One Piece: It All Started When I Found Shanks' Arm

Chapter 43: Don't You Think It's Funny?

Thank you?

Hearing those two words, all the members of the Arlong Pirates froze for a moment. Then, they looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"Hey! This kid really thinks we're praising him!"

"No wonder he's so naive, chopping down a few trees and thinking he can block the road!"

A salmon fish-man named Shioyaki stepped forward and impatiently grabbed Shane's arm. "Alright, kid, get out of our way. We don't have time to play house with you..."

Huh?

Shioyaki looked down at his hand, stunned. What's going on? I can't move him?

He was the Banquet Minister of the Arlong Pirates, an officer at least! Just a mere human, with his wrist strength, how was this possible?!

"Get—up—!"

Shioyaki, refusing to believe it, let out a low growl and increased his strength step by step. In the end, he used both hands, then turned his back and tried to lift with his shoulders, straining until his eyes were bloodshot and the veins on his forehead bulged. But the other person remained motionless, as if rooted to the spot.

"What are you doing, Shioyaki?"

"With that little strength, you still have the nerve to be an officer?"

"Are you putting on a one-man show?"

The surrounding fish-men jeered. In truth, Shioyaki's position as Banquet Minister didn't carry much weight; his status on the ship was only slightly higher than that of an ordinary fish-man.

"All of you, shut up!" Kuroobi suddenly barked, and the area instantly fell silent. "You bunch of fools, can't you see? It's not Shioyaki's problem. This human kid is no simpleton!"

Within the Arlong Pirates, his prestige was second only to Arlong's, his status equivalent to that of a vice-captain. Hearing him say this, the other fish-men looked Shane up and down, their faces growing uncertain.

"Step down, Shioyaki. You really can't do anything to this kid," Kuroobi said, twisting his neck. He smashed his fists together and said indifferently, "Looks like my luck isn't too bad after all. To be able to find someone qualified to be my opponent in a small village like this. Come on, let me see what you're made of, kid!"

"Is that so? Unfortunately, in my opinion, you're not yet qualified," Shane said, looking at him and smiling slightly. "How about you just let that little purple shark behind you come up instead?"

Little purple shark?

The fish-men were taken aback and subconsciously looked back. Only when they noticed Arlong's suddenly dark expression did they realize with a jolt that this guy was audaciously talking about their own boss.

"Shahahaha—" Arlong gave a humorless smile. "Hey, Kuroobi, did you hear what this kid said?"

"Don't you dare disrespect Lord Arlong!" Kuroobi roared, enraged, and took several steps forward. "And another thing! You brat, I give you an inch, and you dare to look down on me? Stop being so arrogant! I am a 40th-dan master of Fish-Man Karate!"

"Karate?" Shane tilted his head in confusion, as if hearing the word for the first time. "What kind of te?"

Kuroobi's gaze was savage. He was about to explode when his peripheral vision caught sight of two bloody, severed hands that had appeared on the ground at some point. A heart-piercing pain suddenly shot through him.

Only then did he realize what had happened. He tremblingly lifted his arms and saw with horror that only the parts above his elbows remained...

Wh-when?

A dead silence fell over the surrounding fish-men. Many of them stared with wide eyes. They had been watching the whole time but hadn't seen when this black-haired human had made his move.

Arlong, standing at the very back, felt his pupils shrink abruptly, his face growing even colder. He had seen it clearly. In a single instant, the kid had twisted off both of Kuroobi's hands. And he hadn't used any weapons; he had just ripped them off with his bare hands!

This is supposed to be the East Blue. How can there be such a troublesome guy here?

And at that moment, under Kuroobi's terrified gaze, Shane finally stood up slowly, stretched his neck slightly, and walked towards the fish-men step by step.

With every step he took forward, Kuroobi trembled and took a step back. When Shane's stride got a little bigger, Kuroobi retreated even faster, even stumbling and nearly falling. This tough fish-man officer, who had always called himself a martial artist, had his spirit broken by that one scene, losing all courage to face Shane head-on.

"Why are you running?" Shane asked softly. "I'm asking you, why are you running?"

"You, you, you you you..." Kuroobi shrieked, scrambling backward, leaving a trail of blood on the ground. "Don't come any closer! Stop, stop! Don't come over here!!!"

"40th-dan Fish-Man Karate?" Shane actually did stop walking and shook his head slightly. "That's too many. When I eat fish, I only ever need to cut it into two pieces at most!"

Swish!

The moment his voice fell, Shane's figure vanished from the spot. The next instant, he appeared in front of Kuroobi, easily lifting him over his head.

Then he looked up at the struggling, muscular fish-man, a savage grin on his face. He grabbed his opponent's waist and neck with each hand and, pulling in opposite directions, ripped him apart with all his might!

"Kuroobi!"

Arlong's expression changed drastically. He took a step, about to go save him.

But, he was one step too late.

RRRIIIP—!

"NO!!!"

Arlong's roar exploded at the same time as the sound of splashing blood and flesh.

Kuroobi's body was torn in two in mid-air. Dark blue intestines mixed with a large gush of fresh blood splattered onto the dirt road of the countryside. Some of the internal organs flew out, landing squarely on the faces of a few fish-men. They froze in place, staring at the pieces of flesh hanging from their noses, smelling that familiar yet foreign scent of blood—

"Bleargh—" In an instant, they all bent over and began to vomit violently.

Shane, looking completely unfazed, tossed the two halves of the corpse aside like trash. He then looked up and calmly gazed at Arlong in the distance.

"...You despicable human, you disgusting human. The lowest, most trash-like species," Arlong stared at him, his eyes bloodshot, gritting his teeth as he squeezed the words out from his throat. "How dare you... how dare you kill my brethren in front of my eyes!"

Zing! Arlong drew his great saw-sword, Kiribachi, from his waist, swung it violently, and roared in fury, "All of you, get him! Kill him with me!"

"Yes, Lord Arlong!"

Chu the Kissing Fishman nodded and led the surrounding fish-men in a charge. Arlong, his face dark, also followed closely, tightly gripping the hilt of his sword.

"Hachi will avenge Kuroobi!"

The six-sword style octopus fish-man threw down his wine gourd and charged at the very front, tears of grief and anger streaming down his face. "Kuroobi was a good person! He was good to Hachi, and he was good to all our fish-man brothers! You beast, why did you kill him!!!"

Swish! Swish!

Six heavy blades slashed from different directions. Shane didn't dodge. He grabbed one blade in each hand and let the other four clang against his neck. They made a crisp sound like metal on metal but failed to cut his skin, leaving only faint white marks.

You want to hurt me without even reaching the level of a master swordsman?

Shane sneered in disdain. His palms suddenly exerted force, and while gripping two of Hachi's hands, he violently slammed a knee and an elbow into his abdomen.

BOOM!

Hachi's body was sent flying high into the air with a miserable cry of pain.

But Shane didn't let up his pursuit. His figure flickered, and using Moonwalk, he appeared in the sky, precisely above Hachi.

"You ask me why I killed him?"

"Before you lot arrogantly set foot on my homeland, why didn't you ever consider that you might die too? And now you're asking me this?!"

Shane forcefully gripped Hachi's neck, looking at the octopus fish-man who was struggling for air, and grinned. "Don't you think it's funny?"

The ferocity in his eyes surged. He ignored the six tentacles flailing wildly against him and just continued to pour strength into the hand gripping his neck, little by little.

"Cough, cough..." The octopus fish-man's face went from flushed to purple. The veins around his temples throbbed like earthworms, and his eyes began to roll back into his head.

Just as they were about to hit the ground, he ripped Hachi's head and spine clean out of his body. The spurting blood showered Arlong, who had just charged over.

And the headless corpse was not wasted. Shane grabbed it and used it as a giant flail, swinging it in a wide circle and violently sending the three or four fish-men closest to him flying, plowing several ten-meter-long furrows in the ground.

"...L-little... Hachi?!"

Arlong stopped in his tracks, staring blankly at the scene, his eyes filled with disbelief. Then, his body began to tremble violently from the sheer rage boiling within him.

"You despicable—"

Arlong's blood-red eyes shot up, but his pupils only reflected the terrifying, muscle-bound figure rapidly closing in on him.

After a moment of eye contact, the figure gave him a savage grin and spread its arms wide, like swatting a summer mosquito, clapping its hands towards his cheeks from both sides!