Slaughter

Kuroobi was tightly bound by the tentacles and carried charging into the distance. He felt the immense restraining force, but he did not panic.

His arms and legs slowly exerted force, prying the tentacles apart bit by bit.

Xia Qiu sensed the force coming from him and naturally refused to let him go. He slowly adjusted his tentacles, wrapping them around Kuroobi's upper arms, forearms, thighs, and calves.

Four pairs of tentacles bound him tightly.

If Kuroobi wanted to break free, he could only force his arms apart to either side, similar to a lateral raise. This mainly relied on the deltoids and biceps, and with such a long lever arm, it was difficult to exert force.

Moreover, Xia Qiu had wrapped around both his upper arms and forearms, leaving him no room to exert strength.

The same went for his legs. His legs were much narrower than his upper body, so his thighs and calves were wrapped several times over, making it impossible for him to exert any force at all.

This greatly limited his strength.

Unable to exert force with both his arms and legs at once, Kuroobi first tried to free his arms. His immense strength slightly forced apart the tentacles, but that one burst of exertion had already exhausted him.

While he exerted force, Xia Qiu briefly resisted, then relaxed his tentacle muscles as the pressure increased.

Then, when his strength weakened, Xia Qiu contracted his muscles again.

Tentacles could not perform overly complex movements. Most actions depended on contracting and relaxing their muscles to move them.

The most elaborate thing tentacles could do was tighten some muscles while relaxing others, brace against the ground, and crawl forward at great speed.

Of course, given Xia Qiu's weight, he could not do that.

Xia Qiu controlled his tentacle muscles, continuously relaxing and contracting them, steadily weakening Kuroobi's strength.

Damn it.

Kuroobi could not break free of the tentacles, while Xia Qiu had already carried him into the ocean, swimming toward the distant seafloor.

"Not good."

Seeing Xia Qiu's actions, an ominous feeling rose in Kuroobi's heart. Once he was taken away, no one would be able to help him again.

And once they entered the deep sea, even if he could breathe underwater, it would still consume a great deal of his strength.

Thinking of this, Kuroobi exerted himself again in an attempt to break free.

Crack, crack, crack.

This time, his strength was immense and sustained, forcing Xia Qiu's tentacles apart bit by bit.

Xia Qiu had no choice but to keep applying pressure, hoping to restrain him.

Crack, crack, crack.

Fine cracks appeared across the surfaces of the tentacles binding Kuroobi's upper body. Under his strength, they were actually beginning to suffer damage.

His strength was tremendous.

Even after making so many preparations, Xia Qiu still could not withstand his overwhelming power.

But Xia Qiu did not let go. He continued charging ahead while holding him tightly bound.

Boom.

Xia Qiu was extremely fast, reaching over ten meters per second as he rapidly widened the distance.

Crack, crack, crack.

The cracks in Xia Qiu's tentacles grew larger and larger. If this continued, the tentacles would break.

But Xia Qiu endured the pain. Rather than loosening them, he continued swimming downward into the distance.

The water grew deeper and deeper. Two hundred meters. Three hundred meters.

Crack.

One of Xia Qiu's tentacles snapped. Only three tentacles remained binding Kuroobi's upper body, and even they were being forced apart.

But at that moment, Kuroobi's strength rapidly weakened.

Sensing this, Xia Qiu let out a breath.

It was about time he reached his limit.

He had exerted himself continuously in one breath, but he needed to breathe, and his strength had reached its limit as well.

"It's over."

Kuroobi's expression turned grim. Too much of his strength had been drained. Even using his maximum strength, he could not escape the restraints.

Xia Qiu slowly contracted his tentacles, squeezing Kuroobi's body.

The little strength Kuroobi had left could only keep Xia Qiu's tentacles from closing in on his body.

Splash.

After a while, his strength weakened again. The tentacles moved closer, squeezing his bones until they creaked. Bruised wounds had already appeared across his body.

That should be enough.

With that thought, Xia Qiu charged straight ahead. On the seafloor in that direction was an enormous rock.

Boom.

Xia Qiu carried Kuroobi straight toward the rock.

"Hm?"

Kuroobi raised his head and saw the rock in the distance. He understood Xia Qiu's intention. Xia Qiu wanted to ram him to death.

No.

Kuroobi struggled violently, but he could no longer break free of Xia Qiu's restraints.

All he could do was watch helplessly as the rock grew larger and larger.

Boom.

Kuroobi's head slammed directly into the top of the rock.

Crack.

The top of the rock exploded apart. Kuroobi's skull fractured, his head buzzed, and his vision darkened.

But he had not suffered a fatal injury.

His resistance to blows was extremely strong. This attack was not enough to kill him.

However, Xia Qiu had already released his tentacles. Then his body swayed as he charged toward Kuroobi.

"Ah—"

Kuroobi was still suffering from severe dizziness and the pain in his head. Everything before him was a blur, and he could not see clearly at all.

But he could sense that he had been released, followed by the arrival of immense pressure.

It's coming. I have to dodge.

Thinking this, Kuroobi felt the flow of water. Suddenly, he kicked off with both legs, shooting to the side.

Boom.

Xia Qiu's body grazed past him.

Huh? He actually dodged it.

Xia Qiu had not expected him to have strength left. But the instant Kuroobi dodged, Xia Qiu used sonar to catch his tilted body and spun around.

Bang.

His enormous pectoral fin smashed into Kuroobi.

Pfft.

Kuroobi was sent flying and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Xia Qiu was already swaying his body as he chased after him.

Run. I have to get away from here.

But Xia Qiu drew closer and closer, opening his huge jaws and biting toward his body.

"No!"

Kuroobi weakly turned around and raised his fist to strike behind him.

Bang.

Kuroobi's fist struck Xia Qiu's upper jaw, but it carried little force.

The next moment, Xia Qiu slightly turned his body and bit into Kuroobi's torso. His teeth closed, crushing most of Kuroobi's body.

Crunch, crunch.

Xia Qiu swallowed Kuroobi's body into his stomach and let out a breath.

I finally won.

There had been some trouble at the start of the battle, but by the middle, he had gained an absolute advantage.

The tentacles had played a major role.

In a head-on clash, he was not afraid of his opponent. What he feared was that they would refuse to confront him directly, choosing instead to evade and attack his weak points.

But the tentacles could protect, restrain, and bind.

That made up for most of his shortcomings in battle.

He had a ram and teeth at the front, pectoral fins at his sides, a dorsal fin with hard spines on his back, a tail capable of striking, and tentacles on his belly.

He did not have any obvious weaknesses.

But it was not enough.

First, the tentacles' binding strength was still lacking. Against Kuroobi, two had been cut off, one had been torn apart, and the others had also been injured.

In terms of strength alone, Kuroobi was second only to Arlong in the Arlong Pirates. He was not considered weak in the East China Sea.

If Xia Qiu could restrain him, then among the powerful figures currently active in the East China Sea who had never entered the Grand Line, few would be able to break through Xia Qiu's tentacles.

But Xia Qiu's ultimate target was Arlong, so this was still not enough.

Moreover, there were countless people stronger than Arlong. He was currently in the East China Sea, but that did not mean he would not encounter stronger opponents in the future.

So the tentacles needed to be improved further. Aside from making them longer, he also needed to give them more offensive power.

For example, hooks. The hooks of a Colossal Squid.

If he had hooks, combined with the strength of his tentacles, he might have shredded Kuroobi apart directly just now.

Xia Qiu already had his next goal.

But first, he needed to digest the Reinforcement Energy within his body.

Inside Xia Qiu's body, a warm current had already appeared. This was the Evolution Energy produced by Xia Qiu consuming sharks.

Before attacking Kuroobi, Xia Qiu had just hunted a group of sharks. Only after feeding and returning had he discovered the Marine warship.

This energy was continuously repairing Xia Qiu's wounds.

The wound on his skull, the tail fin on his tail, and the tentacles on his belly.

Just as that warm current slowly began to weaken, an even more powerful current appeared inside Xia Qiu's body the next instant.

It's here.

This warm current was enormous. If the current provided by the fourteen pirates of the Dominic Pirates had been a stream, then this current was a long river.

And it was scorching hot, surging toward every part of Xia Qiu's body.

Creak, creak.

A strange sound came from Xia Qiu's body. Feeling a massive warm current far greater than any before, Xia Qiu was overjoyed.

Although he had been injured, the trip had not been in vain.