DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING, EXCEPT RAGNAR AND ALL VIKINGS IN THIS STORY! ONE PIECE BELONGS TO EICHIRO ODA, VIZ MANGA, TOEI ANIMATION AND FUNIMATION ENTERTAINMENT/CRUNCHYROLL LLC

Chapter 35: Usopp's in Trouble! When is Luffy Going to Make Landfall!?

The Going Merry only continued her course. The great Quinotaur was none too happy to be made a beast of burden, but what choice did it have? Luffy only sat high atop the Merry's ram figurehead, feeling the wind blow through his hair, all while he held onto his straw hat for dear life.

"YEAH! FASTER TO NJORDHOLM!" He exclaimed. Yosaku, Ragnar, Ingrid and Sanji all held on, seeing the island come closer on the horizon. Land was in sight. All they had to do was get close enough to cut the ropes then round the island from the northwestern coast. "Hold on Nami, I'm coming!" Luffy muttered to himself. He couldn't wait to see her again, so that the two of them could sail the Grand Line with her as part of his crew.

Meanwhile, Arlong was still none too happy about Usopp getting in a lucky shot, and was being dragged through the jungles of the island.

"LET ME GO!" He roared, throwing his own men aside, "FIND HIM! I WANT THAT LONG NOSED CREEP'S HEAD ON A PLATTER, RIGHT NOW! TO THINK THAT SOME LOWLY HUMAN WOULD DEFY US! THE FISH-MEN!" Finally, however, he was able to calm down and turned westwards, "C'mon, we're going back to Arlong Park." At this, most of the crew breathed a sigh of relief. This meant that Arlong's temper was kept in check. It was so much better than the stunt he pulled in Gosa.

At the same time, Usopp was still running as fast as he could for his dear life. Three of Arlong's pirates were pursuing him like a deer.

"Oh crap! I can't shake these guys!" He muttered, then hid himself in the thick underbrush of the jungle. Arlong's crewmen only looked around, but saw no sign of their target.

"Hey! Where did he go?!" One of them asked. They all would have begun searching the brush then and there, had not something distracted them. A horn sounded shrill and long, followed by the faint war cries of charging men and the thundering of hooves in the distance.

"FOR THOR!" A voice bellowed out, and from behind the three fish-men came a horde of Vikings mounted on horseback armed with lances. Among their ranks were other fish-men as well, and leading them was the greatest of them all: an orca fish-man wielding a spiked mace. He charged forward, swinging his mace with grace and ease at the pursuing fish-men. Usopp only watched from the bushes at the sight. There were fish-men who were fighting against Arlong? If that was the case, he could stay with them until Luffy showed up. The Vikings then dropped their shattered lances and hacked into the fish-men with swords and axes. "FOR JINBEI!" The orca warrior bellowed, throwing his mace, and smashing the two opposing fish-men into each other knocking them out before his mace was thrown back into his hand, "FOR WILLY!" He then cheered, as did the other warriors he led. This fish-man was different from the rest of Arlong's crew. Instead of scales, his body was covered in thick skin colored black and white. His hair was covered by the spectacled helmet he wore, and he had an incredibly powerful build for a fish-man of his age. On his body, he wore only a tiger striped pattern shirt and breeches, a red sash around his waist, and gold chains which dangled from his neck.

Usopp emerged from the underbrush just long enough for one of the Vikings to notice him.

"Over there, broga!" The Norseman called out to the orca, "Looks like they were chasing someone." The warrior then approached the Straw Hats' resident archer with a grin, "You've come a long way. Are you one of Arlong's dogs?"

"No, wait! That's him!" Shouted a familiar voice, and Usopp saw Johnny heading towards him, mounted on a horse, "Big Bro Usopp! You're safe!"

"Johnny?! Where were you!?" Usopp asked, clearly enraged that his teammate abandoned him to the fish-men back in Gosa, "I had to take on Arlong all by myself!"

"Well, kind of a long story," said the bounty hunter, "But I was on my way north when I ran into these guys. Apparently, these are the Elgrings."

"Wait, you're Ingrid's clan?" Usopp asked, "Thank goodness! We're here to help you against Arlong."

"Well then, you are in good company, drengr," said the orca, "For, as it turns out, Arlong and I have bad blood between us. I am Orca Willy: quartermaster of the Sun Pirates, and your worthy ally. Come," he said. Willy then raised his mace and declared, "Now, onto Njordholm for a victory feast!"

Usopp only breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe for now! The Vikings he and his shipmates were here to rescue managed to save him. And now, he was already en route to their intended destination. All he had to do now was wait for Luffy and the others to show up.

Back at Arlong Park, Zoro still relaxed in the throne usually reserved for Arlong, and was bored out of his skull waiting for Luffy and his group to arrive on the island. All around him were the corpses of the fish-men from Arlong's garrison. Their blood pooled round the entire yard from the sword cuts Zoro dealt them.

"What's taking so long?" He asked himself, reclining in the chair, "Luffy, where are you? Five more minutes of this and I'll die of boredom." At that moment, Zoro noticed three fishing rods poking above the walls of the fortress.

"Incredible!" A voice called out, "What are you? Some kinda super-fish? Not even the mighty Hatchan, octopus leader of the mighty Arlong Pirates, can pull you from the ocean! What an epic battle! I don't know what you are, but you're the gutsiest fish in the East Blue!" Zoro only looked on with minor amusement at the spectacle as Hatchan only pulled what was on the end of his line…which turned out to be himself! "What the!? It was me all along!?" The hook then finally snapped off, sending Hatchan falling over, but he only lifted himself up with four of his six arms, "You are indeed the gutsiest fish-man in the East Blue. Me. Hold on, that's weird."

"It sure is," said Zoro, who was now intrigued by Hatchan's antics. The octopus only looked up with shock as soon as he saw the pirate hunter.

"Hey! Who are you!? Speak up now!" He demanded, only to stupidly think that he was being asked the question himself. "Hmm? Who? Me? Well…I'm Hatchan! But all my friends call me Hachi!"

"You a fish-man too?" Zoro asked.

"Of course! Of course!" Hatchan declared as he began waving his arms up and down,

I'm an amazing octopus fish-man, but it looks to me like you're just a human."

"You got that right."

"You must be a Marine, or possibly a guest."

"A guest…?" Zoro asked, looking back at the carnage he inflicted, "Uh…you could say that."

"Arlong isn't here, is he?" Hatchan asked.

"No. I was hoping to make a deal with him, but he's gone," said Zoro, "I thought you might know where he is."

"Apparently, there's some long-nosed guy running around causing trouble," Hatchan explained, "So, Arlong locked up the long-nose's friend here, then went to Cocoyashi Village to hunt down that pesky troublemaker."

"Oh man…Usopp." Zoro muttered, 'He's definitely in Nami's home village. Well, I guess I better save him,' he thought, then jumped down to Hatchan's side, "This Cocoyashi Village. How do I get there?"

"Get in the boat," said Hatchan pointing to the clay jar, "You are a guest. I'll gladly take you, swordsman."

By the time Arlong managed to return, the wrecked bodies of the garrison he left behind lay before him, and at one, his rage only skyrocketed.

"What the hell happened here!?" He asked one of his dying crew members, picking his head up, "Who did this to you, brother!? TELL ME! WHO DID THIS, BROTHERS!"

"Roronoa…Roronoa Zoro…" the fish-man uttered out, causing everyone's eyes to widen in shock.

"What!? The Pirate Hunter, here!?" Arlong asked, utterly bewildered, "Has he finally come to collect the bounty on my head!?"

"We had him…" said the lowly seaman, "That prisoner we held…that was him…he was Zoro…"

"THAT WAS HIM!?" Arlong roared out in rage. To think that he had Roronoa Zoro held as his prisoner! He would have secured his reputation for eternity! Now that opportunity to claim Zoro's head had slipped through his webbed fingers!

"Arlong! He's telling the truth!" said another voice, and Arlong turned to see his quartermaster, Wapanda, emerge from the building. This fish-man was clearly a lionfish from his ornate fins on his spine and elbows. He wore a green short-sleeved shirt and Khaki breeches with sandals, along with a sash around his waist, "We actually had him in our prison, but he escaped."

"How is this possible!? Nami said she would deal with him herself!?" Arlong bellowed, before a thought crossed his mind, "No! There's no way she would have released him!"

"Exactly! Nami had no part in it! It's him! It's Willy! He's here on the island!" Wapanda declared, banging his fist against the wall, "I knew this would happen! I knew that Jinbei would send men to try and stop our operations. Now that he's a Warlord, the Sun Pirates are nothing if not resourceful. You should've heeded my warning after Brother Tai's death!"

At that moment, the smelt-whiting officer, Chew, approached the gates. He had blue scaled skin, along with slicked hair and thick lips. On his body, he wore a necklace made from oyster pearls, a striped blue waistcoat, brown leather breeches and sandals.

"Arlong, bad news. We couldn't find the long-nose, and we have bigger problems," he said, dropping the corpse of one of the scouts bashed in the head by Willy's mace. Chew only widened his eyes in shock at the massacre that happened in his absence, "What is this!?"

"Took you long enough, Chew!" Arlong growled. From the snarl on his face, he was by all means pissed. Now, Zoro and Willy would both be his next targets, if he could find him…

Meanwhile, Hatchan managed to get Zoro to the port of Cocoyashi Village at last. The pirate hunter only was all too happy to finally be at his original destination. The boat Nami took was still docked at anchor as well.

"Well, here we are! Cocoyashi Village!" Hatchan announced, letting Zoro disembark. "Arlong should be around here somewhere."

"Oh, great. Thanks!" Zoro replied.

"My pleasure, bye now!" Hatchan answered, then swam away, but stopped for a moment, "Oh, one more thing! I completely forgot to ask you your name," he told Zoro, only to forget that he was the one asking, "Whaddya mean?! We've been over this, I told you my name: Hatchan. Nice to meetcha!" Then Hatchan swam back towards Arlong Park, much to Zoro's relief.

"That was strange," the swordsman muttered as he rushed off to find and save Usopp.

Meanwhile, under another sky, Usopp was travelling with Johnny and the Elgrings northwards towards the northern coast of the island. Along the way, they decided to engage in smalltalk.

"What!? Get out! You and Arlong were part of the same crew once!?" Usopp asked Willy, "Is that really true!?"

"Indeed. But we were by no means friends," Willy replied, "Arlong and I both were born in the Fish-man District of the Ryugu Kingdom, on Fish-man Island. Yet my family was more respected by the merfolk. You see, among fish-men, whales are rare, as we only have lungs, no gills. Arlong was often jealous of me for having the respect of the upper classes. But we both shared the same goal: to be accepted by humans. In time, however, I ended up being captured by slavers."

"Slavers? In the Grand Line?" Johnny asked, "But why would the government turn a blind eye to something illegal?"

"For money, obviously," Willy explained, "How else do you think the Marines have so much wealth at their disposal? Anyway, before I could be sold as a slave, I got lucky. I was rescued by a band of Vikings and taken back to the North Blue, along with other Fish-men and merfolk that they saved. They took us in, trained us to be warriors, and we swore to return to Fish-Man Island to stop the injustices against our people. Then, I met a fish-man named Jinbei. He convinced me to join his cause and fight back against the very people who tried to sell me as a slave. That's how I became quartermaster of the Sun Pirates."

"But you said that Arlong was a member too, right?" Usopp asked, "So, how did he fit into all this?"

"Arlong…Gods, that man was a troublemaker," Willy sighed, hanging his head in sorrow, "One day, as we were freeing a slave girl, her village betrayed our captain, Fisher Tiger, and killed him. We tried giving him a blood transfusion, but he refused to accept any human blood. Before he died, he asked that we try to forgive humans and promote peaceful relations between us and them…Boss Jinbei and I were accepting of this message…but Arlong, he only thirsted for revenge. The time came when he and Boss Jinbei came to blows. Arlong then left with his men and reformed the Arlong Pirates, then left for the East Blue…which brings us to where we are now. When I heard the call for help from the Elgrings, I jumped at the chance to fight alongside Vikings again, and to finally give Arlong a taste of my mace."

Meanwhile, back at Cocoyashi Village, Zoro was busy inquiring about Usopp's whereabouts, when one of the witnesses who saw him escape informed Zoro about it.

"What!? What do you mean!?" Zoro asked, "You said he fled north?!"

"Y-Yeah, a band of Vikings were seen in that direction just a while ago," said the man.

"That courageous young man stood up to Arlong and those fish-men," said another villager, "If he's anywhere on this island, it's either back at Arlong Park, or north with those brave men and women."

"There's no way he'd be at Arlong Park," Zoro muttered, "They won't be as forgiving if he got caught after my little visit." He then turned to the villagers, "Which way is the Norse settlement on the island?"

"That way!" A local woman told the pirate hunter, pointing in the direction of north, "It's impossible, though, to get through the jungles by foot. The only way you'd be able to get through the underbrush is by horseback."

"Thanks," said Zoro as he mounted a nearby horse and rode at a gallop towards the northern coast, "Oh, Usopp! Hang on!" As he continued to ride through the village, Zoro spotted Nami heading right towards him and slowed down. "Nami! Have you seen Usopp?"

"No, what happened? Is he alright?" Nami asked, feeling concerned for her archer friend.

"He managed to stand up to Arlong and his cronies when we were back at Arlong Park," Zoro explained, "Now he's heading north."

"Oh crap! He'll lead Arlong right towards Njordholm!" Nami immediately hopped on the saddle behind Zoro, her legs gripping the flanks of the horse. "C'mon! If we hurry, we'll be able to save him before they can drag him back to Arlong Park!" At that, the two Straw Hats rapidly set off at a gallop, heading north through dense thickets of jungle and underbrush. 'Luffy, you'd better make landfall soon!' Nami thought, 'Because Usopp may already be dead by the time we find him!' Now it was just a race against time. Zoro and Nami could only hope that Usopp was safe and that Arlong didn't eradicate every Norse village in the archipelago, or all would be lost!

Back at Arlong Park, Hatchan finally returned as the gates opened to the dock, and he came across the fallen corpses of his comrades in arms, and the rest of his surviving crew gathered around.

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE!?" He asked, terrified, "Why are all these guys dead!? What happened!?"

"The Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro was that prisoner we captured. Our old friend Willy helped him escape too," explained Arlong, "Why weren't you here, Hachi!? This could've been prevented had you been here."

"Of course, it could have!" Hatchan grumbled, "This is totally unforgivable! Unacceptable even!"

"We get it, you weren't here," said Kuroobi, who was mulling over a map of the entire island, "So, you don't know where he is, is that right?"

"Well, let me think about it," Hatchan then recalled having met the strange human he gave a ride to only moments ago, "I saw one guy…he was a slightly suspicious swordsman…" All at once, though, his eyes widened in utter shock: he let Roronoa Zoro get away by accident! "Oh crud! That was HIM!"

Everyone who was gathered only dropped their jaws. For an octopus, Hatchan was incredibly stupid, or he was just good at playing the part.

"So, you did see him, you idiot!" Kuroobi yelled, frustrated by his shipmate's incompetence.

"Enough, Kuroobi, Hachi was unaware at the time," said Arlong, turning to his octopus comrade, "So, where did he go?"

"He told me he wanted to see you, Arlong," Hatchan replied, "So, I gave him a boat ride over to Cocoyashi Village."

"Excellent work, Hachi!" Arlong replied with a grin, "That means we have absolutely no need to rush things along. He'll come straight for us."

"Sorry, Arlong. Had I known you were going to be back so soon, I would've kept him here for you," Hatchan explained, "But he said he was a guest, so I thought I should get him back to the village as fast as I could."

"It's fine, brother. You were totally unaware," said Arlong, in a forgiving tone, "It's been quite a day ahead, and we've all had our share of fun. Still, let's try not and disappoint me again. You hear?"

Far out to sea, Luffy and his crew were finally reaching the entrance to Arlong Park, which now emerged in sight.

"There it is! Arlong Park!" Luffy exclaimed, "Ragnar, Ingrid! Do it now!"

"Of course, captain!" Ragnar declared as he and Ingrid grabbed their seax daggers and cut the ropes, freeing the Quinotaur from its burden, watching as the great beast veered eastwards towards the dock's walls. Yet all at once he turned to Sanji and shouted, "Put about! Veer to port!" Sanji followed the quartermaster's instructions, and turned the whipstaff to port. The Going Merry picked up speed and listed sharply. Sanji and Luffy feared that she would be smashed to pieces, but Ragnar knew what he was doing. Before long, they could only see the great tower of Arlong Park peeking from above the treetops as they began rounding the island. For miles all around, they could only see nothing but miles of tropical rainforest, littered with broadleaves and palm trees all about.

"I feel sorry for that…cow thing, whatever it was," said Yosaku, "Sanji's kicks must've really taken their toll."

"Oh c'mon. At least we managed to get to the island in time," said Sanji, as he switched places with Ragnar at the helm. Soon, they veered straight northwards before making a hard to starboard. Finally, at the end of a small bay, they found a wooden post carved in the image of a stag's head with antlers.

"We're here!" Ingrid exclaimed, donning her helmet once more, "Njordholm is just further inland. We cannot take the Merry, as there are no rivers for us to sail up on this island." The Merry finally made for a little boardwalk and dropped anchor. Once the sails were furled, the Straw Hats all disembarked, with Sanji helping Ingrid down the rope ladder. "Many thanks," she told him with a blush, before regaining her wits, and saw a few horses all tacked and ready for their arrival, "We will have to take horses from here. It's better than following the road on foot."

"Awesome! We're here, guys!" Luffy exclaimed as he mounted his own horse. The thundering of hooves came from further inland, before a smaller horse emerged from the thickets. Zoro and Nami finally emerged from the forest to the sight of their friends.

"What the hell were you guys doing!?" Zoro asked, enraged.

"Whaddya mean? We made it to the northern shore of the island, like we planned," said Luffy, as Nami dismounted her horse and approached the rest of her crew. All she wanted to do was to hug Luffy then and there, but she was definitely going to restrain herself. She was just so happy right now. Perhaps it was the faith in her new captain and shipmates that finally won her over, or perhaps it was the same sense of hope Luffy gave her back in Orange Town and at the Baratie shining brighter than ever within her soul. She knew that Luffy could definitely defeat Arlong now, but she still doubted her sister. Nojiko would immediately be skeptical of the fact that her friends could actually defeat Arlong, but Nami could only hope that her sister would listen to reason.

"You actually got here sooner than I expected," said Nami, "You guys hitch a ride on a whale or something?"

"You could say that," said Ragnar, chuckling as he recalled the Quinotaur giving them a ride.

"By the way, where are Johnny and Usopp?" Luffy asked, which caused Zoro and Nami to both snap back to reality.

"Usopp! Oh no! C'mon, we gotta hurry!" Zoro ordered, "That dumbass managed to attack Arlong and is heading this way! We have to hurry before they find him and kill him!"

"It's alright, Big Bro!" A familiar voice called out, and Johnny and Usopp both emerged, riding horses as they reunited with their friends. "We found him first!"

At the sight of their archer safe and sound, the six Straw Hats, as well as Ingrid, Johnny and Yosaku all were glad at the turnout. Ragnar's plan was working! Arlong didn't even suspect a thing, in spite of a few hiccups. But now the path was clear: they just had to make it to the safety of Njordholm and then, and only then, would they be able to attack Arlong and his gilled hordes!

A/N: As promised, we finally have the appearance of Orca Willy! And it seems we also meet another fish-man member of Arlong's crew: Wapada the quartermaster. This guy is another OC of mine I created for the purpose of the fight that is to come ahead.

Now you may be wondering why I allowed the Elgrings to fight from horseback, when most Vikings we've seen so far only fought on foot. Well, this plays into another interesting piece of Viking history, particularly with one of the most successful groups of Vikings in history: the Normans.

So, if you know anything about the history of World War II, you may be familiar with Normandy from the D-Day landings, right? Well, the people of Normandy were far more famous centuries before Operation Overlord. The Normans were actually Vikings from Denmark who settled in northwestern France in the 10th century. By that point, the Vikings were raiding and trading in Europe for two centuries, and by the start of the Viking Age, these accelerated at a lightning speed. Some of their favorite targets were the successor kingdoms that were established following the collapse of Charlemagne's empire. They chose to target these kingdoms because they were both wealthy, and did not have the military capabilities to prevent them from raiding. So, these kingdoms were prime targets for the Vikings, who were looking to make a quick cash grab, and aided by the fact that these kingdoms were also relatively unstable.

Traditionally, Frankish territory was divided between the male heirs. Now, if you apply that to an empire like the one Charlemagne established, it gets risky. After Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious died, he split the Carolingian Empire between his three sons, which led to centuries' worth of civil war, eventually leading to the slew of wars fought between France and Germany over the centuries. Anyway, back in the 9th and 10th centuries, these were exactly the kinds of conditions that the Vikings liked to exploit. So, what would happen is that the Vikings would raid the rivers of the Carolingian kingdoms, and the Frankish kings would try and fight against them with little success, since the Vikings' longships were so fast. So, in an attempt to fend off the Vikings, the Carolingians started paying them Danegeld - tributes that were meant to bribe the Vikings to go away. These payments, however, were so grandiose, there were years where these kingdoms literally had no currency! There was no money to be had! It had all been shipped off to the Vikings, and people had to barter for what they needed, and this put a severe setback on the economy of Europe.

Yet in the 880s, there was one band of Vikings who were led by a jarl named Hrolf, better known by his Latinized name of Rollo. If you've seen the History Channel show Vikings, this is the guy who was portrayed as Ragnar's younger brother, but there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that the two were ever related. Around the 880s, Rollo managed to participate in a second Viking sack of Paris, which was hugely successful, and they continued raiding well into the dawn of the 10th century. At this point in 911 CE, King Charles the Simple of France decided to strike a deal with Rollo by offering him land. And so, at the Treaty of Clair-sur-Epte, what happened was that Rollo and his Vikings were granted suzerainty over Northwestern France, which later become modern Normandy. So, the Vikings got land, and the Vikings swore fealty to King Charles, promising to protect France from other Viking raids and even converted to Christianity.

Now, you may think that what Rollo did was a bit of a mistake, but it wasn't because the Vikings were negotiating from a position of power. So, although they swore fealty to the Kings of France, the Normans were really semi-autonomous. And the descendants of Rollo became the Dukes of Normandy, founding the famous Duchy of Normandy, and they continued only to grow in power and strength, and by the 11th century, they spread out all over the known world. One of their most famed accomplishments was that they actually unified Southern Italy and Sicily, which was triggered by Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem and stopping at the port city of Salerno in Italy, which at the time was under attack by Muslim pirates from the Fatimid Caliphate, and the Normans helped drive them out.

The local dukes offered to hire the Normans as mercenaries for local support. The Normans declined, but they returned home to Normandy and blabbed about it, which led to bands of roving Norman knights coming into Italy selling their services as mercenaries, and even growing powerful enough to supplant the local Lombard and Byzantine magnates, and took Malta and Sicily from the Muslims, which led to the Kingdom of Sicily that lasted until the 19th century. The Normans then began acting as mercenaries, selling their services to the Eastern Roman Empire, Aragon, and even participating in the First Crusade in the 1090s, but their most famous feat was of course in England. In 1066, Rollo's great-grandson, William staked his claim for the Crown of England following the death of Edward the Confessor, where he famously defeated King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, was crowned King of England, and of course, was forever known as William the Conqueror, leading to the great Medieval Kings of English history.

The last thing I'd like to bring up ties us back to the Elgrings' cavalry, which is a definite reference to the famous Norman Knights. The Normans fought in various capacities, such as infantry, archers, crossbowmen, etc. but they were far more famous for their mounted knights. Now, this is interesting as far as Viking history is concerned, because the Vikings weren't largely known for their cavalry traditions, and the transition was gradual.

So, what happens is that when you look at the Vikings, the reason they didn't have cavalry, or rather didn't have as focused a tradition of cavalry warfare as the Franks did, was mainly because one: the terrain of Scandinavia wasn't suitable for breeding large herds of horses, from the mountainous fjords of Norway to the vast wetlands of Denmark. The jarls did fight from horseback, but only when the situation called for it. Other than that, the main mode of transport was by longship. However, as the Vikings settled across Europe, they incorporated local traditions, and adapted to their environments, such as in France, and adopting traditions of cavalry warfare. As they worked as mercenaries, they encountered different militaries, so they learned from these experiences, and their cavalry expertise grew tenfold.

Anyway, that's enough of history lectures. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. So, stay tuned for the next one!