Fish-Man Power

The world of pirates is filled with countless bizarre races.

Among them, the Fish-Man race is one of the more numerous and common, born with physiques ordinary humans lack and the ability to swim freely through the sea.

This was also the first time Impel Down had accepted a non-human prisoner from a different race.

But there wasn't much difference.

Under the baptism of boiling water, the Fish-Man couldn't withstand it either, obediently turning into boiled fish.

Moreover, this unknown Fish-Man had numerous crisscrossing wounds on his body from before, having likely endured a fierce battle during capture. When bathed, all his wounds split open, nearly dyeing the entire pot of water red. Even with a strong enough body, when he was fished out, his head lolled to the side, unconscious.

Figo found a large-sized prison uniform to put on the Fish-Man, completed the handover with the transport ship, and skillfully carried the Fish-Man away from the sea platform.

A hint of anticipation stirred in his heart: 'A Fish-Man, huh. I wonder if Fish-Man Karate will appear in my Prison Archives, and whether I can master it?'

Speak of the devil. Just as he was bouncing down the stairs, the Fish-Man he was carrying silently cracked open his eyes, his blue hand pressed against Figo's body clenching into a fist!

'Fish-Man Karate - Strike Water!'

The residual water droplets from the baptism transformed into powerful water-bullet shots as he swung his hand!

But before he could strike, Figo's grip on his collar suddenly loosened. The Fish-Man's body abruptly lost balance, and his prepared attack hit the ceiling instead.

Surprise flashed across the fish face, and the next moment, a knife handle slammed into it, twisting it out of shape!

Mouth askew, saliva and blood splattered!

The Fish-Man tumbled rapidly, plummeting from the first step all the way down, crashing through dozens of stairs. Every wound burst open, and he lay at the bottom of the staircase, twitching and struggling, with no strength left to get up.

Figo rehung his knife at his waist, looked up at the damage the water droplets had made to the ceiling.

Generally, prisoners on the third and fourth levels had strong enough physiques that boiling water couldn't seriously harm them.

In the past year, Figo had experienced this kind of thing over a dozen times and was used to it, though this attack was a bit more powerful than usual.

"Because he's a Fish-Man, he didn't choke on water?"

He deduced the reason, walked down, and picked up the Fish-Man again, nodding at the surveillance Den Den Mushi in the corner to indicate everything was fine.

"Don't ask for trouble, Fathead."

What Fathead... The Fish-Man's half-swollen face showed fierce hatred in his dead fish eyes, but he couldn't withstand the weakness from massive blood loss.

He could only stare at Figo's handsome face and curse bitterly, "Damn Marine!"

"Celestial Dragon's lackey!"

This was standard procedure. Figo had heard all kinds of filthy language from these criminals; it was all just water off a duck's back. After staying in Impel Down for a while, the criminals would learn to keep a low profile and behave.

But this time, the Fathead's curse was a bit different. It was also the first time Figo had heard the term "Celestial Dragon" since his transmigration. He looked down and asked:

"What did the Celestial Dragons do to you?"

Perhaps sensing the lack of respect in Figo's tone, the Fathead actually answered: "Those bastards took my brother... took my brother for no reason and made him a slave!"

That's it? Nothing new.

Figo was a bit disappointed and stopped paying attention.

But the Fathead in his hand was enraged by his demeanor, struggling and shouting: "Damn it! Lackey!"

"Let me go!"

"I'll kill you!!"

He was truly noisy, so Figo had to move him farther from his ear, opting to drag him along the ground instead.

As he descended the stairs, the clanking of chains and the thud of the fish head hitting the ground drowned out the curses.

By the time he reached Level 4, Figo looked down again and saw that the Fathead had truly fallen unconscious.

He found an empty cell and tossed him in.

Job done.

Figo began to anticipate the rewards of the imprisonment.

The stronger the pirate, the slower the Prison Archives recorded the information. Figo waited nearly half a minute before the nameless blue book unfolded in his mind again.

[Prisoner: Agai]

[Level: R9]

[Status: Imprisoned]

[Crime Index: 27]

[Capture Participation: 5%]

[Selectable Rewards: Shipwright, Brewing, Fish-Man Power (Rare)]

"Crime Index 27." Figo had mentally prepared himself; he'd experienced this many times.

Criminals brought in would weep about how tragic and unjust their cases were, enough to make anyone tear up. At first, Figo had actually sympathized with one or two, thinking there might be a miscarriage of justice.

But later, when he checked the case files, he got a good few lessons. Now he didn't believe anything, only the Crime Index in his own Prison Archives. That alone had never been wrong!

"But Fish-Man Power... Rare?"

This was the first time he had imprisoned a fish-man, so it was no surprise that Figo had never seen this ability, which was clearly exclusive to the Fish-Man Race. But over the past year, he had also never seen the word "rare" marked behind any ability.

Unlike imprisoning N-class criminals, imprisoning R-class criminals gave a reward of one choice from three random options.

The other two abilities brought by the fish-man Agai—shipwright and brewing—only made Figo sigh at the other's versatility. If he had to choose, of course he would pick the Fish-Man Power marked as rare!

Even though Figo still didn't know its effect.

[Reward: Fish-Man Power (Rare) +35 → 35 (Level 1 Fish-Man Cub)]

After receiving the reward, Figo immediately felt as if something had been added to his body. He clenched his fist, then loosened it in confusion. "Strength doesn't seem to have increased?"

"The level name is Fish-Man Cub..."

He pondered silently: "An ability related to fish-men... When the supply ship comes in a few days, should I jump into the sea and swim a lap to test it?"

Meanwhile, on Sabaody Archipelago.

In District 17, inside an abandoned house, a fish-man wrapped tightly in a cloak suddenly pushed open the door.

Inside the house were two other fish-men, each with some bandages wrapped around their bodies. They were startled by the sound of the door opening.

"Pappas? How is it?"

"Any news? Where did those bastard Marines take Agai?"

"Is Agai okay?"

The cloaked fish-man Pappas pulled back his hood and nodded. "He's fine for now. Those Marines didn't execute Agai directly. They should be sending him to Impel Down!"

"Impel Down?"

"What kind of place is that?"

"An underwater prison," Pappas replied. "It was built about a year ago. It's not famous, but over the past year, several pirates with bounties over a hundred million have been captured by the Marines and transported there. Agai will definitely go too!"

"An underwater prison?"

"Underwater?"

The two fish-men exchanged glances, their excitement stirring.

"Do you know the exact location?"

Pappas: "It's in the Calm Belt, not far from Marine Headquarters. It's probably very dangerous."

The Calm Belt... Although fish-men could swim freely through the sea, and an underwater prison was actually advantageous terrain for them, the giant Sea Kings in the Calm Belt wouldn't recognize them as kin.

"Agai was captured by the Marines because of us. We have to save him!" One fish-man gritted his teeth. "If you're afraid of death, I'm not!"

"Of course we have to save him!" Pappas said. "But you're injured. We need to recover for a couple of days before going, and we need to think of a plan first! The island is crawling with Marines searching for us. Do you want Agai's sacrifice to be in vain?!"

"...A plan?"

"The Calm Belt, damn it... The Marines rely on their technology to sail safely through the Calm Belt..."

One fish-man suddenly let out a soft exclamation. "What if we follow behind the Marines' ships..."

All three fish-men's eyes lit up.

This plan was at least a hundred times more feasible than just recklessly swimming over!