…and how long it would take for the side‑effects to kick in.
Every attack Hody unleashed—whether Water Strike or Shark Arrows—seemed incapable of inflicting any real damage, or even forcing El to raise a defense.
El simply continued advancing at his own steady pace, step by step, closing the distance.
He was doing this deliberately, steadily increasing the pressure bearing down on his opponent.
For any drug, both its benefits and its drawbacks were directly tied to the user's physical condition at the time.
What El wanted to see was whether, under mounting pressure, the forbidden substance would trigger its harmful effects ahead of schedule.
Huff… huff…
Hody was already trembling with tension. Every blow he threw met nothing but empty air, and a crushing sense of helplessness rose up inside him, almost impossible to suppress.
The weight of El's presence was overwhelming—and this was while El had not even thrown a single strike yet.
"Y‑you… just who are you?!" Hody roared, rage mixed with fear.
The self‑proclaimed "King of Fish‑Man District" had already inched backward several steps. There was no doubt: once this fight was over, a new ruler would take his place.
For all his bluster, Hody had proven himself utterly inadequate.
Even after swallowing such a massive dose of the forbidden drug, before El he remained as fragile and defenseless as a newborn infant.
"You dare attack me without even knowing who I am?" El chuckled.
"Who said ignorance excuses your actions? Every wrong choice comes with a price."
He kept walking forward, and with every step, faint waves of Conqueror's Haki seeped out, adding to the pressure.
"It is just like the drug you swallowed," El continued.
"You gain power, but you must pay a heavy toll. Isn't it common sense that you must answer for provoking someone far beyond your ability to handle?"
To El, this was little more than a game. But for Hody, there was nothing he could do to stop this terrifying human pirate.
"Y‑you…"
Regret finally sank in. If only he had acted more cautiously when they first met.
But Hody had poured all his energy into plotting against the royal family and building up his army, cutting himself off from news of the outside world.
Now that trouble had found him, it was already too late.
"Show me what you've really got," El said, sounding bored.
"Otherwise, I'm going to fall asleep waiting."
"Show what I've got?"
Hody's heart sank. This is already everything I have!
He had taken far more of the drug than was safe, and could clearly feel his strength surging to heights he had never imagined.
Yet even with this power, he remained completely helpless against his opponent.
But the pride of the Fish‑Man race would not let him yield so easily.
A fierce racial supremacist all his life, to be dominated by a single human was more than he could bear.
Though he was terrified, his pride pushed him to fight back.
CLANG!
Hody suddenly drew a sharp, triangular blade and drove it straight into his own back.
As a great white shark Fish‑Man, he naturally had a large dorsal fin—now fitted with a weapon that could turn his entire body into a cutting blade.
This worked best in the deep sea, where water pressure and the ocean environment would give him every advantage.
But even on land, or in the waters of Fish‑Man Island itself, it could still be deadly.
Great white sharks were already among the most combat‑suited of all Fish‑Man species.
And Hody, having spent years preparing for his coup, had trained relentlessly.
In terms of raw strength, he was one of the strongest on the island—stronger than the aging King Neptune, and perhaps even stronger than all four of Neptune's sons combined.
And now, boosted by the drug, he was at his absolute peak.
"DIE!"
Blinded by fury and fear, Hody had reached the point where terror turned into reckless desperation.
Dorsal blade, Fish‑Man Karate, the forbidden drug, and his species' greatest weapon—endlessly growing, razor‑sharp teeth—all came together.
Hody truly believed he was now at the strongest moment of his life.
Yet even with every trump card played, he could not so much as touch El. He could not get close enough to strike.
SNAP!
He lunged forward, jaws clamping shut—but again, he bit nothing but empty space.
"Remarkable speed," El commented calmly. "How many times faster are you now compared to before the drug? Three times? Five?"
He was still observing, studying the effects of the substance.
To him, the fact that Hody was throwing everything he had in a desperate attempt to harm him was barely worth noticing.
"If this is truly your limit," El said, his tone finally growing weary, "then there is no point in continuing."
__________________
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