Arlong Park

This is a full-color version of the previous title page. The chapter title "CHAPTER 69" and '"ARLONG PARK"' are at the top. Luffy and Usopp are in red Santa suits with white trim. The sleigh is pink with green lettering for "MERRY CHRISTMAS". The reindeer have brown fur, and the snowy village is set against a dark blue night sky with a large yellow moon. Luffy cheers with his arm raised at the front, while Usopp sits in the sleigh and munches on a large piece of meat on the bone.

A narration box reads, "After Sanji, the sorely-needed 'sea cook' from Baratie, joins the crew, they now set sail once more. The weather is nice and clear." A small boat sails on the calm sea, accompanied by seagulls cawing. On the boat, Yosaku is bawling loudly, "WAHHH..." Luffy, sitting casually, tells him, "Cheer up already. Hey, how long are you gonna cry for?" Yosaku, tears streaming down his face, replies, "B-but I'm so touched! It was truly a beautiful good-bye, Brother Cook!" Sanji, sitting nearby smoking a cigarette, asks Yosaku, "You are keeping a check on our boat's direction, right?"

Luffy stretches his arms wide, cheering, "Ahhh! I wanna bring back Nami so we can go to Grand Line already!" Yosaku, looking back at him, asks, "You're awfully happy. But even with Nami, don't you still only have 5 people? Are you seriously planning to go to Grand Line with only 5 people?" Yosaku warns, "You'll regret it if you underestimate the seas, you hear!?" Luffy answers that if he needs more crewmembers, he can do that in Grand Line too, because it is supposed to be a paradise. Yosaku is shocked, "Paradise? Don't you mean a pirate's graveyard!?" Luffy smiles broadly and says, "Before I left the restaurant, Owner Zeff told me... that some people call Grand Line a paradise! Hee hee!"

A single panel shows a close-up of Luffy's face. His broad smile has vanished, replaced by a serious, slightly confused expression as he listens to Yosaku.

Yosaku yells angrily, "You're all being much too naive!" Sanji, looking relaxed and smitten, says, "That geezer said that...? Well, as long as Nami will be there, I won't mind even if it's just the two of us alone..." Yosaku points a finger and lectures them, "You really know too little about Grand Line! Not to mention our destination as well! If Brother Zoro had some basic knowledge, then he'd have come back along with me!" Yosaku slams his hand down, emphasizing his point, "And he definitely would've realized just how terrifying, the man at the place Sister Nami went to is!"

Yosaku holds up a finger, "There's something about the place we're going to that you have to know about!" Sanji and Luffy are distracted, with Sanji asking, "So, should we eat?" and Luffy cheering, "Heck yeah!" Yosaku yells, "This is exactly what I'm talking about!" Yosaku then gets serious, sitting cross-legged, "The reason why the Grand Line is called the 'Pirates' Graveyard,' is because of the 3 great powers that rule over it. And one of them," A dramatic panel shows silhouettes of seven imposing figures standing together. Yosaku reveals, "Is the Ouka Shichibukai!" Luffy asks, "Shichibukai?"

Sanji asks, "What? Why would the government permit pirates?" Yosaku explains, "Simply put, they're seven pirates that are officially authorized by the World Government. As long as the Shichibukai give a portion of their loot, obtained from pillaging and uncivilized lands, to the World Government, their pirating activities are officially sanctioned." Yosaku adds that other pirates might look down on them by calling them "government dogs" or whatnot, but they are extremely strong. A dramatic close-up of Mihawk appears as Yosaku reveals, "In fact, the Hawk-Eyed Mihawk who defeated Brother Zoro, is one of the Ouka Shichibukai!"

Luffy is amazed, "Woah! There's 7 of these guys!?" Yosaku continues, "The problem is with another one of the Shichibukai." Sanji asks, "Fishman? Never met one before! Fishmen, huh? Isn't Fishman Island a very famous travel destination in Grand Line? I've heard that the most beautiful mermaids are there." Yosaku reveals, "The leader of the Fishman Pirates, 'Jinbe!' In return for joining the Shichibukai, Jinbe let a terrifying monster loose in East Blue."

Luffy holds up a crude, funny drawing of a fish with legs and asks, "Like this?" Sanji laughs, "That's one ugly fish, haha!" Yosaku yells angrily, "Is it physically impossible for you to pay attention!?" Sanji says, "Whatever, I'll skip the complicated history lecture for now." The boat continues sailing. Yosaku announces, "The place we're headed to is 'Arlong Park'!!! It's an area ruled by Arlong, a fishman pirate that once fought alongside Jinbe, a member of the Shichibukai! In terms of individual strength, he's far stronger than even Don Krieg!"

Sanji questions Yosaku, "But... you came back to Baratie before catching up with her, right? So how do you know for sure where Nami was headed to? Isn't it possible that her destination happened to be in that same direction?" Yosaku replies, "Me and Johnny have a strong feeling about this, based on what happened earlier on...!" In a flashback, Nami looks at a stack of wanted posters. One of the bounty hunters notices and says, "Johnny, what's this?" Johnny answers, "It's the wanted posters." Johnny then asks Nami, "What's wrong, sis? You've been just staring at those wanted posters." Nami crumples one of the posters slightly and says, "No, it's nothing." Johnny says, "Oh, eyeing the high-bounty, are you now? But it's best not to go for that one."

Yosaku continues his story, showing a wanted poster for Arlong with a bounty of 20,000,000 Berries. "Sister Nami was definitely staring intently at Arlong's wanted poster. And right after we said Arlong's crew was wreaking havoc again recently, she took off with the treasure. This is too much to be a coincidence. I'm sure there's some conne..." Sanji interrupts, swooning, "But I wonder just what Nami has to do with those fishmen? Could it be that she's a mermaid? That would explain her beauty..." Luffy holds up another drawing, this one of a fish-man with Nami's hair, and asks, "...Like this? How about this? All you did was draw your previous fish standing upright." Sanji angrily kicks Luffy, yelling, "You're dead meat!"

Yosaku yells in frustration, "Do you understand what I'm trying to say here!?" Luffy casually sums it up as a strong fishman dude, but Yosaku snaps that they still cannot imagine just how powerful he is. Luffy says he'll see when they get there and tells Yosaku not to sweat it. Yosaku gives up, "God, talking to you two is just useless!" Sanji asks, "In any case, let's eat. What do you want?" Luffy cheers, "Meat on a bone!" Yosaku requests, "Stir-fried bean sprouts!" Sanji says, "Alright, just leave it to me!" As the boat sails on, Luffy happily thinks how nice it is having a cook around, while Sanji thinks he wishes he could hurry up and cook for Nami instead of these doofuses. Yosaku yells after him, "Stir-fried! Bean sprouts! Big helping!"

The scene shifts to an island with a large, multi-tiered building in the background. A caption reads, "Northwest Region of East Blue." A pirate flag with a sawshark emblem flaps in the wind. Inside a building, a stack of money is slammed onto a table. A voice says, "Here's the pay for this month. Take it." A Marine officer with a mouse-like face and whiskers smiles greedily. A caption identifies him as "Marine 16th Branch Captain Nezumi". Nezumi says, "As always, thank you very much. Chi chi chi chi... You sure do know how to get by in this world..."

A large, muscular fish-man with a saw-like nose and sharp teeth laughs uproariously, "Shahahaha! What're you being so reserved now for!? As they say, money makes the world go round!" He sits on a throne-like chair, wearing an open Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and sandals. He has a sun tattoo on his chest and a sawshark tattoo on his arm. Two other fish-men stand behind him. A caption identifies him as "Captain of the Arlong Pirates 'Arlong the Saw' (Sawshark-type Fishman)".

Arlong grins menacingly, "Money's good! There's nothing more reliable than money! Ain't that right?" Nezumi agrees, "Certainly." Arlong continues, "Shahahaha! I despise humans but men and women like you who get how this world works are a different matter. You should stay awhile and drink with me every now and then! Live a little! If anyone rats you out to headquarters, I'll kill him for ya." Nezumi stands up nervously, "...Well if business is over, I'll have to get going now. It'd be bad to have my ship docked in a place like this in the middle of its patrol... You're always in a hurry, aren't you?"

Nezumi walks away, accompanied by his Marine subordinates. He says, "No, it's fine... Excuse me then." The Marines call, "Hey, the Captain's on his way back! Escort him out to his ship! Yessir!" Suddenly, a large octopus fish-man with six arms appears, raising one fist. "Get on the octopus pot, I'll give you a lift!" A caption identifies him as "Arlong Pirates' Crew Officer Hatchan (Octopus-type Fishman)". Nezumi accepts politely, "Yes... Thank you." Hatchan then jokes that Nezumi has a funny-looking face and even a funny name, since Nezumi means mouse. Another fish-man laughs, "C'mon! Your face alone is enough of a joke already! Ahahaha!"

Arlong scolds Hatchan, "Hachi! Watch that mouth of yours! The captain is our valued client." Hatchan apologizes, "Oh, right. Sorry 'bout that. Well, get on then! My bad, Captain! That one's got a mouth on him!" Nezumi stammers, "N-no... It's fine, chi chi chi! These fishmen give me the creeps......But their money's good." Outside the gates of Arlong Park, a young boy with a bandana and a sword runs towards the entrance. A voice yells, "Hey, you! Stop right there!" The boy cries, "I'm going to kill Arlong! He killed my dad! I'm serious! So if you don't get outta my way, I'll kill you too!" Nami stands in his way, looking back at him.

The boy swings his sword at Nami, but she easily dodges and strikes him multiple times with her staff. "Ugh! Arlong doesn't have the time to waste, on little brats like you! Aghh! Oof!" The boy falls to the ground, defeated. Nami tosses a stack of money onto the ground next to him. "Here's a little money. Use it for your own protection....So if you understand, go home." The boy mutters, "...Dammit...!"

Nami walks through the gates and into the courtyard of Arlong Park. Arlong, sitting at a table with his officers, greets her, "Ohhh! So you're back, that was quite a long trip...!" Nami walks past a fountain shaped like a mermaid. Arlong asks, "This mansion is as lax as always... Ha... As if anyone would knowingly dare to raid my estate...! How much did you rake in this time?" Nami smiles confidently, "Quite a lot!...But it was strangely quite heart-breaking this time."

Arlong laughs, "Shahaha! Since when did you get so sentimental!? Betraying people is your specialty, isn't it!?" Nami smirks, "Oh, is that so?" Arlong stands up and announces to his crew, "My fishman brothers, our comrade has returned! Let us prepare a feast!" The fish-men cheer wildly, "Woohoo!" Nami stands before them, and a caption identifies her as "Arlong Pirates Crew Officer Nami". She has an Arlong Pirates tattoo on her left shoulder.

A wide shot shows the imposing exterior of Arlong Park, a large, multi-story building with a shark motif and a large gate. The sign reads "ARLONG PARK". A small boat approaches the gate. On the boat, Zoro and Johnny are looking at the structure. Johnny stammers, "W...! W-we're here...!" Zoro, looking serious, asks, "Are you sure Nami's really in there?"

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