Damn It

At dusk, inside the 16th Branch Base, a Lieutenant Commander in a Marine uniform stood there, a smile hanging on his rat-like face.

"Captain and Commander took the sailors to hunt down the Arlong Pirates. They have no idea how terrifying the Arlong Pirates are. A friend of mine at Headquarters revealed that Arlong was a member of the Sun Pirates and had even been imprisoned in Impel Down. Captain alone is no match for a Fish-Man."

"They still haven't returned. They must have been wiped out, right?"

"Heh heh heh. I gave Captain the information on the Arlong Pirates, then stayed behind at the Marine base under the excuse of illness. Once they die, I can spend some money and use my connections at Headquarters to become Captain directly. Besides, everyone left behind is one of my trusted men."

"Once I become Captain, I'll contact the Arlong Pirates. There's no need to defeat them. I only need to collect a portion of their money."

"As for those villagers begging for help, there's no need to pay them any attention."

The Lieutenant Commander thought this, looking exceedingly pleased.

But at that moment, a sailor shouted, "Report! The expedition has returned! Captain and several sailors are seriously wounded and have already been sent for treatment!"

"Huh?"

Hearing this, the Lieutenant Commander thought blankly, They weren't wiped out?

"Damn it, the plan failed."

The Lieutenant Commander's expression turned incomparably ugly.

The next morning, the merchant ship arrived at a harbor and slowly came to a stop.

"Goodbye, Nami. Hachi."

After the merchant ship reached the shore, Marcel stood aboard it and waved to Nami and Hachi.

"Goodbye."

Nami waved back, while Hachi snorted and said, "Kid, make sure you train hard."

"Yes."

Marcel nodded heavily. After watching the two leave, he began inspecting the mooring ropes, sails, rudder, and so on.

Every time they docked, the ship needed to be inspected to prevent any problems.

But at that moment, a Stevedore's voice rang out. "Where's my money?"

"Damn it, my wallet is gone too," another crewman said.

Marcel touched his waist and discovered that the money pouch in his pocket had vanished as well.

"A thief? But no strangers came aboard."

Marcel had no idea how his wallet had disappeared, but he did not suspect Nami or Hachi. In his eyes, how could a Surveyor and an exceptional Swordsman possibly do something like that?

Below the ship, Nami and Hachi walked some distance away, took out the wallets, removed the money, and tossed the wallets by the roadside.

"First income."

Nami looked at the money, guilt flashing across her face. But her gaze soon calmed, and she tucked the money into her pocket.

The following afternoon.

"Boss, we didn't find him." Several Fish-Men climbed out of the water, dripping wet as they spoke.

"It's already been a day. Kuroobi is probably already..." Chuu said from the side.

"Damn it."

Arlong stood there with both fists clenched, his expression gloomy.

Kuroobi was one of his top officers and possessed considerable strength. Arlong would rather lose ten Fish-Man soldiers than let Kuroobi come to harm.

And by now, besides Kuroobi, five other Fish-Men had been killed.

That was already equivalent to one-fourth of the Arlong Pirates' strength.

"Hachi still isn't back."

Arlong thought of how Hachi was absent. It was dangerous for Chuu to go down alone to search for sea fish, and there needed to be at least two officers. He himself could not spare the time, so he could only accept the loss of his men and send Fish-Man soldiers into the sea to search.

But they found nothing. There were no sea fish around the island at all.

"Once Hachi returns, we'll think of another way."

Arlong spoke with an ugly expression.

One month later, two massive creatures were battling in the dim seawater.

One was a gigantic Black Fish, around thirty-five meters long, with a muscular body and enormous fins. Ten arms extended from its abdomen.

The other was an enormous squid, its body and arms together reaching thirty meters in length.

The Black Fish had its jaws clamped tightly around the squid's head, while the squid's arms bound the Black Fish tightly. However, the Black Fish's tentacles had also spread over, wrapping around the squid's arms.

"These hooks are too troublesome."

Xia Qiu felt the hooks on the other creature's arms pierce into his own after they caught hold of them.

A Colossal Squid.

It was the largest invertebrate on Earth, even larger than the giant squid.

However, on Earth, the largest Colossal Squid carcass ever discovered was only eleven meters long. Based on found body parts, Suckers, and tentacles, it was estimated that Colossal Squid could reach lengths exceeding twenty meters.

But such Colossal Squid lived in the deepest parts of the ocean.

The Colossal Squid before Xia Qiu, however, had a body length of thirty meters. Its arms alone were fourteen meters long, not counting its feeding tentacles.

Its arms had no Suckers, but they possessed hooks that could rotate three hundred and sixty degrees. Each hook was over ten centimeters long. Once they pierced Xia Qiu's arms, they lodged directly in the flesh.

Xia Qiu did not pull back his arms. Instead, he tightly wrapped them around the other creature's arms.

Xia Qiu's arms possessed tremendous strength. The enhancement from eating Kuroobi had made the muscles in his arms stronger and greatly increased their power.

Although Xia Qiu's arms were shorter, they were not much weaker than the other's in terms of strength. It was only because the other creature had hooks that Xia Qiu's arms were at a disadvantage in the struggle.

However, Xia Qiu's target was the other creature's arms, while its target was his body.

His arms coiled around the other creature's arms layer by layer, gradually pulling them away from his body.

In that instant, Xia Qiu opened his mouth and bit down from the other side.

Crunch.

Xia Qiu tore off another piece of the Colossal Squid's body, then took another bite. A huge crater appeared in the Colossal Squid's body.

The Colossal Squid was bitten to death on the spot.

Its arms gradually went limp, while Xia Qiu began devouring it.

After swallowing an entire Colossal Squid into his stomach, Xia Qiu had filled his belly. He waited for the evolution to begin, then slowly rose toward the surface.

When he reached the surface, there was no trace of the island left around him.

To catch the Colossal Squid, Xia Qiu had no choice but to keep diving deeper into the ocean and searching everywhere. After nearly a month, he had only found this one.

He was now at least ten nautical miles away from the island.

Xia Qiu would not be unable to return to the island just because of the distance.

He had eaten many sharks and possessed their sense of smell. He was extremely sensitive to scents and could follow them back to the island. Water quality, salinity, and the shape of the seafloor could all serve as points of reference.

Besides that, whether in Naruto Village or near Cocoyasi Village, Xia Qiu had eaten tuna. There were tiny magnetic particles in his skull, allowing him to vaguely sense magnetic fields and determine his position through them.

For the time being, Xia Qiu had no plans to return near the island. He wanted to remain in this area and continue hunting squid and other fish that could help him evolve.

Xia Qiu slowly submerged beneath the surface, but at that moment, he detected a reflected sound wave. A massive creature was swimming toward him.

It was at least thirty-five meters long, over twenty meters tall, and more than ten meters wide.

It was a sea beast.

It had the streamlined body of a seal, a pair of horns, and an enormous nose. It was a Sea Cow.

More importantly, there was a soundwave signal from metal on its nose.

Was that a nose ring?

There was only one Sea Cow with a nose ring.

A combatant of the Arlong Pirates who had attacked him nine months ago and been beaten away.

Sea Cow Moo Moo!

It had returned?

Xia Qiu's eyes lit up. This time, it was my turn to hunt you.