To Zero

Fishman Island's citizens continue fleeing while Fukaboshi's broadcast spreads through the country. People ask, "What's going on up there above the island?!" and "The truth about Hody?!" Fukaboshi's words ring over the panic: the New Fishman Pirates have no experience of humanity, no reason or higher purpose behind their actions, and are driven by "blind and empty hatred alone!!!" Citizens cry, "Empty?!" but the shadow of Noah has already begun to blacken the sky. Someone shouts, "Run for it, people!! Can't you see?! The Noah is already starting to blacken the sky!!"

Above the island, Hody Jones laughs, "Jahaha hahaha...!!" as Noah falls. He has transformed again, becoming even more hideous under the power of the Energy Steroids, and his body throbs with "Dokun" as he pants. Shirahoshi sees it and says, "Hody-sama has transformed into an even more unsightly form...!!" Luffy remains with her inside the bubble while the gigantic ship keeps descending toward Fishman Island.

As Hody laughs, the voices that shaped him echo from the past: "Human beings are an inferior race," "Humans are evil," and "Don't forget this, Hody." The lesson is repeated through the Fishman District: since the Great Pirate Age began, more people die on this island every day, humans have gone wild, and they think nothing of kidnapping young mermaids. The conclusion forced into the children is absolute: "There's nothing left to do!! Fishman Island is surely doomed!!!"

The old stories turn hatred into worship. The children are told that Fisher Tiger blew up a human shop on the surface, wounded humans everywhere, and even died himself while taking eight humans with him. They toast Arlong for sinking a human pirate ship and call him a hero. The voices say, "Praise the hero who killed the humans!! His sacrifice won't be forgotten!!" and "This is a holy war!!!" Long ago, those humans looked upon fishmen, blessed by the heavens with superior strength, and were filled with envy and fear. Hody absorbs all of it as doctrine.

The propaganda continues: humans chose to persecute fishmen, ruled the world above like vermin, used numbers as their only advantage, and exiled fishmen to the ocean floor. Someone curses humanity with all his heart. Hachi tells the young fishmen, "There's a human man I've known for a long time. His name's Rayleigh. He's not like most humans - he looks at me without the slightest scorn in his..." Hody cuts him off: "I don't like listening to your stories, Hachi-san!! They make me feel sick." Later, the children are told not to forget those who came before them, to carry on their will, and to avenge them. Hody imagines humans as terrified because judgment will come.

News of Fisher Tiger's death reaches the Fishman District: "It's terrible!!! The hero who freed the slaves, Tiger-san... has been killed by the humans!!!" Someone says, "So even Tiger was not the true chosen hero..." The young Hody watches the hatred deepen. In another memory, a fishman threatens a child and says, "I hear you shared your blood with a human." The child cries, "Who are you people?! Go away and leave me alone!!" Hody answers without pity, "So what if I did?! He was about to die if I didn't-" and the man calls him contaminated by contact with a human.

The hatred grows around every political choice. Some say the royals are sick in the head because they want to forgive what humans have done, while others say Jinbe has joined the Shichibukai. They declare, "The Arlong Pirates are the only ones who still retain any sense of pride in their race...!!" Then Queen Otohime is murdered, and Hody twists even that tragedy into proof against humans: "You see?! This is what the humans are like!!!" He says the royals show no mercy to the queen, yet she was kinder toward them than anyone, and if the royals still refuse revenge, he has lost all respect for those in charge of the country.

Hody celebrates Otohime's death as heavenly punishment, saying, "Jahahaha hahahah!!! The woman who brought shame upon our nation... has been punished by the heavens!!!" Dosun calls it only right for human-loving fools like her to die. Hody then tells the officers, "The time for revenge... is now!!! The heavens have chosen us... granted us the power that we need!!" The officers see the Energy Steroids and ask if this is the legendary power. Hody tells Zeo to reproduce it, and Zeo says everyone in the Fishman District is unhappy with the country, so it will not be hard to convince them to join.

Hody declares his campaign a holy war and orders preparations. The symbol of the Sun Pirates is crossed out as he says, "We're going to slaughter those humans once and for all!!!" The New Fishman Pirates call themselves the chosen ones, chosen to deliver justice and avenge those who came before them. In the present, that ideology becomes violence against Luffy and Shirahoshi. Hody calls them "filthy inferior beings!!!" and shouts that they will lay down their lives in the name of retribution.

At the air tank, the crew prepares to fire the giant bubble at Noah. One warns, "Careful now!! Unlike the bubble around the island, this one will go straight through the ship!!" Another says they have to hit the target dead-on because if the bubble flies straight past Noah, it is no good. Fukaboshi's voice continues over the broadcast, admitting, "We were too late..." Before they knew it, the Fishman District had drifted beyond reach. What began as discontent became a den of resentment, deaf to all they had to say.

The evacuation continues while Fukaboshi confesses the royal family's failure. He says they failed to do anything but ignore the danger the Fishman District presented, paying attention only to outward appearances and convincing themselves they had moved on. Otohime's words echo: "I know it must be difficult... But no matter how much anger and hatred you bear towards these humans... You must not pass it on to the children." Below, citizens flee to open water as others ask where people think they are going with Noah falling on the island.

Fukaboshi cries that they were too late to reach their own people, and that this was what his mother feared the most. The first danger they should have confronted was the threat from within. Their mother was not killed by humans alone; she was killed by the bitter hatred that lurked within Fishman Island itself. Otohime had understood this all along, and Fukaboshi admits that somewhere in his heart he still harbored resentment toward humans. The regrets of the dead belong to the dead, and hatred is a twisted illusion prolonged by the living.

Fukaboshi says he was unable to fully abandon his resentment of humans, and because of that he overlooked the threat lying within the Fishman District. By the time the royal family realized the mistake, Hody's faction had grown too powerful to resist. Now, if nothing changes, the hatred fishmen bear toward humans will doom them all. Fukaboshi turns his plea to Luffy: "Straw Hat... I beg of you!!!" He declares that they have no need for the past and cries, "Return it all to nothing!!!"

The bubble closes around Noah as Fukaboshi begs Luffy and Shirahoshi to take the darkness shading the island from the sun's light and destroy it once and for all. He asks them to use their power to return Fishman Island "...to nothing!!!!" The air tank crew shout, "All right!! It's in the bubble!!" Hody snarls that Fukaboshi's words are empty and that their grudge against humans will never fade, but Luffy answers simply, "If you say I can do whatever I like... then don't worry!!"

The people below hear Luffy's voice and realize the ones fighting against Hody's crew in Gyoncord Plaza are the Straw Hat Pirates and Boss Jinbe. Luffy says, "From the moment we set foot in that plaza... my crew and Jinbe had decided together... that we weren't going to let anybody... harm Fishman Island!" Usopp, Nami, Chopper, Sanji, Franky, Brook, Robin, Zoro, and Jinbe stand in the plaza, battered but ready. Zoro says, "Leave it all to me, Bro-hoshi!!" while Luffy speaks for the whole crew's resolve.

Luffy smiles through the broadcast and says the simplest reason of all: "We're friends, right?" The people of Fishman Island are stunned. Someone asks, "How could we ever have mistrusted this man...?!!" Others shout that they are staying on the island and are not going to run. The fear begins turning into trust as citizens stop and look toward the battle, finally understanding that Luffy and the Straw Hats are fighting for them as friends, not enemies.

Above the island, Shirahoshi warns, "Luffy-sama, the Noah is surrounded by air!!" Luffy tells her, "Yeah!! Cry-hoshi... You just stay close to me. I won't let you get hurt." Hody declares, "I'll finish this up nice and quickly!!" and claims the power granted by the heavens will let him finish everything. Luffy answers with "Gear Second... Armament!" and rushes in: "Gomu Gomu no..." Hody vows, "This time, I will tear your flesh apart-" but Luffy's flaming fist lands first. The attack is named across the page: "Red Hawk!!!!"

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