Bright pursed his lips.
The emotion he had painstakingly worked up was interrupted, and the words he had prepared would not come out.
Learn to read the room a little, will you?
Bright watched the swaying, drunken figure approach, his brow furrowing slightly. "Hyouzou."
A red-skinned Octopus Fishman, with tentacles below his waist, carrying a sake gourd in one hand and a sword in the other.
They were old acquaintances too.
The acknowledged greatest swordsman on Fish-Man Island, Hyouzou of the Eight-Sword Style.
Of course, in a place where everyone practiced Fishman Karate, anyone who understood would know just how much that title was worth.
"I heard from Arlong that you took care of Hody?"
Hyouzou was thoroughly drunk.
What Hody had done had already spread throughout the entire Fish-Man District through Brother Arlong.
Naturally, it shocked every Fishman.
He had actually attacked his own kind just to deal with Bright and Jinbe!
Fishmen despised such things.
In a sense, Bright's reputation in the Fish-Man District had soared because of this.
Though it was still insignificant compared to Brother Arlong's enthusiastic praise.
But Bright knew Hyouzou had not come to avenge Hody, even though he had been Hody's subordinate in the original story.
Hyouzou was the mercenary sort. He followed whoever paid him more.
Hody probably had not gotten around to hiring him yet.
"But in the end, Hody wasn't anything special,"
Hyouzou burped, his eyes filled with a hazy gleam. He drawled, "If someone like that wants to lead the Fish-Man District forward, burp... I-I won't accept it..."
"Hey, Hyouzou, you bastard!"
Arlong leaped down from the table and roared, "What are you trying to do..."
"Leave it to Bright, Arlong."
Jinbe reached out to stop the furious Arlong and said calmly, "If he can't even handle something like this, how can he talk about changing Fish-Man Island?"
"Have you forgotten what Brother Fisher Tiger did back then?"
Arlong thought for a moment, then nodded.
This might be an opportunity.
Even with his and Jinbe's support, no one knew how many people in the Fish-Man District were still dissatisfied with Bright.
But it did not matter. The Fish-Man District respected the Law of the Jungle most of all.
As long as Bright could display overwhelming strength, just as Brother Fisher Tiger had done, he could win everyone's support!
And now was the perfect chance.
Bright understood that as well. "In other words, as long as I have the strength to defeat you, you'll acknowledge me, right?"
The murkiness in Hyouzou's eyes turned feverish. Though he was still burping, the hand holding his sword had become incredibly steady.
"That's always been the rule, hasn't it?"
Bright grinned and tilted his head slightly toward the bar's entrance. "Outside."
He turned and walked out.
"Hehehe, I'm looking forward to it!"
Hyouzou laughed and followed him.
"Yeah!!!"
The drunks inside the bar immediately began dancing with excitement.
"A fight!!!"
In the rundown Fish-Man District, there was not much entertainment to be had. Fishmen always found their fun in fighting or watching fights.
On the street outside the bar, Bright and Hyouzou faced each other from afar. Nearly all the Fishmen from inside the bar poured out, linking arms and shouting encouragement.
Word had even spread, and Fishmen from farther away were rushing over.
The latecomers quickly learned from those who had arrived first what had happened that night.
"Huh? A fight over who gets to be the boss of the Fish-Man District?"
"Doesn't that mean the Fish-Man District is about to get lively?"
"Hahahaha! I never thought we'd get to see something like this again—the kind of thing that happened in Brother Fisher Tiger's day!"
The Fishmen discussed it animatedly, reminiscing.
It had been a chaotic yet blood-pumping era.
A man had stepped forward and forcibly ended the chaos of the Fish-Man District with his strength!
"You don't need a weapon?"
Hyouzou glanced at Bright and slowly drew his swords.
Not one sword, nor two, but eight.
He was an Octopus Fishman. Besides his two hands, he also had tentacles.
"My fists are enough."
Bright could not even be bothered to use his ability. He raised his hands into a stance as faint arcs of electricity began to dance across his body.
"Shahahahaha! This fight will be over in an instant!!"
Arlong, watching from the side, laughed loudly. "Bright isn't even using his full strength. How could someone like Hyouzou possibly be his match?"
"Is that so?"
Hachi looked worried. "But Hyouzou really is strong!"
He had lost to Hyouzou more times than he could count.
"There's no need to worry,"
Jinbe said calmly, crossing his arms. "They aren't even on the same level."
He knew Bright's strength best. Hyouzou might not be weak, but he could never defeat Bright.
"Haha, then don't blame me if you get cut down!"
Hyouzou grinned recklessly.
He had no legs, but he had eight tentacles. His nimble tentacles exerted force all at once, launching his body forward like a cannonball.
As he shot forward, eight sharp blades swung from every angle, forming something like a storm.
"He'll be sliced into mincemeat!!"
A Fishman among the spectators cried out.
In their eyes, Bright would be completely swallowed by the storm of blades in the next instant.
Too slow.
A smile curved across Bright's lips.
His body transformed into a streak of blue lightning.
The lightning flashed to the side, then refracted forward at a sharp angle.
In a single instant, Bright appeared diagonally behind Hyouzou.
Though the tough body brought by Kaido's Bloodline and the subdermal exoskeleton provided by the Primitive Diamondfish were both developing rapidly, Bright had no intention of using his body to block swords before learning Haki.
Using electric current as energy and employing the technique of the Shark Skin Palm Strike, the speed Bright unleashed was, he felt, no worse than Shave, one of the Six Powers.
At the very least, Hyouzou had not reacted at all.
"What?"
By the time he turned back in astonishment, Bright had already reached out with one large hand and seized one of his tentacles.
"This is over."
Hyouzou's body was flung into the air, then smashed heavily into the ground.
Then he flew up again and smashed into the ground again.
After several repetitions, Bright had slammed several huge craters into the ground around them.
By the time Bright let go, Hyouzou could only lie in one of the craters, breathing weakly.
"Is it... over already?"
One of the watching Fishmen exclaimed, "That Hyouzou actually had no ability to fight back at all!"
"So strong!! Bright is really strong!"
"You're still calling him Bright? Call him Brother Bright!!"
A Fishman said excitedly, "Brother Bright is the new boss of our Fish-Man District!!"
"Long live Boss Bright!!"
The Fishmen cheered and shouted.
"So this is why you chose to believe in him, Arlong?" Kuroobi said in amazement.
He had passed out before Bright took down Hody last time, so he had not witnessed Bright's true strength.
"This is still far from Bright's full strength."
Arlong grinned. "Once you see his true power, you'll understand. He is Fish-Man Island's hope!"
"If that's the case," Kuroobi slowly nodded, "then perhaps, just as you said..."
The surrounding Fishmen cheered with abandon.
Even Hyouzou, already extremely weak, said with difficulty, "S-so strong... I acknowledge you..."
Bright slowly let out a breath and looked at Jinbe and Arlong.
Jinbe gave him an encouraging look, while Arlong gave him a thumbs-up.
"Then from today onward, I will lead the Fish-Man District forward!"
Bright shouted, "Anyone who isn't convinced can challenge me anytime!"
"Yeah!! Brother Bright!!"
The cheers rang through the night sky.
"So just like that, you became the boss of the Fish-Man District?"
Shyarly looked up from her account book at Bright in surprise.
"Didn't you tell me to do what I wanted to do?"
Bright smiled.
"Looks like you took that to heart."
"Because everything Shyarly says is right."
"Hmph. So, Bright," Shyarly's expression barely changed, "what do you plan to do next?"
"It's still too early to say I've unified the Fish-Man District."
Bright said, "Although Brother Jinbe and Brother Arlong support me, you know how countless small gangs there are in the Fish-Man District. What comes next will be troublesome."
"Oh, like Brother Fisher Tiger back then?" Shyarly nodded lightly.
Bright said seriously, "The Fish-Man District has such a large population, yet they have always been idle, poor, and ignorant. It is the most unstable part of Fish-Man Island."
"If we want to change Fish-Man Island, then we'll start here."
"Have you already figured out what to do?"
"I only have a rough idea for now. We can discuss the specifics later. First, I need to prepare for the string of troubles ahead."
"That's a shame," Shyarly shook her head regretfully. "It seems you won't be able to work at my shop."
"Sorry, Shyarly. I won't be able to take it easy like I originally planned from now on," Bright said seriously.
"Didn't I tell you? Just do what you want to do."
Shyarly smiled gently. "Then slowly make your way toward the future I saw."
"So what exactly did you see?"
"I refuse to answer. If you knew, wouldn't that take away all the anticipation? You only need to know this, Bright: if we keep moving forward, we will eventually reach a wonderful future. So don't stop."
"That's a temptation that's hard to refuse, but don't say such ominous things."
"Huh? That made no sense."
Anyway, besides training, he would have more troublesome matters to deal with from now on.
In the time that followed, Bright would often encounter things like this.
"You're Bright, right? You want to become the boss of the Fish-Man District? Did you ask us first?"
Before you continue