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Summary:
Arlong proclaims to Luffy his opinion on the superiority of fishmen over humans and demonstrates the power of his teeth by biting into a stone pillar. Although Luffy admits that he lacks many innate talents, he claims that he has the strength to defeat Arlong, breaking the fishman’s teeth during their battle. Arlong grows teeth and pulls out two sets of them to hold in his hands as weapons. However, Luffy uses one of Arlong’s defeated henchmen to intercept Arlong’s weapons and gets an idea from it.
After receiving several blows from Luffy, Arlong acknowledges the Straw Hat captain’s strength, but says that it would be better for Luffy to die underwater, as he will now have to deal with Arlong’s rage at his crew’s actions. The onlookers are tense with the confrontation between Luffy and Arlong, and Sanji casually remarks that they will all die if Arlong defeats Luffy, with Nojiko adding that all of East Blue will also be doomed. Arlong asks Luffy if he knows the difference between them, and Luffy honestly replies that it’s their different body parts (noses, etc.). This shocks Johnny and Yosaka and enrages Arlong, who replies that it’s their race as he lunges at Luffy and tries to bite him. Luffy barely manages to repeatedly dodge Arlong’s rapidly striking jaws and his situation seems hopeless when Arlong pins him to the post by the neck, but by stretching his neck he manages to pull his head out of the path of Arlong’s jaws. This causes Arlong to bite into the pillar behind Luffy and Usopp is initially convinced that the fish man’s teeth will break, but the opposite happens as Arlong’s bite causes the stone pillar to shatter. Johnny and Yosaku are horrified, and Sanji remarks that Luffy’s body would be completely torn apart if Arlong managed to get his jaws around him. Arlong brags about the power of his teeth, saying that the lack of that power makes them an inferior species, but Luffy counters that he can only crush rock with his fists. Johnny and Yosaku agree with Luffy’s remark, but Arlong calls it reckless as he lashes out at Luffy, yelling about how weak humans are and how specifically Luffy can’t even save himself from drowning. However, Luffy doesn’t seem to mind these accusations of weakness and says he needs help because of them as he grabs two swords from Arlong’s defeated crewmates.
Sanji wonders if Luffy knows how to handle a sword, but Luffy just swings them wildly at Arlong, much to the fishman’s surprise as he dodges random swings. He then counters one of the swords with his nose and it flies out of Luffy’s hand and Luffy swings the other sword at Arlong, only for the sword to shatter upon contact with Arlong’s nose. At first, Arlong thinks Luffy is just playing, but Luffy isn’t done yet as he immediately follows up the sword strikes with a strike from the charioteer to Arlong’s jaw, which sends the fishman flying back and shatters his teeth. As bystanders look on in shock, Luffy yells at Arlong that he can’t sword fight, navigate, cook, or lie like his crewmates, and that he would die without their help. Arlong questions Luffy’s statement and wonders why anyone would follow someone who claims to be so weak. He asks Luffy what he can do to give him the right to be captain, and Luffy simply replies that he can beat Arlong.
Luffy’s crewmates and allies cheer his statement, but Arlong expresses his displeasure at Luffy’s speaking as he quickly grows more teeth, much to Luffy’s shock. He reveals that he can do it like Shark Fishman and that the new set is stronger than the old one every time. He then pulls out his new tooth and then another, allowing him to wield two sets of teeth in his hands as weapons while the other teeth grow back in his mouth. Arlong uses this ability to once again assert the superiority of the fishmen and attack Luffy with jaws in hand. He eventually manages to collect the blood, but is shocked to realize that it is from the fish man that Luffy used as a shield. This causes Arlong to get angry and give Luffy an idea.