Chapter 194: The Sleepy Genbu on the Battlefield
Assuming their enemies were Fish-men, land seemed to be the pirates' only chance at survival.
And right now... Fish-man Island was actually going through a transitional phase where the older generation was still active, but the new generation hadn't fully matured yet.
Veterans like Sebastian and Babel were still in their prime and far from retirement, but there weren't many truly prominent figures emerging from the new generation.
Youngsters like Jinbe, Kawamatsu, and Namur were all still growing. Coupled with the fact that both Fish-man Island and the Sabaody Archipelago required personnel stationed there, there was a slight shortage of capable officers to serve as the core fighting force.
Among the captains of the seventeen pirate crews, there were quite a few with respectable strength. Sebastian focused the majority of his energy on dealing with these individuals.
By the time he finished off these opponents and turned around, a group of pirates had already managed to land on a nearby island.
"Sir Sebastian, what should we do next...?"
"Merfolk warriors, stay behind and continue clearing the remaining enemies on the surface. Fish-men, prepare for a landing assault. Have a small squad launch a frontal attack on the beach to draw their attention, while the rest flank around from both sides.
"Use your camouflage, close in quietly, and catch them off guard!"
For Fish-men and Merfolk, the deep sea was naturally their most advantageous combat environment, followed by surface combat. Landing on a shore meant surrendering a significant portion of their home-field advantage.
However, fighting near the beach wasn't too bad. But if those pirates retreated to the dry center of the island, the Neptune Army would have to pay a much steeper price to wipe them out.
Sebastian had no intention of giving those pirates a chance to retreat and regroup. He immediately ordered his forces to split up. As the sound of a horn echoed from the deep sea, the Third Company rapidly reorganized their formation and commenced the next phase of the battle.
However, just as they began to move, Sebastian spotted a figure high up in the clouds.
[Did Big Bro follow us...? In that case, this operation... truly is a failure...]
Sebastian knew very well that if Nereus didn't want to be seen, he would definitely conceal his presence.
And Nereus following them was likely to prevent any unforeseen accidents.
Since Nereus was no longer hiding himself, it either meant an enemy had appeared that Nereus judged Sebastian couldn't handle, or that Nereus felt there were major flaws in this operation and intended to wrap things up himself.
Scanning his surroundings, Sebastian didn't spot anyone he couldn't handle, which meant the latter was highly probable.
However, Sebastian was only half right. If these pirates hadn't successfully landed, Nereus truly wouldn't have shown himself.
But even after revealing himself, Nereus didn't declare their operation a failure. The landing assault was to proceed as planned.
At this moment, Nereus simply wanted to test the combat capabilities of something else.
Seeing that Sebastian had spotted him, Nereus made a hand gesture, signaling for the operation to continue.
Nereus himself didn't descend to the battlefield. He merely swung his arm, hurling two massive Poneglyphs down toward the island.
"Don't stop! Keep running toward the center of the island! The coast is still their home turf! Head for the mountains!"
"We underestimated these Fish-men. Who would've thought they'd be this tough to deal with even on the surface..."
Even though the pirates had formed an alliance, they didn't disband their respective crews to mix together. Thus, the pirates who managed to escape hadn't immediately scattered into a chaotic rout under their captains' orders.
But this was only temporary.
Whoosh! BOOM!
With a piercing shriek tearing through the air, two massive boulders connected by a thick iron chain smashed into the path ahead, blocking their way. The pirates looked around wildly but couldn't spot a single person.
Instead, on the shallows behind them, Fish-men had already deactivated their camouflage and begun hurling Uchimizu (Water Shotgun) attacks their way.
Though they were merely droplets of water, thrown by the hands of Fish-man warriors, they carried the lethal force of actual bullets. In an instant, numerous pirates were gunned down.
"Keep heading up the mountain! Once we reach dry land, those bastards will lose at least half their combat power!"
Since the two boulders hadn't moved since crashing down, the pirates assumed they were just thrown by the Fish-men pursuing them. They immediately prepared to climb over the rocks and continue forward.
[Looks like it's quite smart. Is it waiting for half the pirates to pass before attacking?]
Watching the Genbu he threw remain motionless, Nereus assumed it had a plan of its own.
After all, this was an ability granted by a Zoan fruit. When a human eats a fruit, they retain their own thoughts. But when a mindless, inanimate object like a weapon eats one, the animal instinct takes full dominance from the very start.
Depending on the animal's temperament, it would even develop different characteristics. For example, Spandam's elephant sword Funkfreed. Even though it was a sword that had eaten the Elephant-Elephant Fruit, it was inherently cowardly; just scaring it a little would cause it to revert to its original form.
To this day, Nereus hadn't completely figured out the Genbu's personality, so he assumed this was just the creature playing coy.
But even after every single pirate had passed by, the Genbu still stood rooted in place, entirely unmoving. Its posture looked awfully like...
He hadn't expected it to sleep so soundly even after being thrown onto a battlefield.
It seemed that plummeting from the sky and smashing into the ground had absolutely no effect on it.
As for it being knocked unconscious from the fall, Nereus felt that was highly unlikely. Zoan Devil Fruits possessed incredible malleability. In terms of sheer scale, the larger the entity that consumed it, the larger it would become upon transformation.
Whatever weapon ate the fruit would imbue the fruit with that weapon's traits. Given the virtually indestructible nature of a Poneglyph, the chances of it being knocked out were microscopically slim.
Nereus condensed the moisture in the air into a small water bullet and flicked it down from the sky toward the Poneglyph below.
Smack!
The water bullet shattered upon hitting the Poneglyph. The immense kinetic impact even forced the massive rock to slide forward a couple of inches.
This finally managed to wake the Genbu up. The crimson snake was the first to react and transform.
The awakened red snake glanced at the still-unmoving gray boulder beside it and, seemingly extremely displeased, violently headbutted it. Only then did the tortoise finally stir, slowly transforming and standing up.
This confirmed Nereus's suspicion—something was slacking off.
[You're still sleeping?! If you sleep any longer, the targets will be gone!]
Although words couldn't be transmitted, an oppressive wave of Haki laced with Conqueror's intimidation descended upon the Genbu, instantly jolting the drowsy tortoise wide awake.
In its half-asleep state just now, Nereus seemed to have issued it an order.
Regardless of which legion they belonged to, the Neptune Army all wore standard-issue uniforms. The Genbu could easily distinguish friend from foe. Shaking its massive head, the tortoise suddenly reared up on its front legs and stomped brutally into the ground.
BOOM!
A tremendous force surged from beneath the Genbu's feet into the mountain rock. Accompanied by violent tremors, boulders cascaded downward, and the very earth beneath the Genbu's feet surged up like a tidal wave, rolling violently toward the fleeing pirates ahead...
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