"They're all Sea Kings? So big!" Luffy said, staring in shock at the giant creatures surfacing around them.
"Now's not the time for that!" Sanji said, the low roars of the super-giant Sea Kings making his heart race.
"We need to get out of here, fast." Zoro had seen Sea Kings before, but the one he'd encountered, Momoo the sea cow, was on a completely different level compared to these. Several of these Sea Kings had eyes bigger than Momoo's entire body. He didn't want to stay here for another second.
Tom gazed at the enormous Sea Kings appearing and disappearing on the nearby sea surface, not saying a single word. Instead, his expression gradually grew excited, his breathing becoming long and steady. He looked like a hunter seeing prey appear, his eyes slowly turning exceptionally sharp.
As for Usopp, he was still unconscious. Nami clung tightly to the mast. Seeing Tom take out the fishing rods from his gauntlet, she suddenly remembered something and cried out, "What are you planning to do?!"
"What do you think? Doing what I should!" Tom said, merging the two rods, turning back with an excited face to Nami.
You absolute idiot! Is this a time to be excited?! Nami nearly turned to stone seeing Tom's eager, itching-for-action expression.
Luffy and the others had been about to grab the oars, ready to row with all their might the moment the ship fell back to the sea to leave this hellhole as fast as possible.
But seeing Tom's actions, they all stood on the deck watching him. Everyone on board knew Tom's purpose for going to sea: to become the world's greatest hunter. If he chose to retreat here, that would be abnormal.
"Stop him! Quick—" Nami, hugging the mast, was about to tell them to stop Qin Ming from doing something stupid.
But before she finished, Luffy said to Tom, "Go for it! Show us your stuff!"
"Now is not the time to encourage him!" Nami bared her teeth, saying to Luffy and the others.
"Nami-san, since we can't leave right now anyway, there's no harm in letting him try," Sanji said, intentionally or unintentionally glancing at Zoro beside him. He remembered back at the Baratie when this moss-head, facing Hawkeyes, challenged the world's greatest swordsman without hesitation. Back then, Sanji didn't fully understand Zoro's thinking. But now, he could completely understand Qin Ming's actions.
If the All Blue he sought was right here, Sanji would also jump into the sea without hesitation.
"It's his choice. If he dies here, that's his fate. We just need to watch." Zoro said, arms crossed, glancing at Tom's back before falling silent.
"Right. You guys get ready to leave at any moment. If I can't make it back to the ship... don't wait for me." Tom spoke firmly, but it was the truth. Hunting these giant Sea Kings here was to advance toward his goal, but he didn't intend to drag the others down.
"Be careful." Seeing Luffy and the others had no intention of stopping him, and Tom staking his life, Nami hesitated for a moment. Pressing her lips together, she took out a small notebook. "You still owe me a lot of money, you know."
Everyone had their own purpose for sailing. Thinking this, Nami felt she really shouldn't stop Qin Ming. In the end, she chose to silently support him.
Tom had initially felt quite happy seeing Nami seemingly care about him. But hearing her next words immediately left him awkwardly stunned.
"I'll owe it for now. I have no money to pay." Tom said very directly to Nami. After fitting the sharp spearhead onto the tip of the rod, he leaped up, jumping into the air. Gripping the spear with both hands, he thrust toward the face of the giant, zebra-striped, hippo-headed Sea King below.
The Merry was still on the giant Sea King's head, dozens of meters above the sea.
Clang! Tom's long spear stabbed into the Sea King's head, producing a metallic collision sound. This Sea King's skin was as hard as steel.
Tom frowned. His spear tip pressed against the head, unable to advance even an inch. Hanging upside down in midair while gripping the spear with both hands, he twisted his waist, spinning in the air. The sharp spear tip, spinning with his body like a drill, rotated at extremely high speed on that head, sparks flying.
The hippo-headed Sea King, feeling an itch from the attack and having long felt uncomfortable with a ship stuck to its head, violently flung its head upward, sending both Tom and the Merry flying into the sky.
A casual head shake from the giant Sea King sent them flying to nearly a hundred meters above the sea surface.
"WAAAAAAAH!" On the Merry, Luffy and the others, due to the ship suddenly flying upward, lost gravity and floated in the air before plummeting rapidly downward.
Hmm. If this continues, the Merry will land on that Sea King's head and be smashed to pieces.
Tom estimated the Merry's landing position and felt very bad. What felt even worse was Usopp's falling posture was wrong. If Usopp kept falling like that into the sea, he'd probably be eaten by the Sea Kings in the blink of an eye.
Usopp was still unconscious. Dying without even knowing why like that would be a tragedy.
Tom's worry was by no means unnecessary. Below, many Sea Kings had noticed the commotion above. One frog-like giant Sea King leaped from the sea, pouncing through the air, biting toward Usopp, wanting to swallow him in one bite.
"Luffy!"
"Tom!"
Tom shouted Luffy's name at the same time Luffy called out his. Their tacit understanding was exceptional; with just one shout, they knew the other's intent.
As Luffy stretched his arm to pull back the about-to-be-swallowed Usopp, Tom extended the long spear in his hand. The moment it touched a Sea King's head below, he quickly shortened the spear, dropping back down at top speed onto that Sea King's head.
Only Tom could accelerate his descent now, hence Luffy calling his name.
Luffy, the others, and the Merry were still falling downward, less than thirty meters from the massive head below.
Tom gritted his teeth, jumped off the Sea King's head, then used his left wrist launcher to shoot a line that stuck to its head. He swiftly swung through the air, conveniently dodging several other Sea Kings snapping at him.
Then, grabbing the fishing line with one hand and swinging forward, he remembered the principles of Fish-Man Karate. Perhaps he could apply its power-control method to the long spear in his hand.
Maximize every bit of strength to unleash a strike with power more than ten times greater than normal. To do that, compress and concentrate one's strength to a single point, then release it with thunderous force. Both speed and power must reach their peak in an instant.
With no time to hesitate, Tom held his breath. His pupils turned blood-red. As he swung forward on the line, his blood-moon-like red eyes locked onto the Sea King's head. The muscles in his arm holding the long spear trembled from continuous power gathering, yet the spear itself did not move an inch, steady as a mountain.
Now!
"Spear Style: Inch of Frost!"
As Tom swung to the right side of the hippo-faced Sea King's head, he violently thrust out the long spear. In the sunlight, the spear tip was like a point of cold brilliance, emitting icy white light, extremely dazzling.
BOOM!
The hippo-faced Sea King was struck. Though the long spear didn't pierce its face, the impact smashed its huge head to the side, and it let out an ear-splitting scream.
At that moment, the Merry fell, missing the Sea King's head and avoiding being smashed to pieces.
The angry roar from the struck Sea King made the surrounding air tremble outward, frightening back many nearby Sea Kings into the sea.
"You idiot! What are you still doing there?! Get back!" Nami shouted. The Sea King's eyes were completely blood-red, ferocious light flashing in them—Tom's attack had completely enraged it, making her feel a chill in her heart.
But as Nami rushed to the bow to shout, the Merry was falling with the bow slightly tilted. Under powerful inertia, she lost her footing and fell out from the ship's railing.
"Oh no! Nami-san's in danger!"
"What's she doing over there?!"
Sanji and Zoro, seeing Nami fall off the ship, originally wanted to rush forward to rescue her, but the ship then fell back onto the sea. The violent shaking of the hull also caused them to fall over.
"Nami was moving too fast; I couldn't grab her. But Tom's up there. She'll be fine." Luffy, the one farthest from Nami, had been watching over the unconscious Usopp. By the time he noticed Nami was in trouble and tried to stretch his arm to grab her back, the ship had already returned to the sea. Nami had flown out sideways from above with considerable inertia, hence his comment.
"Hey, stinky fisherman! Save Nami-san, quick! If anything happens to her, I'll kick you to death!" Sanji rushed anxiously to the bow, shouting up at Tom on the Sea King's head. His shout immediately attracted the attention of many nearby giant Sea Kings.
"It's all your fault, curly-browed bastard, yelling nonsense and getting us into this dangerous situation!" Zoro said, drawing his sword, preparing for battle as Sea Kings surrounded the ship, not forgetting to insult Sanji.
"Hah?" Sanji's curly eyebrow seemed to curl even more. "I was just reminding that stinky fisherman! In a critical moment, men protecting women is the most proper thing to do! A principle your algae-filled brain wouldn't understand!"
As Zoro and Sanji argued toward a fight, Luffy looked at the Sea Kings slowly closing in and said with a smile, "This is troublesome. How are we going to get through this crisis?"
Usopp, finding it noisy, woke from his unconscious state. Seeing the approaching giant Sea Kings, he was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out before decisively fainting again.
Tom, seeing Nami fall out from the ship, had just landed on the Sea King's head without even a chance to catch his breath. He pushed off hard with both feet, gritted his teeth, and jumped out again. Using his left wrist launcher, he shot a line that stuck to another Sea King's body, swung several times to get close to Nami, and pulled the midair Nami toward him.
"Hang onto me!" Tom said, one hand holding the long spear, the other operating the launcher. He had no spare hand to catch Nami.
Nami knew now wasn't the time to be coy. She openly hugged Qin Ming, though a faint blush still flashed across her fair face. She quickly calmed herself. "Let's get back to the ship, quickly!"
The enraged Sea King, seeing Tom, roared furiously and opened its gaping bloody maw, lunging over, knocking aside other slightly smaller Sea Kings.
"We'll be eaten! Think of something!" Nami said, the Sea King refusing to give chase. Though Tom kept swinging forward on lines, the hippo-faced Sea King was getting closer and closer. Nami could even smell the bloody stench from its mouth.
Tom was almost back to the Merry, but with the Sea King chasing relentlessly, they'd be dead for sure before reuniting with the others. What worried him most was the Merry now surrounded by many Sea Kings; escaping wouldn't be easy. He made up his mind, retracted the fishing line, twisted his body in midair, and counterattacked the pursuing Sea King.
Nami, holding Qin Ming, didn't expect the sudden turn and nearly got flung off. Their heads pressed closely together in the process, letting Tom instantly smell the fresh orange scent from her hair. Startled, she instinctively hugged Qin Ming even tighter.
"Huh? What the...?" Tom's extended spear stabbed into a large hole—the hippo-faced Sea King's nostril.
"Are you a moron?! Why stab its nose now?!" Nami felt disgusted seeing the slimy fluid flow out from the huge nostril. It had to be snot, and a massive glob at that—as disgusting as it gets.
Tom, attacking in haste, hadn't expected this. As he was about to retort to Nami, the hippo-faced Sea King let out a massive sneeze.
In an instant, countless disgusting, sticky fluids sprayed from its huge nostrils toward Tom, accompanied by an extremely powerful gust of wind that not only whipped up the waves but also blew them back onto the Merry.
Flying back, Nami, seeing so many ugly and disgusting fluids spraying over, hurriedly shrank into Qin Ming's arms, screaming, "Don't let it get on me!"
Seeing Nami's reaction, Tom furrowed his brow again. He turned his body, shielding Nami from the flying disgusting snot as they were blown back onto the Merry by the wind.
The Merry itself was blown with a whoosh, shooting forward like a rocket under the sneeze's strong wind, and in the blink of an eye burst out of the Sea King encirclement. Thankfully, the Merry was far too small among these giants, allowing it to slip through the gaps.
No one noticed that after the hippo-faced Sea King sneezed, its huge head swayed. The right side of its headsplit open unnaturally, and then it plunged headfirst into the sea. Moments later, the nearby seawater turned a vast crimson red...
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T/N :
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