Aquaman's initial expectation when activating the doomsday weapon was to sink the entire British Isles and kill the Amazons who had not yet fully withdrawn.
However, after it was fired, the scientists responsible for the weapon discovered that its output far exceeded expectations.
This meant that not only the British Isles, but even the entire Western European plain would sink along with it.
But Aquaman no longer cared. As long as the Amazons could be destroyed, the deaths of hundreds of millions across Britain and Western Europe were an acceptable price.
Moreover, in the eyes of most Atlanteans, these surface dwellers were not innocent to begin with.
Since the dawn of their intelligence, surface humans had continuously encroached upon the oceans, squeezing the living space of the underwater kingdoms. Their deaths, to some extent, would even be better for the planet.
The problem was that the doomsday weapon had failed. The energy wave it released should have crushed the entire Eurasian plate along the Atlantic coast during its propagation, dragging most of the Amazons and surface dwellers into the depths of the ocean.
But now, that energy wave had been neutralized by something.
Aquaman knew who had done it—after all, the man had already warned him before.
In the ocean, sound travels much faster than on land, yet the man moved so quickly underwater that even sound could not keep up with his arrival.
Only after Joey appeared before the fully assembled Atlantean army did the thunderous booms—caused by the vacuum bubbles he had carved through the sea—arrive belatedly from afar.
"You're truly an irredeemable idiot. Has your brain been soaking in seawater for so long that it's gone rotten? Can't you tell which matters more—hundreds of millions of Atlantean lives, or your personal grudge that others manipulated you into?!"
Joey looked at Aquaman and saw nothing but numb hatred in his eyes. He immediately gave up on reasoning with the fool and exploded forward, charging straight toward the heavily guarded center of the Atlantean fleet.
The sheer force of his movement once again pushed the seawater aside, violently creating a massive vacuum pocket in the crushing depths. When the surrounding water rushed back in, it threw the entire fleet formation into chaos.
At the center of the fleet was a massive flagship. Even though Joey could not see through its magically shielded hull, at such close range he could already sense the faint radiation leaking from within.
Clearly, Aquaman's doomsday weapon was aboard that ship.
Before anyone could react, Joey smashed through the ship's magical barrier and outer armor, bursting straight into the bridge. Once inside, he could finally take in the entire structure of the vessel.
The energy radiating from the core of the doomsday weapon was almost blinding in his super-vision—like the combined output of hundreds of nuclear reactors concentrated within a single person, ready to erupt.
Yes, the energy core was a person—a superhero: Captain Atom.
Captain Atom was a superhero affiliated with the U.S. military. His pale blue, metallic-sheened skin not only contained the immense nuclear energy within his body, but also connected him to the quantum field, allowing him to access theoretically limitless energy.
Despite such overwhelming potential, Joey's only impression of him was that he was a walking nuclear bomb—and not metaphorically. Captain Atom had a habit of exploding for various reasons, each detonation equivalent to hundreds or even thousands of nuclear warheads.
Compared to Captain Atom's relatively low recognition, however, his alternate-universe counterpart was far more well-known—Doctor Manhattan.
If Captain Atom were to further explore his abilities, step into the quantum realm, and abandon a linear perception of time, he might one day reach the same level as Doctor Manhattan—becoming a true god.
At that point, all events in the universe—past, future, and even those that would never occur—would be known to him. Infinite possibilities would collapse into certainty before his eyes.
All it would cost was everything that made him human—his relationships, morality, identity, and responsibilities. By discarding most of his humanity, he could effortlessly ascend to godhood.
But that was impossible.
Captain Atom could not even transcend his duty as a soldier.
The President had sent him to negotiate with Aquaman. Even knowing the Atlanteans had ill intentions, he still went alone—and now he had been captured and turned into a living battery for the doomsday weapon.
At this moment, he was restrained in the ship's energy chamber, countless cables extracting his power to fuel the weapon, allowing the vessel to emit energy waves capable of sinking continents.
Joey used his heat vision to sever the cables binding Captain Atom, freeing the unconscious man from the energy core.
Aquaman pursued him closely. Having learned from his previous encounter, the strongest Atlantean was far less affected by the shockwaves this time.
Riding the currents rushing through the hole in the ship, he surged forward, thrusting his trident toward Joey's back.
But the weapon that had once been able to slightly harm Joey was now completely ineffective. The clash between magic and Kryptonian flesh produced a violent shockwave that instead blasted Aquaman himself backward.
Seizing the moment, Joey shot upward out of the ocean, hurling the still-unconscious Captain Atom high into the sky.
Keeping Captain Atom in the center of the battlefield was far too dangerous. As a human nuclear bomb that could detonate at any moment, if he were triggered by the crossfire, the damage to the oceans would far exceed even a major nuclear disaster.
"Catch him, Kara!"
Though Kara was not present, Joey knew she could hear him.
Without waiting, Joey dove back into the ocean, slamming his fist into Aquaman's left cheek and driving both of them back down into the depths.
For someone like Joey, fighting on land, underwater, or in vacuum made no difference—but for Aquaman, it mattered greatly. At this moment, Joey simply wanted a durable punching bag.
The first punch carved out another massive vacuum in the sea. Then came a relentless barrage of blows, each strike forcing blood from Aquaman's mouth.
It was only thanks to Poseidon's blessing that he wasn't completely obliterated—otherwise, a Kryptonian combo like this would have reduced him to far worse than torn flesh.
"Do you even realize the magnitude of the crime you've committed? If it weren't for me, you'd already be a genocidal maniac!"
Joey could not comprehend Aquaman's mindset. The hawks of Atlantis had fueled his hatred with careful manipulation, yet he willingly drowned himself in that hatred, abandoning his responsibility as king.
"I… guh—!"
Before Aquaman could respond, Joey slapped him hard, cutting him off.
Reasoning was useless against someone so self-centered.
Only pain could teach him how to act.