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We had barely left town when Luffy started to get all shaky. He was ready to fight, and I didn't want to hold him back. "Just go!" I groaned.
"YEAH!" He ran off toward the park in the blink of an eye.
"Was it smart to let him off his leash like that?" Zoro asked.
"It'll be fine. We just need to pick up our pace so we can catch up," I said, starting to walk a little faster than I had been.
We got to the Park just in time to see Luffy slug Arlong and enrage the other fish-men. The cook ran forward and literally kicked ass.
"Don't go running on ahead like that," Sanji yelled as I walked up to Luffy.
"It's fine, I won't lose."
"I wasn't worried you'd lose. I was worried you'd take all the fun. The rest of us would like a turn, too," I told him, smirking and licking my lips. "You're not the only one looking to get a few lashes in on this guy."
"You can have my turn, Luffy," Usopp said, trembling.
"What a brave warrior," Zoro sarcastically remarked.
The fish-men weren't too happy to see me and Zoro and were surprised Usopp was even alive.
"So you five human pests came here for Nami. What can just five humans do against the might of a single fish-man?!" Arlong yelled.
Mine and Zoro's octopus friend blew his horn again, and something began rising out of the water. Usopp kept screaming about a monster that destroyed a whole village. Is he talking about that thing coming out of the water? Or is he talking about himself trying to lie to the fish-men?
"Come out! Mohmoo!"
A giant sea cow with a bump on its head rose out of the water. For some reason, the second Luffy and Sanji looked at it, the thing turned around to leave.
"Where do you think you're going?" Arlong asked the creature. "If you're going to run, I won't stop you."
The monster turned back around and came right at us.
"We're gonna DIE!" Usopp kept screaming.
"Would you shut up?!" We all yelled back as the fish-men came to fight us at the same time.
"Leave this to me." Luffy shoved both his feet into the ground and spun his body around.
"What's he doing?" Sanji mused out loud.
"I'm not sure, but I know I don't like it," I said, holding in my anger.
Luffy grabbed the horns of the monster.
"I think we need to move!" Sanji yelled.
"What's he thinking?" Zoro asked as we ducked for cover.
"Hell if I know," I said, diving behind a wall.
Luffy unspooled himself and swung around, still holding onto the monster. "Gum-Gum Pinwheel!" Hordes of the fish-men were sent flying with the monster as Luffy spun around.
"I'm not here for grunts! I WANT YOU!" He pointed at Arlong.
"What the hell were you thinking? Oh, wait, you weren't!" I started laying into my friend. "What a stupid idea, you almost killed us! You aren't allowed to make up new techniques on your own anymore! Clear everything with me!"
Sanji and Usopp were also harassing Luffy for his stupidity.
"Hey, the octopus is doing something," Zoro pointed out, getting our attention.
"Octopus is best served boiled with salt," Sanji hummed.
"Guys, I got a small problem."
"Oh, when we finish here, you gotta make calamari," I begged.
"That's squid, but whatever," Sanji shrugged.
"Hachi Ink-Jet!" A stream of black goo was shot at us, forcing us to dodge, something which Luffy didn't do.
"Why didn't you dodge, dumbass?" I yelled at Luffy. The octopus appeared before Luffy, carrying a huge boulder he was going to use to smash him.
"Yeah, I can't see or move," Luffy finally admitted to having a problem. I'm gonna kill him.
"God dammit." "What?" "You put yourself in this position." Hatchan slammed the rock down onto Luffy, crushing him.
"Luffy!"
"Relax."
"Yay, Sanji!" the voice of the friend I thought was dead yelled.
"I chose a real idiot's crew to join. But it's better than being in a crew that would harm a lady," Sanji said, both complimenting and insulting Luffy. At least I hope he's only calling Luffy an idiot. I think?
Usopp got to work trying to free Luffy from his cement boots while Zoro, Sanji, and I dealt with the fish-men. The octopus tried to put a stop to Usopp's attempt to free Luffy. "They're busy. Why don't you play with me?" Zoro said, putting a sword to his throat and picking a fight.
I don't know what Usopp was thinking, but he let Luffy go, and he slammed into the fish-man with the big lips. "My bad… AGGHHHH!" Usopp ran off with the fish-man following him. Big lips stopped to harass the villagers, but Usopp hit him with a fireball. "Don't forget you're fighting me!"
Arlong stood up and began walking toward Luffy. His subordinates told him not to fight, that they could take care of us. "I'm not going to fight…" Luffy threw a punch, but it missed. Arlong shoved his hands into the ground and pulled up a slab of concrete holding Luffy.
"They say Devil Fruit users can't swim, but in this situation, no one can swim," He threw Luffy into the sea where he sank like a rock.
"Luffy!"
"I'm going in after him," Sanji was already taking off his shoes.
"No! Sanji, wait, if you jump in, you'll just be doing what they want. We can't win against a fish-man underwater. We'll deal with it up here and go after Luffy once we finish these guys," I told him, stopping him from getting himself killed.
"So we beat these guys, then rescue Luffy. Fine by me," Sanji said, turning away from the water.
Zoro had already picked a fight with the octopus, and Sanji was staring down the manta ray, leaving me with the only fish still unoccupied. "ARLONG!" The shark man turned to me. "Let's go!" I ran forward, swung at the fish-man only to have him dodge and charge forward.
"Sit down and watch!" Arlong grabbed my head and threw me back. How is he so strong? I collided with a wall and groaned.
"Steve!" I looked up through my blurred vision and saw Johnny and Yosaku flailing around.
"Shut up, your yelling hurts my ears," I told them. "And my head. Arlong! The second my friend gets out of that water, you'll be sushi. If you're going to sit out, then so will I." I laughed and sat down, putting on a serious face. "You two have fifteen minutes before I involve myself in your fights. Luffy should live that long. Get your acts together and stop screwing around!"
Zoro and Sanji looked at me. "Fine, no need to be so pushy."
I sat down and stared down Arlong while keeping my eye on Zoro and Sanji. They had fifteen minutes until I had the strength to stand up again. If it took them that long, we may never beat Arlong.
My little pep talk was all it took to get Zoro ready to fight. He immediately ran at Hatchan while swinging and cut off a piece of the octopus's hair. Sanji was in a martial arts fight with the manta ray, but most of his kicks were being blocked.
Zoro looked like he was struggling. He had passed out on the ground. The octopus knocked over a portion of the building, trying to make it fall on Zoro, but Zoro stood up and threw the octopus into his own trap. "I'm not stepping in for twelve more minutes. I don't care how hurt you are, Zoro."
I saw Sanji give me a look that said, He's too hurt, you gotta step in, but I said fifteen minutes, and I meant it. He should have been paying attention because the fish-man punched him across the park.
"All of them except the red-headed one are taken care of."
"You mean they're already gone? I just took out my swords for this," Hatchan said, surfacing from the rubble wielding six swords.
"Heh heh heh," I started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Arlong said, raising an eyebrow.
"It's funny you think you won. Zoro! Stop taking a nap and do your job. You still have ten minutes."
"I'm not dead yet, but I could use a nap," He groaned, standing up. "Six swords? That's hilarious. I have a man to meet. Until I meet him, not even death will stop me. Yosaku, Johnny, swords!" The guys threw Zoro their swords so he could use his signature style.
"And you! Stop smoking and get over here!" I turned my head and yelled.
"That was a level forty punch? What a joke," Sanji said, standing up.
Zoro caught Johnny and Yosaku's swords, dodged Hachi's strike, and delivered his own. "Now I'm mad." Hatchan stood up despite his injury. "It's basic math: six swords beats three swords."
"You may have more swords, but the weight of our swords is completely different," Zoro explained to the octopus. Zoro blocked a six-pointed strike only to have his swords move and Hatchan slam his head into Zoro's stomach. Hatchan began spinning his entire body, becoming one huge blade. Zoro was falling from the sky about to land on the blades but rolled and blocked the assault.
At the same time, I heard what sounded like someone chopping down trees. Hope Usopp's alright.
"That bastard rolled over my swords and cut my hands like some circus act," The bloodied Hatchan said. Hatchan attempted to use the same Pot Stance he used before, but this time Zoro broke all six of the blades.
"Now do you understand the difference in our swords?" Zoro asked. "It's over! TATSUMAKI!" Zoro created a whirlwind of blades that chewed up the octopus.
The Manta-man tried to punch the weakened Zoro, but Sanji arrived to block the punch. "You've got five minutes," I said, staring the two down. "I suggest you hurry unless you want to look like failures."
Then Sanji jumped into the water, saying he could save Luffy without Zoro.
"That was dumb. He only had to fight the fish-man, not free Luffy," I remarked.
It took a little bit, but Sanji surfaced gasping for air, complaining that the fish man should fight him on equal ground. Then don't jump into the water, dumbass.
"Where's Luffy?" I asked him.
"He's half fine." Half?
The fish-man punched at Sanji but missed, and the cook delivered a series of precise kicks to various parts of the body, culminating with "Mutton Shot!" which sent the fish-man flying through the building.
I finally had the strength to stand. "Right on time. You only had a few seconds left."
"SCREW YOU!" they both yelled.
"Well, the small fries should take on the small fries," I said, walking past the two. "I'm just kidding, good job you two, you bought me the time I needed to catch my breath. I should really work on my stamina more."
Sanji explained Luffy was out of danger for the time being, but Arlong clearly wasn't going to let us go free him.
"Well then, let's deal with the immediate problem," I said, facing Arlong.
"You pathetic humans really think you can beat me. That's hilarious," he swung his hand through the air, and Zoro and Sanji fell to the ground. What the hell!
I ran at Arlong but just got shot in the leg by whatever hit Zoro and Sanji, and I fell to the ground behind Arlong. Arlong put his hands in his pockets. "See? I can crush you humans just by playing with a little water."
"ARLONG!"
I looked back and saw that Nami had come to this place to confront her captor.
"What brings you here?" Arlong asked.
"I'm here to kill you," Nami told him without wasting a second.
"You think you can kill me? You've tried dozens of times over the years and never once came close. You'll be my navigator forever. Since I'm such a nice guy, if you come back willingly, I'll spare the villagers, but no matter what, these guys..." he gestured to us "...will be killed because they pissed me off. So? What's it going to be, Nami?"
"I'm sorry everyone," Nami turned to look at the people from the village, "will you die with me?"
"Of course!"
There was an explosion of water from over the fence.
"It worked!" Sanji said, getting excited. "Now I just have to free his legs."
"I see what you were getting at," I told him. Luffy's alright, they stretched his neck to bring his head above the water. Good.
Sanji stood up. "I'm going back in."
"I've got thirty seconds, then I'm done," Zoro said, pushing himself to stand up.
"Don't push so hard, I can do this," I told him.
"No," he looked at me. "I won't just lay there and bleed out. I'm doing what I have to."
"Pay attention, mutant fish! You're mine." Zoro looked at Arlong, who was suddenly hit in the face with an egg.
"I've got your back, too, Zoro!" someone yelled from behind us.
"Usopp!"
"Can you believe it, Nami? I took down one of those officers." Usopp had such a big smile on his face; I was sure that he was telling the truth. He wouldn't lie to her like that, not with everything that was going on.
I heard a splash and saw the octopus had jumped in the water after Sanji.
"Leave him, focus on Arlong," I instructed Zoro.
"His nose is mine!" Zoro swung his sword at Arlong only to have it be blocked by his nose.
I wrapped my whip around Arlong's mouth to keep it pried open from behind, but he bit through it and dug his nose into Zoro's chest. Arlong picked up Zoro by the throat. "What gave you all the bandages? You fall down the stairs?" He pulled off the wrappings and saw Zoro's wound. It was bad, even worse than I thought it was. It looked as if Zoro had been cut in two and sewn back together. It was so bad it even looked like Arlong felt sorry for Zoro.
"If you lie down quietly, wounds don't reopen," Zoro forced out.
"Can you afford to laugh in your sorry state?" Arlong asked him.
"He's not talking about himself; he's talking about the octopus," I explained. I looked back and saw that a small part of the ocean had turned red.
"I'M BACK!"
I looked behind me and saw that Luffy had finally surfaced and was back in the fight.
"You're late, idiot," I smirked. "I thought I was gonna have to do this one solo."
He grabbed onto Zoro. "Zoro, tag out." Luffy pulled himself in and threw Zoro out into his previous position. Luffy landed next to me after delivering a series of blows to Arlong.
"About time. I've been waiting to get this started," I said.
"Let's get going then," Luffy laughed.
"What was that? Did you hit me?" Arlong stood up and asked.
"No, those were just my warmups," Luffy smiled.
"You should run while you still can, Arlong," I looked at him. "You've never experienced anything like the two of us working together before."