Chapter 12: Defeated in an Instant, Yet Escaped
"What's wrong with the sea lion?"
Ranzo the blue-ringed octopus fish-man was still casually sipping his drink when he noticed the sea lion hadn't moved. His lazy expression shifted to confusion.
"Hey! Sea lion! Why aren't you moving?! Tear the Straw Hats apart!" Hammond shouted from his mount, rising to his feet in agitation.
What none of them could see was the sea lion's face—contorted in agony, eyes rolling back as it experienced an eternity of torment within Itachi's genjutsu. For a creature with no mental defenses, the Sharingan's illusion was absolute domination.
Moments later, the massive sea beast's eyes rolled completely back, and it collapsed to the seabed with a thunderous crash.
"SEA LION?! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Hammond's voice cracked with disbelief.
On the Sunny, Luffy's jaw dropped. "Tear-Stripe Guy... you... what DID you do?!"
His first thought was Conqueror's Haki. Could Itachi be a Conqueror?
"Is that... that technique again? The 'genjutsu' that creates hallucinations?" Zoro asked, carefully pronouncing the unfamiliar word.
"Yes."
Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan spun slowly, crimson patterns visible even across the distance.
"Hey, sea lion! Are you not hungry?! Why are you doing this?!" Hammond's rage built. "Don't make me come back there and kill you myself! HEY! SEA LION!"
As he screamed, his eel-like mouth clenched in fury, eyes blazing as he glared at the Straw Hat ship.
"You damned, vulgar, STUPID humans! You must have used some trick!"
His webbed hand swept forward. "Fine! Then WE'LL take your lives ourselves!"
"Hey! Ranzo! Kasakopa! ATTACK!"
Behind Hammond, the other New Fish-Man Pirate officers leaned forward, ready to descend—and then they noticed Itachi standing calmly before Luffy.
"Where did that lowly human come from? New Straw Hat recruit?"
"Who cares? Kill him with the rest!" Ranzo drew his blade and leaped from the sea beast's back.
He dropped like a stone.
Not attacking. Not diving gracefully. Just... falling. Straight down from tens of meters, landing with a crunch on the seabed.
"RANZO?!"
Hammond's head swiveled to Kasakopa—who had also jumped. Also fallen. Also lay motionless on the ocean floor.
"You..."
Hammond's throat went dry. He looked back at the Sunny—and this time, he saw Itachi's eyes before anything else.
Their gazes met.
The world dissolved.
Hammond found himself strapped to a butcher's block in a vast, horrific slaughterhouse. Above him loomed a bearded fisherman with murderous eyes, wielding a bone-cleaver. The blade descended—scraping scales from his fish-body, peeling his skin in strips, carving into his flesh.
Then another fisherman appeared. Another cleaver. Another Hammond.
And another. And another. And another.
Countless fishermen, countless Hammonds, countless cleavers—each one flaying, cutting, chopping, frying. The sizzle of oil and his own screams merged into an endless cacophony of torment.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
"WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!"
An eternity of agony in the span of a heartbeat.
Hammond joined his officers on the seabed.
Itachi observed the fallen fish-men with mild interest. "An unusual Tsukuyomi dream." He hadn't imposed his standard illusion—the murloc's own mind had supplied the imagery. Interesting.
He deactivated the Mangekyō. He could feel it—even with his body restored to its prime, overusing these techniques would still take its toll. Better to conserve them when possible.
On the Sunny, silence reigned for three full seconds.
"This is..."
"Done?"
"Just now?"
"Across the water..."
"Through the bubble..."
"From fifty meters away..."
"The enemies are... defeated?"
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji traded stuttering observations, each more incredulous than the last.
Then Luffy's shock transformed into explosive excitement. His rubber arm shot out, grabbing Itachi and reeling him in.
"SUGOI! Tear-Stripe Guy! Your... your 'enjutsu' is SO strong!"
"Enjutsu?" Itachi blinked. "You mean genjutsu?"
"YES! Genjutsu! Genjutsu!" Luffy bounced with joy.
Zoro watched, a cold sweat tracing down his temple. "In an instant... without even touching them... he took down multiple enemies."
"Terrifying."
Sanji shared the sentiment. "Thank goodness Itachi isn't our enemy. I think his abilities might be even scarier than Kuma's."
While they marveled, Nami emerged from below deck. "Everyone! The Coup de Burst is ready! We need to—"
She stopped. Stared at the empty sea beasts. At the fish-men scattered on the seabed.
"We need to get ready... get ready..." Her voice trailed off.
Robin turned from where she'd been monitoring their course. "What—"
She saw it too. The enemies were simply... gone. Only confused sea beasts remained.
"What happened?!"
Before anyone could explain, Usopp had finished preparing the sails. "EVERYONE HOLD ON! WE'RE MAKING OUR ESCAPE!"
Franky's hand found the button. "COUP DE BURST—MAX POWER—FIRE!"
The Sunny rocketed forward, straight toward Fishman Island's immense bubble.
"WAHAHAHA! Those fish-men can't catch us now! THEY CAN'T CATCH US!"
Usopp made exaggerated faces at the distant, unconscious forms—then froze.
"Hey... Franky?"
"What?!"
"Why did we fire the Coup de Burst when Itachi already beat ALL the fish-men?!" Sanji yelled from the helm.
Franky's eyes bulged. He looked at the fallen enemies, then back at his hand on the button. "WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME?!"
"YOU DIDN'T ASK!"
"Never mind that now!" Nami grabbed a handrail. "We're committed! Everyone hold tight—we're crashing through!"
"Shishishishi! HERE WE GO!"
Luffy leaped onto the bow, arms spread wide.
Itachi tried to maintain his footing, but the G-forces from the max-power Coup de Burst combined with the upward angle sent him tumbling from bow to stern.
"ITACHI!"
Robin extended her arms—but Chopper was faster. The reindeer transformed, his fur expanding into a soft cushion that caught Itachi perfectly.
"Be careful, Itachi-brother!" Chopper bounced him gently to the railing.
Itachi found himself genuinely moved. "Thank you, Chopper."
"DON'T—don't praise me so casually! It's embarrassing! BAKAYAROU! KONOYAROU!"
Chopper's delighted wiggling completely contradicted his words.
"CHOPPER! HOLD ON!" Usopp shouted.
Chopper snapped back to reality and grabbed the railing just as the Sunny pierced Fishman Island's outer bubble.
The ship burst through—and immediately, the protective coating around them vanished, absorbed by the larger barrier.
"The bubble... it's gone," Robin observed.
Before anyone could process this, Brook pointed ahead. "LOOK!"
Beyond the first barrier lay a strange intermediate zone—air, not water—and beyond that, another bubble enclosing the true Fishman Island.
Robin understood instantly. "A double-layer barrier! Ships that breach the first layer get trapped in the air pocket—they can't reach the inner sea!"
"Then we do it again!" Franky wrestled the helm. "COUP DE BURST—SECOND STAGE—FIRE!"
The Sunny surged forward—
Itachi looked up.
Something was wrong. Inside the inner bubble, he saw it—an abnormality in the water itself.
"WAIT! Something's not right inside!"
"Ano..." Zoro saw it too.
He never finished the sentence.
The Sunny smashed through the second barrier and plunged directly into the inner sea of Fishman Island.
(End of Chapter)
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