The Going Merry was sailing across the East Blue to its next destination, now with Sanji as the latest member of the Straw Hat Pirates.
"I can't believe we're sailing right for the infamous Arlong..." Yosaku said nervously.
"Wouldn't be the first time we ran into him. Part of Dad's territory includes Fishman Island, where Arlong was born." Lithos said.
"No idea why he's out here in the East Blue. He doesn't like humans, mostly because of all the things they've done to Fishmen over the years." Ariala said. "But he does hold Daddy in high regard, so he likely won't be hostile."
"So this Arlong guy is strong?" Luffy asked.
"Fishmen do have a few advantages. They're ten times stronger than the average human, even stronger underwater, and their scales make them highly resilient to damage." Merone noted. "Individual fishmen can have abilities common to the sea creature they resemble, such as an octopus fishman having more limbs to work with, or a shark fishman being able to regrow their teeth no matter how many are broken."
Ferros nodded. "Plus, Arlong is a native of the Grand Line like us."
"I heard the mermaids there are absolutely beautiful!" Sanji swooned.
"Oh, they are. And they're fully capable of breeding with humans." Lithos chuckled.
There was a thunk sound as Sanji fell over flat, blissed out with a little blood trickling out of his nose. Zoro, Usopp, Ferros, Ariala, Ed, and Eddy couldn't help but laugh at that.
"Can you guys stay focused here?!" Yosaku called out.
"Look, Arlong is the toughest out here in the East Blue, but he's strictly small fry out in the Grand Line. Compared to the three powers, he's a lightweight." Ferros said after getting over his laughter.
Nami was shocked. "You're kidding."
"He's not. The Grand Line has three powers that rule over the entire stretch of ocean." Merone said. "The most prevalent are the Seven Warlords of the Sea, who are privateers commissioned by the World Government to guard locations they can't in exchange for a cut of their loot from raids."
"Yeah, like the fishman Warlord Jinbe. They say Arlong is right on Jinbe's level, committing atrocity after atrocity in the Grand Line!" Yosaku said.
"Syoyoyoyo! Arlong wishes he was at Jinbe's level!" Ariala guffawed. "The last time they fought Jinbe completely thrashed Arlong. If Arlong was on Jinbe's level he'd be a Warlord right alongside him. Plus you can't cause problems in any stretch of the Grand Line without getting a Warlord's attention, and they are not afraid to kill those who waste their time."
Yosaku's jaw dropped. "You mean to tell me Arlong is actually a WEAKLING?!"
"Compared to the real powers of the Grand Line, he is," Lithos clarified.
Merone nodded. "Might be why he's out here in the East Blue. Best way to start building a rep and working your way up."
"Sanji, please wake up!" Double-D said, trying to raise Sanji out of his euphoria-induced daze.
Situated in the Conomi Islands was a large building called Arlong Park. Sitting at the top was a Jolly Roger of a sawtooth shark with crossbones, the mark of the Arlong Pirates. Inside, Arlong himself placed a stack of Berris on the table.
"Here's this month's amount."
The money was a bribe to the local Marine Captain Nezumi, who pocketed it without issue.
"Chichichichi! You're certainly on a completely different level of intellect than ordinary pirates, Saw Tooth Arlong. You truly know how to get ahead in the world."
Arlong laughed. "Shahahaha! And you're more intelligent than most humans I've met. Our little friendship means you can milk the East Blue all you want. A good world is one in which money flows well. Money is one thing you can trust regardless of species."
Nezumi chuckled. "Indeed it is."
"I tend to hate humans in general, but there are exceptions. Such as good sports who know better than to antagonize us." Arlong smirked as he leaned back in his chair.
Nezumi stood up. "Well, I need to get going. I still have my Marine duties to attend to."
"Gotcha. But don't be afraid to stop by and have a drink. Get some fun in for a change." Arlong said.
"I'd love to, but it wouldn't look good if a Marine ship on patrol suddenly stopped at a pirate island. And before you suggest it, missing or dead Marine soldiers would only raise more questions." Nezumi said.
As the Marine Captain was escorted out by Arlong's top men Hatchan, Chew, and Kuroobi, he gave a brief scowl.
"Honestly, if not for the small fortune you're providing me, I'd have had you all tried and executed by this point."
Chew smirked. "Well, it's a good thing we have a steady source of income, then."
"Well, I gotta say, you do have a pretty silly face. Makes you look kind of like a rat." Kuroobi chuckled.
Nezumi huffed. "I've heard that joke before."
"Here we are. For now, I should speak with Arlong alone." Nami said as the Merry docked at the village.
"Something you need to confront him about?" Luffy asked.
"Technically I'm part of his crew," Nami said as she pulled up her sleeve to reveal the Arlong Pirate mark on her shoulder. "If I'm going to be part of this crew that little detail needs to be addressed first."
"Here ya go, Nami!" Ed said as he handed her the large bag containing the money the Straw Hats had amassed so far.
"Thanks to our travels, we have 200,000,000 Berris," Double-D said.
Nami nodded. "I only owe Arlong half of that. So I'm optimistic about sticking with this crew over his."
"Just be careful. Arlong is not to be trifled with lightly." Lithos warned.
Nami nodded and headed off the ship. As they watched her leave, the Straw Hats decided to explore Cocoyashi Village themselves.
"Honestly, I don't trust that rat, Uncle Arlong."
Arlong was currently speaking with a young Tigershark Fishman girl around 20 years old and was quite tall, around 6'7. She had short wild messy black hair, oval-shaped scarlet red eyes, grey skin, and sharp teeth. She was wearing a light blue tank top that came down to the top of her toned stomach and black jean shorts. This was Kuishi, Arlong's niece.
"It can't be helped, Kuishi. He's the only Marine we can safely do business with. Any other would have already taken our heads."
Standing beside Kuishi was a Silver-Tip Shark Fishman with a stoic face and wearing only blue hakama pants with a black belt and white waistcloth. His name was Romaz and he was Kuishi's bodyguard.
"Hey!"
The three turned to see Nami walking into Arlong Park. Kuishi's mood brightened as she ran over and scooped up the girl in a hug.
"Nami, you're back!"
Arlong chuckled. "That was a long trip. You get in a good haul this time?"
"Sure did. Found a lot of suckers who were easily fooled." Nami replied as she showed Arlong the bag she brought.
"Shahahaha! You certainly have mastered the art of betrayal. I'd better be careful so you don't turn those skills back on me." Arlong then addressed the rest of the crew. "Hey, boys! Prepare a party! Let's celebrate our cartographer's return!"
"You gotta tell me all about what went down." Kuishi grinned. "Oda knows that I've been worrying myself sick."
"Any chance the children of an old friend can get in on this?"
Arlong and his crew all perked up to see Lithos, Merone, Ferros, and Ariala sitting on top of the wall of the park. Despite his initial surprise, the Sawtooth Shark Fishman laughed.
"Lithos? Merone? Ferros? Ariala? Shahahaha! I haven't seen you four since you were knee-high to a minnow. What are you doing here on the East Blue?"
"We were kinda wondering the same about you. Especially considering the falling out you had with the Sun Pirates." Ariala noted.
"That's ancient history as far as I'm concerned," Arlong said with a long-suffering sigh before giving a good-natured grin. "But I'm not about to turn away the kids of the one human who's done more for fishmen than the entire race as a whole! Come over and join us!"
As the party got going, Arlong sat down to have a drink with Lithos and Merone while Ferros and Ariala joined in the partygoing.
"So why come all the way out here to the East Blue?" Lithos asked. "The humans here have nothing to do with the ones who caused Fisher Tiger's death."
"Call it vindictive, Jinbe sure as hell did. I got cocky and thought I could take him to assert my ideals, even said he'd have to kill me to stop me." Arlong said. "He proved otherwise in a way that really hammered my weakness into my skull. How about you?"
"Let's just say we pissed off a Celestial Dragon. The incident prompted Father to send us out here until we could get strong enough to return to the Grand Line and fend for ourselves." Merone explained.
Arlong chuckled. "Yeah, if there's any human I can honestly say deserves to be hated, it's those damn Celestial Dragons. Where do they get off claiming godhood in the first place?"
"You of all people should know how blinding ego can be," Lithos pointed out.
Arlong nodded. "Fair enough. But what brings you out here anyway?"
"Your crew has probably noticed the ship docked not far from here. Well, that ship belongs to the crew we're on." Merone said. "Our Captain, Luffy, wants Nami as our Navigator, but she pointed out a little complication."
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was shocked at the sight of the village of Gosa. There was a deep gash in the ground, and all of the buildings were upside down.
"Holy cow...What happened here?" Usopp asked.
"Merone said fishmen have ten times the strength of an average human. But I didn't think them to be capable of this." Sanji noted.
Suddenly, Eddy found himself tripped and was now staring at a kid holding a sword.
"Die, you stupid fishman! This is for my father!"
Zoro quickly knocked the blade out of his hand using his own sword.
"Hands off, kid. And take another look. Eddy's clearly human."
"Chabo! Don't go antagonizing people!"
Sanji wound up going euphoric again, as the woman who came over was very gorgeous.
"Sorry about Chabo. His father was killed when the village was attacked for trying to defy Arlong." The woman apologized. "My name is Nojiko, I think it's best we get you somewhere safe."
As Nojiko brought the Straw Hats to her home, Luffy noticed the tangerine grove outside and remembered Nami saying how she liked only money and tangerines.
"I managed to convince Chabo to live for his mother's sake," Nojiko said. "So why have you people come to these islands?"
"A friend of ours needs a debt settled. She said she lived out here." Zoro explained.
"So you know Nami?" Luffy asked.
Nojiko gasped but bit her lip and let out a sigh after a brief moment.
"I'm her older sister."
"Oh my..." Double-D said. "Well...you do share some similarities."
"I noticed the tangerine grove outside. Nami mentioned how much she loves tangerines." Luffy said.
The crew explained everything Nami had told them about her history with the Arlong Pirates. Nojiko picked up a photo of the two women when they were girls, along with another woman.
"Nami and I are both orphans. We were brought up in this house. Before our adopted mother was killed, the three of us lived happily here. Nami always wanted to be a cartographer when she grew up."
Usopp noticed a compass rose etched into the coffee table, which had been signed by Nami.
"She mentioned that she was trying to pay off a ransom to Arlong," Zoro said.
"That's almost true. Arlong never made any sort of ransom demand, but he did offer to free Cocoyashi Village if he was paid a large sum of money." Nojiko said. "That's how Nami started working for him. But I could see in her eyes that she hated every second of it, despite the smile she faked. Being with you guys was probably the happiest she'd ever been in years."
"Awwww..." Ed cooed. "She cares about us, guys!"
Nojiko then noticed something. "Hold on. You said there were fourteen of you here including Nami, but I'm only seeing ten people."
"Lithos, Merone, Ferros, and Ariala went to speak with Arlong since they have a history with him," Luffy explained. "While I can't deny Arlong's likely done a lot of terrible things, he has a bad history of his own. He's just taking it out on the wrong people."
Nojiko wondered what terrible things could have happened to someone like Arlong. Suddenly, a big commotion was heard out in the village.
"What's going on?" Eddy wondered.
Nojiko gestured for everyone to stay hidden as she looked out the window to see Arlong and some of his men confronting a man dressed in a police uniform.
"Genzo, you idiot..."
"Who's that?" Double-D asked.
"That's Genzo, the sheriff of the village," Nojiko explained. "He's also me and Nami's surrogate father."
"I hear you're in possession of weapons," Arlong said.
"I am. They're part of a collection I keep but I've never used them." Genzo admitted. "Are you saying keeping a collection isn't allowed under your rule?"
"The locals are entitled to their hobbies, but I can't risk having weapons around that aren't part of my crew's arsenal. Weapons tend to be used for nothing but violence." Arlong said. "Since I'm in control of twenty towns and villages across the archipelago, I do have a duty to make sure the people are protected. But that does go both ways. To afford that protection, I do need tribute from each town. Gosa Village refused payment, so I had to make an example out of them for the other communities."
Genzo furrowed his brow. "Bit of a serious example. Hope you don't mind the question, but do you even know how many people died in the destruction?"
"Good question," Arlong admitted as he turned to a Goldfish Fishman. "Kaneshiro, do we have an estimate?"
"We gave the village time to evacuate, but it seems many villagers stayed behind thinking they could try and defend the village. Last estimate puts the death toll at around two dozen, about a third of the population. All men, with the women and children evacuated."
"As you can see, I'm not afraid to kill people to make others understand their place. Though I am merciful enough to give them the chance to see the error of their ways." Arlong said as he returned his focus to Genzo. "I need a huge amount of funding to turn the entire East Blue into the Arlong Empire, but of course, dead men can't pay anything. I'll let your collection slide, old man, but if I catch wind of those weapons being used by anyone in this or any other village, they'll suffer the same fate as Gosa Village."
The Straw Hats watched as Arlong and his crew left, Usopp gulping nervously.
"So that's Arlong. He's a lot bigger than I thought he'd be."
"This...is NOT good," Double-D whispered.
Later, Nami was visiting a grave overlooking a seaside cliff.
"I finally have it, enough to finally put an end to all this. Eight long years, but we can finally be free."
"I thought you might be out here."
Nami turned to see Nojiko approaching along with Kuishi and Romaz.
"You seem to have picked up some new friends."
"Come on, Sis. You know I'm not as bad as my reputation in the village."
"You're a lot more cheerful. A few months before you would have pretended to go along with that reputation." Romaz calmly noted.
"Let's just say I found more than a few contingencies," Nami said coyly.
"Think me and Romaz can squeeze into those contingencies?" Kuishi asked as she sat down beside Nami. "We're kinda looking for a new line of work ourselves."
Nami nodded. "Something tells me the people I want to join would be happy to have you two on board."
Meanwhile, a Marine ship was approaching the archipelago. The commanding officer was Commodore Pudding Purin, a rather flamboyant man who was nonetheless dedicated to the highest ideals of justice. As it happened, Lieutenant Fullbody was with him.
"So this is Arlong Park," Purin noted as he inspected the island from afar. "This world is on its last legs if pirates can just settle down so blatantly."
"Apparently this entire archipelago is under Saw Tooth Arlong's control," Fullbody noted before noticing the Going Merry. "Hey, it's the ship of those rookies I encountered at the Baratie."
"Are they well known?" Purin asked.
"As far as I know none of their crew even has a bounty," Fullbody replied.
"Then they're of no consequence. They likely haven't committed any criminal acts so there's no need to antagonize them." Purin decided. "Fullbody, I want you to sail to Cocoyashi Village and start an investigation into Captain Nezumi. This is supposed to be his jurisdiction, so I'm suspicious as to his reasons for letting pirates have their way with the villages on these islands. And if you do find evidence of dirty dealings, then you have full permission to ignore his rank in favor of arresting him. I made sure the higher-ups are aware of this."
Fullbody nodded. "Then I'll head out at once."
As Fullbody set off on a longboat, Purin turned to his men.
"As for the rest of you, our first priority is extracting any survivors of the town of Gosa. Start taking the longboats out and run a sweep! Once you're clear we'll start our attack on Arlong Park!"
"YES, SIR!"
Meanwhile, at Arlong Park, Chew came out to alert his captain of the Marine's presence.
"Captain Arlong, we have confirmation of a Marine vessel outside our waters. The printing on the side noted it as belonging to Branch 77."
"Which means they're not with Nezumi," Arlong noted before turning to Kuroobi. "Kuroobi, head out there and speak with their commanding officer. Find out what they're here for. Make sure to take some of the boys in case they try anything funny."
"Got it, Boss."
"How do you think it'll go?" Hatchan asked.
"Kuroobi's our best negotiator. Even if we can't bribe these Marines, we should be able to avoid trouble." Arlong assured the Octopus Fishman. "The fact that they haven't opened fire yet tells me bringing us in isn't their top priority."
"Nami's finished the charts we asked of her. She also said she has the money to buy back Cocoyashi Village." Chew said.
"100,000,000 Berris will definitely be a huge boon to us. Combined with the charts Nami made, we can start to expand our rule in the East Blue." Arlong noted. "That said... Once our deal is finished I'll need to think of a way to keep Nami from defecting. It won't be easy, considering she hates us for what we did eight years ago."
"Finding a way to keep her on our side would be helpful," Hatchan agreed. "If we can convince her to draw up charts of the whole world, we can start to expand past the Grand Line."
Chew nodded. "Considering how much she loves money, maybe we should consider offering her a cut of our tribute from the other villages."
"Definitely something to consider. I already spoke to her about not wanting her skill for betrayal turned against me. The best way to start is to not betray her first."
Little did the Arlong Pirates know, one of Nezumi's officers was eavesdropping on the conversation.
"100,000,000 Berris, you says?"
The officer who reported to Nezumi nodded in confirmation.
"That's what the deal was for. It's at least ten times the normal income the Arlong Pirates get per month."
Nezumi smiled. "Chichichichi! Well now, that's the sort of cheddar we can't leave in the hands of those fishmen fools, can we? Let's go and grab this little ransom for our own personal coffers in such a way that doesn't tie us back to our deal with Arlong of course. 100 million doesn't last forever, so it's better to have a steady income. We can't have the worst pirate on the East Blue wandering too far or we'll lose our little money tree."
Just outside Nezumi's office, Fullbody was listening through a window while holding a Transponder Snail connected to Purin's ship.
"So all this time, he's been colluding with Arlong, and even using him to line his own pockets!" The Marine Lieutenat realized.
Just to let you all know, I do not own Kuishi, she belongs to kindglass over on DeviantArt. I do technically own Romaz but his design is based on another Fishman OC I found on DeviantArt, look up 'One Piece OC- Demura' by BudokaiHyuga to get an idea on what he looks like.
Hope this clears up any misunderstandings. I don't like taking credit for other people's characters without letting people know the real geniuses behind who created them.