Nojiko stood blocking their path like a guardian angel gone rogue, her blue hair catching the last rays of sunlight. Unlike every other villager who'd run at the sight of them, Nami's sister looked ready for a fight.
"Get out of here, you idiots," she said, gripping her staff tight enough to turn her knuckles white. "You have no idea what you're walking into.He'll chew you up and spit you out."
Luffy stepped forward. No goofy grin this time, no rubber antics—just a captain who'd made up his mind. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy. I'm gonna be the Pirate King, and Nami's my navigator. I'm bringing her home."
Something in his voice made everyone go quiet. This wasn't the happy-go-lucky guy who could turn any situation into a joke. This was someone who'd draw a line in the sand and dare the world to cross it.
Nojiko's tough facade cracked just a little. "You don't get it! Arlong isn't some normal pirate you can just punch into submission. He's a monster with a crew of monsters, and they'll—"
"They'll lose," Zoro cut her off, his hand already resting on his sword hilt. The bandages around his chest were still fresh from Mihawk's blade, but his eyes burned with anticipation. "Fish, human, doesn't matter. Everyone bleeds."
Sanji took a long drag of his cigarette, the ember glowing in the growing darkness. "Nobody cages someone as wonderful as Nami-san. I'll kick every last one of them back into whatever ocean they crawled out of."
Even Usopp puffed out his chest, though his knees were definitely shaking. "The great Captain Usopp laughs at your fish-men! They don't scare me!" His voice only cracked twice, which was pretty good for him.
But it was Silas who really caught everyone off guard. The red-haired guy had been pretty quiet since they'd arrived, just watching and listening. Now he spoke up with the kind of certainty that came from seeing too much of the world's ugly side.
"Your sister's been fighting a war for eight years," he said to Nojiko. "Carrying the weight of this whole island on her shoulders. Well, she doesn't have to carry it alone anymore."
Nojiko stared at them like they'd all lost their minds. Maybe they had.
Before she could argue further, Genzo and Dr. Nako showed up, looking like men who'd seen their fair share of nightmares.
"If you really are Nami's friends," Dr. Nako said, "then you need to know what you're up against."
What came next sounded like something out of a horror story. Arlong wasn't just strong—he was a walking nightmare with a crew to match.
"Arlong's got the strength of ten men and jaws that can bite through steel," Genzo explained, his scarred face grim. "Been terrorizing the East Blue for over a decade. His laugh alone is enough to make grown men wet themselves."
Nojiko jumped in with more cheerful details. "Hatchan's got six arms and uses swords bigger than most people. He's completely loyal to Arlong and can take on multiple enemies at once."
"Kuroobi practices something called Fishman Karate," Dr. Nako continued. "His punches hit like cannonballs, and in water? Forget about it. He can kill you with the pressure waves alone."
"Then there's Chew," Genzo added. "Spits water bullets like a machine gun. Fast as real bullets, hit just as hard."
But the last name made everyone pay extra attention, especially Silas.
"Quadshot," Nojiko whispered. "Four arms, four flintlock pistols, and he never misses. They say he sank an entire Marine warship by himself, picking off the officers one by one."
You could practically see the gears turning in everyone's heads.
Luffy's grin came back full force. "They sound awesome! This is gonna be so much fun!"
Zoro's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. "Finally, some decent opponents. I was getting bored."
Sanji's cigarette flared brighter. "Let them come. I'll show them what happens when you mess with my Nami-san."
Usopp's knees knocked together, but he still managed to strike a pose. "Four arms and four guns? That's nothing! The great Captain Usopp has defeated enemies with twice as many limbs!"
Silas went quiet for a moment, and something flickered across his face—a memory, maybe, or a ghost from his past.
He was ten years old again, stumbling through sword practice in the desert heat. His father watched patiently as Silas fell face-first into the sand for the hundredth time.
"Why do we have to train so hard, Papa?" young Silas had asked, spitting out sand.
His father knelt down beside him. "Because someday you're gonna meet someone who needs protecting, and you might be the only one who can do it. Being strong isn't about beating everyone up—it's about standing up when other people can't."
Later that night, sitting by the campfire under a blanket of stars, his father told him about the family legacy.
"Your grandfather used to say something before every fight: 'If I die, let it be chasing the sun.' That's what we do, son. We chase the light, even when everything around us is dark."
The memory faded, but the lesson stuck. Silas looked around at his temporary crewmates—Luffy with his unshakeable determination, Sanji with his knight-in-shining-armor complex, Zoro practically drooling at the thought of a good fight, and even Usopp trying his best to be brave.
This was it. This was what his father had been preparing him for his whole life.
"Arlong's had a good run," Silas said quietly, but his voice carried across the village square like a promise. "But every tyrant falls eventually. This one's about to learn what happens when you threaten family."
Family. Not crew, not allies—family. Because somewhere along the way, that's what these crazy pirates had become to each other.
Nojiko looked at all of them like they'd completely lost their minds. Which, to be fair, they probably had.
"You're all completely insane," she said, but there wasn't any real anger in it anymore.
Luffy's trademark grin spread across his face. "Yeah! We're just crazy enough to save our friends!"
The sun finished setting over Cocoyasi Village, and the Straw Hats stood there in the growing darkness, united in their ridiculous, impossible, absolutely certain plan to take on a crew of fishman pirates and win.
Tomorrow was going to be interesting.
In the distance, Arlong Park loomed like a fortress built out of nightmares and oppression. But for the first time in eight years, it was about to face something it had never dealt with before: the unbreakable bonds of true nakama, and a rubber boy who refused to let his friends suffer alone.