—Broadcast—
Admiral Kisame's willingness to sacrifice himself for his people resonated throughout Fish-Man Island like ripples spreading across still water. The revelation that he'd become the Marine Fleet Admiral's instrument—not out of ambition, but out of desperate hope for his kinsmen's future—touched something fundamental in the hearts of his fellow fish-men.
Fisher Tiger's ideals hadn't disappeared with his death after all. They'd simply been waiting for the right person to carry them forward—someone who understood both the weight of the dream and the catastrophic price required to achieve it. Admiral Kisame represented that continuation, a living bridge between the hero's sacrifice and a better tomorrow.
Not every fish-man agreed with Hoshigaki Kisame's vision of racial equality. The concept remained too abstract, too distant for those who'd spent their entire lives dodging human cruelty. But even the aimless drifters haunting Fish-Man Street recognized one undeniable truth: Admiral Kisame possessed genuine strength. Strength that commanded respect. Strength that opened doors previously sealed by prejudice and fear.
For the blind wanderers who'd never imagined anything beyond gang violence and petty theft, Kisame's path offered an alternative. Better to risk your life serving a reliable boss than waste away as a street thug for decades. At worst, you could always become a pirate and rob someone if the Marine path didn't work out. As for lofty ideals about the future? Let the smart people handle that philosophical stuff. The young fish-men just wanted work, purpose, and a chance to prove themselves beyond Fish-Man Street's suffocating boundaries.
—Real World—
Mary Geoise
Boa Hancock's fingers tightened around the armrests of her throne, knuckles whitening as she watched the Sky Screen's continued discussion of Fisher Tiger. The Pirate Empress maintained her regal composure externally, but internally, anxiety gnawed at her composure like a persistent parasite.
A terrible premonition coiled in her gut, growing stronger with each passing moment. The Sky Screen had mentioned the fish-man hero repeatedly now—his sacrifice, his liberation crusade, his death refusing human blood. Why dwell so extensively on Fisher Tiger unless laying groundwork for something else? Something connected to slaves freed from Mary Geoise that night?
Could it reveal my secret in subsequent broadcasts? The thought sent ice through her veins.
"I have heard about Fisher Tiger's magnificent deeds," Hancock said aloud, her voice carefully measured for her crew's benefit. "I fully agree with his contribution to slave liberation across the Holy Land. Such a hero deserved better than being killed by the Marine."
Her words carried genuine respect—Fisher Tiger's grace in rescuing her and her sisters could never be repaid, not across a dozen lifetimes. But the gratitude coexisted with desperate terror. She would rather die than let the outside world learn she'd once been a Celestial Dragon's slave. That humiliating past would accompany the Pirate Empress to her grave, a secret maintained at any cost.
The brand on her back burned with phantom heat, as if the memory itself scorched flesh.
Sea Knight Jinbei sat motionless.
The whale shark fish-man's expression carried profound shame as he absorbed Admiral Kisame's complete story—the wandering, the discovery of Wet Bone Forest Cave, the philosophical conversion under Fleet Admiral Artoria's vision.
"Hoshigaki Kisame embodies the Sun Pirates' ideals more faithfully than I ever did," Jinbei admitted quietly, voice rough with self-recrimination. "It's embarrassing to confess, but I abandoned Boss Tiger's actual dreams long ago."
The realization cut deeper than any blade. Jinbei had avoided Arlong's blind hatred, refusing to perpetuate the cycle of violence Fisher Tiger had died trying to end. That restraint represented moral progress, certainly. But in his deepest heart, where honesty couldn't be avoided, the Sea Knight recognized his persistent resistance toward humanity as a species. Compromise, pragmatism, working within systems—none of that matched the revolutionary courage Fisher Tiger and now Hoshigaki Kisame demonstrated.
The day Boss Tiger died remained seared into Jinbei's memory with perfect clarity—the blood, the refusal, the deliberate sacrifice to protect five million Fish-Man Island inhabitants from collective punishment. That moment should have inspired Jinbei to greater heights. Instead, he'd retreated into cautious survival strategies, seeking powerful patrons rather than building genuine change.
Two crucial figures had died fighting for Fish-Man Island's better future—Fisher Tiger through self-sacrifice, Queen Otohime through assassination. Their deaths had extinguished the beautiful idealism that once burned bright across the underwater kingdom. The surviving residents abandoned those "unrealistic" dreams, choosing to live day-by-day under Yonko protection rather than risk everything for uncertain progress.
Hoshigaki Kisame's emergence represented something different. Like a shot of pure adrenaline injected directly into Fish-Man Island's withered veins, his path awakened dormant hopes the residents had deliberately suppressed. They desperately needed a banner figure—someone powerful enough, committed enough, visionary enough to lead them into the uncertain future.
With Queen Otohime resurrected and handling domestic governance, and Admiral Kisame managing external military representation through the New Marine, perhaps the twin-pronged approach could succeed where individual efforts failed. A mermaid and a fish-man, working in concert from different power structures, might actually deliver on those long-abandoned promises. The next generation of Fish-Man Island could swim freely through all seas, liberated from racial discrimination and the nightmare of being captured as Celestial Dragon slaves.
The possibility bloomed in Jinbei's chest—fragile, tentative, but undeniably present.
Donquixote Doflamingo's trademark grin widened as he processed the Sky Screen's implications, his fingers steepling before his concealed eyes. The Heavenly Demon made no attempt to hide his naked ambition, his thoughts racing ahead to profitable possibilities.
"Since that powerful water-style ninjutsu was learned at Wet Bone Forest Cave," Doflamingo mused aloud, his distinctive laugh punctuating the observation, "and Hoshigaki Kisame remains so vigilantly protective about humans discovering its location, perhaps we could genuinely learn ninjutsu techniques from those ruins if we located the sanctuary."
His interest in Wet Bone Forest Cave completely eclipsed his curiosity about Big Mom's newest daughter.
The tactical calculus occupied Doflamingo's calculating mind. Fire-style ninjutsu possessed limited effectiveness against Devil Fruit users—impressive visually, but ultimately just another form of elemental attack. Water-style ninjutsu, however, represented a natural hard counter to Devil Fruit powers across the board. The techniques generated massive quantities of actual seawater from the user's mouth. Contact with that water would rapidly drain physical strength from any Devil Fruit user, stripping away their powers and rendering them helpless lambs awaiting slaughter.
Charlotte Cracker wasn't weak by any reasonable metric. The Sweet Commander simply encountered an opponent whose abilities perfectly countered his Bisu Bisu no Mi. Doflamingo found himself genuinely uncertain whether he could defeat Cracker's thousands of biscuit soldiers in conventional combat. Some members of the Seven Warlords of the Sea were naturally inferior to the Four Emperors' senior commanders when matched directly.
Hawkeye Mihawk wasn't among those weaker Warlords, naturally. The World's Greatest Swordsman possessed absolute confidence in defeating any Yonko commander through pure bladework. But regarding Admiral Kisame's performance in the broadcast? The fish-man's swordsmanship had profoundly disappointed the legendary duelist.
Dracule Mihawk observed the Sky Screen broadcast with the critical eye of a master evaluating a novice's fumbling attempts. His golden eyes tracked every movement of Admiral Kisame's combat, and his assessment grew increasingly dismissive with each exchange.
"Hoshigaki Kisame's technique with Samehada is genuinely primitive," Mihawk declared to the empty room, his voice carrying aristocratic disdain. "He's clearly not a swordsmanship master despite carrying a blade. I would much rather cross swords with Saint Figarland Garling—now there's a worthy opponent with genuine skill."
The World's Strongest Swordsman mentally crossed out Admiral Kisame's name from the metaphorical notebook he maintained, abandoning that potential target without the slightest reluctance or regret. Mihawk pursued duels with fellow sword masters exclusively—practitioners who'd dedicated their entire existence to perfecting the blade's art. Alternative combat methods, regardless of effectiveness, struck him as fundamentally unorthodox and unworthy of serious attention from a true swordsman.
His mental list of worthy opponents contained several names that quickened his pulse with anticipation: Saint Figarland Garling, Admiral Esdeath, Fleet Admiral Artoria Pendragon, and the future Roronoa Zoro. The world contained abundant swordsmen worth fighting, and Hawkeye Mihawk felt no loneliness whatsoever. He actively looked forward to the days when he'd cross blades with each of them, testing his supreme skill against their various schools and techniques.
Water-style ninjutsu might devastate Devil Fruit users, but swordsmanship transcended such gimmicks. The blade represented the purest form of combat—just steel, skill, and will meeting in perfect convergence.
The Five Elders continued their seemingly endless conference, assembled once again around the massive chamber dominated by the Empty Throne. Their discussion had shifted focus toward Big Mom's newest daughter, and the implications of Uchiha genetics infiltrating another Yonko organization generated considerable alarm among the world's secret rulers.
None of them had anticipated the Uchiha clan demonstrating such aggressive expansion. The cursed bloodline wasn't satisfied lurking exclusively within the Beasts Pirates under Kaido's protection—they'd extended their shadowy influence into Charlotte Linlin's territory as well. From a certain strategic perspective, this development strengthened the already concerning connection between two of the Four Emperors' groups. An alliance built on shared genetics could prove frighteningly durable.
"Uchiha Madara truly represents a troublesome variable," Saint Jaygarcia Saturn observed, his expression caught between admiration and frustration. The ancient Celestial Dragon displayed a half-smile that conveyed both grudging respect and profound irritation. "He secretly conceived a child with Charlotte Linlin behind our surveillance network. The Sky Screen's revelations consistently deliver surprises that complicate our strategic calculations."
Without requiring additional evidence or investigation, Saturn immediately concluded that Uchiha Madara himself had fathered Charlotte Hikaru with the Four Emperors Big Mom. The Five Elders collectively dismissed Uchiha Shisui as a potential candidate—the younger man simply didn't fit their assessment.
Charlotte Linlin had been genuinely beautiful during her youth, reaching her aesthetic peak during the Rocks Pirates era decades ago. However, after bearing her extraordinarily large family and consuming high-calorie foods continuously for years, her figure had expanded horizontally into the bloated form she maintained today. Her current appearance bore little resemblance to her younger self's classical beauty.
What young man could possibly bring himself to engage with that? Only ancient fossils who'd lived for generations would abandon personal dignity so completely in pursuit of strategic objectives. Uchiha Madara and Charlotte Linlin conducting a secret affair made perfect sense through that lens—the former possessed absolutely no psychological burden about such arrangements if they served his bloodline's revival.
"The Uchiha represent a fundamentally evil race," Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro stated with absolute certainty, his hand resting on his sheathed sword. "Their burial by history's progression remains inevitable. Uchiha Madara seeks to resurrect his cursed bloodline's influence, and we absolutely cannot permit that revival to proceed unchecked. I propose we dramatically intensify our exploration operations throughout Wano Country."
During the recent period with Kaido absent from Onigashima, Nusjuro had already dispatched multiple waves of CP0 operatives into Wano Country's closed borders. The Saint urged these government agents not to cherish their lives—their mission demanded discovering the historical secrets Wano Country concealed, regardless of the personal cost.
Even if CP0 couldn't locate Uchiha Madara hiding in the shadows, they could perpetually disrupt Kurozumi Orochi's administration and governance. The assassination attempts against Wano Country's current Shogun had increased substantially, with CP0 agents targeting him repeatedly in hopes of destabilizing the nation's already fragile political structure.
The Five Elders understood one fundamental truth: controlling Wano Country meant controlling access to the Uchiha clan's base of operations. And controlling the Uchiha meant preventing the nightmare scenario where Sharingan users proliferated across the seas, breeding with powerful bloodlines and creating superhuman hybrids like Charlotte Hikaru.
The little girl was only five years old, and she'd already manifested the Mangekyō Sharingan and forced a Marine Admiral into hostage negotiations. What horrors would she become at age fifteen? Twenty? The thought alone justified every resource the World Government could marshal.
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