Right at this critical juncture, Zoro and Sanji, who had initially been frozen in shock, snapped back to their senses. Taking a deep breath, they dashed forward with sudden bursts of speed.
"No-Sword Style..."
With a solemn expression, Zoro raised both arms level and loosely cupped his hands. He then spun his entire body in a single rotation at lightning-fast speed.
In an instant, the immense force violently stirred up the surrounding air, giving birth to a surging, whirling updraft!
"...Dragon Twister!"
WHOOSH—
Under the impact of this powerful blast of wind, the huge fish that was just about to crash onto Sherlock momentarily stalled in midair. Then, as if escaping the pull of gravity, it shot straight upward with a ZIP!
Its silver scales glinted under the sunlight. As it spun up into the sky once more, the giant fish's wide, round eyes were filled with utter confusion and shock.
Immediately following that, the unlucky fish saw a blonde man in a black suit leap high into the air, facing it with a leg poised to kick...
(Fish: What am I supposed to do? I'm in despair too!)
"Mutton SHOOT!"
With Sanji's powerful kick, the pitiful fish shot off into the distance like a cannonball. After tumbling and skipping across the calm sea surface several times, it sank into the depths of the ocean with a loud PLOP.
Landing back on the deck, Sanji hastily turned his head around to gaze at a certain glasses-guy along with the others.
And upon seeing Sherlock's peaceful sleeping face, everyone couldn't help but sigh in relief together.
"Phew~~~ Luckily he sleeps like a log..." xN
However, unlike Nami and the others who breathed a sigh of relief, a certain foolish captain who was still holding his fishing rod in an upward-hoisting pose was completely baffled.
(⊙_⊙)...
(What on earth just happened??!!)
Luffy stared blankly in the direction where the big fish he had worked so hard to catch had sunk, his face a total mask of bewilderment.
Everything had happened far too fast—so fast that a dummy like Luffy hadn't even realized what had occurred.
"Hey! Sanji! Zoro! What do you think you're doing?!"
The rubber idiot put down the fishing rod, feeling quite annoyed: "I finally caught such a big fish, why did you..."
BANG!!! The familiar sound of a fist striking a skull.
"Idiot!"
With black lines all over her face, Nami pulled back her fist, just about to explain to Luffy what kind of stupid thing he had almost done.
Suddenly, the ocean surface around them turned turbulent and restless, causing the Going Merry to begin rocking violently!
Sweet fruit juice spilled over from the cups. Several people on the deck nearly lost their footing, hastily grabbing onto whatever they could find to stabilize themselves.
And what was particularly strange was that despite how violently the Merry was swaying, Sherlock and the small black cat, Bestia, snuggled in his arms remained sound asleep on the lounge chair, leaving Robin and the others utterly speechless.
"What... what's happening?! Nami, has the weather changed?!"
Usopp and Chopper tumbled out of the cabin in a frenzy, shouting loudly at their navigator.
"No, there hasn't been the slightest shift in the air currents!" The navigator checked the still-clear sky.
"It's not the weather—something is disturbing the ocean currents around us!"
"Look, quickly!" Maya leaned over the ship's railing, gazing down at the massive, looming shadow beneath the sea surface, her face turned extremely pale.
"There seems to be something right under the ship—and there's more than one!"
"And they seem to be coming up!"
SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!
As if to prove the blue-haired girl's deduction, the sea surface around the Merry suddenly bulged upward. Accompanied by scattering sea spray, three gigantic and menacing heads surfaced.
"Eeeek!!! What kind of monsters are these!" The little reindeer hugged the mast tightly, nearly turning gray from sheer fright.
"They're Sea Beasts!" Sanji said gravely: "And giant ones at that!"
Sea Beasts were actually not the same as Sea Kings. As the name implied, while their lower bodies resembled fish with scales, their upper bodies and heads were those of land beasts.
Just like these three: one had the head of a lion, one had the head of a pug, and another had the head of a koala.
And notably, each of their necks was fitted with something resembling a bridle. It seemed these three Sea Beasts were not wild.
Every single one of them possessed a massive size several times larger than the Merry, forming a encirclement that trapped the Merry right in the center.
Seen from a distance, it looked just like three giant cats preparing to corner and kill a tiny white mouse.
Three pairs of lantern-like giant eyes stared wide and round, emitting a terrifying pressure unique to ferocious beasts, causing Nami and the other timid crew members to shiver in fear.
"Roar roar, amazing! So huge!"
Luffy said excitedly. Seeing his carefree, brainless look, he seemed to have no concept of what fear was.
On the other side, looking at the three giant Sea Beasts snarling at them, Robin smiled slightly, drank the rest of her coffee, and evaluated very calmly:
"My, how cute..."
(Hey, hey, hey, does any part of these Sea Beasts have anything to do with being cute?!!)xN
Hearing this, Zoro and the others had black lines all over their faces. They suddenly realized that a certain sadist's sense of aesthetics seemed to be quite different from normal people's.
CRASHHH—
With another surge of splashing water, behind the massive bodies of the three Sea Beasts, three pirate ships coated in bubble membranes surfaced.
Judging by the reins connecting the ships to the necks of those three Sea Beasts, these pirates were the owners of the Sea Lion, Sea Pug, and Sea Koala.
"Those bubbles, I remember seeing them in a book before—supposedly they can wrap around a ship so it can sail underwater."
A drop of cold sweat ran down Nami's forehead: "I see, so they specially tamed these three Sea Beasts to tow their ships? Just who on earth are they?"
Saying that, Nami focused her gaze toward the flags on the masts of those three ships.
There were two flags on the flagpole: one was the familiar Penguin flag representing the Oswald Family, indicating they were registered pirates.
And the other flag was printed with a menacing shark, with three sharp swords crossed behind it!
"This... this is... the mark of the Fish-Man Union!" Nami's pupils shrank suddenly, her face turning deadly pale.
CLACK CLACK CLACK~
The bubbles surrounding the three pirate ships burst one after another, and immediately, the decks were filled with fully armed Fish-Man pirates, while the three Fish-Man captains stood at the very front of their respective ships.
"Hahaha, we've finally caught up to you, Straw Hat Pirates!"
A Fighting Fish Fish-Man wearing a black feather cloak with two sharp horns on his forehead let out three boisterous laughs.
He quickly scanned the few people on the deck of the Merry. When he saw a certain glasses-guy who was still in a deep sleep, he froze slightly, but returned to normal a moment later.
"Speaking of which, this is our first time meeting. Allow me to introduce myself—I am one of the three captains of the Fish-Man Union, Gould the Poison Monitor Lizard."
"I am Willy, nickname 'Fish-Man Assassin'."
On another ship, a chubby Killer Whale Fish-Man was playing with a jet-black dagger in his hand. Through his black mask, a pair of triangular eyes stared at the Straw Hat Pirates with undisguised malice.
"Alec of the Electric Blade." At the bow of the third ship, an Electric Eel Fish-Man wearing a cowboy hat held a strangely shaped long sword, speaking in a lukewarm tone.
And adhering to the principle of reciprocity, the foolish captain unhesitatingly shouted out his signature introduction.
"I'm Luffy! The man who's gonna be the Pirate King!"
Then he pressed down on his straw hat, his gaze sweeping across the three Fish-Man captains who clearly came with ill intent, asking loudly:
"What business do you guys actually have, coming all the way after us?"
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