Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 25– Confrontation On The Horizon.

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It was just another morning, working on this stupid fucking park. Why is it called a park? I have absolutely no idea. I mean, it doesn't have any rides or slides or anything. All it is is a big building surrounded by walls with a water entrance. Nothing theme or water about it. He just wanted a massive defensible compound that looked nice, but he wanted to call it a park.

Honestly, this thing is massive as well. Most of our time was spent cleaning the surrounding area and terraforming the land to make the foundation for exactly what he wanted. We had to cut a lot of the surrounding woodlands, though thankfully, we didn't go far enough to disturb George's rest. There was no sand there anymore. The little beach I made my home on no longer exists. All of the sand was dug and shovelled out to make way for the concrete foundation we had laid out.

And then, we had got to work on the surrounding walls of the compound, starting with the white concrete wall surrounding the compound, including the water entryway from the ocean, including a gate in the water preventing entrance with two watch towers on either side of it. And then, another section after that is made with a brick wall which opens to the ocean. And then inside the compound, with a large patio in front, is a big pagoda-like building, the rooms getting smaller as you go up, and there are five floors.

To the right of it, when facing Arlong Park from the ocean, there is a section of grasslands that was filled with water due to the terraforming of the land. Naturally, the Fishmen did not much care about this since they had no problem with the water, but my workers did, which is why I had a raised walkway made that goes to the main road and leads to the entrance of Arlong Park, which is in the east wall. Also, deciding to make use of the new watery lands for everybody, we turned them into paddy fields.

That was the end product, at least, but right now, we have gotten the base and foundation laid along with the walls being mostly done, and we have an excellent framework for it set in place. As much as I hate this place and the fact that I am making it, I am learning a lot as I go along from the other craftsmen, and we have worked tirelessly to get this done before Arlong gets pissed and someone ends up paying for it.

With me leading this project due to Arlong's favouritism or perhaps cursed attention, I had to pull my weight. Though at first, it was hard, ordering around and directing people older and more experienced than myself, that was mostly me finding it difficult. They all cowered before Arlong, and in their own words, I stood up to him, and so they don't mind following my orders. So after I got used to it, I had to order, delegate and direct a multitude of me in order to get this project done to a good standard and in a short amount of time.

Today, the sun was bright, and the seas were peaceful. One would ordinarily call this a good day, enjoying the heat and relaxing under the rays of the sun. But not us. We have been working tirelessly under the shine of this hot sun day after day, overworked and tired, yet forcing ourselves to carry on with hardly a break. We are here from the second the sun rises to the second it sets, working as much in the daylight hours.

This day should have been no different, with us slaving away until the sun sets, and we go home to try a rest before getting up the next day to start again. But our morose downcast mood is interrupted, a wave of workers suddenly getting excited and cheering, and when I look up from my work, I understand why. There, in the distance, is a fleet of marine ships heading in our direction. Three ships, to be specific. I don't know what constitutes a fleet. How many do you need to call it a fleet?

Wait, why the hell am I focusing on that? There are bloody marines heading here, three ships full, and they are heading directly for us, which means this has been planned, and they have someone feeding them information from the island. Why do I say that? Well, it is because there are no Fishmen here. Why are there no Fishmen here? Well, that is ultimately down to me.

Initially, Arlong would be along every so often to check up on us and check on the progress of the construction. But I put a stop to that when I agreed to the timeline he gave me in exchange for him leaving and not coming back until it was done, on account of his presence scaring and slowing down all the workers. He agreed since he wanted to have his home built, but then when another Fishmen decided to drop by and push his weight around, I immediately stopped all work and went to see him, demanding that all Fishmen stay away from the area so we could work in peace. And they did.

Naturally, this news would have spread all over the island to all of the villagers, but the fact remains only the workers knew initially, so they must have spread it around. And now, someone used that information when contacting the Marines to provide them with a breaching point where there will be no Fishmen around. Fighting the Fishmen at sea would obviously be disadvantageous for them as the Fishmen thrive in the water, but getting and forcing the battle to be mostly on land will even the odds.

I would estimate there are at least thirty men on a ship, and with three ships, that makes ninety men. My guess might not be accurate, but the number of men incoming is above fifty, which is almost five times the amount of the Arlong pirates, who only have ten pirates, eleven if we count Momoo. But they are all Fishmen, said to be ten times as strong as a human, so can this amount really put up a good fight. Let's hope so. Hopefully, they have someone that is capable because I have seen just how far human strength can go.

Still, those ships are pretty far away in the distance, and it will take them at least another five minutes to get here. I would not have spotted it with it being so far and myself being so focused on my work, but some of the men here did. Meaning they were expecting it. I can only assume it was one of the workers here that had called the Marines like Nami had told me two weeks ago at dinner. Still, is two weeks long enough to rally the troops, the truly strong marines, from the Grand Line? I doubt it, but then again, I have no clue just how long the travel time is.

I make sure to tell the men to stay right here, not wanting to risk any of this information to leak out in their excitement and making its way to Arlong and his crew so they can go on the attack. Still, the ships are all the way out at sea, and this is hardly the only spot on the island that can see them though I don't think there are too many villages situated with an ocean view. And there are only ten pirates on the islands, so if we are lucky, then they will be caught unaware and-

I see a flash of blue to my right, in the midst of the trees, and the only blue things that I know are mobile on the island right now are the Fishmen. I see it darting through the woods to my right side, heading inland to the path leading to the other villages. Immediately I drop everything I am doing and spin around to bolt off into the distance. But, of course, I couldn't trust a pirate to live by his word, and of course, he would have someone watching over us n secret since we might try to fuck the house up to bring it down on them after they start living there, which was a thought I had to be honest, but I didn't think it would work and would only serve to piss them off.

To my surprise, whoever it is in the trees is very slow, but given that I have only ever fought against Arlong, who is the captain, I may have been overestimating the Fishmen as a whole. Nevertheless, I sprint and manage to get in front of the Fishman, who reveals himself to be one of Arlongs top pirates, the guy with the big lips who I have heard being called Chew. Surprisingly, he was still a long distance from me as I had sprinted over to block him as fast as I could, but I had gotten far ahead of him.

Spotting me, the blue-skinned Fishman stalls for a second, confusing me as I would have thought he would have tried to barrage straight through a kid like me, but he stops for a second with caution, and I can see it in his eyes that he is reevaluating the situation. Seeing that, I didn't move and decided to stay here to prevent him from leaving since he chose to keep his distance from me. Still, is it just me, or is this guy fatter than the last time I saw him? Like seriously, his belly looks enormous in the distance, and is it getting bigger- OH, SHIT!

"Hyappatsu Mizudeppo! (Hundred-Shot Water Gun)" The Fishman's mouth suddenly widens, and a massive spray of blue erupts from his mouth. Obviously, from hearing his words, I know that it is actually water. Neverminding any of that, I quickly dive to the right and take cover behind a particularly big tree, wary of the water, as it was just described as a hundred shots from a gun. And it was a good decision as well since immediately a barrage of noise assaults my ears, and apart from the rushing of water I hear I can also listen to the breaking and shattering of wood, as countless trees are torn apart from this water attack which I had no idea was possible.

Seeing literal trees being blown apart from the force of the water shots, I quickly lower myself even further down behind the tree until I am flat against the ground, decreasing the risk of any of the shots getting lucky and hitting me. And once again, it is proved that I made a good decision as the tree I am hiding behind suddenly has a section of it blown apart, and the tree suddenly breaks and falls to the right. Thankfully the stump is still there and provides sufficient cover for me.

Stolen novel; please report.

Being aware of just how deadly this ability is and the fact that all of the Fishmen could be capable of this suddenly makes me a lot more wary of the whole pirate group. If all then of them pull off a water move like this in a synchronised manner, then they could probably obliterate hundreds of people at once. And now, even with the water shots stopping, I find myself cautious, not willing to put my head out yet. If this guy is capable of one hundred shots in a widespread manner, then surely he could be capable of a single accurate, deadly shot, and if I poke my head out, then I could lose it immediately.

Instead, I decided to wait here and allow my opponent to think his previous attack had felled me. Then, when he advances in surety and closes in on me, I will hop out and begin a close-range match, knowing that I am faster than him and will be able to deal with him in close combat. Which is a good plan, except after a minute or so, I hear no sounds, and nothing has happened, and I can't afford to keep my eyes off my opponent for this long. Since he is a fish, maybe he has echolocation or something and knows where I am and is setting a trap.

Deciding I have wasted too much time, I quickly jump to my left and move behind another tree, glancing towards my opponent as I do so, only to discover that he is no longer there. Peeking around the tree, I begin to look in every which direction, trying to spot my enemy, but no matter where I look, I am unable to spot them. I try and think about this logically, trying to reason out which direction he could have headed in until I remember that he is different from me and the land is not his only option.

With a start, I begin to pelt it using my full fore back the way I came, heading toward the ocean, only managing to just break through the tree line to see a splash in the surface of the sea and the resulting ripples. Chew had just entered the ocean, his natural territory, meaning I could no longer pursue him, and Arlong is pretty much confirmed to now know about this event. I look to my left, where Arlng Park is, to realise that the workers had not even noticed, so focused on the enclosing marined boats.

Sighing, I begin to make my way back to them, coming to terms with the fact that the element of surprise has been lost. I try to focus on what I can do now, and that is waiting for the marines to land and then provide them with as much information as possible on what they are facing and hope that they are actually decent strong marines capable of handling this. If they have come here, then I at least know that they are very much above that coward Nezumi whose base is nearby and yet he has not shown his ugly face once.

As I join the others and wait patiently for the Marines to get here, I contemplate on the possible ways this can go and what precautions I might have to take. Then, going through a mini checklist in my head about the things that are of utmost importance, I cross them off one by one when I confirm they are not in danger. For example, Nojiko should be at her home on the tangerine farm, which is isolated and should be fine. The orphanage is also separate from the villages and should be fine until the dust settles from the battle.

Genzo- Genzo is his own man and is also the sheriff, so I can't waste time thinking about him. He is a man, and knowing the type of man he is, I know he will be in the fray, trying to help or assist in some way to the benefit of all of the islanders. So I will try and see if I can do anything if I see him. Now, my ultimate concern, in both meanings of the word, is Nami. Nami should be at the temporary base of the Arlong pirates, that same little shack that I woke up in. They had taken over the surrounding buildings there and were living there until construction was finished, and I know that they had given Nami a room there.

Not a nice room or anything, aside from a bed, all she had apparently was a desk and reams and reams of papers and the tools necessary to make maps, as well as some books to help her. That is where she will be, even now, working her fingers to the bone on maps. She would always come home with bloodied hands and her fingers stressed, and Nojiko would always have to patch her up. They gave her a bed because they wanted her to stay there all the time, but I managed o get them to let her go home so she could get her hands mended. Otherwise, she would be unable to continue working on the maps.

But as I said, my concern for her should be evident. And my concern, speaking purely in terms of survival, would be if she didn't get caught in the crossfire. I should want her to get caught up in it and result in a state where she can no longer command me, based purely on survival. That is what I should want. Except, it isn't. I don't want her to die or get hurt. I have seen her suffering ever since the Fishmen came, and for her to die before having another taste of freedom, before having any sort of joy or happiness. I would rather live under her commands forever than be the sort of person that would commit such a horrible act and condemn this innocent girl to death.

I refuse to be that sort of person. I decided to live my life properly and to get as much out of it as I could. But the right way. To do things properly, without running away and to face things head-on instead of cowering. To live a life I can be proud of, that I can take pleasure in and look back on without regret or shame. The Marines will likely be heading towards Arlongs base since all the islanders know where it is, and that has probably been communicated towards the law-keeping force.

This means Nami will be caught up in the ongoing fight. So I need to get there quickly, before anything happens, and sneak her out of there. So instead of waiting for the Marines to get here, I make the decision to be proactive and go and get Nami to a safe place before the violence ensues. But when I turned around, I realised that there was no need for me to go and get her... because she had come to me.

"SHAHAHAHA! What is going on here, then!?" My heart drops as I see Arlong walking calmly towards us from the village path. However, that is not what is causing me such dread. It is the fact that he is dragging an unwilling Nami along behind him directly towards the confrontation. The mood and situation change drastically with his appearance. The happy and joyful countenances of the people surrounding me instantly deform and disfigure into abstract disjointed expressions of horror and despair.

"SHAHAHA! Now, what's with the long faces..? Why so glum?" He grins toothily, now reaching us, his oversized stature looming over us until it comes to bear entirely down on me. His big blue sandal-clad feet stop in front of me, and he bends down, blocking the sun from my view as his dead fish eyes look directly down into mine.

"You didn't have anything to do with this, did you, Detoro?" He emphasises my name as the grin disappears, leaving only his cold merciless face behind. He is trying to intimidate me, and while I do feel some fear in front of his ugly scary face, I am sure most people that don't have shit for brains would. But that doesn't mean I am gonna let him see it.

"Does it matter?" I reply, neither confirming nor denying his suspicions. I did not actually have anything to do with this, though I did know that something was in the works since Nami told me about it a while ago. Still, I am not going to deny it either since I am not backing down, and I at least have this much pride. I won't wipe my hands of the matter because these workers under me clearly knew about it, and they are under my command. To abandon them would be the work of scum, and I just decided I would never be scum.

"Hmm, well, I guess not. I will deal with that stuff later, but right now, I have to deal with those bastards." He continues to walk forward, dragging Nami along with him. The Villagers start to move, first starting t split like the sea around him and then slowly moving behind him and towards me. However, that process momentarily stops when Arlong stops, and not of his own accord.

"Hm?" He glances back to find me holding onto Nami's other arm, refusing to allow her to go forward towards the danger with him. The girl herself has tears brimming on the rim of her eyelids as she looks at me like I am signing my death warrant, rapidly shaking her head no at me to try and dissuade me from this course of action and make sure I don't risk myself for her. But, seriously, what kind of piece of shit was I for even thinking about taking everything from her.

"She doesn't need to be here. Neither do the rest of the workers here. We will leave. Come get us when you want us to resume working... If you can." I say, not relenting in the least as I stare back into his eyes, refusing to let him take her there. I adamantly try to ignore the slight bits of blood on Nami's fingers that I can feel with her palm against mine, confirming for me that she was being worked to the bone before being abruptly forced here.

"I brought her here so she could see the results of her work and how much good she is doing. In fact, I want everyone here to see this. But I suppose you can watch from a distance. Make sure not to go too far, and make sure you keep your eyes on those marines." Strangely he smirks at me, seeming to see something in this situation that I do not. Of course, I want everyone here to get as far away as possible, but I can't push my luck right now.

"Men. Move back to the tree line and stop there." I say, commanding them to stop back there, far away enough to keep looking like Arlong wants but with enough cover if things end up going south and they end up in the line of fire. Arlong nods his head at me after hearing my words and relinquishes his hold on Nami, the girl dropping to the ground as soon as he does. Moving forward, I ignore the big blue beast that continues to walk forward as I quickly grab hold of Nami and move back with the rest of the men towards the treeline.

As I do, I chance a glance back at Arlong, watching as the Fishman walks forward with unending arrogance to meet the fleet of marine ships heading in this direction. He is all alone, none of his men in sight, but this just worries me more. He is confident in beating all of them, and not only that, but he showed up at such an opportune time, making me think that he knew this would be happening. Even with Chew here, I get the feeling that Chew was not watching us but waiting for the sight of the marine ships.

They somehow knew this would be happening today, and instead of cowering or preparing, they anticipated it and have come to meet it head-on. Not only that, but Arlong mentioned the work Nami has been doing. The maps, and as far as I know, have only had her working on this island and the surrounding water so far. And yet, he just said that he wants her to see the fruits of her labour, which confuses me as to how a map of this island would help in any way in a confrontation against the Marines.

As I finally reach the rest of the workers at the treeling, I lay Nami down to rest against a tree before turning to look back out at whatever the hell was about to happen. I have no confidence right now, and all I have is an ominous premonition that things are going to go wildly wrong... for the Marines.

"SHAHAHAHA! MARINE SCUM! WHAT, PERCHANCE, BRINGS YOU TO THIS LOVELY LITTLE ISLAND OF MINE!?"