Laughter echoed through the walls of Arlong Park.
Inside the japanese style fortress compound, the Fishmen lounged in pools of saltwater, lazed about in hammocks, or sharpened weapons for sport. Drinks were passed around and coins were tossed carelessly.
Arlong reclined on his massive throne, carved from the bones of sea kings and adorned with stolen gold. His jagged nose twitched as he took a long swig of sake, teeth flashing.
"I bet she's crying her little human eyes out," he grinned, fangs gleaming in the sun. "All that work, all that lying and it went up in flames. Hah!"
"Captain," one of the Fishmen chuckled, "maybe we should burn the rest of the village next, just to remind them who rules the sea!"
They laughed. Mocking, cruel, confident. Victory tasted sweet.
BOOM.
The laughter died.
A thunderous crash ripped through the compound, as the massive iron doors of Arlong Park exploded inward, torn from their hinges by raw force and hurled into the courtyard.
The air filled with dust and smoke.
Fishmen sprang to their feet, weapons drawn, confusion turning to rage.
"The hell was that?!"
"Who dares attack Arlong Park?!"
When the dust settled, three shadows stood framed in the entrance. Silent. Unshaken.
Luffy.
Sanji.
Cassandra.
"Who of you bastards is Arlong?"
Luffy stepped forward, the dust clinging to his clothes. He didn't look up.
A nearby Fishman pointed a jagged spear at them.
"Who are you?! What do you want?!"
They said nothing.
Cassandra tilted her head toward Sanji, cracking her neck with a satisfying pop. Her pony tail fluttered in the sea breeze, her hand resting on the hilt of one of her swords.
"I've never made sashimi before," she said coolly. "You have any tips on how to cut these?"
Sanji took out his iconic golden lighter and lit a cigarette, exhaling a steady plume of smoke.
"Don't bother," he replied without looking at her. "These fish are ugly. They'll probably taste like rotten barnacles. Even I couldn't fix that."
That earned a collective growl from the gathered Fishmen. Several bared their sharpened teeth. One slammed his fist into the wall, cracking the stone.
"How dare you insult the superior race?!"
Luffy finally raised his head, eyes burning with intensity. A quiet fury pulsed from him like a heartbeat. His fists trembled, not in fear, but in anticipation.
He locked eyes with the grinning, lounging shark who hadn't stood up once.
"You," Luffy said. "Are you Arlong?"
The towering Fishman stood slowly, easily twice Luffy's size, with muscles carved like granite and a nose like a swordfish. He sneered.
"I am," Arlong boomed, arms wide. "Arlong the Great! What do you want, brat?"
Luffy didn't blink.
"You made my navigator cry."
Arlong's brow twitched.
"So I'm going to beat you up."
For a second, the compound was silent.
Then the Fishmen roared with laughter.
"Did you hear that?!"
"He's serious?!"
"This shrimp thinks, he can take us on?!"
Arlong grinned, lips pulling back over his fangs.
"You humans never learn. Boys, tear them apart!"
The Fishmen didn't wait.
Seven of them surged forward like a tidal wave, massive brutes wielding axes, tridents, clubs. Their webbed feet cracked stone beneath them.
Cassandra unsheathed her blade in a flash of steel, ducking the first swipe of a trident and opening the attacker's thigh in a clean arc. Blood sprayed. The Fishman screamed, staggering.
Another came for her, swinging a massive hammer, but Sanji intercepted with a leap, landing a Collier straight to the jaw. The Fishman's eyes rolled back, and he crumpled.
Luffy grinned, the darkness in his eyes replaced by excitement. Gomu Gomu no Pistol! His arms shot forward smashing one Fishman directly into a pillar of the japanese style palace, which shattered under the impact.
Another fishman came from behind, but Cassandra spun, blade flicking upward, catching him along the side. He roared in pain and fell.
More charged. The courtyard turned into a frenzy of motion.
Cassandra ducked low, dancing between opponents like a leaf in the wind. Her blades licked out, slicing hamstrings, arms, wrists, disabling them with merciless precission. She didn't waste energy on finishing strikes. Her job was to clear the path of the rubble.
Sanji twirled through the air like a cyclone. A Poitrine Shoot sent one Fishman crashing into a wall. A Mouton Shot took another clean off his feet.
Luffy fought like a bulldozer with nothing able to stand in his way. He dodged claws and spears with fluid instinct, twisting midair and delivering punishing blows. He grabbed a massive Fishman's club mid-swing, grinned, and yanked it out of his hands before headbutting him into unconsciousness.
Arlong's confident smirk was beginning to fade.
The courtyard floor was littered with groaning Fishmen. blood, broken weapons and unconscious bodies.
Three humans had walked into his stronghold and they were winning.
Cassandra paused only long enough to glance toward Arlong.
"These aren't even appetizers."
Arlong growled. His fingers clenched into fists, his gills flaring.
"Enough games."
Sanji adjusted his tie, tossing his cigarette away.
"We're just getting started, fishface."
Luffy stood at the center of it all, the sea breeze ruffling his shirt and hair.
Arlong stepped down from his throne.
The last of the grunts fell with a heavy thud, his trident skittering across the blood-stained stone floor.
All eyes turned toward the center of Arlong Park.
The real monsters were just getting started.
Arlong cracked his neck, as he stepped forward, towering over Luffy. "You're strong for a human," he admitted with a sneer. "But you don't understand. We're not the same. We are born superior."
Luffy didn't move. "I don't care about any of that. You hurt Nami. For that you will pay."
Arlong roared, lunging forward and the fight began.
Nami and the villagers arrived, gasping at the destruction with all these Fishmen sprawled across the ground and stone walls cracked. It was a bloody battlefield.
No one could believe their eyes. The fishmen that terrorized them for so many years, got beaten so badly by only three people.
"Who are these people Nami?" Genzo asked flabberghasted.
"Our only hope of freedom!" Nami answered. In her eyes you could see how worried she was, but you could also see a glimmer of something else.
To the side, Kuroobi, the gray-skinned manta Fishman wearing a Gi with a black belt, fixed his cold eyes on Sanji. He moved with controlled, deliberate grace, the movements of a master martial artist.
"You think your legs are strong?" Kuroobi said as he slid into a Fishman Karate stance. "Let's see how they fare against the ocean's techniques."
Sanji gritted his teeth. "You brought a beautiful Lady to tears. For that I will kick your ass."
The two clashed with Kuroobi's striking like crashing waves. Each punch was sending shockwaves through the air. He struck Sanji's stomach with a palm blow that lifted him off his feet and sent him crashing into the stone wall.
Dust flew.
Sanji coughed, but stood again with blood at the corner of his mouth. "I'll tenderize you before I sauté you, bastard."
Meanwhile, Cassandra faced the six-armed swordsman Hatchan, or Hachi. The octopus fishman spun his six swords in an elegant dance, each arm moving independently like a storm of steel.
"You've got guts, girl," Hachi said, grinning wide. "But I'm not going easy on you!"
Cassandra didn't flinch. "You can try."
They clashed.
Cassandra ducked under the first spinning strike, deflected a horizontal slash and leapt backward to avoid the next set of swings. Her eyes narrowed, reading the rhythm of his blades. But it wasn't just Hachi she had to deal with.
From the rear platform, another Fishman took aim. Chew, the oversized smirking smelt-whiting Fishman with a snout like a horse.
He inhaled deeply and fired a powerful burst of water like a bullet. Sui-Teppō (Water Bullet)!
The blast screamed toward Cassandra's back.
Clang!
Shigure, one of Cassandra's floating swords deflected the blast just in time.
Her eyes flicked back. "Sniper too huh? What a drag."
Hachi pressed the attack, swords crashing down in a blur of motion. Cassandra gritted her teeth. She needed to focus hard to be able to track six blades and deflect water blasts from Chew at the same time. She called out in her mind, her floating blades danced around her, intercepting projectiles mid-flight as she traded blows with Hachi.
Still the strain to concentrate on all things at the same time, was showing.
In the center of the battlefield, Arlong roared, forming droplets of water at his palms shooting them like bullets at Luffy. Luffy dodged, using his rubber limbs to bounce off the stone floor and retaliate with a Gomu Gomu no Whip stretching his leg wide and cracking it across Arlong's shoulder.
It barely made him flinch.
"You'll have to try harder!" Arlong snarled, pulling out Kiribachi a giant black pole with six shark tooth-shaped black blades on one side, resembling half of a sawshark's snout.
Kuroobi had Sanji pinned near the water.
"This is the end," the Fishman growled, preparing the devastating finisher Samegawara Seiken! A blow designed to crush Sanji's ribs and kill him.
Sanji ducked low, spun, and countered with a desperate Concassé. A powerful twisting kick slammed into Kuroobi's stomach and launched him skyward. With a last jump Sanji soared skyward and landed a devestating axe kick, shooting Kuroobi into the ground falling unconcious.
Sanji landed, panted heavyly, but still lit another cigarette.
Back with Cassandra, the pressure mounted. Hachi's swords almost grazed her arm, while Chew's latest spit nearly hit her leg.
"I can't win like this," she muttered.
Just then—
Bang!
A bullet tore through the air and struck Chew clean in the temple.
The smelt-whiting fishman stumbled, eyes rolling, before crashing off the sniper perch.
Everyone turned.
On the wall, Nojiko stood, her eyes blazing, holding Bellemère's old rifle.
She had aimed for the head.
"Give your best. You have to win." she shouted.
Cassandra grinned. "Thanks."
With her distraction gone, she narrowed her stance, summoned her flames and unleashed her blazing technique:
"Hono no Hishou!"
Shrrrk!
The flaming blade struck, cutting through Hachi's swords, melting some at the hilt, shattering others.
A long slash wound opened from Hachis shoulder to his pelvis. Only a bit of blood gushed out, because the flames closed the wound, leaving a nasty looking scar.
Cassandra approached slowly, eyes burning with wrath for almost getting cut. She wanted to kill him right now, but there was reason she didn´t outright kill the fishmen. So she decided to let destiny decide.
The battle raged, but the tide had turned.
"Nami!" Nojiko said, climbing down the wall. "They… only Arlong remains!"
"I know," Nami whispered, eyes wide. "I didn't think they'd make it this far already…"
She looked past the carnage to Cassandra, standing over a broken Hachi.
To Sanji, leaning on one leg against a wall after dropping Kuroobi.
And finally to Luffy, who was still fighting Arlong.
Arlong was the final challenge.
Nami's hands trembled.
Then she saw Luffy glance back, just for a second and smile as if to say I've got this.
She clutched the brim of his straw hat on her head, tears still streaming down her face. Only now she also had a smile on her face.