The thunderous crash behind her didn't faze Kuina in the slightest.
She stepped forward, slipping under Arlong's outstretched arm, and smoothly brought her sword upward, slashing toward his wide-open chest.
Arlong knew the moment his strike missed that he was in trouble.
But he wasn't without experience. He had spent years fighting in the Grand Line. He understood he had no chance of dodging this one, so he didn't even try.
Instead, rage flaring in his eyes, he lowered his head and lunged forward, attempting to impale Kuina with his jagged saw-shaped nose.
"Die!"
If he could land this blow, what did it matter if he got hit in return?
Unfortunately for him, Kuina had no intention of giving him that chance.
Her eyes flashed red.
She halted her momentum just before impact, pivoted smoothly to the right, took a small step back, and repositioned herself at Arlong's left side.
In the same motion, the blade she had swung traced a circular arc through the air and returned to its sheath with a clean click.
Arlong couldn't believe it.
She had stopped mid-attack with pinpoint control and dodged his lunge as if she had foreseen it.
He had no time to react.
With his momentum unspent, his head slammed straight toward the ground.
But Kuina was faster.
She raised her right leg and, just as his head lowered, delivered a vicious upward kick to Arlong's jaw.
BAM!
A shockwave burst outward from the impact, rippling through the air.
The force of the kick was so strong, Arlong's bloodshot eyes rolled upward, and his entire massive body was lifted off the ground.
As his body soared skyward, Kuina retracted her leg, planted her feet, twisted her hips, and launched a brutal left kick into Arlong's midsection.
WHAM!
A louder, deeper thud followed, and a fiercer shockwave exploded outward.
Spurt!
Arlong couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.
His rising body was instantly knocked off course, sent crashing toward the tower at the back of Arlong Park.
BOOM! The building shattered on impact, and Arlong slammed into the wall behind it.
Spurt!
Another gush of blood escaped him as his back struck the wall.
He slumped forward, coughing violently, clutching his ribs with one hand.
"Cough... cough...!"
That last blow had not only dealt internal damage, it also jogged his memory.
He finally realized why this human woman could dodge all his attacks.
He raised his head, the red rage fading from his eyes, replaced by shock and fear.
Through the hole in the building, he looked out at Kuina and shouted,
"Is that... Observation Haki?!"
Kuina blinked, confused.
What was this guy mumbling about?
"You say something?"
Arlong was slowly regaining his balance. He stood up straight and began yanking at his teeth.
Every time he pulled one out, a sharper, stronger tooth grew in its place.
Eventually, his entire mouth was filled with rows of razor-sharp blades.
He glared at Kuina and roared, "Don't think that just because you've got Observation Haki, I can't touch you! If I sink my teeth into you, I'll tear you to pieces in an instant!"
Then, bending his knees, he pushed off the ground with explosive force, launching himself like a torpedo, head-first, toward Kuina.
To outsiders, it looked fast, blindingly fast.
But to Kuina, it was still too slow.
With a slight tilt of her body, she casually avoided the attack.
What she didn't know was that Arlong had never intended to fight her to the end.
The moment he realized she had Haki, he knew, even if he risked his life, he wouldn't win.
He'd lived too long in the Grand Line not to know the significance of Haki.
To those who didn't possess it, Haki was absolute.
You couldn't touch someone who had it, but they could still strike you down.
No matter how strong you were, that kind of disparity in ability would determine the outcome.
And the one in front of him wasn't just a Haki user, she was a swordswoman. A powerful one.
As the canal came into view, Arlong's heart surged with hope.
If he could just make it to the sea, he would have nothing to fear.
The ocean was home turf for the Fishmen. In water, their strength and speed multiplied several times over.
Once submerged, he could hide in the deep. Once those two terrifying monsters left, he'd simply reclaim his throne as the king of the island.
"Huh?"
Just as he thought he had reached the canal, confusion twisted his face.
Why was the water still far away?
It felt like he was hovering midair, suspended.
He was clearly flying forward... wasn't he?
That's when he saw it.
The silver-haired human from earlier, Kouta was suddenly beside him.
"Well, that was close. You almost got away. How scary."
Kouta put on an exaggeratedly surprised face, watching Arlong as he continued flying inside his distorted space.
"You... what kind of ability is this?!"
Arlong had figured it out. He was flying, yes, but not going anywhere. Like he was stuck in place.
It wasn't that he had been frozen, it was that space itself had been stretched.
He managed to halt his movement and landed at the edge of the pool. One more step and he'd be in the ocean... but that step now felt impossibly far away.
He turned to Kouta, face drained of color. The arrogance was gone, replaced with raw terror.
At that moment, something surfaced in the distant sea.
A massive Sea King, bull-bodied with a fish tail emerged with a roar, charging toward Arlong Park.
It was headed straight for Kouta.
Arlong's eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope.
But what happened next crushed it completely.
Kouta didn't even look.
He simply drew his sword, slashed once, then sheathed it.
A silver-gray arc cut through the air and split the Sea King in two as effortlessly as slicing tofu.
Arlong's pupils shrank to their limits. His mouth opened, but his words stuttered.
He knew exactly what this meant.
"G-g-g..."
"Great... Swordsman..."
Kouta grinned and said casually, "Wanna guess what kind of ability this is? Guess right and you win a prize."
"Sp-space... a space-type Devil Fruit..."
Arlong trembled violently as he spoke.
Kouta rubbed his chin in mock thought, then looked at Arlong and smiled.
"Too bad. Wrong answer. You get a punishment."
"Now, what should it be?"
He tilted his head, acting as if he was pondering something deep.
"How about... death?"
The smile didn't fade as he spoke the cruelest sentence imaginable.
When Arlong didn't respond, Kouta nodded slowly.
"Ah, silence means agreement. Got it."
"I never agreed to that!" Arlong roared back, both frightened and furious.
But the pressure around him was too much. He couldn't even open his mouth properly.
It felt like drowning, struggling, gasping, but utterly helpless.
"Kuina, you can finish it."
Kouta turned to her with a smile.
Kuina curled her lip, then glared coldly at Arlong.
That bastard had almost made her look bad in front of Kouta. If he'd escaped, she would've been mocked forever.
She stepped forward, drew her blade, and slashed diagonally toward Arlong's neck, a clean execution stroke.
Arlong, sensing the blade's rapid approach, struggled even harder. The vicious gleam in his eyes had turned to desperation and humiliation.
This was not the death he wanted.
He would have preferred to die fighting.
But the blade cut clean through his neck in an instant, and his struggles ceased.
His eyes remained open, clinging to a useless desire to survive.
Kouta ended the spatial domain.
Arlong's massive body fell backward into the pool.
Splash.
Not even a large wave was made. If Arlong were a contestant in water-fetching, he'd have scored highly.
His head separated from his body the moment he hit the water.
He never would have imagined that, here in East Blue, he, a proud Fishman would be beheaded by humans.
Just like a real fish, laid out on the chopping block.
Guess that was always the fate of a fish.
*********
Hey everyone! I'll be dropping an extra 1 chapter once we hit 200, 400 power stones! If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to spend some power stones. I'd really appreciate the support. Thanks a bunch!