Chapter 51: Are Fish-Men Truly Invincible in the Sea?

Human movement in the sea can never be compared to movement on land.

Aside from the fatal weakness of not being able to breathe underwater, there's also the strong resistance from the water. This resistance greatly diminishes the power of punches, kicks, or slashes.

Wood, who always wore an absurdly heavy weight-training outfit during daily activities and training, had become accustomed to such gravity.

Therefore, even now in the sea, the water resistance didn't affect Wood as much as one might expect.

As soon as Wood plunged into the water, he saw several Fish-Men with various appearances under the ship, using their fins or fists to attack the bottom of the ship.

Wood's entry into the water immediately caught the attention of the Fish-Men.

There were five Fish-Men attacking the ship, and the leader appeared to be a tiger shark-type Fish-Man, with a dorsal fin on its back and a mouth full of terrifying sharp teeth.

Among the other Fish-Men, one seemed to be a swordfish, identifiable by its highly recognizable nose, and another might be an anglerfish.

As for the other Fish-Men, Wood couldn't identify them because there are so many different species in the sea, and even Fish-Men of the same species can have variations.

The Fish-Men, who had been focused on damaging the ship's hull, hadn't expected that a human would be so reckless as to jump into the sea to fight them. They smiled cruelly as they looked at Wood.

The Fish-Men didn't know how strong the main combat forces on the ship were. To ensure a smooth rescue, their plan was to sink the ship methodically.

But since the ship hadn't sunk yet and the opponent had already come down to die, the Fish-Men didn't see any need for restraint.

Fish-Man pirate crews needed ships as well. Though they could breathe underwater, they couldn't cross oceans without a ship.

Damaging the ship was just a way to force the enemy into the sea to fight. Now that someone had voluntarily jumped into the water, the Fish-Men didn't mind adding another ship to their spoils.

"Fish-Man Karate: Mist Shark!"

The tiger shark Fish-Man, upon seeing Wood enter the water with a sword, immediately showed a fierce gleam in its eyes. Its body began swimming at high speed, swiftly leaving behind its Fish-Man companions as it charged toward Wood.

This wasn't Wood's first time fighting Fish-Men. In Impel Down, there were also many Fish-Men imprisoned, some of whom were well-known figures among the Fish-Men.

Fish-Man Karate is a unique skill of all Fish-Men and mermaids in the One Piece world. Fish-Men who master these techniques are considered top-notch among their kind.

However, the Fish-Man before Wood was different from those he had encountered in Impel Down. Wood could only say that Fish-Men in water were much stronger than those on land.

Wood didn't believe that the tiger shark Fish-Man before him was stronger than the Fish-Men he had fought in Impel Down, but the speed at which this Fish-Man charged toward him was truly astounding.

The swimming speed of a tiger shark Fish-Man is naturally fast in the sea, and with the addition of Fish-Man Karate techniques, it became as fast as a torpedo.

As the tiger shark Fish-Man charged toward him, Wood held his long sword horizontally, directly blocking the opponent's now razor-sharp dorsal fin.

The impact from the high-speed swimming forced Wood back several dozen meters.

The dorsal fin of the tiger shark Fish-Man was incredibly hard and sharp. On land, it would be less effective, but in the sea, the high-speed swimming could even slice a small ship in half.

The tiger shark Fish-Man was confident that this attack would be successful, believing that humans in the sea couldn't possibly match Fish-Men in speed or reaction.

However, to the tiger shark Fish-Man's surprise, the human not only blocked the attack but also caused a faint trace of red to mix into the surrounding water.

It wasn't the human's blood, but its own!

The dorsal fin it was so proud of had been injured in the collision with the human.

Being injured by a human, especially one in the sea, only further enraged the tiger shark Fish-Man. As it crashed into Wood, it fiercely bit toward his waist.

"Rokushiki: Tekkai (Iron Body)!"

The tiger shark Fish-Man was proud not only of its sharp dorsal fin but also of its teeth, capable of easily biting through rock.

It couldn't believe that Wood's body could be as tough as his sword.

Crack—!

With a crisp snapping sound, the tiger shark Fish-Man was dumbfounded. The human's body was indeed tougher than its sword!

The teeth, which could easily crush rocks, nearly shattered when they bit into Wood's waist!

"Tekkai: Smash!"

While the tiger shark Fish-Man was still in shock at its inability to bite through the human's waist, a fist the size of a large pot suddenly slammed into its face.

Wood didn't hold back with this punch. Although the water resistance was significant, his overwhelming physical strength, combined with the Tekkai technique and his considerable martial skills, was more than enough to send the much larger tiger shark Fish-Man flying with a single uppercut.

The tiger shark Fish-Man's body, following the force of the blow, arced upward and away.

The ships on the surface had stopped shaking, indicating that the Fish-Men had ceased their attack and were now engaged in battle with Wood.

At the stern of the ship, there was a small Sea King with the upper body of a lion and the lower body of a fish.

Although it was a "small" Sea King, its size was comparable to that of Wood's ship.

This small Sea King had appeared and attacked the ship shortly after Wood entered the water, seemingly in cahoots with the Fish-Men.

However, the Fish-Men hadn't expected that besides Wood, there was another formidable individual on the ship.

The Sea King had just surfaced, but before it could roar to assert its presence, it was sliced into sashimi by a single strike from Gion.

Now, Gion, holding her sword Konpira, stood in a bikini, exuding an aura that warned others to stay away. Her gaze remained fixed on the calm sea.

It wasn't that Gion doubted Wood's strength, but humans were at a severe disadvantage when fighting Fish-Men in the sea, and they still didn't know how many Fish-Men they were up against.

Gion wanted to jump into the sea to help Wood, but she was also worried that if she did, another Sea King might suddenly appear and attack the ship.

This time, it was just her and Wood escorting the ship. The others were all chained up, and those chains were specially made, with the only key in the hands of the Celestial Dragon who had purchased them.

If she jumped into the sea to assist Wood and the Sea King attacked the ship again, everyone on board would be doomed.