The deck groaned under the tension.
Smoke rose from the sea.
And at the heart of it stood two monsters, one born from the ocean, the other from a different world, but adopted into the circus.
Arlong bared his teeth, seawater dripping from his jagged saw-nose. The planks beneath his feet hissed where his wet body met the heat of the sunbaked deck. His gills flared like furious scars.
Buggy only smiled.
"Well," he said, twirling a dagger between his fingers, "I'd say we're well past introductions, don't you think?"
Arlong cracked his neck, the sound like snapping wood. "You destroyed my turf. You murdered my men. I'll mount your head above the gate as a warning."
Buggy chuckled. "You say that like you've already taken my head or something~"
The shark-man lunged.
Wood splintered under his feet as he crossed the deck in a blur, his massive saw-blade cleaving down where Buggy had been standing, or rather, where most of him had been standing.
The blade whistled through air, clean and perfect, slicing Buggy in half. His body split neatly at the waist, but the top half simply hovered midair, grinning, the bottom half still leaning casually against the railing.
"Rude," Buggy said flatly. "Didn't even buy me dinner first."
Before Arlong could react, Buggy's detached legs shot upward, shoes clinking and sprouting blades like spring-loaded traps, slamming straight into the fishman's gills. The small blades drew blood instantly, and the impact sounded like a dull thud.
Buggy whistled. "You're built like a brick wall! I hate it when people actually do their push-ups."
Arlong growled, feeling his own blood mixing with the water across his skin.
He turned, slashing sideways with his saw-blade. Buggy twisted, body parts scattering like confetti as the attack passed harmlessly through the empty space where his torso had been.
Then the clown reassembled midair, not in front of Arlong, but behind him.
"Peekaboo~"
A blade flashed. The knife drove deep into the gill line beneath Arlong's arm.
The fishman roared, jerking backward. Buggy kicked off his chest, twisting gracefully through the air before landing in a crouch several meters away.
"Gotta love anatomy lessons," Buggy said, flicking blood from the knife. "You guys and your little weak spots. Real design flaw if you ask me."
Arlong clutched his side, blood seeping through his fingers. "You- you dare?!"
Buggy's grin widened. "Oh, sweetheart. I dare everything."
The shark-man's fury boiled over. He swung his weapon in wide arcs, carving through masts, ropes, and barrels as Buggy darted and twisted around him, laughing all the while.
Each strike that should've cut the clown in half did nothing, Buggy's body parting harmlessly with each blow, his disassembled limbs dancing through the air like pieces of a deadly puppet.
"Problem, fish-face?" Buggy taunted, ducking beneath another swing. "You look a little… disarmed!"
He lunged forward, stabbing again, another knife sinking into the opposite gill.
Arlong staggered, spitting blood. "You-!"
"Oh, don't get all dramatic," Buggy said, sidestepping a furious charge. "I'm just opening your pores!"
Arlong roared and swung again, this time hitting Buggy dead-on, or what should've been dead-on. The clown's torso split neatly, the sawtooth blade passing through empty air as Buggy's head rolled off his shoulders and bounced onto a crate.
It grinned up at him."Sharky, you've tried it once, twice, thrice... What makes you think you'll ever be able to cut me?"
Arlong blinked, realization dawning. "You- blasted devil fruit user!"
"Took you long enough," Buggy's head said cheerfully as his body walked over, picked it up, and reattached it with a wet pop. "I was starting to think you were just another pretty face."
Enraged, Arlong lunged again, teeth gnashing, muscles flexing. His attacks were faster now, less controlled, and driven purely by fury.
But every time he struck, Buggy was already gone, slipping apart, twisting around, slashing low, stabbing high.
Blood sprayed across the deck. Most of it blue.
Finally, Buggy's laughter broke through the noise. "Y'know what your problem is, Arlong?"
Arlong's breathing was ragged, fury blinding him. "What- what are you-"
Buggy's leg slammed into his face, snapping his jaw sideways. "You never learned to share the stage!"
The impact sent Arlong staggering backward. Before he could regain his footing, Buggy's foot detached again, this time connecting with the shark-man's chest in a vicious dropkick.
The force carried him over the railing.
The splash that followed was massive, sending steam and smoke rolling up from the still-boiling surface of the sea.
Arlong found it funny that his enemy would try to put a Fishman into water.
He would just take a moment to recover, then sink their ship. Now that fire was no longer all around it, he could bear swimming in the boiling waters.
And for a moment, there was silence.
Then Cabaji whispered, wide-eyed, "Captain… Captain Buggy did it! Kicked him off the ship!"
Buggy landed lightly on the deck, adjusting his hat. "Damn right I did. He was hogging the spotlight."
The crew burst into relieved, nervous laughter. But Buggy didn't join them this time, he was watching the water.
Arlong had vanished beneath the waves. The fire still burned, but their ship had drifted away from it, as Buggy had instructed his men to steer it as such.
For a moment, it almost looked like victory to the men on board. Then the sea began to churn again.
Cabaji pointed. "Captain! He-he's still down there!"
Buggy smirked. "Of course he is. He's a Fishman, remember? He's probably thinking he'll flip us over from below... Well, until the adrenaline wears off."
He leaned over the railing. The water bubbled faintly.
Arlong's thought hit him, literally. A realization that struck like lightning.
The knife.
It was still in his gills. Even more so, Buggy had continuously targeted his gills throughout the battle.
Buggy's eyes lit up as he watched the scene. "…Ohhh. Oh, that's beautiful."
Underwater, Arlong's movements grew erratic. He thrashed violently, bubbles exploding around him. His hand clawed at his gills, at the metal lodged deep where his gills should've been pulling in water.
He couldn't breathe. Rather, he was choking on his own blood.
The sea, his home, was suddenly his coffin.
Buggy's laughter started low, bubbling in his throat until it exploded into pure delight. "No way, no way! I can't believe this shit worked! Did I just drown a fishman?! That's comedy gold!"
Below, Arlong's massive body twisted, sinking deeper before instinct forced him to claw upward again.
He broke the surface for a single, desperate gasp, blood and seawater streaming from his wounds.
And then, like a cruel punchline, he saw the ship had already turned.
Dozens of cannons pointed directly at him.
Buggy, leaning lazily on the railing, waved two fingers like a conductor preparing for an encore. "Alright, boys. Time for a game of Whack-A-Fish."
The first Buggy Ball screamed through the air, detonating the water a few feet from Arlong's head.
The second followed, then the third, a relentless barrage of explosions that turned the sea into a boiling crater of fire and foam.
Each blast threw waves high enough to rock the ship, but Buggy only laughed harder, clutching his sides as his crew whooped and hollered.
Arlong was not being given any time to catch his breath or emerge from the depths, where he continued to choke.
"Keep going!" he shouted over the roar. "Let's make the ocean regret being wet!"
More cannonballs flew, slamming into the water, turning blue waves crimson with silt and blood.
Eventually, there was nothing left to see, just smoke, steam, and scattered debris from what had once been a fortress.
Buggy leaned on the railing, exhaling like a man satisfied after a great meal. "Well… that was fun."
Cabaji peeked over the side. "Captain… I think he's gone."
Buggy shrugged. "Eh, who cares? Maybe he'll eventually crawl out of the sea later to give some monologue about revenge and the will of the ocean. Either way-" He turned, flashing a grin. "-not my circus, not my clowns~"
The crew erupted in cheers again, slapping backs and laughing as they began to reload supplies and patch the deck.
Buggy stretched, rolling his shoulders. "Alright, lads! Next stop, somewhere with less seafood and more alcohol!"
He climbed onto the bow, spreading his arms wide as the wind whipped his coat. "Set sail! We've got enough booze to last us till LogueTown! We've earned ourselves one hell of a party!"
The ship turned, sails billowing, laughter echoing across the waves.
Behind them, the ruins of Arlong Park still smoldered, the sea boiling in pockets where cannon fire had scorched the surface.
And somewhere beneath those waters, shadows moved, likely the Fishmen retrieving their battered boss, but Buggy wasn't looking back.
He was already laughing into the wind, humming a circus tune as the horizon swallowed the last of the smoke.