At nearly a thousand meters deep in the sea, Jinbei was swimming rapidly. Suddenly, upon seeing a huge sunken ship, his eyes widened, showing a hint of astonishment.
"What is this?"
A gigantic creature was swimming near the ship, its massive shadow covering the seaweed and fish below.
Jinbei was curious when suddenly another figure appeared, floating above the giant creature's head, and then punched down.
Splash—!
It was as if a tsunami had been triggered. The seawater churned, and the strong currents scattered the surrounding fish. Accompanied by a piercing wail, before Jinbei could react, he saw the giant creature charging towards him like a madman.
"A merman?"
With fins, gills, and even a tail, the creature in front of him was half-human, half-fish, but completely different from himself, leaving Jinbei confused.
No… that's not right.
Merfolk only have fish tails, and their upper bodies are almost indistinguishable from humans. In contrast, fishmen have fish heads and fins like him, with upper bodies of fish and lower bodies with legs for walking.
But this guy… except for the human head, nearly seventy percent of its body was fish. What kind of new species is this?
Jinbei tilted his head, his confusion deepening. Just as he was pondering this…
Roar—!
With a terrifying roar, the fish tail suddenly lashed towards him. The resulting airwave made Jinbei instinctively swim sideways, but even so, he was blown far away by the current.
"So fast…"
Jinbei couldn't help but marvel.
Even faster than him.
But the guy who punched this sea king, just how strong is he?
Thinking of this, Jinbei instinctively turned to look at the figure swimming upwards.
Golden curly hair, a scar like a burn over the left eye, carrying a water pipe on his back, looking no different from an ordinary person.
"A human?" Jinbei muttered softly.
As he observed the other, the young man with the water pipe grinned, revealing a missing tooth, and greeted him with a smile, "Good afternoon… glub glub glub~~"
Jinbei: "…"
"This guy is strong. He must have punched that pirate ship down there into sinking, right?"
But why would such a powerful guy appear near the G1 headquarters?
Is it just a coincidence…
As he thought this, the young man with the water pipe approached him, pointing towards the surface.
"Hmm?"
Following the young man's finger, Jinbei saw the giant fish-like creature that had just passed by him, now approaching the warship he was on. Seeing it about to collide, Jinbei didn't bother to figure out who the young man was, and quickly swam upwards at bullet speed.
At the same time, on the warship's deck.
A group of rescued civilians was expressing their gratitude to Vivian. However, with his Observation Haki, Vivian had already sensed something unusual underwater and immediately shouted, "Everyone, scatter!"
As he spoke, he instinctively grabbed Aili and Domino, jumping back a considerable distance.
In the blink of an eye, an eight-meter-long creature with a human head and fish body leaped out of the water, its face twisted in a ferocious expression, lunging towards the warship.
The massive body crushed the mast and fell heavily onto the deck, sending splinters flying. The thrashing tail of the fish flung a dozen navy marine officer into the sea.
Just as Vivian was about to kill the creature, Jinbei leaped out and delivered a powerful Fish-Man Karate kick to the creature's dorsal fin. He then pressed the creature's head to the ground, subduing it.
"What kind of monster is this?" The refugees on the warship were terrified, covering their mouths and stepping back to distance themselves from the strange creature.
At that moment, a screeching sound was heard. The creature's fins and gills disappeared, leaving only a fish tail thrashing on the deck, trying to break free from Jinbei's hold.
After witnessing the fish-like features of the creature fade and transform into human muscles, Vivian was shocked.
"A fish monster… suddenly turned back into a human?"
Or rather, a merfolk?
"Did it eat a Devil Fruit?" Vivian wondered.
But two seconds later, he dismissed the thought. Even if it was a Fish-Fish Fruit like Kaido's, the user would lose all strength and be unable to move if they fell into the sea.
However, judging by the speed and strength of this guy's leap and struggle, it didn't seem like he had been weakened by seawater.
"Who are you?" Jinbei increased the pressure on his hands and asked.
Before the person below could answer, a young man with a water pipe jumped onto the warship, spat out a mouthful of water, and said to Jinbei and the others, "This man's name is Nicolette, a pirate with a bounty of 330 million Berries."
"Nicolette?"
"The famous merfolk pirate from the New World?"
Many navy marine officer recognized the name.
"So, your ship was attacked by this guy?" Vivian asked the refugees, pointing to Nicolette, who was pinned down by Jinbei.
"Yes, it was him!"
"This guy fired cannons at our cargo ship, sinking it and killing many people with the explosions!"
Recalling the horrific scene, many refugees couldn't help but shed tears.
As everyone bowed their heads and sobbed, Vivian's gaze remained on the young man with the water pipe.
"Sabo?"
Why is he here?
Vivian frowned slightly.
The next second…
"You damned guys!" Nicolette suddenly swelled several times in size, throwing Jinbei off him.