Despite the significant boost in strength and speed that the Energy Steroids had provided, Hody Jones found himself struggling against Jerry's unpredictable fighting style. The great white shark was accustomed to using his massive trident and relying on powerful, sweeping attacks that gradually wore down his opponents through brute force.
However, Jerry's close-quarters combat techniques were like nothing Hody had ever encountered. Every part of Jerry's body seemed to be a weapon—elbows, knees, shoulders, and even his head became tools of destruction as he flowed seamlessly between different martial arts forms.
The combination of Fishman Karate, the Marine's Six Styles, and Jerry's own innovations created a fighting style that was both fluid and devastating. Hody found himself constantly off-balance, unable to predict where the next attack would come from or how to effectively counter Jerry's versatile assault.
After only a few exchanges, Hody was already feeling overwhelmed. Jerry's attacks came from unexpected angles and transitioned between offense and defense so smoothly that it was like trying to fight smoke—every time Hody thought he had found an opening, Jerry was already somewhere else entirely.
Meanwhile, on another section of the battlefield, Ace was engaged in his own deadly duel with Hyouzou, the blue-ringed octopus Fishman who served as Fishman Street's most feared assassin.
Hyouzou was a formidable opponent in his own right. The octopus Fishman's multiple tentacles allowed him to wield eight swords simultaneously, creating a fighting style known as the pinnacle of Fishman Island swordsmanship. His usual appearance—carrying a sake bottle and a skewer of dumplings—belied his deadly capabilities.
Even more dangerous than his multiple weapons was Hyouzou's natural ability to inject poison through his attacks, a racial trait that made even minor wounds potentially fatal.
"You know, having more weapons doesn't automatically make you stronger," Ace commented casually as he watched Hyouzou's tentacles weave through the air, each one gripping a different blade.
As he spoke, Ace's body began to shimmer with heat, the air around him distorting as his Devil Fruit powers activated.
"Then taste my blade!" Hyouzou snarled, apparently not recognizing the significance of the rising temperature around his opponent.
In a blur of motion, all eight of Hyouzou's swords moved in perfect coordination, creating a deadly web of steel that seemed impossible to avoid. The blades converged on Ace's position with lightning speed, each one aimed at a vital point.
"Is that all?" Hyouzou smirked as his weapons passed through their target, confident that his legendary eight-sword technique had found its mark. He began to turn away, already planning to assist his comrades in their battles.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ace's voice came from directly behind him, completely unharmed and sounding almost bored. "Are you really that eager to become octopus balls?"
Hyouzou's eyes widened in disbelief as he spun around to face Ace, who stood exactly where he had been moments before, without so much as a scratch on his body.
"Impossible! I hit you directly!" Hyouzou protested, his usual drunken confidence shaken by what he had just witnessed.
"Haven't you ever heard of Logia-type Devil Fruits?" Ace asked with genuine curiosity, then immediately followed up with a casual punch wreathed in flames.
"Sword Barrier!" Hyouzou reacted with impressive speed, raising all eight of his weapons to create an interlocking shield of steel and launching a counterattack that sent waves of blade energy toward the incoming fire.
But flames, Jerry had learned during their travels, had a way of finding every gap in a defense. Despite Hyouzou's desperate attempts to block the attack, tongues of fire slipped through his guard and began eating away at his flesh like living creatures.
"Hot! So hot!" Hyouzou screamed as the smell of cooking octopus began to fill the air around them.
"Blade Storm!"
Completely enraged by the pain and humiliation, Hyouzou abandoned all pretense of strategy and launched into a frenzied assault. His eight swords became a whirlwind of steel, moving so fast they seemed to tear the very air around them.
"It's useless," Ace said calmly, beginning to dodge and weave between the attacks with fluid grace. "You can't cut something that isn't solid."
"How's this? How's this?" Hyouzou taunted between his wild swings, his movements becoming increasingly desperate. "You were talking so big before! Why don't you fight back?"
"Since you asked so nicely," Ace replied with a grin.
Ace suddenly leaped backward, executing a perfect somersault that carried him well out of Hyouzou's reach. As he soared through the air, he spread his fingers wide and brought his palms together in a specific formation.
"Firefly: Fire Daruma!"
Ace's hands erupted in brilliant green light that quickly dispersed into countless small orbs of flame. Like living fireflies, the miniature suns began floating lazily through the air around Hyouzou, their movement seeming almost playful.
"Is this your big counterattack?" Hyouzou laughed mockingly. "Are you trying to make me die of laughter with those slow-moving lights?"
Hyouzou tensed his muscles and launched himself forward like a missile, all eight weapons gleaming as he prepared to end the fight in a single devastating assault.
"Eight-Sword Style: Consecutive Flash!"
At the same moment, Ace spread his arms wide and transformed both hands into living flame, launching himself toward Hyouzou with explosive speed.
"Sacred Fire: Shiranui!"
The two fighters met in the center of their battlefield, moving so fast that their forms became blurs of motion. In that instant of collision, the lazily drifting fireflies suddenly accelerated, converging on Hyouzou's position in streams of brilliant light.
The explosion that followed shook the entire Sea Forest. When the smoke and debris finally cleared, Hyouzou lay motionless in a deep crater, his body charred and smoking. All eight of his weapons were scattered around him like discarded toys, their blades blackened by the intense heat.
Ace glanced down at the thoroughly cooked octopus and nodded with satisfaction before turning to assist his crewmates in their own battles.
In the distance, Hody Jones had witnessed Hyouzou's defeat and felt his rage reach new heights. Using the distraction created by the massive explosion, he managed to break away from his fight with Jerry and reached into his pocket for another handful of Energy Steroids.
Without hesitation, he swallowed the entire handful, far exceeding any safe dosage in his desperation for power.
"Hyouzou... Human! I'll kill you all!" Hody roared as the drugs took effect.
The transformation was immediate and dramatic. Hody's black hair turned silver-white, his eyes became bloodshot with white pupils, and his already massive frame swelled with unnatural muscle growth. The overdose had pushed his body far beyond its normal limits, trading years of his life for a temporary surge of devastating power.
With an earth-shaking bellow, Hody launched himself toward Jerry with such force that the ground beneath his feet exploded into a crater. His speed was now truly dangerous, and Jerry's expression grew serious as he prepared to face this drug-enhanced berserker.
The fight that followed was a brutal test of skill versus raw power. Hody's attacks came like natural disasters—each punch carried enough force to shatter stone, and his speed had increased to the point where he could match Jerry's enhanced reflexes.
But Jerry's technical superiority remained absolute. While Hody had gained tremendous physical capabilities, he had also lost much of his strategic thinking to the drugs' influence. His attacks were powerful but predictable, following patterns that Jerry could read and counter.
Jerry flowed around Hody's assaults like water, using his Armament Haki to strengthen his defenses when necessary while looking for openings to strike back. The battle became a deadly dance, with Hody's overwhelming force meeting Jerry's perfect technique.
Finally, Jerry saw his chance. Hody had overextended himself with a particularly vicious attack, leaving himself momentarily vulnerable. Jerry stepped forward in a classic horse stance and drove his palm forward, a compressed sphere of water forming around his fist.
"Fishman Karate: Water Impact!"
The water sphere punched through Hody's defenses like a cannonball, the impact lifting the massive shark Fishman off his feet and sending him flying backward with blood streaming from his mouth.
But Jerry wasn't finished. Moving with ghostlike speed, he appeared behind Hody's airborne form, his fist already glowing with azure energy.
"Water Dragon Fist!"
Jerry's uppercut connected with Hody's spine, the blow enhanced by both Armament Haki and his mastery of Fishman Karate. A magnificent water dragon erupted from the point of impact, carrying Hody high into the air while his eyes bulged with pain.
As Hody reached the peak of his trajectory, Jerry raised his hand in a horizontal gesture.
"Water Dragon Descent!"
The water dragon suddenly changed direction, becoming more solid and defined as it targeted the wound that Jerry's previous attack had created. With surgical precision, the draconic construct drove through Hody's body once again, ensuring that the supremacist leader would not be getting back up anytime soon.
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