On the plaza, tens of thousands of fishmen from the New Fishman Pirates stood gathered. The rest—curious onlookers—had begun to waver under Hody Jones' impassioned speech.
It wasn't entirely unexpected. With the frequent human slave trafficking incidents on Fishman Island, it was impossible for the locals to harbor no resentment toward humans.
However, King Neptune had once sworn with absolute certainty that after Admiral Shikiryū arrived, Fishman Island would be reborn.
Hody Jones' reputation was polarizing, and frankly, most people found his words hard to trust.
But Hody had already anticipated their hesitation. It didn't matter. He never believed mere words could compel the people to fight for him.
His greatest trump card was the terrifying power surge he gained after consuming the Energy Steroid ES. Once he demonstrated his strength, he was certain this crowd would defect to the New Fishman Pirates immediately.
As he fantasized about leading the fishmen and merfolk to conquer the surface world, a sickly flush of excitement crept across his pale face.
He raised his arm and shouted:
"My fellow fishmen! Watch closely—soon I will claim the heads of King Neptune and that human! Fishman Island will be reborn!!!"
Clap. Clap. Clap.
...
...
But the applause he imagined didn't come. Instead, a few crisp, isolated claps echoed through the square, sharp and jarring—each one felt like a slap across his shark-like face.
Hody whipped around and saw Kaito and his group at the plaza's entrance.
Kaito stood front and center, still clapping slowly. When he noticed Hody looking his way, he stopped, smiled, and said,
"What a passionate speech. I'm fired up already. What's wrong? Not going to finish?"
The moment they saw Kaito, both the ordinary citizens and members of the New Fishman Pirates froze, faces instinctively filling with dread.
They had all witnessed the moment Kaito first arrived on Fishman Island—a scene none of them would ever forget.
Jinbei glared up at Hody Jones on the platform, veins popping on his forehead. He wanted nothing more than to drag this lunatic down and hand him over to Kaito.
He shouted,
"Hody, you madman! Do you even realize what your actions will bring upon Fishman Island?!"
Faced with Jinbei's righteous fury, the bit of fear left in Hody's heart vanished. He chuckled disdainfully, then sneered,
"Jinbei, you still think you're the boss of the Fishman District? Look at what you've done these past few years—being a lapdog to humans, letting them abuse your fellow fishmen, and now you let one stroll into Ryugu Palace like he owns the place? Some leader you are!"
"What the hell do you know?! Everything I've done was for Fishman Island's future!"
"Future, my ass! The future of Fishman Island can only be taken into our own hands!!"
Jinbei, normally a calm man, flushed with rage. If Kaito weren't standing right there, he would've charged up the platform already.
Kaito, meanwhile, listened quietly. But the more he heard, the more absurd it all sounded—like Hody was trying to become the protagonist of some hot-blooded anime.
Behind Kaito, Shirahoshi tugged gently on his sleeve and whispered,
"Kaito-sama, could you help Jinbei-san...? He looks so pitiful."
Kaito turned and gave her a reassuring smile. But when he faced forward again, all traces of warmth were gone. His Rinnegan gleamed with a dangerous light.
Up on the platform, Hody Jones felt smug after silencing Jinbei with nothing but words. He turned his attention to Kaito and continued his verbal assault.
"And as for you, damn human, you—"
Shk!
His words stopped short.
Hody looked down in disbelief at the arm that had pierced straight through his chest. He trembled and stammered,
"W-When did you...?"
Kaito, who was just at the plaza entrance a moment ago, now stood right in front of him on the platform. Looking at Hody's ashen face, he said calmly,
"Your performance bored me. So die already."
With that, Kaito yanked his arm free in a spray of blood.
Hody collapsed to his knees with a dull thud. The New Fishman Pirates officers beside him were frozen in terror.
Everyone in the plaza held their breath. Not a sound could be heard—only silence remained.
At the entrance, both Neptune and Jinbei were stunned by the speed Kaito displayed. Even Jinbei, the mightiest fighter on Fishman Island, hadn't noticed the moment Kaito vanished from his side.
What made it even more terrifying—Kaito hadn't even used elemental transformation. He'd relied purely on his physical body's explosive power to unleash such speed.
Shirahoshi covered her mouth with both hands when she saw the bloody scene on the platform. She couldn't reconcile the Kaito who had just smiled kindly at her with the one who had now punched a hole through Hody's chest.
Kaito looked down coldly at Hody, as if staring at a worthless insect.
The New Fishman Pirate officers finally moved. They had no choice—if they stood idle any longer, their boss would bleed to death right in front of them.
Shouting to psych themselves up, they charged at Kaito, unleashing their respective abilities.
But Kaito didn't even glance at them.
With a single thought—
Almighty Push.
A burst of overwhelming repulsive force erupted. The so-called "officers" were instantly reduced to nothing more than chunks of flesh, scattered in midair.
As the bloody remains rained down, they dispersed just before touching Kaito, landing instead all over the kneeling Hody, dying his shiny bald head a bright crimson.
And it wasn't over.
Kaito's Rinnegan glowed with twin purple flashes. The crowd watched in horror as the entire plaza suddenly went dark.
Looking up, they saw—through the bubble membrane—an endless mass of black thunderclouds manifesting in the void, as if the end of the world had arrived.
This was 10,000 meters beneath the sea. Clouds shouldn't exist here—let alone thunderclouds, and in such numbers.
The unnatural sight filled everyone with dread.
Unlike the others, Jinbei understood what was happening.
He'd seen this ability at Marineford before—said to be the most powerful of all Logia-type Fruits...
The power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Realizing just how terrifying this ability was, Jinbei swallowed hard. Fishmen were naturally afraid of lightning, and Kaito... he was lightning incarnate.
Thunder roared overhead. The plaza fell utterly silent—no one dared make a sound.
Then came Kaito's voice from the platform, low and cold:
"Ten Thousand Thunders."
The lightning amassed in the thunderclouds responded as though receiving a command. In the blink of an eye, they crashed down toward the plaza in endless waves.
The crackling booms were deafening.
In an instant, over ten thousand fishmen were vaporized.
They had once dreamed of following Hody Jones to become Fishman Island's new rulers.
Now, they were reduced to ash by bolts of purple lightning, scattered into the ocean air.
At last, the New Fishman Pirates followed in the footsteps of the Arlong Pirates—
Completely annihilated.