Chapter 239: Abrupt End
"What's happening? Could it be that Jinbe is clashing with the Dragon Slayer Swordsman?"
In Ryugu Palace, King Neptune, hearing the massive sounds of conflict, felt deeply anxious and immediately ordered his guards to investigate.
"Your Majesty! Hody Jones and his extremist fish-men from Fish-Man District have staged a rebellion!"
"They have tens of thousands of soldiers!"
A minister rushed in, his face filled with terror.
"What?!"
"Those fools!"
Neptune nearly collapsed. He wasn't particularly worried about Hody Jones and his radical followers themselves,
because he had complete faith in Jinbe's strength. However, he feared greatly offending Rhodes.
Rhodes was the world-renowned Dragon Slayer Swordsman, a figure who could challenge even Whitebeard in single combat—the strongest rookie of this entire era.
Enraging such a man would be a catastrophe Fish-Man Island couldn't possibly endure.
Disaster was imminent!
"Quickly! Guards, follow me!"
Thinking of the potential consequences, Neptune's blood ran cold. He immediately led the Neptune Army from Ryugu Palace, desperately hoping to prevent catastrophe.
Meanwhile...
Hody Jones had already surrounded the ruins of Jinbe's training grounds with his army of tens of thousands.
He planned to use overwhelming numbers to subdue Jinbe first, then march on Ryugu Palace itself.
The tens of thousands of soldiers, their fish-like heads packed together in formation, created a bizarre and seemingly endless sea of bodies.
These fish-men, more or less indoctrinated by the extremist ideology of "Fish-Man Supremacy," followed Hody Jones blindly, believing they were securing a glorious future for Fish-Man Island.
Ultimately, they were merely frogs in a well, completely unaware of the vast ocean's true dangers and their own insignificance.
"What happened here?"
A fish-man soldier exclaimed in shock.
Jinbe's training arena, while not ostentatiously grand, had been quite impressive and well-constructed.
Its various structures were built from extremely durable deep-sea metals, making them exceptionally difficult to damage.
But now,
this training ground, coveted by countless fish-men as a symbol of martial excellence, lay in complete ruins—as if some colossal Sea King had rolled across it.
Hody Jones was equally surprised. He had received reports that Jinbe had sparred with some mysterious visitor.
Could this devastation truly be the result of mere sparring?
A sense of unease crept into his heart.
But one glance at the endless fish-man army behind him instantly overwhelmed that unease with surging confidence.
What was there to fear?
This was an army of tens of thousands!
The strongest fish-man military force in the entire world!
Just then, footsteps echoed from within the ruins of the training arena.
All the fish-men turned to look and saw a group of four figures slowly emerging from the debris.
Jinbe didn't appear to be in optimal condition.
Hody Jones' eyes lit up—he had been extremely wary of this so-called Guardian of Fish-Man Island.
"What... are you doing here?"
Facing tens of thousands of armed fish-men, Jinbe's tone remained utterly calm, showing no fear whatsoever.
This composure stemmed from both his overwhelming strength and his considerable prestige throughout Fish-Man Island.
Sure enough, as his words fell,
a visible commotion rippled through the tens of thousands of soldiers. Some fish-men who hadn't yet been completely brainwashed by the "Fish-Man Supremacy" ideology unconsciously took several steps backward.
After all, this was only two years since the timeskip. Hody Jones hadn't yet fully consolidated power over Fish-Man Island, and Jinbe's influence still commanded respect.
Seeing his orderly formation beginning to waver, Hody Jones' eyes sharpened dangerously, and he shouted coldly,
"SILENCE!"
He was a great white shark fish-man, born with an inherently fierce and menacing face, and as a chief propagator of fish-man supremacy ideology, he wielded considerable authority.
"Jinbe! I heard you're planning to make Fish-Man Island submit to a human?!"
"That's correct."
Jinbe found the accusation somewhat puzzling—Whitebeard, whom Fish-Man Island had previously submitted to, had also been human.
Hody Jones, upon hearing this confirmation, became instantly enraged. He threw his arms wide and roared,
"We fish-men are the SUPERIOR race in this world! Why should we survive on scraps from humans?!
What ARE humans anyway?!
Those short, ugly, pathetic weaklings! Why do THEY occupy the surface world?!"
Hody Jones grew increasingly agitated, spittle flying from his sharp-toothed mouth:
"Follow me, Jinbe!
Let us march onto the surface, annihilate those humans who have enslaved our kind, and let fish-men stand at the pinnacle of the world!"
This highly inflammatory declaration stirred the fish-man army behind him into a frenzy, their blood boiling with misplaced excitement, morale surging dramatically.
"March to the surface!"
"Fish-men are superior!"
"We are invincible!"
Witnessing this scene, Jinbe opened his mouth but found himself at a loss for words.
This wasn't because he agreed with Hody Jones' delusional rhetoric.
As a former Shichibukai, Jinbe understood humanity's true military might all too well.
Fish-Man Island's power was utterly insignificant in comparison—they didn't even have the right to be arrogant. This wasn't merely a difference in population between fish-men and humans, but a catastrophic gap in absolute peak-level strength.
Among humans, there were multiple Marine Admirals, the Four Emperors, World Government agents, and numerous catastrophe-level powerhouses, while Fish-Man Island had... nothing comparable.
"Well? What do you say? Join me!"
"Let's liberate Fish-Man Island together and conquer all of humanity!"
Seeing Jinbe's conflicted expression, Hody Jones mistakenly believed he was wavering and quickly pressed his advantage.
Many fish-man officers also began pressuring Jinbe to join their cause.
"..."
Jinbe's expression was complicated, but he wasn't skilled with persuasive words and didn't know how to calm these hot-headed, fanatical fish-men or make them understand humanity's overwhelming power.
At that moment,
"This is actually an opportunity," Madam Shirley said calmly, puffing on her pipe.
"Most ordinary residents of Fish-Man Island don't really harbor racial hatred—they've never had direct contact with surface conflicts. But these extremists from Fish-Man District are different...
Most of them are radical supremacists. If you can subdue them now, your rule over Fish-Man Island will proceed smoothly.
King Neptune is extremely mild-mannered—he won't refuse anything that genuinely benefits Fish-Man Island."
She finished speaking and stared intently at Rhodes, curious what methods he would employ.
Such a violent and fanatical army of tens of thousands couldn't be subdued through words alone.
When numbers reach a certain critical mass, individual reason is largely suppressed—words alone cannot resolve this situation.
"So I should actually thank Hody Jones?"
Rhodes smiled calmly.
Because the solution was remarkably simple.
Jinbe, observing this, couldn't help but voice his concern:
"Please don't resort to mass slaughter. After all, most of these fish-men were simply caught up in mob mentality."
He assumed Rhodes was planning to use overwhelming force and bloodshed to establish dominance.
"Don't worry."
Rhodes waved his hand dismissively, slowly stepping forward to stand before the tens of thousands of assembled fish-men.
"Who are you?!"
Hody Jones, noticing Jinbe's apparent deference toward Rhodes, couldn't help but feel suspicious and demanded sharply.
Rhodes remained perfectly calm, too unbothered to engage with this ignorant fool.
"B-Boss..."
One fish-man soldier stammered out an answer for Rhodes,
"He, he seems to be... he's..."
The fish-man who recognized Rhodes had already gone pale with terror, stammering helplessly,
"He's that... the Dragon Slayer Swordsman..."
"What?"
Hody Jones felt the name sounded vaguely familiar, but couldn't quite place it.
"The one who fought Whitebeard one-on-one and became the world's strongest rookie," another fish-man added timidly.
"WHAT?!"
Hody Jones' face went pale.
"Boss...?"
The fish-man officer said weakly,
"Should we... perhaps retreat?"
"RETREAT?!"
Hody Jones was instantly furious.
They had already committed this far—how could there possibly be room for retreat now?!
If they lost this opportunity and became targets for King Neptune and Jinbe's retaliation, his life would become unbearable.
Besides, he was fundamentally just a frog in a well.
He had absolutely no comprehension of how powerful the world's true monsters were, nor any understanding of his own limitations.
Otherwise, he would never have proposed the absurdly delusional idea of exterminating all humanity and having fish-men conquer the world.
"What are you afraid of?!"
"No matter how strong he is, he's still just ONE man!"
Hody Jones roared furiously, attempting to incite his troops.
"Do you want to remain enslaved by inferior humans?!"
"KILL HIM!"
"Fish-men will NEVER be slaves!"
Hody Jones' voice was fierce and inflammatory.
Humans were prone to herd mentality, and fish-men even more so.
Incited by several extremist racist officers, the tens of thousands of soldiers regained their misplaced courage and resumed their chaotic clamor, their battle cries shaking the very foundations of the island.
"KILL HIM!"
"Kill this arrogant human!"
Hody Jones, witnessing this restored morale, looked arrogantly toward Rhodes.
But in the very next instant,
his expression suddenly froze completely.
The deafening battle cries behind him—which had shaken all of Fish-Man Island and startled countless deep-sea creatures in the vicinity—abruptly ceased entirely.
(End of Chapter)
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