Chapter 22 Luffy Slays Arlong Across the SeaCovered in wounds, A-Jian drew the village's only decent longsword, his eyes resolute as he looked at Luffy: "Please let us join the fight!"
"Eight years ago, we swore an oath to ensure Bellemere's sacrifice wasn't in vain, to avoid becoming a burden to Nami, even if it meant living like dogs!"
A-Jian's voice was hoarse with emotion: "But now, that beast Arlong has broken the contract! Since our path to survival is blocked, even if it means death, we will never be cowards again!"
"He dared to trample on Nami's kindness like this! Unforgivable! Absolutely unforgivable!"
"Nami is the child we watched grow up! If we can't even protect her smile, what future does this village have!"
A-Jian whirled around, roaring at the sea of villagers behind him: "Are you all afraid to die?!"
"No!!"
"We've had enough!"
"Let's fight those slackers!"
The deafening shouts echoed through the sky, each villager venting the humiliation and anger of the past eight years.
Nami looked at her family, who had previously endured so much to protect her, now, no longer afraid of death, and tears streamed down her face.
All eyes finally focused on the boy in the cloak of justice.
Luffy took the white cloak from Usopp; the word "Justice" fluttered in the sea breeze.
He looked at the agitated villagers and said in a deep voice, "My name is Luffy, and I'm a Marine. I may be a little late, but as long as I'm alive, it's not your turn to die."
"Besides, Nami is the navigator I've chosen."
Luffy paused, his gaze sweeping over every face: "So, please stay here and watch. Don't let her eight years of blood and tears go to waste. Leave the dirty work to us."
With that, Luffy turned without hesitation and strode towards "Arlong Park," a symbol of a reign of terror.
Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp stood in a line, closely following their captain.
The sea breeze ruffled Luffy's cloak, and for the first time, the word "Justice," which usually represented a cold, hard system, brought an unprecedented warmth to the villagers.
"Lord Luffy, what should we do?"
Commodoror Pudding of the 77th Branch ran forward respectfully. Ever since Luffy pulled him from the sea, he had been utterly devoted to the young colonel.
Even when Luffy had just publicly shot a fellow colonel, he hadn't even blinked.
Luffy stopped, turned, and gave Pudding a deep look: "Your mission is to lead your men and defend this place to the death, to protect the villagers. If even a single hair on their heads is lost, you can forget about your life."
"Yes, sir!"
Pudding snapped to attention, gave a crisp military salute, and then quickly directed his soldiers to protect the villagers in the inner circle.
This was both a defense against external enemies and a way to prevent these emotionally charged villagers from rushing forward and needlessly dying.
Nami watched all this through her blurry, tear-filled eyes, and the tension in her heart finally eased.
For the first time, she was no longer carrying the fate of the entire village alone; someone else was shouldering the burden of this collapsing sky for her.
Holding the straw hat still warm from her body, she finally burst into tears, the first time since her foster mother's death that she had unreservedly released her inner vulnerability.
Soon, the towering and menacing Arlong Paradise stood before Luffy and his companions.
Facing the massive, tightly closed stone door, Luffy coldly snorted and raised the two severed heads in his hands even higher.
"Zoro, knock on the door!"
"Glad to serve."
Zoro grinned maliciously, drawing his Wado Ichimonji, a flash of cold light.
"BOOM—!!"
With a deafening roar, the heavy stone door shattered like paper.
To Arlong's astonishment, two mangled fish-man heads rolled to his feet amidst a cloud of dust.
Arlong's sinister fish eyes instantly turned bloodshot as he stared intently at the severed head on the ground, letting out a piercing roar: "Achoo! Crooby! Who?! Who did this?!"
As the dust settled, Luffy and his companions slowly emerged like several killing gods.
"Yo, Arlong, satisfied with this greeting gift? We've come to redeem Cocoyasi Village."
Luffy's lazy yet provocative voice echoed in the deathly silence of Arlong's Paradise.
Arlong abruptly looked up, his gaze piercing Luffy like a knife: "It's you, you bastard?!"
Then, his gaze fell on the Justice Cloak behind Luffy, his pupils shrinking slightly: "The Marines?"
Luffy grinned and took two steps forward: "I heard you made a bet with my navigator? 100 million Berries for the village's freedom?"
"Look, I not only brought 100 million Berries, but I also gave you an extra 14 million. Those two pieces of trash have a combined bounty of 14.5 million. How about that, aren't I generous?"
Luffy's face wore an innocent smile, but his words were like daggers.
Arlong trembled with rage, his eyes bloodshot: "You're asking for death! Men, tear him to shreds!"
With a command, countless splashes erupted in the amusement park's pool, and a large group of fish-men wielding sharp blades roared and charged towards Luffy.
Luffy didn't even glance at them, continuing to walk forward at his unhurried pace.
"Three-Sword Style: Tornado!"
"Diable Jambe: Fried Assorted Platter!"
Two figures flashed like lightning, flanking Luffy from both sides.
Without the restraint of the executives, Zoro and Sanji were like tigers among sheep.
Those fish-men, supposedly ten times stronger than humans, were blasted away like fragile dolls under the combined blades and leg techniques of the two.
Arlong, his face ashen, watched Luffy approach relentlessly, slowly rising from his throne: "You lowly humans, what are you all...?"
His response was a massive sword with a terrifying whistling sound—Samehada.
"What?!"
Arlong only managed to raise his arm to block before being blasted away by an unimaginable force, crashing through an entire wall behind him.
"I wouldn't even want to dirty my hands fighting someone like you."
Luffy casually swung the strange greatsword in his hand, the bandages that had been wrapped around the blade breaking apart inch by inch, revealing its hideous true form covered in barbs.
"You lowly race, how dare you speak so arrogantly before me!"
Arlong leaped from the ruins, charging at Luffy like a cannonball, his sharp teeth grinding together.
"Lowly race?" Luffy sneered, his eyes filled with mockery. "In the eyes of the Celestial Dragons, you fish-men are high-class slaves. As a former officer of the Sun Pirates, have you forgotten the days when you were chased like a dog?"
Arlong's expression changed drastically, as if his deepest wound had been touched: "How do you know those things, you bastard!"
That was a wound that would forever remain in his heart. Although Boss Tiger wished for peace, Arlong was a complete and utter racist madman.
"Hachi! Call that big guy out here!"
Arlong roared towards the pool.
An octopus-man with six arms immediately blew his horn, the sound deep and resonant.
"New—! Turn these humans into dinner!" Hachi exclaimed excitedly, waving his arms and legs after blowing his horn.
Instantly, the sea churned, and the entire Arlong Park began to tremble violently.
"What the hell is that?"
Zoro and Sanji frowned, looking towards the harbor.
A colossal sea monster, the size of a mountain—a manatee with the head of a bull and the body of a fish—mooo, emerged from the water, exuding an overwhelming aura.
"This is the war machine we brought back from the Grand Line! Fear it, humans!" Hachi boasted triumphantly.
Luffy, however, didn't even bother to lift his eyelids. His left hand was lightly pressed against his calf, as if inflating his body.
In an instant, Luffy's skin began to redden, and wisps of white steam billowed from his body.
Gear Second!
Luffy stretched his neck. Although the power of the "Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan Type, Nika Mode" flowed through his veins, he knew very well that Devil Fruits still needed to be developed.
Until he awakened the so-called "Sun God" power, honestly developing the rubber properties to their fullest extent was the only way forward.
With the support of the system template, he had long since mastered the technique of overdrawing his physical strength for an ultimate burst of power.
Adding the monstrous strength from the Kisame template and the assistance of Samehada, Luffy at this moment was practically a humanoid Tyrannosaurus Rex.
With a casual swing of his hand, Luffy's right arm instantly extended like rubber, slamming into a nearby building.
"BOOM!!"
A deafening roar echoed as the surveying room, which had imprisoned Nami for eight years and was covered in blood-stained sea maps, instantly turned to dust.
Arlong stared at the ruins, his heart bleeding. That was the foundation of his domination of the East Blue!
"A Devil Fruit user?"
Arlong stared intently at Luffy's steaming arm, his face contorted with rage. "You're the guy who killed Big Fish and Little Fish?"
Luffy feigned sudden realization, forming hand seals. With a bang, the white smoke dissipated.
Two water clones transformed into Big Fish and Little Fish, standing dumbfounded before Arlong: "Brother Arlong..."
"You bastard! You're playing me!"
Arlong's forehead veins bulged, completely losing control. "Hachi! Take Moo Moo and attack! Crush them all!"
The manatee Moo Moo let out a deafening roar, opening its blood-red maw to bite towards the shore.
The remaining fish-man henchmen leaped onto MooMoo's back, using the sea monster's momentum to launch their attack.
"A creature from the Grand Line? Perfect for testing my skills."
Zoro, biting three swords, glared at them with eyes as sharp as an eagle.
Sanji took a deep drag on his cigarette, elegantly straightening his tie: "Only beef pounded a thousand times has a chewy texture."
Luffy's eyes were indifferent, his voice icy cold: "Leave no survivors. I don't want to see any more of this trash living on this sea."
Before he finished speaking, Luffy had vanished into thin air.
The extreme speed granted by Gear Second, combined with the Water Body Flicker Technique, made him too fast for the naked eye to see.
"Ugh!!"
A piercing scream heralded the start of the slaughter.
Luffy wasn't the kind of shonen manga protagonist who valued fair duels; right now, he only wanted to crush Arlong's pride in the most brutal way.
The Samehada sword seemed weightless in Luffy's hands, each swing sending a whirlwind of blood and gore through the air.
The dense barbs scraped chunks of flesh from Arlong's tough skin with every strike.
It was like being slowly sliced to death!
Arlong's prized fish-man body had become his greatest instrument of torture, leaving him unable to live or die.
Meanwhile, Zoro and Sanji were also going all out.
Zoro was a demon who made his living hunting pirates, while Sanji, though a believer in chivalry, was more resilient than steel when it came to this scum who abused women.
As for Usopp, though his legs were still trembling, he continued to harass him from a distance with his slingshot, his attacks low in damage but extremely humiliating.
"Damn it! How could someone with your strength... possibly be in the East Blue!"
Arlong, covered in blood, stared in disbelief at the unscathed Luffy before him.
He was horrified to discover that his once-proud speed was like a slow-motion replay in front of Luffy.
Looking around, the once numerous and powerful fish-man army was now almost wiped out; even the giant manatee MooMoo was beaten senseless.
"All of you, get in the water! We're invincible in the water!"
Arlong made a decisive move, letting out a roar and leading the way as he leaped into the sea.
"Big Brother Luffy! Don't let him go in! Fish-men's strength doubles in the water!" Johnny and Joseph shouted anxiously.
However, Luffy seemed to be watching a show, letting Arlong jump into the sea.
Zoro, panting, watched the fish-man dive into the water and cursed, "Coward, running away already?"
Sanji glanced at Zoro's gaping wounds and frowned. "Moss Head, stop being so reckless. Leave the rest to me."
"Get lost! I can still take down ten more!"
The two resumed their usual bickering.
Arlong surfaced from the water, his ferocious face now displaying a confident, maniacal laugh: "Hahahaha! Fool! You let a tiger return to the mountains!"
"I'm the nemesis of Devil Fruit users! So what if you're strong on land? Dare to come down here? Once you're gone, I'll slaughter this entire village!"
"You beast!" Zoro and Sanji gritted their teeth in anger.
Luffy, however, walked leisurely to the shore, looking down at Arlong as if he were an idiot.
"If you had just run away, you might have lived a few more minutes. Too bad you chose the stupidest path."
"Stop bluffing! Come down here if you dare!" Arlong, certain Luffy was a landlubber, relentlessly mocked him.
Sanji was also somewhat worried: "Luffy, aren't Devil Fruits supposed to be afraid of water?"
Luffy's lips curled up, revealing a set of bright white teeth: "Most Devil Fruits are afraid of water, but mine is different."
To everyone's astonishment, Luffy lifted his foot and landed steadily on the turbulent sea.
He didn't sink! As if walking on flat ground!
"What?!?!?!"
Arlong's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets; this completely shattered his understanding.
He'd been on the Grand Line for so long, and the only one he'd ever seen do this was that monster named Kuzan, but that was using ice! This guy was walking directly on water?
"You… what kind of Devil Fruit did you eat?" Arlong's voice trembled.
"The Martin Fruit," Luffy blurted out. "Martin Martin, all-powerful."
Arlong: "???"
"Damn it! No matter what kind of monster you are, underwater is my domain!" Arlong gritted his teeth and plunged into the deep water.
"Dominion?"
Luffy stared at the panicked figure underwater, his eyes glowing even brighter.
The Samehada sword in his hand seemed to come alive, writhing and melting, spreading along Luffy's arm and throughout his body.
"This form is a bit ugly, but to make you die in despair, I don't care about that."
Under the horrified gazes of everyone, Luffy's body underwent a bizarre transformation, becoming a terrifying half-human, half-shark!
This was the ultimate technique of Samehada—man and sword as one!
At this moment, Luffy was the ruler of the sea!
Arlong looked back underwater and nearly jumped out of his skin. The monster was charging at him at several times the speed of a fish-man!
"Monster! You're absolutely a monster!"
Arlong completely broke down, desperately swimming towards the deep sea while shouting to his remaining subordinates, "Run! Split up!"
However, it was all too late.
Luffy formed hand seals and roared, "Water Release: Great Exploding Water Wave!"
The once calm sea instantly boiled, a massive amount of seawater drawn together by some mysterious force, condensing into a gigantic water sphere hundreds of meters in diameter in mid-air!
That was a true cataclysmic ninjutsu!
All the fish-men, including the arrogant Arlong, were trapped in this suspended water prison, like flies in amber.