"You bastard! Are you the leader of these Fish-Men? Do you have any idea that you've ruined everything I own?! My status, my position, my wealth... all of it destroyed because of you!"
Whoosh!
The only response he received was the sound of air being torn apart. Sebastian hurled the warhammer in his hand straight at Treba Brucci. The sheer force behind the throw was so terrifying that Treba didn't dare block it; he scrambled desperately to the side to dodge.
Treba could dodge, but the ship beneath his feet could not. Under the impact of the warhammer, the already sinking vessel shattered even further.
"You slave traders... how many people's lives have you destroyed?" Sebastian asked, his voice cold. "How do you have the face to question me like that? It seems it's not that you don't understand our fighting style—it's that you didn't even bother to investigate who we are. No wonder you aren't afraid to die."
Sebastian picked at his ear as if he had just heard something filthy. Before Treba could argue back, several loud splashes erupted from the deep sea.
Three massive Sea Beasts emerged. Though their bodies were aquatic, their heads resembled those of a giraffe, a rhinoceros, and a gorilla, respectively. Including the parts submerged underwater, these beasts were each about fifty meters long.
These were Sea Beasts—distinct from Sea Kings and ordinary fish—a special type of marine mammal.
Barbell was currently standing atop the head of the Sea Giraffe, holding a warhammer in his hand. It was the same one Sebastian had just thrown.
"Sebastian! You bastard, were you aiming that hammer at me?!"
"Yeah," Sebastian replied nonchalantly. "Otherwise, I'd have to go down and dive for it myself. Didn't you just help me bring it back?"
"You...!"
Seeing that Sebastian didn't even try to deny it, Barbell's anger flared, though he quickly calmed himself.
"Hmph, fine then. I'll keep your hammer for you for now. You have about one minute left. I want to see how you plan to keep your promise to Big Brother. If you beg me now, I wouldn't mind helping you out."
"No need. I'm not some 'Hammer-Man' who can't fight without a weapon. I think you're just trying to use this to stall my time."
While the two seemed to be bickering, their movements never slowed. Sebastian shifted into an attacking stance, while Barbell blew a specific frequency into a conch shell to signal the charge.
The three Sea Beasts, receiving their orders, lunged toward the remains of the ship. Even if the ship hadn't already been snapped in half, it wouldn't have stood a chance against the onslaught of these beasts; its only destiny was the bottom of the ocean.
Treba knew this, but he had no time to worry about the Sea Beasts—Sebastian's attack had arrived.
"Fish-Man Karate: Onigawara Seiken! (Demon Tile True Fist)!"
Thick Armament Haki (Busoshoku) coated his fist. As he swung, the very air seemed to ripple and distort.
Treba pushed himself to the limit, barely managing to dodge the center of the impact, yet his body was still sent flying uncontrollably.
This was the essence of Fish-Man Karate: it manipulates water. The moisture in the air becomes an extension of the strike, making the effective range far larger than what the naked eye can see.
Blood churned in Treba's veins; his muscles and bones vibrated helplessly. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw something even more horrifying.
He had dodged part of the blow, but the wreckage of the ship beneath him could not. Combined with the Sea Beasts' biting and ramming under Barbell's command, the ship was effortlessly reduced to splinters.
The crew suffered heavy casualties. Blood, seawater, and wooden debris swirled together, carried away by the currents.
"Help... Save me... Mercy..."
"Captain... save me..."
Faint cries for help rang out, only to be swallowed by the waves. Treba had no heart to listen to them. Although there were only three Sea Beasts, their cooperation was seamless. There was no longer a single piece of driftwood large enough for him to stand on.
This was the standard tactic used by Logan's subordinates at sea: submerge in the deep, approach the vessel, sink the enemy ship first, and then utilize the ocean as their home turf.
The primary purpose of training those Sea Beasts was to destroy enemy ships. As long as officers like Sebastian could tie down the enemy's strong fighters, the Sea Beasts could ignore cannon fire and musket shots to destroy the hull in short order.
Once the ship sank, unless the enemy had a way to fly or hover, it was impossible to beat a Fish-Man—especially for Devil Fruit users.
Ace could fight Jinbe on land for five days and five nights, but in the water, he'd be lucky to last seven minutes. From the moment Treba chose this path and was spotted by the Fish-Men before landing, his defeat was set in stone.
Treba realized this, but it was too late. As gravity pulled him down, Sebastian shot forward like a bolt, appearing right beside him.
"You should be glad," Sebastian said. "I promised Big Brother I'd finish you in five minutes. Letting trash like you die this quickly is the greatest mercy I can give. Fish-Man Jujutsu: Kata Guruma! (Shoulder Throw)!"
With no footing in mid-air, Treba was seized by Sebastian and slammed into the sea with monstrous strength and refined technique.
The freezing seawater, mixed with the scent of blood, brought a moment of clarity to Treba's panicked mind. He finally understood how dire his situation was.
"These damn Fish-Men..."
Treba struggled to swim toward the surface, but his limbs felt like they were filled with lead. While water can cushion a fall, it depends on the impact. Even jumping into a pool from a high diving board can cause injury if the form is wrong—and Treba had been violently hurled in.
To him, the surface of the water felt no different than solid concrete. He didn't even know how many bones he had broken.
The essence of Fish-Man Karate is "striking" water; the essence of Fish-Man Jujutsu is "throwing" it. Because there is water inside the human body, the "Shoulder Throw" caused Treba's internal blood to surge violently. Even as the sea washed over him, tiny blood vessels across his skin were bursting continuously.
But that wasn't the most lethal part. Driven by survival instinct, Treba tried to breach the surface, only for a massive force to grab his lower body.
"If you just die quietly, it'll hurt less. It seems you didn't quite understand me."
Sebastian had entered the water as well. Compared to Treba's frantic splashing, he looked perfectly at home. For the Fish-Man race with their dual respiratory systems, the ocean was no different than land—it was even more liberating.
Under the water, Sebastian's voice sounded muffled and heavy, like a funeral knell in Treba's ears.
Glub, glub...
Countless bubbles escaped Treba's mouth. He looked as though he wanted to beg for his life, but he couldn't form words.
Fish-Man Karate and Jujutsu could use the moisture in the air or the body, but nothing was as convenient as the actual ocean. The surrounding seawater became Sebastian's ally, crushing Treba's body.
The surface was close enough that sunlight still filtered down, but Treba would never touch that warmth again. In a fit of despair, his vision quickly faded into darkness...
Under Barbell's command, the Sea Beasts cleared the surface. This group of traffickers didn't even manage to cause a ripple before they were wiped out.
When Sebastian surfaced with the corpse, only a few surviving traffickers remained.
"Barbell! You bastard, you couldn't wait for me?!" Sebastian ignored the survivors and cursed at Barbell, who was already riding a Sea Beast away.
"Hahahaha! Swim back yourself! I strictly followed your promise! Five minutes are up, and we're heading back!"
Barbell's laughter was full of mischief. Just like the thrown hammer, this was how they communicated—part comrades, part rivals.
"Are we... are we alive?"
A trafficker clung to a broken wooden barrel, watching the departing Fish-Men and muttering to himself. It was the relief of a survivor, but it lasted only a moment.
Along with the whistling wind came the sound of another conch horn. Immediately after, a sharp horn pierced through his body.
In the deep water, a school of Fighting Fish—muscular as bulls and filled with sharp teeth—began the final cleanup. These were Fighting Fish from the New World, ferocious creatures that were just another part of the legion.
"If we let you go, where would the people you sold go to cry for justice? I hope you're born into a better life next time... actually, scratch that. People like you should just rot in hell forever."
Aboard the Sea Giraffe, Barbell blew a different conch and muttered something like a mantra—it was hard to tell if it was a curse or a prayer for the dead.
He patted the Sea Giraffe's head. "Swim faster, don't let that guy catch up. I'll give you an extra 200 pounds of seaweed tonight!"
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