37. Destroying The Arlong Park

On the coastline, near the ocean, east of the Cocoyasi village where the pool on the outside was linked to the outer seas, there was a building, boasting several stories and a skull mark at the top.

Suddenly…

*Boom*

"What happened?"

Arlong and his minions turned their heads. Nami was also there with tears in her eyes. They saw the person who dared to make a fuss in their base, then the shadows of 5 people came into view. They were Luffy, Izumi, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp.

Luffy looked at a saw shark fish-man who had a long jagged nose and jagged sharp teeth.

"So, you are Arlong, huh?"

"Who are these fucking lowly humans? Don't you understand if you are against me, do you?" Arlong replied while putting on his sharp expression.

Luffy didn't give an immediate reply, but looked at Nami who shed tears. Then, his anger burst out. Luffy twisted his arm around as he stretched it behind him.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR NAVIGATOR!!?? GOMU GOMU NO RIFLE!"

*Bang*

Luffy's punch hit Arlong's face.

Arlong smashed the building behind him after getting hit by Luffy's strong punch.

Nami didn't expect Luffy and the others to still come despite the fact that she betrayed them. She cried.

"Why? Why did you come?"

Luffy held his hips with his arms.

"You're so foolish, Nami. Of course, we came to pick you up. You are our friend. And my pirate navigator."

But, hearing what Luffy said, Sanji pulled his cheek.

"Woy! Don't say that Nami-san is a fool!"

Nami could only sit while covering her face with her palms to cover her tears.

"You're so stupid! They are too strong! I don't want to involve you in my personal problems."

"You're so noisy." Luffy stretched his hand out to Nami and wrapped it around her body. Then pulled Nami into his place. Then, he said to Nami. "You are our precious friend! If you're in trouble, we'll help you no matter who gets in the way. If they're strong, we just have to get stronger."

"But…" Nami wanted to say something. But, Luffy interjected her.

"You have to rely on your friends when you can't do anything." Then, he took off his straw hat and put it on Nami as if Luffy was saying that he left his most valuable thing with someone he trusted. Nami couldn't say anything after Luffy did that.

Izumi patted Nami's shoulder and said.

"I'm sorry. I should have stopped you before you stole the ship. But if you haven't seen Luffy's determination to save you, you won't believe what I say. You hated pirates since you were little because pirates took your freedom. So whatever I say will make you hate us even more. But, it doesn't matter now. Since Luffy decided to save you, he will do it till the end. Though I'm sure he'll complain if you turn down his offer to join."

— — — —

Arlong emerged from the rubble with blood dripping from his mouth. He saw that there was someone who should be being chased by his subordinates.

"Oi, you! Where is Chew?" Arlong pointed at Usopp. Usopp stepped back in fear. But, Izumi suddenly said,

"You mean, this guy?" Izumi threw something, and Arlong grabbed it.

Veins popped up on Arlong's head. What he caught was Chew's head. His anger flared.

*Crack*

*Crush*

He destroyed that head and turned to Izumi.

"YOU BASTARD. YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

Meanwhile.

"Hey, he is completely mad at me. And I don't have any weapons to protect myself. Hehehe." Izumi giggled as if Arlong's anger was a joke to him.

Arlong dashed at him. But…

*Bang*

He got thrown instead.

Because Arlong was only focused on Izumi, his vision went blind causing Luffy's punch to land right on his face.

A moment later, they heard Arlong yell.

"WHAT ARE YOU DREAMING ABOUT, YOU LITTLE SHITS!?? GET THEM!!"

At that moment, Arlong's men moved to attack Luffy and the others.

"Zoro, can you get their weapon for me?" Izumi asked.

"Don't order me! You're not a captain."

"I'm asking you, stupid prick moss head!"

"What did you say?"

"Wanna fight?"

*Smack*

Suddenly, someone slapped their head.

"Stop it, you two idiots!"

Sanji shook his head. He pointed at Zoro.

"What a shame. You guys just sit there. I'll take care of them all."

Zoro immediately sheathed his swords.

"Heh, it will be a real shame if you take care of all of them."

Then, Izumi stepped forward.

"Haah. I'm worried about you guys because you're too weak. I'll help from behind. So fight freely!"

Sanji, Zoro, and Izumi looked at each other.

"You don't even have a weapon, what can you do?"

"And look at your injuries. You should rest. Don't get in our way!"

"This is why you guys are still amateurs. An expert like me doesn't need a weapon against cockroaches like them."

Nami who looked at them couldn't help but slap her forehead.

"Then let's make a bet on who beats the enemy more!" Izumi suggested.

"I'm in."

"I'm in."

Sanji and Zoro agree. But once they agreed to Izumi's suggestion. Izumi immediately moved. He formed hand seals.

"Ram, Dragon, Hare. Raiton: Jinraisen!"

Izumi molded and then formed his lightning-nature chakra into the shape of dozens of arrows in his hand. Then, he stretched out his hand and threw those dozens of lightning arrows at the enemies.

"Aaaahhhhhh."

The weaker enemies were down instantly.

"Crap, he almost took them all."

"I won't admit that he's stronger than me."

Sanji and Zoro immediately took action after Izumi took down many enemies. Izumi instead walked backward toward Nami, not helping them fight.

"Eh, aren't you betting on those two?" Usopp asked.

"Who cares? Sense of rivalry is good for them because they will be more serious in their fight."

"So you deliberately provoked them just for that?" Nami asked.

"What else if not for that?" Izumi grinned.

— — — —

And just like what happened in canon, Zoro and Sanji were able to defeat their enemy even though they won narrowly. Zoro's two swords were also destroyed by fighting an enemy who had six arms, Hatchan.

However, Luffy and Arlong's fight is different from what happened in canon. Luffy fought seriously from the start. When Luffy was almost thrown into the sea, Izumi managed to save Luffy by kicking him before falling into the water.

The climax was when Luffy was thrown into Nami's room which was full of images of the East Blue map and part of the Grand Line map. Luffy became furious because Arlong used Nami as a tool to make maps. In the end, Luffy defeated Arlong while destroying the building.

Luffy walked toward Nami.

"You're free from him now, Nami."

Nami couldn't say anything other than covering her face in tears. She felt grateful to Luffy for destroying all the bitter memories from her childhood.

Suddenly, they heard cheers from behind. They were the people from Cocoyashi village. They were impressed and did not think that it was the pirates who saved them from the pirates.

They chatted for a while and praised Luffy and the others for defeating Arlong. Plus, they also wanted to throw a party as a token of gratitude for freeing them.

Moments later, the marines arrived. They thanked the Straw Hat group for defeating Arlong. But, since Luffy and the others are pirates, the marines won't give them anything.

Zoro and Sanji who feel annoyed immediately beat the marines. Because they didn't just let Nami's village be controlled by pirates, they even stole Nami's treasure that she had kept in order to free the villagers.

"Give me back my treasures!!!" Nami threatened them. They could only obey Nami because they couldn't beat Luffy and the others.

When they wanted to leave, Izumi called out to them.

"Oi, wait!"

They shuddered and turned to Izumi.

Izumi turned to Nami.

"Nami, in order to get rid of your hatred, are you going to behead him? That might make you feel more relieved after what happened to you since you were a child." Izumi said while dragging Arlong who was still breathing.

Nami was silent. She didn't know whether killing Arlong was the right move or not. After a while, Nami shook her head.

"Then, lemme do it in your stead."

Izumi picked up the sword that was splattered on the ground. With a single slash, his head detached from his body. Nami and Usopp couldn't stand what Izumi was doing, so they couldn't help but close their eyes. Even the marines were horrified towards Izumi.

Izumi brought Arlong with only his head left.

"This guy has a bounty of 20 million Berries, right? Give me the money if you don't want me to make you like him!"

"But, we don't have money!"

Izumi's eyes turned sharper. He could see they were lying.

"Wait, wait! I will give you money!"

"That's more like it." Izumi smirked.

Meanwhile.

"Luffy, don't you think he is dangerous?" Usopp started to worry because Izumi looked like a cold-blooded killer.

Sanji lit his cigarette and replied.

"Well, he certainly is."

"I've also killed someone in the past." Meanwhile, Zoro just crossed his arms and closed his eyes as if he didn't care if Izumi was a cold-blooded killer or not.

"Hahaha, Usopp. You're too timid. Don't worry! Even if he is. I know he's a good person. That alone is enough." Luffy slapped Usopp's back while replying.

— — — —

With Arlong killed, the Cocoyashi village began to return to peace. They continued sailing the next day along with Nami who decided to become a pirate with Luffy. Certainly, this made Luffy happy because he didn't want any other navigator besides Nami.