The air in Arlong Park grew thick with the scent of saltwater and blood. Luffy's body was half-encased in hardened concrete, a cruel anchor dragging him toward the pool's edge.
"You really think you can beat us?" Arlong's voice was a low, mocking rumble, his shark-like teeth glinting in the sun. "A human? A *Devil Fruit user* trapped by water? This isn't a fight. It's an execution."
Luffy's eyes burned with a fire that defied the weight crushing his chest. "I'm gonna beat you," he growled, the words strained. "I promised."
Beside him, Zoro shifted, his three swords already drawn. "He's not alone, fish-face."
Sanji lit a cigarette, the flame steady despite the tremor in his hands—not from fear, but from restrained fury. "And we keep our promises."
Arlong's laughter was a harsh, grating sound. He said nothing more. Instead, he bent down, his powerful muscles coiling, and dug his fingers into the concrete slab imprisoning Luffy. With a grunt, he lifted it, Luffy and all, like a piece of driftwood.
"Let's see how long a rubber man can hold his breath."
"HEY!" Luffy shouted, swinging a desperate punch from his trapped position.
Arlong didn't even flinch. He caught the fist in his mouth, his serrated teeth sinking deep into Luffy's forearm. A sickening crunch echoed, and Luffy cried out in pain.
"Luffy!" Sanji took a step forward, but Zoro's arm shot out, blocking him.
Blood welled from the punctures, but Luffy's fury eclipsed the pain. With a roar, he lunged forward the only way he could—and bit down hard on Arlong's thick wrist.
Arlong merely smirked. "Flea bites." He reared back and hurled the concrete slab, with Luffy attached, in a high arc toward the deep pool at the center of the courtyard.
Time seemed to slow. Luffy's wide eyes met Zoro's, then Sanji's—a flash of trust, not fear. Then he hit the water.
The effect was immediate. His body went rigid, the Devil Fruit's curse sapping all his strength. The concrete pulled him down like a stone. Bubbles escaped his lips as he sank, deeper and deeper, the sunlight from the surface growing dimmer, a distant shimmer.
"LUFFY!" Sanji screamed, kicking off toward the pool's edge.
"Don't!" Zoro's voice was a blade, sharp and commanding. He nodded toward Hatchan and Kuroobi, who had moved to flank the pool, their smiles predatory. "It's a trap. They'll pick us off in the water. We save him by taking *them* out. Fast."
Arlong stood at the pool's edge, watching Luffy's still form sink into the blue gloom. "Weak," he declared to the world. "So weak. This is the difference between our species. This is why humans will always drown."
Sanji's cigarette fell from his lips, sizzling on the wet stone. His eyes were locked on the bubbles rising from the depths, growing fewer, farther apart.
Zoro turned his full glare on Hatchan, the six-armed swordsman. "Five minutes," Zoro stated, his voice deathly calm. "I'll finish you in five."
"Such confidence!" Hatchan chirped. As Zoro charged, Hatchan puffed his cheeks and spat a cloud of thick, black ink.
Zoro dodged to the side, his swords a silver blur. *Shick! Shick!* Two of Hatchan's spiky hair-tentacles fell to the ground.
"Ah! My hair!" Hatchan wailed, then shrugged. "It's okay, it grows back. You're fast, swordsman!"
Sanji, forced to tear his eyes from the pool, saw the sheen of sweat on Zoro's brow, the slight tremor in his stance. *He's still wounded from Mihawk. He's pushing himself past the brink.*
Kuroobi saw the distraction and struck, a swift jab aimed at Sanji's temple. "Your captain is drowning, cook. Aren't you going to join him?"
Sanji flowed away from the strike, his leg coming up in a blur that whistled past Kuroobi's face. "A fish," Sanji said, his voice colder than the deep ocean, "should never insult the cook who will fillet him."
At the bottom of the pool, Luffy's vision darkened at the edges. His chest was a burning cage, screaming for air. He struggled against the concrete, against the paralyzing water, but only a few feeble bubbles escaped. *Zoro… Sanji…*
Above, Hatchan grinned at Zoro. "You're strong! But I am very strong against swordsmen!" He clapped his six hands together in a defensive prayer.
Zoro swung, expecting resistance. Instead, his blade sliced cleanly through Hatchan's forearms. Not deep wounds, but deliberate cuts.
"What…?" Zoro muttered, bewildered.
The moment his swords made contact, a strange, sticky mucus secreted from Hatchan's wounds. With a gleeful shout, Hatchan jumped, slapping his sticky hands and feet against a stone pillar, adhering to it like a grotesque starfish.
"You're wasting my time!" Zoro snarled, frustration boiling over. Every second spent here was a second Luffy was without air.
Hatchan looked down, his head tilted. "You are only using one sword right now. And I," he said, his cheerful tone dropping into something dark and serious, "have not gotten *serious* with you yet."
On the other pillar, Kuroobi assumed a new, deeper stance, his muscles expanding. "Nor have I," he said to Sanji. "Let us show these humans the true meaning of despair."
Sanji's eyes flickered back to the pool. The bubbles had stopped. The water was still.
A profound silence fell over the courtyard, broken only by Arlong's low, triumphant chuckle.
Zoro's breath hitched. Sanji's heart hammered against his ribs.
*No bubbles.*
In that frozen, horrific instant, a new, earth-shaking roar erupted from the entrance of Arlong Park. Not a roar of triumph, but of pure, unadulterated rage.
Nami stood there, her knuckles white around her staff, tears cutting tracks through the dirt on her face. And beside her, standing taller than any of them had ever seen him, was the village fisherman, Genzo, his face a mask of fury, with the entire village of Cocoyasi at his back—armed with sickles, fishing spears, and decades of bottled hatred.
"ARRRRLOOOONG!" Nami screamed, the sound tearing from her soul.
Arlong's smirk finally faded, replaced by a snarl of irritation. The dynamic had shifted, but the clock had run out.
Zoro met Sanji's eyes across the courtyard. In the still, bubble-less water below, their captain was motionless.
And the war for the soul of Cocoyasi began with a silence more terrifying than any battle cry.