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Chapter 37-Captains.

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"What's that?" A voice mumbles, the owner of said voice looking blankly out at the sea, still chewing through the mouthful of food in his gullet.

"It's huge..." The blonde man next to him drawls, leaning back in his chair as he smokes his cigarette.

"AGHHHHHH!" The only sane person on board screams, tears and snot spewing from his orifices as he has the proper reaction to the sight before them.

"It's a Seamonsterrrrrr!" The normal man screams, looking at the gigantic figure that had risen above the water so suddenly. The Seamonster looked remarkably like a cow, with a bull ring in its nose and a hungry look in its eyes. Its sniffing nose was sending out wind, buffeting the sails of the little caravel below.

"A cow! It's soooo big!" The boy with the straw hat says, amazed. His mouth is wide open, and yet there is no fear. Just curiosity.

"A cow? And it swims? Isn't that just a... Hippo?" The blonde gentleman in the neat suit wonders, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. There is a look of frustration on his face, but not because of the impending threat of the beast in front of them. Because he is wondering if it is just a really big hippo.

"What's a creature like this doing in the East Blue! It's inconceivable!" The normal man dressed in yellow shabby clothes cries, a look of terror on his face. All hope is lost for him. He truly thinks this is where his life ends. His hands clutch at his head, his fingers digging the happuri (face plate thing) he is wearing into his head. "This is a Grand Line monster!" He yells as if that would solve anything.

"It must want the food!" The scared man, Yosaku, yells, his mind working a mile a minute and coming up with the one possible light at the tunnel.

"What!?" The other two look at him offended. The man in the straw hat, Monkey D Luffy, looks angrily up at the cow.

"Hurry up and just give the food before he overturns our ship!" Yasaku yells at his two buddies, running to the table to grab the food but stalling at the two glares directed his way.

"Gomu Gomu Pistol!" Luffy yells, his fist stretching out to slam into the stupid hungry cow's face, his fist punching through the flesh to connect with bone, and the cow's head gets spun, his eyes bulging out of his head and his nose ring whipping around. The sea flips as the cow drops beneath the waves, water splashing everywhere.

"Don't you dare touch my food!" Luffy yells, pointing his finger at the vanished cow and raising a fist with his other hand, daring it to come out again so he can slap it. How dare it threaten and try to take his food.

"You did it, brother Luffy! That was amazing!" Yasaku roars in victory, his fists punching at the air in joy. Just when he thought it was all over and he would die with these two fools, the biggest fool saved the day. Tears left his eyes once again, but this time, they were tears of happiness.

"MOOOOO!" And then they were tears of frustration and despair as the cow rushed back up to the surface, roaring and very angry, looking for revenge. "Aghhhh! It looks like you just made it angrier!" Yosaku shrieks, trying to run for cover on the boat.

"I'll sock him one more time then!" Luffy concludes, his hand going to grab his shoulder as he pulls back the arm, readying his fist to throw it forward and smash its face in again.

"You dumbasses!" The blonde man, Vinsmoke Sanji, shouts as both of his feet come down on Yosaku and Luffy's heads. He had jumped into the air and then slammed his heels into their craniums, causing both of their eyes to bulge out. "Don't just beat up something only for being hungry!" He says with shark teeth, even as both Yosaku and Luffy end up spitting a lot of saliva out from the force on the top of their heads.

"I'm sure it's injured somewhere, so it can't find food on its own," Sanji says with a gentle smile on his face, looking at the cow with sympathy. "Isn't that right..?" He says, kindness in his voice as his goodwill travels through, and the cow is made to understand it.

"Talk about caring..." Yosaku grumbles, patting his head with tears of frustration pouring down his cheeks. Luffy just watched on with a stupid look on his face, not at all bothered or affected by the kick. Because he was a rubber man.

"Here, eat up." Sanji brings a plate of food over to the edge of the boat and then puts his arm out, offering it to the cow. The cow stops, and his face changes from angry to confused and then to crying as he looks at Sanji like he is his hero. The cow lowers its head, getting closer to Sanji and opening its mouth.

"Die!!!" Sanji roars angrily, his foor rising in a high kick to slam into the cow's chin, rocketing it into the air and blasting it away, the cow letting out a mournful sound as it does so.

"What was that!?" Yosaku shouts in frustration, confused about what the hell just happened. Sanji was the one who was yelling at them for how they were acting, and then he turned around and did the same thing himself.

"That thing was about to take a bite out of me too," Sanji says, taking a puff of his death stick, and he rests on the boat's ledge, looking down at the cow who is floating in the sea.

"MOOOOOOO!" The cow jumps from the sea, screaming at Sanji and heading straight for him. "Ahhh, It's coming to sink the ship!" Yosaku screams, hitting the deck and covering his head, cowering from the beast.

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"Then I'll..." Luffy begins cocking his arm back and readying it once again to go and smash to fish face, but Sanji steps in front of him. "Move over. I'll deal with him myself." He positions the cigarette in his mouth, clenching it between his teeth as he takes a pose and then leaps up into the air. Going straight for the mouth of the cow, who is apoplectic with rage and is coming to swallow him whole.

"Collier..." Sanji rockets forward, heading straight for the maw of the beast. "Shoot!" He finishes, his leg driving into the neck of the beast. The speed and intensity of the attack were such that Sanji's leg sunk into the flesh up to his knee, and then the power transferred through and the cow was sent spiralling through the air into the distance, splashing back beneath the waves and sinking into its depths.

"Damn hippo..." Sanji says as a final farewell, watching the beast fade from his view with a calm look on his face. He falls back to the ship and lands with his hands in his pockets, looking the picture of serenity as if what had just happened was insignificant.

"Whoa!" Luffy says, looking at where the cow had been sent. He had recruited his chef purely for his culinary talents, having only seen a bit of his battle prowess before. Seeing his chef kick away the cow, Luffy was happy.

"Alright, let's eat!" Luffy shouted, taking his seat back at the table with the food and launching both of his hands up into the air in celebration. "That was a nice little exercise," Sanji says as he joins Luffy at the table, moving the dishes around and sorting out their appearances as they were jostled during the attack.

"These people are insane..." Yosaku says to himself, sweat rolling down his head. "Yosaku, gimme some tea!" A shout knocks him from his stupor. "Me too!" Yosaku quickly moves, still feeling like he is in a weird dream.

"Comin' right up..."

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"We are here! This is Cocoyashi Village!" Hachi, the octopus Fishman, says, four of his arms going forward to point at the nearby village. "Arlong should be here somewhere!" He informs Zoro, whom he had just dropped off. Unaware that he was directing the murderous swordsman towards his enemy. He was essentially sending a sword for his own captain's head.

"Alright, thanks," Zoro says, waving the Fishman goodbye as he departs.

"Don't mention it! Take care! And come visit again!" Hachi shouts back, already zooming away in the water since he has multiple limbs to swim with, not to mention that he is dragging the pot back along with him. "Bye then!" And so Hachi disappears into the horizon.

"Yeah..." Zoro says awkwardly, waving his hand as a sweatdrop appears on his head. "He is a strange Fishman, alright..." He concludes and then seemingly washes his hands of the situation as he turns around and looks at Cocoyashi Village.

"So that saw nose is in this town too, huh..." Zoro starts to slowly walk towards the village, his hand resting on the top of his three swords. "Well, whatever..." He decides, striding forward in a random direction without a particular destination in mind

"I'll look for our long nose first." Although he says that, he isn't walking with a destination in mind. Just with the certainty that he will get where he is going and will arrive where he wants to.

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"What is the meaning of this!" An angry shout sounds out from Arlong Park.

""Just what on earth..." Arlong's eyes are open wide and bloodshot as he looks around at the scene before him. "Happened here!?" His face is grim.

"My brethren!!!" Arlong cries, on his knees in the middle of Arlong Park, his head looking up at the sky. His screams are genuinely mournful as he looks around at all of the defeated Fishmen, even hugging one close to him as he screams. "Roronoa Zoro!?" Arlong looks down with a pained face as the Fishman he holds close gurgles that out, spitting out blood as well.

"That pirate hunter!?" Arlong questions the injured Fishman, anger and frustration on his face. "Did he come for my head!?" Arlong gently lays his crewmate on the ground, pressing at his chest and trying to keep the lifeblood from overflowing. All he does is make his hands red.

"No, that's not it..." The near death Fishman says, clutching Arlongs hand. "That guy... was Zoro!" He reveals, but at Arlong's blank look, he realises Arlong hasn't clicked on. "That guy with the haramaki we caught earlier... was Zoro!" Arlongs blinks in realisation this time, and the Fishman knows he has relayed what he needed to.

"What!?" Arlong shouts, his teeth on full display and multiple veins popping up all over his head as he looks down at the Fishman with a glare, his face irking as he thought of the green haired swordsman.

"Chu!" Arlong hears behind him, and turns around with narrow eyes to see his crewmate Chew walking towards him, leading a bunch of Fishmen behind him. And he was also bringing a special someone with him, to meet Arlong. A meeting of captains...

"I finally caught him! I could have killed him- Chu!" Chew walks dorward, his hand wrapped around the back of Captain Usopps neck, lifting him off of the groud and presenting him to his captain. "But I thought you would feel a lot better if you killed him yourself..." Chew finishes, looking around at his fallen comrades with anger. He squeezes Usopps neck tighter. "Gack!"

"That pipsqueak is not nearly enough to satisfy my rage right now..." Arlong grins nastily, imagining all sorts of dark horrible things in his minds. What he would like to do to the green haired human.

"R-Right!? Then w-why don't you... Just let me go, huh!?" Usopp somehow slips out of Chew's grasp and then starts to flail his arms as he pleads his case, trying to save his own life. "That uhh... thing I did earlier was just my way of saying hello! Everyone in my hometown says hello that way!" He shouts, trying to convince everybody that shooting people with explosives was a greeting.

"Chu! Never mind that... what happened here!?" Chew aks, picking Usopp up by the neck again, leaving his legs wafting panickedly in mid air. 'Could it have been... Zoro!?' Usopp thinks to himself, looking at all the blood staining the ground and all the cut up Fishmen littering the floor. He comes to the correct conclusion.

"But how did he escape..?" Kuroobi wonders, looking around at all the damage. "Have you considered this line of thought, Arlong?" He asks, making his point clear. Roronoa Zoro was heavily injured and tied up and then locked in a cell, but somehow he escaped and slayed their brethren. How?

"Maybe Nami purposely brought him here, so he could try to take your head..?" He conjectures, waving his hand about in suspicion and garneing the interest of the surrounding Fishmen. "Nami!?" Arlong barks, crossing his arms in thought, looking at the ground.

"Now that you mention it, she was acting pretty funny today..." A member of the Arlong Pirates says, talking it over with the others. "Hmm... yeah, she did dive into the water to save him..!" They all begin to see the other side to Nami's actions, and the glaring fact that she is a human is once again at the forefront for them.

"Betraying people is her specialty after all." Kuroobi concludes, corssing his arms with a frown on his face. The rest of the Fishmen begin to nod their heads in agreement, and the decision is uninamous to place the blame at Nami's feet.

"Alright, that's enough!" That is until the girl in question herself shows up with an angry look on her face and shouting. "Don't just make conclusions from false premises! Just what are you trying to say!?" She roars at them with great intensity, causing a couple of the weaker Fishmen to move back surprised.

"Nami! So you are really..." Usopp can't finish his sentece as Nami begins to talk.

"Eight years ago, I swore on this tattoo that I would be a member of the Arlong Pirates!" Nami says, clutching at the Arlong Pirates tattoo on her left arm, holding it painfully tight. "It won't even be long before I raise up the promised amount, so why would I risk all of that by pulling a stupid stunt like this!? She shouts, defending herself.

'That Zoro..! He just had to go and cause more unneecessary trouble..!' Nami thinks, cursing the stupid swordsman in her head. Meanwhile she looks at everyone with a frown, completely igoring the xistence of Usopp.

"Of course. My bad, my bad. I apologise for doubting you. Considering you have been nothing but a loyal crew member for the past eight years, you are certainly more than justified to get angry at us." Arlong has a hand on his hip and the other pinting at Nami, all of his webbed fingers splayed out as he placates her. "We were a little too rash, but we believe you." He smiles at her, and then he moves.

"The ones we need to get rid of right now," Arlong grabs ahold of Usopp and drags him to his chest, holding him by the fron and bringing a knife to his throat. "are Roronoa Zoro and... his companion!" Usopp's eyes bulge out as he begins to struggle for his life, trying to pry Arlong's arms off/ "W-Wait! Help!" He screams at Nami, finding his efforts fruitful.

Nami can only look on in worry, panicking at what to do. Help Usopp and sacrifice all that she had worked to acomplish all these years, or try to help him oinly to suffer a brutal death at Arlong's hands for her betrayal and forever condemn her village and sister to live under Arlongs terrorful rule.

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"What? Usopp was taken to Arlong Park!?" Zoro panices, completely losing all composure. He might not be the smartest man, but he understands exactly what would happen. He left Arlong Park dirtier then he found it, at presumably they would not be happy about that. And with Usopp being the only human there, even if they didn't know about their connection as crewmate's, they would take their anger out on him.

"Yeah, I just saw him being taken there..." A villager explains, pointing in the direction of Arlong Park. "Son of a! I just missed him!" Zoro shouts, a look of anger on his face.

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"Yahooo!" A voice full of joy screams in the middle of the ocean, water being splashed everywhich way and winds blowing everywhere. "Faster, Faster!" Captain Monkey D Luffy screams at the front of the ship, directing the cow in the ocean who rushes with all its might, dragging the Going Merry towards the Conami Islands with tears spewing from its eyes.

"Full speed ahead to Arlong Park!"