_________________
On Sky Island, Alabasta, King Cobra smiled as he looked at a particular cover.
It was the cover of chapter 641 of the current manga serialization.
On the cover, Vivi held flowers and a bag filled with apples. She was smiling warmly at her father, King Cobra, who lay on a sickbed reading a newspaper.
Beside them stood Igaram, also reacting to their family conversation.
"A sickbed? What is that supposed to mean?"
Queen Titi, Cobra's wife, looked at the cover with worry—unlike Cobra, who was completely unbothered.
"From this sweet family scene, my counterpart doesn't look sick at all."
That's what Cobra thought. He quickly continued reading the rest of the new chapter's events, not caring about something that might happen… or might not… in the future.
Cobra felt completely at ease, unlike his wife, who from that day on began treating Cobra like one of her children—worrying over every step he took.
He didn't know that the worst days of his life would begin starting from this very day.
Not far from the couple, a blue-haired four-year-old boy was staring with wide eyes at a baby cradle, where a newborn girl slept peacefully.
Nefertari Amon wished his baby sister, Nefertari Vivi, would grow up faster so they could play together sooner.
…
— — — — — — — — — — — —
Chapter's Events:
— — — — — — — — — — — —
"Straw Hat! Shirahoshi!"
"What do you think you can accomplish, clinging to Noah?!!" Hody Jones blocked Luffy and Shirahoshi again, mocking, despite having suffered Luffy's brutal beating.
"What can a human and a mermaid princess possibly do?!!"
"Shark Slicer!!!" Before Hody could unleash his slicing attack, Luffy crushed his dorsal fin and punched him with Haki.
"Hrrgh! Geez, how tough is he?!" Hody Jones' body trembled from the force of Luffy's blow, but he quickly regained his senses.
"Give it up, human!! Just the sight of you makes me sick!!!"
"No matter how much of my life I must shorten! No matter how much I must sacrifice!! I WILL have my revenge on humankind!!!"
Both Shirahoshi and Luffy—who were sitting in her hands—stared at the frenzied Hody Jones with puzzled expressions.
((Carefully! We only have one chance!))
Fukaboshi ordered the kingdom's army to carefully complete the mission: coating the ark Noah, which was falling, wrapped in a bubble of air.
"Hey. Strawhat…"
((Can you hear me?)) Fukaboshi's voice came from the Den Den Mushi in Luffy's hand.
"That's brother Fukaboshi!" said Shirahoshi.
"I finally know… huff… Hody Jones' true nature!!" said Fukaboshi.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
At Marineford, the sound of pages flipping echoed. From time to time, Sakazuki cursed Hody Jones again.
"That bastard is deranged… Luckily, there aren't many fishmen like Hody Jones, or groups of suicidal fishmen sharing his hatred of humans would cause a bloodbath."
Sengoku sighed.
"Scaaary! He looks like a crazed monster…" Borsalino rolled his eyes with disdain.
"Arara— Luffy better finish him quickly. He's far too weak for his grand ambitions," Kuzan mocked.
With power like this, Hody Jones couldn't even rule his own race, let alone enslave humanity.
"I suppose the drugs that boosted his strength at the cost of his life were made by humans as well…"
Tsuru remarked with a subtle, ironic tone. He used a biological weapon created by humans that he hates so much—how absurd was that?
"His true nature… only after all this, he figures it out? How ridiculous…"
Zephyr felt stupid watching the chapter's final scene.
Meanwhile, Sakazuki flipped pages quickly, wanting to finish this volume as fast as possible so he could get back to the mountain of work waiting on his desk.
"Damn you, Straw Hat! Aren't you supposed to one-shot that fish?!" he exclaimed.
…
High atop the Red Continent, where clouds meet tightly packed red rocks that resemble a massive red serpent coiling around the planet from outer space, stood a white castle, like a piece of heaven.
Inside Pangaea Castle were the most dangerous creatures in the world.
Right now, they were reading the manga, laughing secretly and openly at the fishman named Hody Jones, who had no idea how vast the world truly was.
In the eyes of the world's ruler, Hody Jones wasn't worth a second glance—nothing more than racial congestion. What interested him was the "great man" mentioned by Fukaboshi…
"Joy Boy…" Imu muttered, clenching his fist.
"I never knew such a promised ship was resting there in the depths of Fishman Island, waiting for the appointed day."
The voice carried an indistinguishable tone. It could have chosen any gender.
Since Rob appeared in this world, it had taken the form of a red-haired demon-winged woman, but lately it seemed to avoid showing any fixed shape: just a mass of darkness with blood-red eyes—strange, unknown, cold, and distant.
Ever since it learned it couldn't defeat Rob in direct combat, nor sway him to its side, nor corrupt him, it completely abandoned its old plans and began thinking from a different angle.
"I must use Joy Boy's foolishness to bring down Rob…
This world is mine. I will show you the supremacy of the ruler."
The Five Elders trembled as they heard the lord's inner voice.
Whenever the lord felt anxious, that feeling doubled within them—they were nothing but slaves tied to their master.
"That ship is waiting for a day that will never come. It's just a useless piece of wood right now," said Saint Topman Warcury sarcastically.
"I want to see it crush Fishman Island and be destroyed with it… That would be quite a spectacle," added Saint Mars with a grin.
"What a long arc full of nonsense… When will we finish this?!"
Saint Nasjuro complained impatiently.
…
Far away in the East Blue, gentle sunlight bathed the thriving Cocoyashi Village.
Here, where the Art Store had become an economic powerhouse for the Conomi Islands, loyal One Piece readers gathered from almost the entire East Blue.
Inside the Art Store, the original villagers were reading the volume with firm expressions that hadn't changed since page one.
Witnessing the history of Arlong's pirates, what drove them to invade this place at the beginning of the story, the backstory of the hero Fisher Tiger, and now the monster even more terrifying than Arlong—Hody Jones…
The original residents of Cocoyashi felt a whirlwind of emotions.
"I always thought Arlong's pirates were just fish-beasts driven by instinct… After reading the Fishman arc, I understand a lot more now." Genzo sighed.
Genzo, now in his late twenties, was the mayor of all Conomi Islands—an incredibly capable leader. And since he had a counterpart in the manga, he was famous and respected for his high morals… No one was more qualified to be mayor than him.
"Thankfully, the one who came to our village was Arlong and not Hody Jones… If it had been Hody, he would've carried out a massacre on the first day, leaving no chance for survival."
Doctor Nako let out a breath of relief.
Through this arc's chapters—especially the final scene—Nako, the village doctor, understood Hody Jones' true nature.
"Maybe even more than Prince Fukaboshi understood it," he added.
Next came the sound of readers laughing at the panel where Sanji encouraged Wadatsumi to suck in more and more air, saying each time that he wasn't nearly as big as the kraken…
"Hahaha! He defeated himself! Sanji didn't even break a sweat!"
"He's huge, but his brain is smaller than a peanut, hahaha!!"
"Awesome! Go! You got this, General Franky!"
"What a cute interaction between Chopper and Zoro. He doesn't care about being seen as a monster if it's for Luffy's sake… I love this beautiful bond within the crew."
"Look at Zoro's face! He clearly wasn't taking this octopus seriously until now."
At the end of the chapter, Zoro's line—
"You ain't even worth killing time."
—sent chills through the readers.
Cheers erupted through the entire Art Store in Cocoyashi, especially among the girls.
Sanji's fans stared jealously at those young girls swooning over Zoro. They also wanted a cool moment like that for Sanji!
_________________
Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
_________________
Chapter 969: Hatred for the Sake of Hatred!
Chapter 970: Ideologies Formed in Childhood.
Chapter 971: Crisis on Fishman Island! The Appearance of Whitebeard!
Chapter 972: All the Officers Down!
_________________
Support the journey and unlock advanced chapters!
If you're enjoying Rob's story, his journey of publishing the One Piece manga inside the One Piece world, and the impact it has on the world, and you want to know what happens before everyone else… there's always a way to stay ahead.
I work every day on this novel, developing its world and chapters, and every bit of support helps me keep delivering more content with higher quality and faster releases.
By supporting me on Patreon, you'll get exclusive access to advanced chapters before they're released to the public. You can move ahead in the story and read up to 30 chapters in advance!
📚 Support Tiers:
$5 → Read 5 advanced chapters
$10 → Read 10 advanced chapters
$15 → Read 15 advanced chapters
$20 → Read 20 advanced chapters
$30 → Read 30 advanced chapters
Every bit of support, even a small one, makes a real difference and helps me continue writing this journey that we're experiencing together.
Join now and start reading the stacked chapters before everyone else:
Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/BlackStar_BH
You can also get the same benefits on Ko-fi:
https://www.ko-fi.com/blackstar_bh
Thank you to everyone who supports the story and believes in this world. You are the reason it continues. ❤️