As they approached Arlong Park, the sounds of the fight had already reached them.
“The Buggy Pirates are no match for the Arlong Pirates.
As expected.”
His Observation Haki stretched out across the distance and read the situation clearly.
Rocks shook his head.
“Fish-Men really do have something when it comes to raw physical ability.”
The genuinely powerful among Fish-Men were few.
None of them stood in the same tier as the very best fighters the sea produced.
Against ordinary people, though, Fish-Men had a significant edge.
Ten times the physical strength of a human was not an exaggeration.
“They actually went through with it and fought the Arlong Pirates?”
Kuina looked genuinely surprised.
“What exactly do you have on Buggy the Clown?”
She had been curious about it.
Rocks seemed to know a great deal about a great many things.
“His identity.”
Rocks smiled.
“His background is significant.
If the Marines found out, he would have serious problems.
To keep it buried, he has no choice but to follow my orders.”
Kuina tilted her head.
“His background?”
“He was a member of the Roger Pirates.
If that gets out, you can imagine what his future looks like.”
“A Roger Pirates crew member?!”
Kuina was genuinely surprised.
A thought surfaced unbidden: that man was a crewmember of Pirate King Roger?
“Hard to believe?
But it’s the truth.”
Rocks shrugged.
“It’s not that unusual.
My old man was a member of the Rocks Pirates, and you’ve seen how impressive he turned out.”
Hearing the name of a crew called the Rocks Pirates, Kuina went quiet.
“The Rocks Pirates…”
She hadn’t heard of them.
But a crew mentioned alongside the Roger Pirates implied something notable.
No wonder Rocks had said the name was trouble.
“A remarkable crew.
I’ll tell you about them properly when there’s time.”
Rocks said it with a smile and left it there.
They moved quickly and arrived at Arlong Park.
Clang clang clang!
Bang bang bang!
“Kill them!”
“Get over here, help me!”
“AAAAGH!!”
Steel on steel, gunshots, screams, and roars merged into a continuous wall of noise.
The two crews were locked in brutal combat.
Quite a few had already gone down in pools of blood.
Their overall strength wasn’t in the same range as the Arlong Pirates, and they were losing ground.
Crack.
Arlong’s bite crushed a short blade thrust at him.
The purple-skinned Fish-Man’s face was tight with fury, his eyes savage.
One of those enormous hands sent Buggy flying.
“A ten million Berry bounty, and you dare come at me?
Looks like you’ve got a death wish.”
Arlong was furious.
He had been sitting in his own territory, and reckless pirates had come looking for trouble, opening fire without a word.
The Buggy Balls had been powerful.
If the angle hadn’t been off, a direct hit might have killed him.
Since when did East Blue pirates have the nerve to provoke him?
“That’s…
some strength…”
Buggy had been caught off guard but his durability was solid.
He went flying, landed hard, and came up with nothing worse than a badly swollen left cheek.
He had known a Fish-Man with a twenty million Berry bounty would be tough.
He hadn’t expected this tough.
If it weren’t for that damned person, I would never have ended up in this situation.
Buggy was miserable.
Under any other circumstances he would never have picked this fight.
This was all that damned person’s fault.
“Ten million Berries?
Bounties don’t tell the whole story!
I, the great Buggy, have had more than enough of your kind!”
“A bunch of Fish-Men with a higher bounty than me?
That ends today!!”
Buggy knew how important morale was.
In a moment like this, he could not back down.
His left cheek was swollen to a ridiculous size and he looked absurd.
But the words hit with real force.
These Fish-Men.
All he had done was fire a shot at them.
Their response had been completely disproportionate, and they had killed a number of his crew.
That he could not let stand.
Him roughing up his own crew was his business.
An outsider killing his men was something entirely different.
A captain had to answer for that.
Buggy’s voice rose to its full pitch.
“Boys!
Kill these Fish-Men and avenge our fallen brothers!!”
“OHHH!!”
In an instant the Buggy Pirates’ morale surged.
Their attacks came harder and sharper.
“Lowly Fish-Men?
Good.
You’ve made a serious mistake.”
Arlong’s fury hit its limit.
He was a racist, plain and simple.
He believed Fish-Men were born superior to humans, that humans were lesser creatures who existed to be ruled.
That pushed him over the edge entirely.
Arlong’s voice dropped to something cold and final.
“Kill every last one of them.
Not one left standing!!”
He took up his serrated blade and charged at Buggy.
Clang, clang, clang.
The fight hit its most brutal pitch.
Bodies were on the ground.
Mostly human, though a fair number of Fish-Men too.
Blood had soaked the ground of Arlong Park red, running into the pool and turning the water crimson.
That alone showed how savage this had become.
Boom.
Just as both sides were deep in it, eyes red with the killing.
A terrifying pressure descended without warning, blanketing the entire battlefield.
Everyone fighting felt their bodies lock up.
Their movements stopped.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Then the majority of those on the field rolled their eyes back, foam at the corners of their mouths, and went down hard.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Footsteps, coming closer.
Each one landing somewhere in the chest of those still conscious.
With every step that fell, the pressure seemed to tighten.
Cold sweat gathered at every forehead.
Breathing became labored.
They were straining against a force they couldn’t name.
“Who…
who is that?
What is this?
A Devil Fruit ability?!”
Arlong wasn’t weak.
He hadn’t gone down.
But inside, he was panicking.
The pressure bearing down on him had his body trembling slightly.
Moving was becoming difficult.
He didn’t know about Haki.
Or rather, he had never cared to learn.
His best guess was some kind of Devil Fruit ability.
“You’re Arlong?”
Rocks walked toward him, step by step.
He wasn’t moving fast.
But with every step that landed, the pressure on those still conscious grew heavier.
A dangerous smile crossed Rocks’s face.
“I hear you’ve been making life very difficult for my navigator.
So today, I’ll be taking your life in return.”