OP: My Aircraft Carrier Evolves#17+18: Hunter and Prey, Remnants of the Sun Pirates! A Fierce Battle and the Candy-Candy Fruit!

CRASH!

Willy's ship, the Flying Shark, smashed a sloop into a thousand pieces with its massive ram.

"HAHAHAHA!" Willy roared with laughter. "Humans are so weak! A completely inferior species!"

The other Fish-Men on his ship laughed along with him.

Willy had once been a member of the Sun Pirates. After Fisher Tiger's death, Jinbe had taken over as captain, but the crew had eventually splintered due to ideological differences.

Willy was violent and held extremist, racist views. He'd struck out on his own, and now he enjoyed hunting humans and selling them to slave traders.

"Captain!" a lookout shouted from the stern. "There's a ship tailing us! The flag is..."

"Who is it?" Willy demanded.

"The black dragon!" the Fish-Man replied. "It's him!"

"Hm?" Willy was confused. "Weren't they in the lead? When did they fall behind us?"

He let out another booming laugh. "Wuhahaha! I was just about to go looking for them, and they've come to me! Hard to port! Get to windward of them!"

He hefted the chain mace at his waist. "All hands, prepare for battle! Let's go claim that fifty million Berries!"

"YEAHHHHHH!"

The Fish-Men drew their swords, and the gunners rolled out the cannons.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The eight cannons on the port side opened fire, the air filling with thick smoke.

"That's the mark of the Fish-Men..." Jin said, lowering his spyglass. The demonic carrier pushed through the cannon fire, heading straight for the Flying Shark.

"He wants a close-quarters fight?" Willy sneered. "Wuhahaha! A Fish-Man is many times stronger than a human in the water! And he wants to fight us at sea? Ram them!"

Willy ordered the Flying Shark to close the distance. He swung his chain mace, ready to teach the human a lesson.

"Woooooooooom..."

Suddenly, he heard a deep roar. The ship in front of them began to emit wisps of dark-red, flame-like energy.

As he watched, the ship seemed to come alive. Its hull writhed and pulsed, and the ram of the Flying Shark was swallowed whole.

"WHAT IS THAT?!"

"WHAT IS IT?!"

"IS IT A DEMON?!"

The Fish-Men were horrified.

The Flying Shark began to tremble violently.

The writhing hull of the other ship, moving with a slow, deliberate speed, "ate" it, the materials of the ship being crushed and disassembled.

The Fish-Men were sent sliding down a tube like an esophagus, tumbling out onto the floor below in a heap.

They were piled up like a small mountain.

"Fish-Men?"

"It's Fish-Men!"

Willy heard the voices and rubbed his dizzy head. He looked around and saw that they were surrounded by a group of humans.

At the forefront stood...

"Wilson," Willy said, getting to his feet. "Long time no see. I thought you were dead. I never imagined... that just like Jinbe, you'd become a lapdog for the humans. You're a traitor to the fish-man race. A DISGRACE."

He glared at Wilson.

"A traitor?" Wilson replied calmly. "You're the ones who betrayed Captain Tiger's ideals. You even hunt your own kind. How are you any different from the humans you hate so much?"

Willy sneered. "I killed you once. I can do it again."

He swung his chain mace with incredible force.

CLANG!

Wilson blocked it with his spiked club.

"KILL THEM!" Willy roared to his crew.

The battle erupted.

The natural physical superiority of the Fish-Men meant that even with minimal training, they were elite pirate warriors.

It took three to five of the Winter Blossom soldiers to handle one Fish-Man. The former members of the Vulture Pirates fared a little better.

With about twenty Fish-Men, including three powerful officers, Willy's crew quickly gained the upper hand.

Jin was here to train his men, not to send them to their deaths.

So he made his move.

WHOOSH!

He was a blur of motion.

With a single kick, Jin's foot connected with the head of the sturgeon Fish-Man officer, and it exploded.

The body crumpled to the ground, the blood staining the floor.

It was a surprise attack, but it was enough to stun the arrogant Fish-Men and inject a shot of courage into his own soldiers.

"YOU BASTARD!"

The Fish-Men, their initial shock turning to rage, roared in fury. The other two officers charged at Jin simultaneously.

"Fish-Man Karate!" the eagle ray Fish-Man officer roared, his eyes burning with rage, his presence like an erupting volcano.

"Spearfish Straight Punch!"

The spearfish Fish-Man officer's long body was a blur as he threw a punch, the air compressing in front of his fist like a cannonball.

BOOM!

The punch landed squarely on Jin's chest, but he took the full force of the blow without flinching.

Next came the eagle ray Fish-Man's hand chop, a strike that could shatter solid rock.

"DIE!"

Two heavy blows.

Both landed on Jin.

An average person would have been crushed.

But to the surprise of the two Fish-Man officers, the man before them didn't even sway. He stood as firm as a mountain.

"This guy...!"

The Fish-Men were stunned.

Was his physical constitution even stronger than theirs??

They didn't know that Jin's body had been transformed by the Spacetime energy of his journey to this world. As he trained and adapted, he was becoming less and less human.

He threw a left hook, sending the spearfish Fish-Man flying.

Then, a right-handed chop.

It was as fast as light, a strike so swift it could kill with the wind alone.

The eagle ray Fish-Man tried to counter, but Jin's hand chopped through his arm.

Taking advantage of the opening, Jin closed the distance, his fist moving so fast it seemed to be wrapped in wind as it punched straight through the officer's chest.

The spearfish Fish-Man, who had crashed into a wall, was trying to get up when a foot came down on his neck, snapping it.

It had all happened in the space of a few breaths. The three officers were dead. The other Fish-Men were frozen in fear.

The rest were just small fry.

He didn't need to intervene any further.

His soldiers, their morale soaring, charged forward and finished the job.

As his men were cut down one by one, Willy roared in fury, screaming at Wilson, calling him a traitor, asking him how he could just stand by and watch humans slaughter his own kind.

Though Wilson felt a pang of pity, he knew how extreme these Fish-Men were. Their hands were undoubtedly stained with innocent blood.

"I've heard about what your race has been through," Jin said quietly from the side. "And I sympathize with the innocent. But you... you've killed people, too. You have no right to talk about innocence. The moment you set out to sea, you should have been prepared to die."

"Wilson," he continued, "if you earn enough merit, you can save your people. You can bring them to live freely in my kingdom."

"All humans are despicable, shameless creatures!" Willy snarled. "Are you really going to believe the words of a human? You should join me! We can take his ship together!"

Wilson closed his eyes, a flood of memories washing over him.

He had been captured by human slave traders and sold to an underground fighting ring in Sabaody, where he had endured unspeakable suffering...

He was rescued by Fisher Tiger and joined the Sun Pirates. He, too, had been filled with a deep hatred for humans, and he had left the crew with Willy.

But when he discovered that Willy and the others had become no different from the slave traders they despised, he had tried to stop them and had been stabbed in the back.

He had survived and been rescued by Captain Sherlock. At first, he had been resistant, but he had eventually been won over by Sherlock's straightforward nature.

Over time, he had come to realize that humans and Fish-Men were not so different. There were good and bad, evil and kind.

He had finally come to understand Captain Tiger's dream of peace, and the true meaning of the Sun Pirates: liberation and freedom.

"You have forsaken Captain Tiger's lifelong dream!" Wilson roared. "YOU HAVE BECOME THE VERY THING WE ONCE HATED MOST!"

He took the full force of Willy's chain mace. As he spat out a mouthful of blood, he swung his own club, shattering Willy's skull.

<><><><><><><><>

THUD!

Willy's body hit the deck. Wilson, leaning on his blood-streaked club, knelt on the floor, bleeding from his own wounds.

He was gasping for breath.

Jin walked over and clapped him on the shoulder.

He spoke, his voice low, almost to himself. "The conflict between humans and Fish-Men... the root of the problem isn't the two races themselves. It's the ones who created the system... Let's just call them 'They'... They place themselves above all other races, bleed the world dry, and sow the seeds of pain, hatred, and war. THEY ARE THE TRUE CULPRITS."

Wilson was surprised. Long ago, when Fisher Tiger had freed the slaves, he had said something similar. He had forbidden his crew from harming humans without cause, including those they fought in battle. At the time, many of the Fish-Men, their hearts filled with hatred, couldn't understand.

That was what had eventually led to the Sun Pirates splitting apart.

It was only after years of experience, after seeing more of the world, that Wilson had come to appreciate the foresight in Tiger's philosophy.

He never would have imagined that this young man before him would possess such a profound understanding. He couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration.

"Get to the infirmary and get yourself treated," Jin ordered. "The rest of you, clean up these bodies."

After giving his orders, Jin returned to the conning tower to search for new prey.

He'd avoided fighting on the island to prevent being swarmed. Out at sea, the pirates were far less likely to work together.

He began to hunt for lone pirate ships, taking them down one by one, like a snake devouring its prey.

In a one-on-one fight, no one was a match for him.

After all, in this early part of the Grand Line, the vast majority of pirate crews had bounties of around twenty million. A bounty of sixty or seventy million was considered a major pirate.

That's why Luffy's thirty million Berri bounty had drawn so much attention.

The New World, where bounties in the hundreds of millions were commonplace, was on a completely different level.

A crew like the Krieg Pirates from the East Blue should have been able to make it much farther. Unfortunately for them, they had the bad luck of running into Hawkeye Mihawk.

—————————

After a long while without spotting any more pirate ships, Jin checked the demonic carrier's current stats.

[Primary Authority: Captain Jin]

[Hull Data: Length 36m | Width 18m | Height 10.6m | Weight 88 Tons]
[Internal Space: 420 x 108 x 42 m³]

[Abilities: Munch-Munch Fruit | Mushroom-Mushroom Fruit]

[Armaments: Main Cannons (3) | Heavy Cannons (5) | Firearms (1239) | Blades (1564)]

[Next Evolution Requirements: Soul Crystals (721/500) | Refined Steel (23/20 tons) | Gold (0.2/1 ton) | Silver (3/5 tons) | Rare Earth Metals (10/50 tons) | Biological Matter (0/3)!]

The ship's exterior hadn't changed, but its internal space had grown significantly after swallowing so many other vessels.

Its arsenal had also increased.

He had more than enough soul crystals for the next evolution, and the refined steel was also covered. The gold, silver, and rare earth metals wouldn't be too hard to acquire.

The real problem was the Biological Matter.

0/3.

That meant the next evolution required three Devil Fruits.

"I've got my eye on the Candy-Candy Fruit," Jin mused. "That still leaves two."

He sighed.

This was going to be tough.

"Master, the Salamander has been sighted ahead!" Ai reported.

"Oh?"

Jin's spirits lifted.

There he was. For a moment, he'd been sure he'd lost the bastard.

—————————

At the same time, on the deck of the Salamander.

"General! A ship has appeared astern! It's the Black Dragon Pirates!" the lookout reported.

A bloodthirsty smile spread across Gasparde's face. "So, he's finally shown himself. All hands, prepare for battle."

"Sir!"

The crew readied their guns, loaded their cannons, and drew their swords, gathering on the deck and at the rails, ready for a boarding action.

But before that, the ship's cannons would have their say.

The Salamander was one of the Marines' newer models, a hybrid of steam and sail power. It was 76.5 meters long, 34 meters wide, with a draft of 7.5 meters. Its sides were reinforced with iron armor, and it was armed with 36 cannons. When powered by its steam engine, it could reach a speed of 12.5 knots. With the auxiliary sails, that increased to 14 knots.

Gasparde had stolen it while it was docked.

With such a formidable vessel, he was able to dominate the surrounding seas. Whenever the Marines came after him, he would just escape into the Calm Belt.

As a former Marine, he knew all their tricks. He was always one step ahead, always able to slip through their grasp.

The Marines were grinding their teeth in frustration. But with the Four Emperors and the ever-increasing number of major pirates to deal with, Headquarters simply didn't have the spare manpower to hunt him down.

And so, he had remained at large for years.

Of course, there were other, unspoken reasons for his continued freedom.

For one, Gasparde knew the Marines' bottom line and was careful not to cross it.

He also had a few friends still serving on the inside. There were certain—tasks—that their positions made it inconvenient for them to handle personally.

They needed a proxy.

A helping hand.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The cannons roared.

The cannonballs crashed into the sea around the Empress, sending up massive columns of water. They packed three or four times the punch of a normal pirate ship's cannons.

"Return fire!" Jin commanded.

Deep within the barrels of the ship's cannons, shells were automatically loaded. Ai handled the targeting.

THUMP! THUMP!

The three main cannons and five heavy cannons all fired at once, the ship shuddering from the force of the recoil. Tongues of fire and clouds of smoke billowed out.

They weren't just loaded with cannonballs. They were also packed with the special mushrooms from the breeding chamber—Hypno-Shrooms, Tear-Gas Shrooms, Poison-Gas Shrooms...

It sounded impossible, but in the world of One Piece, a Devil Fruit could make the impossible possible.

The power of the Mushroom-Mushroom Fruit, combined with Ai's data analysis, allowed for the hybridization of different mushroom species, creating new types with various effects. These new species, however, could not reproduce on their own. Their seeds, a special product of the Devil Fruit's power, could only be created in the breeding chamber.

It was similar to how Wapol could create Wapometal with his Munch-Munch Fruit. Even if someone else knew the formula, they couldn't replicate it.

BOOM!

The shells and poison-fungus bombs all found their mark, landing squarely on the deck of the Salamander.

HISSSSSSS...

The fungal spores began to spread. The pirates who inhaled them either collapsed, fast asleep, or fell to the ground, crying uncontrollably. Others clutched their throats, their faces turning blue as they struggled to breathe. Still others began to hallucinate, swatting at imaginary figures dancing around them.

"LOOK OUT! THE SMOKE IS POISONOUS!"

"DON'T BREATHE IT IN!"

"DAMMIT...!"

"GENERAL... HELP... HELP ME..."

Seeing the state of his crew, the veins on Gasparde's forehead bulged. He clenched his fists. "You coward!!!"

They hadn't even boarded, and he'd already lost half his fighting force.

He glared at the approaching black dragon flag, his rage boiling over. When the two ships were about twenty meters apart, he leaped into the air.

"I'll kill you myself."

He launched himself like a cannonball, landing perfectly on the rail of the Empress.

The sea wind billowed his coat, revealing his chiseled eight-pack abs. His sharp eyes locked onto the young man walking out from the conning tower.

He looked to be in his early twenties, with short, black hair and bright, spirited eyes that radiated a will to fight.

Their gazes met, and sparks seemed to fly.

"You challenge me?" Gasparde said, his voice dripping with condescension.

"A challenge?" Jin replied. "You misunderstand. Today, I'm here to kill you... or die trying."