Inside Noah's Ark, the Ship of Promise, a stunned silence spread through the mutated Fish‑Men as they stared in disbelief at the distant shape where Hody Jones had vanished into a crimson mist.
"Dead… dead?" someone whispered, eyes wide.
"With just one punch, Hody died…" another muttered, trembling.
"The force of that blow was incredible," a third said, voice shaking.
These were Fish‑Men who knew Hody's strength. And now, they were beginning to truly understand Shirogai's power.
"Terrifying human," someone murmured, losing all trace of the arrogance they'd once taken for granted now that they had enhanced themselves through mutation.
This human standing before them was nothing like the ordinary humans they had captured before.
"Is that… human strength?" the mutated double‑finned sharkman Dos said with a heavy sigh, his massive crab‑like claw drooping, the long spike on his other arm hanging limply.
"We went through so much to become the strongest Fish‑Men by integrating our New Fish‑Man Pirates comrades into our bodies, yet a human shattered that with a single punch?" Dos groaned, disbelievingly.
"This human isn't like the others we've fought…" Jeo said, his tone wary as he watched Shirogai with narrowing eyes. "We mustn't underestimate him… after all, he's an Admiral among humans, a warrior powerful enough to contend even with Jinbe. We have to—"
Before Jeo could finish, his head twisted 180 degrees, and the serrated mouth that had grown on the back of his skull grinned grotesquely.
"E‑eat him! Let me eat him!!!"
Amid the shrieking of his mutated second head, Jeo's body began to fade, dissolving into the seawater as if being erased by an unseen hand, until he became completely invisible.
"Eat him…" the distant voice whispered.
"Quiet!!!" came a furious roar in reply, and then silence.
"So what if his power is strong? As long as he doesn't hit us, we'll be fine," Dharma the cigar‑toothed, distorted bulldog‑like sharkman boasted, muscles bulging grotesquely as he thumped his chest. His twin punches slammed into the deck without effort.
"Human flesh is delicious, delicate, not fishy at all, much tastier than Fish‑Men or mermaids!" he crowed, laughing ominously as he burrowed into the wood.
"Human Admiral! I will ambush you from below when you least expect it and crush your head!" Dharma bellowed through the deckboards.
"That's right! Don't panic!" Hody Jones's voice—his voice even now—struggled to rally his comrades. "It was nothing more than a surprise strike while I was careless! I didn't even use my best sword technique yet!"
Those words lit a spark of hope in the mutated Fish‑Men.
"Hoo‑ah! That's right! He was just ambushing Hody! Humans can't match true Fish‑Men!" Dos roared as he lifted his massive claws, snapping them together sharply.
"My new claws and spikes are powerful! Dos!!!" he declared, pounding the deck with brute force as the long spikes on his other hand trembled like living quills.
"Muhehehe!! Human, as long as we don't let you touch us, you won't be able to strike back!" another voice snarled.
Eight serrated, fanged tentacles whipped out, spreading like a deadly net around Shirogai and closing off any escape route.
Crunch… crunch… crunch…
Jagged mouths grown along the tentacles gnawed hungrily at anything near.
Ikaros Mu Xi took a deep breath of seawater and puffed out his cheeks, aiming directly at Shirogai. From his sharp, pointed mask‑like mouth, he fired multiple condensed water spikes.
"Squid Form: Ocean Stingers."
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Dozens of razor‑slender spikes, forged from seawater, shot toward Shirogai like deadly bolts.
At once, except for Captain Hody, all the twisted hybrid Fish‑Men launched their attacks.
"Fish‑Man Karate: Whale Current!"
Shirogai formed an air membrane around the surrounding water with both hands, then twisted and spun.
Whoooosh!!!
The seawater spun violently, creating a whirling current like a massive whale that intercepted and deflected every incoming water spike.
Only then did the little one react belatedly.
"Ah!! Human Master! They're attacking you!!"
Akiue Hoshi's admiration for the New Fish‑Man Pirates vanished the second she realized what these monsters were—mutated beyond recognition, having even consumed their own allies to fuel their grotesque forms.
They actually ate their own kind…? she thought, trembling as she hid behind Shirogai, clutching his clothes and shutting her eyes.
Shirogai remained calm.
"Numbers have never been the key to victory," he said with a slight smile, his senses sweeping the entire cabin.
"Hehe, to an extent… ignorance can feel like bliss," he murmured, "after all, if you don't know the strength difference between us, you might still believe you have a chance."
The mutated Fish‑Men of the abyss had no idea that a phenomenon like Observation Haki existed. Even worse, this clone of Shirogai's Observation Haki was far more acute than even Enel's mastery of Mantra.
"Perhaps you don't know what's about to happen, so let me make one prediction," Shirogai said, voice relaxed and confident.
"In the left corner, that invisible mutated Fish‑Man plans to stab me with a hidden dagger. Meanwhile, the skull‑mouth on his back intends to bite my throat the moment it gets close, thinking it'll have a feast."
"…?" Jeo—still invisible—paused.
"…?"
The serrated maw behind Jeo's skull froze.
You saw through it, but you didn't need to say it out loud! thought Shirogai with a hint of amusement.