Lodar roared at the remaining two cadres, Skinny Monkey and Fat Ball, "Skinny Monkey! Fat Ball! Prepare for battle! For Quick Blade, and for our territory!"
Skinny Monkey and Fat Ball looked at the Dragon Girl before them, who seemed to have stepped out of a legend, their calves trembling slightly. But hearing their Captain's roar and seeing the unconscious Quick Blade, they gritted their teeth and forcefully suppressed the fear in their hearts.
"Yes, Captain!"
"We'll fight her to the death!"
"Roar!"
A roar erupted from Lodar's mouth. His body rapidly expanded and deformed, his skin covered in rough, hard, dark brown scales, his head protruded forward, transforming into a ferocious crocodile snout, his hands became sharp claws, and a thick crocodile tail behind him violently swung, sending shattered stones flying across the ground.
In an instant, he transformed into an Alligator Giant seven to eight meters tall, exuding a primal, savage aura!
"Roar!" "Roar!"
Two more giant roars sounded in succession. Skinny Monkey's body became lean and slender, covered in fur, with sharp claws extending from his fingertips. This was the Zoan-type Cat-Cat Fruit, Leopard form!
Fat Ball, on the other hand, became even more burly and robust, his muscles bulging, and paw pads appearing on his palms. This was the Zoan-type Bear-Bear Fruit, Grizzly Bear form!
Charlotte Linlin watched the trio's transformations, sighing at the strength of the Hachinosu Island pirates; encountering just two Pirate Crews meant several Devil Fruit users.
The three formed a triangular formation and simultaneously launched their attack!
Skinny Monkey, relying on the Leopard's speed, turned into an afterimage, moving rapidly around Charlotte Linlin, his sharp claws constantly harassing her, attempting to draw her attention.
Fat Ball roared, charging head-on like a heavy tank, his massive bear paws swinging towards Charlotte Linlin with a whistling wind.
Meanwhile, Lodar, transformed into a fearsome alligator, opened his bloodthirsty maw with a terrifying momentum that seemed to rip everything apart, biting fiercely at Charlotte Linlin's right arm, which held the nodachi!
Facing the trio's attacks, Charlotte Linlin didn't even move her feet. She simply held the massive nodachi "Mu" with one hand, flicking her wrist. The tachi rotated in her hand, precisely parrying Skinny Monkey's claw attacks. Each collision sent a numbing shock through Skinny Monkey's arm.
Facing Fat Ball, who was only a head shorter than her and lunging forward, she merely raised her left foot, covered in Armament Haki, casually kicking him like a soccer ball. Her kick, though later, struck his bear paw first!
"Bang!"
With a muffled thud, Fat Ball's enormous body was actually kicked back seven or eight steps, landing on his backside. His entire arm trembled, and his face was filled with disbelief.
Lodar's fierce alligator bite was blocked by Charlotte Linlin's backhand with the pommel of her sword against his lower jaw. With a slight push from her, Lodar bit into the wall above her head, getting a mouthful of plaster, and was then kicked by Charlotte Linlin's dragon-transformed right foot onto Fat Ball, who had just gotten up.
The nodachi returned to Charlotte Linlin's shoulder. She looked at the three and said, "Your Haki… is very weak, isn't it?"
The trio seemed completely oblivious to Charlotte Linlin's taunt, still immersed in the brief skirmish.
Lodar: "Such quick reactions! Her nine-meter-long nodachi… I thought it would affect her flexibility, but in her hands, it's like an extension of her arm!"
Skinny Monkey: "My speed is useless in front of her! Her Observation Haki is too strong; she completely predicted all my movements!"
Fat Ball: "She's a monster! My strength… it's a joke in front of her…"
With just one exchange, the trio clearly realized that there was a dimensional gap in their strength.
"We can't fight her head-on! We must cooperate!" Lodar roared.
Skinny Monkey and Fat Ball immediately understood, a tacit understanding formed over years of fighting side-by-side.
Skinny Monkey accelerated again. This time, he wasn't aiming to injure, but continuously picked up shattered stones from the ground and hurled them at Charlotte Linlin's face and eyes from various angles at extreme speed. Though they couldn't cause DMG, they effectively interfered with her vision.
Fat Ball took a deep breath and slammed his massive bear paws onto the ground!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Intense vibrations and thick dust instantly spread, indeed obstructing Charlotte Linlin's vision and some of her Observation Haki perception.
"Oh? Trying to use smoke for cover? But you seem to underestimate my Observation Haki~"
A flash of understanding crossed Charlotte Linlin's purple eyes, but in her Observation Haki perception, these small tricks were useless. However, she didn't immediately stop them, instead, with a hint of curiosity, she wanted to see what tricks they could pull.
Just as their vision was obscured, Skinny Monkey and Fat Ball suddenly attacked from the smoke. Charlotte Linlin first used her nodachi to send Skinny Monkey flying, then Fat Ball seized the opportunity to tightly grasp the scabbard with both hands, preventing Charlotte Linlin from drawing her sword for a moment.
"Now!" Skinny Monkey, who was sent flying, and Fat Ball, who was holding onto the nodachi, shouted simultaneously!
From within the dense smoke, a huge black shadow suddenly burst forth! It was Lodar, fully beast-transformed into a ten-meter Giant Crocodile, ambushing Charlotte Linlin from behind!
He used the opportunity created by Skinny Monkey and Fat Ball, preventing Charlotte Linlin from using her nodachi to defend, and opened his fearsome alligator maw, capable of crushing steel, with a foul wind, about to fiercely bite into Charlotte Linlin's waist!
"It worked!" This thought simultaneously arose in the trio's minds, filling them with wild joy.
If he bit her, Lodar could immediately unleash his famous technique, "Death Roll," capable of tearing apart any strong enemy! A Great Pirate with a bounty of 500 million had previously died by Lodar's bite.
But they probably didn't know that the reason Charlotte Linlin's bounty was only 500 million was because it was her first bounty, and the maximum it could be was 500 million, while the pirate they bit to death was worth 500 million because he only had that much strength!
Just as the tooth-filled alligator snout was about to touch Charlotte Linlin—
A slender dragon claw, covered in fine white dragon scales, seized Lodar's upper and lower jaws from below!
The terrifying power emanating from the beautiful dragon claw forcefully stopped Lodar's death bite mid-air, preventing him from opening his mouth again! He couldn't even break free!
Charlotte Linlin said with a hint of approval:
"A good idea, using your companions to create chaos and tie up my weapon, then launching a surprise, full-force assault. You even almost broke through my Observation Haki perception. As expected of a Great Pirate of the New World, you certainly have some skill."
"Wh-what?!" Lodar's giant alligator eyes were filled with horror. Skinny Monkey and Fat Ball's wild joy instantly froze on their faces, a bad premonition washing over them like ice water.
"However," Charlotte Linlin's dragon-transformed face revealed a beautiful, playful smile, but this beauty was something the few of them couldn't appreciate.
"You seem to have misunderstood one thing!"
"I use a sword simply because I have a few good swords, not because my physical combat is weak, you fools!"
Before her words even finished, Charlotte Linlin kicked Fat Ball flying again, then forcefully gripped Lodar's alligator snout with her dragon claw. To Skinny Monkey's horror, she easily swung the seven to eight-meter tall, incredibly heavy, fearsome alligator form of Lodar as if he were a broken sack!
During this time, Lodar struggled fiercely, but in the face of her terrifying immense strength, all of Lodar's struggles seemed so pale and powerless!
Then, Charlotte Linlin slammed Lodar violently into the ground!
BOOM!!!!
An earth-shattering roar!
The entire building shook violently, and the ground, centered on Lodar's impact point, instantly caved in, forming a huge pit, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading wildly! Dust shot into the sky!
In the center of the pit, Lodar had already reverted from his beast form to human form, blood spilling from his nose and mouth, completely unconscious. He only mumbled a single phrase before losing consciousness entirely:
"So… so much strength…"
"Captain!!!" Skinny Monkey and Fat Ball cried out, their eyes bloodshot with terror and despair.
Charlotte Linlin slowly retracted her dragon claw and swept her gaze towards Skinny Monkey, who was slumped on the ground from the violent tremor. The immense pressure almost suffocated him:
"So, do you still want to fight?"
Skinny Monkey looked at his Captain, whose fate in the deep pit was unknown, then at the God-like woman before him. His last shred of fighting spirit was completely crushed. He slumped to the ground, shaking his head with difficulty, his voice dry and desperate:
"N-no more fighting… We surrender… This territory… is yours…"
Charlotte Linlin nodded in satisfaction, dispelled her dragon transformation, and returned to her usual appearance. She hung her nodachi back on her waist and said:
"Smart of you. Dig out your Captain and carry him off. Find a doctor; he won't die."