Assuming the enemy consisted of Fish-Men, land seemed to be their only hope of survival.
And Fish-Man Island itself…. was currently in an awkward transitional stage.
Although veterans like Sebastian and Barbell were still in their prime and nowhere near retirement, there wasn’t yet a truly rising new generation.
Youngsters like Jinbe, Kawamatsu, and Namur were still growing, and with people needed to defend both Fish-Man Island and the Sabaody Archipelago, there was still a shortage of capable same-race officers who could serve as the backbone.
Among the captains of the seventeen pirate crews were also some fairly powerful individuals, and Sebastian’s main focus had been on dealing with those people.
By the time he finished off those opponents and turned back around, a group of pirates had already landed on the nearby island.
“Lord Sebastian, what should we do next…?”
“The Merfolk warriors stay behind and continue eliminating the enemies on the sea surface. Fish-Men, prepare for a landing battle. Have one squad attract their attention from the front beach while the rest circle around both sides.
Go in under invisibility and catch them off guard.”
For Fish-Men and Merfolk, deep-sea battlefields were naturally the most favorable environment. Surface combat came second. In a land battle, they would lose much of their home-field advantage.
Still, fighting near the beach was manageable. If those pirates retreated into the dry center of the island, the Neptune Army would have to pay a far greater price to defeat them.
Sebastian had no intention of giving the pirates time to retreat and reorganize. He immediately ordered the troops to split up. As the sound of horns echoed through the deep sea, the Third Company which was in the middle of the fighting began reorganizing its formation and prepared for a new round of battle.
But just as they started moving, Sebastian spotted a figure above the clouds.
“So Boss came personally after all… Then this operation… really was a failure…”
Sebastian knew very well that if Nereus didn’t want him to notice his presence, he would definitely conceal himself.
Nereus following behind them was most likely to prevent some sort of accident.
Now that Nereus had stopped hiding, either an enemy had appeared that he judged Sebastian incapable of handling, or he believed there was a problem with this operation and intended to personally clean things up.
After scanning the surroundings, Sebastian saw no one he couldn’t deal with, so the latter possibility was far more likely.
But Sebastian had only guessed half right. If these pirates hadn’t successfully landed, Nereus indeed would not have shown himself.
However, after revealing himself, Nereus did not consider the operation a failure. The land battle still had to be fought.
At this moment, Nereus simply wanted to test the combat capabilities of something else.
Seeing that Sebastian had noticed him, Nereus gestured toward him, signaling for the operation to continue.
Nereus himself did not enter the battlefield. Instead, he swung his arm and hurled two enormous Poneglyphs toward the island.
“Don’t stop! Run toward the center of the island! The coastline is still those b*stards’ home turf! Head for the mountains!”
“We underestimated those Fish-Men. Didn’t expect them to be this hard to deal with even on the sea surface…”
Even though the pirates had formed an alliance, they hadn’t mixed their crews together. Therefore, the pirates who escaped still hadn’t completely fallen apart under their captains’ commands.
But that was only temporary.
Whoosh! Boom!
Along with the sound of something tearing through the air, two gigantic stones connected by iron chains slammed down in front of their path. The pirates looked around in every direction, yet saw no trace of who had thrown them.
Meanwhile, on the shallow shore behind them, the Fish-Men had already dispelled their invisibility and begun firing Water Shots toward them.
Though they were merely droplets of water, when launched by Fish-Man warriors, they possessed power comparable to bullets, instantly knocking down quite a few pirates.
“Keep moving uphill! Once we reach a place without water, those b*stards will lose at least half their combat strength!”
After being thrown out, the two stones showed no further movement. The pirates assumed the Fish-Men behind them had simply tossed them over and immediately tried to climb past the stones and continue forward.
【Looks pretty smart. Is it planning to wait until half the pirates pass before attacking?】
Seeing that Genbu still hadn’t moved after being thrown out, Nereus thought Genbu had its own ideas.
After all, it was an ability granted by a Zoan-type fruit. When a person eats the Devil Fruit, they still retain their own will, but for a lifeless object like a weapon, which has no mind of its own, the animal nature takes dominance from the start.
Depending on the animal’s personality, different traits could even emerge. For example, Spandam’s elephant sword. Though it was a sword that had eaten the Elephant-Elephant Fruit, it was incredibly cowardly and would revert to its original form from the slightest intimidation.
Even now, Nereus still hadn’t fully figured out Genbu’s personality and assumed this was merely one of Genbu’s little schemes.
But even after all the pirates had passed by, Genbu still stood there motionless, as if…
Unexpectedly, even after being thrown directly onto a battlefield, it could still sleep this soundly.
Apparently, being dropped from high in the sky onto the ground had no effect on it whatsoever.
As for being knocked unconscious, Nereus found that unlikely. Zoan-type Devil Fruits possessed extremely strong adaptability. Relative to body size, the larger the user’s body, the larger the transformed form would become.
Whatever weapon consumed the fruit would inherit the characteristics of that weapon. Given the indestructible nature of the Poneglyph, the chance of it being knocked out cold was practically nonexistent.
Nereus condensed moisture from the air into a small water sphere, then fired it from the sky toward the Poneglyph below.
Bang!
The water sphere burst apart upon striking the Poneglyph. The immense impact even shoved the massive stone forward a couple of inches.
That strike finally jolted Genbu awake. The crimson Poneglyph began transforming first.
The awakened red serpent glanced at the bluish-gray stone beside it that still hadn’t transformed and seemed extremely displeased. It rammed straight into it, finally causing it to react as it slowly transformed and stood upright.
That also confirmed something for Nereus.
Something had been slacking off.
【Still sleeping?! Keep sleeping and the enemies will all run away!】
Though no actual words were transmitted, the pressure of Conqueror’s Haki descended upon Genbu, instantly waking the still-drowsy turtle completely.
Somewhere within its half-asleep haze, it vaguely remembered Nereus having given them an order.
No matter which corps of the Neptune Army it was, they all wore standardized military uniforms, so Genbu could still distinguish friend from foe. After shaking its head, Genbu suddenly raised its front leg high before violently stomping down onto the ground.
Boom!
A tremendous force transmitted from beneath Genbu’s feet into the mountain rock. As the ground trembled, rocks tumbled down, and the soil beneath Genbu’s feet surged like a tidal wave, rolling forward toward the pirates ahead…
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