“You bastard, are you the leader of these Fish-Men?
Do you even realize you’ve ruined everything I had—my identity, my status, my wealth—because of you…!”
Whoosh!
The answer he received was the sound of air being torn apart.
Sebastian hurled the war hammer in his hand straight toward Treva Bluchi.
The sheer force wrapped around it made it impossible to block head-on.
Bluchi immediately dodged to the side.
But while he could avoid it, the ship beneath his feet could not.
The already sinking vessel was further shattered by the impact.
“You slave traders… how many lives have you destroyed?
And you still have the nerve to question us?”
Sebastian picked at his ear, as if he had just heard something filthy.
Before Bluchi could respond, several splashes erupted from deep beneath the sea.
Three enormous sea beasts rose into view.
Though their bodies were fish-like marine creatures, their heads were respectively those of a giraffe, a rhinoceros, and a chimpanzee.
Including the portions still submerged, each of these sea beasts was around fifty meters in length.
They were not Sea Kings, nor ordinary fish—they were a special type of marine mammal.
Atop the sea giraffe stood Barbel, holding a war hammer that looked exactly like the one Sebastian had thrown.
“Sebastian!
You bastard, were you aiming the hammer at me?!”
“Yeah.
Otherwise I’d have to go down and pick it up myself.
This way you just bring it back for me.”
“You—!”
Seeing Sebastian admit it so casually only made Barbel even more annoyed, though he quickly calmed down.
“Hmph.
Fine.
I’ll ‘hold onto’ your hammer then.
You’ve got about one minute left.
Let’s see how you complete your promise to the boss.”
“If you’re desperate, I don’t mind helping you a bit.”
“No need.
I’m not some ‘hammer-dependent fighter.’ And I see what you’re doing—you’re just trying to buy time.”
Though they were bickering, neither of them stopped moving.
Sebastian shifted into a combat stance.
Barbel raised his conch shell and sounded the signal for attack.
The three sea beasts surged forward.
Even if the ship had been intact, it would still have ended up sinking under their assault—let alone one already broken in half.
Bluchi understood this clearly, but he had no time to focus on them.
Sebastian’s attack had already arrived.
“Fish-Man Karate—Demon Tile True Fist!”
Dense Armament Haki wrapped around his fist as the surrounding air rippled under the strike.
Bluchi barely managed to evade the center of the attack, but his body was still flung backward uncontrollably.
The essence of Fish-Man Karate was striking through water.
Moisture in the air became an extension of the attack, making its true range far greater than what the eye could see.
His blood churned violently; muscles and bones trembled under the force.
But out of the corner of his eye, Bluchi saw something even more terrifying.
Even if he dodged part of the attack, the wreckage of the ship beneath him could not.
At the same time, the sea beasts had reached it.
Using their overwhelming size and brute force, they smashed and tore the vessel apart with ease.
Crew members were slaughtered in the destruction.
Blood, seawater, and splintered wood were swept away by the currents.
“Help… help me…”
“Captain… save me…”
Faint cries for help were quickly swallowed by the waves.
Bluchi had no time to care.
The sea beasts were not the problem—Sebastian was.
This was the most common—and most effective—tactic used by Nereus’s subordinates: approach underwater, sink the enemy ship first, and then fight on the sea itself.
The sea beasts existed primarily to destroy ships.
As long as commanders like Sebastian kept enemy fighters occupied, the beasts could withstand cannon fire and gunshots long enough to finish the job.
Once the ship sank, unless the enemy had flight or sustained-air abilities, they had almost no chance against Fish-Men—especially Devil Fruit users.
Ace could fight Jinbei on land for seven days and nights.
In water, surviving seven minutes would already be impressive.
From the moment the ship was destroyed—or more precisely, from the moment Bluchi stepped onto this path and was already observed by Fish-Men before landing—his defeat had been sealed.
He realized it too late.
Gravity pulled him down, and in the next instant Sebastian was already beside him.
“You should be grateful.
I promised the boss I’d finish you in five minutes.
Dying this quickly is mercy.”
“Fish-Man Soft Style—Shoulder Throw!”
With no foothold in midair, Bluchi was seized and hurled into the sea with monstrous strength and refined technique.
The cold seawater mixed with the scent of blood.
For a brief moment, clarity returned to his mind.
He finally understood how dangerous his situation was.
“These damn Fish-Men…”
He tried to swim upward, but his limbs felt like they were filled with lead.
Water could cushion impact—but not when you were thrown like that.
Even a diving pool jump could cause injury if the form was wrong.
Bluchi, however, had been slammed in by Sebastian himself.
For him, the sea was no different from solid concrete.
His bones were likely already fractured.
Fish-Man Karate struck water; Fish-Man Soft Style threw water.
And because the human body is mostly water, Bluchi’s own blood was being violently stirred by the impact.
Even as seawater washed over him, his skin continuously bled from ruptured capillaries.
But that was not the worst part.
Driven by instinct, he struggled upward—but a massive force suddenly struck his lower body.
“Just die quietly.
It would be less painful that way.”
Sebastian had entered the water as well.
Unlike Bluchi’s desperate struggle, he moved with ease.
For Fish-Men with dual respiratory systems, sea and land were almost identical—if anything, the sea was more liberating.
His voice grew heavy in the water, sounding like a death knell in Bluchi’s ears.
Bubbling air escaped Bluchi’s mouth.
He tried to beg—but could not form words.
The surrounding seawater itself became Sebastian’s weapon, compressing Bluchi’s body from all sides.
The distance to the surface was not far; sunlight still pierced the water.
Yet Bluchi would never reach it again.
With despair setting in, his vision darkened.
Above the surface, the sea beasts continued their cleanup.
The entire group was wiped out before they could make even a ripple.
When Sebastian finally surfaced with a corpse, only a few surviving slavers remained.
“Barbel!
You bastard, you couldn’t even wait for me?!”
Sebastian ignored them and instead yelled toward Barbel, who was already riding away on a sea beast.
“Hahaha!
Swim back yourself!
I followed your exact promise—five minutes, then I returned immediately!”
Barbel laughed triumphantly.
“What a pain…”
One slave trader clung to a broken barrel, floating in the sea, whispering in disbelief.
“We… survived?”
But relief lasted only an instant.
Another conch horn echoed across the wind.
A sharp horn pierced his body from below.
Deep in the ocean, a group of bull-horned, razor-toothed fish the size of cattle began the final cleanup.
These were fighting fish from the New World—ferocious marine predators, also part of the same military ecosystem.
“If we let you go… where would those you sold find justice?”
Barbel blew another conch horn, murmuring something like a curse or prayer.
Then he patted the sea giraffe’s head.
“Swim faster.
Don’t let that guy catch up.
I’ll give you an extra 200 pounds of seaweed tonight.”