[~1400 Words]
<<--⚡ ⚓ 💄 ⚓🍑⚓🍷⚓⚡ —>>
James's gaze softened as he looked at Neptune. The king's weathered eyes carried the weight of both love and loss — the kind that never truly faded.
Queen Otohime's affection for Shirahoshi had always been radiant and selfless, her dream of peace echoing through Fish-Man Island like sunlight through the water.
Yet her untimely death at the hands of Hody Jones had left a wound that still bled quietly in the hearts of all who remembered her.
James stepped forward, reaching for the small item Neptune held. It was a jade box, cool and faintly luminous under the palace light.
When he opened it, two delicate shell earrings rested inside — pale gold kissed with pink. Their soft glow resembled the shimmer of dawn seen through ocean glass.
They looked almost identical to the pale yellow earrings Shirahoshi often wore.
"Don't worry," James said gently, his voice calm but firm. "I'll personally put these earrings on Shirahoshi. You couldn't protect her back then… but in her future, she'll have even more family to guard her."
Neptune's lips trembled as silence consumed the hall.
James gave Shyarly a brief nod, and together they left — the faint echo of their footsteps swallowed by the heavy stillness behind them. Neptune remained seated long after, the grief in his heart sinking deeper than the ocean itself.
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Outside, James carried Shyarly effortlessly through the soft currents, his arm around her waist as they moved through the translucent sea-blue sky of Fish-Man Island.
"You don't have anyone you know in the Fish-Man District, right?" he asked, voice low, eyes scanning the horizon.
Shyarly shook her head. "Of course not. I only lived there for a short while when I was young. It was… calmer back then. The district wasn't such a pit of chaos."
James nodded. "Good. Then I won't have to hold back when the slaughter begins."
"Mm~," she murmured softly, closing her eyes. She knew what he meant — and she didn't try to stop him.
Within minutes, James had dropped her off at his private manor. His Observation Haki spread outward like a tidal wave, sweeping across the entire island. Every heartbeat, every flicker of movement within Fish-Man District revealed itself to him — there was no place for his enemies to hide.
A few sparks danced along his arm as he flashed into the air. In the next instant, he hovered above the sprawling district, the flicker of lightning outlining his silhouette against the shimmering dome of the sea above.
He narrowed his eyes. The faces of the New Fish-Man Pirates flickered in his memory — Hody Jones, the arrogant leader; Zeo, the invisible trickster with blue-purple stripes; Hyouzou, the drunken octopus swordsman who once crossed blades with Zoro; and another small fry whose name hardly mattered.
His Observation Haki swept again, probing every street, every alley. The district was a decaying maze of wrecked buildings and dim coral lights.
Then — he found him.
"Drinking by the roadside?" James murmured. A faint smile curved his lips. "How lucky. Octopus Hyouzou…"
He extended one hand skyward.
⚡El Thor (God's Judgment)⚡
A pulse of divine light erupted from the heavens.
Though Fish-Man Island lay ten thousand meters below the sea, its artificial sky — blue and eternal — reflected the strike like a mirror. A colossal bolt of blue lightning tore through that tranquil beauty, descending with godlike fury.
The bolt struck before Hyouzou could even blink.
One moment he was muttering drunken nonsense, the next he was engulfed in blinding light — vaporized into nothingness.
The explosion left behind a molten crater, bubbles hissing where water met searing heat.
James's senses rippled outward. Even after weakening it, the strike still melted the ground… this place really is fragile. Beautiful, but fragile.
He exhaled slowly. It'd be a shame to ruin something this pure.
Then the delayed boom rolled across the district, a deep thunder that shook the coral walls and echoed through the domes.
"Lightning?!"
"This is Fish-Man Island — ten thousand meters underwater! How can there be lightning!?"
The cries spread like wildfire. Those who had once visited the surface recognized it immediately — the fury of the sky itself, unleashed here in the depths. Fear and awe twisted together in their voices.
Perfect. Now everyone was watching.
He descended, the air around him humming with static. A single glance found a trembling Fish-Man hiding behind coral rubble.
"Tell me where Hody Jones is," James ordered, his tone sharp as a blade. "Do that, and I might let you live."
The Fish-Man froze. Under the crushing weight of Conqueror's Haki, his body quivered uncontrollably, and he stammered,
"H-Hody Jones is in the northern part of the district! The biggest house there! You can't miss it!"
James's expression didn't change. He didn't need to guess if the man was lying — his mind-reading told him all he needed.
In the next flash of light, he was gone.
The northern quarter loomed ahead, where a large but poorly built mansion stood surrounded by patrolling thugs. "Luxurious," James thought dryly, "if your taste stops at cheap coral and bad lighting."
He lifted a hand.
⚡30,000,000 Volt Hino (Thirty Million Volts ThunderBird) ⚡
The sky screeched. A massive bird of lightning unfolded its radiant wings, its cry echoing through the dome. The patrolling Fish-Men froze, eyes wide in horror.
BOOM!
The Thunder Bird dove, piercing through the roof before exploding in a magnificent burst of energy. Smoke and burning ozone filled the air, along with the agonized screams of those caught in the blast.
"What's going on!?"
"Who dares attack us!?"
"Boss Hody—AARGH!"
A faint crackling filled the silence that followed. James stepped through the drifting smoke, his boots crushing the charred remains beneath him.
At his feet lay the blackened corpse of Hody Jones — the so-called revolutionary who dreamed of domination.
"Hody Jones…" James murmured, eyes cold. "Heh. Pathetic."
A weakling who couldn't even wield Haki — one who relied solely on drugs for strength — didn't deserve pity. And that fool Luffy had spared him once? Ridiculous.
James had no interest in theatrics or speeches. Without an audience, there was no point in pretending to be merciful.
Before Hody could even reach for his Energy Steroids, he'd already been sent straight to hell — where Arlong would surely welcome him with open arms.
"W-who are you!? What did you do to Boss Hody!?" cried a shark Fish-Man, stumbling backward. His wide eyes reflected both fear and disbelief.
James looked at him briefly, lightning dancing across his body. "You don't need to know."
⚡Vari (Electrical Discharge) - 20,000,000 Volt ⚡
A flash. A scream. Silence. The Fish-Man's body disintegrated into glowing ash before the word mercy could even form.
"Dosun! Kill him!" a voice shrieked from below.
James's Observation Haki pulsed again. Beneath the floorboards, a presence stirred — an invisible Fish-Man trampled by his weaker subordinates. Even crushed, he had waited, silent, until his leader fell.
Zeo.
The prideful illusionist who once strutted about as though invisible meant invincible.
And then came another — the hammer-wielding brute Dosun — roaring his name as he charged forward, his massive weapon raised high.
James smirked faintly. So these are supposed to be the elites of the New Fish-Man Pirates?
He unshackled his power completely. Electricity roared around him like a living storm. Guided by Observation Haki, the lightning spread outward in all directions — beautiful, merciless, and absolute.
"AAAHHH!"
"Spare me! I was forced!"
"Nooooo—!"
Their screams rose and vanished, swallowed by the light. One by one, the Fish-Men disintegrated under the flood of power, their bodies reduced to black dust floating in the current.
Only a few electric eel Fish-Men reacted differently — their bodies convulsing, their cries turning to twisted sounds of pleasure as the lightning surged through them, overcharging their natural currents.
James didn't even glance their way.
Quantity means nothing, he thought, as the storm quieted. In this world, numbers can't defeat strength. Only true power decides who survives.
The lightning faded. Silence returned.
And in that silence, James stood alone amid the ashes — the storm's wrath personified beneath ten thousand meters of sea.
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