Large Sea Kings

At the boundary waters around Ring Tree Island, bang! bang! bang! The sound of enormous raindrops fell in succession. It had already been raining for two hours!

Under the dim sky, Luo Han was still on patrol!

Meanwhile, a hundred meters above the sea, Uncle Kate sat cross-legged atop the Giant Kun Cole had transformed into.

He carefully used Observation Haki to sense the sea below.

Luckily! There was no movement. After sensing the area, Uncle Kate secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, Cole! Fly a little higher!" Uncle Kate said to Cole.

Cole opened his mouth slightly and replied in a booming voice, "Okay! Uncle Kate."

He then flew back up to an altitude of a thousand meters. But why "back"?

Because Uncle Kate's Observation Haki had a limited range. He could only vaguely sense major disturbances, unlike Luo Han, whose perception covered an extremely vast distance.

So whenever he wanted to specifically sense the movements of the Sea Kings deep beneath the sea, Uncle Kate had Cole fly down to a hundred meters above the surface before using Observation Haki.

Once he had a clear grasp of the situation, they would fly back to a thousand meters in the air!

Mm! It was still the same as before—no movement. It seemed this rain would not cause those Sea Kings to attack Ring Tree Island ahead of time.

Uncle Kate pondered silently.

As for Luo Han, he continued flying at an altitude of a thousand meters, facing the enormous raindrops!

Blub! Blub! Suddenly, strange sounds rang out in waves.

Mm! Luo Han stopped and carefully sensed with Divine Sense! Something seemed to be rising from the seafloor. It was quite large!

...It was not a living thing!

Slap! Slap! Slap! They turned out to be enormous bubbles dozens of meters in diameter. The sounds came from them bursting after rising from the seafloor.

Not good! Luo Han's heart tightened! He realized the Sea Kings were about to move!

What should he do? Should he notify everyone now, or wait and observe the situation a little longer?

Luo Han looked anxious! At that moment, the Sea Kings in the deep sea also surfaced.

One could see Sea King heads rising from the ocean like great mountains. Massive waves spread in all directions as the Sea Kings emerged.

"Look! What's that?" A Hunting Squad member standing atop the island pointed in Luo Han's direction.

"That is...!" Everyone looked toward the distant waters, their gazes turning blank!

In the distant sea, Sea King heads rose like mountain peaks from the ground, forming a mountain range that surrounded Ring Tree Island.

"Those are Large Sea Kings!!!" one of the Hunting Squad members said, his voice trembling.

Boom! Boom!

Then! The waves churned up by the surfacing Sea Kings, more than ten meters high, surged toward Ring Tree Island like a tsunami. Wave after wave crashed against the island's rocky layers.

The residents inside Ring Tree Island also stopped their work, clasping their hands together in prayer and hoping the Hunting Squad members would remain safe.

Meanwhile, at the boundary waters, the Sea Kings were only a few hundred meters away from Luo Han.

A Sea King resembling a bull's head stood directly in front of Luo Han, its pair of bovine eyes fixed on Ring Tree Island behind him.

Facing these enormous creatures alone!

Cold sweat instantly drenched Luo Han's entire body.

The surfaced Sea Kings all looked toward Ring Tree Island, as though confirming something.

Luo Han remained completely still. In truth, he could not move at all and could only silently watch the Sea Kings below.

The Sea Kings ignored Luo Han as well. Perhaps to them, Luo Han was like an ant flying through the sky, not worth noticing.

After a while, the Sea Kings seemed to have confirmed something! One after another, they submerged back into the sea.

Huff! Huff! Heavy breaths escaped Luo Han's mouth.

It was alright now! Huff, huff!

After a long while, Luo Han finally recovered and let out a relieved breath!

Sure enough, I'm not the protagonist. I don't have some so-called strong person's mindset. I really couldn't move just now. It felt like my body was being suppressed on the level of life itself before those Sea Kings.

Luo Han thought with some self-doubt!

If those Sea Kings had attacked Luo Han just now, he did not know whether he would have been able to move even a little! If he could not, then his One Piece journey would have ended right there.

Luo Han felt both lingering fear and relief!

Luckily, the Sea Kings had not attacked Luo Han, nor had they attacked Ring Tree Island. Otherwise...

Luo Han's expression suddenly darkened! Even if they had not attacked now, the scent released when the Scale Fruit matured in half a year would still draw these Sea Kings into attacking Ring Tree Island, and it would only be more terrifying than this.

Thinking of this, Luo Han found it a little strange. Logically speaking, the Divine Tree had already spread that scent through its roots to waters far away from the Divine Tree.

Why were these Sea Kings still staying here instead of leaving?

As for that! Luo Han could only think of one possibility: these Large Sea Kings were all quite intelligent.

And they had good memories too, just like the giant elephant of Zuowu Island remembered a promise made centuries ago.

These Sea Kings also remembered that there had once been a fruit here whose power could strengthen and enhance their bodies' innate talents. Only that could explain why these Sea Kings had remained here all this time without leaving.

That was precisely why there was no solution! Thinking of this, Luo Han fell into despair!

He looked up at the thick, dim clouds. Bang, bang! The raindrops striking the sea also struck heavily against Luo Han's heart.

If it really came down to it, they could only take some of the people and leave! Uncle Kate and Uncle Witt were probably considering the same thing!

Sigh! What a headache. This sort of thing should be left to the adults. He was only a thirteen-year-old child, after all, even if he was a child nearly two meters tall.

Luo Han put on a deliberately relaxed expression!

Then he continued flying patrol.

On the other side, Uncle Kate and Cole also breathed a sigh of relief together!

The two of them had truly been startled just now. First, enormous bubbles had risen from the sea, and then dozens of massive Sea King heads had suddenly emerged.

It had caught Uncle Kate off guard, since his Observation Haki could not reach especially far!

Fortunately, they had been a thousand meters in the air just then. If they had happened to descend to inspect the Sea Kings' movements, they would have run right into them.

It seems I'll have to be even more careful during the next inspection, Uncle Kate thought silently.

Then Uncle Kate and Cole continued their patrol!

Facing the enormous raindrops, Uncle Kate sat atop Cole, his gaze slightly dim.

He had also thought of the situation Luo Han had considered just now. Was there really no way? Uncle Kate did not want to give up, did not want to leave Ring Tree Island, and did not want to abandon anyone.

But! He was truly powerless!

Uncle Kate gazed out over the boundless sea.

For the first time, he hated how weak he was. If he had continued training diligently during the years since his return...

Perhaps, if he had possessed Admiral-level strength, he could have saved Ring Tree Island from this crisis!

In the end! The peaceful environment had given him an illusion, making him think that he would never encounter a crisis he could not resolve in this life.

As Uncle Kate thought of this, the burden in his heart grew even heavier.

For the rest of the day, Luo Han, Uncle Kate, and Cole kept flying around Ring Tree Island on patrol.

After taking turns eating lunch atop the island, they continued their patrol.

And so, the day came to an end. As night arrived, the rain stopped as well.

Nothing should happen today. Sea Kings generally did not move at night, so they only needed to leave behind several Hunting Squad members who had awakened Observation Haki to handle the night watch.

When they returned to the top of the island, everyone showed concern for Luo Han and Cole.

"Are you tired? Go back and eat more meat, then get some proper rest!"

"Be extra, extra careful the next time you patrol, alright?"

Everyone repeated their concern several times before Luo Han and Cole managed to get away.

With this unexpected development, only Luo Han, Cole, and Uncle Kate would patrol from now on.

The other Hunting Squad members were no longer suited for it. If anything unexpected happened, they would not even be able to escape.

Then Luo Han and Cole quickly headed home. Their families must have been worried sick waiting for them!