Energy Steroid

Boy did we get our hands on a treasure-ch!! The evil drug 'Energy Steroid'.

Energy Steroid (エネルギーステロイド), also known as the "Evil Drug" (凶薬), is a special pill that the New Fishman Pirates got their hands on. The pills have a checker design, are ovular in shape, and appear to be waterproof (as they did not dissolve in a place filled with water).

Rarity
These pills are considered to be legendary and a treasure, and acquiring them seems to be rather difficult. However, with a small sample Hody Jones managed to gather, Zeo managed to mass produce them, allowing the crew to abuse its usage.

Beneficial Effects
When taken, it greatly enhances the physical strength of the consumer, as well as increases their muscle mass. Hody Jones demonstrated their power by attacking &quot;Crab-Hand&quot; Gyro and his crew without using his hands.

One pill enhances the strength of the user two fold, therefore a fishman's strength will become twenty times that of an average human. Two pills will make it four fold, and each additional intake will continue to increase the strength exponentially. Jones took four pills so his strength increased sixteen fold, making him at least one hundred sixty times stronger than an average human (he is much stronger than the average fishman).

It seems that the effects are only temporary and create a high degree of tolerance, as Jones was noted to have not taken his pills yet during his attack on Ryugu Palace, despite the fact that Jones already took four during his attack on Gyro, and was forced to consume more each time.

Aside from increasing one's physical strength, the pills seem to have stimulant or revitalizing properties, since an unconscious Hody Jones was given one after he was defeated the first time by Zoro and he regained consciousness almost immediately. They also seem to act as painkillers, since Jones repeatedly took pills to relieve the ache from the wound Zoro dealt.

After overdosing on the drugs and then recovering, Hody has undergone a drastic transformation. His hair color is bleached white, his muscles increased greatly, along with his height, which allows him to be as tall as Ikaros Much, the tallest member of the officers of the New Fishman Pirates, even when sitting. Physical-wise, his strength has increased to monstrous levels, as flicking a simple water droplet is enough to become a powerful water bullet, piercing the targeted fishman and many buildings before losing momentum. He was also able to catch up with the mermaid Shirahoshi while swimming through the ocean, this is something a fishman otherwise cannot normally do and Hody commented that even he himself could not keep up with the speed he was capable of achieving right now.

Hyouzou, who has also overdosed on the pills, and washing it down with alcohol, has also gone through the same transformation of hair-whitening; however, his size and muscles did not increase. Bystanders note that his drunken personality differs from before, which was once a frenzy of uncoordinated attacks, to what seems to be aggressively hunting down targets intentionally.

Side Effects
Despite the power it grants, it is not met with approval by all those who know about it. Hatchan, former officer of the Arlong Pirates, disapproved of the younger New Fishman Pirates destroying their bodies for the sake of their goals. There are even those within the New Fishman Pirates who disapproved the overuse of the drug, like Daruma and Ikaros Much.

While the pills do grant great power and eases pain, the price for their usage is quite high: in exchange for the benefits, the pill shaves some time off the user's remaining lifespan, similar to Luffy's Gear Second technique. Overdosing can cause extreme pain, as though one's own body is being torn apart; Hody had difficulty breathing due to his repeated intake of the pills as painkillers.



Furthermore, after undergoing the transformation from overdosing, the recipient's personality may start devolving, becoming overly arrogant and reckless. An example is Hody, who approved of destroying an entire island just to get rid of a small number of enemies. They become increasingly unstable, claiming that, though they feel great, they still need to attack since their body is overflowing with energy.

Anime and Manga Influences
Energy Steroids have a number of properties that relate to various real world drugs.

The shortening of a life is a common trait associated with most stimulants. It has effects similar to dissociatives as well as PCP, which numb the feeling and sensations of pain as Energy Steroid does can be dangerous both physically and mentally. This is because broken bones and other serious injuries cannot be felt as they should be, leaving the consumer to ignore wounds that need urgent treatment. This was previously seen in the Thriller Bark Arc with the Zombies, when their bones were broken they did not even realize that they were. In the real world, drugs such as Heroin and Benzodiazepine form a potentially deadly combination when combined with alcoholic beverages.

Energy Steroid overdose bares some properties with the drug Amphetamine, also commonly called "speed". The main reason given for users taking the drug is that the consumer feels they have more energy then they really have, which may lead to consequences when the effect wears off. Also, the significantly aged look of Hody is also comparable to real world drugs. Drug abuse often does greatly alter a person's appearance, usually giving them a significantly aged look.

When Hody was doubling up in pain from the overdose, it appeared very similar to real world Heroin withdrawals (the inverse of an overdose), his feeling of suffocation and agony and a yearning to consume more ES is very similar and it's quite possible the higher your tolerance to the drug is- the more you need to consume, and when they hit the effect ceiling he and Hyouzou hit they are forced to consume more energy steroids until the forced evolution is complete.

The majority of harmful or illegal drugs alter the person's perception and personality, some temporarily and some permanently. Energy Steroids main real-world influence, steroids, does account for the users being more alert and confident to paranoid and aggressive with many mixing both wanted and unwanted personality traits. Since Hody has gotten such a high tolerance to need to practically shovel them in his mouth to achieve the same effects (and null the pain from the grievous injuries sustained from his fight with Luffy) it is a safe guess the adverse effects of the drug will soon catch up to him, with their fatal side effects increased exponentially to parallel his increase in muscle mass and aggression.