Stop it, Bro~

Now That’s Orange (2)



A/N: I just went through the Arlong Park Arc and it was all over the place, lol.

***

"You're the Chief of the village who saw the Devil have his brisk pace over the sea?"

"Leave the village? Are you mad?" the scarred chief, Gen, retorted with a huff as he walked down the slope towards the village with Brody following him.

"Come on, I would have left if you just explained what you saw. I'm looking for my father, who in turn, is searching for the Legendary All Milk!"

Realizing the logic in the youth's words, Gen turned around, "I didn't see anything. I was drunk and it's just not possible for anyone to walk on the sea with a circular perimeter around him completely calm!"

"Oh, thanks. See? It was easy... now, could you direct me to the location where this drunk vision of yours was walking toward?" Brody inquired with a smirk as the man groaned and shook his head, "I don't know... the only island in that direction is Loguetown."

"And that would be..." Brody narrowed his eyes.

"You don't know Loguetown?" Nojiko, who had been pacing behind silently finally questioned as Brody turned to her and shook his head, "I've heard about Loguetown... the location where an era ended and began. I wanted directions..."

However, managing to present a hint of condescension on her expression, Nojiko remarked, "You? Directions? Didn't you admit to having swum past your intended destination? I've never heard of a pirate, without a crew, and with such a bad sense of direction."

"Who said I don't have a crew?" Brody questioned, "I've got a partner. She's waiting for me at Loguetown." His grin widened. "So? Just point me in the right directions."

"And you'll swim?" Nojiko questioned.

"And I'll swim," Brody nodded.

As they walked down the slope, Brody noticed a large ship with a sheep's figurehead and a pirate's flag still hoisted. "Huh, so that's why you two are excited?"

"Shut up," Gen sighed, "Nobody is excited..."

"Fine, be that way. The only interesting thing here is that giant building anyway. Arlong, was it? I'll just ask for directions there. By the way, Gen-san... what's your real name?"

"Genzo..."

"Hmm, Genzo-san, wanna join my crew? You've got cool scars!"

"And that qualifies me to be a pirate?" He turned to look at Brody weirdly.

"Just a title, right?" Brody chimed as if he wasn't a Herculean figure towering over both Genzo and Nojiko combined but an eager child, "Besides, with someone on my shoulders, pointing to the right direction, I'll reach Loguetown quicker. That's right, you'll be a navigator!"

"No, thanks." Genzo's flat refusal was met with enthusiasm instead as he looked at Nojiko, "What about you? Wanna ride me till Loguetown?"

"Wha—" quickly regaining her composure at the more 'obvious' meaning of his words— riding on his shoulders, that is— Nojiko sighed and looked away, revealing a rather impassioned reaction, "Whatever. It's not like you can leave this island if you're found by Arlong or his men... They patrol the sea constantly."

And only now did Genzo and Nojiko stop as Brody continued to move ahead without feeling any form of negativity after being rejected yet again.

"Wait, Brody... how did you enter the island?"

"Didn't I tell you? I swam," he looked back in confusion.

"And you didn't see any—"

"Fishmen? Loads of em," with his hands carefreely hanging behind his head, Brody laughed, "I also met a cute Sea Beast. We really hit it off! So— hn? What?"

Brody looked back at the slack-jawed duo.

"You beat them? In water?" Genzo hurriedly questioned.

"Beat them? Come on. Those were love taps," Brody chuckled in reply.

"You beat Arlong's men and you're still here?!" Nojiko could no longer keep the mast of disinterest as she questioned with her expression going pale.

"I thought Arlong was some great Tyrant or something... you guys must really be weak to fear those guys, huh..." His bluntness only drove the fact in as to what kind of situation they were actually in.

"I need to warn the village—" Genzo ran past Brody instantly while Nojiko continued to stare at the man in front of her.

"What's gotten Genzo-san so riled up?" Brody hummed to himself and then continued walking while calling loudly, "Are you coming, Ms. I Try to Live a Dull Life?"

Nojiko snapped out of it and frowned, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Opting to walk back downhill while facing Nojiko, Brody grinned, "Just what I said. The only group who here knows how to live is your 'Owners'~ Man, what a shame!"

"Shut the hell up!" Nojiko hissed, "You speak as if we had any choice! Arlong has defeated five marine groups! We CANNOT be saved! We have to pay and buy our lives every month! You... You're just a nobody..." her shoulders slumped at the end of it, her anger, the boil in his blood all but gone as she realized how pathetic she must be to have caused such a mocking smirk on his face.

"Buying your lives? That sounds interesting... so Arlong must be plenty rich huh... my partner does love getting spoiled. Hmm, it's decided. Nojiko, do you think Arlong will have any maps for Logue—"

*Crash*

Their conversation, as they reached closer to the Cocoyashi Village, came to an end with a loud crashing noise. Giving each other a look, one barely veiling her panic and the other one curious, the duo made way into the village and found a group of Fishmen.

As the name suggests, fish-like features but human. Of the strange group, the meanest and the largest held Genzo up in the air with a single arm as his pointed, sawed nose threatened to reach the scarred chief, "I heard you had a weapon. You know the rules, right?"

"Arlong..." Nojiko whispered with her fists clenched.

"That's Arlong?" Brody blinked and looked... unimpressed.

"Looks like it..." A third voice, much meeker than Brody and Nojiko whispered as she quickly looked at a thin, dark-skinned youth with a nose that competed with Arlong's in length while wearing a dark, mustard green bandana over his head and dark brown overalls covered his body.

But...

"My friend, why are you hiding behind me?" Brody inquired as the youth hissed, "I'm Captain Usopp! I... just find your large back convenient to hide from the sun. You know... skin care is a must for every captain!"

Brody blinked and then turned to look at the commotion while agreeing, "Can't argue with that logic."

"Actually, you can argue with that logic." Nojiko asserted and then bit her lips, "I don't know where the two of you came from... but leave."

It was as if she was trying her best to ignore the fact that Brody allegedly beat up fishmen while entering the Island.

She rushed out, shouting, "Arlong! Release Gen! We kept our part of the deal for the last eight years!"

"Psst, Captain Usopp... you look like an intellectual," Brody whispered, "Are you apt in navigation?"

The youth with a long nose claimed with a serious expression, "My nose always smells north. I'm the best damn navigator in East Blue... but I profession in sniping."

"That's seriously AMAZING! Dude, what does the North smell like?" Brody gasped, his red eyes glittering with interest and his 'chime' all but silencing the commotion not far from them while Usopp's expression froze and then the youth paled.

"North smells like home! Okay, bye!" And with that, the youth ran away at a speed that left Brody impressed.

"Like home, huh... Now that's the kind of guy you drink with..." He smirked while rubbing his chin as a loud shout interrupted his train of thought, "Captain! Someone is hiding here!"

---

"Get it through your head! We, the Fishmen are the superior race. We are your lord! And if you have any hope of living on this island any longer—"

Brody stared at the purple-skinned douchebag with a deadpan. Now he felt bad calling Nojiko a— Ms. I try to live a dull life. Brody felt he would blow his own brains out or send himself to a voluntary 'ownership' program just to have this guy stop speaking.

"Fine, fine. I'm filthy rich. I can pay," Brody interjected with a yawn escaping his lips. He cared naught for the villagers or their circumstances. He cared more about reaching Loguetown at the moment.

"You're filthy rich, you say?" Arlong narrowed his eyes and grinned, revealing his sharp and jagged teeth.

"Yeah, I am," Brody nodded as he crossed his arms, "How about I pay you for... hmm, wait, who amongst you is a good navigator?"

"You mean Nami?" One of the fishmen spoke.

"What about our navigator?" Arlong frowned. But before anyone could even realize the madness that bubbled in the youth's veins constantly, his large hand already gripped over Arlong's saw-like nose as they stood, too stunned to move or even respond to the sudden and rather ludicrous action, "Nami... huh. Well, it's a good day to kidnap a few crew members... can't let the other captain capture worthy treasures for himself."

*Crack*

His fist clenched and snapped the nose in gory half as the same hand reached forward and then clasped Arlong's face, squeezing it tighter.

"Attack!"

"Bastard tried to—"

'Secret Technique: Marrow Whip~!'

Brody looked around as his hand moved and so did Arlong before the youth snapped his hand up and... whipped the fishmen using Arlong. The captured fishmen had barely gripped Brody's arm to attack him but the first whip set his bones in a state of jittery shock, the second whip made blood leak out of the paralyzed Arlong, and the third whip set the man to the sea as Brody released him.

*Thud*

*Thud*

*Thud*

"So? Where is this Fishman named Nami?" Brody walked past the few fishmen he purposely left unharmed and questioned with a pleasant smile.

"N-N-Nami is not a Fishman..." one of them gasped as Brody leaned forward, "You Sea King Fucker, I asked you where is he?"

"Nami is not a man," a familiar voice responded to Brody's question as he looked at Nojiko who was the first to snap out of her stupor, "She is my sister..."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Brody grinned, "Lead the way!"

---

Captain Usopp stared from a distance, his thicker lips parted as wide as possible as he still reeled in from the shock of seeing a veritable hill of muscles snap a group of terrifying Fishmen 'his' crew came to deal with in half!

"Oh, no... Zoro! I need to find him!"

As Captain Usopp muttered, a dull voice rang beside her, "Hey, you haven't left?"

"Aaaahhh— Ah... it's you," he looked at an orange-haired woman in a green, spaghetti strapped top and blue shorts as she carried a large sack over her shoulders.

"N-Nami! Your village— Arlong, he—" Usopp began, still sweating crazily as Nami's eyes widened and she scowled, "Just leave, Usopp! Shit, I have to stop Arlong from hurting anyone!"

She rushed past Usopp whose nostrils still leaked and he was quick to follow her, too.

"Wait for me!"

---

"D- Damn it..." Broken and snapped in many locations while his anger peaked at the thought of his own body being used to hurt his comrade, Arlong slowly but gradually swam around the coast towards a large, multi-stories yellow building with a shark's head as the roof and his Jolly Roger hoisted over it.

He couldn't believe what had happened but the bruises on his body and the undeniable ache made it clear... he lost. So suddenly at that.

He never saw it coming.

Him, the Great Arlong with the Greatest Bounty in East Blue... losing.

He slowly emerged from the giant pool of the structure named Arlong Park connected to the sea only to find the rest of his crewmates fishmen lying on the ground with severe cuts on their bodies as a green-haired man sat on HIS chair with a casual expression.

Their eyes met for a second before the green-haired man with three swords set next to him inquired, "Your nose... wasn't it straight?"

That broke the Fish Camel's back as Arlong roared, "How dare you treat my men like that?!"

His large body pounced from the water and onto the Green-haired youth whose expression grew excited as he was quick to unsheath a sword from its white scabbard and blitz past him.

*Ksheeee— Klk*

The last thing Arlong heard was the sound of a sword being sheathed before he felt farm and then his vision grew dark.


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