"What's going on?!!!"
"Two... Joy Boys?!!!"
Facing the situation inside Fish-Man Island, several super-giant Sea Kings were also stunned, hesitation showing on their grotesque faces.
"But... that giant really does look like Joy Boy, and his abilities are the same."
"The smaller one gives off the same feeling as Joy Boy."
"The promised day has not yet arrived. Could there be some misunderstanding here?"
At this moment, the super-giant Sea Kings began to hesitate.
But Sadgeo was extremely excited, stars sparkling in his eyes.
"Wow!!!"
"What a big, handsome ship—just one look and I can tell it suits me perfectly!!!"
"Even though it's a bit old, if you fix it up it should still be usable, right~"
Noah was enormous. After all, it was a ship that had once carried countless races and taken part in battles at the peak of history.
Its size was comparable to that of the super-giant Sea Kings. Even someone as huge as Sadgeo—bigger than a giant—looked extremely small walking atop Noah, just like an ordinary person standing on a massive ship.
"Hey!!! Sea Kings!!!"
"Give the ship to me!!!"
Sadgeo lifted his head to gaze at the sky, a look of longing on his face.
As someone who possessed the bloodline factor of the Child of Destiny, Sadgeo naturally also had the ability to hear the Voice of All Things. After all, this ability seemed to have a chance of being inherited through bloodlines, just like people such as Momonosuke could inherit Oden's ability to hear the Voice of All Things.
"Give it to you?"
"Aren't you Joy Boy?!!"
"You don't even recognize Noah, nor do you recognize us. Did we really make a mistake?"
"Yes, he... doesn't seem as strong as Joy Boy."
"Could it really be that he isn't..."
The super-giant Sea Kings began to doubt, communicating among themselves.
Seeing this scene, King Neptune also hesitated.
He thought for a moment, then shouted loudly,
"What do you intend to do with Noah?!!!"
"Do what with it?"
Sadgeo grinned, baring his teeth.
"Isn't it obvious? Of course, to conquer the world!!!"
"Conquer... the world..."
Neptune froze in place, then bloodshot veins spread through his eyes.
A surge of terror welled up in his heart.
No... something's wrong!!!
What conquer the world?!!!
Joy Boy's dream and goal shouldn't it be to help all races that were enslaved and discriminated against, to liberate them, and to make this world a better place?
Conquer...
What kind of nonsense is that!!!
This is absolutely not Joy Boy!!!
But if he isn't Joy Boy, then who is he?
Why did he appear?
This was a question that became more terrifying the more one thought about it. But right now, Neptune had no time—and didn't dare—to think deeply about it.
He widened his eyes and roared at the super-giant Sea Kings at the top of his lungs,
"No!!!"
"This guy is absolutely not Joy Boy!!!"
His eyes were blood-red, as if he were using every last bit of strength he had.
"Noah must never be handed over!!!"
The massive roar echoed across the entire field. Everyone froze in place. Even the chaotic battlefield fell silent in an instant.
Shirahoshi clenched her fists in front of her chest, her beautiful eyes flickering as she looked at her father. The intuition of Poseidon told her—
"Don't give Noah to him!!!"
Shirahoshi shouted the same thing to the super-giant Sea Kings.
The words of Poseidon could not be disobeyed.
Hearing this, the super-giant Sea Kings exchanged glances.
"It seems we really did recognize the wrong one."
"Even though he looks exactly the same, he isn't Joy Boy. The real Joy Boy has already passed away."
"The giant before us is far from that powerful..."
Exchanging looks, the super-giant Sea Kings reached a consensus and immediately prepared to pull Noah back to its original position.
But it was precisely at this moment.
...
In an unknown corner, a figure slowly curled his lips into a grin. His eyes, glowing with a crimson light, slowly opened.
A terrifying power surged invisibly.
"The show has only just begun. How could you leave early?"
It was a power like the laws of reality themselves. Just as the super-giant Sea Kings—huge as islands—were about to pull Noah back, a terrifying force instantly acted upon them.
Those incomparably massive bodies stiffened, even their pupils beginning to tremble.
"This is..."
"What's going on? This kind of Conqueror's Haki Infusion!!!"
"The king of the World Government? No, that's not it!!!"
"How could power of this level still exist in this era?!!!"
"It's him!!!?"
The super-giant Sea Kings recalled the Conqueror's Haki they had sensed two years ago.
But under the suppression of Conqueror's Haki Infusion combined with spatial lockdown, they could only writhe their bodies, unable even to speak.
After all, they were merely Sea Kings whose bodies had grown to extreme size thanks to their race, mere five-thousand-meter-long Sea Kings.
Before absolute, overwhelming Haki and spatial rules, they could only be manipulated at will, as powerless as they had been eight hundred years ago, watching helplessly as the war was lost.
Outside Fish-Man Island, the painful struggle of the super-giant Sea Kings completely triggered panic among all the citizens.
Bathed in black-and-red lightning, they painfully released their mouths from the chains clamped onto Noah.
"What's happening!!!"
Seeing the Sea Kings wailing in pain, Shirahoshi was immediately scared into tears. She clenched her teeth as tears streamed endlessly down her face.
"Pull yourselves together, everyone!!!"
Not only her—King Neptune also stood frozen in place. Among the Straw Hat Pirates, the Coward Trio were even huddled together in a tight embrace.
Only Queen Otohime truly sensed the pain of the super-giant Sea Kings at this moment, yet she could do nothing at all.
"Heeheehee..."
"Even though I don't know what happened, I'll be taking this ship!!!"
Sadgeo laughed loudly and immediately charged forward to seize the ship.
But Luffy would not allow it.
Because Sadgeo had triggered a bug—that bug being that, right here on the scene, Shirahoshi cried in front of Luffy, and they just so happened to be friends.
"Hey!!! You bastard!!!"
"I don't know why the Sea Kings ended up like that, but it definitely has something to do with you, right?!!!"
"You made my friend cry—there's no way I won't send you flying!!!"
Sadgeo's attention was drawn by that voice. He turned around to look at the tiny figure—it was the guy he had met back on the Sabaody Archipelago.
"So it's you again. You're really annoying, you know~"
"Hurry up and get lost!!"
"Like hell I would!!!"
"Hoo~"
"Third Gear!!!"
With a deep breath, Luffy blew air into his arms. His hands swelled as Armament Haki instantly hardened them.
"Gomu Gomu—Giant Gatling!!!"
"Ahhhhh!!!!"
In response, Sadgeo casually threw out his own effortless, normal-state "Gatling Barrage."
"I absolutely... won't allow you to hurt my friends!!!"
Vaguely, the sound of jingling bells rang out within his heart.