The World's Greatest Way to Set Sail

Arlong looked at the village chief and the fish-men behind him, who had begun to suffer from dehydration, with some surprise.

"Good, very good. You did very well..." Arlong's swollen, pig-like face bared its terrifying fangs. He was smiling.

"To reward you, I'll spare you from the death penalty." The towering fish-man pressed down on the village chief's head.

"Fire the cannons! I want this island leveled!" Arlong waved a hand, and the fish-men aboard the pirate ship began to move.

"Wait, Lord Arlong, why..." The village chief grabbed Arlong's hand in panic.

"Get lost, you lowly human!" Arlong raised his hand, lifted the village chief, and slammed him to the ground.

"This damned place actually made me suffer the humiliation of being insulted by inferior humans. Only by completely cleansing this island can I wash away this stain on me!"

Boom!

The bombardment began. Cannonballs rained down on the island, kicking up thick smoke. Houses were blasted apart one after another, while ordinary villagers fled in panic.

"They're shelling the place directly. Does that mean the village chief didn't hand all those fish-men over to Arlong after all?"

Ling Donglai crouched low, clutching the wooden staff he had just made. He watched the town in the distance endure ceaseless bombardment. Quite a few cannonballs landed near him, and the dust kicked up by the shockwaves left him looking rather disheveled.

It only affected his appearance. He had no other injuries.

As long as they did not take a cannonball directly to the face, Devil Fruit users generally would not be seriously injured by such minor bombardments.

The village chief had cried himself into a wreck. He could not understand why Arlong was still launching indiscriminate attacks after he had tried so hard to please him.

"Bring seawater and search carefully! Once you find that ability user, splash him with seawater! Let's see what he can use to fight me after he loses his powers!"

Once the ship had exhausted its cannonballs, Arlong pointed at the island, which had been flattened considerably.

"An ability user who can restrain fish-men does not deserve to remain in this world!"

The fish-men carried containers for water into the sea. Once they had filled them with seawater, they headed for the island with the containers.

"Old man, go back to your village. This is the mercy I, Arlong, grant you!" Arlong strode over to the village chief, grabbed him, and threw him straight onto the land.

Thrown directly from the pirate ship onto land, how could his old bones possibly withstand it? He immediately coughed up blood and was severely injured.

"This is what humans are: nothing but an inferior race!" Arlong touched his face, his swollen eyes filled with fury.

Facing this ability user reminded him of that chrysanthemum-like face from the depths of his memories, a nightmare etched into his mind. A mere human dared attack the great fish-men just because he possessed the power of a Devil Fruit. Unforgivable!

"Once you lose the power of your Devil Fruit, you'll understand that you're still the same worthless humans!" Arlong clenched his fists.

--

"Two logs to cross the sea to another island... I wonder if this can work. I originally planned to train for a while before trying this, but there's no time now."

Taking advantage of the lull after the bombardment, Ling Donglai aimed two logs toward the horizon. Electricity crackled around his body, and his hair stood slightly on end. He carefully compared the island's location on the crude sea chart again, feeling somewhat uneasy.

Sailing was out of the question. He could not even identify the wind direction, much less sail across the sea. The only way would be to borrow someone else's strength, but that was clearly impossible right now.

He had also offended the fish-men. Given their strength at sea, if they spotted him escaping by ship, they would definitely catch up and sink it.

That left only one option: head for the sky!

Ling Donglai frantically circulated his electrical power, then hurled one of the logs with all his might. At the same time, he clutched the other log and leaped high into the air, landing atop the log he had thrown at full force.

Thus, Ling Donglai and the log shot into the sky.

This was the flashy signature technique of Taopaipai, the world's greatest assassin from the neighboring Dragon Ball set—crossing the sea on a single log.

Ling Donglai figured the two worlds were close enough together. Though he could not use ki, he should still be able to cross the sea through brute force, as long as he controlled his body weight. The Human-Human Fruit could manage that much.

"It actually worked. The only problem is, I'm flying at a forty-five-degree angle instead of straight across." Ling Donglai wiped away sweat and looked down from above, where he saw a group of fish-men carrying buckets, bowls, and other containers filled with seawater as they searched the island.

"Ability users being afraid of seawater is really annoying!" Ling Donglai was irritated, but before long, he felt the momentum of the log beneath him beginning to fade. The log slowly started to descend.

"Wait, how was Geppo from the Six Powers trained again? Repeatedly kicking the air within fractions of a second... Sounds simple enough... like hell it does!"

Ling Donglai tried his best to suppress his panic, then threw the other log in his hands and switched mounts in midair, continuing his flight.

"Why can't I make it work here? Could it really be because of ki?" Ling Donglai hugged his mount and looked at the seawater below, his heart sinking lower and lower.

"Still no sign of an island... I shouldn't have gotten the direction wrong..."

Beneath the water, a pair of crimson eyes emerged. Then, a massive creature broke through the surface and curiously watched Ling Donglai, who was about to fly overhead.

It was a sea beast, roughly three or four meters tall. It was a dragon-like sea beast, somewhat resembling a plesiosaur, and it even wore armor on its head. It was domesticated.

Ling Donglai's new mount was also beginning to lose power and was slowly descending.

"This is... a tamed Sea Dragon?" Ling Donglai immediately noticed the helmet on the Sea Dragon's head.

"Domesticated means there's an island nearby. At least I'm closer now. If it doesn't sink within three seconds, it'll make a great springboard for me to keep going!" Ling Donglai stared at the Sea Dragon, while the Sea Dragon was equally curious about the object flying through the sky.

"Be my stepping stone!" Ling Donglai stopped controlling his body weight and rapidly plummeted from above with the log, electricity crackling around his body as he dropped toward the Sea Dragon's head.

"Its skin is a little wet. My footing might slip, and it'll conduct electricity too. This Sea Dragon might struggle afterward..."

As the Sea Dragon grew larger before his eyes, Ling Donglai realized he had underestimated this sea beast. It was at least four or five meters tall. A sea beast of this size could easily overturn ships in the East Blue.

"Landing!"

Ling Donglai stomped heavily onto the Sea Dragon's head.

Electricity raced wildly through its damp body, landing a critical hit on the Sea Dragon.

Everything was under control!