EPISODE 08 : WORST IN THE EAST
( park renovation, straw hat style )
ARLONG LEFT THE village in ruins. crumbling foundations of the houses that once stood as homes for the villagers were all that the straw hat crew could see.
ash coated every inch of the floor, filling and burning anjali's nostrils as she stared at the mess in front of her.
fire. it was such a dangerously consuming thing.
the auburn haired woman offered nami her silent condolences, gently rubbing her back and ignoring the tears dripping down the tangerine haired woman's face.
sanji and usopp were busy helping the villagers douse the smaller fires with the remaining water from their half-empty well.
the villagers, led by that same scarred man — genzo was his name, began approaching the straw hat crew. at his side was nojiko, who seemed to have had a change of heart after learning the truth behind nami's so-called 'betrayal'.
"what's going on?" the tangerine haired woman asked, drying her tears and stepping away from anjali to get closer to the villagers.
"nojiko told us about your sacrifice. we didn't know. can you ever forgive us?" genzo asked, looking at nami — this time not in fear, but in guilt and admiration.
nami shook her head, and the tears slowly began their buildup against her lower lashes. "there's nothing to forgive. coco village is my home."
"then it's our turn to sacrifice. we're done living in fear," he announced. "we're gonna march arlong park. if those fishmen want a fight —"
"— that's not a fight, that's a massacre. you will all be killed." nami protested, hoping to save at least what remained of her home.
"if there is no hope for us to buy our freedom, then i say we die trying to fight for it!" the villagers yelled in agreement, lifting their weapons in the air.
nami watched them, painfully. she didn't want to lose anymore to arlong. "no, everyone, please! i — i won't let you do that. this is my fight."
luffy took a step forward. "no."
his voice shocked the crew. never did luffy sound so fueled by anger, so enraged. "this is our fight. right guys?"
anjali nodded, taking her spot beside zoro. this time, he didn't grip his katana. instead, his hand found hers and he gave it a gentle squeeze.
"feeling doubtful?" the woman whispered, smoothing her thumb against his calloused knuckles.
the swordsman's lips raised into a small smirk. "no. what's there to be doubtful about?"
anjali grinned. "you're damn right."
"but . . . how are we gonna beat arlong? we saw what he did at baratie." usopp said timidly.
"every creature has a weakness." zoro told him.
usopp raised his eyebrows doubtfully. "even bulletproof ones?"
"i'll know it when i see it." luffy said lowly. "and when i do, i wont hesitate."
"hey, if worst comes to worst," anjali piped in, tapping her temple with her free hand. "we can always just fuck with his head. fishmen are known for having weakly fortified mentalities."
"yeah, no." zoro squeezed anjali's hand tighter. "i doubt there's anything to mess with in there."
some of the villagers laughed nervously.
anjali wanted to reassure them, but no amount of consoling could put their minds at ease in this situation. everything she could say only sounded like false truths, even to herself.
if she said they would be fine, that would be a bare-faced lie. this village was not fine. they were already crumbling from the foundations, only still a village because of the people within.
instead, she only squeezed zoro's hand for her own reassurance, knowing that the only peace their crew could bring to these villagers was the victory of ending arlong's reign.
THEIR FIRST ATTACK was a surprise one. the crew tossed the smoke bombs made by usopp into the park entrance, hiding behind the thick wooden doors and waiting for them to detonate.
once the smoke billowed up high enough to see over the gates, the now fully formed crew bust down the wooden doors, marking their arrival into arlong park.
they were greeted by that same fishman who had been with arlong at baratie. he snarled at them in fury, calling out to his other crew mates. "fishmen! stand by to repel boarders!"
anjali and zoro shared one last look. the green haired man was wearing his signature battle bandana, wrapped around his head to conceal his hair.
"don't die on me, pearl." the man said as he unsheathed the wado ichimonji.
the woman scoffed, playfully grinning. she too took out her daggers, holding one in each hand. "i should be saying that to you, big boy."
usopp prepared his slingshot, and sanji got into a fighting stance. they all seemed to form a circle around nami, who was glaring at the fishman standing in front of them.
"where's arlong?" luffy asked, cracking his knuckles.
"he's probably in the map room." nami said quietly.
"then that's where we're going." he nodded to the rest of the crew, a mutual farewell until they would see each other, hopefully at the end of the battle.
luffy and nami ran off to find arlong, and the remaining straw hat pirates prepared for the onslaught of fishmen that was to come.
"wait!" anjali raised her hands in a stopping motion. "in case we don't get out of here — not saying we won't but just in case,"
she went around the remaining crew, giving each man a big hug. at last, when she begrudgingly parted with zoro, she quickly pecked the man on the cheek with a sly grin.
"okay! now we're good." anjali said, readying her blades once more.
"you're an odd one." sanji laughed.
"that i am, sanji." she grinned, and turned her gaze back to the oncoming fishmen.
her eyes slackened into a glare as she stopped a fishman from cloaking out her throat.
"down." she commanded, easily bringing the creature to its knees as she used her dagger to injure his arms and legs.
"since when could you do that?!" usopp shrieked as he dodged a fishman, using anjali as a shield.
she stopped the opponent easily, hitting his neck with the blunt end of her dagger.
anjali grinned in response to the sharpshooter's question, rasing a slightly bloody finger to her lips. usopp didn't get to ask any more questions because he and anjali were split apart, and he was forced to climb up a small rocky path to shoot down fishmen.
anjali and sanji ended up back to back, surrounded by a circle of arlong's lackeys.
"wow, i'm impressed." the cook remarked as the copper haired woman disarmed and knocked out three fishmen at once using the blunt end of her dagger and a weird pole she had stolen from one of the creatures.
"i have been told that i'm rather impressive." anjali said suavely, before the two were also separated by another hoard of fishmen.
"fucking fishmen." anjali cursed loudly, searching the crowd for a black bandana and an eggshell white sword.
she found zoro perched up on a rock in the middle of the pool (river? whatever it was), hands gripping at his chest as he faltered slightly.
the fishmen opened up a path for her — not willingly, of course. anjali had to either force them out of her way or knock them unconscious. killing was not an option for her. she'd leave that to the others.
"need some help, big boy?" the woman asked as she hopped onto the rock, barely able to balance herself.
there was hardly any room for two on there. zoro looked up at her outstretched hand, and he took it gratefully.
"looks like the big bad pirate hunter is having trouble defeating some fishmen." anjali teased lightly, helping the green haired man off of the small stone and back onto firm, full ground.
"i got distracted." he grumbled, and his cheeks flushed red as he remembered anjali's lips on his cheek.
"by what? their blinding beauty?" she laughed to herself.
the woman paused when she felt something nearing, and turned to halt the fishman about to use a sharpened stick to impale anjali's chest.
the creature fell to the floor in a writhing mess, body crumpling into itself.
"we're kinda busy here." anjali snarled, finally taking her eyes off him and turning back to zoro. "you were saying?"
he looked at her in awe, shaking his head. "nothing."
just that eight-year-old roronoa zoro's crush on kumar anjali definitely never left.
"cute, but focus." she patted his cheek gently. she threw a dagger behind zoro, landing it right in the leg of an oncoming fishman. "you're too distracted."
"this is your fault." he said with a grumble, slapping away the red pooling into his face.
"what? i'm busting my ass over here saving you from all these attacks because you're off in lala land thinking about whatever —"
anjali winced as the dagger she had thrown at the fishmen ripped the skin on her shoulder. "fuck! stupid fishmen!"
she angrily picked up the dagger that had torn her skin, launching it into the belly of the nearest fishman, one hand cupping her injury to stop the bleeding.
"look who's distracted now." zoro mused, but still he removed his bandana without complaint and used it to stop the bleeding in anjali's wound.
"want me to kiss it better?" he asked teasingly. anjali pushed the man away, rolling her eyes.
"if this scars, i'm bringing home a fishman head as a souvenir." the copper haired woman growled.
she groaned as more and more fishmen came running out of who knows where, weapons in hand. "why are there so many?!"
"hey!" sanji yelled from across the park, kicking his way closer as fast as he could get through all the fishmen in his path. "you ever tried controlling more than one person at a time?"
anjali thought for a moment, before her eyes brightened. "no, but i can try! thanks for the idea, sanji!"
"happy to be of service, my lady!" he grinned in return, grunting as he smashed the head of a fishman into the pavement.
"zoro, cover me!" she yelled, and the man obediently shielded her.
anjali focused on the hoard of fishmen so hard that her eyes slowly began to water, but her resolve didn't weaken. they were weaker than her, and anjali was going to bring them all down and help the crew survive so she could finally see the world with zoro, as he promised.
"retreat!" her voice sounded foreign to her own ears. mouth dry and eyes burning, anjali managed to get the first twenty-five-ish fishmen to stop in their tracks and turn around, sending the rest crashing into each other like disfigured dominos.
"holy shit!" she grinned weakly, feeling her knees almost give out. "i did it!"
her victory only lasted a short while. the remaining fishmen that had not gotten caught under her 'spell' scrambled to their feet and furiously changed direction, swerving towards anjali specifically.
"fuck." the woman muttered, and she and zoro took off at a sprint, trying to reunite with sanji in order to get more manpower.
ANJALI HATED LONG and drawn-out battles, but it seemed that while the fishmen were not particularly good at fighting, there was a shit ton of them.
no matter how many anjali, zoro, and sanji cut down (usopp had disappeared midway through the battle), they still kept on coming.
"maybe you should take a break." sanji said through gritted teeth as he kicked down yet another fishman.
his words were directed at zoro. it seems the two weren't particularly fond of each other. why that was, anjali had absolutely no idea.
"you oughta get back in the kitchen." the green haired man snarled in return, stabbing his sword into his opponent.
"for fuck's sake." anjali seethed, grabbing two fishmen and slamming their heads together. she was furious. "can you two stop acting like whiny toddlers that had a preschool fight and focus?!"
"it's his fault!" the two motioned at each other,
and anjali groaned.
"looks like someone's feeling threatened!" buggy chirped in from within sanji's bag.
"shut up!" they both yelled, and for once anjali agreed.
"then get me back to my body!" he retorted. "we're close — i can feel my toes."
"yeah, well you're gonna feel my dagger in your body if you don't shut up." anjali said through gritted teeth.
"trust me, i can help you guys win this thing!"
"i swear, clown, if you screw us over . . ." zoro trailed off.
sanji turned over the bag, and buggy's head went tumbling all the way back to his body.
"yeah, we fucked up." anjali said half-heartedly when she saw the grin on the clown's face.
he raised his two middle fingers. "hey, so, imma get out of here."
"sorry kiddos." he laughed. "i'd love to make things right but it's time to exit stage left."
"fucking clown." zoro grumbled angrily.
anjali looked around in relief. there were no more fishmen still upright.
"after today, i don't think i'm ever going to crave fish ever again." the auburn haired woman declared.
a lie, obviously. anjali ate whatever was served in front of her.
"how dare you strike down my brothers?"
"oh come on!" anjali groaned loudly, throwing her hands in the air. she was all out of daggers, and there was no willpower left in her to be able to keep another fishman at bay.
"you won't be so lucky against the might of my fishman karate."
"pearl, sit down." zoro said, guiding the woman to a chair. "i've got this."
"no." sanji stepped in, chest puffed up. "i've got this."
in a flash, the fishman catapulted through the water and tackled sanji to the ground. in the same minute, he blocked zoro's attack with ease.
"i don't think either of you's got this." she deadpanned, standing up once more and cracking her aching neck.
the fishman watched her cautiously.
"what, never seen a pretty girl fight before?" she raised a brow, grinning. "don't worry, i'll be your first."
she dodged the fishman's hands, aiming for the pressure points around his neck. he evaded her, swinging his head to one side as he grabbed onto anjali's arm and tried to slam her to the ground.
anjali dug her nails into the fishman's slimy skin, using that as an advantage to easily slip out of his grasp.
"not bad." he commented with a snarl, throwing a jab at anjali's stomach only to miss.
anjali backed away, allowing zoro and sanji to strike simultaneously.
"nami is a fool to her her faith in such weak compatriots." he said with a glare.
anjali scoffed, spitting out a mixture of saliva and blood.
sanji removed his blazer, fury igniting his eyes. "don't you ever badmouth nami."
"now you've done it." zoro said.
sanji charged, yelling some random french words as he brutally attacked the fishman.
"why didn't he do this sooner?" anjali wondered out loud, receiving a shrug from zoro.
"i guess girls are his strength." the man said with an eye roll.
"well, next time you know what to avoid when you fight him." anjali grinned.
the man only sighed tiredly, and took a seat on a rock. anjali copied him.
they were all drained. stupid fishmen.
⚔︎ AUTHOR'S NOTE !
woop woop update!!!
i actually like this chapter + the interactions between anjali and zoro 🫣 my fav fighting couple.
pretty long chapter today for yall bc i got a little bit of inspo!! hopefully tmr i can update too but no promises bc the weekend is ending and might b busy during the week 😣
pls lmk if there are any mistakes in the spelling or anything so i can fix it !
also don't b afraid to vote or comment, i will probably (very likely) reply!!!!
happy reads!
─── ANNIE