One Piece: Wudang Bai Ye, Vice-Captain of the Straw Hat Crew

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"WAAHH!!!"

With the sound of rapid-fire punches echoing through the air, the building where Arlong once ruled over twenty nearby villages finally fulfilled its destiny—and collapsed in a cloud of rubble.

A gentle breeze blew away the dust. Sunlight lit up the wreckage.

Two figures slowly emerged.

Luffy stood in the middle of the ruins. His skin, which had been flushed red earlier, had mostly returned to normal. The overwhelming heat inside his body was almost completely gone.

But even without that burning feeling, Luffy could tell—his body was on a whole new level now compared to before he took the pill.

Arlong, meanwhile, was lying in a pile of rubble. After Luffy's relentless beatdown, pretty much all the bones in his body were either broken or cracked.

He was still conscious though—probably only thanks to his fishman durability.

"Who… the hell are you?"

Arlong didn't even need to look to know that his Arlong Pirates—everything he worked so hard to build—were done for.

He couldn't fight back. Didn't even want to.

The only thing left that mattered now… was knowing who this guy in front of him really was.

At the very least, he wanted to know who beat him.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates!"

Luffy adjusted his straw hat and said it with total seriousness.

"Pirate King?"

Arlong's expression twisted like he'd just heard a bad joke.

"You guys… are pirates?!"

His face started contorting with mixed emotions.

"Haha… cough cough… hahahaha! That bastard Nami actually joined a pirate crew?!"

He got so worked up that he coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood—but he didn't care. He just laughed harder.

"Don't tell me… you really don't know? Nami's mother—she was killed by pirates!"

His face turned nasty and twisted. He just couldn't believe that she, of all people—someone who should hate pirates the most—would actually choose to bring pirates into her life.

That's impossible!!!

"Oh, we know."

Bai Ye's voice rang out, calm and emotionless.

THUD!!!

A heavy body hit the ground.

"Kuroobi…"

Arlong turned his head. His most trusted officer—also defeated? That fast?

"That's exactly why we came here. Isn't that right?"

Bai Ye took a step forward. His shadow fell directly over Arlong.

"You're the villain here. End of story. Trying to pin your sins on 'pirates' in general—isn't that a bit much?"

"Seriously, you think your actions represent all pirates? That's kinda rich, don't you think?"

"Oh, wait. You're a fishman. Never mind then."

Bai 'Petty and Proud of It' Ye had entered the chat again.

"You bastard!!! Urgh!"

Arlong's rage boiled over again, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood.

Bai Ye couldn't help but admire him again.

Man, that's a lot of blood. Guy's practically bleeding out his intestines at this point.

"Before you call someone else a bastard, maybe think about the things you've done, Arlong."

Nami's voice rang out, full of anger.

"Luffy and the others are my crewmates. There's nothing you can say to mess that up."

She stepped forward and stood between Luffy and Bai Ye, looking at the half-dead Arlong. All those years of pain and humiliation suddenly felt like they were gone.

And when Arlong saw the disgust in Nami's eyes, something in him snapped again.

"You traitor…! Just you wait, I swear I'll—"

BANG!!!

Before he could finish his threat, two fish-men came crashing down from the sky and smacked him square in the head.

It was Chu and Hachi—both out cold.

"I hate this fish's voice."

Zoro walked up slowly, looking cool as ever.

"That's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say, moss-head," Sanji chimed in as he walked up too. He lit another cigarette, took a drag, and added, "But damn, you were slow wrapping this up. What, your body couldn't handle Bai Ye's medicine or something?"

He raised an eyebrow at Zoro, clearly poking fun at him.

"Huh???"

A few black lines practically appeared over Zoro's head.

"You pervy cook! It took you just as long to finish your fight! If it were me, I would've ended it faster."

"You're the one wasting Bai Ye's medicine!"

"You bastard! Moss-head!"

"You bastard! Perverted kappa!"

"Hey hey hey! Zoro, Sanji, can you not right now? Maybe look around a little? This isn't the time for your dumb fights!"

Usopp stepped between them, looking completely exasperated as he tried to keep them apart.

"Hahahahaha! They really do get along well!!"

Luffy clapped his hands and burst out laughing at the scene.

"Yeah… weirdly enough, I kinda agree with you, Captain," Bai Ye said with a rare smile, watching the two bicker like children.

Then the smile widened.

"Hahahahaha!"

Bai Ye, usually the calm and scheming type, suddenly laughed just as loudly and freely as Luffy—like he didn't care what anyone thought.

Nami watched the chaos: Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp squabbling, Luffy and Bai Ye laughing side by side…

Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.

Ever since the day Bell-mère died, Nami had lived in constant fear and pain.

She kept going all these years just so no one else would have to die because of her.

Just so she'd never have to feel that kind of loss again.

Eight years.Eight long years.

And now that freedom had finally come, she could hardly believe it.

She was terrified that this might just be a dream—and that when she opened her eyes, Arlong would still be there, looming in front of her.

But right now… she didn't want to think about any of that.

Because she suddenly realized something else—

Zoro and Sanji really do get along. In their own way.

"Hahahahahahaha!"

A joyful burst of laughter came from her lips, filling the open square.

The sun slowly dipped below the horizon, casting golden light over the ruins.

Little flecks of sunlight floated in the air, like they were washing away all the pain that had happened here…

And carving the image of the Straw Hat crew into this moment forever.

Meanwhile, not far from Arlong Park, out at sea…

A navy battleship was cutting through the waves at high speed.

"Colonel, at this pace, we'll reach the coordinates the Fleet Admiral gave us in about twelve hours."

At the bow, a sleepy-looking girl with glasses was reporting to a man in front of her.

"Good. Full speed ahead. No rest until we reach the destination,"

replied a man with short silver-white hair, a hunter's coat, and three cigars in his mouth.

These two were the stationed Marines from Loguetown—Smoker and Tashigi.

Smoker stood at the bow, gazing off toward the horizon.

"The Straw Hat kid, the former bounty hunter, and that mysterious Taoist…"

"You better not run off too soon…"

"....."