this… but he had something else occupying his attention right now.

"No," Arlong said, swallowing his pride. He had to propose something that would be acceptable to this lot. "I'm suggesting that they can move to a sunny area that's vacant right now, and conveniently near—"

Suddenly, Arlong felt a flicker of danger in the distance.

Did I suddenly awaken Observation Haki now!? Or is it just something stirring up the water outside!?

Even as he thought that, Ahab was already swimming towards the exit of the audience hall. Arlong followed him as fast as his legs would allow, ignoring the shouts of alarm from all around him.

The two of them reached an open window in the outer wall of the palace. Here, Arlong spotted a massive sword, twice as long as the average fish-man's height, hurtling through the water. It was aimed at a tower of the palace… a tower that was inexplicably covered in similarly large weapons.

"…What?" Arlong gasped. "Were Hody's gang not the only ones who—!?"

"No," Ahab said, his eyes hard. "This is someone else."

From behind, Arlong sensed many bodies disturbing the water, one of them very large. It had to be the king and his guards.

"Arlong," Ahab said. "You take care of this, got it?"

Though confused, Arlong had too much battle experience to wait for an explanation. He grasped the water with both hands and threw it with the force of a cannonball. It collided with the sword and snapped it into several pieces, which then sank down in different directions.

"An attack with… a giant sword?" Arlong said. "What kind of projectile is that? And there's… more on that tower over there…"

But before Arlong could reply, King Neptune appeared. He swam towards the window as well, forcing Arlong and Ahab to quickly move aside lest they be crushed by the merman's bulk. Then he stared out the window at the sinking remnants of the giant sword.

"…It's been weeks without any attacks…" Neptune said. "I was almost thinking he had given up at last… But it seems I was too naïve."

Arlong looked at the remnants of the sword, then at the tower covered in embedded weapons. No other part of Ryugu Palace was like that, just this one tower.

"Your Majesty… pardon me, but what the hell just happened?" Arlong asked.

"Have you ever heard of Vander Decken, young man?" King Neptune replied. He'd now turned his gaze to the tower as well, with both fury and… concern in his eyes.

"Vander… Decken?" Arlong said. The name was familiar, but he wasn't about to admit he once tried to recruit the man. "Wasn't he… some pirate from hundreds of years ago?"

"Yes, but he had descendants," King Neptune said. "One of whom now plagues us today… he is the reason my daughter can never go outside!"

Neptune gripped his trident tightly enough that his knuckles turned white. Arlong wouldn't have been surprised if the metal of the trident had given way under his grip.

Arlong thought about the merman king's only daughter. She would be in her teenage years around about now. She hadn't been seen in years. There were rumours of her being the most beautiful woman in the world, but these were certainly exaggerated.

"…You said this hasn't happened for weeks," Arlong said, trying to find the appropriate words to say. "Before, how often did this happen? And… why?"

"Sometimes once a week, sometimes multiple times a week," Neptune said. "And it began when my dear Shirahoshi was but a child…"

An aura of sheer, overwhelming fury emanated from Neptune. Arlong subconsciously backed away. So too did Ahab and the Ammo Knights.

"At first it was letters and strange packages, and when we did not dignify those with a response, weapons started to be thrown," Neptune continued. "From that day onward, Shirahoshi had to stay inside the Hard-Shell Tower for her own safety. It was once an armoury, you see, so it's the sturdiest part of the palace."

Never heard of this while I was here… Arlong thought. He must've started doing it after I left for East Blue.

"Vander Decken's never been caught?" Arlong asked. To better sound like he didn't know the man, he added, "And wait… you said 'thrown'?"

"He has the power of a Devil Fruit," Neptune growled. "Otherwise, we would have caught the bastard by now! But… he can throw his 'gifts' from far away, even from outside the island itself! So he can continue his brazen assaults for year after year, while we can do nothing!"

Arlong looked at Ahab. The octopus fish-man sighed defeatedly.

"We—the Sun Pirates—tried catching him as well," Ahab said. "But Vander Decken's a cunning one. Not only does he keep his distance from the island, he also stops his attacks whenever he gets any hint of our crew returning home. That way he leaves no trace of where he is—I'm sure he's constantly on the move, too—and it's why you hadn't seen any attacks from him until now, after the rest of the Sun Pirates left."

"And, as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Sir Jinbe cannot spend all his time hunting down one minor pirate…" King Neptune said.

Then Ahab slapped one hand on Arlong's shoulder. The latter felt a sense of foreboding.

"But now I have an idea, Your Majesty," Ahab said, his lips curling up into a smile. "Arlong here brings his own skillset to the table. And because he's no longer affiliated with the Sun Pirates, nor part of the Neptune Army, he's less likely to scare Vander Decken off."

Arlong really, really wanted to punch Ahab in the face.

"Will it work!?" King Neptune said, his eyes filled with a desperate hope. He brought his close to Arlong, causing the latter to feel like he'd come face-to-face with a giant.

But for the sake of the district's people, Arlong could only do one thing.

"I'll… I'll try, Your Majesty…"

-ooo-

That had been a month ago. During that time, the Fish-Man District received more support than Arlong had ever imagined. The king had sent in over two thousand people and had even appeared in the district himself, in a single brief visit. In that visit, he'd officially declared that the district's people could make Noah their new home. It had been a great shock to those in the district and out of it.

Maybe the local newspapers are screaming about it now… wondering if I've got blackmail on Neptune, and that's why he's going this far…

Seriously, what the hell? How much does that geezer love his daughter?

That thought briefly made Arlong pause. He'd never had any children, nor had he ever had thoughts of it. But of course, many of his crew members were different.

Hodge's already married now… It's a damn shame I missed the wedding. But this work is still important.

Speaking of which, I need to make sure to do my other job too. That geezer is going this far because Ahab roped me into this scheme to catch Vander Decken. If I don't get results, then he'll bring all of Fish-Man Island's wrath down on me.

As for Ahab himself, he'd disappeared a couple of weeks ago. He'd said he was going to lie low to avoid potentially spooking Vander Decken, but he'd still be keeping an eye out. Arlong certainly wasn't sad to see him gone.

Returning to the present, Arlong began another trip around the deck of Noah. It took him a good solid hour due to the sheer size of the ship.

Quite a few people looked up as Arlong passed by. And while there was still a little fear in their expressions, it was far outweighed by respect. It actually made him feel uncomfortable.

I've never been treated like this by law-abiding citizens before… Is this because of the king throwing his support behind me?

At one point, Arlong came across a group of kids crowded around another, who lay battered and bruised on the ground—a textbook case of bullying. He scattered the bullies just by putting on a stern face and approaching. Then their victim tried to say something, but Arlong hurried off quickly. He'd never been good at dealing with brats.

Seriously, can't they just think for themselves!?

Towards the end of his walk, Arlong came across a mermaid with purple hair. They made eye contact briefly, but that was all. The mermaid finished her current task—harvesting kelp from a garden bed—then swam away without another look.

Arlong went over to the garden bed. There were still some clumps of kelp here, just too small to be harvested yet. He found a folded piece of paper nestled amongst the kelp. He kept it in his hand and didn't open it until he found an alley between two of the new houses.

The writing on the paper was quite rough, as was common for residents of the Fish-Man District.

"Asked around. VD doezn't come here himself, but sometimes 1 or 2 of his crew comes to trade."

That made sense. Vander Decken himself had to stay away from Fish-Man Island to avoid being caught—even the slightly isolated Fish-Man District would be too much of a risk. But he would still need to resupply on a regular basis, and for a fish-man pirate crew, there were no better options than the district. Anywhere on the surface had the risk of running into Marines or bounty hunters. Also, some of his crew might have friends or family in the district that they wanted to see from time to time.

"Murk's gang plans to start truble. They hate humans more than most, so don't like the current king. Not sure yet what they'll do."

Of course, not everyone in the Fish-Man District was on board with the rebuilding plans. Not everyone was willing to drop their illegal enterprises. Not everyone would accept a government that sought peace with humans… an attitude that Arlong had contributed to.

There was no changing that now. All Arlong could do was get rid of any obstacles to the plan. When possible, he achieved this by calling in the authorities on them. And when that wouldn't work, when the obstacles were skilled enough to hide from the law… he took care of them himself. Arlong's fists had seen use three times so far since the confrontation with Hody's gang.

Arlong continued his walk around the deck, gaining more information from his other informants. He found out more about the plans of Murk's gang, enough that he'd be able to tip off the Neptune Army to launch a raid. However, he still didn't have enough to track down Vander Decken yet.

Makes sense… this is a guy who's been literally attacking the palace for years, had their full attention on him, and never been caught… I just have to keep this up. Sooner or later, Vander Decken's crew will come here, and then I can follow the trail… Better make sure my reputation doesn't get too good in the meantime…

Arlong wondered just how he might do that. He was very experienced at building up a fearsome reputation for himself. However, doing that when he was personally endorsed by the king… might be a bad idea.

It'll be tough to balance the two things, fixing the district and also being able to lure in that stalker. Something to think about later. Right now… yes, I've got to plan for that meeting for the rebuilding plan.

It was surreal that Arlong was now attending meetings with good, upstanding citizens from the main island. Especially since he was expected to actually contribute: explaining which of the district's people were most in need of help, which were likely to cause trouble and should be watched, the kinds of illnesses that needed treatment, various things like that.

As Arlong made his way towards his current home, a house in the centre of the deck, he ran into some familiar faces.

"C-C-Captain Arlong!"

Over a hundred kilos of octopus fish-man slammed into Arlong, almost knocking him down.

"Hatchan!" Arlong exclaimed. He looked over his friend's shoulder. "Kuroobi! Chew!"

"Arlong!" Kuroobi said, giving him a slap on the back. "You're doing even better than we thought!"

Chew was shaking his head. "Hard to believe this is the same district we grew up in, choo…"

"Eh, I had a lot of help," Arlong said. "More importantly, is everyone else doing fine? They haven't—"

Arlong's friends shook their heads. They said nothing, so as to avoid giving away the secret to anyone who might overhear this conversation.

That's a relief… At this moment, the rest of the crew should be thinking I went to the district completely of my own will… They don't feel like they have to join me…

"And what about Hodge?" Arlong asked. "Is he angry that he missed his wedding?"

"Of course not!" Hatchan said. He let go of Arlong and stepped back. "Nyoo, I guess he was a little sad at first, but after he heard about the good work you're doing, now he's just impressed!"

"At this rate, it shouldn't be too long before we're hearing talk of kids," Kuroobi said, a smile on his face.

"Maybe not just from Hodge and his wife…" Chew said. He looked knowingly at Hatchan from behind.

Heh, so that's what's going on, Arlong thought. One thing I do regret about this job is that I miss out on what everyone's doing.

"Anyway, I'm just glad you three came here to help," Arlong said. "But it's getting late, so there's no point in starting work now! Let's go to one of the new bars! Drinks are on me!"

The four fish-men began walking to the nearest bar, Arlong in the lead. Along the way, Arlong learned about what his friends hoped to do for the district.

Hatchan, who'd always had a passion for cooking, wanted to teach others how to cook and start their own restaurants. He claimed that it would give people jobs and lift people's spirits. Arlong could see his point, although he hoped Hatchan wouldn't focus exclusively on takoyaki.

Kuroobi wanted to open up a dojo in the district, a branch of the existing Fish-Man Karate Dojo. Many of the district's residents had a love of violence, so he hoped that training them in martial arts would help them learn discipline.

Chew, to Arlong's surprise, wanted to start a crafting workshop. He'd never been interested in this topic before, but that had changed after his loss to a human who'd used various tools to overturn the gap in physical strength. On the voyage here, Chew had spent most of his spare time reading books about crafting, maintaining and upgrading things. After arriving on the island, he'd read more books and also started putting his skills to practice. However, he'd kept all this a secret until now out of fear of being laughed at.

Everyone's moving ahead in their lives, Arlong thought. Even without me watching over them, they're finding their own paths.

If we'd stayed on Conomi… never been defeated… we would never have gotten to do this.

Eventually, Arlong's group came to a bar. The sign over the door said "Kraken's Brew". The booze on offer here was quite good for its cost, and Arlong had been here many times in the past.

They went inside and stopped in their tracks. They'd been expecting a cheerful atmosphere inside, full of drunk patrons celebrating their work. Yet everyone was talking about a completely different topic.

"Enies Lobby is destroyed… it's hard to believe."

"Just who did this? One of the Four Emperors?"

"Must be, no one else could pull it off…"

"But they're sayin' it was actually some rookie pirate crew!"

"It's just a wild rumour! People just like to think that's actually possible!"

"Hey, you pickin' a fight with me!?"

Arlong's eyebrows twitched at the mention of "rookie pirate crew". He forced himself to stay calm. It was unlikely that this rumour was even true and, even if it was, that the crew in question was the same one that had defeated him.

"But what'll happen next? No way the World Government's taking this lying down."

"Maybe they'll send in the Seven Warlords. Maybe even Sir Jinbe…"

…Can't forget that while we're all working down here, things keep changing on the surface too, Arlong thought.

But I should look on the bright side. If the surface is in chaos, Vander Decken's more likely to come down here in person, to get away from it all. Then me, the boys and Ahab can finally grab him.

AN: Something I should make clear: Neptune didn't personally endorse Arlong, since that would make it harder for him to track down Vander Decken. It's an example of Arlong's biased narration.