Chapter 88: The One Who Drowned on Land
A non-human roar, as if from the depths of hell, echoed, traversing the shattered frozen tundra and piercing through the entire island. Visible ripples spread through the atmosphere.
For a moment, the several battlefronts on the island came to a standstill. Both sides tacitly turned to look at the terrifying figure standing at the end of the horizon.
The young Celestial Dragon holding a flintlock saw it, and a hint of joy appeared on his face. "That's Saint Cabanha! I've heard he's one of the top powerhouses in the God's Knights!"
Beside him, a young man holding a katana had a stern expression. He spoke to the smiling Uta, his tone extremely impolite, "Although I don't know how you got the news that we were here, none of that matters anymore. You will all die here!"
As his words fell, the few young men and women gathered around him all revealed arrogant and contemptuous smiles.
To this, Uta, in her Siren form, casually flicked her pink fishtail. She raised a slender finger with a sharp nail to her chin, feigning a pensive pose. "Hmm... so arrogant... a complete change from the scared-stiff look you had just now."
"..."
The air fell silent at this moment. The arrogant expressions of the God's Knights' new bloods froze on their faces. The next moment, a series of angry rebukes fell.
"Shut up!"
"You damn lower species!"
"Go to hell!"
Immediately after, a volley of bullets wreathed in Armament Haki, flying slashes, shockwaves, and other abilities tore through the atmosphere, blasting straight toward Uta.
A smile curled at the corner of Uta's lips. The wing-fins on her lower back and the fishtail beneath her moved slightly. Her entire body flew with extreme grace, weaving through the gaps between the attacks and rapidly approaching the Celestial Dragons, who had formed a defensive formation.
As she moved at high speed, a clear, pleasant, and heavenly laughter continuously echoed in the Celestial Dragons' ears. "Hehehe..."
The beautiful sound made even the God's Knights' new bloods, who were her enemies, momentarily lose themselves. Among them, a young woman's gaze became vacant, her pupils dilating until they took up her entire iris. When she came to her senses, a mist from an unknown source had swept over the battlefield, enveloping her.
"!!"
In the mist with extremely low visibility, the people who had been gathered together had disappeared at some point, leaving her standing alone. This sudden change made her expression shift, and she subconsciously took a few steps back, only to find that she was now standing on the surface of a misty sea. In the gently rippling water, several reefs covered in barnacles stood.
"What's happening..." the woman stared blankly at the hand that should have been holding a weapon. "Is this an illusion?"
Although she guessed that this was an illusion created by the enemy's unknown Devil Fruit ability, the salty sea breeze blowing in her face, the mist washing over her, and the sensation of the seawater eroding her feet were all telling her that this seemed to be a real world.
The next moment, a faint song came from a distant reef, clear, pleasant, and beautiful. For a moment, the woman's eyes were tinged with pink. She forgot herself and dazedly began to walk, slowly approaching the giant reef.
The mist in front of her, as if possessing a will of its own, slowly parted, clearing a path. At the end of it, on a reef, a figure with a human torso and a fish's tail was coiled, its graceful and alluring form faintly visible. As if sensing the woman's arrival, the mermaid in the mist slowly turned with an elegant posture.
Eyes possessing fatal charm and magic met the woman's. Even as a woman herself, she was captivated.
Just as the woman subconsciously reached out, wanting to caress the mermaid's cheek, the mermaid before her slowly opened her rosy lips, revealing two rows of incredibly sharp, serrated teeth, covered in blood and unidentifiable bits of flesh.
"!!"
The woman's pupils trembled violently, her heart pounded abnormally. She wanted to escape, but her limbs were stiff and she couldn't move.
The next moment, the surface of the sea beneath her feet rippled, as if it could no longer support a person's weight, and the woman instantly sank.
The woman seemed to wake up in an instant. Her pupils returned to normal, her limbs were no longer weak, and the mist that had covered the sea had disappeared.
"How could this be..."
Before her words could fall, her sinking body made her panic. She desperately paddled the seawater with her limbs, wanting to swim to the surface. But no matter how hard she tried, she was still sinking slowly. As a string of bubbles rose, her mouth continuously filled with salty seawater.
"How can this be? I'm not an ability user!"
The fear of death enveloped the woman's heart, continuously devouring her reason and consuming her mind.
After a long while, the woman sank to the bottom of the sea. Before losing consciousness, she saw from the seabed the battlefield where the others were standing, as well as several corpses in a tragic state. They were the companions who had been standing with her, facing the enemy together.
...
In the endlessly roaring battlefield, Uta flicked the small wing-fins that grew from between her red and white hair and leisurely floated around the drowned corpses. She casually picked up two katanas that looked very expensive, then looked at Daz Bonez, who was fighting two-on-one without being at a disadvantage, and Kuina, who was struggling to resist the attack of one person, and fell into thought.
"I'll go check on Kuina." After a moment of contemplation, Uta flicked her wing-fins and fishtail and swam toward Kuina.
Kuina was having too much trouble against the elite, hand-picked by the Celestial Dragons for their training camp. If she didn't keep an eye on her before Louis launched a large-scale healing, Kuina might be killed on the spot. Therefore, Uta felt it was necessary to watch from nearby in case Kuina's life was in danger.
As for interfering right now? Uta had never even considered it. She greatly respected Kuina's dream of honing her swordsmanship in a bloody battle and becoming the world's greatest swordsman without relying on a Devil Fruit.
On the other side, on the battlefield of the Marines and the giants.
Hajrudin and the others were extremely excited. They swung the cold, heavy steel chains, sending Marine soldiers flying one by one. Looking at the two tall giants who were single-handedly suppressing five Marine HQ Vice Admirals, their eyes were full of admiration.
Originally, they had been puzzled about the identity of the two giants Louis had mentioned who had come to rescue them. But when they saw their appearance, they were all incredibly excited.
Dorry the Blue Ogre. Brogy the Red Ogre. The two legendary captains of the proud Giant Warrior Pirates, beings whose strength was second only to the king and the two giant heroes in the hearts of the Elbaf giants. They never expected that these two giants were still alive and would come to rescue them, their inconspicuous juniors.
Just then, the two giants let out a heroic laugh.
"Kabababababa!"
"Gegyagyagyagya!"
Brogy smashed a Rear Admiral away with his shield and turned to look at the young giants fighting alongside them.
"Hey, brats! Don't let your guard down in battle!"
Hajrudin, Gerd, and the others heard Brogy's words and were invigorated.
"YES, SIR!!"
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