…
3rd Person POV
Nami's heartbroken expression remained, even as Kai was pulled into the water.
His white hair spread around his head while the sea cow carried him deeper, one arm drifting behind him as the last of his strength disappeared beneath the weight of the sea. The pool churned for a few moments after he vanished, then the waves gradually weakened until only broken pieces of stone floated where the railing had once been.
Nami had stopped struggling somewhere in those few seconds.
Hatchan still held her around the waist, two of his arms pinning hers against her sides, but there was no longer anything for her to reach. Kai was gone beneath the water, and the last thing Nami had seen before the surface swallowed him had been that stupid grin of his.
Arlong stood at the pool's edge and watched the bubbles rising through the dark water.
A few surfaced near his feet before the water became completely still.
A grin slowly returned to his battered and bruised face.
"There."
Blood was still running down Arlong's chest and staining what remained of his clothes. His face had swollen from the beating Kai had already given him, several teeth were only beginning to regrow, and half of Arlong Park looked as though somebody had dropped a battleship on it.
None of that seemed to matter anymore.
Arlong let out an evil laugh. It began beneath his breath, then grew until several fish-men joined him, their relief quickly turning into confidence now that nobody was climbing back out of the pool.
"That's it!?" Arlong called toward the water. "That was the Branchbreaker of the East Blue!?"
More laughter followed.
Chew wiped blood from his mouth and leaned against what remained of a wall while Hatchan's grip loosened slightly around Nami now that she wasn't fighting. Several fish-men who had spent the previous fight hiding from Kai suddenly rediscovered their voices.
Truly a scummy crew.
Arlong turned toward Nami.
"And you really thought he could do it?"
Nami said nothing.
His grin widened further.
"That's the best part."
She finally looked at him. Arlong gestured toward the destruction around them as though the ruined park somehow proved his point.
"He comes here, breaks a few walls, and convinces you he could be us?"
He gave Nami a slap across the face, sending her tumbling to the floor.
"And now he's dead!"
Nami's jaw tightened as she held her cheek.
That brought the laughter back. Someone behind Chew shouted that Momoo was probably enjoying his meal. Arlong watched Nami and his crew with open amusement until movement beyond the ruined entrance caught his attention.
People were coming.
Genzo entered first, weapon already in his hand, with Nojiko beside him and villagers filling the road behind them. Some carried rifles that looked older than Nami. Others had farming tools, knives, clubs or whatever they had been able to grab before leaving Cocoyasi.
They slowed as they entered Arlong Park.
The courtyard told enough of the story before anyone needed to explain it.
Nojiko found her sister immediately rushing to her side.
"Nami?"
Nami's stomach tightened. "What are you doing here?"
Genzo was already searching the courtyard.
"Where is he?"
Arlong answered before Nami could.
"Taking a swim."
Genzo followed his finger toward the pool.
Arlong's grin stretched wider.
"Your fifty-million-berry hero finally learned what happens to Devil Fruit users when you stop letting them stand on dry land."
Nojiko looked toward the water.
Then toward Nami.
Nami looked away.
Arlong stepped forward, raising his voice so the villagers crowding the road outside could hear him, too.
"Look at you all. Finally learned to leave your homes."
Nobody answered.
"Was this what you were waiting for? Some human scum to come save you? You spend years keeping your heads down, paying us what you owe and surviving because you understood your place, then, my dear mapmaker comes home with one oversized idiot, and suddenly everybody wants to be brave."
Genzo tightened his grip around his weapon.
Nami saw it.
"Don't."
He looked at her.
"Genzo, please don't."
"Nami…"
"Please."
That stopped him.
Arlong laughed harder.
"There she is. At least now you seem to understand."
His crew started joining in again.
"What happened to all that courage?"
"Come save her!"
"Where's the big human now, huh!?"
"Maybe Momoo's still hungry!"
"Throw another one in!"
Chew laughed with them, though less comfortably than the others.
Clink.
The sound was faint enough that several villagers never reacted.
Nami did.
Her head turned toward the pool.
Arlong stopped laughing.
For several seconds, nothing moved beyond water dripping through shattered stone.
Chew frowned.
"What was that?"
Nobody answered.
Then it came again.
Clink.
Louder.
The metallic sound travelled through the water and into the stone surrounding the pool.
Nami's breathing stopped.
Arlong moved closer.
"Momoo?"
Nothing answered him.
He leaned toward the water.
Something struck below the surface.
The impact travelled through the pool wall and beneath their feet, sending a tremor through the courtyard. Water jumped over the broken edge while several fish-men nearest it immediately backed away.
The pool erupted.
Sixteen tons of sea cow came out of the water so violently that nobody understood what they were seeing until Momoo was already above Arlong Park. Water exploded across the courtyard as the enormous creature sailed overhead, horns leading the way while its body cleared the outer wall and continued over the coastline.
"MOOOOOO!" Momoo released one long, bewildered cry before disappearing beyond the park.
Several seconds later, something enormous crashed into the distant sea.
The courtyard went silent.
Arlong stared toward the horizon.
Then stone cracked behind him.
A hand had risen from the pool.
It closed around the edge with fingers large enough to span several stone blocks, pale skin stretched over heavy joints while dark nails dug through the masonry beneath them. Water streamed between the fingers, and the arm attached to them was broader than some of the villagers watching.
A massive blade ran along the forearm, bound tightly against it with heavy wrappings
The hand pulled as something rose from the water. A pale head emerged first, smooth except for the strange structures spreading across its face. Wing-like growths covered the places where eyes should have existed, their layered edges resembling feathers while leaving no visible eyes beneath them.
Extending out the back of its head was a segmented tail like a ponytail.
A thick neck led into shoulders wider than anything human, then a torso built from hard slabs of muscle that seemed sculpted rather than grown. Strange golden markings crossed the upper chest near the collarbone, with dark cloth hung around the waist in heavy strips.
Mist formed, gathering above it.
A recognisable wheel formed from cloud rather than anything metallic. Pale vapour rolled together above the creature's head until a broad ring took shape, eight vague spokes appearing within it before dissolving and reforming as the entire formation rotated lazily overhead.
Nami, while confused at the appearance of this "monster", seemingly recognised the wheel atop his head as the symbol on Kai's hand.
"Kai…" She muttered slowly, standing up.
The creature dragged itself completely from the pool before straightening to its full height, and whatever had climbed out of the pool stood there dripping water across broken stone while everybody in Arlong Park tried to reconcile it with the white-haired idiot who had disappeared beneath the surface.
Nami couldn't.
Not entirely.
The build still carried something recognisable underneath the changes, but everything human about Kai had been buried. There were no eyes to read, no familiar expression to cling to, and even the posture felt wrong, with the enormous shoulders sitting slightly forward while the wing-like structures over its face angled toward the courtyard.
Then its head turned toward Arlong.
Arlong had taken one step backward; however, the creature's hand shot forward and swallowed Arlong's head.
The fish-man barely had time to grab the wrist before the enormous fingers closed around his skull and lifted him completely from the ground. Arlong's legs kicked once in empty air before the creature swung him downward.
His body struck the courtyard hard enough to crater the stone.
Before anyone processed the impact, the creature lifted him again and slammed him into the opposite side.
Stone burst beneath Arlong's shoulders.
The hand rose.
Arlong came with it.
Then he hit the ground again.
And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.
The creature changed directions each time with no concern for what part of Arlong struck first, smashing him from one side of the courtyard to the other while still holding him by the head. Each impact opened another crack through Arlong Park until his arms stopped finding anything useful to grab and simply whipped behind him with the movement.
Nami watched as the fish-man who was the main object of her childhood trauma became a club. The final impact drove Arlong halfway into the courtyard.
For a moment, only his legs were visible above the broken stone.
Chew recovered first.
"ARLONG!"
He planted his feet and fired a compressed water bullet that crossed the courtyard and struck the creature squarely in the side of the head.
Its face hadn't moved an inch.
Chew's eyes widened. He fired again, then another, putting enough pressure into each shot that the water screamed across the space between them.
They struck the creature's shoulder, throat and chest.
Nothing changed aside from the cloud-wheel above its head slowly rolling.
Chew lowered his mouth as the creature released Arlong.
His body collapsed into the crater.
Chew blinked.
The creature disappeared from view.
Chew's eyes moved toward the empty space where it had stood.
Something enormous was suddenly behind him. Before he could turn, the creature leaned forward and drove its forehead into the back of his skull.
Chew went straight down instantly as his face struck the stone hard enough to collapse the ground beneath him, the rest of his body folding over his head before dropping into the shallow crater with one twitch of his legs.
He didn't move again.
Hatchan drew all six swords. Fear flickered across his face, but he stepped forward anyway.
The creature turned. Hatchan attacked with all six blades at once, steel filling the space between them from multiple angles as he crossed one pair high, another through the centre and the last toward the legs.
The massive blade strapped along the creature's forearm moved.
The Sword of Extermination crossed through Hatchan's attack in one broad sweep.
Steel shattered instantly on contact. Three of Hatchan's swords broke immediately, and another spun from his hand in two pieces, while the remaining pair cracked near the guards and were ripped free by the force of the swing.
Hatchan barely had time to stare at his empty hands.
The blade came back across.
One clean diagonal slash travelled from high on his shoulder down across his chest.
Blood sprayed across the courtyard and Hatchan was lifted from his feet and thrown backward, crashing through one of the remaining walls before landing inside the ruins of Arlong Park.
Nami's breath caught.
Hatchan's body shifted faintly beneath the rubble, one hand twitching against the floor while blood spread beneath him, just barely alive. The creature didn't finish him for whatever reason.
It simply turned away.
Chew was buried face-first in broken stone.
Hatchan was unconscious beneath the ruins.
Kuroobi had never recovered from the previous fight.
The remaining fish-men had all but scattered at this point.
Some didn't even bother collecting weapons.
Nobody tried stopping them.
The creature's head turned back toward the crater. Arlong moved; it seemed he still had some life left in him.
One hand gripped the broken edge.
Then another.
He dragged himself from the shattered courtyard with blood pouring down his face, breathing hard enough that every inhale was wet.
He looked around.
All his men had either deserted or been defeated, and the villagers were watching. Arlong slowly raised his head toward the creature. Whatever pride had carried him through Kai's earlier beating was still alive somewhere inside him.
That was unfortunate.
"You…"
The creature approached.
Arlong grabbed the long saw-like weapon lying among the wreckage and forced himself upright.
"You think this makes you something?"
No answer came, so Arlong swung. The saw carved across the creature's chest and opened a long wound through pale skin.
Nami flinched.
The cut closed before Arlong finished pulling the weapon back.
The cloud-wheel overhead shifted.
Arlong swung again. The teeth scraped across the creature's shoulder without finding purchase. He changed angles and tried once more, and this time the saw stopped completely.
It grabbed the blade.
Arlong pulled but could not move as the enormous hand tightened, and the metal of the blade snapped.
Arlong stared at the broken weapon before it struck him across the face.
He left the ground and crossed the courtyard, tearing through what remained of a table before stopping near the pool.
Arlong forced himself upright again. He threw everything he had left into the creature because…what else could he do, other than beg of course.
His fists struck ribs and jaw without producing anything useful, his saw-nose failed to pierce skin that had already adjusted to it, and when he managed to clamp his teeth around the creature's forearm, the bite that had once torn through cannonballs and stone could no longer break the surface.
Arlong bit harder.
Nothing.
The creature raised the arm and Arlong's feet left the ground while his jaw remained locked around it, then the arm slammed downward.
Arlong hit the courtyard headfirst; the stone collapsed beneath him. The creature lifted him again and threw him through another section of wall.
He came back much slower.
Blood ran down his face and one knee nearly folded when he stepped from the rubble, yet he forced himself upright anyway.
"You f-filthy…" Arlong caught himself, unable to breath.
The creature tilted its head as Arlong coughed and spat blood.
"You think this changes anything? You think beating me makes you better than us?"
Nothing answered.
"I am a fish-man!"
Arlong struck his chest.
"I was born stronger than humans! Humans crawl around in the dirt while we rule the sea! I don't care what freak Devil Fruit you ate!"
The creature slowly walked toward him.
Arlong's voice grew more alarming.
"You're still h-human!"
The huge mouth opened slightly.
Arlong hesitated before he screamed and charged.
His fist came forward, and the creature caught it. Arlong tried pulling back, but the enormous hand remained wrapped around his wrist.
His teeth bared.
Arlong seemed to understand the intention a second too late as the enormous jaws closed around his forearm beneath the elbow.
His scream tore across Arlong Park.
For years, Cocoyasi had watched Arlong use those teeth as proof of everything he believed about himself and the fishman race. They had watched him chew through stone, crush weapons between his jaws and laugh about how humans were too soft to survive beneath something built like him.
Now his own arm was between something else's teeth. Arlong released a guttural scream as the jaws closed completely and his arm separated above the elbow.
The creature straightened, the limb now hanging out of its mouth.
Nobody moved.
Blood ran between its teeth.
Arlong stumbled backward, clutching the ruined stump against his chest while staring up at the thing that had just bitten through him as casually as he had spent years threatening to bite through humans.
The creature spat the arm across the courtyard.
It landed beside the broken pool.
Arlong stared at it, as did Nojiko, who covered her mouth. Genzo said nothing while Nami could only look between the severed limb and the enormous mouth above her. Somewhere in another situation, with Kai actually present, there was some kinda joke waiting.
There wasn't one here though.
The creature reached Arlong before his legs finished giving out and closed one hand around his throat.
He was lifted again.
His remaining arm scraped weakly against the wrist holding him while blood ran down his body.
Whatever remained of his arrogance had finally disappeared.
"W-wait."
The creature tilted its head.
Arlong had looked completely lost, all the strength drained from his face. It was as though he was simply waiting for death.
"Wait…"
Everyone heard him.
Every villager who had paid tribute and spent years lowering their eyes because looking at the wrong fish-man for too long could get somebody killed.
And Nami.
The creature released him.
Arlong hit the ground on his knees.
He barely managed to raise his head before an open palm struck him across the face and drove him into the courtyard hard enough to collapse the stone beneath him; his body settled into the crater.
His remaining fingers twitched once against the rubble before going still.
The creature remained above him for several seconds while dust slowly settled around its legs, apparently waiting to see whether there would be anything more.
Arlong did not rise.
Nobody in the courtyard seemed to know what to do with the silence afterwards.
Most of the fish-men had fled, and those who remained were either unconscious or unwilling to move. Hatchan lay among the ruined wall with the enormous slash across his chest still bleeding, Chew remained buried where the headbutt had planted him, and Arlong's severed arm rested beside the same pool he had used to drown Kai only minutes earlier.
The villagers stayed gathered near the entrance.
They had arrived armed for a fight.
There was nothing left for them to fight.
Nami slowly stepped forward.
Genzo caught her wrist.
"Nami, don't go near that thing."
She looked at him.
His face had gone pale, though his weapon remained firmly in his other hand as he watched the creature standing above Arlong.
"Whatever that is," Genzo continued, "we don't know if Kai is still in there."
Nami turned back toward it.
The cloud-wheel continued rotating behind its head, the eight vague shapes within the mist dissolving and reforming while seawater and blood ran down its pale body. Its blade just barely scraping the stone below, and the wing-like structures over its face had angled toward her despite the distance between them.
"He's there."
"You can't know that."
Nami pulled her wrist from his grip.
"Yeah, I can." She smiled.
Genzo moved to follow, but Nojiko caught his arm before he made it farther.
He looked at her. Nojiko watched Nami for several seconds before shaking her head.
Nami crossed the courtyard alone.
The creature followed her approach with its head, although the rest of its body remained completely still. She stepped over broken stone, passed what remained of Hatchan's swords and carefully avoided looking at Arlong's arm until she stood directly in front of it.
Up close, the size of the transformation was ridiculous.
Its torso towered above her, pale muscle climbing toward shoulders broader than anything human, while the wing-like structures covering its eyes made it impossible to find any familiar expression. The Sword of Extermination remained strapped along one forearm, now stained with Hatchan's blood.
Nami lifted her hand.
Several villagers tensed behind her.
She rested her palm against the back of the creature's hand.
"It's done."
The wheel of cloud overhead slowed.
Nami kept her hand there.
"We won. Arlong's finished, s-so you can stop now."
For several seconds, the creature did nothing. Genzo shifted behind her, but Nojiko kept hold of him then the enormous mouth began changing.
The corners slowly pulled upward.
Nami stared as an unmistakable grin spread across the creature's face.
Her shoulders immediately dropped.
"You absolute asshole." She cried out
Smoke rolled around them.
The transformation collapsed inward beneath the growing cloud, the enormous silhouette shrinking while its shoulders contracted. The wing-like structures folded away, the blade vanished from the forearm, and the awakened wheel dissolved last, its cloudy spokes breaking apart and drifting into the air above Arlong Park.
Nami never moved her hand, and when the smoke finally thinned, her palm was resting against Kai's.
His white hair hung wet around his face, his clothes seemingly had changed, and traces of blood remained across his skin, but nothing in the way he stood suggested that being drowned, transforming into some giant eyeless monster and dismantling Arlong's entire crew had left him particularly exhausted.
Kai looked down at their hands.
Nami followed his gaze, and whatever had been holding her together finally gave way.
She stepped forward and wrapped both arms around him, burying her face against his chest so suddenly that Kai rocked back half a step. Her fingers twisted into his back as the first sob escaped her, followed by another she tried unsuccessfully to swallow down.
Arlong lay broken behind them.
It was over.
Nami clung tighter.
Kai didn't say anything at first. His expression softened as he looked down at the top of her head, then one arm settled around her shoulders while the other rested gently against the back of her head, drawing her closer against his chest.
She cried there without trying to hide it anymore, shoulders shaking while Kai simply held her.
After a while, his voice came quietly above her.
"I told you I'd win."
…
End of Chapter!
Word Count - 3564