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"Humans... Humans!?" The fish-man underlings cried out in shock, their expressions quickly twisting into anger as they glared at Hikaru.
Hammond grinned, his sharp teeth gleaming with bloodthirsty excitement.
"Hamon Hamon~ A mere human dares to set foot on Fishman Street? Guys, tear him to pieces!"
Fishman Street?
Hikaru glanced around. It resembled a rundown town, with many buildings in disrepair. Businesses were scarce, with only a few barbecue stalls and fish-processing workshops scattered about.
The moment Hammond gave the order, the fish-men brandished their weapons and charged straight at Hikaru.
He sighed, unimpressed. "Attacking on sight, huh? How barbaric."
Without moving an inch, crackling bolts of lightning surged from his body and struck the incoming fish-men.
"3,000 million volts!"
A deafening thunderclap echoed through the air. Those unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast were instantly fried, their charred bodies collapsing onto the ground. The stench of burnt fish filled the street.
"W-What the hell is this!?" a short fish-man hiding behind Hammond stammered in terror.
"A Devil Fruit user!" Hammond's eyes widened in recognition before he shouted, "Everyone! There's a human brat at our doorstep! Come back me up!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he turned on his heels and bolted, abandoning his men without hesitation.
"Where do you think you're going?"
To Hammond, the voice sounded like a grim whisper from the depths of hell. In the next instant, a bolt of lightning struck him directly. His body seized, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
A pity—if he were an electric eel fish-man instead of a sea eel, he might've been able to withstand the shock for a while longer.
The commotion drew a crowd as more fish-men gathered, eager to see what was happening. They arrived just in time to witness their kin dropping like flies, electrocuted by lightning that lashed out like living tentacles.
"Muhehehe!! Where's Hammond?"
A bizarre, eerie laugh rang out.
A massive squid fish-man leaped into the fray, his eight arms each gripping a red cherry gun. It was Ikaros Much, his arrogant gaze sweeping across the battlefield.
A disheveled fish-man crouched beside Hammond's smoldering body, sniffing the air. The scent of cooked flesh made him lick his lips before hesitantly muttering:
"Hammond… uh… seems cooked."
"Huh?" Ikaros Much snapped his head toward Hikaru, his eyes burning with fury.
"You damn human! How dare you attack Fishman Street!?"
Without waiting for a response, he lunged forward, his red-tasseled spear aimed straight at Hikaru's chest.
Hikaru, however, didn't even spare him a glance. More and more fish-men had gathered, and the frequency of his lightning discharges increased. His voice was calm but carried an undeniable weight of authority.
"Move, and you die."
Ikaros Much barely had time to react before the storm intensified.
Shrieks and agonized screams filled the air as Hikaru's lightning tore through the battlefield. The overpowering aroma of charred fish hung heavy in the atmosphere—if a Sea King wandered by, it might have been tempted by the feast.
One by one, every fish-man who tried to attack met a gruesome fate. Eventually, only a handful remained, frozen in terror, too afraid to move. Those who survived like this often made for the best cheap labor in the Kingdom of God.
With the lightning receding from his body, Hikaru stepped forward, his gaze locking onto a hammerhead shark fish-man. His voice was ice-cold.
"Merfolk, if you understand human speech, take me to Mermaid Cove."
The hammerhead fish-man shuddered violently. His wide, terrified eyes darted around before he suddenly screamed,
"Y-You're not human! You're a devil!! Ahhh!"
He turned to run—but before he could take a step, a small jolt of electricity coursed through him, sending him into spasms before he collapsed. He wasn't resisting—he had simply been scared out of his mind.
Hikaru shifted his attention to a lionfish fish-man nearby. This one was smarter. Without waiting for Hikaru to speak, he immediately bowed and groveled.
"Master! Master! Xiao is very obedient! I know the way to Mermaid Cove—I'll take you there right now!"
Hikaru raised an eyebrow at the fish-man's eager display.
"Then stop wasting time and lead the way."
The lionfish merman shuddered and quickly pointed toward the northwest, hesitantly stepping forward. However, the moment he moved, he felt the ground beneath his feet shift—almost as if it were alive, grasping at his body.
"D-Don't kill me, Grandpa!" the lionfish merman cried out, squeezing his eyes shut in terror as he begged for mercy.
Silence.
After what felt like an eternity, he cautiously opened one eye. To his surprise, Hikaru was already gone—stepping on him and soaring through the sky in the direction he had pointed.
Realizing he had survived, the lionfish merman let out a deep sigh of relief. At the same time, he couldn't help but marvel at Hikaru's abilities.
After flying for a while, Hikaru finally spotted a group of mermaids.
From the lionfish merman, he had learned that the place they had just been in was Merman Street—an area where the lowest-ranked members of the fish-man race resided.
On Fish-Man Island, fish-men and mermaids had lived separately since birth, rarely interfering with each other's affairs.
This was mainly due to the unique traits of the mermaid race. Unlike fish-men, female mermaids' tails matured once they reached thirty years of age. At that point, they could choose to keep their tails or split them into legs at will.
Most mermaids, upon reaching this stage, preferred to leave the sea, journeying to land to marry human men and start families.
(Male mermaids, on the other hand, could never transform their tails into legs. Only female mermaids possessed this ability.)
Of course, there were always exceptions. A small number of mermaids chose to intermarry with fish-men, living in fish-man territories instead.
Before departing, the lionfish merman also issued a warning—outsiders entering Fish-Man Island were required to pass through an immigration checkpoint. Anyone who bypassed this process would be arrested by Ryugu Kingdom's Sea King Army.
Hikaru understood the system well. It was similar to the entry procedures on Skypiea, though Sky Island at least charged an entrance fee.
But in his mind, none of these rules mattered.
He was a god.
The laws of mortals did not apply to him. If they did, he would be nothing more than a joke in the eyes of his people.
After all, in the Kingdom of God, one law reigned supreme:
"God is always right."
And as the god of his kingdom, Hikaru made sure that law was upheld.
Meanwhile, in Ryugu Palace…
The Minister of the Left swam hurriedly through the castle halls, tightly clutching his ox-horn cane. He was a catfish merman, his aged features radiating wisdom. At first glance, he seemed like an elder with great insight…
But in reality, his judgment was terribly flawed.
This was the same man who once suggested offering tea to hostile pirates in the hope of negotiating peace.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
His frantic voice echoed through the palace, reaching Neptune's ears before he even arrived.
"Hahahaha~ Minister of the Left, what has you in such a panic?"
King Neptune, the ruler of Fish-Man Island, greeted him with a hearty laugh. Stroking his massive orange beard, he leaned back on his throne, looking calm and relaxed.
The Minister of the Left huffed, pinching the catfish whiskers at the corners of his mouth as he took a deep breath to steady himself.
"I truly cannot stand it anymore, Your Majesty!" he declared. "The Border Guard is claiming they've seen a human controlling Sea Kings on his way to Fish-Man Island! What kind of nonsense is this? It's outrageous! I dismissed their reports, thinking they were just hallucinating."
Still catching his breath, he continued, "But they kept insisting—demanding that I report this to Your Majesty! Ahh… I'm getting too old for this. I can't even swim as fast as I used to..."
Neptune's expression shifted instantly. His eyes widened in shock.
"What!?"
For the first time in a long while, the great king of Fish-Man Island found himself struggling to believe what he had just heard.