The air in Arlong Park tasted of salt and cruelty. Usopp's heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage of rough fishman hands. Arlong's shadow fell over him, cold and immense.
"The greatest bounty in East Blue," Arlong mused, his voice a low, grating rumble. He leaned in, his saw-like nose inches from Usopp's face. "It's only natural the scavengers would come sniffing. Where is your beast of a friend now, little liar?"
"I-I don't know!" Usopp stammered, the truth and a dozen desperate lies tangling on his tongue. "Please, just let me go!"
A cruel smile split Arlong's face. "You don't know? A pity." He straightened up, his gaze sweeping over his watching crew. "But a dead crewmate makes for powerful bait. Kill him. Let's see if Roronoa Zoro values revenge over caution."
Ice flooded Usopp's veins. This was it. This was how the great Captain Usopp fell—not in a blaze of glory, but as a piece of meat used to set a trap.
"No! That won't work!" Usopp yelled, his eyes darting to the one person he shouldn't. "Nami! Tell them! Zoro wouldn't care! He'd just get angrier!"
All eyes turned to the navigator. She stood apart, her arms crossed, her expression unreadable as polished sea glass.
"Nami?" Arlong prompted, the single word laden with threat.
Usopp saw the flicker in her eyes—a fracture in the ice. It was enough. "Nami, please! Luffy still trusts you! Even now, he's probably coming here believing in you!"
"You idiot," Nami spat, the words sharp and brittle. But the insult didn't land like a blow; it sounded like a plea. It sowed the seed Arlong had been waiting for. Doubt, thick and poisonous, spread through the fishmen. Whispers slithered through the ranks. *Whose side is she on?*
The tension shattered as Hatchan stumbled into the courtyard, his six arms waving in distress. "Arlong! You're back! What happened? Who did this?"
"Your new friend, Roronoa Zoro," Arlong said, watching the octopus fishman carefully.
Hatchan paled. "Zoro? But… I gave him a ride! He said he was looking for you! I thought he was a guest!" His confusion was genuine, a stark contrast to the calculating malice around him.
Arlong's grin returned, wider. "Looking for me? Excellent." His eyes then fell on Usopp again, held by Kuroobi. "And this?"
The moment stretched, thin and razor-sharp. Usopp saw the decision crystallize in Nami's eyes. It wasn't anger. It was despair.
"He's a nuisance," Nami stated, her voice devoid of all warmth. She strode forward, a small dagger flashing in her hand. "A liability. Let me prove it."
"Nami, no—!" Usopp's cry was cut short as she moved with terrifying speed.
From Arlong's vantage point, it was clean and brutal. Nami drove the blade into Usopp's chest. The sniper's eyes bulged, a choked gasp escaping his lips. A perfect act of betrayal.
In the bushes, Johnny clamped a hand over his own mouth, his blood running cold.
But Usopp felt no pain. Only the hard shove of Nami's body against his, her lips at his ear, her breath a desperate whisper lost in the sound of tearing cloth. "*Run.*"
With a strength that belied her frame, she hurled him backward into the ornamental pool. He hit the water with a splash, the dagger—plunged harmlessly into her own folded cloak—sinking beside him. The red blooming in the water wasn't his blood, but dye from a shattered pouch on his belt.
"The sea washes away weak alliances," Nami announced, turning her back on the pool, her voice steady even as her hands trembled behind her. "My goal hasn't changed. I need the money. I will buy my village back. Nothing and no one will stop me."
The crew roared their approval, their doubts silenced by the apparent execution. Arlong's nod was one of grim satisfaction.
***
Out at sea, the voyage was anything but silent.
"FASTER!" Luffy yelled, one hand clamped on his hat, the other gripping the gunwale as the sea itself seemed to rebel.
"I'M NOT DRIVING, YOU IDIOT!" Sanji shouted back, holding on for dear life.
The source of their insane speed was the monstrous sea cow, Mohmoo, who had taken a violent liking to their small craft's rudder and was now towing them toward Arlong Park at a catastrophic velocity. The shore rushed up to meet them.
"BRACE FOR—!" Sanji's warning was lost to the wind.
They didn't land. They *catapulted*. The boat disintegrated upon impact with the beach, launching Luffy and Sanji skyward like human cannonballs.
At the same moment, Roronoa Zoro was a storm of focused intent cutting through the jungle's edge. *Usopp. Arlong. Kill.* The mantra beat in time with his pulse. A distant crash registered as unimportant noise—until two shrieking figures descended from the heavens.
*WHUMP.*
Luffy and Sanji landed in a heap directly atop him, driving the breath from his lungs.
"Get… off…" Zoro growled, shoving a sand-covered Sanji away.
"Zoro! You're alive!" Luffy exclaimed, popping up as if he'd merely tripped.
"No time," Zoro snarled, scrambling to his feet. "Arlong has Usopp. If we're not there in minutes, they'll kill him." He turned to sprint toward the towering pagoda in the distance.
"Zoro! Bro!"
The voice, ragged with grief, stopped him cold. Johnny emerged from the foliage, his face streaked with tears and dirt. He looked at the three of them, his body shaking.
"Johnny? What is it?" Zoro asked, his voice dropping.
Johnny swallowed hard, the words seeming to physically wound him as he forced them out. "You're… you're too late."
He met Zoro's eyes, his own brimming with a horror that was utterly convincing.
"Usopp's already dead."
The world seemed to freeze. The crashing waves fell silent. Luffy's cheerful grin vanished, replaced by a blank, terrifying emptiness. Sanji's cigarette fell from his lips, forgotten.
Johnny's next words were a whisper that echoed like a gunshot in the sudden stillness.
"Nami killed him."