Arlong Park (1)

Boom!

"Which one of you is Arlong?" After Luffy smashed through the thick walls of Arlong Park with a punch, he walked in as if no one else was there and asked.

"I'm Arlong! Who are you?" Arlong did not pay much attention to Luffy's violent intrusion. Although East Blue was the weakest sea, there were quite a few people capable of smashing down the walls of Arlong Park. From beginning to end, Arlong had not even spared Luffy a proper glance, clearly not taking him seriously.

"My name is Luffy. I'm a pirate!" Ignoring the other Fish-Men's warnings and attempts to stop him, Luffy headed straight toward Arlong.

"What does a pirate want with me?" Though Arlong wondered who had eaten the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard, he still did not care about Luffy's intrusion.

"Don't make my navigator cry!" The only answer to Arlong's question was Luffy's furious fist. Luffy's enraged punch struck Arlong in the face and sent him flying.

"Who are they? They actually sent Arlong flying?" The Cocoyasi Village villagers outside Arlong Park were stunned. Not only had Luffy smashed through the thick wall with his fist, he had even punched Arlong away. Such a thing had once been unimaginable to ordinary people like them. Though they were confused, they were also exhilarated.

"Why are you doing this? You have no reason to!" Genzo asked in bewilderment.

"A reason? Because my navigator cried!" In William and the others' eyes, if they were going to stake their lives on this, was there any better reason?

"Bastards! You dare cause trouble here!" When the Fish-Men saw Arlong get punched away, even with their low intelligence, they knew someone had come to wreck the place.

"Get lost, small fry!" After kicking away the Fish-Men charging at Luffy, Sanji said irritably, "Seriously, you ran ahead by yourself again!"

"I wouldn't lose even by myself!" Luffy said indifferently. He was furious over what Arlong had done and wished he could tear down Arlong Park alone to vent the anger in his heart.

"Idiot, who's worried about you?" Sanji lit a cigarette and explained, "I'm just telling you not to hog all the prey!"

"I see! Fine!" Since they were all companions who had come to make trouble for Arlong and vent their anger, Luffy did not mind. But he had to be the one to send Arlong flying. That was a captain's responsibility.

"What a headache-inducing bunch of bastards!" William said helplessly. They had come to wreck someone else's place, yet they were openly discussing it right in front of them.

"I... I don't mind!" Usopp stood behind them on trembling legs, barely forcing the words out of his mouth.

"You've got some guts too!" Zoro greatly admired Usopp. Usually timid as a mouse, Usopp had actually dared to follow them here this time.

"Pirates? So that's your relationship! Then you've been after Nami from the very beginning! But you're only five inferior creatures. What can you possibly do? Hahaha!" Arlong laughed as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world, laughing so hard his stomach cramped.

"You little ghosts aren't qualified to face Boss Arlong!" Hachi, the six-armed octopus Fish-Man, shouted toward the sea, "Come out, sea beast Mohmoo!"

"What is that monster?" Usopp cried out in panic, completely losing his wits at the sea beast's massive body. If he knew Luffy and Sanji had once used Mohmoo to pull a ship, he would not have worn that expression.

"So this guy is one of the Fish-Men's companions!" Luffy and Sanji said disdainfully, even somewhat disappointed. They had thought the helper Hachi summoned would be something terrifying. Instead, it was merely someone they had already defeated.

"Wait to become feed, humans!" But before Hachi could finish showing off, he saw Mohmoo wear a pitiful expression and turn around to leave Arlong Park. He hurriedly shouted, "Mohmoo, where are you going?"

"Mohmoo, what are you doing? If you want to run away, I won't stop you. Right?" Arlong said, threatening the sea beast Mohmoo with a sharp look.

After hearing Arlong's words, cold sweat broke out all over Mohmoo's body. It seemed to recall something terrifying, and its entire body began trembling in fear.

"Help!" Usopp was so frightened by the rampaging sea beast Mohmoo that his heart nearly stopped.

"Everyone, attack with Mohmoo! Teach these foolish humans what happens when they try to show off!" Seeing Mohmoo charge wildly at the Straw Hat Pirates, the Fish-Men drew their weapons and prepared to teach the Straw Hat Pirates a proper lesson.

"I'll handle it, so we don't waste time!" William quickly stopped Luffy. The moment he thought of that idiotic move Luffy used against Mohmoo, he knew that while it could take out most of the Fish-Men, it would leave their companions in a desperate battle afterward.

Now, both he and Zoro were seriously injured and could not make any large movements, or their wounds would tear open. That meant Luffy was currently the only one who could defeat Arlong. He was the key to their victory, and as the Straw Hat Pirates' strategist, William absolutely would not let Luffy use that idiotic move again.

William leaped up, grabbed Mohmoo's nose ring with one hand, and used the power of several Geppo steps to yank the sea beast's entire body over. However, the excessive movement caused his wounds to ache violently. Fortunately, they did not split open.

"He actually flipped Mohmoo over?" The Cocoyasi Village villagers and the Arlong Pirates' Fish-Men were all dumbfounded by the sight. Even among the Arlong Pirates, only Arlong could do something like that.

Arlong, lying on the ground, wore an extremely ugly expression. He knew William had done that while seriously injured. What if he had not been injured? William's existence had become a threat to him, so he decided to put William on the list of people who had to be eliminated.

Mohmoo had already regained his senses the moment it was flipped over. Its helpless yet pitiful expression made anyone who saw it feel sympathetic. But it truly had no choice. On one side was the incomparably vicious Arlong; on the other were the violent and terrifying Straw Hat Pirates. No matter which side it chose, it would suffer.

"When you're fighting, don't get distracted, you stupid fish!" Zoro mercilessly drew Wado Ichimonji and used One-Sword Style to slash some of the Fish-Men to the ground.

Although Zoro was best at Three-Sword Style, he only had one sword on him now, so he had to make do. With his severe injuries and lack of weapons, Zoro's combat strength had been greatly weakened.

"If you're fish, then get back into the sea!" Sanji used the leg techniques personally taught by "Red Leg" Zeff to kick most of the Fish-Men around him flying.

"You're strong too, newcomer!" Usopp discovered that Sanji was also very strong, secretly glad to have such powerful companions. Otherwise, with only Luffy and two wounded men, Usopp truly would not have felt confident.

"Of course I am!" Sanji admitted without the slightest modesty.

"Very good, everything is proceeding according to my plan!" Seeing the Fish-Men surrounding them get taken down by Zoro and Sanji, Usopp thought that Fish-Men were not so frightening after all.

"You inferior humans, how dare you hurt my companions?" Watching the Fish-Men fall one after another, Arlong could no longer hold himself back.

Though he had nothing but contempt for human lives, he cared deeply for his companions. Like Luffy, he was fiercely protective of his own.

"Get out of my way! The bastard I'm going to send flying is you, Arlong!" After punching away a Fish-Man who approached him, Luffy pointed at Arlong and shouted furiously.

"What a coincidence. I want to kill you too, you bastard!" Watching his kin fall one after another, Arlong was finally enraged. What he could not tolerate most was someone insulting or hurting his own kind, and now the Straw Hat Pirates had done both.

"Looks like we have no choice but to step in!" Kuroobi, one of the Fish-Man officers, said unhappily as he watched his kin get taken down one after another by the Straw Hat Pirates.

"You treated our kin like this. Unforgivable!" Hachi, one of the Fish-Man officers, felt immense pain for his comrades lying on the ground and wished he could immediately use all six fists to beat the enemies senseless.

"We'll make them understand the difference between races!" Chew, the long-snouted Fish-Man officer, did not take the Straw Hat Pirates seriously at all, believing they were merely a group of reckless brats with some strength.