Four days later, a supply ship would arrive.
It was Third Level's turn to transport supplies. Captain Xiao led seventeen jailers, leaving only the three on patrol behind, up to the surface platform.
As they waited for the ship, Xiao kept glancing back at Impel Down's exit. Just as he'd expected, the supply ship hadn't arrived yet, but Figo had.
"Captain Figo, here to lend a hand again?" The Third Level jailers greeted him warmly.
Figo was always eager to help escort and lock up prisoners—so much so that it would have drawn attention if he didn't. Whenever he had time, he came along for jobs like this. It wasn't that tiring, after all.
But this time, he hadn't come to help.
He undid his buttons, took off his uniform jacket, and hung it on the Baptism Room's doorknob. Beneath it, he wore a simple shirt that showed off his sharply defined muscles.
"I'm not here to help this time. Sorry for the trouble, brothers, but you'll have to make a couple more trips. It's a bit stuffy inside Impel Down, so I thought I'd take the chance to go for a swim when the supply ship arrives," Figo said.
It wasn't anything unusual.
Impel Down was practically cut off from the world. Stay there too long, and it was easy to go stir-crazy. Plenty of people had taken the chance to step outside when a supply ship arrived, swim a couple of laps, and get some fresh air.
No one was foolish enough to take Figo's help for granted. The jailers understood and responded with easygoing banter. One even said he'd find a chance to challenge Figo to a swimming contest.
Xiao stood quietly at the edge, unable to get a word in. He was in a sour mood.
The deeper you went into Impel Down, the stronger the prisoners became. On paper, the three squads on the first three levels were equal in rank. But as Third Level's Captain, Xiao had always felt that he was stronger than Figo and the Second Captain.
He was also a little aloof around ordinary Marines and jailers. Seeing his own squad's jailers so familiar with Figo, the First Squad's Captain, left him with an unpleasant feeling he couldn't quite put into words.
It wasn't jealousy. He just couldn't stand it. This phony's only doing this to get the Vice Jailer Chief's position... What a hypocrite.
"Maybe Captain Figo's planning to do what the Warden did and kill a Sea King to give everyone a feast?" He forced a faint smile.
The surface platform fell silent.
Figo turned to look at him and smiled. "I'm not that capable, Captain Xiao."
Xiao chuckled. "Ah, that's right. If Captain Figo were going to kill one, he'd have to go after a large Sea King to feed everyone. A small one, you could practically eat all by yourself. But if you went after a large Sea King, you'd end up feeding it instead!"
It sounded like a joke, but Xiao's tone was dead serious. He was plainly implying that Figo was a glutton.
The tension became impossible to miss.
Figo paused, studying Xiao with a hint of caution. He and Xiao weren't close, but they'd never had any conflicts either. For the past year, they'd been little more than acquaintances who nodded at each other.
What's gotten into him? The year was nearly up, and there had been a few rumors going around. Figo gave a soft, understanding "Oh." "You want to be Vice Jailer Chief? You think I'm in your way, is that it?"
His words were startlingly blunt.
The atmosphere grew even more awkward.
The jailers kept their eyes lowered.
Impel Down was a small place. The jailers were the first to hear about anything that happened there.
Jailer Chief Raul was about to leave, and Kinch would take over. That would leave the Vice Jailer Chief position open. Unless someone was brought in from Marine Headquarters or the World Government, one of the three Captains would surely take the job.
Naturally, they supported Figo, who spent every day fighting alongside them on the front lines of pirate transfers.
But they had little influence and didn't dare speak up. All they could do was sneak glances at Xiao and watch him squirm.
Xiao's face had gone so red that he couldn't hide it.
The competition was only three days away. He hadn't been trying to hide his intentions.
But how dare Figo say it so bluntly?!
That was unworthy of justice! Unworthy of justice!
Fortunately, the arriving supply ship gave Xiao a way out of the painfully awkward situation.
"Get ready to receive the ship!" he shouted.
He didn't look at Figo again, as if he hoped that yelling would make the jailers forget what had just happened.
Figo paid him no mind. In a world where strength ruled, who had time for this kind of petty backbiting and scheming? He stripped down to his light clothes and climbed onto the ship's railing.
He had one simple goal this time: test the effects of the Fish-Man Power he'd gained four days earlier.
After greeting the supply ship's Captain, Figo rose onto his toes and leaped into the water. He barely made a splash, slipping beneath the surface like a nimble fish.
He was a good swimmer.
But as soon as the seawater enveloped him, Figo felt the difference. A deep, instinctive sense of ease welled up inside him. He moved his arms lightly, and it was as though the water offered no resistance at all!
People couldn't breathe through their mouths and noses underwater, but now Figo's skin took over the job, drawing oxygen from the seawater. He barely felt the need to hold his breath, let alone any hint of suffocation. It was as if he were on dry land!
Figo felt as though he'd become a fish, with the ocean as his home!
Just as he'd thought?
Was the Fish-Man Power basically the ability to breathe underwater?
No, perhaps it was more than that.
No wonder it was marked as rare!
In the pirate world, where most of the world was ocean, this ability was incredibly valuable!
Figo was delighted.
Then, suddenly, he sensed an unusual current behind him. It seemed a fairly large fish was about to crash into him.
This, too, was an effect of the Fish-Man Power. It made Figo more sensitive to the movement of ocean currents.
His body reacted faster than his thoughts. Figo swept both arms back, his body swaying through the water like a nimble swordfish as he darted away.
Sure enough, the moment he moved, a burly figure rushed through the spot where he'd been.
But it wasn't a fish.
Figo stared in astonishment at the fish-man, with a human body and a fish's head. Fathead? No, one of my kind?!
Then he sensed more. His eyes darted from side to side, and he spotted two more fish-men. Together with the one that had just attacked him from behind, they formed a triangle around him. Malice flashed in their six fish eyes!
Two minutes earlier.
The three fish-men who'd come to rescue Agai clung tightly to the supply ship as it traveled to Impel Down.
Once the ship had docked, the three fish-men readied themselves to act. But just as they were about to make their move, someone suddenly jumped off the ship.
After a brief moment of surprise, the fish-man closest to Figo immediately attacked him from behind. But they hadn't expected...
"He actually dodged?"
"He's got sharp senses..."
"Take him out, quickly. Don't make a sound!"
The Fish-Man Race could speak and communicate underwater, but humans couldn't. As long as they kept Figo from surfacing to raise the alarm, their plan wouldn't be exposed prematurely!
By then, Figo had more or less figured out why they were there. He couldn't help thinking how close a call that had been.
If the fish-man who'd attacked him had been twice as fast...
Well, if he'd also been twice as strong...
Uh, and if he'd had a weapon...
He might've been hurt!
So Figo's gaze turned hostile as well. He clenched his right fist, and muscles like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree bulged along his arm!
The three fish-men charged at him, and an ominous feeling suddenly came over them. The moment Figo threw his punch, their unease intensified. They felt the currents surge and roll, crashing toward them with overwhelming force!
"What?!"
"Not good! Run—"
BOOM! The calm sea in the Calm Belt suddenly erupted into waves. The spray drenched Xiao, who stood by the ship!
The bone-deep chill made him shudder.
"W-what happened?!"
Below the surface, Figo quickly swam upward with the three fish-men tucked under his arms, all unconscious with their eyes rolled back.
A year of hard work hadn't gone to waste.
Physique: 1024
Level 3, Extremely Strong!
The update time is tentatively set for noon. Two chapters will be posted at once.
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