Chapter 43: Chapter 43
Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.
Chapter 22– Rage.
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"AAAARGGGH!" I roar, rushing forward, raising the shovel high above my head and belting ahead to bury it in the saw-nosed fuckers stupid head. I am not stopped, there is no command to impede my actions, and there are no restrictions on me at this moment keeping me at bay. I rushed forward without even a halt in my step when by all rights, the commands of Nami given earlier should have stopped me as I brought my foot forward for the first time.
A saner person would probably have thought about this, contemplated it, and sought out the meaning behind it and why the commands were suddenly lifted. But I don't claim to be sane. I never have done it, and I certainly will not in future because I don't give a shit about any of that at this moment, and all I care about is turning this long-nosed fucker in front of me into sashimi.
I am so filled with this raw hatred that I even contemplate just subduing him and then cooking his friends and eating them in front of him. Would that even be classed as cannibalism since they are technically a different species altogether, even if they are sentient? Just one of the many ludicrous thoughts that ran through my head during my sudden brought of insanity induced by the fact I had just buried my best friend in two separate pieces. Then his murderers just destroyed our home and the only place I had memories together with him.
"DIEEE!" I scream as I suddenly appear in front of Arlong, drawing surprised gasps from his surrounding crew, and then I cleave my makeshift weapon down to his head, edge first to split him in two. As an arrogant guy like Arlong and someone from the Grandline who is bound to be strong, I fully expected him to try to block or even capture my weapon. I would not even be surprised if I was suddenly blown away, having underestimated him. But none of those things happens.
Instead, Arlong acts with surprising caution and sidesteps my clumsy attack, my shovel barreling past him and plunging into the sand, kicking up a storm that surrounds us. I don't question why he is so wary of me and even why he seems to be not underestimating me like he did previously when we first met. Instead, all I am thinking about is my next move. And so I pull and heave my shovel outwards, only to hear a large crack and for the handle to be lifted up without the shovel attachment on the end. Uncaring, I swipe it to the side where Arlong had dodged, blowing away the sand in the air only to reveal nothing at my immediate side where I thought my enemy to be.
In my fugue, after seeing my enemy not being where I expected him to be and only wanting to batter his face in, I spin around, expecting him to be on my other side and trying to attack. Still, when I swing the broken handle in that direction, there is no one there either, but this time I do not have the time to move on to my following action as that choice is quickly taken away from me as I feel a hand grasp the top of my head.
And then I am driven face first into the sand, my whole head being forced into it and then sunken so that my head was implanted straight down, the rest of my body then being pulled taut by the sudden pain and attack from nowhere, resulting in my body becoming rigid and unflexible as my feet point upwards towards the sky, my body staying in that position for a few moments.
And then the massive sharp-fingered hand releases my head, and I collapse like a puppet that has had its strings cut. A loud vibrating ringing resounded on the inside of my skull and disorientated me, not allowing me to continue with my former course of action and instead forcing me to bring a stop to all of my movement, my body merely twitching when I tried directing it to carry on.
I lay there, my head buried in the sand and finding it hard to breathe. But even with my ears blocked, I can still hear the mocking laughter surrounding me. My head still ringing and pounding, I try to move so I can get back up, but my body refuses to listen to my commands no matter how much I try to force it to.
I try, and I try, but nothing comes of my efforts. I don't know how long I try for, but eventually, I am able to use my limbs once more, and so I don't waste a second and move my hands to push against the ground. But before I can push my head out of its sand tomb, I feel that giant rough hand on my body once again, grasping one of my legs and then pulling me up by it like a fucking chicken.
The sudden rush of sand against my face and the whoosh of air as I am pulled up disorientates me further, and I find myself dazed and unable to react to the sudden change in my circumstances. And finally, when my mind manages to reorientate itself, I can see the grinning, sharp-toothed smile of Arlong looking at me upside down. Immediately my foot lashes out, trying to kick him in his smug face, but my attempt proves to be futile as my foot comes nowhere near him.
His mocking cackles remind me of the fact that there is a severe height difference in our frames, and our body types are widely different, along with him being fully grown and myself being a child. He is holding me at arm's length, and his arms are way too long. My leg doesn't even reach far enough to surpass his elbow. Realising I won't be able to smash his face in held tightly in his grip like this, I start to twist and turn, but my efforts to free myself result in minimal results. His fingers dig painfully into the skin around my ankle, and my movements exacerbate the pain, but I don't let that stop me.
"Shahahaha! Stop struggling, you little shit! A pitiful human like you could never escape my grip. Though I have to admit, you are a bit more durable than the other pissants in your species. But that doesn't mean anything when you are still just as stupid. SHAHAHAH!" As I struggle, I try to contemplate what has just happened and how I was struck down so suddenly without any sort of warning. And then I realised what he meant by me being stupid because I actually am.
I ran straight at him very aggressively, with no plan in mind other than to attack him straight up. However, my movement was very telegraphed, and it was very obvious just how I would strike at him, not to mention the fact that I screamed die at him. I might be strong and fast, relatively at least, but I don't have any technique or experience, which this guy clearly does, and he evaded me and counterattacked without difficulty. He had jumped straight up, high into the air, and while I looked around like an idiot, he had come straight back down and used the gravity to accentuate his attack and take me out in one palm straight to the top of my head.
Shaking my head, I ignore my flaws and try and focus on the here and now. And while my legs might not be long enough to kick his teeth in, they are easily capable of reaching other parts of him. Lashing out again, my free leg smashes into the forearm of the arm that is holding me at a distance. My shin impacting against his rough blue skin sends my bones shaking, but I know from just how deep I dug in that it definitely hurt him as well, but he shows none of that on his face.
Arlong snarls and tightens his grip on my leg, almost painfully wrenching it in two but not quite. I freeze up from the sudden pain, and using that time, Arlongs other hand whips out to grasp the leg that I had just damaged him with and ensnares it in his tight grasp before shoving it towards my other leg and then using a single hand to grab both of my legs leaving only my hands free. Still, they are incapable of doing anything but wave in the air right now due to the distance between us.
Before I even have the chance to panic and figure out how to free myself, a strong fist suddenly embeds itself in my stomach, twisting my guts around the bludgeoning hand driving into me. My mouth widens into a soundless scream, voice and air being cut off inside me, and all I manage to get out is some spittle from the force pounding into me.
"D-Detoro-Kun!" I vaguely hear someone shout, but I don't have time to focus on that. The blood is rushing to my head, the oxygen in my body has been cut off, and I am starting to black out. The combination of these two things proved too much for me. Trying to work through the pain, I begin to take deep, slow breaths, trying to regulate the oxygen within me and stabilise myself.
"Oh, Nami. Is that this brat's name? Shahaha! Look at him, his head is turning all red, and he sounds like he is dying. I guess I should let him down since he still needs to be alive to help make our new home." My body is suddenly in free fall, having been released. Thankfully when I landed painfully back on the ground, it was on my back, the distance was not that much, and I could still breathe. I ignore the conversation that is going on around me in favour of taking care of myself.
When I finally tuned back into reality, my anger has diminished, and I no longer find myself uncontrollably angry and wanting to pulverise them. Or rather, while it is muted now, and I still do feel those things, my body refuses to move to act on those impulses. Looking around, I can see the surrounding fishermen, except Arlong, looking at me in caution. At the same time, the man himself is standing facing my destroyed house and talking with Nami, who is worriedly looking in my direction.
"What do you think, Nami? We can even get you your own room to work in." Arlong is saying something to her, but she is looking back at me and notices that I have refocused. Her gaze then turns stern and warning as she glares at me, though no less worried, warning me not to attack them recklessly and get myself killed. So I guess I know now why I can't attack anymore, and it is because Nami doesn't want me to, and I have to abide by that. Though I wonder how I was even able to rush him in the first place since Nami had already told me not to.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone