Zoro, quick-witted as always, immediately understood what Zangao meant and smiled. He glanced at Sanji, then leaned against a piece of coral with his arms folded.
"An enemy like this isn't even a proper warm-up," Zoro stated. "Just like Zangao said, the top five of the Straw Hats don't need to fight."
The term "top five" was so sharp that Sanji nearly bit off the end of his cigarette.
Luo Ye was leaning against a rock with his arms crossed, showing no intention of moving. The Fish-Men here were not strong at all, and Zoro was right—they couldn't even make him break a sweat. The best plan was to leave them to Bepo and the others.
Luffy, however, was already pumped up. "What? A fight sounds fun! I want to join in!"
Usopp, Little 3, and Zangao immediately shrugged. Their captain was free to join the fight; they just had to make sure he only got the smaller, weaker enemies, leaving the Fish-Man officers for themselves.
"I'm going first then!" Usopp cried out, instantly pulling out his giant slingshot and firing.
"Usopp, you cheat!" Little 3 and Zangao didn't waste any time either and charged straight into the fight.
Little 3 created four wax figures resembling Kaido, all while applying a coat of wax armor onto himself. He then charged a group of Fish-Men, knocking them back into the main battle circle. Meanwhile, Zangao gracefully used the Sky Walk technique to float backward into the fray. Everywhere he went, Fish-Men were instantly hypnotized and began attacking their own allies, creating a bizarre and chaotic scene.
"Dragon Palace soldiers, fall back! Be careful not to get caught in our crossfire!" Tashigi shouted as a warning. She instantly drew her sword, Shigure, cutting down three Fish-Men in quick succession, then focused her attention on Hyouzou, who was fighting with a Drunken Sword style.
The Dragon Palace soldiers, led by Hirun and Torun, immediately retreated after hearing the warning. The Straw Hat crew was attacking with such overwhelming force that they were taking out huge numbers of enemies right away. If the soldiers didn't pull back, they would certainly be caught in the fight.
Clang! Tashigi and Hyouzou's swords clashed.
Hyouzou had all six of his tentacles wrapped in swords, and he was slashing wildly. Tashigi rapidly moved her Shigure, successfully blocking the attacks from all six blades. However, she was still wary of the seventh sword in Hyouzou's hand, the one he hadn't used yet.
"Your swordsmanship is good, little girl, but you were unlucky to meet me!" Hyouzou sneered. As he spoke, he suddenly drew the hidden seventh sword and lunged at Tashigi.
Tashigi had been guarding against this move the whole time. She quickly took two steps back and successfully dodged Hyouzou's sudden strike.
Luo, who was watching the fight, gave an involuntary nod of approval. "Tashigi's swordsmanship has improved really fast. We probably wouldn't have been able to beat her before we reached the Boing Islands."
Zoro immediately responded with a proud tone. "She still has a long way to go!"
Carl, Mari, and Roden all looked at Zoro. If she still has a long way to go, why are you acting so proud? they wondered.
Of course, Carl and the others didn't mention it and continued watching the battle. By this point, Luffy had already joined his friends. He swept aside a dozen Fish-Men with a Gomu Gomu no Whip and sent a huge group flying with a Gomu Gomu no Gatling, clearly having a fantastic time.
The others saw how much fun Luffy was having, so they quickly locked onto their chosen officers and made sure the captain didn't snatch them up.
Little 3 targeted the Squid Fish-Man, Ikaros Much. His four wax Kaido figures charged forward, hitting him with four Raikou Bagua attacks. Ikaros Much was easily knocked into the air—it was so simple that Little 3 was left speechless.
"Are these guys really that confident with this kind of strength?"
Little 3 wasn't the only one; Zangao, Usopp, Franky, Chopper, and Brook also felt surprised. Both the officers and the regular soldiers were unbelievably weak against them.
For example, Brook took out the Striped Fish-Man, Zeo, with a single Assault Sign sword move, knocking him to the ground. Zeo was clearly injured, but he still arrogantly insisted, "Look, I ran into his sword myself!"—a pathetic show of pride.
The Moray Eel Fish-Men and the Dharma Shark Fish-Men were also being effortlessly crushed.
Franky couldn't help but scratch his head. "Why do I feel like Zoro was right? We haven't even warmed up yet."
Zangao looked at Tashigi and said, "I think that Octopus Swordsman is the strongest one here. He can actually fight Tashigi back and forth. The rest of the officers are all trash."
Everyone quickly agreed with this assessment.
In contrast, Luffy was having a blast fighting the weaker enemies. It was like cleaning up a messy room. He continuously used Gomu Gomu no Whip and Gomu Gomu no Gatling, sweeping everyone aside. No one could stop him.
It didn't take long for Hody Jones's force of thousands to be completely decimated.
Sanji was shocked before he'd even gotten a chance to fight. "Is the Fish-Man Island's military power this weak? Where did Hody Jones get all his confidence? Was it those forbidden drugs?"
"I believe so. Forbidden drugs are forbidden for a reason; they naturally have a powerful effect," Luo calmly explained. "Even if the side effects are severe, it doesn't stop them from working in the short term." Luo's eyes, however, showed clear disdain for the drugs.
Sure enough, in the very next moment, the remaining Fish-Man officers swallowed a capsule one after another. They instantly became energetic again and even seemed stronger than before.
Franky nodded. "That's better! Otherwise, there really wouldn't be any way to get warmed up!"
"Then there's nothing else to say—keep fighting!"
Jo Little 3 pushed up his glasses and controlled the wax Kaido figures to continue their Raikou Bagua attack. This time, the Squid Fish-Man seemed stronger; he blocked the attack using eight guns in his eight hands, which surprised Little 3. Still, Little 3 found it more exciting. This is how it should be, or else it's not worth doing!
Meanwhile, Jinbe had been fighting Hody Jones for dozens of moves. Hody Jones was basically getting beaten down the whole time, but he kept taking the drugs, and his strength seemed to be rising continuously.
"Fish-Man Karate: Five Thousand Tile Fist!"
Bang! Jinbe hit Hody Jones again, sending him flying.
Hody Jones was incredibly resilient, however, and quickly got back up, then crazily swallowed more drugs. Soon, Hody Jones's hair turned completely white, and his eyes turned scarlet, making him look terrifying.
Jinbe's expression grew extremely serious. "Doping is harmful. Although your strength seems to have increased, you are only strong on the outside. The power you get from overdrawing your life has no future. You are already doomed, Hody Jones!"
Hody Jones didn't care and launched a fierce attack at Jinbe anyway.
Jinbe felt helpless; he didn't pity Hody Jones, but he just wanted this boring fight to end.
"Fish-Man Karate: Yaebuzame!" Hody Jones shot a dense stream of water droplets.
"Fish-Man Karate Secret Technique: Wu Raikan!" Jinbe gathered a huge sphere of water in his hand and launched a powerful impact at Hody Jones.
The water droplets were instantly swallowed by the force of the large water sphere. Hody Jones was hit hard in the abdomen and went flying backward, embedding himself in a huge coral structure. His eyes rolled back, a clear sign that he had passed out.
Jinbe was truly tired of this type of battle, so he had simply used his strongest attack. Hody Jones could not hold up against it at all.