The crimson sky burned above Arlong Park like an open wound. Nami stood alone in the dusty courtyard, a bag heavy with 100 million berries clutched in her trembling hands. Eight years of stealing, lying, and sacrificing everything she held dear had led to this moment. Her orange hair caught the dying light as she looked up at Arlong with desperate hope flickering in her eyes.
"I have it," she said, voice barely steady. "All of it. One hundred million berries. Now you have to keep your promise. Free Cocoyasi Village."
Arlong's laugh was like grinding steel. He snatched the bag from her hands and dumped it out, berries scattering across the ground like broken dreams. "Promise? You actually believed I'd let these pathetic humans go free?" His shark-like grin stretched wider. "Humans are nothing but tools to me, navigator. This village is mine forever."
The other Fishmen burst into laughter, their cruel voices echoing off the walls. Nami's knees gave out as the truth crashed down on her. Everything had been for nothing. Eight years of hell, all for nothing.
That's when the Straw Hats appeared.
They didn't burst in dramatically or announce themselves with battle cries. They just walked through the gates like they owned the place, dust swirling around their feet. Johnny and Yosaku had guided them here, pointing toward the massive complex where Arlong held court.
"There," Johnny said, adjusting his sunglasses. "That's where the fish-bastard should be."
Nojiko tried to block their path one last time. "Stop! You'll only make things worse!" Other villagers joined her, grabbing at the pirates' arms, begging them to reconsider.
But the Straw Hats kept walking. They didn't argue, didn't explain themselves, didn't even acknowledge the desperate pleas. They just moved forward with the kind of quiet determination that made the air itself seem heavier.
Luffy's straw hat cast a shadow over his face, but his eyes burned with something that made even Arlong take notice. Zoro's hand rested casually on his sword hilts despite the fresh bandages around his chest. Sanji's cigarette smoke curled in the still air. Usopp's knees shook, but he kept pace with the others. And Silas... Silas walked like a man who'd seen too much injustice and finally found a place to make his stand.
When they reached the courtyard and saw Nami surrounded by scattered berries and broken dreams, everything became crystal clear.
"Well, well," Arlong said, his massive form rising from his throne. "What do we have here? More humans who don't know their place?"
His crew flanked him like a wall of scales and malice. Hatchan spun his six swords lazily, his octopus arms moving with practiced ease. "Looks like dinner just walked in!"
Kuroobi cracked his knuckles, fins bristling with aggression. "Three-sword style? I'll show you what real power looks like."
Chew spat a water bullet into the dirt, his lips curled in a sneer. "Pathetic humans playing pirate."
But it was Quadshot who really caught everyone's attention. The four-armed Fishman drew all four of his flintlock pistols simultaneously, each barrel pointed at a different Straw Hat. "Four guns, four dead pirates. This'll be over before it starts."
Silas's eyes locked onto those four barrels, and something fierce stirred in his chest. His tattoos seemed to pulse beneath his shirt—the sun over his heart, the warrior of liberation across his stomach. This was what he'd been waiting for.
The Fishmen expected fear, maybe some begging or desperate bravado. What they got was silence. The Straw Hats stood there like they'd already won, like this was just another day at the office.
That's when Nami broke.
She pulled out a knife and started slashing at the tattoo on her arm—Arlong's mark burned into her skin like a brand of ownership. Blood flowed as she screamed, "I hate this! I hate all of this!"
The Fishmen laughed harder. "Look at her go!" one of them shouted. "Eight years and she's finally lost it!"
But Luffy caught her wrist before she could do any more damage.
"Nami," he said quietly, his voice cutting through her hysteria like a blade. "I'm going to help you."
He took off his straw hat—his most precious possession—and placed it on her head. "We're going to tear this place down."
That's when the real fight began.
Arlong's crew surged forward like a tidal wave of teeth and claws, but they crashed against something they'd never encountered before: the unbreakable will of true nakama.
The gates of Arlong Park stood wide open as the Straw Hats charged in. No dramatic entrance, no battle cries—just raw determination made manifest. Villagers pressed against the walls, watching in stunned silence as these crazy pirates stormed the fortress that had terrorized them for eight years.
"Are they really doing this?" a woman whispered to her child.
"They're fighting for Nami," an old fisherman said, gripping his walking stick. "Never seen anything like it."
The courtyard erupted into chaos as Arlong's goons rushed to defend their territory. Dozens of Fishmen with crude weapons and nastier attitudes came pouring out of every doorway and shadow.
Silas was the first to meet them. His flintlock barked twice in rapid succession—BANG! BANG!—and two Fishmen dropped, clutching wounded thighs. His sabre flashed in the crimson light, parrying a spear thrust and following through with a pommel strike that dropped another attacker.
"Too easy!" he called out, already reloading with practiced ease. This was his signature move—the flash reload. Using only his gun hand, he'd developed a technique that let him reload faster than most people could blink. The empty shells hit the ground as fresh bullets found their chambers.
Zoro was right behind him, three swords singing through the air. "Oni Giri!" His technique carved through a group of Fishmen like they were made of paper. Despite the bandages around his chest and the pain from Mihawk's wound, he moved like death itself.
"You're bleeding, moss-head," Sanji observed, even as his own leg whipped around to send three more opponents flying. "Maybe take a nap instead?"
"Shut up, dart-brow!" Zoro grunted, parrying two more attacks simultaneously. "I could fight a hundred more of these fish with my eyes closed!"
Usopp hung back, his slingshot snapping as he picked off targets with explosive ammunition. "Usopp's... I mean, Captain Usopp's special attack!" His bombs cleared groups of enemies, though his knees never stopped shaking.
In the center of it all, Luffy faced off against Arlong himself. The massive Fishman was everything the villagers had described and worse—ten feet of muscle, scales, and predatory instinct wrapped around intelligence cruel enough to build an empire on suffering.
"So you're the rubber boy who thinks he can challenge me," Arlong said, flexing claws that could rend steel. "I've been ruling the East Blue since before you could walk, human."
Luffy's answer was a fist stretched back and launched forward. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"
Arlong caught the punch in his bare hand, his shark-like grin widening. "Is that supposed to impress me?"
But when he tried to squeeze, Luffy's rubber body simply absorbed the pressure. The captain pulled back and snapped forward like a slingshot, his forehead crashing into Arlong's nose.
"Gum-Gum Bazooka!" Both fists shot forward, catching the Fishman in the chest and sending him sliding backward across the courtyard.
Around them, the other battles were heating up. Hatchan's six swords created a whirlwind of steel as he pressed Zoro back step by step.
"You're good for a human," the octopus Fishman admitted, "but six arms beat three swords every time!"
Zoro's grin was razor-sharp despite the blood seeping through his bandages. "Maybe. But I've got something you don't."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"The will to protect my friends."
His next attack—"Tora Gari!"—broke through Hatchan's defense and sent the octopus crashing into the pool.
Meanwhile, Sanji was having his own aquatic troubles. Kuroobi had dragged their fight into the water, where Fishman Karate was at its most dangerous.
"In here, I'm ten times stronger!" Kuroobi boasted, sending pressure waves through the water that could shatter bones.
Sanji treaded water, his suit somehow still immaculate despite the circumstances.
"Hmph." His kick connected with Kuroobi's jaw even underwater, the technique he'd learned from fighting on ships serving him well.
But it was Silas who found himself in the most interesting matchup. Quadshot had singled him out from the moment the fight began, all four pistols trained on the red-haired gunslinger.
"Four guns versus one," the Fishman taunted. "I like those odds."
Silas spun his single flintlock around his finger, utterly unconcerned. "Quality over quantity, fish-face."
The first exchange was lightning-fast. Quadshot's four guns roared in sequence—BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!—while Silas dove and rolled, his own weapon answering with deadly precision. The Fishman had more firepower, but Silas had something else: the ability to reload while moving, dodging, even while blocking with his sabre.
It was a technique born of necessity and honed through years of practice. While Quadshot had to pause to reload all four weapons, Silas could keep his single gun in the fight continuously. His flash reload meant the Fishman never got a moment's respite.
"Hold still, you slippery bastard!" Quadshot roared, frustrated by his inability to land a clean shot.
"Not happening!" Silas called back, putting a bullet through the Fishman's shoulder. "You want to dance? Let's dance!"
As the battle raged on, something else was happening. The villagers watching from the walls began to hope. For the first time in eight years, they saw their oppressors being beaten. They saw pirates who fought not for treasure or glory, but for one of their own.
And in the center of it all, Nami watched with Luffy's hat on her head and tears streaming down her face—tears of relief, of gratitude, of finally understanding what it meant to have true friends.