Magikarp

"Hm?"

"My body's strength really was enough to take on pirates with bounties in the tens of millions of Beli. This guy with only an eight-million bounty wasn't even a match for me!"

Luo Sa knew that a bounty didn't directly reflect a pirate's strength, but it was still a useful reference.

"If I use my Devil Fruit ability, I should be able to contend with some Great Pirates with bounties in the twenty- or thirty-million range!"

He secretly assessed his strength. Based on what he remembered from watching anime in his previous life, his estimate was still fairly reliable.

"Next, I'll try the Winged Gull Half-Beastman form!"

As the Devil Fruit ability activated, a white light, like the glow of evolution, appeared around Luo Sa.

When the light faded, he had transformed into a humanoid Winged Gull. His arms had become long, narrow wings, sharp as blades!

"Ha!"

With a furious shout, Luo Sa's white figure shot forward, leaving a streak of white behind him.

By the time the pirates reacted, he was already behind their captain. A vivid streak of blood marked one of his wings.

"C-Captain!"

One pirate cried out. Seeing the bloody gash on the captain's neck, he stared in disbelief.

Their captain, whose bounty was eight million Beli, had been killed in a single blow!

"Whew. The Winged Gull Half-Beastman form really is impressive. If I develop it properly, its potential will be limitless!"

Luo Sa was very pleased with the result. With his powerful physique enhanced by the Winged Gull's body, this outcome had been only to be expected.

What surprised him even more was how much his speed had increased. The captain hadn't even had time to react before Luo Sa took him down.

"Come on, tell me where we are."

Luo Sa looked at the Giant Axe Captain, who sat off to the side like a well-behaved child, and asked.

"Boss, we're on a sea route near Gourmet Island," the Giant Axe Captain replied respectfully.

"Gourmet Island? Where's the nearest Marine Base?"

"There's a Marine garrison on Gourmet Island. At full speed, it should take us only two days to get there."

Luo Sa's eyes lit up. He swept a hand through the air and shouted, "Men, raise the sails! Our destination is the Marine Base!"

The pirates below hesitated when they heard Luo Sa. A Marine Base was a powerful deterrent to a lousy pirate crew like theirs.

"What are you waiting for? Do what the boss says! The boss is taking us to raid the Marines!" the Giant Axe Captain roared, and the reluctant pirates finally got moving.

Under the Giant Axe Captain's command, the ship set sail at once and sped toward Gourmet Island.

Luo Sa nodded in satisfaction. Keeping the Giant Axe Captain around had indeed been a wise choice.

"Hmph. The Marine Base on Gourmet Island has a Branch Vice Admiral stationed there year-round. Going there would be like walking straight into a tiger's den!"

"That brat clearly has no good intentions!"

"But that brat is a Devil Fruit User. All I have to do is find a way to sink this ship, and I can drag him down into the sea with it!"

"Hmph. Then I'll still be the greatest captain of the Giant Axe Pirates!"

The Giant Axe Captain wore a faint smile, but murderous intent raged in his heart.

It was a dark, windy night, perfect for murder.

The Giant Axe Captain and a group of officers crept to the armory. They unlocked it and carried out bundle after bundle of explosives.

Then everyone went to work, placing the explosives at the spots they had chosen. They pulled out fuses, tying one end to a bundle of explosives and holding the other in their hands as they quietly moved on to the next location.

There was a maintenance passage beneath the ship. After planting the explosives, the officers gathered there.

They nodded to one another, brought the fuses in their hands together, and took out a lighter. Grinning viciously, they set the fuses alight.

As the fuses hissed and burned, they hurriedly climbed into a waiting dinghy and made their escape.

"A Devil Fruit User, cursed by the sea and unable to swim. This is too funny!"

Once the dinghy had pulled away from the ship, the Giant Axe Captain let out a cackling laugh as he waited for the resounding boom.

"Hahaha! You really are clever, Captain. No matter how strong he is, a Devil Fruit User will always be helpless in the water!" the officers said, equally smug.

As they watched in anticipation, a burst of flame rose over the distant horizon, instantly lighting up the whole area like daylight.

"We did it! We just need to wait a little, then dive down and fish that brat's body out of the sea."

"He's a Devil Fruit User, so he must have plenty of valuable things on him!"

The Giant Axe Captain shouted excitedly, his eyes gleaming.

Meanwhile, in the boundless ocean, a boulder half the height of a man sank slowly.

Suddenly, a flash of white light appeared, and the boulder turned into Luo Sa. He spat out a mouthful of blood and looked utterly miserable.

At the most critical moment, he had turned into a stone to shield himself from the explosion, but he had still been injured by the blast.

"Damn it, I can't move a muscle. Am I really going to die here in the ocean?"

Luo Sa struggled to swim toward the surface, but his body wouldn't respond.

"Transform! Transform for me!"

Luo Sa gritted his teeth and desperately drove the Transformation Energy within him.

But after completing the Winged Gull transformation, he had used up all his Transformation Energy. The energy he had accumulated over the past few days had only reached around twenty points.

"Am I going to die? My life's only just begun. How can this be happening?"

Luo Sa threw back his head and roared. His voice was filled with bitterness and unwillingness, as if it could shatter the heavens!

Just then, a school of fish swam past Luo Sa. When they heard his roar, they instantly lost consciousness and sank to the bottom of the sea.

Luo Sa didn't notice what had happened. He was staring in delight at the sudden, inexplicable surge of Transformation Energy within him.

His energy had increased tenfold, from twenty points to two hundred!

He had no time to think. Images of Water Attribute Spirits with species values around two hundred appeared in his mind.

He had already determined that Water Attribute moves were useless in this world, but in this situation, he had no choice but to take a chance!

"Sure enough, there's only one Spirit with a value around two hundred that fits!"

A thought flashed through his mind, and the image of a Spirit appeared before him.

"I choose you, Magikarp!"

With a growl in his heart, the Transformation Energy within him surged, turning into a beam of white light that enveloped his body.

A moment later, Luo Sa had transformed into a Magikarp!

The instant his transformation was complete, he felt the sea's hold over him weaken considerably.

A wave of weakness still ran through his body, but he could at least move again!