The air in Arlong Park tasted of salt and blood. Luffy's laughter cut through the tension, a bright, defiant sound as Arlong's teeth skittered across the stone like broken pearls.
"See?" Luffy grinned, his chest heaving. "Your bite's not so tough!"
Arlong rose from the rubble, a gash on his lip. He didn't roar. His voice dropped to a chilling, liquid calm that made the hairs on Usopp's neck stand up. "Foolish monkey. You think mimicking a shark is a game?" He ran a tongue over his bleeding gums. "Your jaw is weak. Your bones are brittle. Let me show you the real power of a shark's bite."
He moved faster than a blink. One moment he was ten feet away; the next, his serrated maw was clamped around Luffy's right arm at the elbow with a sickening crunch of pressure on bone.
"LUFFY!" Nami screamed from the sidelines, her chains rattling.
Luffy's eyes widened, not with pain, but with sheer shock at the force. He was being ground down, the immense pressure threatening to pulp his rubber limb. With a guttural shout, he used his free hand to grab Arlong's head and slam him bodily into the courtyard stones. Once. Twice. On the third impact, the fishman's jaw loosened a fraction—just enough. Luffy wrenched his arm free, stumbling back. The fabric of his sleeve was shredded, but the arm itself, though deeply indented with tooth marks, was intact.
On the broken wall, Genzo let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Another second… just one more second, and he would have lost it," he whispered, his knuckles white.
Arlong pushed himself up, his eyes glowing with predatory fury. "A lucky escape," he hissed. Then, in a fluid motion, he was a blue streak, a hammer-fist catching Luffy across the jaw before he dove into the central pool with barely a ripple.
"He's in the water!" Usopp yelled, panicked. "Luffy, he's in the—!"
"NO ONE can match my speed underwater!" Arlong's voice echoed from the depths. The pool's surface bulged, then erupted. Arlong shot out like a living torpedo, his body a rigid spear aimed at Luffy's heart.
THOOM!
The impact was a cannon shot. Luffy was lifted off his feet, a cry torn from his throat as he was sent spinning through the air. He crashed into the dirt, skidding to a stop. Arlong, meanwhile, blasted clean through the stone wall of the map room, vanishing in a cloud of dust.
Before the rubble settled, the water churned again. "Luffy, MOVE!" Sanji bellowed, smoke curling from his cigarette.
Arlong burst forth a second time. Luffy rolled, his instincts saving him as Arlong's nose-spear planted itself deep into the earth where he'd just lain, quivering.
"His… his nose," Sanji muttered, stunned. "It's like steel."
Arlong wrenched it free, already moving. A third launch. A fourth. SMACK! THUD! The attacks connected now, brutal and efficient, each sending Luffy reeling before Arlong disappeared back into his aquatic haven.
"Get away from the water, you idiot!" Sanji yelled. "You can't fight him there!"
But Luffy pushed himself up, wiping blood from his mouth. He didn't retreat. Instead, he planted his feet directly before the pool's edge, his shadow falling across the dark water.
"Come out," Luffy said, his voice low and unwavering. "I'm gonna catch you. And I'm gonna break that nose of yours."
From the depths, laughter bubbled up—dark, amused, and utterly merciless. "Your tenacity is amusing, straw hat. Do you finally understand? Running is futile. Standing there is suicide."
"Luffy, please!" Usopp begged, tears in his eyes. "Hide! One more direct hit and you're dead!"
Luffy didn't listen. He stared at the water, then looked at his left hand. Slowly, deliberately, he stretched his fingers out sideways, weaving them together into a wide, latticed shield of rubber.
"What… what is he thinking?" Johnny gasped.
"He's making a net?" Yosaku whispered, horrified.
Below, they could see a dark shape circling, gaining speed, turning the entire pool into a whirlpool. Arlong was a coiled spring, a missile locking onto its target.
"I'll pierce your heart and end this farce!" Arlong's voice was a deep-sea tremor.
The water exploded.
Arlong became a blur of speed and lethal intent, his pointed nose aimed directly for Luffy's chest. Time seemed to slow. Usopp screamed. Nami closed her eyes. Sanji tensed to leap.
Luffy braced, holding his flimsy-looking finger-shield before him.
The impact was a deafening CRACK of force. Luffy's feet dug trenches in the stone as he was shoved backward, a wave of pressure radiating outwards. He grunted, every muscle straining. But he held.
Arlong's furious eyes, just inches away, widened in disbelief. The tip of his nose was caught, tangled and held fast in the rubber lattice of Luffy's fingers.
For a heartbeat, they were locked in a desperate stalemate, Luffy holding the monster at bay by sheer will.
Then, a terrible snap echoed through the courtyard.
Not from Arlong's nose.
From Luffy's overstrained, shield-making hand.
Luffy's eyes shot to his own twisted fingers. A single digit bent at a sickening, impossible angle.
And in that moment of shock and pain, his grip faltered.
Arlong's smile returned, wide and vicious. "Got you," he breathed.
The fishman's free hand, claws extended, flashed up from the water, aiming not for a block, but a killing rake across Luffy's exposed throat.
(⭐ If you love the journey, please support us by collecting this story, adding it to your library, and leaving a rating! Your support keeps the adventure alive!)