Fish-Man Warriors

Three Thousand Welas True Punch!

Water-Style: Sea Current Shoulder Throw!

Spear Wave: Swarm Rain!

Jinbe had just arrived, and with a single punch, he destroyed three warships...

The Fish-Man companions who had come with him also unleashed their Fish-Man techniques. Some smashed the ships' hulls from below, while others controlled the currents to break the masts.

Unlike the other rescued Fish-Man and Mermaid slaves, the Fish-Men Jinbe had brought were clearly all "fighters"!

And as soon as they arrived, they wasted no time fighting. Their first priority was to destroy the ships...

The Marines were thrown into disarray. Their attention had been focused on the decks, and they hadn't expected enemies to suddenly attack from below.

"Damn it! Has the Ryugu Kingdom decided to rebel against the World Government?" the Vice Admiral leading the Marines roared.

"No. I am Jinbe, just a Fish-Man District punk from Fish-Man Island. I came specifically to follow Boss Fisher Tiger. This has nothing to do with the Ryugu Kingdom." Riding the recoil of the current, Jinbe leaped onto the deck where the Vice Admiral and Fisher Tiger stood.

"Do you think the World Government will believe your nonsense? Stop this rebellion at once—"

The Vice Admiral was still berating him, but Jinbe had already assumed a Fish-Man Karate stance. On the other side, Fisher Tiger immediately mirrored him, just as if they'd rehearsed it!

"I've already explained myself. Whether you believe me or not is your business, humans."

The blue and red Fish-Men each quickly drew a ball of water onto their palms, wrapping it around their loosely cupped hands. The next moment...

Fish-Man Karate Secret Technique: Brutal Thrust!

The two attacked the leading Vice Admiral at the same time. Their immense force crushed him between them, and the gloved Vice Admiral instantly coughed up blood and fell into the sea.

Jinbe was about to chase after him and finish him off, but Fisher Tiger reached out to stop him and shook his head. Then Fisher Tiger asked worriedly, "You came here... What about Fish-Man Island?"

With a quick glance, Fisher Tiger realized that the ones who'd arrived with Jinbe weren't just the troublemakers from the Fish-Man District. Some of them... were Fish-Men from the Ryugu Kingdom's Royal Guard, wearing different clothes!

"Leave Fish-Man Island to the King and Queen Otohime! We have to put our own beliefs into practice! Besides... Boss Fisher Tiger, don't worry. Captain Edward has agreed to leave his flag on Fish-Man Island. Whatever we 'punks' do won't affect the island!" Jinbe assured Fisher Tiger.

Fisher Tiger visibly relaxed. "Whitebeard? If it's him..."

Sig still had no idea what was happening. He only knew that it seemed some "reinforcements" had arrived!

Clutching his side, he hacked down a few grunts and staggered over to the edge of the deck.

At that moment, Sig felt as if his body heat and strength were draining away through the wound in his lower back...

He was wondering whether he should jump into the sea in his condition when the ship suddenly jolted. Sig lost his footing and was thrown overboard.

Just before he hit the water, he vaguely saw the helmsman from earlier get run through by several Marines' blades...

It seemed the "Sword of Freedom" had lasted all of two hours.

After plunging into the icy water, Sig felt the wound in his back hurt even more. As his strength drained away, his field of vision began to narrow!

The Fish-Men dismantling the ships had left the lifeboats behind. They were a way out for the other slaves, since humans needed ships to travel across the sea.

Just as Sig began to fear he was in trouble and struggled to swim up toward a lifeboat, a sticky sensation wrapped around his waist...

Out of the corner of his eye, Sig saw a Fish-Man with pink skin and a white, spiky crown of hair wrap his arms around him. The prominent puckered lips, six powerful arms, and sucker-covered limbs made his species obvious: he was an Octopus-Man.

Sig: ???

The Octopus-Man held Sig around the waist, gave him a thumbs-up, and grinned, as if to say, Leave it to me!

The sucker-covered arms did a perfect job of stopping Sig from losing more blood, but...

He was dragging Sig down into the water!

The Fish-Men and Mermaids were all swimming toward the seabed. Apparently, they intended to swim all the way back to Fish-Man Island, which lay ten thousand meters beneath Mary Geoise.

Sig: ???

"I... glug glug glug..." Sig had barely begun to speak before he choked on a mouthful of water, and hurriedly shut his mouth.

Sig knew the Octopus-Man meant well. He'd clearly mistaken Sig for one of his own and wanted to take him back to Fish-Man Island, but...

I'm not a Fish-Man!

The Wrathful People could hold their breath for longer than before, but... even they couldn't last until they reached ten thousand meters below the surface!

The water pressure, at least, wasn't a problem. The scales of the Wrathful People seemed to offer tremendous resistance to it.

It wasn't that they had enough physical defense to withstand such crushing pressure. Like Fish-Men and Mermaids, their body structure simply prevented the pressure from affecting them.

But holding one's breath and breathing underwater were two different things. Injured and choking on seawater, Sig was already close to his limit...

Hachi was puzzled. Why did this brother look like he was choking?

No way. There couldn't really be a Fish-Man who could choke, could there?

"Pff, pff, pff..." Hachi chuckled at his own thought as he kept swimming downward with Sig.

He didn't know Sig and couldn't even tell what kind of Fish-Man he was, but he was certain Sig was one of them. Of course he had to save him!

With all his strength gone, Sig couldn't break free. His lungs felt ready to burst, and the darkness below gave no sign that they were nearing Fish-Man Island.

He couldn't believe he was going to die such an unfair death...

When this Octopus-Man realized the "fellow Fish-Man" he'd rescued had drowned, he'd probably be traumatized, too, right? With death close at hand, Sig's thoughts began to scatter.

Glugluglug—

Sig couldn't hold his breath any longer and let out the last of it. But just then...

A tearing pain suddenly ripped through the area on both sides of Sig's neck, between his neck and collarbones!

Then came a rush of coolness. It felt as if... seawater was pouring into his body through those openings?

Sig: ???

Sig had no idea what was happening. He only knew that his lack of oxygen was suddenly improving. Alongside another sensation, almost like an instinctive "breathing," he was drawing seawater in and out through the slits that had opened beneath either side of his neck... gills?

Meanwhile, the steady supply of oxygen gradually brought Sig back to "life."

Could the Wrathful People from the Paths of the Divine grow "gills"? Or... was this another way the Paths of the Divine adapted to this world?

Sig breathed a sigh of relief, though he couldn't quite relax.

If he passed out, his "scales" would surely disappear. So... would his gills disappear, too?

Forcing himself to stay conscious, Sig let Hachi drag him farther down...