Reacting quickly, Tom saw the massive goldfish floating not far offshore opening its mouth wider and wider, soon to be larger than a mountain. He immediately made a decision.
"We need to run!"
With one of Tom's hands and one of Vivi's feet shackled together by the Candle Shackles, it was indeed inconvenient. He thought about dealing with the shackles first.
The appearance of this goldfish, large enough to swallow a small island whole, was likely because the Pliosaur, with half its body in the sea, had died, its blood staining the coastal waters red. The strong, pungent smell of blood must have attracted it.
But Vivi, influenced by the Betrayal Black pattern painted on her back, was determined to oppose Tom. As Tom turned to run, she refused no matter what to let him.
Seeing Vivi's lack of cooperation, Tom didn't hesitate. He decisively used his right hand to forcibly pull off her outer jacket.
Rip!
Vivi's jacket was violently torn off by Tom. The moment it left her body, she immediately returned to normal, no longer under Miss Goldenweek's psychological suggestion.
However, the clear-headed Vivi, seeing Tom had so roughly torn her clothes, was frightened on the spot, her jaw nearly hitting the ground. "You... what are you doing?!"
"No time to explain! Just run with me!"
As Tom said this to Vivi, he started pulling her forward.
"How can you just tear off a girl's clothes?!"
With her jacket forcibly removed, Vivi was left wearing only a tight off-shoulder outfit that showcased her curvy figure perfectly. Her skin was snow-white, beautiful beyond compare, her face slightly shy, fragrant shoulders half-exposed, skin smooth and warm like jade. A few strands of aqua-blue hair clung to her slightly flushed cheeks, her elegant and refined face, truly a peerless beauty.
"Shut up! If you want to live, stop worrying about that now!"
Unfortunately, Tom was too eager to get Vivi away to appreciate her charm. "If you survive, then we can talk about it! If you keep hindering me, I'll punch you!"
Hearing Tom's somewhat crude words, Vivi was momentarily speechless. If it were Nami, she would have already hit him with an iron fist.
Tom was correct. To break Miss Goldenweek's ability, one simply needed to remove the painted pattern from the person's body—something he had figured out just by looking.
Vivi glanced back at the giant goldfish, remembered her earlier actions, and knew she had caused Tom considerable trouble. She fell silent, though being forcibly stripped of her clothes by a man for the first time in her life, even if Tom hadn't intended to take advantage, left her heart not as calm as she appeared.
Just as Vivi was about to speak, she felt an extremely powerful suction force from behind, lifting both her and Tom off their feet and pulling them backward.
"What's happening?!"
Vivi hadn't expected to suddenly fly backward while trying to escape.
"That big creature..."
Tom knew it was the goldfish's doing. With just a powerful inhale, it was sucking them backward uncontrollably.
Even though Tom and Vivi were over a hundred meters from the goldfish floating on the sea, they couldn't escape its suction.
Trees and various beasts on the shore, including T. rexes and giant pterosaurs, were all pulled toward the goldfish's mouth by its casual inhale, becoming its meal. It was as if a powerful black hole had appeared, devouring everything within several hundred meters.
The once vast green forest became completely bare in moments, as if it had always been a desolate land. Even the half-submerged Pliosaur was swept along by the current into the goldfish's maw.
"We're going to die!"
Vivi understood the severity. Faced with this, she no longer had the mood to dwell on Tom tearing her clothes.
If this continued, they'd soon be eaten. Tom knew this. He forcefully planted his fishing rod into the ground, stopping himself and Vivi with great effort. His pitch-black pupils gradually turnedblood-red. "Shut up! Who do you think I am?! I'm going to be the world's greatest hunter! It's just a goldfish! Being with me and acting so scared is embarrassing!"
Hearing this, Vivi was startled. Seeing Tom's pupils dyed like blood, those bloodthirsty demon-like eyes actually brought her an indescribable sense of reassurance. She stupidly asked a question, "What do you want to do?"
"If we can't escape, then we fight. I'm going to kill it here!"
Though Tom's words were uncouth, Vivi understood that if escape was impossible, this was indeed what they should do.
After all, like Tom, Vivi didn't want to die here. Their only chance to survive was to deal with the colossal goldfish before being eaten.
"Cooperate with me later. Try to relax your body and don't do anything."
As Tom used his right hand to grip tightly the deeply planted fishing rod, he said to Vivi beside him.
"Do you have a plan?"
Vivi's right hand was currently shackled to Tom's left—an unavoidable situation since he grabbed her hand to pull her up.
"For now, leave everything to me. You can't help right now."
As Tom said this, he pulled the deeply planted rod from the ground. He and Vivi were again dragged by that powerful suction, flying uncontrollably toward the goldfish's mouth.
As they were pulled in, Tom's suspended body suddenly spun violently, the long rod in his hand spinning with him. "Rod Style: Thousand Shadows!"
Why is he attacking the goldfish now?
Vivi was full of questions. With her hand shackled to Tom's, when his body spun extremely fast in the air, hers was forced to follow.
Despite her confusion, Vivi cooperated and didn't resist, allowing Tom to maximize his power.
As Tom spun the rod rapidly, and they were pulled toward the goldfish's mouth, the rod spun faster and faster, even blowing the dust on the ground far away.
Spinning both bodies in midair indeed placed unnecessary strain on Tom, but he still did his utmost.
Tom had only one thought: keep spinning the rod faster. He wasn't focused on power output now, but on maintaining his grip while making his body spin faster and faster in midair.
Fast. Faster.
Continuously pursuing greater speed, Tom and Vivi's bodies spun rapidly in the air, gradually becoming afterimages, as if hundreds or thousands of people carrying a woman were rotating. The silver-gray long rod emitted dazzling, blinding light under the blazing sun.
Under endless layered illusions, the rod's radiance intensified, like a brilliant beam of light shooting forward.
Vivi hadn't understood Tom's purpose, but as they were about to be sucked into the mouth and leave the shore, the goldfish's huge eyes suddenly closed, its mouth began to close, and its island-like massive body started swaying left and right, as if drunk. In fact, the goldfish was disoriented.
A fish's pupils cannot contract in bright light or dilate in dim light like a human's. By spinning his rod and reflecting the sun's light, Tom created dazzling silver light that suddenly stimulated the goldfish's eyes, making them dizzy.
The reason was simple: the goldfish's eyes, unlike a human's, couldn't close their pupils to block the light.
"We did it!"
Vivi, who had been spinning with Tom, was dizzy but happily said upon seeing the goldfish close its mouth, even if she didn't fully understand why they hadn't been sucked in.
"Idiot, you think we're safe now?"
After stopping on the shore, Tom said this to Vivi while adjusting the Soft-Flow Particle accessory on the rod's tip, pressing the rod downward.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
Before Vivi could finish asking, Tom used the rod to launch them upward, using the net launcher on his right hand to reel the planted rod back. As they fell from the air, he said to the wide-eyed Vivi, "Quick, take the accessory from the third compartment on the left side of my belt!"
Saying no more, Vivi knew Tom's left hand was shackled to her right. She quickly followed his instructions, taking out the accessory. Without being told, she proactively fitted the extremely sharp spearhead accessory onto the rod's tip.
Taking a deep breath, Vivi looked at the deep blue sea below with the boundless goldfish, feeling nervous yet incredibly excited, her mind more focused than ever.
Though Tom's movements were restricted, with Vivi's cooperation...
"Spear Style: Hundred-Crack Thrust!"
While falling, Tom held the spear one-handed. Taking advantage of the goldfish's dazed state, he directly stabbed at its tail fin.
The firmly gripped spear thrust within an arc range, aiming to unleash a hundred strikes in the shortest time, riddling the target with holes. The flashes of cold spear light left Vivi dazzled, unable to track the spear's position.
As Tom's spear constantly trembled, several small water columns rose from the sea surface. Soon, the tail fin became riddled with holes, more and more water droplets shot upward from the holes, like a fountain.
Clearly, the tail fin was completely disabled.
Tom targeted the fin because it was the creature's most vulnerable part.
Regardless, Tom had no desire to test the scales covering the goldfish's body.
Even though this goldfish could swallow an island, with its tail fin destroyed, it lost the ability to turn smoothly, its maneuverability greatly reduced.
Landing on the goldfish's back before it could submerge, Tom repeated the same tactic. Using the rod to launch them slightly upward again, he fell and aimed his spear at the pectoral fin this time.
After piercing it full of holes, Tom forcefully braced the spear against the goldfish's body, bouncing himself and Vivi back to the shore before they hit the water.
Without its pectoral fin, the goldfish lost balance. In other words, it could no longer sink to the seabed even if it wanted. Its massive body floated unstably, swaying left and right on the surface, stirring up massive waves toward the shore.
Seeing the waves growing taller one after another rushing toward them, Tom gritted his teeth, ignoring the severe pain in his right hand gripping the spear, launched himself and Vivi into the air again using the planted spear.
"Spear Style: Inch Cold!"
Falling from the air, Tom thrust downward with his spear. But when it struck the goldfish's head, it seemed to cause no damage at all, even producing visible sparks on the scales. Then, the creature forcefully rammed upward, sending Tom and Vivi flying high into the air.
Tom had once used this move to knock a giant Sea King's head off course, but the goldfish was completely unaffected.
With howling wind in their ears, Tom and Vivi continued rising, looking down at the immobile goldfish now appearing much smaller.
"You can't kill it! Let's escape while we can!"
Vivi urgently said to Tom, seeing his all-out attack had caused no damage.
"Are you nervous? Or scared?"
Tom's left hand clearly felt the fine sweat in Vivi's delicate right hand. He chuckled, "Sorry, but when facing prey, I don't run. Watch closely. There's no prey in this world I can't hunt!"
Vivi saw that the goldfish's casual upward toss had sent them over two hundred meters high and still climbing. Compared to the Pliosaur's collision, the goldfish's strength was like an infant versus a robust adult.
The goldfish's terrifying brute strength alone was frightening enough. Saying she wasn't nervous would be a lie.
Falling from several hundred meters high, Tom had Vivi help adjust the rod to maximum hardness. Then, holding the spear, he inverted himself in midair and fiercely stabbed downward. "Spear Style: Tenfold Inch Cold - Annihilation!"
Using his aerial advantage, Tom fell like a meteor tearing through the sky, the sharp spearhead flashing with cold light.
During the descent, he used gravitational acceleration to strengthen his attack while continuously condensing power in his right wrist. His body spun violently, the crimson glow in his red eyes intensifying, those eerily blood-red pupils locking unerringly onto the spear's target.
Shackled to Tom and forced to spin upside down, Vivi couldn't open her eyes against the head-on cold wind but could still clearly feel her body rotating in the vast, boundless sky. In a trance, she had the illusion of dancing in midair.
Closing her eyes, she unconsciously slowly raised her left slender jade arm, her five slender fingers moving with incredible agility, like sprites dancing gracefully in the air, a beautiful sight.
At this moment, Vivi's elegant and gentle beauty contrasted sharply with Tom's resolute expression tinged with ferocity.
An extremely crisp cracking sound rang out. The goldfish's head was pierced and shattered, its huge head showing countless fine cracks spreading from the point of impact.
After Tom brought Vivi back to shore, moments later, the goldfish's entire head split apart like a shattered watermelon. It cried out several times, rolled over, its snow-white belly facing the sky. The blood from its head dyed the nearby seawater red.
After landing back on the ground, Vivi quickly recovered from the mystical sensation.
Worth mentioning, the giant goldfish's flip created another huge wave. Tom reacted too late, and both he and Vivi were drenched completely by the seawater.
In truth, if Tom hadn't first discerned the goldfish's weak points, sealed its mobility, used strong light to disorient it, and understood fish anatomy to temporarily remove its ability to resist, he would have had no way to deal with it.
"We actually defeated such a terrible monster."
Vivi lay on the shore, still feeling like she was in a dream.
"Just luck. If it had a chance to fight back, ten lives wouldn't be enough."
Tom panted heavily. His consecutive all-out attacks had exhausted him. As a Devil Fruit user drenched in seawater, even speaking was at his limit.
As Vivi tried to get up, she heard a gurgling sound—Tom's stomach growling from hunger. She honestly didn't feel like laughing at him.
Tom's right hand gripping the spear was a bloody mess, his palm mangled from being rubbed raw while tightly clutching the spear during the battle—necessary to prevent it from being shaken loose into the sea.
Typically, a fish's fins are fragile, but for this island-swallowing goldfish, they were hard as iron and larger than a ship, requiring Tom's repeated heavy blows to destroy.
The final blow that made the goldfish's head burst open had left his hand numb and his right arm strained, which frustrated Tom.
Additionally, having to drag Vivi along during the attacks had accelerated his stamina consumption.
But what most embarrassed Tom beyond belief was his stomach growling so loudly in front of a woman. For a moment, he had the impulse to knock Vivi unconscious with one slap and tell her it was all an illusion, but he couldn't now.
"You're hungry?"
Vivi hadn't expected Tom's stamina depletion to be so great after dealing with the goldfish. As she asked, she also casually gave Tom's right hand a simple bandage.
"Nonsense. That's my victory cheer. You heard wrong."
Tom kept a straight face as he said to Vivi from the ground.
"But I'm really hungry. I want to eat."
Vivi sat up, glanced at Tom, then at the Candle Shackles binding them, her willow brows slightly furrowed. She then whistled.
After the pleasant whistle rang for a while, just as Tom was about to speak, he saw a yellow-feathered duck approaching.
Karoo, as Vivi's mount, had been so shocked his eyes nearly popped out seeing Vivi and Tom fly off on a giant pterosaur. It had quacked everywhere searching for Vivi, nearly eaten by various beasts, enduring many hardships, but finally found her.
"Karoo, come here!"
Seeing Karoo, Vivi's beautiful eyes became even more lively. She smiled brightly and waved.
"Gugu!"
Karoo, hearing the strange sound from Tom's body, curiously looked at him. Then it saw the giant goldfish floating belly-up not far away, so shocked its mouth hung open, eyes wide, barely managing to quack.
"Here's the bento Mr. Cook made for me. You can have it."
Vivi called the dazed Karoo over, took a delicate lunchbox from it, and said to Tom.
"Tch, that perverted cook made that specially for you. I'm not hungry. You eat it."
Tom was still being stubborn. Unfortunately, his stomach honestly growled.
"There's too much. I can't eat it all. Help me eat some, okay?"
Knowing Tom's right hand was inconvenient, Vivi didn't expose his clumsy lie and went along with it. She had never fed a man before, speaking hesitantly yet firmly—a contradictory feeling.
"Since you put it that way, I'll reluctantly eat a bit. Wasting food is a bad habit. I'm doing this for your own good. If that perverted cook found out you wasted food, he'd scold you."
Tom said reluctantly. Vivi, hearing his nonsense, had a dark cloud over her head, truly unable to understand this man. She silently fed Tom seriously.
With Tom's stomach growling louder and louder, he stopped talking and ate the food Vivi spoon-fed him. With his right hand injured and left shackled to Vivi's right, it wasn't strange for her to feed him.
The blazing sun hung overhead, the man and woman sat on the ground, their shadows stretched long. As one ate from the spoon offered by the slightly delicate figure, his mouth opened wider than ever…
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T/N :
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