Final Battle with the Arlong Pirates (2)

"W-What kind of monster is that?!" Everyone stared at the Bubble Giant in terror.

"Bub~ble~Fist~" The bubble man slowly extended his right fist, inching it closer and closer to the lackeys.

Well, it was only slow compared to ordinary people's reactions. In reality, it was still incredibly fast.

At the very least, the lackeys failed to react.

Boom!

Like a speeding heavy truck, the seemingly fragile bubble possessed unimaginable power and completely unscientific toughness.

Who knew how Aaron had made it?

The fish-men fell into the pool like dumplings being dropped into a pot. Before long, they all floated back to the surface, drifting every which way.

They had passed out.

Well... luckily, fish-men had gills.

"With this... things will be much easier." Deep inside the bubbles, Aaron closed his eyes, sensing the scene outside as he muttered to himself.

Aaron's six senses had actually become useless amid the sea of bubbles, but from within the Bubble Giant, his perception of every bubble across his body gave him senses beyond the sixth.

Yeah, something like a seventh sense.

Aaron controlled the bubble man as it turned around. "Then next... I'll help Luffy."

"Lu...ffy... I'm here... to help you..." The huge mouth atop its head opened and closed, making the villagers watching nearby feel a little creeped out.

"Don't help me! I'm going to beat him up myself!" Luffy firmly refused.

"Whoa! What's this? It looks amazing!" Then, he casually noticed the Bubble Giant, more than five meters tall and blocking out the sun. Sparkling stars immediately appeared in his eyes.

"My brethren..." Seeing fish-men floating everywhere around him, Arlong's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. He glared fiercely at the giant bubble, his sharp teeth grinding together nonstop.

"You're going to pay with your life!" He grabbed one of the house's pillars with one hand, veins bulging as he yanked it free. With a powerful swing, he smashed it viciously toward the bubble man's head.

Pop!

With a faint burst, the stone pillar effortlessly smashed the bubble man's head apart. Then... it flew straight at Kuroobi, who had been facing off against Sanji behind the bubble man.

Bang!

Kuroobi entered a stunned state. Meat deliciousness increased by 10%.

As for why...

Didn't knocked-out fish taste better and fresher?

All right, enough nonsense.

Just before Aaron switched places with Sanji, Hatchan finally returned to his original position, now holding six sharp cleavers in his six hands.

Zoro had waited so long he had nearly fallen asleep standing up.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Hatchan apologized very politely.

"Huh? Ah!" Zoro opened his mouth wide in a huge yawn. "No problem, no problem. Can we start fighting now?"

"Mm-hmm, yes."

"Good." Zoro slowly drew Wado Ichimonji. "Didn't expect you to be a swordsman too."

As for his other two swords... they had already broken back at Baratie.

"That's right, Roronoa Zoro! I'm the strongest swordsman of the Arlong Pirates! And compared to your Three-Sword Style, I use six swords—the Six-Sword Style! You can never beat me!" As he spoke, Hatchan flourished the blades in his hands with fierce, whistling force, his face full of savagery.

Hatchan's change in expression was way too sudden.

Luckily, Zoro was a cold-faced swordsman. Otherwise, he might not have been able to take it.

Hearing Hatchan's words, Zoro sneered. "More swords don't make you stronger. And grabbing a few extra blades doesn't mean you can call it any kind of sword style."

"Nyah! I don't understand what you're saying! You hurt so many of my brethren! I'll kill you!" Hatchan roared as he charged forward.

"Heh! I have no interest in old history," Zoro said. "Let's see whether you've got what it takes to kill me!"

"You're that confident in your companions?" Kuroobi looked at Usopp and Aaron's idiotic antics, then glanced at the blond smoker beside him and asked calmly.

"They're not as weak as you think," Sanji answered. Then he fixed his gaze on Kuroobi. "Besides, compared to them, a bunch of bastards who casually bully women makes my knightly spirit... very unhappy!"

"Oh? For humans, you do have some skill," Kuroobi said. "But talking about promoting knightly spirit as a pirate... are you trying to be funny?"

"Whether my knightly spirit is funny or not... why not test it with your Fish-Man Karate?" Sanji smiled faintly. "And don't let my appearance fool you. I was raised by pirates for half my life." As he spoke, he tossed his cigarette butt aside.

"...You really have no idea how powerful fish-men truly are." Kuroobi loosened his hands and rolled his wrists.

As he spoke, Kuroobi prepared to rush forward and teach Sanji a proper lesson.

Then Justice Drop struck, stunning Kuroobi in one hit.

"Kuroobi!" Arlong cried out.

"HAHAHAHA! Are you an idiot? You actually hit your own companion!" Luffy clutched his stomach, pointed at Arlong, and laughed so wildly that tears nearly came out.

Yeah, full marks for that taunt.

"Sor~ry~" The bubble man's huge mouth opened and closed.

Yeah, taunt level A.

"..." Arlong's face was as gloomy as June's rainy season, and Luffy's laughter nearby only made him more agitated.

"Hatchan! Call Momoo over here!" Having no way to deal with the bubble man for the moment, Arlong roared at Hatchan.

Swoosh!

Hatchan knocked Wado Ichimonji aside with one blade, then viciously thrust his other five swords forward. Zoro could only leap backward to dodge them.

Hearing Arlong's shout, Hatchan answered, "Got it!"

Then he noticed the five-meter-tall Bubble Giant, and his eyes nearly popped out. "Whoa! What is that?!"

That kid... Zoro had noticed the shadow over five meters tall earlier. He looked up at the thing made entirely of bubbles, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

He usually keeps such a low profile, but that kid always manages to surprise people, Zoro thought.

"Don't think being big means no one can deal with you! Momoo!" Hatchan shouted at Aaron, then turned toward the pool. The pool connected to the sea, like a harbor.

"What? Who is he trying to call?"

"Could it be that special combatant?"

"What? Don't tell me it's that one?"

"A monster from the Grand Line!"

The gossiping villagers finally sprang into action, talking over one another and making Momoo sound unfathomably mysterious.

All right, we all knew it was actually the sea cow that had swallowed Aaron.

"Moo!" Although the sea cow let out a powerful roar as soon as it appeared, it was not in particularly good condition.

A huge ring of bruises had appeared around its lantern-sized eyes, making its terrifying face look rather comical.

Well, it had looked pretty funny even before the bruises.

"Mr. Sea Cow?!" Aaron opened his eyes in shock. He was rather familiar with the sea cow that had swallowed him whole.

What was more, it had helped him find the shovel his master had given him not long ago, so Aaron was actually quite grateful to it.

Yeah... normal people probably would not feel grateful after being swallowed whole, right?

"Ah! My eyes!" But Aaron was currently inside the bubble man. The entire bubble man was not one complete bubble, but made up of countless thumb-sized bubbles.

Yeah, a treat for people with trypophobia.

It had been fine when he spoke softly, but this time he raised his voice a little. The vibration directly shattered the surrounding bubbles, and Aaron's bodily fluids splashed into his eyes.

Tsk tsk, the sting was simply incredible!

And that was not the end of it.

Since they were bubbles Aaron had blown, one burst triggered another. The surrounding bubbles began exploding in a chain reaction, spreading so quickly that Aaron could not control it before things became completely irretrievable.

Yeah, so before everyone's shocked eyes, the bubble man shattered without warning.

Leaving Aaron lying on the ground, clutching his eyes and rolling around nonstop.

Well... that did accomplish Arlong's goal of calling for reinforcements.

...What the hell? Shouldn't he have been piloting the bubble man, slaughtering everyone in his way and rescuing his companion Nami from danger?

Tsk...

Since the lousy author's understanding of combat was just street brawling where one person threw a punch and the other threw a kick, he simply pulled out some absurd plot development to gloss over it.

Yeah, back on track.

"This idiot..." Zoro covered his forehead. Having seen the power of Aaron's chain bubble explosions before, he could more or less guess why the bubble man had suddenly fallen apart.

Looks like Aaron won't be able to fight for a while. What an idiot! Zoro thought speechlessly.

But it did not matter. The three of them were enough. They only needed to cut down this bull-headed sea monster...

Zoro looked at the sea cow with ill intent when Luffy suddenly shouted, "Perfect timing!"

Then Luffy planted his feet deeply into the concrete, stretched out both arms to grab the sea cow's horns, and began twisting his waist until it was wound tight like a rope.

"Wait! Luffy, what are you trying to do?!" Zoro shouted.

"Shishishi! Gum-Gum, Windmill Dance!" The immense elasticity allowed Luffy to lift the sea cow straight up and spin it nonstop like a windmill.

Zoro failed to dodge in time and was swept away by the sea cow's tail, slammed straight into the wall.

Yeah, it did not accomplish much else.

Sanji easily dodged with a bridge, while Kuroobi simply dropped to the ground to avoid it. Hatchan directly stuck himself to the ceiling with his suction cups. As for Aaron, he had never gotten back up and was still rolling around. Arlong, however, did not dodge at all. His face dark, he coldly watched the sea cow's tail. Suddenly, he stretched out his right hand and firmly grabbed it. The tremendous impact forced him to slide backward, his legs sinking deeply into the concrete, but with veins bulging, he actually stopped the sea cow by force.

"I'm not done yet!" Luffy roared. Before the elastic force faded, he grabbed the sea cow's horns and lifted with all his might. The forward momentum suddenly gained an upward direction, causing the sea cow's tail to whip upward uncontrollably!

"What?!" Arlong let the tail slip from his hand for just a moment, and it smashed hard into his face, sending him flying as well.

He was slammed viciously into the wall.

As for the sea cow, Luffy casually let go and gave it a thrilling round of ocean bungee jumping.

Yeah, as a Sea King, it might have been the first to experience bungee jumping and survive.

"Damn it!" Blood trickled from Arlong's head as he shook himself and crawled out of the wall with a gloomy expression.

"I'll punch you away!" Luffy pulled his feet free and charged over in huge strides. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

"..." Arlong watched Luffy's arm shoot toward him. His face remained dark, and he made no move at first. But just as Luffy's arm was about to reach him, Arlong opened his huge mouth and clamped his sharp teeth down hard on Luffy!

"That hurts!" Luffy cried out in pain.

But Arlong was not done! He clenched his teeth and yanked hard!

Caught off guard, Luffy was dragged over.

"Damn it! Let go of me!" Enraged, Luffy stretched out his other hand, preparing to punch Arlong in the face.

But Arlong released him just as Luffy was about to get close. The sudden recoil of Luffy's arm caused a slight shift in his outstretched fist.

Arlong dodged the punch and then slammed both huge hands toward Luffy.

"Pwah!" It was like suddenly running into a tree on the highway. Luffy's eyes bulged wide, and his mouth opened involuntarily.

Then Arlong exerted force again and hurled Luffy far away.

After tracing a graceful arc through the air, Luffy fell into the pool.

"You're a Devil Fruit user, aren't you? Anyone with devilish powers is helpless in water. Go on, sink beneath the surface and slowly experience death! Shahahahaha!" Arlong laughed wildly.

"Damn it! We need to save Luffy!" Zoro said anxiously.

"Nyah! I won't let you run away!"

Naturally, Hatchan stepped in to block him.

"What an idiot!!" On the other side, Sanji said angrily.

"Do you think I'll let you save your captain?"

"Damn it! In that case, Aaron! Go save Luffy!" Sanji gritted his teeth and shouted over his shoulder.

"It hurts!!" Aaron was still rolling around nonstop.

"How long are you going to keep hurting?! Are you blind?!" Sanji cursed furiously.

After being cursed at, Aaron finally stopped moving. He scratched his head, stood up, and grinned. "Eh, it doesn't seem to hurt anymore!"

"...Damn!" Even Sanji, who prided himself on his good manners, could not hold back the curse.