THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOWDOWN: THE STRAW HAT PIRATES VS THE ARLONG PIRATES
East Blue Saga - Arlong Park Arc - Episodes 38 - 39
3rd POV:
"Move," Luffy orders them as they get closer to the crowd, they part in the middle letting the five walk through towards the gate, and Johnny and Yosaku split as Luffy begins punching his way through the stone gate. The stone gate gives way and falls to pieces on the ground around them as debris floats and soon fades away, revealing Luffy to the Fishmen.
"What the...?" Arlong gapes down at Luffy as he straightens up with his fist raised and ready.
"Which one's Arlong?" He asks, ready for a fight.
ONE PIECE - ARLONG PARK ARC
"Arlong? Arlong would be my name." Said Fishman answers from his throne, not even looking at Luffy as he walks towards him.
"I'm Luffy." He introduces himself.
"Luffy? And who are you?" Arlong asks him, confused about why he's here.
"A pirate," Luffy answers shortly, and Hachi, along with Chew and Kuroobi, looks at him, seeming familiar to the three Fishmen.
"Oh! It's him! He's here! The pirate who likes to take walks!" Hachi exclaims in disbelief at seeing Luffy, but they don't spot Dakota yet.
"Not so fast there, you."
"Where do you think you're going?"
"You got some explaining to do to us first." Some Fishmen say as Luffy walks towards them, and they block his path.
"C'mon, hey..."
"If you don't stop..." More try to stop Luffy, but he stretches his arms and hits their heads together, knocking them to the ground.
"Out of the way!" Luffy shouts as they fall to the ground, shocks the other Fishmen, and ticks Arlong off.
"And what does a pirate want with me?" Arlong asks him, but as his response, he stops in his tracks and grabs his wrist, pulling it back in a crouch and launches his fist into Arlong's face. The punch's force knocks Arlong out of his throne, and he tumbles away to the other side of the compound wall; he hits it hard with the stone wall breaking with debris floating around. The Fishmen all gawk in shock at their leader being thrown around so quickly, along with some of the villagers; Luffy stretches, getting ready for the fight as the debris fades away to reveal an angry Arlong in a hole in the stone wall. "Who the hell are you?" Arlong demands, looking at Luffy as he breathes through his nose, heavily recalling Nami's state before he left.
"DON'T YOU DARE MAKE MY NAVIGATOR CRY!" Luffy screams at him, and two Fishmen in the water entrance jump out.
"You bastard! How dare you hit Arlong!" They scream as they go to attack Luffy, but Sanji steps in to protect his Captain with a series of kicks, knocking them back.
"You weaklings, stay out of this!" Sanji warns them as they fly and walks over to stand next to Luffy. "Honestly... bursting in alone like that..."
"It's not like I'm going to lose even if I was alone," Luffy replies, not even looking at Sanji or saying thank you.
"Idiot." Sanji snaps at him, leaning over to his ear. "Since did I say I was worried about you? I'm just telling you not to hog all of the prey."
"Oh, okay." Luffy replies, and Usopp walks over to them from the hole in the wall, with the villagers watching as Dakota and Zoro walk behind him to make sure he doesn't turn back around.
"Oh... uh... I don't really mind. If you hog them all..." Usopp stutters out in fear and anxiety about the impending fight.
"That's some bravery you got there," Zoro comments as he steps to Usopp's side with Dakota on his right.
"That's him! It's that guy! The unknown swordsman! And that woman he was with!" Hachi outs the two, pointing at them.
"That's Roronoa Zoro," Kuroobi answers from the side.
"As I thought, I knew it! They're the ones who tricked me! They rode me- I mean I gave them a ride..." Hachi rambles, trying to look stern, when one of the fallen Fishmen gets back up.
"Look, that long-nose!" He announces, gaining their attention as they all look at Usopp.
"Huh?! But Nami killed that guy!" Hachi explains in disbelief like the rest of them.
"He's alive... which means..." Chew begins to say when Kuroobi cuts him off.
"I knew it! I was right all along. That woman's a traitor!" He seethes as he looks over at the group of pirates opposing them.
"Hey, who are those guys?" A villager questions as they watch, and Johnny and Yosaku move their blades to block the entrance.
"Hold up!" They warn the villagers.
"He blew Arlong away?" The Doctor gapes along with the others.
"Unbelievable!"
"That's not something a normal human can do!" Genzo gasps at the sight before them.
"Those guys..." Nojiko mutters.
"You still wanna fight?" Yosaku asks them, expecting them to let the five handle it.
"If you guys join in, you'd just make things worse for them. You'd just get in the way." Johnny warns them against anything rash.
"But why are they fighting? What reason do they have to fight them?" Genzo asks the Bounty Hunters in shock at the five strangers wanting to help them after so long.
"A reason?" Yosaku repeats, already knowing the answer.
"Big Sis Nami was crying," Johnny tells them.
"She risked her life. Do we need any other reason?" Yosaku rhetorically asks as he sees the look on their faces.
"Pirates, eh? I see. So that's the relationship between you guys. I thought you were just Nami's victims. But..." Arlong laughs. "But what can five inferior beings possibly do?" He taunts them as Hachi walks over to them.
"You guys are idiots. You think Arlong will waste his time with the likes of you? He'll be enough for the job!" Hachi tells them, uses his cone-like mouth like a trumpet, and calls out to the sea for the beast below; the villagers begin panicking as they all know who he's calling.
"Could it be?"
"It's coming..."
"That is..." A rumble comes from the sea as the beast comes forward, shaking the land and sea as it gets closer; as it does, the waves get stronger and harsher.
"Wh-wh-what's going on?!" Usopp panics as the rumbling gets worse and a massive wave comes closer.
"You guys can be his next meal! Come out, Mohmoo!" Hachi laughs, a whirlpool appears in the middle of the water entrance, and the water rises around the beast.
"It's... it's a monster! The monster from the Grand Line that crushed Gosa Village!" Usopp screams on the spot as the water recedes, revealing the battered and tearing monster. "It's huge!"
"That's..."
"It's the sea bull, Mohmoo!" They all panic as Mohmoo moves closer to look at the five pirates and sees two he recognises in fear.
"Oh, it's just him," Luffy grumbles, not impressed by the beast.
"So he was a Nakama of the Fishmen?" Sanji wonders, and Mohmoo remembers his encounter with the two, turns and leaves with his tail between his legs.
"Hold on! Mohmoo! Where do you think you're going?! Hey! Wait! Wait, I tell you! Mohmoo!" Hachi cries out for his friend as he leaves.
"Mohmoo... what are you doing?" Arlong asks him, which strikes more fear into the sea bull as he stops in his tracks. "Well if you wanna run away, I won't stop you... would I Mohmoo?" He asks, but it changes the beast's mind as it turns around in full monster mode and goes to attack.
"It's coming!" Usopp screams, backing into the wall of the compound, waving his arms around in front of him in fear.
"Yeah! Get 'em! Follow Mohmoo!" The Fishmen cheer as they rally after the sea bull gets closer to the Strawhats.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Usopp keeps apologising, and Zoro begins unsheathing his sword, but Dakota stops him.
"I'll take care of him! This is a waste of time!" Luffy snaps and punches his fists together before planting his feet into the concrete to steady himself.
"What the hell is he gonna do?" Sanji asks with concern for his Captain.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Dakota comments as they watch their Captain bends over and straighten up as Fishmen race around to attack, and he twists his abdomen around a few turns, then grabs hold of Mohmoo's horns. The sea bull returns to his sad self at his impending pain; Luffy stretches out his arms as the rest watch.
"His arms stretched?!" Hachi gapes with the others.
"He possesses the powers of the Devil's Fruit?!" Arlong joins in on the gaping at Luffy.
"What?!"
"Who cares!"
"Let's go!" The Fishmen say and run after Luffy when Zoro sees Luffy's plan.
"Oi, run!" Zoro warns them and pushes Dakota back.
"What?! What's he gonna do?!" Sanji asks him in a panic.
"I dunno, but it's not gonna be pretty!" Zoro says and pushes them back away from Luffy.
"Gum-Gum... Pinwheel!" Luffy shouts as he swings Mohmoo around, knocking the Fishmen that were too close away; he finally lets Mohmoo go and goes flying back into the open waters as Luffy tries catching his breath. "I didn't come here to fight these guys! The one I want to take down... IS YOU!" Luffy shouts and points over at Arlong as he sits in the hole he made in the wall.
"That's just perfect. I was just thinking about how I'd like to kill you now, too." Arlong smirks with an evil glint as the others approach Luffy to scold his reckless plan.
"That was dangerous, you idiot!" Sanji scolds him as he tries to knock some sense into him by hitting him on the head with his foot.
"Did you want to kill us too!" Usopp roars at him as Dakota and Zoro hang back.
"Huh?" Luffy asks, confused by their outrage.
"Such destructive power..."
"It's unbelievable that a human who can throw a monster like that even exists!"
"Is this battle of this world?" The villagers all question, gaping at what they all witnessed, and inside the compound, Luffy finally realises he is stuck in the concrete. He wiggles around, trying to free his feet, but they won't budge.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" Usopp roars at Luffy.
"How dare you do that to our crew!" Hachi yells at the five humans.
"Looks like we have to get our hands dirty now..." Kuroobi states.
"I think we need to teach them the difference between our species." Chew threatens the humans, but it only gets to one.
"So, the main forces have finally shown themselves..." Zoro beams, looking at the three Fishmen in front of them.
"Arlong, please stay right where you are," Kuroobi tells him.
"If you fought out of rage, Arlong Park would turn to dust." Chew adds on.
"We'll take care of them!" Hachi bellows as he stands up.
"Yeah, do whatever you like." Arlong agrees with his main guys as Usopp sneaks away in fear, so far unnoticed by anyone.
"Scary..." Usopp whispers in fear looking at the remaining Fishmen.
"Hey, um... wait." Luffy tries to gain the other's attention, but Hachi redirects it as he inhales a large breath.
"Looks like the octopus is up to something," Zoro warns the others as they look at him.
"First, you boil the octopus in saltwater, slice, then flavour with olive oil and paprika. It makes a great appetiser." Sanji instructs, and Luffy leans forward, waving his hand slightly.
"Um, wait, can you hear me out?" Luffy tries again to gain their attention, but still, Hachi has it.
"Take this!" He shouts out. "Zero Visibility! Hachi Ink-Jet!" Hachi shouts as he squirts out a jet of ink towards the four, and three of them dodge out of the way, but Luffy takes the whole attack as he's stuck in the concrete.
"You moron! Why didn't you dodge it?!" Zoro snaps at the ink-covered Rubberman as he cries, covering his eyes.
"Aah! I can't see!" Luffy cries out.
"And to finish you off," Hachi says as he quickly picks up a sizeable block of rubble.
"Hey! Luffy, run away!" Usopp shouts out to his Captain as Hachi walks slowly and carefully towards him.
"Yeah, that's just the problem. I can't seem to move..." Luffy tells them as he tries loosening his feet in the concrete, with a shadow from a large chunk of wall overcasting him.
"Huh?" Sanji asks as he gets up, looking over at Luffy.
"My feet won't come out!" Luffy exclaims in a panic, still trying to get his feet out.
"Idiot! DIdn't you stick 'em into the ground in the first place!?" Usopp shouts his outrage and panic from his hiding spot.
"What was he thinking..." Dakota mutters to herself as she shakes her head at her little brother.
"On the rocks!" Hachi shouts as he drops the stone wall piece on top of Luffy with a loud thud; a second later, a crack appears in the middle of the part that spreads out, and damages under the hit to reveal Sanji had kicked the centre, breaking the stone saving Luffy.
"This is just great," Sanji mutters in disappointment.
"Cool! Cool! Nice one! Nice one!" Luffy cheers his cook.
"Looks like I ended up with a complete moron for my Captain," Sanji complains lightly.
"We're on the same boat." Zoro agrees.
"How do you think I feel," Dakota adds, reflecting on her time with Luffy growing up.
"He's... awesome!" Usopp gasps in awe of his power.
"Well, at least it's a hundred times better than being with a low-life bunch that hurts a lady," Sanji says, looking at the Fishmen.
"A lady? You came here all the way here for 'that kind' of woman? You guys make me laugh." Kuroobi mocks them.
"'That kind' of woman? Say that about Nami-san again, and I'll cook you in a buttered frying pan. Making you into a Meuniere, Fishman!" Sanji threatens him, pointing at Kuroobi.
"You look like you can fight, for a human. But a pirate who fights by chivalry can only be mediocre." Kuroobi warns him with his arms crossed.
"Why don't you see for yourself, if my chivalry is mediocre? I was raised by an unbeatable pirate." Sanji retorts back at the Fishman.
"Seems like you're really unfamiliar with the superiority of the Fishmen race." Kuroobi snaps, cracking his knuckles; Sanji clicks his teeth in annoyance as Kuroobi readies for a fight. Meanwhile, Usopp grabs Luffy under his arms and pulls him away, hoping to pry his feet out of the concrete.
"I still ain't getting free," Luffy tells him as his legs stretch.
"Not yet!? Can't you pull 'em out yet?!" Usopp asks him, straining as he stretches out Luffy's legs.
"Not yet," Luffy answers the same. "I don't think I can get out just by stretching."
"Are you even trying!?" Usopp roars at Luffy. "Do you even want to free your legs?!"
"Why are those two fooling around for? This is Arlong Park for crying out loud. I'll kill you!" Hachi shouts and picks up a piece of the stone near Luffy's feet as Usopp dashes, trying to outrun him.
"Crap, crap... come on, dammit, get 'em out! We gotta get outta here!" Usopp panics as he runs with Luffy under his arm.
"Wait!" Hachi calls out to them.
"Hey, Octopus. Those two are busy. I'll be your opponent." Zoro tells him, pointing his sword at Hachi.
"Nyu, Roronoa Zoro! I almost forgot about you! How dare you trick me!" Hachi shouts as he drops the stone onto the ground by Zoro as he dodges out of the way in time. He lands on the ground a fair bit behind Hachi. "That's right! Then you also killed some of my brethren!"
"I'm not interested in any of that old news. And it wasn't just me, the redhead over there helped. Your reason for wanting me dead... I don't care about it. The situations changed. It's not you who wants to kill us. It's us who want to kill YOU!" Zoro tells him as he reveals his sword as the two stand off from one another.
"Alright, Zoro... I'll let you have that octopus. Nice." Usopp says and lets go of Luffy, who slings back to where his feet are planted; Usopp finally sees his mistake. "Aahh! Luffy!" Luffy swings around towards Chew, who looks over to see him and Usopp, but too late as Luffy knocks into him, throwing him away onto his back with a cry.
"I'm back to where I started." Luffy sighs as he wobbles side to side as Chew gets up.
"Bastard!" Chew snaps looking over to them.
"Goodbye." Usopp cries with tears trickling down his face from under his goggles.
"Looks like you really do want to be killed..." Looking over at Usopp, Chew clips, getting up to his feet and runs towards him; Usopp slowly turns around before bolting out of the compound past the villagers and Bounty Hunters.
"Isn't that the guys who saved Genzo?" A man asks, watching him disappear down the dirt path, and Chew jogs up to the hole with the villagers standing.
"Aren't you guys from Cocoyashi Village? Seeing that you have all these weapons, I can assume, you guys are rebelling? You guys are all-" Chew tries threatening them but is interrupted by flames, thanks to Usopp.
"Flaming Star!" Usopp calls out as Chew catches on fire and falls away from the villagers.
"Big Bro Usopp!" Johnny calls out, and the flames stop leaving Chew on his back again.
"Your opponent is ME!" Usopp shouts from a far distance away from the Fishman.
"If you wanna die so badly, I'll kill you right now!" Chew roars as he gives chase again, with Usopp running away with Chew close behind.
"What's with that guy?" Genzo asks as he and the rest of the villagers look back as the two of them run down the dirt path.
"He stands up to fight, and then he runs away... He's a strange one." The Doctor adds on.
ONE PIECE - ARLONG PARK ARC
Usopp races down the dirt path with Chew close behind him as he breathes heavily, trying not to get free of him as he cries out. "Get back here, you long-nose!" Chew shouts ahead at him.
"Hey, same with your mouth!" Usopp shouts back as they run further away from Arlong Park.
ONE PIECE - ARLONG PARK ARC
Back at Arlong Park, Arlong has enough and gets up, walking over towards his subordinates. "Same old, same old. Move! This is getting boring. I just can't stand watching." Arlong snaps as he approaches them.
"Arlong-san, I thought we asked you not to get violent here," Kuroobi replies, looking at their leader.
"I'm not going to; I just thought of an interesting game," Arlong replies, smirking.
"A game?" Hachi repeats, confused.
"I'm gonna DESTROY YOU!" Luffy shouts as he goes to punch Arlong, extending his arm, but Arlong just slightly moves his head to the side, making Luffy miss. Luffy retreats his hand back to him, but Arlong grabs hold before it returns.
"Do you guys seriously think you can win against us?" Arlong asks the intruders.
"So, what about it?" Sanji asks him back.
"Of course, we think that you idiot! Let go of my hand!" Luffy interrupts with his idiotic timing.
"Seems like he wants to say something." Zoro sneers and clicks his sword slightly as a threat when Arlong kneels in front of Luffy with his hand still in his webbed hand and punches the concrete in front of his feet. He keeps his hand in the concrete and rips it up with Luffy's feet still in there.
"Whoa! What the, what's going on!?" Luffy cries out as Arlong holds him over his head with both hands.
"People who possess the power of the Devil's Fruit are dead weights! Well, even if you didn't have those powers, you'd still stink in this situation!" Arlong laughs, and the others catch on to his idea.
"He can't be thinking... into the sea!?" Zoro exclaims with fear, along with Sanji and Dakota.
"Gum-Gum: Pistol!" Luffy shouts as he punches Arlong, but he catches Luffy's fist in his mouth and bites down, drawing blood as he laughs, and Luffy cries out of pain.
"Idiot!" Arlong snaps lowly, and Luffy tries to free himself by biting Arlong's arm.
"Why you!" Arlong shouts, letting go of Luffy's arm as he attacks Arlong's own arm.
"Useless," Kuroobi mutters, watching the scene in front of them as Arlong throws Luffy away into the water in front of them.
"Luffy!" Dakota and Zoro call out to him in a panic as they watch their Captain fly away into the water outside the Park.
"Bastard!" Sanji grits his teeth watching as Luffy splashes into the water, Arlong laughs maniacally, and Sanji runs forward.
"I'm coming to save-!" Sanji begins to say, but Zoro stops him in his steps.
"Idiot! Don't get worked up!" Zoro snaps at the blonde chef.
"If you jump in, you'll be right where they want you to be! The Fishmen have the upper hand underwater! There's only one way to save Luffy." Dakota tells Sanji with a look of seriousness in her eyes.
"Take care of these guys and the leftover minions quickly and then jump into the water? Let's do it! We don't have much time." Sanji agrees.
"Right", Zoro agrees as the three of them are already in a fight.
"How many seconds do you think he'll last? That Rubberman." Arlong wonders aloud to frustrate the three humans.
"Ah, so this is the game you were talking about." Hachi gleams.
"I see." Kuroobi agrees as they look down on the humans in front of them, and Hachi lets out a chuckle.
"The fish is yours," Zoro states as he holds up his sword.
"You got the octopus." Sanji retorts as he readies for his fight against Kuroobi and takes a drag from his cigarette.
"I've got the minions," Dakota adds, smirking, looking around the leftovers that had somehow missed the swirling sea bull.
ONE PIECE - ARLONG PARK ARC
Luffy struggles to hold his breath below the water's surface as bubbles float to the top. He keeps his hands over his mouth and nose to stop himself.
ONE PIECE - ARLONG PARK ARC
By the first hole in the stone wall where the villagers, Johnny, and Yosaku stand, the two Bounty Hunters hang onto the wall in fear of the Rubberman at the bottom of the sea bed. "Oh, no! He can't do anything by himself like that!" Yosaku shouts in a panic.
"Big Bro Luffy is gonna die!" Johnny cries out from behind, and they watch the bubbles slowly become less before disappearing into nothing and again, Arlong gives out a cruel laugh.
"You can't even breathe underwater. Humans are such inferior beings." Arlong chuckles from his throne.
"Come on!" Zoro yells, "I'm your opponent, you freakin' octopus!" Said octopus, giving out a chuckle.
"Game! A game!" Hachi giggles, still sticking to what Arlong had said minutes ago.
"I'll finish this up in 5 seconds...." Zoro grunts as he runs towards the Fishmen with Sanji beside him as Dakota stays where she is.
"No, 3 seconds..." Sanji boasts, not focusing on the fight at hand.
"Don't be in such a hurry! No matter what happens, you have no hope of living after this!" Kuroobi snaps as Sanji goes for a kick, but Kuroobi blocks the blow.
"Hachi Ink-Jet!" Hachi shouts and shoots a jet of ink towards Zoro, and he dodges it again.
"Hold on! Luffy!" Zoro shouts as the four leftover Fishmen walk around Dakota with smirks.
ONE PIECE - ARLONG PARK ARC
Usopp runs with Chew behind him in the island's countryside, not far off. "I'M DOOMED!" Usopp screams as he continues to run.
TO BE CONTINUED....