The dust settled in Conchcorde Plaza, revealing a scene that defied all logic.
Moments ago, the New Fishman Pirates had numbered one hundred thousand—a swarming ocean of hatred, weapons, and fanaticism. Now, ninety-nine thousand, five hundred of them lay in heaps upon the white stone tiles, unconscious. Foam trickled from their mouths, their eyes rolled back into their skulls, victims of a spiritual pressure so immense it felt like the sky itself had collapsed upon them.
The silence was deafening. It wasn't the silence of peace; it was the silence of absolute domination.
Zeo, the wobbegong fishman and self-proclaimed "Noble of the Fishman District," stood amidst the sea of bodies. His camouflage flickered erratically, betraying his terror. He looked to his left, then to his right. There was no army. There was only the Straw Hat crew and a few hundred trembling elites who had barely managed to remain conscious.
"W-What is happening?" Zeo stammered, his voice cracking. He tried to blend into the floor, but his concentration was shattered. "Why is everyone asleep? Is it nap time? I did not approve a nap time! This is a rebellion!"
Jinbe stood near the execution platform, his massive chest heaving as he shattered the chains binding his wrists with a simple flex of his muscles. The iron links fell to the ground with a heavy clatter.
"It is not a nap," Jinbe said, his voice grave. "It is Haki. Conqueror's Haki. The mark of a Supreme King. To knock out that many... I have never seen a burst of this magnitude, not even from Whitebeard."
Luffy walked toward Hody Jones. He didn't run. He strolled, his sandals slapping rhythmically against the stone tiles. Slap. Slap. Slap. The sound echoed like a death knell in the quiet plaza.
Hody Jones was backed against the wall of the plaza, his chest heaving. The sheer impossibility of the situation was gnawing at his mind. He was the chosen one. He was the judgment. How could one human dismantle his army with a look?
"Hody," Luffy said, stopping ten meters away. "You are loud. You talk a lot about history and vengeance for a guy who is trembling."
Hody roared, the veins on his forehead bulging to the point of bursting. "Trembling? Me? I am a god! I am the embodiment of Fishman rage!"
He frantically grabbed a handful of Energy Steroids from his pocket. He didn't count them. He just shoved the entire fistful into his mouth. Crunch. Crunch.
"Don't do it, Hody!" one of his terrified subordinates screamed. "That is too many!"
"Shut up!" Hody screamed. His muscles swelled instantly, tearing his shirt to shreds. His eyes turned bloodshot, the pupils dilating until they were pitch black. "Power! I need more power! Water Shot!"
Hody flicked his hand with blinded speed. A drop of water shot from his palm like a sniper's bullet, compressing the air around it. It aimed directly for the center of Luffy's forehead.
"Luffy-kun! Dodge!" Jinbe shouted, stepping forward. "His water bullets can pierce layers of steel!"
Luffy didn't dodge. He didn't even raise his hand to block. He simply tilted his neck slightly to the right.
Ping.
The water bullet struck his forehead. Instead of piercing his skull, it bounced off with a high-pitched metallic sound. It ricocheted into a nearby stone pillar, drilling a hole straight through it.
Luffy rubbed his forehead. "That stung a little. Like a mosquito."
"Weak," Luffy added, dropping his hand.
"What?" Hody froze, his drug-addled brain unable to process the sight. "Impossible! That attack destroys mountains! Your skin... are you made of iron?"
"Rubber," Luffy corrected. "But my Haki is harder than iron. Is that all you got? Or are you just going to throw water at me like a kid in a pool?"
"Don't mock me!" Hody shrieked. He raised both hands. "Shark Arrows!"
Dozens of water droplets formed in the air, hardening under the pressure of his fishman karate. He launched them in a torrential downpour of deadly projectiles.
Luffy began to walk forward again. He didn't run. He walked through the rain of bullets.
Clang. Clang. Ping. Thud.
The bullets hit his chest, his arms, his face. Sparks flew as the water shattered against his invisible armor. He had coated his entire body in a thin, imperceptible layer of defensive Armament Haki, hardening his rubber physiology to the density of diamond.
"Is that it?" Luffy asked, stopping two feet away from the towering shark fishman. He looked up, his eyes bored.
Hody took a step back. Fear, cold and primal, gripped his heart. This wasn't a fight. This was a predator playing with food. "You... what are you?"
Luffy stared into Hody's eyes. His expression shifted. The boredom vanished, replaced by a cold, sharp intensity.
"You want to destroy this island," Luffy said softly. "You want to kill my friends. You want to kill the crybaby princess."
Luffy raised his hand, palm open.
"I can see your strength, Hody. It is borrowed. It is hollow."
Luffy's eyes narrowed, channeling the aura of a certain legendary shinobi he had read about in his past life.
"Do you want to dance?"
Hody blinked. "Dance?"
"Because if you want to fight," Luffy clenched his fist, the air around it distorting with heat. "You better be ready to die."
"Kill him!" Hody shrieked to his officers, his bravado shattering. "Kill the crew! Distract him! Anyone!"
"I am on it!" Hyouzou, the poisonous blue-ringed octopus swordsman, chugged a bottle of sake and charged. His eyes were spinning. "I will cut him! I am the best swordsman on Fishman Island!"
Clang.
Hyouzou stopped dead in his tracks. He looked down.
Three swords blocked his path. Wado Ichimonji, Sandai Kitetsu, and Shusui.
Zoro stood there, grinning around the hilt of the white sword in his mouth.
"Best swordsman on the island?" Zoro mumbled, his voice muffled by the blade. "You have remarkably low standards."
"Roronoa Zoro!" Hyouzou slurred, swaying on his eight legs. "My poison kills instantly! One scratch and you are dead! Prepare to die!"
Hyouzou unleashed his tentacle swords, striking from eight different directions simultaneously. It was a whirlwind of steel and venom, a technique that had claimed hundreds of lives.
Zoro didn't move his feet. He just adjusted his wrists.
Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.
Every single strike was parried. It looked effortless. Zoro yawned.
"Is this the New World level?" Zoro asked, parrying a strike with his left hand while scratching his ear with his right. "Or are you just drunk? Because if you are drunk, I might actually respect you more."
"I am drunk on power!" Hyouzou yelled, lunging for Zoro's neck with a hidden dagger in his mouth.
Zoro's eye glinted. The playful atmosphere around him vanished.
"You are just a frog in a well," Zoro said. "Or I guess, an octopus in a bucket."
"Purgatory Onigiri."
Slash.
It was one motion. Zoro appeared behind Hyouzou. He slowly sheathed his swords. Click.
Behind him, Hyouzou's eight swords shattered into metal shards. A massive, cross-shaped cut appeared on the octopus's chest. Blood sprayed into the air, and he collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
"One down," Zoro said, tying his dark green bandana around his arm. "Boring."
On the other side of the plaza, Wadatsumi, the colossal giant monk, was throwing a tantrum. He was stomping on the ground, trying to crush the tiny humans who were running for cover.
"Squash! Squash the bugs!" Wadatsumi yelled, his voice booming like thunder.
"Hey! Watch the shoes, you oversized balloon!"
Sanji leaped into the air, utilizing Sky Walk. The air exploded under his feet as he kicked the atmosphere itself, hovering right in front of the giant's massive face. He calmly lit a cigarette, shielding the flame from the wind.
"Tiny human!" Wadatsumi inflated his cheeks. "I will blow you away!"
He exhaled a massive gust of compressed air, a literal hurricane trying to knock Sanji out of the sky.
Sanji didn't budge. He stood on the air, his suit flapping wildly, but his posture remained impeccable.
"You are big," Sanji said, blowing a smoke ring that somehow held its shape against the gale. "But in the kitchen, size just means you take longer to cook."
Sanji spun. His leg ignited. It wasn't the normal orange fire of his youth. It was a deep, crimson red. The fire of his hellish training on Kamabakka Kingdom.
"Hell Memories."
The flames engulfed his entire body, turning him into a human comet.
"Diable Jambe: Grill Shot!"
Boom.
Sanji kicked Wadatsumi in the cheek. The impact was like a meteor strike. The giant's face caved in, teeth the size of boulders flying everywhere. The heat seared his skin instantly, the smell of burnt fish filling the plaza.
"Hot! Hot!" Wadatsumi cried, tears streaming from his eyes. He fell backward, crushing a massive coral tower.
"Don't cry," Sanji landed gracefully on a streetlight. "Salt ruins the flavor of the meat."
Jinbe watched in stunned silence. He stood next to Robin, who was casually snapping the necks of twenty elite pirates with her sprouted arms.
"They are..." Jinbe murmured, sweat beading on his forehead. "They are monsters. All of them."
"We prefer the term 'spirited'," Robin smiled politely. "Clutch."
Crack.
Twenty more pirates fell limp.
Luffy was still staring at Hody. The shark captain was panting, backing away until his back hit the crushed rubble of the wall.
"My officers!" Hody screamed, looking around wildly. "Get up! Fight! Why aren't you fighting?!"
Nobody moved. They were all down. In less than five minutes, the top fighters of the New Fishman Pirates, the ones who had terrorized the island, had been dismantled like children.
"It is just you and me, shark-guy," Luffy said.
Hody looked at Luffy. Then he looked at his bag of steroids. He had one handful left. The last of the deadly drug.
"I won't lose!" Hody screamed, tears of rage mixing with blood on his face. "I prepared for this for years! I have the will of Arlong! I have the hatred of the district! I cannot lose to a human!"
He shoved the entire remaining bag into his mouth. He swallowed them dry, choking on the sheer volume.
"Don't do it!" Jinbe shouted from across the plaza. "Hody! That much energy will destroy your heart! You will die!"
Hody didn't listen. His body convulsed violently. His white hair turned stark white. His muscles expanded until his skin tore, revealing raw red flesh underneath. His eyes went completely black. He grew twice his size, transforming into a true monster of pure muscle and rage.
"POWER!" Hody roared. The sound wave alone cracked the pavement beneath him. "I feel infinite power! I am a God!"
He looked down at Luffy, drool dripping from his jagged jaws.
"Die, Straw Hat!"
Hody moved. He was fast. Faster than before. He disappeared from sight, reappearing instantly behind Luffy, his jaws wide open, ready to bite Luffy's head off.
"Gotcha!" Hody yelled.
Crunch.
Hody's teeth clamped down on Luffy's shoulder.
But they didn't bite through flesh. They stopped.
Luffy had raised his forearm. His arm was coated in shiny, black Armament Haki. But there was a faint red tint to it—the heat of Ryou.
"Your teeth are sharp," Luffy said, not even looking at the wound. "But my ambition is harder."
Luffy spun, grabbing Hody by the dorsal fin.
"Let go!" Hody thrashed, scratching at Luffy's arm with claws that could shred steel.
"You talked about Arlong," Luffy said, his voice dropping an octave. "You said you inherited his will."
Luffy slammed Hody into the ground.
Wham.
The plaza shook. Hody coughed up blood, the steroids failing to protect his organs from the impact.
"Arlong was a jerk," Luffy said, lifting Hody up again by his throat. "But at least he cared about his crew. He built Arlong Park to look like Sabaody because he missed home. He fought for his friends."
Luffy threw Hody into the air. The shark man flailed, helpless against the gravity of the rubber man's throw.
"You just treat your crew like tools to make yourself look big," Luffy said. "You are nothing like him."
Luffy bit his thumb. He blew air into his muscles. His arm expanded, becoming massive and coated in flame-patterned Haki.
"Gear Third."
He jumped up, meeting Hody in mid-air.
"Gomu Gomu no..."
The air around Luffy's fist distorted. Heat radiated from it, igniting the very oxygen in the atmosphere.
"...Red Hawk!"
KA-BOOM.
The fist connected with Hody's stomach. The flames exploded, piercing through the shark's body and exiting out his back. Hody's eyes went white. The water in his body vaporized instantly.
He shot down from the sky like a comet, crashing into the center of the plaza. The impact created a crater fifty meters wide. Fire and dust billowed out, blinding everyone.
Luffy landed on the edge of the crater. Steam rose from his arm. He adjusted his hat.
"Next," Luffy said.
Silence.
The citizens of Fishman Island stared with their mouths open. The King of the new era, the monster who defeated the Princes, had been swatted like a fly.
"Is... is it over?" a child whispered, peeking out from behind his mother.
"No," Luffy looked up at the sky. His expression hardened.
A shadow was falling over the island. A massive, ancient shadow that blocked out the artificial sunlight of the Eve Tree.
The Noah.
The colossal ark, thrown by Vander Decken before he was knocked out, had finally arrived. It was falling directly toward Fishman Island. It was large enough to crush the entire bubble, wiping out everyone instantly.
"The ship!" Nami screamed, pointing up. "It's falling! It will destroy the island!"
"Decken died," Luffy noted, his Observation Haki sensing Decken's fading life force on the falling ship. "But the ship is still falling because of gravity."
"We have to evacuate!" Neptune yelled, panic seizing him. "Everyone to the lower levels! Abandon the plaza!"
"There is no time!" Jinbe shouted. "It is half the size of the island! Even the lower levels will be crushed!"
Luffy looked at the massive ship. He cracked his neck.
"Sanji. Zoro. Launch me."
"Launch you?" Zoro asked, sheathing his sword. "Where?"
"To the ship," Luffy pointed up. "I'm going to punch it."
"It is the size of a country, Luffy!" Usopp screamed, tears running down his face. "You can't punch a country! That's physics!"
"Watch me," Luffy grinned.
Sanji sighed, but he smiled. "You crazy captain. Fine."
"Let's do it," Zoro cupped his hands.
Sanji placed his hands next to Zoro's.
Luffy stepped onto their palms.
"Ready?"
"Go!"
"Air Force: Gum-Gum Jet Rocket!"
Sanji kicked and Zoro threw. Luffy launched into the sky like a missile, breaking the sound barrier. He flew straight toward the falling Noah, a tiny red dot against the colossal wooden doom.
"Shirahoshi!" Luffy shouted through the Transponder Snail in his pocket. "Don't cry! Watch big bro-- watch me!"
He flew out of the bubble, into the ocean water. The pressure hit him, crushing against his lungs, but he ignored it. He looked at the massive wooden hull descending upon him. It blocked out the world.
"Elephant Gatling won't be enough," Luffy muttered to himself, his voice muffled by the water. "It's too big. I need more area of effect."
He closed his eyes. He recalled the beasts of Ruskaina. The Lions. The Gorillas. The Crocodiles.
"Gear Fourth."
He bit his arm.
Muscle Balloon.
Steam exploded from his body, boiling the surrounding water. His muscles expanded, coated in tribal Haki markings. His hair flowed upward like flames. He bounced in the water, the elasticity of his body fighting the ocean pressure.
"Boundman."
He flew under the ship. He looked like an ant holding up a boulder.
"Gomu Gomu no..."
He retracted his fists into his arms. The sound of stretching rubber vibrated through the water. He multiplied his arms using speed and elasticity, creating a dozen phantom limbs.
"...Kong Organ!"
Dozens of fists, creating afterimages, slammed into the bottom of the Noah.
Ratatatatatatatata!
The sound was like a machine gun of explosions. The massive ship stopped its descent for a second. The wood groaned under the assault. Splinters the size of houses rained down.
But it was too heavy. It kept falling. The momentum was too great.
"It is not stopping!" Jinbe yelled from the plaza. "It is slowing down, but it will still crush us!"
Luffy gritted his teeth. Blood leaked from his nose. The strain of maintaining Gear Fourth underwater while holding up an island-sized ship was tearing his muscles apart.
"Come on!" Luffy roared, bubbles escaping his mouth. "Move!"
Suddenly, he heard them.
Voices. Deep, ancient voices vibrating in the water. They were loud, resonating in his skull like a gong.
Stop.
The ship is breaking.
If it breaks, we cannot fulfill the promise.
The King is struggling.
We must help.
From the deep abyss surrounding the island, massive shapes emerged. They were titans. Sea Kings. They were larger than the Noah itself. One looked like a zebra, another like a frog, another like a giraffe. They moved with a grace that belied their size.
They swam up and grabbed the falling chains of the Noah with their mouths. They braced themselves against the water.
The ship stopped.
It hovered there, inches above the bubble of Fishman Island.
Luffy stopped punching. He floated there, panting, steam rising from his body. He looked at the Sea Kings.
The Sea Kings looked at him. Their massive eyes, usually filled with mindless hunger, were clear and intelligent.
You called us, the Zebra Sea King spoke. Not with words, but directly into Luffy's mind.
Luffy grinned. He deflated, returning to his normal form, floating helplessly in the water.
"Yeah," Luffy said in the water, his voice muffled. "Thanks, guys."
The Sea Kings froze. The Zebra Sea King blinked. The Frog Sea King tilted its massive head.
He spoke?
The voice inside Luffy's head sounded shocked.
He hears us? another Sea King asked. The human hears us?
Impossible, a third one rumbled. Only the Mermaid Princess can hear us. Only the Sovereigns.
But he spoke back, the Zebra Sea King insisted. Little human. Can you understand us?
Luffy gave a thumbs up. "Loud and clear. You guys are heavy talkers."
The Sea Kings exchanged looks of profound confusion and awe.
This human... represents the dawn, one whispered.
Let us move the ship, the Zebra Sea King decided. The era is changing.
Luffy looked down at the island below. The citizens were cheering. They were safe.
"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, bubbles escaping his mouth as darkness overtook his vision from the exhaustion. "Time for the banquet."