81 Chapter 81

81

"Why don't you stay down, you little shit," Kuroobi growled. "Fish-man Karate: Thousand Pound Puch."

Not falling for that again, Coby jumped to the side, avoiding the shockwaves created by the attack and kicked Kuroobi on his hand.

"Uh…" the Fishman grunted stepping back, when his hand bleed.

On the sole of Coby's feet was another bone-like claw, that he used to stab Kuroobi's hand.

Luffy was a bit impressed. So that's why it's called the claw claw fruit. Not bad… but this ability kind of reminded him of Mr 1 Dan Bonez's fruit. Other than the regenerative factor of course.

"Sanji!" Nami gasped, which brought Luffy's attention back to Sanji and Arlong. It seemed that Arlong had managed to finally slash Sanji with his sword. But it didn't seem to do anything… well other than making an audible cracking sound… and the side of Arlong's saw blade had now visible cracks.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" Sanji asked, his hand was up, on the side of his head, where the 'saw balde' hit Sanji's arm, and a few of the saw teeth had cracks on it. And that's not all, Sanji was fully uninjured, other then his clothes being a bit damaged of course.

Arlong felt like he had slashed his sword against an iron piller. But that wasn't why he was surprised, no… he recognized that trait. Curly eyebrows, use of leg-based martial arts that involved elements with a tough exoskeleton. "You…" but he couldn't finish his sentence as he was kicked on the balls with Sanji's flaming legs and thrown towards the second floor of the building, the large cluttering to the floor. "Uhhhhh!!!"

Luffy whistled, "That was brutal." The rest of the males winched at the sight. Even Coby and Kuroobi winched by what they saw. But they quickly resumed the fight

For a while nothing happened. Maybe the last kick had done it…

Arlong screamed jumping down from the building and he took something out of his pocket. It looked like a blue marble. "I was saving it up for the straw hat, but you… I will kill you."

The fishman seemed furious, well one could see that he was bleeding from his pants… poor Arlong. But no one found pity in the Fishman.

"Oh, it seems the fight's getting interesting…" Luffy mused as he saw the Fishman gulp the pill down. Luffy wondered if it was the Energy Steroids that Arlong 2.0 used, but wasn't it capsule-shaped?

After ingesting the pill, suddenly the fisman's body bloated, before returning to normal. "Now, you don't have any chance."

"Is that supposed to scare…" Sanji was cut off as he was punched in the gut by Arlong. He slammed into the wall, where Arlong followed through, by dragging his face and slamming it on the ground.

But, Sanji wasn't down as he flipped up and landed a strong kick to the fisherman's jaw. It made Arlong let go of Sanji and he used this moment to deliver another kick to the Fishman and gain some distance.

Arlong wiped his face off the blood. "Your kicks don't hurt anymore…" he grinned.

Sanji stood up and dusted his clothes not even bothered. "Well, isn't that news… what have you taken? Steroids? I have heard that it makes your ball unusable, but then again, I made sure of that." he said while cracking his neck with a cocky smirk.

And that pissed Arlong off as he growled and charged against Sanji with full force.

Punches and kicks were exchanged. And this time Sanji was using his all, even Luffy was impressed with Sanji's speed. But this time Arlong was in the advantage.

The others who were on Luffy's side were also shocked with how fast Sanji and Arlong was moving. Arlong still couldn't keep up with Sanji's speed, but he seemed to take all the damage with ease and return the blows from time to time. And this time the fight was a bit more even…

Gin was surprised himself. He knew Sanji was strong, but not by that much. He could have easily handled Don Krig and his whole crew himself.

Kuina and Zoro on the side were also surprised. The blonde was stronger then them. Zoro more so…

In the past few days he has been around so many powerful people. Mihawk, Luffy and even Kuina… now even the cook was aware of him. It made his resolve stronger, he needs to grow stronger if he wants to follow through his dream. And he will get there.

With that Zoro, started walking away, making Luffy and Kuina raise eyebrows. The others didn't notice. And Luffy and Kuina didn't ask.

Now that he had three swords he could practice again, and his chest wound is also small enoug that he could do some heavy training without reopening his wound. He did get stabbed by a knife smaller than a butter knife.

Luffy was a bit interested in what Zoro was going to do… but he might most probably go do some training. There was no doubt that Zoro would gain strength fast. He might be behind now, but with observation, one can see someone's will.

And Zoro's will was brighter than the rest of his crew mates even if he wasn't the strongest. There is a reason why Mihawk acknowledged Zoro's challenge.

On a scale of ranking, he would rank Zoro as being the fifth, above Gin and Coby. The first was obviously him. With Sparky just behind him.

Sanji was equal to Sparky in terms of speed, but Sparky had the upper hand in strength. Also, his monkey friend had more techniques, —and with how eagerly Sparky was watching the fight, he might also have picked on a few new moves— and not to mention his devil fruit, which can essentially debuff any opponent. And that's not even counting that Sparky already had observation Haki.

After Sanji, there was Kuina then Zoro. But there was something special about Zoro, and he had no doubt that Zoro would get stronger from this point on. So of course as a good captain, he would help him.

On that note, Luffy looked at Sparky and jabbed his thumb behind him, pointing at the green-haired swordsman who was walking away. He mouthed a few words silently, 'Make sure he doesn't get lost.' He said, 'And he also might need a sparring partner.'

The monkey blinked before shrugging and walking back towards Zoro. What? If Zoro wanted to gain strength, then as his captain it was his duty that his wish is granted. Besides being the world's strongest swordsman as his right-hand man was a boon in his books.