Chapter 23: Finally Free.
(A few minutes after the battle began. A little before Kaizo activated Izanagi.)
Luffy and Arlong smashed themselves into the lobby of Arlong Park. The building had quite the expensive aesthetic and was filled with high quality materials.
Luffy grabbed Arlong and threw him upwards and followed through.
Arlong got his composure right back and tried to bite Luffy's neck off but he grabbed his head and moved it out of the way, while also delivering a powerful punch to Arlong's face.
Arlong crashed into another room and grabbed his sawed sword from a wall. He then proceeded to slash at Luffy's direction.
Luffy was too nimble for Arlong to touch him, plus, his observation Haki was also a nice powerup to predict Arlong's movements. Luffy latched his arm around Arlong's neck and smacked him towards the floor below.
*BOOM*
Luffy is looking at Arlong from the floor above and sensed Kaizo's Spiritual Power skyrocket, not like before, it was in a completely different level than before.
Luffy just smirked and when he saw that Arlong was gone, he decided to look for him. He began to run around Arlong Park without much luck until he was attacked by a greenish maw.
Luffy looked at where it came from and he saw Arlong holding a chewed greenish fruit with camo stamp on it.
"A Devil Fruit?!" Luffy.
"That's right! I've lost my proud ability to swim thanks to you! I'll kill you no matter what!" Arlong.
Arlong threw what remained of the fruit away and send an energy wave and pushed Luffy out of Arlong Park. Luffy didn't lose time and grabbed a nearby wall to bring himself back to the plaza.
"Luffy!" Nami.
"Stand back! He's eaten a Devil Fruit!" Luffy.
Just as Luffy said those words, a greenish maw tried to bite his head off but Luffy managed to dodge on time. Luffy stepped back but got cornered into the water. Another flying jaw cane from the upper floor if Arlong Park and Luffy tried to block it with his Armament Haki but failed.
The Jaw clutched Luffy's arm and then disappeared. Luffy's arm was bleeding, he took some distance from the water and saw that Arlong's injuries were recovering with a greenish glow.
'His Devil Fruit, it's like Kaizo's. The flying maw looks like his spells, and the healing glow is like what Kaizo did to Zoro.' Luffy thought.
"HAHAHAHA! I never expected this Devil Fruit to be so powerful! I was planning to sell it to the highest bidder, but I guess this wasn't a bad exchange either." Arlong.
"No matter what type of fruit you have eaten, I'll still kick your ass!" Luffy.
'Psst! Nami.' Nojiko whispered Nami.
'What?' Nami.
'What's happening? We can't see anything.' Nojiko.
Nami then saw the camo Devil Fruit and something in her brain clicked. Just like Kaizo, Arlong's energy can't be seen, but oddly enough, his attacks are also hidden. Nami brainstormed about Arlong's fruit and then it hit her.
A few years back she was witness of a page of a Devil Fruit encyclopedia, she discarded it in the past due to her believing Devil Fruits were a myth, but now, she remembers it.
"Luffy!" Nami called out his captain.
"Yeah?!" Luffy.
"The fruit Arlong ate must be the Seishin-Seishin no Mi! It's a fruit that allows him to create objects from ectoplasm and even heal himself." Nami.
(Seishin = Ectoplasm)
"I see. I don't know what that is but, I thought his powers were similar to Kaizo's." Luffy.
Arlong creates a harpoon and throws it at Luffy. Our rubbery captain dodges but Arlong had another one ready to be thrown.
Arlong threw the harpoon at Luffy and he caught it but, the harpoon began to burn his skin. Luffy redirected the harpoon unto the sea and saw how the water began to boil.
'I better not get caught by that. Still, I can't lose this!' Luffy thought.
[Dead End Sharks!] Arlong.
Arlong manifests a shiver of green sharks that rush towards Luffy. Luffy tries punching the sharks but they became intangible and his fist phased through them. Luffy received the bites and got pushed back.
Luffy is now on the ground besides Nami. Luffy got up once again and pant due to exhaustion. All those injuries have been stacking up and are doing wonders to his physical condition.
Nami got close to Luffy and began to talk to him.
'Luffy, he just ate the fruit, right?' Nami.
'Yeah.' Luffy.
'Pay attention to his appearance.' Nami points at Arlong.
Arlong's body, despite looking unscathed to others, had some marks in the places where Luffy had injured him earlier. It was only visible for Nami and Luffy.
'Kaizo said that using his powers too much for healing affect the natural capacity of the body to heal itself.' Nami.
'I remember.' Luffy.
'You have to deliver one powerful attack with all your might to end him, preferable there.' Nami.
Nami points at Arlong's face, which is the part that has more marks, and looks at Arlong panting. Using his newly awakened abilities are taking a toll to his body and his stamina is decreasing by the moment.
Luffy smirks and remembers the ultimate move he prepared for moment like this and taps Nami in her shoulder.
"You better get that treated, or else that wound can worsen." Luffy.
Luffy left the side of the townsfolk and looked at Arlong.
"Are you finally here to die? How noble." Arlong.
"Nah! I'm here to finally kick that ass of yours." Luffy.
Arlong created a saw sword and lunged at Luffy. Luffy punched the sword but his fist phased again, leaving his head exposed. Arlong smiled at this but Luffy retracted his head inside his body.
The sword missed Luffy's head and Luffy uppercut-ed Arlong into the Cartography room, a room Nami knows all too well.
Luffy enters the room and notices a big number of maps.
"What's with this room? Its full of papers." Luffy.
"They're not just papers, these are all the maps that Nami spent 8 years drawing." Arlong spoke while getting up.
"For us fishmen, obtaining data about the sea is simple but using that data to make sea maps is a different matter. Even throughout all the seas, you'll never find someone capable of drawing maps as detailed as these ones! That girl is a genius." Arlong.
Luffy picks up a pen.
"This pen, is covered in blood." Luffy.
Arlong surrounds Luffy by a big maw, ready to bite his neck off.
"For Nami, there is no better happiness than to stay here and continue to draw maps! For the sake of my ambition that is! Once Fishmen learn everything there is about sea charts, we'll be invincible! The world shall become my empire!" Arlong.
Luffy just keeps looking at the pen uninterested to what Arlong was saying.
"This island, or more accurate, the whole East Blue shall be my stepping stone for that. Do you think you can user her better than I?" Arlong
Luffy drops the pen and subconsciously emanates a red energy from his hands and managed to grab Arlong's ectoplasmic maw.
Arlong is shocked at that.
'How can this be?! His hands couldn't touch it before, why can he do it now?!' Arlong.
Luffy destroys the maw.
"USE???!!!" Luffy.
Luffy walks towards Arlong and stands in front of him.
"Just what do you think of her?!" Luffy.
"Heh, she's nothing but a tool. A being only fit to draw nautical charts for my brethren. Her sole purpose and goal in life should be to live for my benefit, everything that can bring me closer to my goal should be her goal as well, you know...Since we're Nakamas!" Arlong.
Luffy's face gets darker and he does something drastic.
(Outside Arlong Park)
"Is he fine?"
"Has Arlong killed the kid?"
"What's happening inside there?!"
*BOOM*
A part of the cartography room gets destroyed and a desk come out from it.
"Wha...!" Arlong.
Luffy just kicked one of the tables out of the room. No one knew what happened, but Nami has a rough idea of what's happening.
"The hell do you think you're doing!?" Arlong.
"I finally found a way to save her! This room is the problem! If she doesn't want to be here…" Luffy.
One after another, Luffy began to kick and punch the whole room and blasted all the maps and furniture out of the room.
'Luffy...…' Nami was sobbing and crying of happiness.
"…Then, I'll just destroy everything in here!" Luffy.
"STOP THAT ALREADY!" Arlong.
Arlong tried to stop Luffy by impaling him with his ectoplasmic sword but Luffy evaded him and kept destroying the room around them.
"MY MAPS!" Arlong.
Arlong managed to catch one of Luffy's arms and grabbed him by the neck and pushed him against the wall, only for Luffy to destroy more of the sea charts in the room.
'...…Thank you!' Nami.
In the end, Arlong decided to bite Luffy's neck off and so he bit him near the neck.
"You've gone too far you, rubbery trash!" Arlong.
Arlong keeps pressing on Luffy's neck and Luffy grabs Arlong's nose.
"'Fishmen are great this' and 'sea charts that' and circumstances crap…I don't know much about all of that but, since I know how to save her now..." Luffy breaks Arlong's nose.
"ARGH!!!" Arlong.
"I'll free her from these chains that have hurt her so much." Luffy.
Luffy then stretches his leg towards the ceiling and destroys parts of Arlong Park.
[Gomu-Gomu No…!]
"Don't get cocky! Arlong Park can never be brought down by you, inferior beings." Arlong.
Arlong fixes his nose, covers himself in ectoplasm and opens his mouth. His teeth begin to glow green and he begins to spin and lunges himself towards Luffy.
[Shark on Tooth!] Arlong.
[…Ono/Battle Axe!!!] Luffy.
Arlong bites Luffy's side before he counters with a powerful stomp to his face. Arlong spits out blood and begins to break the floor over and over until he reaches the base floor. However, he was still not defeated.
'I'm not done yet, rubber brat! Once you fall, I'll feast on your corpse!' Arlong.
Arlong tried to look upwards and didn't saw Luffy, he only saw his arms grabbing unto the floor above him.
"I THOUGHT THAT WASN'T ENOUGH TO FINISH YOU UP, SO HERE'S ANOTHER ONE!"
[GOMU-GOMU NO: MISSILE!!!!!]
Luffy lets himself go and head smashes himself unto Arlong's head, Arlong's skull fractures and he loses consciousness.
Just as Luffy was getting up, Arlong Park began to fall down. The entire building was getting destroyed.
By this point, Kaizo, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji and the two groups of townspeople arrived at the scene, only to see the building of their nightmare crumble at the powerful blow.
"LUFFY!!!" Nami.
"Dang it! I missed the fight!" Kaizo.
"Forget the fight! Luffy's trapped inside!" Nami.
"Don't worry, he's made of tough stuffs, in fact, he should be getting out of the rubble in 5…4…3…2…1…" Kaizo.
Just then, Luffy came out of the debris, he was full of wounds and blood but he still had enough energy to yell one important message…
"NAMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE...MY NAKAMA!!!!!!!!!" Luffy.
"Yes…!" Nami.
"HE WON!!!!!!!!!!!" EVERYONE.
All the townsfolk began to celebrate Luffy's victory over the dastardly Arlong. After so many years at their mercy, they felt amazing to have a true taste of freedom from his tyranny.
Luffy however was thinking about something.
'What was that? I couldn't break that green energy, not even with Haki, but that red-ish energy did it like nothing.' Luffy.
Luffy looked at Kaizo and wondered…
'Is this the same as his?' Luffy.
The celebrations and enjoyment were short-lived due to a shit-ass marine captain that came to ruin everyone's joy.
"That's enough celebrating! Chi-Chi-Chi-Chi!" Nezumi.
"It's him…!"
"That bastard!"
"What a lucky day, I'd like to thank you for such an exhilarating battle! Whether it was by sheer luck or not, I never expected the Fishmen Pirates be defeated by some no-name pirates." Nezumi.
"But thanks to you, all the money that I had to hand over Arlong, as well as all the riches in Arlong Park shall be mine! So, throw down your weapons and surrender! I, Captain Nezumi from the 16th branch of the Marines, shall take credit for your victory." Nezumi.
Kaizo rushed to the ratface and punched him, he then proceeded to do the same with the rest of the marines until they were just a bruised pulp.
"It aint nice to be a party-pooper when everyone's having a good time, how about I go to your base and have a nice chat with your superiors?" Kaizo smile sadistically.
"Luffy, I'll go to the 16th Marine branch base, I'm gonna pillage everything they have, can I?" Kaizo.
"Ok! We'll prepare the celebration feast in the meantime." Luffy.
"Aha." Kaizo takes out a sea prism bracelet.
"Make Arlong swallow this. Just as a failsafe." Kaizo.
Luffy didn't wanted to touch it so Sanji, very "gently" shoved the entire bracelet down Arlong's throat.
Nami, however, exacted a vengeance for herself and smacked Nezumi with her baton. Kaizo began to laugh as a black blue energy began to sprout from within him.
Kaizo snapped out of it and wondered what that was, he decided to not pay attention for the moment and focused on raining the Navy base.
Kaizo grabs Nezumi's platoon and the fishmen pirates, he also cut off two of Hatchan's arms so that he could escape.
'Please, Hachi, become a good octopus like in canon! That's all I want.' Kaizo prayed in his mind.
Kaizo arrived at the marine base and it only took him 5 minutes of playing with Izanagi to completely level the whole place. Once he was in his way back to Cocoyasi Village, he took it upon himself to make a call.
*PURUPURUPURU, PURUPURUPURU, PURUPURUPURU, GACHA*
"Hello?"
"Yeah, we have an emergency here!" Kaizo changed his voice thanks to his spiritual energy.
"What's happening?"
"It's the Red-Haired Pirates! They have the base captured and are demanding to speak with the fleet admiral!" Kaizo.
The call gets some interference but it was just getting redirected unto the main headquarters.
"This is Sengoku, who's talking?" Sengoku.
"Ok, that was easy to fool them." Kaizo.
"Who's this?" Sengoku.
"That doesn't matter, what does matter is how one of your branches colluded with a pirate and brought misery to an island for over 8 years." Kaizo.
Sengoku's face darkens and he gets serious.
"Explain." Sengoku.
"Captain Nezumi, from the 16th Marine branch here in the East Blue, colluded with the Arlong Pirates and brought hell upon Cocoyasi Village in the Conomi Islands." Kaizo.
"Many innocents died and even a former Marine known as Bell-mere gave her life to save two innocent girls." Kaizo.
Sengoku's mood gets worse and worse, the East Blue is the pride of the Marines. Not because is the strongest sea, but the opposite, the peace in there make it a perfect place to live without finding big threats, even the few pirates that spawn there are at best 5 million Berries.
"I'll send a batch of Marines to handle the Arlong Pirates." Sengoku.
"Too late, my crew had already dealt with them, and I decimated the 16th branch." Kaizo.
Sengoku was surprised, in his eyes, Arlong is nothing but a third-rate hooligan, but he was surprised that someone from the East Blue could defeat him, he needed to learn more about them.
"Who are you?" Sengoku.
"Ligma." Kaizo.
"Ligma?" Sengoku.
"Lick ma balls BITCH, HAHAHAHAHA!!!" Kaizo.
Kaizo then hung up and threw the poor snail overboard. He also faxed a picture of Luffy at the HQ intel division. The picture showed Luffy smiling with his hand covering a small corner of the poster.
Sengoku was mad, and was even madder that he got nothing out of his mysterious caller. He immediately dialed up for a certain vice-admiral that was in the area and ordered him to look for the mysterious pirate group.
What Kaizo didn't know was that one of the Marines was not entirely knocked down and managed to get a picture of him. With that out of the way, Kaizo returned to the Conomi islands and saw everyone enjoying themselves.
"Kaizo! You're finally here!" Luffy.
"Yeah, and I brought presents too, wanna see?" Kaizo.
Luffy opened the bag and saw lots of meat for him to feast for a few seconds. He gave Usopp the explosive materials and Sanji some cooking tools that he may need as backups. He gave Zoro nothing since Zoro needed to buy better swords at Loguetown.
The party lasted three whole days and nights; everyone was happy. After the party, Kaizo called everyone over.
"Hey! Everyone here, follow me!" Kaizo.
Kaizo began to guide everyone, including his crewmates and bounty duo, and arrived at Bell-mere's tomb.
"Nami, you know what I am, right?" Kaizo.
Nami thought about the question and remember what fruit Kaizo ate.
"A Shinigami." Nami.
"Right, this whole island reeks of death and sadness, the resentment of the dead is heavily imprinted to this place." Kaizo.
Kaizo unsheathed Izanagi and activated its Shikai.
"That's why...I'll let you guys have a proper sendoff now that you're free." Kaizo.
Kaizo raises Izanagi and then stabs the ground with it.
[Konsō/Soul Burial!]
Kaizo generates a shockwave that resonates with the whole island. Suddenly, some things begin to sprout from the ground and surrounded Kaizo, including a relatively slim woman with long fuchsia hair tied in a ponytail, grey eyes, and a rather unique hairstyle known as a Chelsea hawk.
Everyone present was in awe and some were even doubting their eyes. Kaizo was surrounded by their dead relatives and they were ghosts now. The only difference from their live counterparts, was the chain in their chest that was moving.
"Silence." Kaizo.
At that command, the soul's mouths were unable to move or produce sound.
"I have control of the souls of the dead, for the next hour, you can say your final goodbyes before they have to go to the Pure Land forever. If the chain gets too short then they'll have to go immediately or else they'll become wraiths' and will kill everyone at sight." Kaizo.
Afterwards, Kaizo left the scene, giving the villagers some time to process the situation and have their chats with their loved ones.
*SNAP*
Kaizo snapped his fingers and the spirit's will went back to them and they immediately lunged at their loved ones to hug them.
"My son!!!!"
"Father!! Mother!!"
Similar comments were in the scene as the rest of the Straw Hats also left the area.
Nami and Nojiko were looking at the figure of their mother and she just smiled.
"Seeing you here, makes me have no regrets, I did take the correct decision." Bell-mere spoke.
Nami rushed and hugged her mother while crying and Nojiko joined soon after.
(Note: Kaizo made the spirits solid enough to do that.)
While the villagers were giving their final goodbyes, Kaizo was walking aimlessly with his crew.
"You're really a nice guy. Shishishi!" Luffy smiled.
"That's not it, I'm just giving her a proper rest. A parent always worries about his or her kids, even in death." Kaizo.
"Still, I never thought you could call the dead." Usopp.
"Only those who have a huge regret before dying, and those who've been dead for over 10 years can't be brought back as spirits." Kaizo.
"Will you be able to revive people in the future?" Sanji.
"Nope, and even if I could, I wouldn't." Kaizo.
"Why?" Usopp.
"Having only 1 life is what makes everything we do more worth it. think about it, if we could die and revive anytime, what's the point of even risking our lives in the first place?" Kaizo.
"That's right." Zoro.
The group kept walking while Nami reached her conclusion.
"Bell-mere." Nami.
"Yes?" Bell-mere.
"Would you be mad if I wanted to become a pirate?" Nami.
Bell-mere whacked her in the head.
"OF COURSE!" She yelled.
She then smiled and then pets Nami's head.
"But you wouldn't listen to me anyways, right?" Bell-mere.
"Nope!" Nami smiles with teary eyes.
After the hour passes the spirits begin to dissipate and Kaizo and the rest returned to the scene. He used Izanagi, as a Katana, and teared the sky, opining a gate of sorts.
All the spirits kept saying their goodbyes at their loved ones and went towards the Pure Land.
Bell-mere's final words for her daughters were…
"No matter what happens in the future, what acts you may commit, remember that I'll always, always...will love you both…" Bell-mere.
And just like that, everyone went towards the Pure Land, to enjoy the afterlife after a long time of suffering.
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