Chapter 17: The Day Arlong Park Fell
"Which one of you is Arlong?!" Luffy demanded, his eyes looking over every single Fishman.
"Arlong?" The one sitting in the chair asked, not even looking towards Luffy.
"My name happens to be Arlong..." He continued, identifying himself as the one Luffy wanted.
"I'm Luffy." The young Captain said as he walked forward towards the Fishman.
"Luffy? You wouldn't happen to be the 11097 I've been hearing about, would you?" At Arlongs words, there was a multitude of whispers behind Luffy, the crowd finally recognizing him.
"That's right," Luffy confirmed, shocking everyone even further.
"That's him! He's here! The guy who likes taking walks!" The one with six arms exclaimed. Luffy recognized him and the other two he was standing with as the three he'd seen earlier.
"Hold it you."
"Where do you think you're goin'?!"
"You need to run things by us first, kiddo."
"Yeah!"
"If you don't stop..." In front of him, the fishmen all began speaking one after another, two of them blocking him from advancing any further towards Arlong and grabbing Luffy by the shoulders. It was clear that, despite knowing who Luffy was, the fishmen felt overconfident in their abilities in being able to take him down.
It was really starting to piss him off that everyone kept underestimating him.
"Move!" Luffy growled, grabbing the two fishmen by their heads and knocking them into each other. When he felt their emotions muffle and was satisfied that they were unconscious, Luffy continued on towards Arlong.
"What does a Whitebeard want with me?" Arlong asked. Luffy felt the surprise at the show of Luffys strength, but the Fishman didn't show it like his comrades did.
Not even correcting him on the fact that he'd left the Whitebeards, Luffy reared back his fist again, coating it in haki before letting it fly right into Arlongs jaw. With a loud smack, Arlong was sent tumbling out of his chair and flying in the direction of the stone wall that was already damaged from the gate Luffy had knocked down earlier. When the Fishman reached the wall, he collided into it with a loud crash, stone falling around him and dust clouding everyone's vision of him.
When the dust finally did clear, Arlong was seen to be bleeding slightly from the corner of his mouth, his jaw already beginning to bruise lightly.
"What the hell?" Arlong growled, anger clear on his face as he glared at Luffy. Luffy, who was now standing straight again, glared right back at Arlong, his glare easily more menacing than the Fishmans.
"Don't make our navigator cry!" Luffy shouted, enraged.
"Why, you!"
"How dare you insult Arlong-san!"
"Whitebeard Pirate or not, we'll take you down!" Luffy didn't even attempt moving away from the multiple fishmen jumping out of the water and running towards him. It was unnecessary because, with the sound of running footsteps, Sanji was there, kicking all of the fishmen away before they could get close enough to even attempt touching Luffy.
"Butt out, small fries!" Sanji yelled, sending everyone he kicked falling unconscious on the ground.
"Yeesh. You just had to run on ahead by yourself..." Sanji muttered as he walked over to Luffy, standing beside him.
"It's not like I'd lose on my own... Sorry to worry you," Luffy said, knowing he was strong enough to win this fight, but feeling that the chef had been worried regardless.
"Idiot! When did I say I was worried about you?! I just don't want you hogging all the prey!" Sanji said as he turned to look at Arlong. Luffy realized that he hadn't told Sanji about his abilities yet, but decided now wasn't a good time to bring that up.
"I-I don't mind if you hog them all, though!" Usopp stuttered as he walked up, trying to look confident yet failing due to the sweat pouring down his face.
"You sure got some guts," Zoro said as he walked in behind Usopp.
"That's him! He's the unknown swordsman!" The Fishman that had recognized Luffy exclaimed, pointing at Zoro with wide eyes.
"Its Roronoa Zoro." The blue Fishman beside him said, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Yeah? Yeah. I thought so! He tricked me! Look, sine, and hinker... No! Hook, line and sinker... right?" The octopus Fishman said, more to himself than to the others.
"Look! It's long-nose!" Another realized once they saw Usopp.
"D-didn't Nami kill him?!" The octopus Fishman asked in surprise.
"The bastards still alive. Which means..." The Fishman behind the octopus started.
"I knew it. The girl was a traitor, just as I suspected!" The blue one said with a frown. Arlong, who had been silent this entire time, grinned.
"Your navigator, huh? Sorry, but I don't recall making a Whitebeard navigator cry." Arlong said, still sitting amongst the rubble of the wall he'd crashed into.
"I'm not a Whitebeard Pirate anymore. I'm starting my own crew, and Namis our navigator." Luffy explained, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I see... You were after Nami from the very start." Arlong muttered, his eyes scanning over the four pirates in front of him.
"But... I think you have your information wrong. Nami is my navigator, not some former Whitebeard Pirates navigator. What can you four inferior creatures possibly do, anyhow?!" Arlong demanded. Having heard enough, the octopus Fishman stalked over to them.
"Fool! You're not worth Arlongs time! He'll be more than enough!" He exclaimed, turning to look at the water beside them and using his elongated mouth as a horn, calling for something. The ground beneath them began shaking as whatever the Fishman had called made its way to them.
"What the... What the... What's going on?!" Usopp asked, very clearly freaking out. The waves began moving turbulently as the power of whatever was coming shook them all. Where Arlong sat, rocks began falling due to the shaking ground.
"The whole lot of you will be food for him! Come out, Momoo!" At the Fishmans words, a whirlpool formed in the water before 'Momoo' began rising from it.
"A-a monster! It's the Grand Line monster that destroyed the town of Gosa!" Usopp shrieked, eyes bugging out from behind his goggles that he had put on.
As the water fell from the large creature and began settling back down, they all saw a large sea cow with a bump on its head and tears in its eyes crying.
"It's here!" Despite the sea cow looking a little worse for wear, Usopp was still terrified by it. Sanji and Luffy, however, were not.
"Oh, it's him?" Luffy asked as he turned to look at Momoo who was staring back with wide, terrified eyes.
"He's a friend of the fishmen?" Sanji asked next. The cow's tears began falling faster as he remembered the two of them beating him up. Knowing he couldn't do anything against them, Momoo turned and began swimming away.
"Wait! Momoo! Where are you going?! Hey! Stop! Get back here! Momoo!" The octopus Fishman shouted after the sea cow, flailing his six arms at him. A spike in rage from Arlong had Luffy turning to look back at the sitting Fishman, only to see him glaring fiercely in Momoos direction.
"Momoo. What are you doing?" He asked menacingly. The sea cow immediately froze in fear, eyes blown open wide and sweating.
"Though, if you wanna run away, I won't stop you. Understand, Momoo?" Arlong continued with a vicious grin, still radiating anger. At once, the cow's demeanor changed from fearful to angry determination. Turning around, Momoo reared his body out of the water and opened his mouth, showing them all his long sharp teeth.
"It's coming! It's coming!" Usopp screeched in terror, waving his hands in a vain attempt at stopping the advancing monster.
"Alright!"
"Follow after Momoo!" The fishmen announced as they pulled out their weapons.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Usopp repeated over and over. Meanwhile, Zoro was pulling out his sword, and Sanji was grinning, both of them unafraid of Momoo.
"I'll do it! This is a waste of time!" Luffy told them, stomping his feet into the concrete ground, leaving him immobilized. He began twisting his body his body up in preparation and once he deemed himself twisted enough he stretched his arms out to grab Momoo by the horns. Seeing this, the advancing fishmen stopped in their advances, eyes widening.
"What's he planning this time?" Sanji asked from where he watched.
"Nothing good," Zoro answered knowingly.
"H-his arms stretched!" A Fishman said in surprise.
"So the Marines were right. He has a devil fruit." Arlong muttered to himself.
"What?!"
"Who cares!"
"Go!" Still overconfident in themselves, the fishmen began moving once more towards the immobile Luffy. What concerned Zoro and Sanji wasn't the fact that Luffy looked as if he was going to be attacked, rather it looked like Luffy was preparing his own attack.
"Woah! Run!" Zoro yelled to Sanji.
"What's he doing?!" The chef asked, his visible eye widening.
"I dunno, but it doesn't look good!" Zoro answered before running off with Sanji.
"Gum Gum... Pinwheel!" Luffy shouted, untwisting his body and bringing Momoo along with him. Using the giant sea monster, Luffy spun him around into the nearby fishmen, knocking them all down until finally, he flung Momoo off into the water.
"I didn't come here to take on these guys! The one I wanna beat up... is you!" Luffy shouted, turning to point at Arlong. The man, still seething in rage, grinned.
"That's perfect, then. I was just thinking of killing you now." Arlong growled out.
"That was dangerous, you!" Sanji barked, kicking Luffy lightly in the head as he reprimanded him.
"Are you trying to kill us too?!" Usopp yelled next, still terrified.
"Huh?" Luffy said to himself, slowly swaying his body back and forth, his feet still stuck firmly in the ground.
"What are you doing?!" Usopp shouted.
"How dare you hurt our brothers!"
"It would seem we need to fight, too."
"Looks like we need to teach them the difference between our species." The three Luffy had met on the road said. Seeing this, Zoro grinned.
"The main forces finally show up, huh?" The swordsman said eagerly while Usopp slowly backed away.
"Arlong-san. Please stay there quietly."
"If you go on a mad rampage, you'll tear all of Arlong Park into pieces."
"We'll take care of these guys!" They said one after another, working themselves up.
"Yeah. Do as you wish." Arlong said with a smile of his own, relaxing in the rubble as he watched.
"Hey. Hey, there. There's something I-" Luffy was cut off when the octopus Fishman began making another loud noise.
"That octopus is up to something." Zoro noticed, his attention leaving Luffy and turning to the fishmen.
"Octopus is best with a little salt and sliced up. Add some olive oil and paprika and it's a perfect snack while drinking." Sanji told them with a grin of his own. Luffy, meanwhile, was waving his hand at the two.
"Hey, I'm kind of in trouble. Hear me out." Luffy said again, trying to get their attention.
"Take this! Zero vision! Hachi Ink-Jet!" The octopus shouted before spewing out black ink right towards the three. Zoro and Sanji immediately jumped out of the way, but Luffy, unable to move, bent as far back as he could. It wasn't enough though, and the ink got all over his face and clothes.
"You idiot! Why didn't you dodge?!" Zoro asked from the ground.
"I can't see!" Luffy shouted, trying to get the ink off his face.
"Now to finish you off!" The octopus said as he moved to pick up a large piece of rubble the size of a small house.
"Oi, Luffy! Run!" Usopp shouted from where he was hiding behind a pillar.
"Yeah, that's the problem. I can't seem to move!" Luffy told them, struggling to pull his feet out of the ground. Sure, he had plenty of strength to put them into the ground, but whenever he tried using that strength to pull them out, his legs stretched.
"Huh?" Sanji deadpanned.
"My feet are stuck!" Luffy reiterated, unable to see and unable to move. Thankfully, he didn't need his eyes to 'see' though, and his haki let him know of the advancing Fishman getting closer with the large rubble.
"You're the one who stuck them in the ground!" Usopp yelled fearfully, thinking this was going to be it for Luffy.
"Why does he have to be so-" Zoro, who was face palming, couldn't even finish his own sentence.
"Hachi Ink Jet on the Rocks!" With that announcement, the Fishman slammed the rubble down onto Luffy, only for it to split in half.
"What a pain," Sanji muttered, leg still in the air from having kicked the rubble in two.
"Sanji! Great! Great!" Luffy praised, arms in the air as he cheered.
"Seems I've wound up following one hell of an idiot Captain," Sanji noted with a smile.
"Agreed," Zoro said next.
"He's... awesome!" Usopp shouted in awe from where he was safely watching.
"But he's 100 times better than a damn gang that'd hurt a lady." Sanji continued, thinking about Nami again.
"Lady? To think you'd bust in here just for that one lousy girl. You really know how to make us laugh!"The Fishman with the large pointed elbows said.
"Lousy girl? Just try and insult Nami-san one more time. I'll use a buttered frying pan to turn you into Meunier, Fish Man!" The chef said, taking his cigarette out of his mouth and pointing it towards the Fishman in question.
"You seem somewhat skilled for a human. Any sort of chivalry from a pirate is obviously half-hearted." The fish man taunted.
"Go ahead and see if my chivalry is half-hearted or not." Sanji taunted right back, placing the cigarette back in his mouth.
"I was raised by an unbeatable pirate for half my life." He continued, taking a drag of the cigarette and grinning at the Fishman.
"It appears you don't know the true level of the Fishman species." The Fishman said, moving into a stance that indicated he'd be fighting Sanji without weapons.
While the two were talking, Usopp had moved towards Luffy and was now attempting to pull his Captain out of the ground, only to have the same problem Luffy had had when the teen only stretched.
"They're really stuck," Luffy said, unfazed by this.
"Still? They're still stuck?!" Usopp asked, struggling to continue pulling Luffy.
"Yup, they're still stuck. I get the feeling just pulling me won't get them unstuck." Luffy said with a blank expression.
"Are you even trying?! Are you even trying to pull your legs out?!" Usopp barked in Luffys ear.
"What're they playing around in Arlong Park for? I'll kill them!" The octopus Fishman said, picking up one of the halves of the rubble from before, aiming right for Usopp and Luffy. Seeing this, the sniper screamed in fear, running and pulling Luffy with him.
"Hey, you! Get unstuck already!" Usopp shouted fearfully as he ran, Luffy under his arm.
"Get back here!" The Fishman yelled.
"Hey, octopus. They're busy right now. I'll take you on." Zoro said, pointing his sheathed sword to the Fishman.
"Roronoa Zoro! Yeah! I forgot! How dare you trick me!" He shouted, throwing the rubble down at Zoro. The swordsman quickly jumped out of the way, watching as the stone crumbled on the ground.
"Yeah! And you cut down tons of my brothers!" The Fishman continued, turning to face Zoro where he was landing.
"I'm not interested in these old stories. It doesn't matter what reasons you have for wanting to kill me. The situations changed now! You're not trying to destroy us. We're trying to destroy you!" As he spoke, Zoro unsheathed his sword, grinning in anticipation of a fight.
"A-alright, Zoro! The octopus is all yours! Nice!" Usopp praised from where he was standing, rubbing his sweating forehead with one arm and holding Luffy with the other. Not thinking, though, he used the arm holding Luffy to give Zoro a thumbs up, meaning Luffy went snapping back towards his feet.
"Luffy!" Usopp screeched, watching as his Captain flew away from him and right towards the last remaining Fishman. Said Fishman only had a second to look over and see Luffy coming his way before the rubber teen barreled into him, sending him flying into the wall like Arlong.
"I'm back..." Luffy noted, his body swinging back and forth as he steadied himself again.
"Why, you..." The Fishman who was now sitting up glared in Luffy and Usopp's direction.
"My bad..." Usopp cried, tears streaming down his face.
"Seems you really do want me to kill you." It took all of two seconds for Usopp to react when he saw the Fishman getting up, and just as fast as he realized it, he was running away. He screamed in terror as he ran through the watching crowd, and Luffy watched as the Fishman he'd accidentally knocked down ran after him.
Luffy watched proudly when Usopp distracted the Fishman from the people of Cocoyashi, instead goading the man to follow after him by hitting him in the face with an exploding star.
"You're all pathetic. Move. I'm sick of watching this." Arlong ordered as he stood up.
"Arlong-san! We asked you not to go on a rampage!" The Fishman with Sanji said.
"I won't. I just thought up a fun game." Arlong said, walking slowly forward and still grinning menacingly.
"Game?" The octopus asked.
"Game? I'm gonna beat you up!" Luffy yelled, pulling back his fist and sending it flying towards Arlong. The Fishman dodged it, grabbing Luffys arm before it could snap back to his body.
"Do you really think you can beat us?" Arlong taunted confidently.
"So what if we do?" Sanji asked.
"We do, stupid-head! Let go!" Luffy shouted, trying to pull his arm back.
"Sounds like he has something to say." Zoro noticed. They all watched as Arlong shoved his hand into the ground near Luffys feet, pulling the entire stone out from the ground and holding Luffy- still stuck in the stone- in the air.
"People with devil fruit powers can't swim! Though, even people without powers would sink in this situation!" Arlong laughed, looking up at Luffy, his murderous intent clear as day even without haki.
"He's gonna throw him into the sea?!" Zoro asked, beginning to freak out now.
"Gum Gum Pistol!" Even though the dunk in the sea was imminent, Luffy didn't think about that as he shot out his free arm, punching towards Arlongs face. His haki yelled at him instantly, and without dwelling on it, the rubber teen coated his arm in armament haki. It was just in time, because Arlong opened his mouth, chomping down on Luffys now protected arm.
When his teeth met the almost steely coating, they began crumbling from the force he'd used on them and Luffy was able to pull his arm back.
"Ah! What the-?!" In his surprised stupor, Arlong dropped Luffy to the ground, the stone crumbling away from his feet as a result and freeing him.
"Phew! I really didn't want to go in the water." Luffy said, wiping his clothes off which were still covered in ink.
"Then stop getting yourself stuck!" Zoro and Sanji barked angrily, Luffy feeling that their anger came from their worry.
"Shishishi, sorry!" He apologized, not sounding sorry in the least.
"Damn you!" Arlong growled, pulling out what remained of his teeth. They all watched in morbid fascination as the now toothless Arlong began to grow teeth again, an enraged look on his face.
"Do you know what the terrifying difference between you and me is?" Arlong asked.
"Nose? Jaw? I'm stronger and you're weaker? Webs!" Luffy said, pointing to the inbetween of his fingers where Arlong had webs and he did not. Around him, everyone blinked, wondering if he was joking or not.
"Species!" With a spike in rage, Arlong opened his jaw and attempted biting Luffy, which the teen allowed.
"Luffy!" Zoro and Sanji screamed, wondering why he hadn't dodged, but once they saw Arlong recoiling again they realized there was nothing to be worried about. They all watched as the skin Arlong had bit, Luffys neck, was covered in a shiny black covering that slowly disappeared.
"What in the..." Sanji asked with wide eyes, not knowing what had happened.
"That won't work," Luffy said, stating the obvious for the Fishman who had regrown yet another set of teeth.
"I don't care how strong you think you are. I've known plenty of fishmen, and all of them were much stronger than you were. One of my brothers is a Fishman, and that's why I know beating you right now won't be a problem." Luffy said with a grin, irritating Arlong.
"Why? Because you could beat him?" He growled. Luffys grin widened.
"Nope. Never could. I know I can beat you because Namur always said fishmen who think they're stronger because they were born stronger never are." Luffy said, lowering into a fighting stance.
With a guttural growl, Arlong charged forward again, but seemed to think better of biting Luffy and instead went for a punch that Luffy easily dodged. At once, the fight commenced. Zoro took on the octopus Fishman while Sanji took on the one with the sharp elbows and Luffy had Arlong.
Luffy continued dodging Arlongs attacks with practiced ease until he was up against a pillar. Ducking under another punch, Arlong destroyed the pillar, pleasing himself.
"This is the inherent power of a Fishman, someone you claim to be weak in comparison to yourself." Arlong bragged as he turned to look at Luffy who'd ducked out of the way.
"Heaven discriminated against you humans and made you powerless creatures that bow before fishmen. You humans are inferior creatures. We were on a different level from the moment we were born. I'll show you... the real difference between you and me..." Arlong boasted.
"Yeah, why don't you... No way I'll lose against a Fishman like you. I am the man who'll be King of the Pirates!" Luffy shouted, shocking everyone listening. He noticed that he smelled Nami, seeing the redhead standing at the front of the crowd with wide eyes, his straw hat still on her head. Within seconds of her returning, a bloodied Usopp returned as well, obviously having been victorious in his fight.
"King of the Pirates? Don't make me laugh. Can you inferior humans do something like crushing a pillar with your teeth?" Arlong asked, picking up a stone from the ground and tossing it in the air as he spoke.
"So what?! Stop bragging over stuff like that!" Luffy yelled, punching one of the pillars beside him and crumbling it like Arlong had done.
"It's not like biting is the only way to break stone," Luffy told him, holding his fist in the air, ready to fight.
"Alright, Luffy-Aniki! You sure told him!"
"That's right! The outcome is the same!" Johnny and Yosaku praised from the crowd.
"Th-That's beside the point! A stupid and weak species... that's what humans are. What can you do when you can't even swim in water?!" Arlong asked before charging again, beginning another onslaught of attacks. Luffy dodged them, stretching his arms out and grabbing two swords lying on the ground.
"Nothing! That's why I need help!" Luffy laughed, smiling as he held the two swords in front of himself. Zoro and Sanji, who were in the midst of fighting, noticed this.
"Huh? Can he also use swords?" Sanji asked.
"I don't know," Zoro said with a shrug, ducking under one of his opponent's swords.
It seemed Luffy didn't know, though, as he began wildly swinging the two swords at Arlong, missing every time.
"What're you doing? It looks like you're just swinging swords around." Arlong laughed, using his nose to block a sword, breaking it.
"If you're just playing around, I'm not going to join your little game," Arlong warned, but Luffy ignored him, swinging his last sword like a club. It had no effect as Arlong bit it, breaking it like he'd done the other.
"Enough of this nonsense..." Arlong said with a grin, clearly thinking he had the upper hand.
"Clench your teeth!" Luffy warned, clenching his fists. Arlong barely had time to do just that when Luffy punched him in the jaw again, the same spot he had before. As Arlong fell to the ground, his teeth shattered once more.
"I don't know how to use swords, you bastard!" Luffy shouted at him.
"Huh? What's he saying that now for?" Usopp asked from where he watched beside Nami.
"I don't know how to sail the oceans. I can't cook... I can't lie either..." Luffy continued.
"Oi..." Usopp said in offense, but he was ignored.
"I'm confident that I can't live without help!" Luffy shouted to the Fishman.
"Fully admitting how pathetic you are... You sure are honest. I bet your crew is bothered by having such an incompetent Captain like you. I wonder why your crew tried so desperately to keep you safe... Someone like you without any pride has the caliber to be a captain? What on Earth can you do?" Arlong asked as he replaced his teeth for the third time.
"I can defeat you!" Luffy announced loudly. Behind him, the crowd began cheering, supporting him, but Luffy ignored it.
"Go ahead and babble, you inferior species! I'm a shark. New teeth grow one after another. And they're stronger than the previous ones. So go ahead and keep knocking them out. As many times as needed..." Arlong said, pulling out his own teeth now and letting them regrow.
"As many times as needed... This is a distinctive quality that heaven gave us. Are you starting to realize what a superior species the fishmen are?" Arlong asked, now holding two sets of his own teeth in his hands, a new pair already regrown in his mouth.
"Tooth Attack!" Arlong shouted, before using the teeth in his hands to attack Luffy. It wasn't a problem, however, because like before Luffy used haki to coat his skin, breaking the teeth.
"You may be able to keep growing teeth, but I can keep breaking them. I told you before, it's useless." Luffy said, watching as Arlong grew frustrated at his attack being nullified.
"What is this?! A rubber body, yet my sharp teeth don't even puncture the skin?" Arlong asked, letting his now broken teeth fall out of his hands.
"That doesn't matter. What does is your distinctive quality is powerless against me. I told you from the start, I'm gonna beat you up." Luffy said, grinning maniacally to Arlong. He was satisfied when he felt all the confidence from Arlong diminish slightly, a small spark of fear finally taking hold.
"Gum Gum Whip!" Luffy shouted, swinging his foot into Arlongs side and sending him flying into his building. Luffy watched as Arlong disappeared inside, not bothering to follow since he could feel that the Fishman wasn't unconscious yet and was still seething in anger. Around him, Sanji and Zoro were finishing up their fights, the two having won with only minor injuries.
"Did you beat Arlong yet, or what?" Zoro asked, panting from exertion.
"Nah, he's still awake. I think he's just lazy." Luffy said, wondering what was taking the Fishman so long.
"Lazy?" Arlongs growl asked as he finally stepped out from the building. When he was back outside, his eyes took in the scene of the two downed Fishman, leaving only Arlong.
"Chew, then Hatchi, and finally Kuroobi. All of my brothers." Arlong growled lowly, eyes becoming bloodshot with his rage. Without looking, Arlong smashed his hand through the wall beside him, pulling something out.
"What the heck is that?" Luffy asked.
"Kiribachi..." Nami uttered in stunned fear. She moved a hand to her mouth, eyes wide as she took in the giant sword-like saw.
Not saying anything, Arlong readied a swing, but before it could hit Luffy, the rubbery teen jumped up onto the roof of Arlong Park. Sanji and Zoro, not wanting to get him in the crossfire, made their way over to Nami and Usopp, watching from a safe distance with everyone else.
Like before, Arlong attacked with a fury, one after another, but Luffy continued to dodge them, remaining untouched as he slowly made his way up Arlong Park. Before he could climb up the roof of the highest point, he was forced to dodge quickly and as a result, fell into the room.
"You can no longer jump. You can no longer escape. This is the top floor of Arlong Park. Looks like your final moment is finally here." Arlong said, grinning ferociously, eyes slitted with anger and still bloodshot.
"What's this room? Full of papers..." Luffy asked, not taking notice of the imminent danger he was in as he looked at the many large stacks of paper.
"These're not just ordinary papers. This is a room where I make that woman continue to draw sea charts. These're all sea charts that Nami drew. Aren't they great? They're my treasure, one that I made her draw for eight years. To us, getting data about the oceans is very simple, but it's a different story when we have to create sea charts based on it. We need a talented surveyor. That's why I had my eye on that woman." Arlong said, his greed nearly overriding his anger in that moment.
"She's good. She draws quite accurate sea charts. She's too good for you inferior humans. In the past as well as in the future, her talent should be used for us fishmen! Nami is our friend." Arlong continued greedily, smile widening.
"Friend?" Luffy asked, having surveyed the room while Arlong was speaking. He'd never felt anything but living creatures have emotions, (with the exception of that devil fruit) but being in this room, he could practically feel the pain and misery it held as if it was a person.
"So don't interfere anymore... you damn demon kid!" The Fishman said, holding his saw out at Luffys face.
"What's that look in your eyes?" Arlong asked, noticing the glare Luffy was sending his way.
"She is... Nami is... our navigator!" Luffy said firmly, glare hardening.
"You plan to make her the navigator of some shabby boat? You'd only end up wasting her talent. Just look! How many people in this world can draw such accurate charts? The girl has a gift." As Arlong continued talking, Luffy noticed a pen falling to the ground and stretched out his hand to grab it, flipping it over in his hands.
"There's nothing as unfortunate and foolish as letting a natural-born talent go to waste. Staying here and drawing sea charts is the greatest happiness for her!" Luffy knew the fish man's words were lies. Ever since he'd met Nami, she'd felt nothing but constant fear and anxiety. Sure, sometimes that had been because of him, but it had always been there, even when she had started warming up to him. He knew that the last place she would want to be was back in this room.
"This pen is stained with blood..." Luffy said in a low voice, but was ignored.
"Namis sea charts are absolutely vital if I'm to attain world supremacy!" The saw Arlong held was moved so that Luffy neck was in between two of its blades, but still Luffy didn't move. His head was down, expression shadowed by his hair as he continued looking at the bloody pen.
"She's going to continue drawing sea charts! For my ambition! And once her charts give me full knowledge of all the world's seas... we fishmen will be invincible, and the world will become our empire! Our first stepping stone is this island... and the East Blue! Could you use the girl as efficiently as that?!" Luffys grip on the pen tightened momentarily before he carefully put it down.
Arlongs words reminded him far too much of the doctors back in the facility, all feeling as if they owned the lives of the children they'd stolen. The arrogance and pompousness irritated Luffy beyond words and he was only just barely able to control his rage as he grabbed one of Arlongs saws spiked, holding it in place. He could feel Arlong try to move it, but it didn't budge an inch.
Without warning, the blade Luffy held shattered into pieces, shocking the Fishman.
"Use?! What do you take her for?!" Luffy demanded, raising his head to show Arlong his enraged features. The Fishman very nearly stumbled back from the intensity of the glare he was receiving, but steeled himself.
"An inferior creature, but a smart girl. If all other humans are sewer rats, I'd say she's a cheeky-as-hell cat. After all, she is adorable. And I'm going to keep on feeding her and buying clothes she likes. She'll have everything she needs to live. All she needs to do is keep drawing charts for me. She will forever be my tool... no, my friend." Arlong said, his tone low and dangerous.
Finally, Luffy had had it. The more Arlong spoke, the more he sounded like the doctors, and it was all just too much.
Without warning, Luffy kicked the nearby desk through the wall, sending it flying down to the ground below. Without wasting another second, Luffy moved onto the bookcases next, kicking those outside as well.
"What do you think you're doing?!" One after another, Luffy sent furniture item after furniture item flying out of the room. This place may not look like a cell. It may have nice furniture, windows, and heat, but a cell is a cell whether it's dolled up or not. Luffy knew if he could, he would destroy his own cell from all that time ago, and destroying Namis now was a bit cathartic for him.
"Stop it!" Arlong roared, swinging his Kiribachi at Luffy, only for the teen to dodge. As a result, Arlong sliced a stack of charts in half, making his angered eyes widen in shock.
"The charts!" He gasped. Seeing that the Fishman was preoccupied, Luffy took the chance to knock stacks upon stacks of the paper out of the room.
"M-my charts! Damn you! I spent eight years making her draw those!" Arlong roared, trying to grab Luffy only to miss again.
"I invested eight years in those charts! In my ambition!" Now that the room was empty, Luffy finally stopped dodging and stood face to face with Arlong. Fist held tightly, Luffy let his arm stretch out behind him, channeling all of his rage into it.
"You've gone too far, 11097!" Arlong roared, raising his Kiribachi.
"Fishmen are great and sea charts this and circumstances that... I don't know much about that stuff... But I finally figured out how to save her! She can't go because this room is here! If she doesn't want to be here, then I'll just destroy it all! And you with it!" Luffy shouted, sending his fist forward and getting another good punch in on Arlong, dodging the saw as it swung down towards him. Before Arlong could get up to retaliate, Luffy kicked his foot into the air, letting it smash through the roof and continue high into the sky.
"Gum Gum..."
"Don't get cocky! Arlong Park can't ever be brought down by you inferior beings!"
"Battle Axe!" Slamming his foot down, Luffy hit Arlong in the chest, pushing him down floor after floor through Arlong Park and leaving him in a crater at the very bottom. With that, the Fishmans emotions muted and Luffy knew he had won.
He didn't have a chance to celebrate his victory however, because the building suddenly began shaking, stone, and wood falling as it became unstable.
Luffy wasn't worried though and let himself get caught up in the destruction. Rocks and wood fell on him, but it had no effect. He felt himself falling, felt the rubble settling around him, and once the loud commotion was finally gone, he could hear the silence outside. With the building done falling, Luffy stood from the debris, ink still covering his face and clothes and now dusty and dirty from the building crashing down, yet he had not a scratch on him.
"Luffy!"
"Big Bro!" He heard the cheers from the crowd, but he couldn't move to respond yet, still trying to calm down from the rage he had felt.
"Nami!" He finally yelled, everyone silencing.
"You're my nakama!" At his words, he could feel the stunned surprise in them all. Nami's emotions flooded over to him, her gratitude, her happiness, and her awe.
"H-He won..."
"He won!"
"Arlong Park has fallen!"
And would you look at that, another enemy bites the dust! The next chapter will be wrap-up for Arlong Park and then we'll be moving into Loguetown and then, even more excitingly, the Grand Line. As I've said before, the Grand Line is where we start to see more and more changes to canon start to happen. It won't be drastic things at the start, but you'll definitely know them when you see them. I can't wait for you all to see what's in store!
In other news, I'm officially half-way through this college semester! Woo! Writing this story while keeping up with college may be time-consuming and sometimes even a little stressful, but I truly love writing this and every time I sit down to work on this story it always makes my day ten times better. With how long this story is going to turn out to be, it's definitely a blessing that I still love writing it as much as I do.
And as always, thank you all for your support! You all are definitely a big component to my motivation, and without you guys I don't know if I would be so excited to get new chapters out every two weeks! So thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I hope you all have a fantastic two weeks!