For the next few days, Xia Qiu stayed on the Thriller Bark, eating Oars' corpse daily.
"Crunch, crunch."
Xia Qiu gnawed on Oars' corpse, tearing off a large piece of arm meat, chewing it voraciously, and swallowing before continuing to eat, completely devouring his right arm.
On the first day, Xia Qiu ate Oars' head and neck, and on the second and third days, he ate his chest and heart.
On the fourth day, he ate his right arm, and in this last meal, he completely finished his arm.
It was too big.
Oars' body was over eighty meters tall, weighing three to four hundred tons.
He could only eat about fifty tons a day at most.
But after consuming around two hundred tons, he had reached his limit.
Without the protection of Shadows, the corpse rotted faster, and he could no longer eat.
"Forget it."
Xia Qiu slowly walked back the way he came. Not long after, the meat in his stomach turned into a heat flow.
Whoosh.
This heat flow spread throughout his body, intensely hot.
Most of this heat flow concentrated in his head, where two white, pointed horns appeared, curving downwards, then forwards, about a meter long and thirty centimeters thick at the base.
Oars provided a lot of energy, mostly Evolution Energy.
The structure that evolved was the horns on his head.
Originally, after eating the Triceratops, Xia Qiu had two bumps on his head, on the cranial ramming horns, but no horns had grown.
After eating Oars, Xia Qiu grew horns, but they curved slightly inwards and then forwards.
Horns a meter long were quite short for Xia Qiu at his current stage, but he already envisioned their potential for growth.
The horns were very useful.
With horns, the force of impact would be more concentrated.
They could pierce through harder objects, especially since his horns were formed from bone, similar in hardness to his own bones, and harder than iron.
A pair of horns like these could easily pierce through large rocks.
As for dealing with massive objects, like Sea Kings or warships, the horns could easily penetrate the target, and then he could use the ramming horns below to strike.
Xia Qiu was very satisfied with his horns. If he had grown them naturally, it would have taken him about two months to eat a Triceratops.
But there weren't that many Triceratops; on the entire Primordial Island, he had only eaten a dozen or so, resulting in two bumps.
"President."
When Xia Qiu returned to his original spot, he saw Heckle standing there, wearing a trench coat.
"How are you doing now?" Xia Qiu asked, looking at him.
Heckle flexed his arm and said, "It will take some time to fully recover, but I can walk freely now."
"That's good."
Xia Qiu nodded, then said, "Then let's prepare to leave."
Xia Qiu gathered Ace, Heckle, and Hogback and went to the harbor.
Perona had her servants bring several chests of treasure, and Hogback also brought many tools, treasures, and a corpse.
"Sorry, we can't take any of this on the ship," Ace said, standing on the shore.
"We can't take anything?"
Perona stood there, asking sadly, "Are we just going to throw away all this treasure?"
Hogback said, "I still have my medical tools here."
Ace shrugged, "My small boat is already struggling to carry us, so we can't take anything extra."
"There are other ships here."
Perona pointed into the distance and said, "We can use other sea ships."
"We'll be discovered that way."
Heckle stood on the small boat and said, "We're wanted criminals, so we have to leave it all here."
"Alright."
Perona thought for a moment and then jumped onto the boat.
However, Hogback glanced at the treasure, then at the corpse in his arms, and said, "But I must take this with me."
"What is this?" Ace asked, looking at the corpse.
Hogback replied, "This is Sindory. I must take her with me."
"Alright."
Ace knew about Sindory and said, "Bring her along."
Hogback brought Sindory's corpse onto the ship. Ace started the vessel, flames igniting as they departed.
Behind them, Xia Qiu leaped into the water, closely following.
After they left, many people emerged near the harbor.
"They're gone, we can leave now."
"Prepare the ships, we'll set sail together."
"Let's go."
These people were controlled pirates and servants, kept here as a precaution until the others left.
Moreover, the number of sea ships was limited, with only two intact pirate ships, making it impossible for everyone to leave at once.
So, some people left by ship, while others had no choice but to steer the Thriller Bark out of the area.
Regardless of how they left, the news would spread, especially the appearance of the Thriller Bark, which was bound to disturb the world.
...
"Shocking! Shichibukai Gecko Moria killed! The killer is..."
"Devil's Triangle Revealed! The reason for hundreds of disappearances each year is..."
"Ace and Heckle kill Moria! Exposing Baroque Works for you."
News spread through the newspapers, astonishing everyone who read it.
The Shichibukai, powerful pirates recognized by the World Government, all possessed immense prestige.
Such a great pirate had been killed.
And the killers were from Baroque Works, previously eradicated by the Marines.
Not only that, but Moria had been experimenting on people, creating a massive zombie army of over a thousand.
This information instantly spread across the world, becoming the hottest topic.
"Aokiji, look at the mess you've caused."
At Marine Headquarters, Sengoku stared at Aokiji, who was sitting on the sofa before him, his expression extremely grim.
"I didn't expect them to go after Moria, let alone kill him," Aokiji said with some distress.
Sengoku said coldly, "This is retaliation against us, Aokiji. These are the consequences of your unauthorized actions."
Aokiji sighed, "It was my dereliction of duty."
"Most importantly, they've exposed Moria's atrocities."
Sengoku looked at the intelligence reports from various regions. "Many places are discussing the wicked deeds of the Shichibukai."
"What do we do next?" Aokiji asked Sengoku.
Sengoku replied, "The Five Elders consider this matter extremely serious. They demand we capture Ace and investigate any connection to Whitebeard. So, our next steps are to pursue Ace, establish a blockade at the Sabaody Archipelago to prevent them from reaching the New World, and then surround and capture them."
"I'll take responsibility for this."
Aokiji stood up. He had caused this, and he had to see it through.
Sengoku waved his hand, "Leave this matter to Sakazuki."
"Huh?"
Aokiji looked at Sengoku in surprise.
"He came here as soon as he received the information and applied, leaving before I could even agree."
Sengoku continued, "He said he would personally capture Fire Fist Ace and finish them."
"Isn't Vice Admiral Onigumo quite close to him?" Aokiji asked. "Is it because of him?"
Sengoku shook his head. "It's not that. He told me a bold plan, but it's difficult to execute. Sakazuki might not be able to find Ace and the others."
Thanks to the generous reward from the friend Black Dreams.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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