BlackStar_BH:
Hello everyone, I know that over the past few months, I have almost abandoned this fanfic for several reasons that I cannot fully explain here. However, this time I want to be honest with you — I will not drop this fanfic no matter what happens. I will continue working on it.
That said, I will need to change the pacing of the story. I'll be speeding things up and skipping over many parts. The fanfic will no longer follow One Piece chapters with the same level of detailed coverage as before. My goal now is to elevate the story's quality and push its pace to the next level…
Stay tuned.
_________________
Causing chaos all over Fish-Man Island.
That's what Hody Jones and his crew did.
The readers from Fish-Man Island, in particular, felt extreme anger while reading the chapters one after another.
It seemed as if there really was no one who could stop Hody Jones's rampage, as he kept destroying everything in his path until he reached Gyoncord Plaza.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
Chapter's Events:
— — — — — — — — — — — —
[Outside Gyoncord Plaza]
"We can't get in…!! The entrance has been sealed!!" Thousands of fishmen noticed that the main entrance to the plaza was tightly shut.
"Your Majesty!!!"
"I can hear those pirates whooping and howling inside…!!"
"Let's climb up above the plaza! We should be able to see inside!!" Someone suggested.
…
[Gyoncord Plaza – execution ground of the King (Also the place where Queen Otohime was assassinated.)]
"Ah!! It's the king!!" After climbing the plaza walls, the people saw the king bound tightly in the middle of the square.
"Whoaaa, a Kraken!!" There were also many sea beasts in addition to the Kraken.
[Hody Jones (Great White Shark Fishman)]
Hody Jones appeared with huge differences from before—his hair had turned completely white, his muscle mass had increased greatly, and his skin had become pale.
He was holding and staring at the energy pill he had been consuming all this time.
"My soldiers…!!" Meanwhile, King Neptune looked at his fallen soldiers on the battlefield with a pained expression.
"Ahahahahahahah!!!" The pirates on Hody's side laughed heartily at this moment.
"What pathetic soldiers!! And they thought they could protect their country!!!" one of them mocked.
"Hody…" At that moment, one of the kingdom's soldiers stood up, uttering the enemy's name while grinding his teeth in hatred. He pulled out explosives, intending to sacrifice his life to take Hody with him.
"It looks like that soldier is about to try something…" said Zeo, one of Hody's officers.
"Kyakyah! Where?!" laughed Daruma as he asked, also one of the New Fishman Pirates' officers.
"He's gonna blow himself up with dynamite and take someone else with him, Bokan!!" Dosun understood what the soldier was trying to do.
"Muhhii!! If he does that, I'll become dried squid-hii!!" Ikaros Much didn't want to become dried squid because of the explosion's heat.
"Airnh vriyn zhgeryhh wehnnayge'h dranghh….!!" Meanwhile, Hyouzou's words were completely incoherent since he was drunk all the time.
All of them were also high-ranking officers.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
Veins popped on Neptune's forehead as he read these scenes. He was furious—this humiliation tasted unbearably bitter for the king, and even more so for his ministers and soldiers, who felt insignificant as they saw how weak they were.
The soldier who saw his comrade trying to use explosives to at least take someone with him before the princes arrived felt his heart tremble… but when Hody fired a water bullet at him and brought him down, his whole body felt cold.
Especially when he saw the strength of that water bullet—it smashed through many rocky barriers all the way to the western coast of Mermaid Cove!
That power was absolutely terrifying!
"What kind of pills give this level of strength!?"
Even Neptune was shocked despite his anger.
"If he's this strong, no wonder my counterpart couldn't do anything to stop him…"
"Your Majesty, it looks like the princes will be in danger…" said the Right Minister sadly.
"It seems Jimbei has to intervene as soon as possible…" added the Left Minister with a gloomy expression.
Seeing the entire royal family unable to do anything filled both ministers with despair and a crushing sense of insignificance… Had the kingdom's strength fallen so low!?
Especially after seeing the terrifying power level of the human forces above the sea in the manga—whether Marines or pirates—the level was overwhelming and unreachable! A level where even Hody Jones could only be considered a slightly bigger fish in comparison!
Only Jimbei, as a Shichibukai, could hold a shred of reputation in that world… but even he had been forced to bow his head to Big Mom for protection… This feeling of helplessness convinced them that perhaps they had not been living the right way all along.
"Just internal problems already pushed us to the brink, sigh…"
Neptune sighed in frustration as he stared at the manga page.
He did not want to see his kingdom fall into such a dreadful future… What if the Art Store didn't exist? What if there were no manga? How would he know all this?
What if there were no hunters? What if there were no Sky Port? And more terrifying… what if there was no such man, Roduis D. Rob? Wouldn't the future be utterly dreadful…?
The death of Otohime alone would make his life miserable enough to do nothing else afterwards… Thinking this, Neptune truly felt relieved that the current world wasn't following the events drawn in the manga.
Because after all, even if he were saved, even if the Straw Hats intervened and stopped the chaos, the taste of everything that happened would be far too bitter—the shame could never be erased from history.
"I feel shame just seeing it in the manga's pages… Who would have thought I'd be forced to watch myself cornered like this?"
Neptune forced himself not to close the volume and leave. He put on a calm facade and continued reading… the atmosphere around him made those nearby feel fear for a moment.
…
For those who weren't interested in the Fishman Kingdom's conflict, perhaps not many readers truly cared—aside from the fishmen themselves, most human readers were struggling not to fall asleep while yawning and flipping through the pages, waiting for the real battle.
Many readers didn't like how Jimbei stopped Luffy and the others from intervening in this fight for some strange reason…
"That's right, it's a strange reason for me too, fufufufu~"
Doffy laughed as he watched the scene of the three princes who had just arrived overpowering the sea beasts under Hody's control.
"Saving the fishmen from this miserable situation by the Straw Hats would strengthen the idea of peace with humans for the fishmen, wouldn't it?"
That's what Enel also believed.
"In the manga world, there's no One Piece manga to help people there understand who the Straw Hats really are, so things can be understood from that angle. People there are ignorant of many things. The perspective of ordinary people on outside intervention has to be considered—they might not want it."
Doffy looked at his younger brother, who seemed more mature now, his smile brighter.
"Your hair no longer covers your eyes, heh~ looks like you've gained a lot of confidence lately, little brother."
"My Speed Fruit also speeds up my understanding of people's thoughts around me, so you can consider me more mature for that reason," Rosinante said with a smile.
"What a unique Devil Fruit…"
"Well, I don't really care. What I want to see is this fool who thinks he can become strong using drugs get crushed… fufufu~ Fishmen really do have a unique way of thinking."
"No, it's that hatred for humans blinded their vision. That doesn't mean they're stupid or anything like that—they have the same mind that humans have."
…
Meanwhile, Vegapunk's interest kept growing in what Hody and his officers were consuming.
"Let me calculate this logically… For Hody Jones, it's already over. This change in his appearance means he's reached the point of no return. He only has a day or so left before becoming like a punctured balloon."
"Hah? How so?" Saul was surprised and asked to understand.
"Well, as you see, his heavy intake of these drugs that force muscle growth has accelerated his metabolism many times over, causing him to age at an exaggerated rate. This level of strength is what he could have achieved with grueling training over decades—but he compressed it into a few days. The result is obvious."
"You're saying that even without the Straw Hats' intervention, this rebellious crew will collapse on its own?" Clover asked.
"That's correct… but they don't know that. Apparently, even Hody Jones himself doesn't know what's happening inside his body."
"Everything has a price. The price of power is far higher."
Mihawk spoke—he didn't even consider Hody Jones a real threat compared to Luffy's current level.
"Well, he can be considered a warm-up before entering the real stage."
"The New World."
Not just Mihawk—everyone present knew it well. The New World was the place where the crew's abilities, honed over the past two years, would be truly sharpened.
Whether they would rise to the top or sink to the ocean floor—it would all be decided in the New World.
_________________
Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
_________________
Chapter 955: Exposed for What He Truly Is.
Chapter 956: Hody is the Hatred of the Fish-Man Race Accumulated Across Generations.
Chapter 957: The Destruction of Fishman Island?
Chapter 958: The Straw Hat Crew's Entrance.
_________________
BlackStar_BH:
Join my Patreon at:
https://www.patreon.com/BlackStar_BH
To support me and unlock advanced chapters. Get ahead with up to 30 chapters in advance:
- 5 advanced chapters for $5
- 10 advanced chapters for $10
- 15 advanced chapters for $15
- 20 advanced chapters for $20
- 30 advanced chapters for $30
_________________