Chapter 26: Arlong

Kris knew that what he was planning to do was a bad idea. If anything, it was suicidal to do so.

He was born from the love between a fishman mother and human father, a half-blood that was despised by both races. He had joined the Sun Pirates in hope of fulfilling his late mother's dying wish of ending fishman discrimination and the peaceful coexistence between the two races. Captain Fisher Tiger, the man who accepted him human blood and all, had made him believe that it might be possible.

But he was betrayed, killed in a trap made by the humans he had helped reunite with their lost love one, one that Kris had unintentionally caused.

He had told some worried passerby their destination, not knowing that they would inform the marines and allowed them to set up an ambush for him. He was the reason for his captain's death. Filled with guilt over the situation, he left the crew in the middle of the night, not telling anyone of his departure. After several years of wandering the sea, he came across the Silver Fang, where he found a new crew to be a part of, people who accepted him, race and all.

"If you want a place, my ship is dire need of a guardsman."

Those are the words the captain of the Silver Fang had used when she invited him aboard her vessel. He would never ever forgot those words spoken by the humans many of his crew mates had deep hatred for.

The only people on the Silver Fang that knew about his past as a pirate were Silvia and Lee, and now Rein as well. The guilt of his actions still plagued him to this day, and he knew that he was using the Silver Fang as a way to ease it.

But after hearing what Arlong had been doing to the people of this island, and to what lengths he had gone to in order to keep them under his feet, he could no longer walk away from it all. He had to put a stop to his former crewmate's dastardly actions.

"Arlong!" He shouted out after he had punched the gates opened.

The saw-nose shark fishman was sitting on his throne of a beach chair as his lackeys were busy beating the crap of the two human bounty hunters he saw talking to the Straw Hat Pirates. They stopped their beatings when they saw Kris storming in towards them.

"Huh? Who the hell are you-Argh!"

One of the grunts couldn't react in time as he was knocked off the bounty hunters with a swift kick to the head. That was followed by swift punches and kicks to the rest of them that leads to them collapsing to the ground either groaning in pain or unconscious.

The remaining underlings drew their weapons and readied to engage him in combat, until their captain gestured them stand down.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Kris." Arlong chuckled, "What brings you all the way out here?"

"I've been hearing what you have been doing to the people of this island." He stated as he stomps up to him, "The horrible deeds you have done to them."

One of his subordinates, the octopus fishman Hachi whom Kris knew was a decent fishman unlike his captain, looked away with a guilty look on his face. Arlong, on the other hand, only feigned ignorance on the subject.

"Oh, horrible deeds? How are they horrible? All I am doing is demanding payment from them for their lives. That's all I have been doing—"

"Enslaving a little girl? Forcing her to work for you with the false promise of letting her and her village go if she earned enough?"

Arlong smirk widens at the mention of Nami, "Oh, I see. You greatly misunderstood, Kris. It was not a false promise. I do fully intend to give her village back when she has earned enough. If she earned enough."

That just made him even angrier at him. He knew that Arlong is a fishmen supremacist, but to go that far!? He is borderline enslaving her with invisible chains!

"What you are doing here…" Kris gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, "…made you no better than those humans you despised so much. Captain Tiger wouldn't want this—"

"Don't you dare bring up Brother Ti, you betrayer!" The shark fishman shouted at him, "You're the one that caused his death! You're the reason that Brother Tiger died! And you want to talk about being no better than humans!? If anything, you're the one that is acting like the humans that betrayed his kindness!"

"…I know that I am in no position to lecture you on this."

Kris still regretted his decision that day; the decision that had led to the death of the hero Fisher Tiger.

But even so, he would not let this bastard ruin any good his captain had brought on this world.

"But do you really think Captain Tiger died for this!?" Kris shouted, "For you to continue this damned cycle of hatred!? For you to become the very thing he had once fought against!?"

"You shut your mouth!" Arlong screamed at him. "It is an eye for an eye! It is only right that humans get their just desserts for what they did to our people!"

"…You know, I've respected your strength, envied it even. But for you to use that strength to put people down like this…" Kris got to a fighting stance, "For the sake of my dream, I'm bringing the end to all of this."

Many of Arlong's lackeys got ready to fight him, but their captain stopped them once more. "Wait. This guy is mine. Do not interfere."

He got off his throne and walked up to Kris in a confident gait. Once he got close, Kris lunged at him with a fist clenched aimed at the shark fishman's face.

With a vicious grin, Arlong simply tilted his head to the side to avoid the punch and cross countered with an overhead hook. The blue fist slammed into Kris's head, blacking him out and sending him crashing and skidding on the ground.

"What's the matter?" Arlong gloated as he swaggered up to him, "I thought you were bringing the end to this?"

"Grgh…" Kris grunted as he felt his blood dripping down from his forehead. "Then, how about this!?"

He immediately got back up and leaped at Arlong, "Fishman Karate; modified:" He spun a spinning high kick aimed for his temple. "Fierce Tide Kick!"

"Grgk!?"

The shark fishman raised his arm to block what he had assumed to be a weak hit, only to be left completely stunned by the intense power behind the kick hitting his forearm. It actually sent him skidding away from the impact itself.

"How's that—Gwrgk!"

"How dare you hurt me, you filthy half-breed!"

Arlong slammed his fist into Kris's face hard, stunning him into a slump. His assault didn't stop there as he unloaded a series of punches onto him, battering the eel fishman like a straw dummy despite his best attempt to block them, and sending him flying and crashing onto the ground hard.

Kris struggled back onto his feet, feeling the hits aching all over his body with his head was spinning from the several blows to his head. He was then lifted up by his throat as Arlong's webbed hand kept a tight grip botherline choking him.

"You know, I've never considered you part of the Sun Pirates." Arlong stated coldly, "A fishman, one born from a filthy human? Just the thought of it even happening disgusted me. The only reason I've even tolerated you on the crew was because of Brother Ti-Grgk!"

Seizing the opportunity, Kris kicked up into Arlong's chin; the force behind his attack breaking a tooth off.

"…That's it. You're dead."

Arlong raised his fist, ready to bash into Kris who glared at him. But when he braces himself for the incoming fist…

"Hands off my partner!"

With a loud shout, a girl with reptilian wings descent down on Arlong with a katana drawn. She slashed at his arm, and would have cleaved it clean off if the shark fishman didn't drop Kris to the ground.

"A human…?"

"R-Rein…?"

I retracted my wings and got between Kris and Arlong, pointing my sword at the fishman pirate captain. Any later, and he would have been beaten into a bloody pulp. Arlong sure is a beast of a fishman. As expected from the pirate with the highest bounty in the East Blue.

"Kris, are you alright?"

"Why…? Why did you come here?"

"Isn't it obvious? To save you from this guy." I told him, "You acted rather strangely when you heard what Arlong had been doing to this island, so I figured you are going to do something like this. Don't worry, I've got your back—"

"Stay out of this."

I turned to him in stunned silence as Kris struggled to get back on his feet. "This is a matter concerning fishmen. A human would just make things worse."

"You can't be serious about this right now, Kris—!"

"I am!" He shouted at me much to my shock. "You may not know this, but humans and fishman have always had tense and hateful relations. If a human brings down Arlong, it would continue this cycle of violence and hate between us."

Kris pushed me aside and stumbled forward, barely catching himself from face planting on the floor. "It has to be a fishman to take him down… It has to be me."

Arlong let out a snicker at it, "Shahahaha! All that tough talk but you can't even stand back up! As expected from a filthy half-breed!"

"Half-breed…?" I turned to Arlong in confusion. Half-breed? What is he talking about?

"Oh, you didn't know? Your friend there was born from a fishman and a filthy human; a filthy disgusting being that is neither fishman nor human."

"Kris's half-human…?"

His dream of coexistence suddenly made tons of sense. His family must have been one of the very few examples of a possible future between both species.

"That's right." Kris said as he stumbled onto his feet, "My mother is a fishman who fell in love with a human. She was shunned by everyone for doing so. But because she was able to move past the prejudices, move past all that hate that I was born. Something this guy refused to do."

"Fishmen is the stronger race." Arlong stated, "To fornicate with a lesser species like humans is below us."

Wow, I knew Arlong is a racist, but to actually hear it from his own mouth is…

"Even so, I'm still a fishman." Kris got into a fighting stance, "And for my dream of coexistence, I had to be the one to bring him down. There is no other way."

"Kris…"

"Leave, Rein."

"…no." I walked up next to him, turning into my half-dragon form minus the wings, "I'm not leaving."

"Rein, please! I had to be—"

"Crewmates help each other out."

That line had him stunned silent as I continued, "That's what you said to me before, right? Fishman, half-fishman, it doesn't matter. We are part of the same crew, so we help each other out, no matter what. So that's what I'm doing."

"But…"

"What are you yapping about, human!?"

"Don't tell me you expect to take us all down!?"

"Rein, look out!"

"Don't you underestimate us Fishman Pirates!"

Several of the pirate fishmen charged at me with their cutlass and clubs drawn, ready to cut me down. I turned around and charged at them.

"Dragon Sword Style, Seventh Form: Dancing Talons."

I took all three down with ease, slicing into their guts as I passed them by.

"Also, for a human to fight a fishman alongside a fishman. Doesn't that go against everything that shark bastard stands for?"

"A human and a fishman, fighting side by side…?" Kris let loose a small chuckle at that idea, "That's true. That would be against his very belief. Very well, I'm counting on you to back me up."

"No problem." I stated as I readied Nanashi, "Let's beat up that racist bastard!"

"D-Don't falter!" The fishman underlings all charged at us with weapons drawn, "It is just a half-dead half-breed and a little girl-Urgh!"

"Who are you calling a little girl!?"

I charged in first and slammed my feet at the first lackey to get close, knocking him into his unfortunate colleague and sending them crashing into the wall. I then ducked under another lackey's swung cutlass and slashed into his chest, followed with several more falling to my blade as well.

"They are just two people-gah!"

"How are they so strong-gwah!?"

I glanced to my right and saw Kris absolutely wrecking shop, taking the pirates down one by one even as he was stumbling about from his injuries. One of them even tried to tackle him down from the back, only to get grabbed and tossed into the other lackeys.

It became obvious that despite being half-fishman, Kris was still way more skilled than any of them. Makes you wonder how strong Kris was when he was still part of the Sun Pirates.

"Nu…!"

The octopus fishman, Hachi descended down the steps with a very conflicted look on his face. Ah, come to think of it, Hachi was shown to be the most reasonable and less hostile among them, if a bit naive and simple-minded.

"I'm sorry, Kris…!" He then put his hand around his trumpet-like mouth and quite literally trumpets out a horn. "Come out, Momoo!"

Moments later, the water rose up into a pillar behind us as the underlings cheered. When we turned around, Kris ready to face whatever beast Hachi had called out while I just…

"Moo…"

"Eh?"

"That's just sad to look at."

I always felt pity for the giant cow Sea King that answered the call. The very same cow that Sen had scared shitless with nothing but a roar. Granted, it was a very loud roar, but still just a roar.

It still has the bumps and bruises from Luffy's and Sanji's hits. It was even sobbing from the pain.

Kris turned to me and asked, "Isn't that…?"

"Yup, the very same one." I nodded.

"Huh, so he was tamed by Arlong. Thinking back, it should have been apparent from the get go. No one else besides him could do that in these waters."

"Moo?"

Momoo's gaze met mine; its pupils dilated at the sight of us. Without even a single moo, it slowly turned around and quickly swimmed away.

"Eh!? Momoo, where are you going!?"

"Is it afraid of us?" Kris wondered.

"I guess so?" I mused out loud. It must have associated us with Sen, Luffy and Sanji.

"Where do you think you're going, Momoo?"

Arlong's words stopped the sea cow in its tracks… fins…? Anyway, it had halted its movements just from his calm yet threatening words alone. That goes to show how much terror that shark fishman had instilled in it.

"If you want to leave, I won't stop you."

"Moo…"

"Well? Just go. What are you waiting for?"

"…Mm-MOOOO!"

With a loud roar (moo), which sounded like it was attempting to be scary despite its fears. The remaining lackeys all charged in along with it, attempting to pin us with a pincer attack.

Seeing it as the more immediate threat, I got in front of Momoo and braced for the sea cow's incoming head, or snout would be more accurate. The impact of its charge nearly sent me flying, but my half-dragon form prevented that.

"…moo." Momoo squeaked out in absolute terror as it tried to retreat, but I held a firm grip on its snout and brought it closer to my preferred range as it tried to get out of my grip.

"Oh no, you don't get to run away after that little stunt. Kris, I'll leave those idiots to you!"

"You got it."

A glance behind me saw Kris rushing at the stunned pirates. "Fishman Karate, modified…" Skidding to a stop in front of the biggest fishmen among them, Kris pressed his fist against his stomach and took a low stance, "Water Pressure Fist!"

With a movement reminiscent of Bruce Lee's one-inch punch, his fist slammed into his gut hard, sending him crashing into the rest of his comrades. The aftershock of his attack was felt even by the pirates around him, who ended up getting sent flying as well.

Man, I had never seen Kris pulled out a technique before. He called it modified, so I guess it was changed to fit his half-human physiology? It does feel more MMA than actual karate.

"M-Moo!"

"Woah, almost forgot about you here."

I tightened my grip around the sea cow and planted my feet firmly on the ground. Sen didn't taught me any technique to deal with giant Sea Kings, but there was one technique that was designed for breaking armor.

"Dragon Sword Style; Sixth Form:…" With one hand gripping tight on the sea cow, I pulled back my sword arm before swinging Nanashi down over my shoulder, "Crushing Fang!"

I slammed the pommel into the monster's head with a loud crack, with its skull fracturing with a sickening crunch. Momoo's eyes rolled back, before falling slump and eventually collapsing back into the sea head first with a loud splash.

"N-No way…! Even Momoo got taken down…!"

"How!? Even if one is a Devil Fruit user, it is just two people!"

The remaining underlings were scared shitless of us, some even backing up. One of them even looked to have peed himself.

"Calm yourself!"

Arlong's shout reverberated across his base, which silenced most of his lackeys' musing. The shark fishman then turned to us with a glare, "I must admit, I had expected this much from Kris, but not from a human brat."

"What can I say? I'm full of surprises." I stated with a grin, pointing my sword at him, "So, finally going to join in?"

"Hmph! If that's what you wish, then I'll gladly oblige—"

"Wait, Arlong."

His lieutenants stopped him, more specifically the stingray fishman Kuroobi and kisser fish fishman Chew blocked him from moving towards us. "Leave this matter to us." Kuroobi told him.

"Chu. If we let go on a rampage, our beloved base is going to end up as ruins." Chew added. He then turned to Hachi, "Hachi, I know you won't be able to fight Kris, so stay out of this."

"Nu…"

"Tch. What buzzkills…" Arlong groaned, "Fine, but let me deal the killing blow to them, alright?"

"Fine by us."

Kuroobi and Chew squared up against us, the kisser fishman smacking his puckered lips at me while his stingray comrade took an orthodox karate stance facing Kris. They must have taken my strength into consideration when choosing who to fight.

The tension between us was thick, neither of us moving with either of us anticipating the other's attack first. Whomever attacked first would no doubt get countered.

"They are done for."

"Our lieutenants are the strongest next to our captain. They wouldn't stand a chance."

I felt my surroundings cleared away as I focused completely on Chew in front of me. The moment his cheeks puffed even a little, I'll be ready to block.

Then, it all happened in a 's cheeks puffed as he reeled his head back; I dashed forward with my scaled forearm protecting my face; Kuroobi charging in with fist reeled back; Kris moving to counter him with a Brazilian kick. I don't know which action happened first.

But just as we all did so…

"Are you Arlong!?"

We all stopped our attacks and turned to the sound of that shout just as a Straw Hat-less Luffy came in out of nowhere and leaped towards Arlong, his arm stretched back.

"Who are—!?"

"Gum Gum Bullet!"

"Guargk!?"

Arlong was sent flying by Luffy's recoiling fist impacting on his gut hard, crashing into the stone wall hard enough to break through it. With an uncharacteristic scowl on his face, he shouted, "Don't you dare make my navigator cry!"

"…Can I have my tension back…?"

…
To be continued…

Hey, sorry this chapter took so long. I was focusing on my other fics in the meanwhile and I had trouble visualising the fight to take place here. I had to rewrite and re-edit certain parts so many times to make it flow…

So yeah, Kris is way more skilled with his own variant of Fishman Karate. If you want a comparison, his style is a mix between conventional karate and taekwondo, with a few kickboxing techniques.

With that, I thank you all for reading this!