"So you're the leader of these fish-men, huh?! Do you have any idea—you ruined everything I had! My status, my position, my wealth—everything was destroyed because of you—!"
Whoosh!
His answer was a sharp tearing sound through the air.
Sebastian hurled the warhammer in his hand straight at Treba Brucchi.
The force behind it was so overwhelming that Treba did not dare block it head-on and immediately threw himself sideways to dodge.
Treba could dodge.
The ship beneath him could not.
The hammer smashed into the vessel, worsening the already collapsing hull.
"You slave traders ruin how many people's lives?
How do you even have the nerve to say words like that to me?
Looks like it's not that you don't understand how we fight—
you didn't even bother investigating us at all.
No wonder you came here so eager to die."
Sebastian casually dug at his ear as though he had just heard something filthy.
Before Treba could answer, several eruptions of water burst from the deep sea.
Three enormous sea beasts surfaced.
Though their bodies resembled marine creatures, each bore a different head:
one like a giraffe,
one like a rhinoceros,
and one like a chimpanzee.
Counting the submerged parts of their bodies, each measured roughly fifty meters long.
This was the basic nature of sea beasts:
neither Sea Kings nor fish,
but a unique class of marine mammals.
At that moment, Babel stood atop the sea giraffe's head, holding a warhammer—
the very same hammer Sebastian had thrown earlier.
"Sebastian! You bastard—did you throw that hammer at me on purpose?!"
"Yeah.
Otherwise I'd have to dive down and retrieve it myself.
This way you brought it back for me."
"You—!"
Seeing Sebastian admit it so openly only made Babel angrier—
yet his expression soon calmed.
"Hmph. I see.
Then I'll hold onto your hammer for now.
About one minute left, right?
Let's see how you fulfill your promise to Big Brother.
If you beg now, I might help."
"No need.
I'm not some hammer-dependent fighter who can't battle without a weapon.
I think you're just trying to waste my time."
Though they looked like they were quarreling, neither stopped moving.
Sebastian shifted into an attack stance.
Babel raised the conch and blew a new attack signal.
The three sea beasts instantly charged toward the ship.
At this point, the vessel had already been split in half.
But even a fully intact warship would have shared the same fate against sea beasts—
sinking to the bottom.
Treba understood that too.
But he had no time to focus on them.
Sebastian's attack had already arrived.
Fish-Man Karate: Demon Tile True Fist!
Dense Armament Haki wrapped around Sebastian's fist.
As he swung, even the moisture in the air seemed to ripple.
Treba threw himself away with everything he had, barely escaping the direct center of impact—
yet his body was still blasted backward uncontrollably.
This was the true principle of Fish-Man Karate:
attacking water itself.
Even moisture suspended in the air became an extension of the strike.
The actual attack range was far larger than what the eye could see.
Blood churned inside Treba's body.
His muscles and bones trembled violently.
But from the corner of his eye, he saw something even worse.
He had avoided part of the strike.
The shattered remains of the ship had not.
And by then, under Babel's command, the sea beasts had reached the vessel.
Relying on sheer size alone, they rammed and tore at the wreckage, reducing it to splinters in moments.
Crew members died in droves.
Blood mixed with seawater and broken timber, drifting away with the currents.
"S-Save me... spare me...!"
"Captain... help me...!"
A few cries for help surfaced—
then were swallowed by the waves.
Treba had no attention left for them.
Though there were only three sea beasts, their division of labor was flawless.
And now there was no stable foothold left anywhere on the sea.
This was the tactic Nereus's forces used most often at sea—
and the most practical one:
approach from deep water,
sink the enemy ship first,
then fight entirely within the ocean.
That was also the main reason for taming sea beasts:
ship destruction.
As long as officers like Sebastian pinned down enemy strong fighters and prevented them from attacking the beasts,
the sea beasts could endure cannon and gunfire long enough to destroy the vessel.
Once the ship sank, unless the enemy could fly or remain suspended in air,
they stood almost no chance against fish-men.
Especially Devil Fruit users.
Ace could fight Jinbe for five days and nights on land.
In the water, surviving five minutes would already count as extraordinary vitality.
The moment the ship was destroyed—
or rather, the moment Treba chose this route and was spotted by fish-men before reaching land—
his defeat had already been decided.
Treba realized that now.
But too late.
As gravity pulled him downward,
Sebastian shot forward like a spear and reached him instantly.
"You should be grateful.
I promised Big Brother I'd finish you in five minutes.
For trash like you, dying this quickly is already mercy."
Fish-Man Jujutsu: Shoulder Wheel!
With nowhere to brace himself midair, Treba was seized by Sebastian and hurled into the sea with monstrous force and Fish-Man Jujutsu technique.
The freezing seawater mixed with blood.
For the first time, clarity returned to Treba's swollen mind.
He finally understood how deadly his situation truly was.
"These damned fish-men...!"
He tried desperately to swim upward—
but his limbs felt like they were filled with lead.
Water could soften impact—
but only depending on how one hit it.
Even diving badly into a pool from height could injure the body.
And Treba had not fallen.
He had been thrown by Sebastian.
To him, the ocean now felt no softer than concrete.
Who knew how many bones had broken inside him.
Fish-Man Karate attacked water.
Fish-Man Jujutsu manipulated water itself.
Because the body contained water too, being thrown by Sebastian meant external trauma and internal blood turbulence simultaneously.
Though seawater washed over him constantly, careful observation would reveal:
blood seeped continuously from his skin.
Tiny blood vessels across his body had burst.
But even that was not the deadliest part.
Driven by survival instinct, Treba still struggled upward—
until sudden overwhelming force gripped his lower body.
"If you died quietly, you'd suffer less.
Looks like you didn't understand my words."
Sebastian had followed him underwater.
Where Treba struggled helplessly,
Sebastian moved with complete ease.
For fish-men, possessing dual respiratory systems meant sea and land were nearly equal—
if anything, the ocean gave even greater freedom.
Underwater, Sebastian's voice became heavier,
sounding in Treba's ears like a death knell from hell.
Glub... glub...
Countless bubbles escaped Treba's mouth.
He looked like he wanted to beg for mercy—
but no words came.
Fish-Man Karate and Fish-Man Jujutsu could both exploit moisture in air and inside the body—
but nothing compared to real seawater.
At that moment, all the surrounding ocean became Sebastian's ally,
compressing Treba's body from every side.
This depth was still shallow enough for sunlight to reach.
Warm light still filtered through the water.
Yet Treba would never touch that warmth again.
As despair overtook him,
his vision rapidly darkened...
Meanwhile, under Babel's orders, the sea beasts cleaned up the surface.
This entire group vanished into the ocean without causing even the slightest true disturbance.
When Sebastian resurfaced carrying Treba's corpse,
only a handful of surviving traffickers remained.
"Babel! You bastard! Couldn't you wait for me?!"
Sebastian ignored the survivors entirely and instead shouted at Babel, who was already riding away atop a sea beast.
"Hahahaha!
You can swim back yourself!
I strictly honored your own promise—
the instant five minutes ended, we turned back!"
Babel's laughter was full of smug satisfaction.
Just like Sebastian's thrown hammer, this was simply how they interacted:
comrades—
and rivals.
"W-We survived...?"
One trafficker clung to a broken barrel floating on the sea, staring blankly at the departing fish-men.
For one brief moment, relief filled him.
But it lasted only seconds.
As sea wind roared, another conch blast echoed.
Then—
a sharp horn pierced through his body.
Below the surface, a school of massive fish surged upward.
They had horns on their heads,
mouths full of sharp teeth,
and bodies thick as calves.
These were Fighting Fish, native to the New World—
another savage marine species.
Like the sea beasts, they were simply another part of the force.
"If we spared you,
where would the people you sold go to cry for justice?
Hope you're born better next life...
No—people like you belong in hell forever."
Standing atop the sea giraffe, Babel blew another conch while muttering words like some strange scripture—
whether curse or funeral rite, no one could tell.
Then he patted the sea giraffe's head.
"Swim faster.
Don't let that guy catch up.
Tonight I'll give you two hundred extra pounds of seaweed!"