We establish that the Volterra-type integral operator $J_b$ on the Hardy spaces $H^p$ of the unit ball $\mathbb{B}_n$ exhibits a rather strong rigid behavior. More precisely, we show that the compactness, strict singularity and $\ell^p$-singularity of $J_b$ are equivalent on $H^p$ for any $1 \le p < \infty$. Moreover, we show that the operator $J_b$ acting on $H^p$ cannot fix an isomorphic copy of $\ell^2$ when $p \ne 2.$
Comment: 18 pages