The Thief With A Heart Of Gold 2...

Chapter 17.5 - The Thief With A Heart Of Gold 2...

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Sanji agreed and smirked evilly when his past self came running up behind him. After this declaration of war, the Fishmen started to attack Luffy, but he easily took them all out with a few kicks.

"Back off! You're out of your league!" past Sanji yelled, kicking their asses and walked on to stand next to Luffy so that he could scold him for going in by himself, which Luffy responded not to worry about him, and that he could take care of these guys on his own.

"You fool," past Sanji said in annoyance, "I never said anything about being worried… I just don't want you hogging all the actions."

"Oh," Luffy said in understanding.

"Of course I didn't want that!" present-day Sanji agreed, "After all, I wanted to be there for my sweet Nami as well! And I couldn't do that if he took care of them all."

"Well," past Usopp said nervously, also coming up, "I just want to let you guys know that I don't mind it if you hog it all."

Memory Zoro came up and rolled his eyes, "I see that you're raring to go, as usual."

"And you haven't changed since then," current Zoro teased as Usopp sighed, not even bothering to tell him off. As soon as he saw him, Hachi cried out in anger that Zoro tricked him before.

"Tricked him?" Robin repeated, looking at him in surprise.

"Please, I hardly said anything," Zoro answered dully, "It's not my fault that guy's an idiot."

But soon Hachi screamed in fear when he saw that Usopp was alive and the ray Fishman, who Nami told them was named Kuroobi snarled that Nami was a traitor.

"You're the traitor?" Robin asked, eyebrows raised, "They betrayed you first."

"How can I be a traitor if I was never on their side to begin with?" Nami asked angrily as Arlong began to laugh and sent waves of cold down her spine.

"A pirate? Of course…" Arlong said, highly amused, "this is all starting to make sense now. You've been after Nami this whole time." He burst out laughing again, louder than ever, "The girl is mine and I'm not giving her up!"

"Don't you listen to a single twisted word," Usopp said firmly, "Just wait until Luffy gives him the beatdown of a lifetime!"

"I know," Nami answered, but still… she kept her hand on her tattoo, remembering how disgusted she felt with herself. She didn't want anyone to see it… that awful mark. She was just pretending to work for Arlong but that mark sewn into her skin made her feel like he owned her… like she was his pet cat or something.

She felt dirty just thinking about it.

Hachi also laughed as he walked up confidently, "A bunch of idiots like you aren't worth Arlong's time!" he declared, "We know how to deal with you!" And he blew through his long mouth like a trumpet.

"Is that like a dog whistle?" Robin asked curiously.

"Dog whistle?" repeated Brook in surprise.

"It's a special whistle that emits a high-pitched sound that only dogs can hear," she answered, "It calls dogs to you and I'm starting to think it's the same thing here."

"I guess you can think that," Nami answered her as their 'friend' from before came.

"Mohmoo?!" Chopper yelled in surprise as the beat up looking Sea Cow appeared from the waves—still sporting a giant, swollen lump on its head.

"I guess it's still recovering from its encounter with you guys," Robin said in amusement as Hachi greeted him. It leaned forward to see what it wanted, but it stopped dead as soon as it saw Luffy and Sanji there.

"Oh, look who's back," Luffy said, folding his arms.

"Seems he's a friend of the Fishmen," Sanji nodded in agreement.

Mohmoo was now crying as he saw them and mooing softly to himself.

"He's saying that he doesn't want anything to do with you two because you guys are insane," Chopper informed them.

"Well good, at least he learned his lesson," Sanji said as Mohmoo turned and was about to leave, still crying as Hachi yelled after him to come back. But the Sea Cow didn't stop until Arlong told it to. Just a few words from him had apparently scared him enough to want to attack… too bad for him that Luffy was ready for it.

"What's Luffy doing?" Franky asked Luffy stuck his feet into the cement.

"Putting his foot down?" Robin suggested as the others all looked worried about Mohmoo. Luffy, however, was now spinning his chest around his body several times and then stretched out to grab Mohmoo's horns, showing off his powers.

As everyone else freaked out, Zoro yelled at Sanji and Usopp to get back as Luffy yelled out, "TIME FOR SOMETHING NEW!"

And with his great strength, he was actually able to pick up Mohmoo and was spinning him around, just like a giant pinwheel. Everything in their path, Fishmen and the building behind them was either being taken out or destroyed. By the time that he was finished, there was only Arlong, Hachi, and two other Fishmen who were left standing while the front of Arlong Park was smashed to pieces.

But Luffy focused only on Mohmoo… in the end he was finally able to throw the Sea Cow as far away as he could from them while the rest of Arlong's crew lay out cold all around them. Everyone was staring at him in shock.

"Oh," Robin said brightly, "That's what you meant when he mentioned the pinwheel!"

"Amazing!" cried Brook in wonder. "Luffy-san never fails to amaze me!"

"I'm more surprised that crewmates that once sailed with Jimbei weren't tougher than this," Zoro said calmly as Luffy gasped for breath. "If they were all as strong as Jimbei was, we wouldn't have stood a chance."

"Maybe Jimbei wasn't as strong as he is now?" Chopper suggested.

"I think it's more along the lines that Jimbei never stopped becoming stronger," Robin said softly.

They looked to her.

"Never stopped…?" Usopp repeated in confusion.

"What I mean is, when they came here to the East Blue, Arlong hasn't had to fight hard battles at all, has he Nami?" she asked her.

Nami thought it over before she blinked in surprise. "You know what… you're right. He hardly ever fought. He usually just sent one of his cronies out because that's all that was needed."

"I get it," Zoro nodded in understanding. "He got lazy and let himself go."

"Though still dangerous to normal people," Robin added softly, "He grew too cocky from being here, thinking that he was stronger than everyone else."

"Well, we sure taught him a lesson," Usopp said smugly, "Just because we're born in the East Blue doesn't make us pushovers!"

"Well said," Nami answered smiling, now really enjoying the battle so far—now that she knows just what's gonna happen.

Once he caught his breath, Luffy was yelling out, "Alright that's it Arlong, I'm done playing games with you—I didn't come here to beat down all your cronies. I came here to teach you a lesson!" he pointed at him in a challenging way and yelled, "So step up!"

They looked to Arlong. Though he was still smiling, his eyes were now angry. "Oh, I will, don't worry. Actually I was just thinking about how painfully I'll end your life."

He said this in what sounded like a purr, but they weren't sure Luffy heard this as the other three Straw Hats gathered around him and told him off for that stunt.

"That was the worst plan ever!" past Sanji yelled, kicking his head.

"Not really," current Sanji disagreed, "He's had stupider ideas."

"Yeah! Were you trying to kill all of us too?!" memory Usopp yelled in his ear. The citizens behind them however were amazed and were cheering them on.

They even heard the doctor scream out, "I just can't believe there's a human who can throw that giant monster!"

"Oh, there are," Zoro smirked, "Though most of them are living out here in the Grand Line. But I bet that there are hundreds out there who can do that."

"What are you doing?!" past Usopp screamed with bloodshot eyes as Luffy was not trying to get his feet out of the ground, "Are you ruining something else?!"

Luffy just looked down at his feet in polite confusion.

"Right… I forgot about this too," Usopp groaned, smacking himself in the face. "That idiot… just what was he thinking here?"

"What now?" Chopper cried out, but Hachi was already screaming out insults.

"How dare you hurt our brothers?" he demanded, waving his six arms around crazily.

"It was easy," current Sanji stated calmly.

"Very well," Kuroobi added, "It seems like we must join in on this fight."

"Now you'll get an education on the inferiority of your species, Choo," the remaining Fishman with the long lips, who Nami informed them his name was Choo, spoke up.

"Oh, really?" past Zoro smirked, "I'd like to see that."

"And I've yet to," current Zoro added. Arlong chuckled to himself as Kuroobi and Choo both declared that they'd take them out for him.

"PLEASE LET US KILL THESE WEAKLINGS!" Hachi yelled.

They were all a little startled at that—and Chopper said, "I like the Hachi we met better."

"I agree," Nami sighed, she'll take this new Hachi over the old one any day.

"Alright," Arlong answered agreeably, "They're all yours."

Sanji and Zoro were both looking confident, however, Luffy was looking to the others and said a little nervously, "Ah, guys? There's something I should tell you…?"

But just as Sanji mentioned the best way to cook octopus, Hachi attacked them with his Jet Ink—squirting black ink at them. Though the other three were able to dodge it, Luffy stayed behind and was quickly doused with ink from head to toe. Because of that, he was now blinded, and past Zoro was yelling at him to why he didn't dodge it.

Hachi then picked up a large chunk of the building that Luffy had destroyed when he threw around Mohmoo—and turned back to Luffy—his attention all too clear. Usopp was screaming for him to run, but then came the sad truth… Luffy couldn't run—his feet were stuck.

"He's joking right?" Franky asked exasperatedly.

"But you're the one who stuck them into the ground in the first place!" past Usopp yelled.

"I still wish I knew what he was thinking," Usopp sighed at that as past Zoro smacked himself in the face frustrated. Thankfully, when Hachi threw the broken stone on top of him, Sanji stepped in and destroyed it with a single kick.

"You're such a pain," he hissed in annoyance as Luffy cheered him on. But then he smirked again as he confessed, "Looks like I picked one hell of an idiot to be my captain."

"We all did," past Zoro added in light amusement.

"Yeah, but hey… at least we've had some good times," Usopp laughed with the other Straw Hats.

"Sometimes I still wonder," Sanji said as his past self also added, "Though in truth, our idiot captain is far better than a gang who prey on a lady."

"That I can't disagree with myself," current Sanji nodded sagely.

"A lady huh?" Kuroobi asked skeptically, "Ha! You rush into certain death for one lousy girl? I think that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"

"I always hated him," Nami sighed, remembering how cold that Kuroobi was… aside from Arlong, he was always the one who made things the most difficult for her.

Past Sanji glared at him. "Lousy girl?" he repeated, and they could hear the anger in his voice. "If you insult Nami one more time, I can promise you'll go from Fishman to fish sticks!" He took out his cigarette and said threateningly, "Got that?"

"Nice pun, Sanji," Robin said in amusement.

"Thank you Robin dear!" Sanji swooned at her joyfully. "I do try hard…"

Kuroobi didn't look concerned nor the least bit impressed. "Your skills are quite exceptional," he admitted after a minute, "For a human. But I must admit chivalry from a pirate seems just a little fake."

"Huh…" Franky said thinking it over, "He's got a good point."

"Pirates aren't exactly known for being model citizens," Robin admitted with a little laugh. "But thankfully, not all pirates are the same."

Past Sanji sneered back at him as he admitted smugly, "I'm dead good at what I do," he said as he put the cigarette back into his mouth. "And I guarantee that there's nothing fake about my desire to help a beautiful lady in need."

"It is my greatest honor in life," Sanji answered in a cool voice, breathing on the smoke, "Helping out beautiful women in desperate need."

Robin laughed as Nami rolled her eyes.

Past Sanji and Kuroobi faced off as Usopp tried to pull Luffy's feet out—as the rubberbrained captain started picking his nose. Hachi picked up more stone and was determined to go after him—but past Zoro was one step ahead of him. He pointed his sword threateningly at him, taunting Hachi to come after him instead.

It worked… furious Hachi yelled out, "You're Zoro! I forgot!" he threw his stone at him which Zoro dodged easily as he finished yelling, "You can't get away tricking me!"

"He thought I was a guest visiting Arlong," he told them all when they looked at him.

"He never was the smart one," Nami nodded wisely as Hachi continued to yell at Zoro for what he did to the rest of his crewmates.

"That stuff's old news octopus man," memory Zoro said, holding up the white blade, "I personally don't care what reasons you have for wanting to kill me, the situation as changed. You see, the tables have turned." Holding his blade and carefully unsheathing it so that no one could miss the gleaming blade, "You're not the hunters anymore, understand? Now it's you fish freaks who are being hunted!"

"Alright Zoro!" cheered Chopper excitedly, in awe as always.

"Yohohoho, Zoro-san is so cool!" Brook added as Zoro smirked.

"LUFFY!" past Usopp screamed out and they turned to see that he had accidently let go of his captain who ended up smacking right into Choo and sent him flying back. Now angry, Choo had killing Usopp in his sights… however, Usopp went running off passed all the citizens so that Choo was distracted for a moment. Once Choo realized that they were all there, he was planning on killing them all as well, but Usopp sent an exploding star at him from a safe distance away.

"Did you think that it would be easy?!" memory Usopp challenged him. "You're dealing with ME now!"

"You know, you don't sound as intimidating when you're running away," Sanji said to him.

"Hey! I ended up beating him didn't I?" he demanded, and he felt a surge of inner pride at that. That was the first time he fought his heart out like a pirate! It was his first real victory since joining the Straw Hats. And he was a normal human being going up against a Fishman as well!

"Enough!" Choo yelled, losing his cool completely, and went charging after him, "I'm going to get rid of you right now!" As they watched them go running off Genzo was asking who he was.

"Brave one minute and cowardly the next," the doctor said confused, "He's a baffling man."

"I think that sums you up pretty well, Usopp," Franky laughed.

"I can be brave when I put my mind to it!" Usopp snapped.

Arlong finally got up from where he sat and walked towards them. "You morons are a pathetic sight to behold," he growled, now sounding ticked off, "I'm sick of watching this so get out of my way!"

"But sir," Kuroobi said quickly, "There's no need for you to go on a rampage, think of Arlong Park!"

"Don't worry," Arlong said, "I know. I just thought of a fun game to play that's all."

"I don't think I want to know what he considers a game," Brook said nervously.

"Trust me, you don't," Nami told him darkly.

When he was close enough, Luffy tried to throw a punch at him, but he caught his fist as it went flying past him. "Do you honestly think your sad little group can defeat us?"

"So what if we do?" past Sanji sneered.

"Yeah, so what if we do, huh?" Luffy demanded, "Now let go!"

"You got something to say to us?" past Zoro added as he held out his sword, ready for a fight. But instead of answering, Arlong dug his hand into the cement and pulled Luffy up… uprooting the portion of the concrete surrounding Luffy's implanted feet. Luffy screamed out as the others gapped.

"Ok, so he's not all just talk," Robin answered coolly, before her eyes widened, suddenly realizing what he was planning on doing.

"Did you know that those with Devil Fruit powers can't swim?" Arlong asked mockingly, "But honestly, anybody in this situation would sink right to the bottom!"

"EEEEHHHHHH! He's right! Luffy!" Chopper screamed out fearfully as Arlong laughed again.

"Don't worry," Sanji told them all, "We got him out of there in time… but boy what a pain that was!"

Luffy tried to punch him again, but Arlong bit down on his hand. Arlong laughed as Luffy let out a cry of pain. "You fool," he said, but Luffy then reached over and bit down on Arlong's arm, causing him pain this time.

"Of course he'd do that," Nami said fondly.

"He's cocky," Sanji muttered firmly, "It's what did him in. He underestimated us."

Arlong finally had enough, he threw Luffy high into the air and right over the sea.

"LUFFY!" past Zoro cried out.

"Damn you!" memory Sanji growled. The last thing they heard before Luffy hit the water was Arlong continuing to laugh.

The memory faded and soon they were back out in the open air in the darkness. They had traveled much farther than before and now they couldn't even see the forest anymore and instead they were nearing the ocean shore that glistened darkly in the night. But the field they were in was suddenly filled with glistening fireflies, bringing the only rays of light.

"That was scary," Chopper asked worriedly after a few minutes of letting what they saw sink in.

"Yeah," she nodded, now getting tired of people asking her that, "I didn't show up until a little bit later after I took care of my arm. But it's just hard seeing it all over again from the beginning."

Robin just patted her back as she glanced around, wondering how far from the ruins they've come now.

"Man, I'm getting tired of this," Franky said, staring around. "You think that it'd be morning by now after all this time."

"That's what's been bothering me too," Nami said as she reached into her pocket and pulled a small pocketwatch to see what time it was. "What?" she whispered as she looked at the time, "This can't be right. It says that it's only ten at night!"

"What? No way," Usopp said, looking over her shoulder. "If that's true then that means that it's only been a couple hours since we went jumping through memories! I thought that we'd be near morning by now!"

"Your watch must be broken," Franky added, still looking around for the Sunny.

"I don't think that's the case," Robin answered, suddenly having an idea to what was going on.

"Then what is it?" Usopp asked her, "I mean, we've spent hours trapped in Luffy's memories already! And now we find out that it's only been two or three hours since then? No way!"

"As soon as the next memory starts, we start timing it," she answered, "We'll know for sure after that."

At her words, the bright day was back and they were back in Arlong Park. It was a mess… the whole battlefield was mostly destroyed—and Arlong was on his feet, holding a wounded Zoro by the throat.

"EEEEEEEHHHHHHHH!" screamed Chopper in horror as he saw the pool of blood dripping from Zoro's wound—it looked as if he had just been carved open. "ZORO! DID ARLONG DO THAT TO YOU?!"

"Nah," Zoro shrugged coolly, "That idiot hardly did any damage. That was from the wound Mihawk gave me."

He reached up to touch the scar on his chest and Chopper's eyes widen. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" he screamed, "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU DIDN'T GET THAT TREATED?!"

"I thought I could walk it off," he answered calmly, not seeing what the big deal was.

"WALK IT OFF?!" Chopper repeated, clearly thinking that Zoro was out of his mind. "YOU THINK YOU CAN WALK SOMETHING LIKE THAT OFF?! DID YOU THINK IT WOULD HEAL ON IT'S OWN?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SMARTER THAN THAT!"

"Would you shut up?" he asked in annoyance.

Suddenly something was sent flying high in the sky, and Luffy's voice was screaming out, "I'M BACK!"

"Oh, so you got him out in one piece?" Robin answered calmly.

"Yeah," Zoro said, his eye twitching horribly at the memory of what was going to happen next. "And I still plan on killing him for this."

"What did he do…?" Brook asked, but he didn't even finish his question. Luffy 'saved' Zoro by switching places with him and actually throwing him off into the distance.

As Chopper screamed and made to run after him Robin said in interest, "I wonder how far you flew off."

"I landed in the water," Zoro growled as Sanji roared with laughter. But attention was back on Luffy, he was now launching several attacks against Arlong—they seemed to be inefficient against him—though Luffy claimed it was just warm-up.

"Wait, what happened between you guys and the other Fishmen?" Chopper asked worriedly.

"Easy," Zoro answered, "I took care of Hachi, and Mr. Nosebleed took out that ray. Luffy was underwater the whole time so he missed it."

"Watch it," Sanji snapped back.

"And once I lured that guy into my trap, it was easy to take him out!" Usopp said boastfully.

"Really?" Chopper asked excitedly.

"Yeah," he laughed, "Fishmen are so easy once you know how to handle them."

"Yohohoho, that's true," Brook said happily as they enjoyed the sight of Arlong pulling himself from the side of the building that Luffy knocked him through.

"What a bunch of fools," he hissed menacingly. "You think you can actually beat me?! You were better off drowning on the ocean floor."

"No, I don't think so," Luffy answered back, still stretching out. "I like it up here… yep."

"Actually," Sanji disagreed, "I can think of better atmospheres." He looked around at all the unconscious Fishmen and sighed. Why couldn't they have some hot mermaids here with them?

Arlong glared up at him before he snarled, "Do you not understand my anger?" he then got up on his feet, "I saw my brothers crushed like worms! You'll realize soon enough. You should've quit fighting long ago."

"Maybe now he'll see how it feels to see someone you care about being attacked like that," Nami said, her eyes narrowed in dislike.

"Luffy!" past Usopp cried from a hole in the wall and they were surprised to see him there with blood dripping down from his face. "I got your back pal!"

"What happened to you? You look like you were chewed up and spit out?" Franky said in surprise as past Nami rolled her eyes at him.

"If he loses," past Sanji's voice said out and they looked up to see him soaking wet, and leaning up against the wall with Genzo and Nojiko. He was trying to light a wet match before he just gave up. "Then we'll all…" he flicked the match away, "die…"

"Yeah," Genzo agreed softly as they watched the match go flying off, almost as if in slow motion, "We will…"

"If that happens," Nojiko also added softly, "It's the end of the East Blue too."

"So no pressure or anything," Zoro said coolly as he was now watching the stand-off with Luffy and Arlong. He was interested to see what happened here. After a few minutes of silence, Arlong finally spoke.

"Do you know what the biggest difference between you and me is?" he asked conceitedly.

"The nose?" guessed Luffy as he cracked his knuckles.

Franky burst out laughing at that.

"Well, you can't say that he's lying," Usopp laughed well.

"The jaw…?" Luffy then suggested before then held up his hand, "Webbing!"

"All true," Robin agreed, as the others all laughed as well.

Arlong's eyes turned white in rage. "SPECIES!" he screamed and he lunged forward to try and bite him, but Luffy easily dodged it. Again and again Arlong tried to bite, like a wild animal, but Luffy moved back, they went at it until Arlong had finally grabbed hold of his head and slammed him against a pillar. He would've bitten him here, but Luffy grabbed hold of his head and stretched it out of the way so that Arlong bit the pillar… and shattered it into pieces.

"He bit through the stone pillar!" Brook cried out in amazement.

"Wow… if he bites you… he won't just leave a mark… he'll bite your right through your bones," Robin said in impressed.

"Robin," Usopp pleaded as Luffy snuck away from the collapsing building. Arlong turned back to sneer at him as if he just proved a valid point.

"You see?" he asked him mockingly, "This is the inherit power of Fishmen. I feel sorry for you humans for having been created with such… limited powers." He slowly walked towards him still taunting him the whole time. "We've been on a different level since the beginning of time. You are inferior… it only makes sense for you to bow before us." He stopped and stood before him as he proclaimed, "You're so weak! Your presence on this planet is deplorable!"

"Well he just shut up?!" Sanji yelled, wanting to break this guy's jaw and shut him up. "Bla, bla, bla… the guy bites through a rock and suddenly he's looking for a soap box to stand on and preach to the world."

"Don't you think your time has come to an end?!" Arlong demanded again. He chuckled, as if he told a funny joke, "I'll show you! Show you the real difference between you and I!"

Luffy just smiled as he stood up. "Sure," he told him pleasantly, "Go ahead. There's no way I'm losing to a big fish! Because… I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

Arlong picked up a piece of the stone pillar and tossed it up and down like a ball in his hands. "King of the Pirates…? Don't be foolish. A puny human like you couldn't possibly conquer the Grand Line. You can't even crush a pillar with your jaws." And like that he crushed the rock with little effort.

"Why would he want to?" Nami asked shaking her head. Just because you can break something doesn't prove you're better than anyone.

"Oh, I think Luffy can," Franky disagreed, "He's got a nasty bite. I mean, he can bite through steal now can't he?"

"Yeah, so what?" demanded Luffy, he then went and broke through the stone with his fist. "Stop your bragging! You aren't that awesome!"

"Well said!" Brook cheered on as Arlong looked surprised at Luffy's words.

"Besides, smashing stone with your teeth's not that smart," Luffy added, holding up a fist.

"That's right! You're the best Big Bro! Tell him like it is!" Yosaku cheered on in the back.

"Yeah!" yelled Johnny, also agreeing, "What idiot bites a rock anyway?!"

"I don't think that's what Arlong meant," Robin said laughing.

Veins stood out on Arlong's neck. "Fools!" he yelled out furiously, knowing that he was being mocked, "That's not the point! Every member of the human race is ignorant and weak!"

"What does that make him I wonder?" Zoro asked lightly.

Arlong pointed at Luffy and demanded, "What good are you if you can't even pull yourself out of the water?!" He then flew at him for another bite as Luffy dodged it and stretched his arms out to grab hold of a couple swords.

"As a matter of fact," Luffy said pulling the swords back and then getting right into Arlong's face, "I'm worthless without my friends to help me out!"

"I think you can learn a lesson about humility from him, Usopp-san," Brook stated causally.

"Why is everyone picking on me?" Usopp demanded.

"Sorry, but your bragging can become annoying," Nami told him brightly. As he glowered at them both, Luffy chuckled as he held out the swords and took everyone by surprised, thinking that he knew how to use them as he swung and attacked. But he wasn't really using them, just swinging them around much like how Zoro did when completely losing it against Mihawk. But Arlong effortlessly broke the swords—but it turns out that it was a ruse… with Arlong overconfident over destroying the swords, Luffy delivered a powerful blow shattering his teeth.

"Yeah!" Chopper yelled joyfully and everyone in the memory also cheered in astonishment, "He broke his teeth!"

Luffy stood up and thought it all over for a moment. "You're right! I don't know how to use a sword you bastard!" he yelled after the brief pause. "I'm a terrible sailor! I definitely can't cook… and I can't even lie! Without my friends to help me I would've been dead a long time ago!"

They all looked at each other—having never really thought about it before. Despite having a small number of members, they had become a very powerful crew. All of them have at least one talent at which they are virtually perfect at and each member is, more or less, a formidable fighter in their own right. When one of them is incapable of doing a task, another can help out in their place instead.

It was funny how well Luffy summed that all up at once so simply.

Arlong chuckled from where he lay, his hand over the place where Luffy struck. "So you fully admit how pathetic you are. You may be a fool," he said as he sat up, "But you're certainly honest. How much your crew feel? Tolerating this idiocy day in and day out? I bet they're sick of it."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE YOU STUPID FISH!" Usopp yelled out.

"YOU TELL HIM USOPP!" Chopper yelled out just as loudly. "I JOINED THE STRAW HATS BECAUSE OF LUFFY!"

"But that makes me wonder… why they tried so desperately to save their half-wit leader," Arlong finished. Luffy glared at him as Arlong held his hand to his mouth still to his broken teeth. "Someone like you doesn't deserve a ship or a crew."

"I think that he's got that backwards," Zoro said darkly and they all nodded firmly at that.

"Though he is a pain, it's hard not to like the rubber idiot," Sanji agreed unworriedly. "I rather be on his ship than with a bastard like Arlong any day."

"What good is a helpless rubber-brain captain to them?" Arlong finished, "What can you possibly do?"

"I can kick your ass," Luffy responded confidently.

Usopp and the rest of villagers cheered him on as past Nami smiled, even memory Sanji said irritably, "Well get to it you numskull."

"Cheer all you want! But it won't change a thing!" Arlong shouted out, and within seconds he regrew his teeth.

"Whoa…" Franky said taken aback, "Didn't see that coming."

Luffy gasped out as well. "He's got new teeth?" he said in shock.

"I'm a shark," Arlong reminded him, "New teeth will grow one after the other. And with each set, I will grow stronger and stronger." Within seconds, his teeth had regrown and, using this, he pulled his teeth out to create hand-held castanet weapons for each hand. And when he attacked, they thought the worse for a minute as he laughed hysterically at each attack—one after another. However, it took him some time for him to realize that Luffy used one of his crew as a human shield the whole time. Enraged, Arlong hollered at such a dirty tactic and screamed about how he dared to use his own crewmate as a shield.

"But he's the one who attacked him," Chopper pointed out.

"You think he'd noticed that after all those attacks," Zoro said with a nod. He supposed that Arlong was so trigger happy at the thought of hurting Luffy that he just didn't notice what was in front of him.

"What are you talking about?" Luffy asked, as if he was being scolded by his parents for something that someone else did, "You're the one who attacked me don't you remember?"

"Don't move a muscle," Arlong warned, clinking the teeth together, "Rubber man."

Luffy thought it over before he said, "Say… now that's an idea."

Again Luffy was forced to dodge it before he was able to get in another kick. In the end, he was able to knock out Arlong's teeth once again and was able to steal it for him to use.

"Really?" exclaimed Franky as they all felt sweatdropped at that moment. "Is he even taking this seriously?"

"I have no idea," Sanji admitted grimly. After several more attacks, Arlong finally bit Luffy hard in the side, but this time Luffy was able to use the teeth he stole to bite him back in the neck, causing Arlong terrible pain and let him go. "So you used my teeth," he said as he wrenched them off his shoulder, "But your puny jaws aren't strong enough." He then smiled, "Now listen, sharp as my teeth are, they're only useful when they come with powerful jaws like mine! THEY'RE DEADLY!" and with that he bit down on Luffy's arm.

Chopper screamed in terror as Luffy screamed in pain. "THIS IS BAD! IF HE TRIES TO PULL BACK HIS WHOLE ARM COULD BE TORN OFF!"

"Yeah, he really had us all scared here," Sanji said, knowing that this could've ended really bad.

"BIG BRO'S GONNA GET HIS ARM BITTEN OFF!" Yosaku screamed and past Nami looked horrified. But to everyone's surprise, Luffy reached up and grabbed Arlong's hair; in the end, he was able to pull him down so that he could slam his foot into his head to get him to let go. They both fell to the ground exhausted… lying on their backs, both now injured.

"If he took just one step back, his arm would've been ripped off," Zoro said impressed.

"That was fast thinking," Brook said softly. "He was this close to lose his arm like Shanks-san."

"Oh, I doubt that he was aware of it," Nami said fondly, "He just goes by instinct—almost like a wild animal. I noticed that sometimes."

Arlong had gotten up, and quick as a flash, he jumped for the sea.

"That's not good," Robin said worriedly. Arlong just tilted the odds in his favor by doing that. Fishmen become much stronger with water. As Luffy also got up and pulled the teeth out of his side, he was already looking around just as a dark fin appeared above the water. Memory Nami was screaming for him to look at the water.

"Wow! A shark!" he said eagerly and the Straw Hats sighed. Really? He hadn't noticed who it was?

Past Usopp almost fell over and yelled, "NO! THAT'S ARLONG!"

The fin suddenly disappeared and they were waiting for him to come out almost anxiously. Even the ones who knew what would happen were starting to grow worried as well. With the advantage of speed, Arlong launched himself like a torpedo, his attack Shark Darts increasing speed was able to break through all solid objects. Luffy was sent flying and crashed painfully on the ground as Arlong went smashing through an upper floor of the building.

Through the hole in the building, he stood there, still cocky. "Wow, I'm impressed you could dodge that!" Arlong proclaimed as Luffy looked up. "Good job. But the longer you evade death, the more painful it will be!"

"At least his death threats sound better than the other losers he's had to fight," Franky answered as the Fishman dashed down with another attack and landed like an arrow with his nose embedded in the concrete—posed there perfectly on his nose. Thankfully Luffy had been able to dodge it in time and Arlong's nose eventually broke through the solid stone. Pulling out to face Luffy, he went flying towards him again who narrowly missed a death shot, but there was still blood splattered. After a third failed attack, though Luffy was sent flying, Arlong dove back into the sea again.

The others were all screaming for him to hide before Arlong came back out as Luffy regained his footing, but he was shaking in anger as he declared that he wasn't going to hide this time.

"His brother is definitely a bad influence on him," Nami stated, remembering Ace's bad habit of not running.

"Stop being so stupid!" past Sanji yelled at him angrily, "Go run for cover before you become a target!"

"NO WAY!" Luffy yelled back stubbornly, "I'm not running anywhere! I'm gonna catch him and break his nose!" He turned to the water and yelled, "COME ON! YOU SHARK!"

"He really needs lessons in name-calling," Usopp whispered frustrated. But he was amused… Luffy said that he was going to catch him and break his nose and he totally did.

"Didn't you hear from us to go somewhere and hide?!" memory Usopp yelled at him furiously, "You barely escaped his last attacks! One direct hit will kill you! Luffy, listen to us! Go and hide!"

Ignoring him, Luffy took hold of his fingers, like he did when he was showing off his powers to Sabo—and stretched his fingers out. And then he cried out dramatically, "Gum Gum… SSSSHHHHHIIIIIEEEEELLLLDDDDD!"

"And that's also the last time I've seen him use that technique," Sanji said coolly. This time, when he came out flying out of the ocean, Luffy had stopped him in his tracks—his fingers stretching across his face, the saw-like nose only inches from his chest.

"YEAH! GO FOR IT!" Franky cheered on. Laughing as he avoided the attack, Luffy was now hanging onto the side of the building as Arlong came flying up at him; which he was able to stretch his fingers out like a net and caught him as if he was fishing before finishing it up with a Gum Gum Spear.

"In just a few moves, he turned this whole fight around!" Brook cried happily.

"Not yet," Nami said, remembering with a chill up her spine just what happened here. Here, it was the last straw; Arlong snapped, and his eyes change, to a wild, insane look… that similar to a monster.

"Oh no," memory Sanji stated uneasily, "It's the same expression that a Sea King makes just before they snap! He must've snapped with Luffy's last attack."

"I guess he finally went over the edge," Zoro said as the red veins were standing out in those cold eyes, his head swirling around wildly, trying to find him.

"His eyes…" past Nami whispered, her hands to her face, "I've never seen them like that."

It was true. Even now, she had shivers of cold going through her at seeing those horrible eyes. Here, he was no longer playing around, he was now out for blood. He was dead-set on killing Luffy even if he had to destroy everything else on the island to do that.

"YOU WRETCHED HUMAN!" screamed Arlong as he grabbed hold of Luffy by the head and swung him around like a lasso before slamming him into the building.

"I guess we know now if he's upset," Zoro said.

"How can you joke right now?" Chopper yelled.

"I'm not joking, just stating the truth," he answered as Luffy was sitting up. "Whoa! That was crazy," he said to himself, "It really didn't hurt but I can tell he's really like… madder."

"Mad nothing, he's nuts," Franky said as Arlong jumped towards him and then punched through the wall when Luffy stretched to safety. But judging how indifferent he was to this, they couldn't help but wonder if this was what Arlong had planned from the start. Now he fumbled his hand around for a moment inside, he knew the building well enough to know exactly what he was reaching for. And when he pulled his hand out, they saw just what it was that they stared at it. It was a giant black pole with six saw-toothed patterned black blades, resembling a shark's saw-like teeth with a katana's handle.

"THE SAW BLADE!" past Nami screamed.

"THAT THING'S GIGANTIC!" Johnny screamed as Yosaku screamed in terror.

"Yeah, I can imagine how much that would hurt if it hit you," Robin said calmly.

With a battle cry, Arlong was now determined to end it as he jumped to the first roof with Luffy having to jump higher and higher to avoid it all. Up and up they climbed, with Arlong destroyed everything in his way. On the top floor Luffy had finally ran out of room, but then noticed the window next to him and went diving towards it, smashing through the window.

The memory faded there but it came back almost instantly so that they were in the room where Luffy came crashing through the window with Arlong screaming up that he no longer has a place to run. They were in a room that was filled with maps—thousands of them were scattered everywhere in stacks… some of them still hanging from the ceiling as they were left to dry while there were shelves full of books and tools.

Nami's eyes widen as memories of this terrible place came back. The countless hours of being trapped inside this room and forced to draw map after map… hating each and every one of them as they were being used by Arlong. She had spent so much time here that her hands would bleed and she would cry herself to sleep every night… she had hoped that she would never have to see that again.

"What's this?" Chopper asked, looking around at them all. "All these maps…?"

"There's so many of them," Usopp said, looking around at the stacks—some were piled so high that they now stood larger than he was. Luffy was up and was now trying to catch his breath. "That was a little too close," he gasped.

Arlong came walking through, stepping on the shards of the broken window and glared at Luffy, the Saw-like blade still in his hand.

"There's nowhere else to run," Arlong said in a low voice. "You and me… here… the highest level of Arlong Park." He grinned evilly, and they knew that he was planning something terrible. "At last… the time of your death has come."

But Luffy was looking around at this place. "What is this room? Lot of paper."

"This isn't just any room," Arlong explained, "This is the room where I had Nami draw all of her sea charts for me."

The Straw Hats all turned to Nami, who was still frozen where she stood as she looked at the room with wide eyes. She was shaking as if cold.

"Nami?" Usopp whispered in worry when she didn't say anything else. But Robin shook her head at them all, letting them know that now wasn't the time. It was hard enough for Nami to be seeing this place again…

"This is Nami's room?" Luffy questioned now looking around with a more focused look.

"These sea charts are all that she's worked on for eight years," Arlong paused for a moment as he looked almost fondly at the maps. "Just look around you. These maps are more valuable than any amount of treasure. You see, to us Fishmen, collecting data about the ocean is a simple affair. But assembling that information into a usable chart is a difficult task. That's why we needed a navigator. In fact that's the soul reason why I'm so keen on keeping that woman in my possession. She's absolutely brilliant. The accuracy of her charts is beyond comparison."

"Like he deserved something so sacred from a lady," Sanji snarled. Luffy continued to blankly look around at everything. But Arlong didn't seem to be expecting an answer.

"She's too good for human trash like you," he went on, "Her talents should be used solely to build up the mighty Arlong Empire!"

"Empire? Please," Zoro said, "He'd been in the East Blue for eight years and what did he accomplish?"

Arlong pointed the weapon at him, still grinning, "Now listen. Nami belongs to me!"

At those words, Nami felt as if she would be sick. Her hand was shaking as she held onto her tattooed arm, now having a good feeling to what the slaves of the Celestial Dragons must've felt. She wasn't anything to him but a tool… a slave to him. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to ride her mind of those terrible memories, and holding Robin's hand tightly to calm herself down.

"Is that so?" Luffy's voice suddenly said.

"And you're interfering in our business," Arlong said smugly, "You human scum!" Luffy narrowed his eyes dangerously as the Shark Saw was now being pointed at his head. He then sneered as he said slowly and carefully so that he couldn't hope to miss his words, "She's not your friend!"

Luffy sat there for a moment without saying anything. But then…

"I don't care," he answered, still staring defiantly at him and Nami's eyes opened as she looked at him. "I don't care what you say," he said firmly as Arlong looked annoyed that he wasn't agreeing with him. But with his eyes not showing any signs of fear, Luffy declared loudly, "Because Nami is our navigator!"

*Luffy*

"Ok," Ace said confidently as he cracked his knuckles together, still grinning with eagerness. "Let's get this over with."

Luffy and Ace were both facing each other in the clearing—feeling so nostalgic that Luffy couldn't stop smiling. Sabo had set out the old scoreboard and when Luffy saw it he could see final scores… Ace and Sabo were 26 to 24… it was just like no time had passed since they were kids and they were finishing up training for the day… underneath that score was him and Ace's… 49 to 0.

"This is the last fight," Sabo announced as he finished setting it up and looking back. "So no matter who wins or loses, I don't want to hear any crying! Especially from you Luffy!"

"I'm not that same kid anymore," Luffy declared, still grinning, "I've gotten a lot stronger since then!" but then he suddenly realized something. "Sabo? Aren't you gonna fight too?"

Sabo shook his head. "Nah, this has nothing to do with me anymore," but he didn't sound upset at all. "This is something that you two need to do on your own. I'll be referee." He smiled as he walked towards the center of the circle and looked at them both sternly. "Now," he called out loudly, "I'll make this short and sweet. Right now, we're the only people on the island! You're allowed to go anywhere you want! Destroy whatever you want! And hit each other where you like! Anything goes!"

"No one else is here?" Luffy asked in surprise.

"This is a place where only the three of us exist," Ace explained with a grin. "If other people were here it'd mean they were dead too. But this is something that we need to settle on our own and others would just get in the way."

"Moving on," Sabo went on as if Ace hadn't spoken, "We all know the island by heart so no one will have an unfair advantage! You can choose to use your Devil Fruit powers or not! Just as long as you give it your all, that's all that matters! You can use anything to your advantage and feel free to use any tactic you want! The first person to fall down and stays down is the loser!"

Ace smirked. "Sounds fair to me," he said agreeable, moving his body sideways and tilted his hat back to get a better look at Luffy. "Let's get this over with."

Luffy looked back, grinning from ear to ear—his blood was racing and he felt that he was going to lose his mind if he had to wait any longer.

Ace noticed this and smirked as he asked, "You never change do you, Luffy? You've never been able to beat me before, what makes you think you can now?"

Luffy grinned even wider, his eyes shining with excitement. "Actually, I've changed a lot, Ace."

"In some way yes," Ace admitted, his fingertips starting to burn as Sabo moved back, waiting for them to finish speaking before he told them to start, "But in others, you're still my little brother."

A light breeze swept over the battlefield and blew through their hair as they moved their hats back so that they were hanging around their necks, safely out of the way. Sabo seemed to be enjoying himself as the other two were itching to fight—prolonging the waiting just to tease them. Both boys were continuing to stare down the other, their hearts racing and if they had to wait any longer they were going to lose all control and start pounding each other anyway.

"Back in the day I kept losing to you," Luffy proclaimed softly, "but now… I think I can take you!"

Ace grinned wider than ever as Sabo looked between them and held his hand high. "Then come at me then!" he cried.

"BEGIN!" Sabo screamed out.

Luffy didn't waste any time as he shifted into his Second Gear. "I'm going all out right at the start!" he yelled, and he charged ahead as fire began to burn on his brother's skin. "I WON'T LOSE!"