"This feeling… no, wait—hey, your Governor-General isn't coming here too, is he?"
At that moment, Shanks sensed an extremely dangerous presence, but he wasn't sure who it belonged to. Whoever it was, it definitely wasn't those pirates with bounties of two or three hundred million.
Pirates like this were the backbone of the pirate world, and also the most troublesome group for the Marines to handle.
There were many of them. While they were still far from the true top-tier powerhouses, ordinary Marines couldn't deal with them either.
Compared to the senior officers of the Emperors of the Sea, pirates like these often caused even more destruction.
But to Shanks, people of that level weren't a threat at all, barely worth a second swing of his blade.
There were only a handful of people on the seas now who could make Shanks feel something like this.
"Governor-General Kaido? No idea. Who knows where he'll show up on any given day."
"He's your captain…"
"That's rich coming from you. Does your crew even know you're here right now?"
"…"
For some reason, Shanks felt like Olga had some kind of Special Attack stat which counters him; she always managed to inexplicably pinpoint his weak spots.
He really had slipped out on his own. What he'd told Beckman was that he had some personal matters to handle and that Beckman should take care of things for a few days.
"See? Even your own crew can't track you down, let alone our Governor-General. After he finishes drinking one day, it wouldn't be strange if he showed up on the execution platform at Marine Headquarters the next.
But what exactly did you sense? I didn't feel anything."
Seeing that Shanks' hand had already moved to the hilt of Gryphon, Olga also sensed something unusual. Even though she had a record of two and a half victories against him, she knew full well that the current Shanks wasn't someone she could deal with.
His stance clearly showed that he was getting serious.
"Just a trace of an aura. I hope I'm mistaken."
Even though Olga and Mandrell didn't know what Shanks had detected, they still shifted into battle stance. Even if it turned out to be nothing, it was worth taking seriously.
The others, however, hadn't noticed anything and continued fighting.
"ROAR!"
Aries let out an enraged roar. The muscles across his body swelled, his body expanding further. Strengthened by his Human-Beast form, he ultimately transformed into a frenzied Tiger Human nearly eight meters tall.
The stripes on his body faintly glowed with a blood-red sheen. As his back arched, he shot forward with unstoppable momentum, aiming to knock Maylo and Carrot away together.
"Die, you disgusting brats!"
The size of the water bubbles Maylo created was limited; the larger the target, the harder it was to envelop. Under Aries' sudden and violent charge, the restraining power of Maylo's bubbles rapidly diminished.
Faced with Aries barreling forward like a locomotive, Carrot tucked her legs and leapt high into the air, using the excellent jumping ability of a rabbit Mink to dodge the direct impact.
Maylo made a similar move. Her Primarina transformation temporarily cost her legs, but the muscles in her fish tail were even more developed. As her melody changed, several sturdy bubbles appeared in the sky.
These bubbles became footholds for Maylo midair. In that moment, her body began to dance across the battlefield, displaying an agility completely at odds with her age.
Aries' charge only shattered the water bubbles scattered across the ground, splashing himself with seawater in the process.
And right then, Maylo's melody changed again.
No matter how the melody changed before, it still remained a beautiful melody. Now, however, it had turned into a harsh, tearing metallic screech, giving people the eerie feeling of dozens of cats scratching a blackboard at once. This only made the already irritated Aries even more frustrated, with no outlet for his anger.
"Mandrell, your daughter's pretty talented. Did you teach her how to coat herself like that?"
"No, I didn't teach her that. She probably figured it out herself while playing around with Wolff and the others."
Mandrell had almost rushed over to punch Aries himself, but even he, as her father, hadn't expected Maylo's reaction.
If it came down purely to physical reflexes, she was definitely no match for Aries. But Maylo used Primarina's natural talent to wrap herself in a layer of bubble membrane.
With that bubble layer in place, her body became as light as a balloon. Before Aries' tiger paw could even reach her, the air pressure from his swing would blow her aside first; she was simply borrowing that force to evade.
In a sense, the harder Aries punched, the less likely he was to touch Maylo.
"Not bad. But you'd better have her change the melody. That sound… it's way too easy to cause friendly fire."
Scratching at her neck, Olga felt as if something was pounding inside her head. The assault of that noise was anything but pleasant.
Fortunately, the sound didn't last long. Producing that kind of tone puts a heavy strain on the throat. If her voice was damaged, Primarina's combat power would be cut in half immediately.
But Maylo had already achieved her goal.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions rang out across the deck one after another. The water accumulated from the earlier explosion of bubbles now formed countless new bubbles. Like bombs, they surged toward Aries and detonated continuously around him.
At the same time, Carrot had already arrived below Aries, a large knuckle-duster-like gauntlet now on her hand, as the Electro generated by the Minks converged at her fingertips.
She then shot upward and punched, driving her fist into Aries' stomach. His body, soaked by Maylo moments earlier, became the brightest thing on the deck.
Crackle! Crackle!
After a thunderous flash of lightning, Aries' body tilted to the side. Influenced by the water currents, Carrot's electric shock surged right through him, yet he did not fall.
Carrot's ears suddenly shot upright, and she leapt sharply to one side. A massive crater appeared where she had just been standing.
Looking up, she saw that Aries' skin had turned jet black like that of a dark tiger. He clearly didn't like his new color, though. The murderous intent in his eyes was thick and palpable.
"Damn rabbit, let's see where you run this time!"
Aries clenched both fists and smashed them downward, the shockwaves from his punches worsening the destruction across the deck.
"This is strange… why do I feel like I'm the one losing out here? Who am I supposed to bill for the ship repairs later?"
"They should have treasures on their ship, right? Should be enough to repair a few holes."
"My gut tells me these guys are all broke. Probably not much profit to squeeze out of them."
"Well, there's still the bounty."
"True enough. I'll just have to trouble the World Government with it then."
While Olga was thinking about how to repair the ship, Carrot also responded to the attack.
"Damn it… Pedro said I shouldn't rely on Sulong all the time, but this guy's way too tough!"
Watching the incoming punch once again, Carrot finally pressed the button on her belt. As the power of the Moon Stone flowed into her body, her golden short hair turned white and began to lengthen, and thick fur burst forth from her tail.
A more feral glint appeared in her crimson eyes. Seeing the attack about to land, Carrot's entire body became wrapped in even fiercer lightning as she kicked upward to meet it head-on.
At the same time, Maylo's song also entered its final verse. As the melody reached the peak, a bubble reflecting a rainbow-coloured halo under the sunlight drifted down towards Aries.
Pop.
The sound of the bubble bursting was faint, but the power within it condensed into several streaks of flowing light that pierced straight toward Aries.
Sparkling Aria—the strongest move from Primarina's repertoire.
Boom!
The moment Sparkling Aria fell, the violent electric currents surrounding Carrot collided with Aries' fist.
Attacked from above and below, Aries' body trembled. Instinctively, he tensed his muscles, reinforcing himself with Haki in an attempt to withstand their combined assault.
But the intensity of his Haki clearly wasn't enough. Just as it looked like he might barely hold on, a knee strike slammed into his groin.
If the Sparkling Aria from behind and Carrot's lightning strike were still within the limits of what he could endure, this final blow shattered that limit completely.
The terrifying monstrous strength, empowered by Sulong, surged upward from his lower body and into his core. The intense pain spread along his nerves to every corner of his body. His massive body began to tremble, and finally, he fell like a leaf in the wind.
As the breath he had been forcing himself to hold finally dispersed, his defenses collapsing instantly. His sturdy body ultimately crashed onto the deck. Yet in his eyes, there was nothing but frustration and unwillingness.
Even now, he couldn't believe he had actually lost to two underage girls.
"What incredible vitality. He's still conscious after that."
Carrot, who had not yet cancelled her Sulong form, poked Aries curiously from the side. She had no idea that her and Maylo's earlier attacks had accidentally hit some strange spots, leaving Aries' consciousness still wide awake.
In truth, he desperately wanted to pass out, but his body simply wouldn't allow it.
"Those two brats actually took down that stupid cat."
Out of the corner of his eye, Arvid saw Aries' defeat and felt a flicker of disbelief.
Though he always looked down on Aries verbally, he admitted that Aries' brute strength was difficult to deal with, and even he had no desire to face Aries head-on.
It was just that Aries never liked to think when fighting. In Arvid's view, if he hadn't relied so purely on brute force, he wouldn't have been defeated by two little girls.
But this wasn't good news for him. Maylo was already panting heavily, clearly near her limit. Carrot, however, was different. If a Sulong-awakened Mink came at him next, he wouldn't be able to handle it.
Fortunately for him, Carrot didn't do that. Instead, she began studying the fallen Aries like a curious baby.
****Please support on pat*eon for extra chapters; there is date to date subscription enabled on patreon. [There is a 7-day trial version availabe on patreon.]
https://www.pat*eon.com/dmtranslations
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my pa*reon.