Ren was stunned by the explosion that happened right in front of her.

"How can someone punch so fast that air explodes?!" she thought.

"I know what you're thinking, 'how does he punch so fast?'" Shostagyovich said.

He punched the air again, creating another explosion, this time singing Ren's clothes and knocking her back into the wall so fast she left a visible imprint.

"It's not a Devil Fruit! Not only am I ten times stronger than a puny human like you due to my fishman biology, I'm a mantis shrimp fishman, meaning my punches are so fast the air itself ignites around my fists!"

"Eep!" was all Ren was able to say as she unstuck herself from the wall.

"Crap! My bullets won't work on this guy! And if he hits me head-on, I'm dead!"

Shostagyovich wasted no time closing the gap between himself and Ren. He punched her hard in the gut with one fist, followed with an uppercut to her chin with another, then smashing two more of his eight fists on either side of her head. Each punch exploded.

"1917 COMBO!" he called.

Ren somehow survived, face covered in soot and dripping with blood, as well as her shirt being blown open. She was also missing several teeth now, and her eyes whited out.

As she staggered around, trying to get her bearings, Shostagyovich stepped back.

"I'm surprised you survived that, puny human girl."

Ren coughed up smoke (and a tooth) and exclaimed "why are you so racist?! Half of employees here are human!"

"Humans are simply inferior to us fishmen. That being said, they're good workers," Shostagyovich explained, flicking ash off his cigar. "Most importantly, the only thing that matters in the end is berries. If someone is willing to work for us, we won't turn them away."

"I guess that makes sense…" Ren said.

Shostagyovich once again dashed forward to close the distance for another combo attack, but Ren anticipated this. She pulled a grenade off her belt and chucked it on the ground. It exploded into a massive cloud of smoke.

Ren attempted to flee for her life to a place where she could find cover, but Shostagyovich intercepted her with another mighty kidney shot as she ran past. Ren hacked up blood and staggered again after being knocked toward the door of the office.

"H-how…?!" Ren asked, turning around.

"You've been at sea for how long, and you don't know what Haki is?"

"I know… I know what Haki is…" Ren choked out.

"Then you'll know why this attack is gonna hurt even more!" Shostagyovich declared.

Shostagyovich's right arms became black and shiny, and he charged at Ren with the force of a train, right fists pulled back.

"CONCERTO CROSS!" he called.

"If attack hits, I'm dead for sure!" Ren shouted in her head. She grabbed another grenade and chucked it on the ground as hard as she could, then attempted to duck out of the way of his attack. The grenade let out a flash as bright as the sun and a BANG! so loud it could wake the dead.

The flashbang made Shostagyovich stumble and crash through the open door and into the hall.

"Alright, Ren! Now's your chance! Think! Where are weak points?!" she thought.

She looked over at Shostagyovich as he staggered around, trying to find his bearings.

"He has thick carapace that blocks bullets. But…"

She looked up at his eyes, which she could see from behind due to them being perched on stalks with perfectly round glasses in front of them.

"I can at least make this fairer fight and buy time to think of finishing blow!" she thought, raising her pistols.

As Shostagyovich turned around, Ren dashed forward. She jumped and came eye to eye with him.

BANG! BANG!

Shostagyovich tried to dodge. And he was only partially successful. One of his eye stalks was blown clean off.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" he howled, clutching his head where his eye used to be.

As Shostagyovich screamed in pain, Ren landed and ran past him, dropping an active grenade at his feet as she did.

"That little-!" was all Shostagyovich was able to say before the grenade at his feet exploded, blowing a hole in the floor and dropping him down a story.

Ren breathed a quick sigh of relief, then ran off into the hallway, thinking "he'll be back soon. I need to think of plan!"

—-

Bees began to fly at Schwarz. They stung him all over before he started slicing through them as fast as he could. Beegyoven's "corpse" stood up and softly laughed. The gash in his neck was quickly patched up by the bees flying out of it with honey and beeswax.

"What…? What the hell is this?!" Schwarz shouted as he frantically cut through the bees.

"I'm a hive man," said Beegyoven. "I ate the Hive Hive Fruit, making me a living hive for all sorts of insects!"

"Oh, that's absolutely disgusting," Schwarz said, retching.

Bees continued to swarm around Schwarz, stinging him all over. He dropped through a portal at his feet and teleported away from Beegyoven, but the bees were quick on his tail. Beegyoven, for his part, just slowly walked forward toward Schwarz, laughing to himself.

Schwarz bolted out of the office, slamming the door behind him. The bees could still be heard buzzing on the other side.

"Okay…" said Schwarz, catching his breath. "How do I beat a freaky fish guy with bee powers?"

"Wait… I had Haki training!" he thought. "Focus…"

Schwarz closed his eyes and began to focus. Clear in his mind's eye was every individual bee behind the door, along with Beegyoven laughing to himself.

"Chihahaha…" Beegyoven laughed.

Schwarz spawned a hole under his feet and teleported back into the office, above and behind Beegyoven. Schwarz's skin became black and shiny, as well as his sword, Tizona. He dropped down, sword pointing down and covered in Armament Haki.

Beegyoven's eyes flashed red, and he swiveled around, catching Schwarz's blade with Haki-covered hands. Blood trickled from Beegyoven's palms.

"How?!" Schwarz exclaimed, stuck in the air.

"I was one of Kemurchant Enterprises' top hunters before my promotion," Beegyoven said with a smirk. "I've brought in bounties of over five hundred million berries before!"

Schwarz tried to move his sword, but Beegyoven's grip was too strong, so Schwarz was left dangling in the air. He let go and dropped to the floor.

"I don't need a sword to kick your ass!" Schwarz shouted as he punched Beegyoven in the gut with a Haki-coated fist.

Beegyoven reeled from this, coughing up blood and some bees. The bees flew at Schwarz, but he quickly stiffened his body with Haki. The bees tried to sting him, but their stingers broke off.

"Hah! See?! Your bees are worthless against my Haki!" Schwarz declared.

"Adorable," was all Beegyoven responded with. He held out his free hand, and a wave of bees shot out, each one black and shiny and flying directly at Schwarz.

Schwarz assumed a defensive stance, crossing his arms in front of his face and continuing to coat himself in Haki. But as the bees swarmed him, they managed to sting him.

"Owowowowow!" Schwarz cried as he attempted to flee again through a hole he spawned under his feet. He fell through and teleported above and behind Beegyoven again, attempting to deliver a heel drop to Beegyoven's head, but Beegyoven caught his foot and threw him into the wall, where bees proceeded to sting him.

"How are your freaking bees getting through my Haki?!" Schwarz shouted, attempting to duck away from the bees.

"Simple. The bees have Haki of their own," Beegyoven said with a smile, carelessly playing with Tizona.

"WHAT?! But they're mindless insects!"

The bees took offense to this, and relented from their swarming of Schwarz to fall back and assume the form of a giant middle finger.

"All living beings are capable of using Haki, pretty boy," Beegyoven said, flicking ash off his cigar. "All it takes is training!"

"YOU TRAINED A SWARM OF BEES?!"

"The bees, as well as all the other insects inside me, follow my every command," Beegyoven explained, pointing Tizona at Schwarz for dramatic effect. "That is the power of the Hive Hive Fruit!"

All Schwarz could do in response was attempt to go for another teleporting heel drop, but Beegyoven caught his ankle again and slammed him into the ground.

"Wanna see what else I have inside me?" Beegyoven asked.

"Ergh… Not particularly," Schwarz said, picking himself up and wiping the blood from his head.

"Too bad!" Beegyoven exclaimed as a swarm of mosquitoes flew out of his mouth. Schwarz teleported outside the room again.

As he leaned up against the door, listening to the buzzing of the bees and mosquitoes, he thought to himself "this is bad… he has my billion berry sword, too… gotta find some way to beat this guy!"

—-

"En garde, dame!" Gershfin called as he thrust his swords (and razor sharp nose) at Zinnia, who swiftly dodged and brought Ruth down on his head.

"My, you are a strong one!" he exclaimed, rubbing his head where Zinnia had struck him. "But no matter! My three sword style is unmatched!"

"Three sword style?" Zinnia asked. For some reason, that sounded familiar to her.

"Shall we dance, missy?" Gershfin asked. He held his left rapier out, the right one pulled back.

"I would much rather fight, sir," Zinnia responded, a blank expression on her face. Ruth couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Gershfin thrust his right rapier at Zinnia, who dodged left, then promptly dodged right when Gershfin followed with a leftward thrust. With Zinnia right between his rapiers, Gershfin thrust his face forward, aiming right at her chest with his pointed nose. She jumped back, but not before Gershfin managed to pierce her sternum, just barely missing her heart and lungs.

As Zinnia screamed in pain and reflexively clutched her chest, Gershfin performed a flourish with his swords.

"Aha! See the power of the great Gershfin, girl! Once a world-renowned bounty hunter, I will proudly defeat any criminal who crosses my path! Especially someone as weak as 'Amazon Bloom' Zinnia, worth only twenty-one million berries!"

"You… you know me, sir?" Zinnia asked as her chest bled.

"We know all about Worldwide Smoke's adventures, girl! It was only a matter of time before Shaska reared her ugly head around here again!"

"Miss Shaska is actually quite beautiful," Zinnia responded.

"It's just a-"

"But more importantly," Zinnia interrupted, "do you know about our trip to the Mercury Collective? Or our six months training at the Fishman Karate dojo?"

"Why, yes, we've been keeping track of you lot since you came here," said a confused Gershfin.

"Then you would be wise to not underestimate Master Funagyoshi's training," said Zinnia coldly.

She closed the distance between them within the blink of an eye, free fist pulled back and coated in Armament Haki.

"Five thousand brick fist."

Zinnia returned the favor of having her sternum pierced with a similarly destructive attack of her own, striking Gershfin directly in the chest and breaking his chest bone and several ribs.

As Gershfin stumbled around, reeling from the pain, Zinnia lunged forward and delivered a knee strike to his gut, causing him to hack up blood. She followed by striking him hard in the face with Ruth's helmet, breaking his pointed noise in the process.

Gershfin again stumbled around as Zinnia landed, gently bouncing Ruth up and down on her shoulder.

"My… my nose! You… bitch!"

"I must remind you once again that I am a person. I am not a female dog," said Zinnia as Gershfin forcefully straightened his nose.

"Take this! My ultimate technique! Three Sword Style: Rhapsody in Blue!" Gershfin called as he held his rapiers out.

He lunged forward with both rapiers; Zinnia simply sidestepped him and bonked him on the head with her snake again.

"Was that your ultimate technique, sir?" Zinnia asked, blissfully unaware of how that would be considered rude.

"Grrrrr!" Gershfin growled. "RHAPSODY IN BLUE!"

He turned to Zinnia and started rapidly thrusting with both swords and his face. Zinnia's eyes flashed red, and she managed to jump backward into his office, only being nicked by the left rapier in her abdomen.

Gershfin kept charging forward, and Zinnia thought to herself "it appears I have been backed into a corner."

She held up Ruth and said to her "perhaps it is time for our ultimate technique?"

Ruth gave an agreeing hiss, and Zinnia placed her on the ground, where she began to slither toward Gershfin.

Gershfin, for his part, saw this coming; his eyes flashed red, and he stabbed the floor in front of him, impaling Ruth through her midsection.

"RUTH!" Zinnia cried as the snake gave a pained hiss.

"Gehehe… What are you going to do now without your precious snake?!" Gershfin declared, stopping at the doorway to his office.

Zinnia shot him a death glare.

"I am going to destroy you."

—-

"Lulupo! Get Puerc to the infirmary!" Johnson ordered. "Troops! Prepare to engage the enemy!"

"Yes, sir, Mister Birdson, sir!" Freddie exclaimed, saluting. The other Mercury Collective survivors were less enthused.

"It's Johnson!" he stressed.

"I see, this is your military training, is it Johnson, darling?" Lulupo asked, still clutching Puerco in his hair.

"I'll fight this guy. I can't remember the last time I've had a good fight," Johnson said. "Just go, Lulupo!"

"At once," Lulupo replied, running past Gyozart and kicking away any Kemurchants who tried to get in his way. The rank and file employees began to skirmish with the Kemurchants. Sounds of gunfire filled the air.

"Ready when you are, fish," said Johnson, making a "bring it" gesture with his wing arm.

Gyozart wasted no time lunging forward at him, sword drawn. Johnson activated his robot backpack, the JHH-42, and its hands caught the sword and delivered a powerful shock to Gyozart, causing him to yelp in pain and drop the sword. Johnson began flapping his wing arms, and razor sharp blasts of air came out,

"Ostrich Gale!"

Gyozart shielded himself by crossing his arms in front of his face, and his arms got sliced up by the razor wind. Johnson followed by jumping as high as he could, then propelling himself down and forward with his wings. His ostrich foot slammed right into Gyozart's face as soon as he relaxed his arms, and dragged him into the floor.

Gyozart shot to his feet as soon as Johnson released his grip. He started flailing his arms around in circles, which caused Johnson to back up.

"Arm Flail!" Gyozart called. His arms shot out, spinning and attached to ropes in his shoulders. They struck Johnson, knocking him back.

"What the hell?" Johnson asked as Gyozart pulled his arms back. Gyozart proceeded to let one of his fingers spin and dangle from a string in his knuckle.

"I'm a whirl fishman! I ate the Whirl Whirl Fruit, allowing me to turn my body parts into yo-yos!" Gyozart exclaimed.

Johnson just stood there. "That's… kinda lame."

"Said the talking ostrich."

—-

Shaska laid on the pavement outside Kemurchant HQ. Slowly, she began to stir, having been knocked unconscious for the briefest of moments by her son. She sat up and rubbed the small of her back where Zeimaru's knee had been.

"Ow… that brat… I definitely didn't beat him enough as a kid."

She stood up, pulled out a new cigar, and lit it up. As she blew smoke, she turned her legs back into tentacles, and quickly began scaling the wall with her suction cups.

"Please… Survive, Roxanne."

TO BE CONTINUED