Two giant hands scooped Taro up into their palms and lifted him seven or eight meters high.
Shirahoshi lowered her head and leaned in close to Taro.
"Hiss..."
Shirahoshi's urgent movements caused Taro's wound to split open slightly, making him suck in a breath of cold air.
"Master Taro, you're badly injured!"
Tears welled up in Shirahoshi's eyes, and she looked like she was about to cry at any moment.
Taro straightened his back, put on a smiling face, and said easily,
"Don't worry, Shirahoshi, I'm not hurt. This is all blood that Hody sprayed out! I was just startled by you suddenly picking me up!"
"But I clearly saw him bite you, Master Taro!" Although Shirahoshi was pure-hearted, she wasn't a fool.
Taro secretly circulated his Internal Energy to seal the bloody hole in his shoulder, then wiped the wound with his right hand to clear away some of the blood.
"See, Shirahoshi? No new blood is coming out, right?"
Taro smiled and reached out, intending to stroke Shirahoshi's forehead.
Then, remembering his hand was still stained with blood, he gave a dry laugh and sheepishly withdrew it.
Shirahoshi didn't care about the blood on Taro's hand; she actually lowered her forehead even closer.
Taro thought for a moment, leaned forward, and bumped the top of his head against Shirahoshi's forehead, then burst into laughter.
"This seems more interesting!"
Feeling the touch on her forehead, Shirahoshi also laughed happily.
Whether Taro was injured or not might have coaxed Shirahoshi, but it couldn't fool Jinbe, Neptune, and the others.
Just as Neptune was about to speak, there was movement from Hody, who had been sent flying and deeply embedded into the rock wall.
"Huff—wheeze, huff—wheeze!"
After several heavy breaths, Hody's massive figure reappeared.
His state was terrifying; his hair and beard were completely white, his eyes were blood-red, and he had already lost his mind.
Although his stature was much taller, his spine seemed curved, making him look somewhat hunchbacked.
Taro's previous attack had left a large area of burn marks on his abdomen.
"Give! Me! Medicine!" Only slaughter remained in Hody's eyes; there was no logic left. "Give me medicine, more medicine!"
This guy's state was exactly like those junkies from his past life!
"Don't be afraid, his body has reached its limit! Now he's just making a deathbed struggle!"
Seeing the look of fear on Shirahoshi's face, Taro spoke to comfort her.
He noticed that Hody's skin was gradually sagging, which meant the medicine's power was about to fade.
The drawbacks of the fierce medicine were beginning to manifest.
While providing a massive boost to attack power, every attack made or received would accelerate the dissipation of the medicine's effects.
Hody knew the strength gap between himself and Taro, so after being kicked away by Taro earlier, he had swallowed the entire large bag of fierce medicine he was carrying.
Attacking Taro with land speed that broke his limits just now, and then being struck by Taro's full-power blow, had already completely exhausted the medicine's power.
"Time's up!"
Taro spoke softly, and before his voice had even faded, Hody collapsed to the ground!
Thud
As the dust settled, Hody lay on the ground, completely unrecognizable. His thin, hunched body was in worse shape than that of a hundred-year-old man.
Hody's end deeply shocked everyone present. They looked at the red and black capsule-shaped fierce medicine with terrified faces, as if they were looking at a ghost.
"King Neptune, please confiscate every single pill. This evil thing should not..."
Taro was solemnly warning Neptune when his mind suddenly flickered. He looked up and his eyes widened!
Holy crap, how is that possible?
Everyone was listening to Taro when they saw him suddenly look up at the sky with a look of extreme shock, and they followed his gaze.
"Ah!"
"This... this is...!"
Everyone was stunned, and after a moment, they cried out in unison,
"noah!"
Looking at the giant ship, half the size of Fish-Man Island, slowly falling, Taro was instantly dumbfounded.
What the hell is going on!
Wasn't Vander Decken locked up?
And Princess Shirahoshi's mark has already been canceled. Who did he mark now?
Taro couldn't believe that anyone on Fish-Man Island besides the user of the Mato Mato no Mi had the ability to do this.
He looked at Neptune in suspicion and shock. "Vander Decken, how did he..."
Neptune also appeared extremely shocked.
"This, this... he, he was clearly locked in the palace prison!"
As he spoke, he shook his head in disbelief. "No, impossible. Ryugu could never be invaded!"
But the noah Ark was right before their eyes. Besides Vander Decken, Taro couldn't think of anyone else!
"We've been arranging things here all night. Although Ryugu only has a small number of guards, as long as the passage isn't opened, it's impossible for anyone to sneak in and rescue Vander Decken. Something must have gone wrong!"
Neptune was both shocked and furious.
noah's falling speed was getting faster and faster, and the massive shadow it cast began to slowly envelop the plaza. People fell into a massive panic.
Taro didn't have time for more thought. He leaped lightly out of Shirahoshi's palm and shouted urgently,
"Bubble Coral! Who has one? Quickly, give me one!"
The Fishmen were still in a panic, and for a moment, no one paid attention to Taro.
"Catch it!"
Just then, Madam Shyarly gave a shout and threw over a Bubble Coral.
Taro transformed into a Falcon, caught it mid-air, and then suddenly accelerated, flying straight up.
Pop
Passing through the inner membrane covering Fish-Man Island, Taro plunged into the seawater between the two layers of membranes.
But his speed didn't decrease. He pressed the top of the Bubble Coral, and a layer of bubbles enveloped his entire body.
Pop
With another soft sound, Taro charged into the deep sea.
This was the deep sea at ten thousand meters; immense pressure suddenly squeezed toward him.
Boom
Taro pushed his Internal Energy to the limit. A blue-white vortex swirled around his body, pushing away the ocean currents and allowing him to accelerate toward noah once more.
By now, the Fishmen on Fish-Man Island had also reacted. Jinbe was the first to follow.
Immediately after, the Neptune Royal Family followed as well.
As the fastest swimming race in the sea, the Merfolk soon overtook Jinbe. Shirahoshi was even further ahead, looking like she was about to catch up to Taro.
However, Taro's figure suddenly stalled, and he stopped!
"Master Taro, what's wrong?" Shirahoshi asked.
Neptune, following close behind, also asked, "Taro, what happened?"
Taro looked up at the bow of noah, where there were four figures.
A wretched four-legged Fishman—it was indeed Vander Decken.
The other three people were two men and one woman.
The woman had purple hair, and her old-hag-like face had a diagonal scar running across it.
Taro only remembered this person was a user of the 'Mira Mira no Mi,' but he couldn't recall her name.
One tall man wore sunglasses and was dressed entirely in pink, wearing pants shaped like half an eggshell. His two legs were thin and long, nearly three times the length of his upper body.
The other man was also dressed in pink—a lion-man wearing small sunglasses!
Baron Tamago and Carrot!
Taro looked at the three on noah in surprise.
"The Big Mom Pirates!"
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