"Bastards..."
King Neptune's drunken flush disappeared at once. He slammed his wine cup onto the coral table. The force was so great that thin cracks spread across the hard obsidian bottom of the cup.
As the king of a nation, he was hosting the highest-level banquet for the savior of his people, yet mere pirates had attacked his doorstep and fired cannons recklessly on his land.
This was not just provocation.
It was an insult to the Ryugu Kingdom itself.
"Jinbe!"
Neptune suddenly stood up. His sudden movement made his three sons stumble behind him.
"Gather the army immediately! I will personally go and cut that reckless maniac down myself!"
"Yes!"
Jinbe immediately took the order.
Then Neptune took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the anger rising in his chest. He turned to Aiden, who was sitting in the seat of honor, and bowed his head deeply.
"Sir Aiden, I am truly sorry."
"This was a banquet prepared for you, but the mood has been ruined by these despicable rats. This is my failure as a king, and a disgrace to Ryugu Palace."
Aiden put down his cup.
"It's fine."
"King Neptune, just go handle it."
"Wait! Neptune!"
Right then, Queen Otohime, who had been clutching her chest, suddenly cried out.
Her already pale face had gone completely bloodless. Large drops of cold sweat rolled down her forehead. Her body trembled as if she were bearing a pain no one else could feel.
"They are crying... Everyone is crying..."
Queen Otohime grabbed Neptune's arm with trembling hands, her nails digging deeply into her husband's muscles.
"I hear it... the screams of children, the desperate cries of mothers... That pirate's cannon fire hit the civilian district! So many people are hurt... It hurts... I can feel how scared they are..."
Her innate, powerful Observation Haki allowed her to resonate almost perfectly with the emotions of others.
But right now, that gift was hurting her.
It poured all the fear and pain of countless civilians below into her fragile body.
"Queen Otohime! The bones you just had set are going to break again!"
The ministers beside her jumped in anxiety.
"I have to go!"
Queen Otohime lifted her head and forced herself to stand.
"I can't stay here! I need to go to the scene! I have to protect my people!"
"Otohime! It's too dangerous there!"
Neptune paled in alarm and tried to stop her.
"No! I am the Queen! If even I hide in a safe place, who will comfort everyone who is hurt?!"
Otohime shoved away the protective gear a guard handed her. Not even caring about her still-healing broken arm, she lifted her skirt and rushed toward the exit.
Watching her hurry toward the battlefield despite her weak body, Hancock, who had been sitting beside Aiden, froze.
Although she was only nine years old, and although she had received Kuja Island's cold "strength is everything" education since childhood, what she saw now still shook her.
This woman was so fragile that she could break bones just from a hug, yet she dared to run into cannon fire for unrelated civilians.
Such a foolish person...
But... so warm.
"Aiden..."
Hancock subconsciously reached out her small hand and gently tugged at Aiden's large trench coat sleeve.
Aiden looked down at her hand on his sleeve.
"That Queen... her body is so weak. If she just runs over there like that, she will definitely get hurt, right?"
Hancock muttered softly and somewhat awkwardly, but she kept glancing toward the direction Otohime had left.
"Also... if something happens to her, Coral will definitely be sad."
"Aiden, can we go take a look too?"
By the end, she almost seemed embarrassed to ask.
Aiden looked at Hancock in front of him. She was clearly worried but still trying to find excuses.
Right now, Hancock was just a kind-hearted kid.
"Since Hancock has spoken."
Aiden stood up from his seat and casually straightened his collar.
"Let's go take a look then."
A few minutes later.
A giant Flounder Gondola flying the royal crest carried everyone out of Ryugu Palace at full speed. It rushed along the connecting waterway toward the Fish-Man District below.
As they descended, the smell of gunpowder smoke in the air grew stronger.
When the gondola passed through the clouds, the scene below was completely revealed to everyone.
The originally bustling port was now a complete mess. The massive coral pier had been blasted apart and collapsed. Rubble and wood splinters floated and burned on the sea. The thick black smoke could not disperse inside the bubble space and made everyone cough.
A massive pirate ship lay horizontally across the center of the port.
On both sides of the ship, dozens of dark cannons were still smoking.
"Hahahaha! Keep firing!!"
On the front deck of the pirate ship, a burly man wearing heavy armor stood with one foot on the railing. He waved a modified grenade launcher in his hand, shouting at the Fish-Man guards below.
"What bullshit Fish-Man paradise! In front of my heavy cannons, you're all just trash!"
"Blow up that statue holding the trident for me! It's an eyesore!"
Boom! Boom!
Two more cannonballs whistled out, accurately hitting a coral tower on the dock. Rubble flew everywhere, causing a burst of screams from the sheltering civilians below.
"Stop!!!"
A furious roar came from the sky.
Before the Flounder Gondola could even stabilize, Neptune could no longer hold back. He leaped down from tens of meters in the air. The golden trident in his hand cut through the air and slammed heavily into the sea right in front of the pirate ship.
Boom!!!
A hundred-meter-tall wall of water forcefully stopped the firing pirate ship in its tracks.
Neptune landed on the water, raised his trident, and shouted at Jackson on the bow.
"Despicable humans! How dare you run wild in Ryugu Palace!!"
Jackson was rocked unsteadily by the waves, but he quickly steadied himself. Looking at Neptune standing on the water, he was not scared at all. Instead, he bared his yellow teeth and smiled.
"Yo, are you the king of Fish-Man Island?"
He looked over the gold ornaments on Neptune's body and blew a frivolous whistle.
"Tsk tsk, looks like today's harvest is pretty good."
"Perfect timing. My arms business in the New World is still missing its first big score. Open up your treasury, and I might consider leaving you with a whole corpse!"
"Then I will cut you down myself!"
Seeing the other side still spouting arrogant nonsense, Neptune went completely berserk. The muscles in his arms bulged. The trident churned up a violent water current, and he was about to charge up and pierce the ship all the way through.
"King Neptune!"
A broad, powerful blue hand blocked Neptune's path.
Jinbe took off his cumbersome black-and-white patterned yukata, exposing his muscular upper body. He stood in front of Neptune with his fists clenched.
"You are the king of a nation. You absolutely must not risk your life here. Dealing with these despicable cowards who only rely on weapons is a job for me."
Jinbe cracked his knuckles, the joints making crisp popping sounds. He faced the pirate ship ahead.
"Since a mistake happened in the defense zone I am responsible for, I will clean it up with my own hands."
Neptune looked at Jinbe's back, took a deep breath, and nodded.
"Alright! Jinbe, teach these arrogant pirates a lesson!"
"Understood!"
Before his words had even faded.
"You want to fight me? Boys! Show him what we've got!"
Jackson waved his large hand.
Bang bang bang bang!
Dozens of musketeers on the pirate ship pulled their triggers at the same time. A dense barrage of bullets shot toward Jinbe on the water like rain.
Facing the hail of bullets, Jinbe planted his feet and did not move.
He simply crouched down slightly, taking a traditional and solid stance. His deep blue hands slowly cut through the air.
"Fish-Man Karate: Water Shot!"
Jinbe's palm struck the air fiercely.
The moisture in the air gathered around his palm, instantly turning into visible, high-pressure water bullets that shot out faster than the lead bullets.
Puff puff puff puff!
The incoming lead bullets were accurately struck and shattered in midair by the water bullets.
Moreover, the water bullets lost none of their momentum. They swept across the pirate ship's deck like a shotgun blast.
"Ahhhh!!"
Screams rose and fell. The water bullets, empowered by Fish-Man Karate, easily pierced through the pirates' bodies and snapped their musket barrels.
With just one move, the musket squad on the deck was completely wiped out.
"What?!"
Jackson's face changed.
Before he could react, a blue figure had already rushed right below the ship.
"Damn Fish-Man! Don't get too cocky! Have a taste of my heavy cannon!"
Jackson roared, raising his modified grenade launcher and firing a shell right at the charging Jinbe.
Facing this lethal strike, Jinbe showed no panic. During his high-speed sprint, his body suddenly sank. His broad, powerful blue hand plunged violently into the rolling sea beneath his feet, his five fingers hooking into the flowing waves like steel claws.
At that moment, the seawater gathered under his hand as if he had grabbed solid cloth.
Jinbe used his core strength. His whole body tightened. With a low shout, he grabbed several tons of seawater and, using the centrifugal force of his rotating body, hurled it fiercely into the sky.
"Ocean Current... Shoulder Throw!!"
Boom!!
The calm sea suddenly erupted. A massive pillar of water was swung up by Jinbe's single arm, slamming head-on into the fired cannonball like a thick waterspout.
The massive water pressure directly crushed the cannonball flat. It let out a muffled sound in the water, becoming a dud without even sparking.
Immediately after, the waterspout crashed down onto the pirate ship's deck.
Crack!!
The sturdy deck shattered instantly. Dozens of pirates were washed away, scattering everywhere and falling into the water one after another.
Jackson was also sent flying backward by the massive force, but relying on his heavy armor, he forcibly withstood the hit.
"Bastard!!"
Jackson scrambled up from the wreckage, his face covered in blood. Furious from the humiliation, he drew the alloy war sword from his waist and slashed at Jinbe, who had just landed on the deck.
"I'm a great pirate with a bounty of 110 million! How could I lose to a half-human, half-fish freak like you!"
Jinbe watched the incoming blade. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward.
In the moment the blade was about to hit his body, he stepped to the side. He violently pulled his right fist back to his waist, and the surrounding air seemed to grow thick at that moment.
The moisture in the atmosphere vibrated.
All power concentrated into a single point.
"Fish-Man Karate: Five Thousand Brick... Fist!!"
Thud!!!
That punch landed solidly on Jackson's heavy armor.
A shockwave shot right through his body.
The back of Jackson's proud alloy armor blew apart instantly. The air behind him was even punched into a clear fist print.
"Pfft—!"
Jackson coughed blood. He flew backward and crashed hard into the cabin wall. He dented the thick steel plate, deeply embedding himself inside it.
In just two exchanges.
This super rookie who had thrown his weight around in the first half of the Grand Line was utterly crushed by Jinbe.
"Yes!! Boss Jinbe is invincible!!"
The Fish-Man guards in the distance erupted in deafening cheers.
Aiden stood on the shore watching this and nodded slightly.
Although Jinbe did not yet have the strength he would later possess as a Warlord, his control over water currents and solid martial arts were already enough to make him dangerous even among veteran fighters.
"Is this Fish-Man Karate..."
Hancock leaned forward in surprise as she watched that incredibly powerful blue back.
"So amazing... That big Fish-Man is actually this strong."
On the deck.
Jinbe slowly pulled back his fist and adjusted his breathing. He walked toward Jackson, who was embedded in the wall, preparing to deliver a final blow and completely subdue him.
"It's over, pirate. Fish-Man Island is not a place you can run wild."
"Cough, cough... cough cough cough..."
Just as Jinbe approached, the blood-soaked Jackson suddenly let out a burst of nervous chuckles.
Spitting blood, he struggled to lean against the twisted steel plate. He lifted his head and laughed through the blood.
"Don't move!! Nobody move!! Over? Hehehe... It's not over yet..."
Jackson suddenly took a deep breath. His bloody mouth twisted into a grin. He pointed to the deck beneath his feet.
"Don't make a move... or I'll have the explosives detonated right now!"
Jinbe stopped cold.
"Hehe... Scared now?"
Jackson looked at Jinbe stopping in his tracks and laughed harder.
"Do you know what's loaded in the hold of this ship?"
"High explosives! There are exactly fifty boxes of high-purity explosives down there!!"
He roared, his shout spreading across the entire port.
"My crew is guarding the hold! As long as I yell out, or if any of you dare to make a move..."
"These fifty boxes of explosives will detonate instantly!"
"Boom—!!!"
Jackson exaggeratedly made an explosion gesture. He pointed toward Jinbe, then toward Neptune, Aiden, and the others on the shore.
"When that happens, from this close, that fragile bubble coating will definitely be blown to pieces!"
"Do you know what that means?"
"It means the hundreds of millions of tons of seawater from ten thousand meters deep will pour in instantly, like the sky falling down!"
"When that happens, let alone this place, even the whole Fish-Man Island will be crushed flat like a piece of paper!!"
"You Fish-Men might survive... but your treasure, your country, and those human little girls..."
Jackson shouted with blood on his mouth.
"You're all going down with me!!"
Jinbe froze in place while holding his punching stance, cold sweat seeping from his forehead.
He did not dare gamble.
"Now..."
Seeing he had intimidated everyone, Jackson burst into triumphant laughter. He struggled out of the wall and stood unsteadily on the deck, pointing a detonator at Jinbe.
"Get on your knees!!"
"And that king over there! Have your men bring all the treasure up immediately! Otherwise, we all die together!!"
Deep in the ruins of the Fish-Man District, inside a little-known, dark alley.
Due to the earlier bombardment, rubble and dust were scattered everywhere.
"Huff... huff..."
The great white shark Fish-Man youth, Hody Jones, hid in the shadows. Through a gap in the wall, he watched Queen Otohime directing the rescue efforts in the distance.
"Arlong!"
Hody turned around and looked at the sawshark Fish-Man who was also hiding in the shadows behind him. He leaned closer, almost shaking with excitement.
"The chance has come!"
Arlong, biting down on a cigarette, frowned at the ruined walls in the distance.
"What chance?"
"Those human pirates are making a scene. The Neptune Army's attention is entirely drawn over there."
Hody pointed at Queen Otohime in the distance. He smiled, revealing his pale, sharp teeth.
"We can use the chaos... to kill Queen Otohime!"
"What?!"
Arlong froze, and the cigarette between his fingers dropped to the ground.
"As long as we take her out right now while it's chaotic... and frame those outsider humans..."
Hody grew more excited as he spoke, waving his hands in the air as if he could already see the scene.
"The whole island will lose its mind! Even that stubborn old fool Neptune will have to go to war against humans!"
"Those weaklings who yell about peaceful coexistence all day will also completely hate humans because of the Queen's death!"
"When that happens, we can justifiably slaughter all humans! We'll build a new era that belongs to Fish-Men!"
Slap!
A crisp slap echoed in the alley.
Hody's face was struck to the side, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
Arlong was truly furious. He grabbed Hody by the collar and slammed him hard against the wall.
"You maniac!!"
"Do you know what you are saying?!"
"Even though I hate humans, and even though I think that woman Otohime's idea of peace is hopelessly stupid... she is our kin! She is our Queen!!"
Arlong's roar was suppressed in his throat.
"The reason we Fish-Men are nobler than humans is because we stand together! We don't slaughter each other like those despicable humans!"
"You want to draw your blade on our kin? You want to murder the Queen? I absolutely will not allow you to do something worse than the humans you claim to hate!"
Hody let Arlong grab him by the collar and did not resist.
He turned his head slowly and licked the blood off the corner of his mouth.
Hody showed no regret.
He only smiled.
"I see... Even you are this weak, Arlong?"
His answer was quiet and cold.
"You..."
Arlong felt a chill in his chest from those words and subconsciously let go.
Hody straightened his wrinkled collar, looked at Arlong for a moment, and did not say another word.
He turned around and disappeared into the deeper darkness.
Arlong watched Hody leave, frowned, spat on the ground, and turned to organize his subordinates to put out the fires.
But he did not notice that Hody, who had run into the darkness, had not actually left.
Instead, he circled behind a broken wall on the other side.
"Stretchers! Bring stretchers over here!"
"Hang in there! We'll stop your bleeding right now!"
The rescue efforts were still underway in a tense atmosphere.
Queen Otohime ignored the guards' protests and moved among the wounded. Her once-gorgeous dress was already covered in dust and blood, but she did not care at all.
"Queen Otohime..."
"Please go back quickly. It's too dangerous here..."
The civilians were moved to tears.
"Hold on, everyone! The doctors will be here shortly!"
Hancock and her two sisters also joined the rescue. Although they were still young, their Kuja Island warrior constitutions gave them strength far beyond ordinary people, making them quite capable at moving the rubble.
"Thank you... thank you..."
The rescued Fish-Man civilians wept with gratitude.
Aiden followed a few steps behind Hancock with both hands in his coat pockets.
Suddenly.
Aiden stopped for half a step.
"It's that disgusting malice again..."
That thick malice he had sensed on the street not long ago.
In his Observation Haki, Hody's malice stood out clearly behind a broken wall dozens of meters away.
Hody Jones held a long-barreled musket in his trembling hands.
Hiding in the shadows, he aimed the dark muzzle through the gap in the wall, locking it right onto the center of Queen Otohime's back as she focused entirely on bandaging the wounded.
"Die..."
"For the future of the Fish-Men... drop dead, Otohime!!"
Aiden almost laughed.
"This idiot... he really is eager to die."
Aiden shook his head helplessly in his mind.
Earlier in the Fish-Man District, there had been too many people around. Also, as he had just arrived, it was not convenient to directly interfere with Fish-Man Island's internal conflicts, so he had not bothered with Hody.
Yet not only did this guy lack self-awareness, he actively ran into this deserted corner to throw his life away.
He had brought his own death to Aiden's hand.
Aiden did not even pause his steps. He maintained his original pace and kept walking forward behind Hancock.
He had no desire to yell "Watch out" or rush over dramatically to block the shot.
For someone like Hody, giving him even a single extra glance was a waste.
The index finger of Aiden's right hand, hidden inside his trench coat pocket, flicked slightly.
Bzzzt.
A tiny blue arc flashed and vanished in the air.
Dozens of meters away.
Just as Hody Jones was about to pull the trigger, he suddenly felt a chill between his eyebrows.
Immediately after, a high-voltage current pierced through his brain and heart before he could pull the trigger.
He did not even have time to scream.
Hody's body went limp.
His finger lost all strength.
Thud.
A muffled sound of a body hitting the ground was masked by the noisy rescue efforts around them.
Hody Jones fell into the shadows behind the broken wall, motionless.
Judgment successful
...
The system's emotionless notification chime sounded in Aiden's mind.
Aiden curled his lip, too lazy to even check the small reward.
Issho, who had been following behind Aiden, suddenly stopped.
He turned slightly toward the corner. Then he looked at Aiden's back, which seemed as if it had done absolutely nothing.
Issho smiled faintly. His cane sword, which had been drawn about an inch from its sheath, slid back in.
Right after this brief interlude ended.
Over at the port, Jackson's desperate shout suddenly rang out.
"Get on your knees!!"
"And that king over there! Have your men bring all the treasure up immediately! Otherwise, we all die together!!"
This desperate shout instantly caught everyone's attention. The busy Fish-Man District immediately went quiet.
Queen Otohime froze while bandaging a wounded person, her face turning pale.
Her powerful Observation Haki allowed her to instantly sense the intent behind his words.
It was not a bluff.
That madman was genuinely prepared to die together with them.
"It's true..."
Queen Otohime stood up tremblingly, the bandages falling from her hands to the ground.
"What he said is true... there really are explosives on the ship... if they blow up, the bubble coating will shatter..."
As soon as she said this, the busy crowd around her went cold.
If even the Queen, who possessed the ability to listen to hearts, said so, it definitely was not an empty threat.
"Aiden..."
Hancock's small face was completely white. She subconsciously grabbed Aiden's hand, her nails almost digging into his flesh.
Aiden stopped walking and looked up at the ceiling above.
Through that transparent bubble film, one could see the bottomless, pitch-black seawater outside, and the giant beasts that occasionally swam through the deep waters.
For anyone, this was an absolute death zone.
Once the membrane broke, even if the Three Emperors or Admirals came, under the water pressure of ten thousand meters deep in the sea, there would be no way out.
"This bastard... really pisses me off."
Aiden sighed and gently patted the back of Hancock's hand, gesturing for her not to be tense.
"I'll go take a look."
Aiden let go of her hand and took a step forward.
Swish.
In the next second, he disappeared from where he stood.
Back on the ship, due to Jackson's threat.
Jinbe's knees bent slightly. The veins on his forehead bulged. That feeling of humiliation almost made him crush his own teeth.
But he did not dare refuse to kneel.
"Hahahaha! Yes! Just like that!"
Jackson watched this Fish-Man fighter slowly bend down in front of him. His twisted sense of pleasure reached its peak. He relished the thrill of holding life and death in his hands.
"Get on your knees! Grovel!"
"Hurry up! My patience is limited!!"
However.
A second before Jinbe's knees touched the deck.
"You're too loud."
Aiden appeared beside Jackson and spoke.
"Who... who are you?!"
Jackson froze when Aiden appeared beside him. He roared, and his hand tightened on the detonator.
"Don't come any closer!! Stand there and don't move!!"
"My crew is in the hold! I just have to yell, and they'll light the fuse immediately!!"
"If you dare take another step, we all die together!!"
Aiden did not react to the threat.
Is this what counts as a super rookie this year?
Pathetic.
"Then yell."
Aiden stood with one hand in his pocket and answered plainly.
"If you can."
"You've got a death wish!! Do it..."
Jackson's face twisted as he opened his mouth wide to scream the detonation order.
Vwoom---!!!
A heavy wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted outward with Aiden at the center.
Just Conqueror's Haki crushing down directly.
In that instant, the air became heavy. Black-red lightning cracked out of thin air.
Aiden's Conqueror's Haki struck every pirate on the ship with precision.
"Ghh... ghh..."
Jackson's wide-open mouth froze in midair. Only broken sounds came from his throat, unable to form even a single complete syllable.
His brain went blank under that overwhelming will.
Thud.
Thud.
At the bottom of the hold, the pirates preparing to detonate the explosives did not even know what had happened before they collapsed unconscious one after another.
On the deck, the rest of the pirate lackeys were already foaming at the mouth and unconscious.
Only Jackson, the super rookie with a bounty over a hundred million, was left.
He remained conscious for one second longer, relying on his final bit of willpower.
But he only lasted that one extra second.
Thud.
Jackson's knees gave out, and he fell heavily onto the deck. He slumped over like a pile of mud, completely losing his ability to move.
The crisis was resolved in an instant.
Aiden pulled his Haki back, making it seem as if that terrifying scene just now had been an illusion.
He did not even glance at Jackson on the ground. He spoke plainly to Jinbe beside him, who was still stunned.
"It's fine now, Jinbe."
"All of his crew below are asleep. No one can detonate the explosives."
Jinbe snapped out of his shock.
He looked at the unconscious pirates scattered across the deck, then at Jackson, who was kneeling on the ground, still conscious but completely immobilized. A fierce, relieved smile appeared on his blue face.
"Is that so... Thank you very much."
Jinbe clenched his fists and walked toward Jackson.
A moment later.
Jinbe strode over to Aiden.
He took a deep breath, calming the turmoil inside him. He was clearly shaken, but also curious.
"That just now... was Conqueror's Haki, right?"
Jinbe looked at the excessively young man in front of him and said with certainty,
"To master such a kingly power, and to possess such strength... You are definitely not some ordinary adventurer, sir."
He recalled an old newspaper he had seen about a year ago, with a front-page headline that had shocked the world.
"I heard that the Marines produced someone who killed the legendary pirate, Golden Lion Shiki..."
Jinbe slightly cupped his fists toward Aiden and said,
"That is you, right, sir?"
"Rear Admiral Aiden."
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