On the plaza, besides the tens of thousands of fish-men from the New Fish-Man Pirates, the surrounding onlookers were already wavering due to Hody Jones' fiery speech.
This was largely due to the frequent incidents of human slave raids on Fish-Man Island—resentment toward humans had long festered.
However, King Neptune had once solemnly promised his people that Fish-Man Island would be revitalized following the arrival of Admiral Purple Kirin.
Even so, Hody Jones' reputation was polarizing, which made his words less convincing.
Hody had already anticipated the people's hesitation. He never expected them to follow him based on words alone.
His true trump card was the overwhelming strength he had gained from consuming Energy Steroids. He believed that once he displayed his power, the crowd would immediately rally behind the Fish-Man Pirates.
As he imagined leading fish-men and merfolk in an attack on the surface world, a manic flush appeared on his pale face.
He raised his arm high and shouted:
"My brethren! Watch closely! Soon, I'll take the heads of King Neptune and that human! Fish-Man Island will be reborn!!!"
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The applause Hody expected didn't come. Instead, only a few slow, deliberate claps echoed across the plaza—each one sounding like a slap across his face.
He spun around abruptly—and there stood Chiga and the others at the plaza entrance.
Chiga stood at the forefront, still clapping slowly. When Hody turned to look at him, he stopped and said with a calm smile:
"What a stirring speech. Really gets the blood pumping. What? Not going to finish?"
At the sight of Chiga, both civilians and New Fish-Man Pirates froze. A chill ran down their spines.
They all remembered how Chiga had first arrived on Fish-Man Island—a scene burned into their memories forever.
Jinbe glared up at Hody on the platform. At this point, he wished he could rip him down and hand him over to Chiga himself.
He shouted:
"Hody, you lunatic! Don't you see this will bring ruin to Fish-Man Island!?"
Hearing this, whatever fear Hody had vanished. He scoffed and sneered:
"Jinbe, do you still think you're king of the Fish-Man District? You've spent years as a pet for humans—letting them persecute your kin, and now you let them stroll into Ryugu Palace! Bravo! What a noble protector you are!"
"You don't understand, you fool! I'm doing this for Fish-Man Island's future!"
"That's crap! The future of Fish-Man Island belongs only to us fish-men!!"
Jinbe's normally steady temper flared red with rage. If Chiga hadn't been standing right beside him, he'd have already charged the platform.
Chiga listened silently but with growing annoyance. The longer he listened, the more Hody sounded like a wannabe protagonist in a second-rate shounen anime.
From behind, Shirahoshi gently tugged on his sleeve, her voice low with concern:
"Lord Chiga… Uncle Jinbe looks so pitiful. Please help him."
Chiga turned to her and gave a reassuring smile. When he looked forward again, the smile vanished. In its place: cold indifference, and the dangerous gleam of the Rinnegan.
On the platform, Hody, puffed up from his rant, turned his venom on Chiga:
"And you! You damned human, you—"
Poof.
The insult never finished.
Hody looked down in disbelief at the arm thrust through his chest. His voice trembled.
"Wh… when…"
Chiga, who had been at the plaza entrance seconds ago, now stood before him on the high platform. Calmly, coldly, he said:
"I got bored. Now die."
With a violent pull, Chiga yanked his arm from Hody's chest, blood spraying everywhere.
Hody crumpled to his knees with a dull thud. The New Fish-Man Pirate officers nearby stood frozen, too stunned to act.
The crowd dared not even breathe. A deathly silence gripped the plaza.
Even Neptune and Jinbe were shaken by the sheer speed Chiga had displayed. Jinbe, one of the strongest fighters on the island, hadn't even seen him move.
And this—this wasn't even Logia elemental travel. This was pure speed and raw power.
Shirahoshi gasped and covered her mouth in horror. Just moments ago, Lord Chiga had smiled at her kindly. Now he stood drenched in blood after punching a hole through a man's chest.
Chiga looked down at Hody, kneeling before him. His gaze was like winter—unfeeling and absolute.
The remaining officers finally acted, yelling to steel their courage as they launched attacks.
Chiga didn't even look their way.
With a thought—Shinra Tensei erupted.
A massive repulsive wave blasted outward, reducing the attackers to bloody mist, their remains vaporized before they could even touch the ground.
Chunks of gore rained down—most landing on Hody's kneeling body, staining his bald head a deep crimson.
But it wasn't over.
Chiga's Rinnegan flared—turning into dual arcs of crackling purple lightning. A dark veil blanketed the sky beneath the bubble dome.
Above, clouds appeared—black thunderclouds, churning and massive. An impossible sight for a place 10,000 meters under the sea.
A sense of dread suffocated everyone.
While others panicked, Jinbe knew the truth: this was Chiga's devil fruit—the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the mightiest of all Logia types.
He swallowed hard. As a fish-man, Jinbe instinctively feared lightning—and Chiga was lightning incarnate.
Thunder rolled across the plaza. Everyone held their breath.
From atop the stage, Chiga's voice echoed like a divine sentence:
"Myriad Thunder."
Lightning fell like a divine purge.
With deafening crashes, the bolts obliterated everything they struck. Tens of thousands of New Fish-Man Pirates were instantly vaporized—turned to dust by divine judgment.
These were the dreamers. The extremists who thought they could rise as rulers.
Now, they were gone.
Just like the Arlong Pirates before them…
The New Fish-Man Pirates were no more.
---
I might need to change the update schedule, possibly switching to morning uploads instead of evenings.
I understand that some of you may be marinating chapters so it can pile up, but posting daily for 7 straight days and only receiving 20–70 Powerstones is honestly pretty discouraging.