Sea Beast

Xia Qiu spotted Moo, who was stealthily swimming toward the island.

It seemed that after nine months, he had found this place again and was trying to return to the Arlong Pirates.

Nine months had passed since Xia Qiu's last battle with him. Xia Qiu had grown from thirty-two meters to thirty-five, narrowing the gap in size.

Besides that, he had eaten one officer and five Fish-Men, and had even grown tentacles.

He was far stronger than before.

Even before devouring Kuroobi, he had possessed the strength to defeat an officer.

Now that Xia Qiu had devoured Kuroobi, he was much stronger than Moo.

This time, he would not need to struggle so hard to fight him.

This time, he had to kill him.

Xia Qiu slowly approached Moo.

Two thousand meters, one thousand meters, five hundred meters.

When he came within five hundred meters, Moo suddenly stopped. After pausing for a moment, he swam in Xia Qiu's direction.

Did he spot me?

Xia Qiu remembered that when he had first met Moo, Moo had detected him in advance and locked onto his position.

His detection range was probably around five hundred meters.

As for Xia Qiu's sonar range, he could detect creatures over twenty meters long even from three thousand meters away.

He had not run. That made things easier.

Xia Qiu swam toward Moo, and Moo swam toward him. They drew closer and closer until they both saw each other.

"Hm?"

When Moo saw Xia Qiu, he lightly shook his head, finding him somewhat familiar.

But in the next instant, Moo's eyes widened round with rage as he swung his left pectoral fin.

On his left pectoral fin, one of the four hard spines was missing, leaving only three.

Xia Qiu had bitten it off.

The memory of that scene filled Moo with fury.

"You remember me?"

Seeing his reaction, Xia Qiu felt a little curious.

"Kill him."

Without another word, Moo charged straight at Xia Qiu.

But Xia Qiu swam to one side, turning his body sideways toward Moo.

Trying to run?

Seeing Xia Qiu's movement, Moo rapidly gave chase. Reaching Xia Qiu's side, he opened his huge mouth and bit down at him.

Moo's lost teeth had grown back, and they were incomparably sharp.

But just as he was about to bite Xia Qiu, Xia Qiu's tail lashed out.

Bang.

His head was knocked aside.

Xia Qiu turned, intending to bite him, but suddenly noticed that Moo's body tilted in the direction his head had been struck.

Boom.

Moo plunged headfirst downward, his body slowly sinking toward the seabed.

What was going on?

Xia Qiu could not figure it out. How had his opponent collapsed so easily?

Did I knock him unconscious?

If he had struck the upper jaw with enough force, it really could have knocked him out.

After eating Kuroobi, Xia Qiu's body had become sturdier and his strength had increased greatly. He could shatter a massive boulder with one sweep of his tail.

Knocking Moo unconscious was not difficult.

Xia Qiu looked below, opening his Nictitating membrane and staring at the descending figure.

An enemy he had once struggled to fight had been defeated so easily.

Xia Qiu shook his head and prepared to go down and kill him.

Moo had once wanted to prey on him, and Xia Qiu had only survived by fighting with everything he had. Now that he had encountered him again, how could he possibly let him go?

Xia Qiu closed his Nictitating membrane, turned around, and prepared to pursue him downward.

But at that moment, the continuously falling Moo suddenly flipped over. His upper body dipped down, his body twisted, his tail fin swayed, and his enormous pectoral fins churned the water as he shot into the distance.

He woke up?

That quickly?

No.

His movements from waking up to fleeing were too fast and smooth, without the slightest pause.

If he had been knocked unconscious, how could he have recovered that quickly?

He was pretending to be unconscious?

He had pretended to pass out to get away from Xia Qiu, intending to flee once Xia Qiu let his guard down.

He really was clever.

Having been fooled by such a method, Xia Qiu ground his teeth in anger and immediately accelerated after him.

Xia Qiu was not much faster than Moo.

Moreover, Moo had fallen two or three hundred meters before suddenly surging forward, widening the distance between them.

Xia Qiu chased from behind for a long time before closing the gap by just over a hundred meters.

"That direction...?"

Xia Qiu realized that Moo was heading toward Cocoyasi Village.

If he continued chasing, he would only catch up when they were close to the island.

If two massive creatures fought there, the commotion would be enormous.

Moo would call for help from the Arlong Pirates. Even though Xia Qiu was far stronger and could kill him without a scratch, it would still take some time.

If Arlong and the other Fish-Men discovered him then, he would have no way out but death.

As long as you stay with Arlong, I'll kill you sooner or later.

Xia Qiu slowly came to a stop. Watching Moo swim farther and farther away, he turned and headed back the way he had come.

"Didn't he chase after me?"

After swimming for a while, Moo discovered that the terrifying black fish had stopped pursuing him and let out a breath.

That had been terrifying.

His strength was too great. That blow from his tail had hurt terribly.

Fortunately, he had not kept chasing.

Moo relaxed and continued swimming into the distance.

But then, he spotted a small boat on the water's surface, heading toward the island.

"A boat?"

Moo's eyes lit up. He could attack them and eat the people aboard.

With that thought, Moo slowly rose to the surface. Looking at the figures on the boat, he revealed his savage maw.

"Finally, we're back."

On the small boat, Hachi looked at the distant island and let out a breath.

Beside him, Nami sat in the cabin, opened her cloth bundle, and counted the money inside.

Five hundred thousand Belly.

That income was even greater than her family's earnings.

If her family had had that much money back then, Auntie Bellemere would not have been killed.

But it was still not enough.

If she earned five hundred thousand Belly from going to sea for one month, plus the two hundred thousand Belly Arlong had promised each month, it would still take her more than ten years to save one hundred million Belly.

Besides, she could not go to sea every month.

So next time, she had to steal even more money.

As Nami thought this, a huge figure burst from the water with a rumble, and the waves made the small boat shake violently.

"What?"

Nami fell to one side and looked into the distance, where a gigantic sea beast had appeared before them.

The sea beast had two horns on its head, an enormous nose with a nose ring, and most importantly, its left cheek was swollen.

"A sea beast? This is bad."

Nami felt tense, but after appearing, the sea beast did not attack. Instead, tears welled up in its eyes.

"Moo?"

Standing at the bow, Hachi saw him and shouted, "Where have you been all this time?"

But in the next moment, Moo burst into loud sobs. Huge tears spilled from his eyes and fell one after another.

"What happened?"

Hachi looked at Moo, unable to understand why he was crying as though he had suffered some terrible grievance.

But it was fine. He could make Moo something to eat later to comfort him.

And now that Moo was back, if that sea fish came here again, Moo could deal with it.