It was Ares.
That colossal silhouette churned the depths, and the urgency in his movements was plain John was in danger. He cut through the sea at frightening speed. This was the power of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Model: Azure Dragon. Seawater could rob a man of strength, but it could not erase a Devil Fruit's gift; and for a dragon of the sea, the ocean's "restraints" were nothing like what people imagined.
He'd trained to overcome the rest.
The ocean was no longer Ares's weakness.
The sea demon noticed the disturbance behind him. He glanced back and froze. "That… that's a dragon? A real one?!"
He snapped his trident back, fishtail flicking in a tight arc; his body slid sideways more than ten meters in an instant.
By then Ares had a clear look at his face feral, fishlike. "A fish-man?" he wondered aloud.
Ares's long tail curved through the water, sweeping in front of John. He coiled the captain up with it.
"Captain John, leave this one to me. I'll get you started head back to the ship," Ares said.
John couldn't last much longer down here; he'd already been submerged too long. If he didn't breathe soon, the sea would smother him.
John shot Ares a grateful look. Thank the sea he made it in time. I'd have died down here otherwise.
This brat's fruit is downright absurd he can even breathe underwater.
He patted Ares's tail, signaling him to let go, then sculled hard and rolled away, arrowing toward the place where Kaidō had fallen.
"You can speak… Then you're not a dragon. Are you a Devil Fruit user?" the sea demon said, eyes fixed on the towering creature before him. His grip tightened on the trident despite himself. The pressure Ares exuded raw, violent made him tense to the core.
Ares bared a grin, curiosity gleaming in his eyes at the creature's savage visage. "Yeah, I ate a Devil Fruit. But you're not a fish-man. Fish-men have human torsos and four limbs. You've got a tail and a face more fish than human."
He studied the sea demon. On Hachinosu he'd seen plenty of fish-men; there were even fish-man pirates on the island. He'd fought Wald's crew before their giant fish-man was huge because he was a giant–fish-man hybrid.
This one, though, was nearly as massive as Ares's untransformed body.
Shock flickered across the sea demon's features an ability-user, freely moving in the sea? then his jaw clenched. Rage surged up in his eyes, hot and uncontained. "So the world has forgotten the Sea Demon Tribe? It's parasites like you, chasing treasure, who destroyed us!"
"I swore as a child: anyone who covets the treasure dies!"
His fury spiked. Once, the Sea Demon Tribe had been counted among the world's great races. But for "treasure," so many nations had joined hands to exterminate them driving that proud, terrible people into the dust of history.
Sea Demon Tribe… and real treasure? Ares's mind flashed, unbidden, to a panel from a certain story One Piece. For a heartbeat he wondered if this could be "the One Piece." Then he dismissed it. If something that monumental were here, Whitebeard Newgate would have sensed it long ago. Still treasure was treasure. To pirates, its pull was as intoxicating as fine drink. Word of a hoard drew flies and kings.
"Anyone who covets it dies!"
The sea demon's corded arms swelled; he lunged, trident first, fury swallowing thought. Here, in his domain, he could draw out twice his strength.
He moved like lightning drag resistance be damned appearing before Ares in a blink, a spear honed by centuries of killing.
Ares only bared his fangs. A dragon's teeth were harder than the body he'd hammered with pain.
Clang!
His jaws caught the trident clean. The weapon stopped dead.
Ares's eyes burned with battle-light, and a delighted laugh rumbled out. "Not bad. I like it!"
He'd felt it in that clash the other's power was vast. A worthy foe. Heat rushed through Ares's blood until it seemed to boil.
"Divine Dragon Tail Whip!"
Calling a technique mid-fight was a bad habit but it had rooted itself in him. And naming the strike always made it hit harder.
His great tail swept the sea, heaving up a wall of water. In Slardar's eyes it was a mountain falling from above. The pressure made his heart lurch; he slipped aside, choosing evasion over pride.
He countered in the same breath. "Abyssal Hammer!"
The trident churned the sea into a single, colossal column not a finger thinner than Ares's body. Water condensed into a dragon. For a heartbeat, the demon looked every bit a Logia user, commanding the element by nature.
"No-Sword Style Dragon Gale Claw!"
Ares's gaze sharpened. A bestial, savage aura burst from him. His dragon talons tore the sea, carving out ripping arcs that shredded the onrushing water cleanly in two.
He rode the opening. A smile tugged his mouth. "Body Arts Water-Shot Barrage!"
His claws snapped open and closed. He scooped, squeezed, and flung hurling tight-packed pellets of ocean like a barrage of admiral Kizaru's beams, a storm of water bullets streaking toward Slardar.
The sea demon's face tightened; a flicker of horror crossed his eyes. "He can manipulate seawater too?!"
The method was familiar that was his hunting style. But from this opponent it was something else entirely.
And the force behind it… was even heavier than his own.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, you like the story? Wow, who knew. Go ahead, drop a review and throw some power stones maybe I'll be motivated to keep going.
The story's already ahead on Patron. Go there if you want to catch up faster!
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"