Aquaman Resigns from the Team

At first the people of Atlantis thought they were under attack by external enemies.

Atlantis had always been proud of its guns and cannons, which far surpassed the technology of the land, along with its powerful Magic culture that had been developing for tens of thousands of years.

Striking that kid, apart from sparking a heat wave or a wisp of smoke, couldn't even breach his skin.

Yet countless soldiers, clad in battle armor combining Magic and technology, rushed forward wave after wave.

You must know that the general physical fitness of the people of Atlantis vastly surpassed that of ordinary humans on the ground.

Moreover, the armor they considered formidable could amplify the power their natural physiques could exert by several or even dozens of times.

Yet toward that formidable "external enemy," his eyes seemed to look right past them, as if the tens of thousands of tons of accumulated attacks were merely a breeze brushing against his face.

Sometimes, when truly annoyed, he would frown and casually wave his hand, sending over a hundred soldiers of Atlantis flying away with screams.

Until an angry Aquaman and Queen Mera rushed out of the city, and upon seeing the opponent, Aquaman's full-body rage was washed away by a look of astonishment.

"All of you, stand down!"

Aquaman, clad in golden scaled armor, rebuked his subjects, casually handed the Golden Trident—originally meant for dealing with enemies—to a guard beside him, and walked slowly toward the coldly expressionless Shane.

"Why come to Atlantis to cause trouble?"

Shane stared quietly at Aquaman, then suddenly grinned, revealing a forced, mirthless smile.

"I've learned a lot from Teacher Prince recently, and tonight I happened to be unable to sleep again, so I wanted to find someone to spar with and test the results of my studies."

Aquaman had a sudden flash of insight.

He was probably in a bad mood and came looking for a fight to vent.

Although he had been in Atlantis all day, commanding his subjects to prevent and control an abnormally high-hazard undersea tectonic earthquake and failing to respond to the notification from the Justice League.

Yet Aquaman himself had consistently paid close attention to the Watchtower.

Through the communication devices designed with Batman's help and several monitoring screens connected to space signals.

Aquaman probably knew what had happened.

The young man before him had helped Superman retrieve a "family member" from the edge of the Solar System.

Afterward, the whole group completely ignored today's "meritorious hero," all crowding around Superman instead.

"After all, he's just a child; it's normal to have some lingering resentment in his heart from being ignored."

Thinking this, Aquaman digested the previous resentment on his own and even let out a few hearty laughs.

"No problem, but this is my kingdom, and if we fight here it will affect my people—I know a section of the ocean; it's deeper and very vast."

Aquaman patted his chest.

"As long as we control our strength, it won't easily trigger any tectonic disasters there."

Shane twitched the corner of his mouth, nodded, and followed Aquaman as he rushed out of the Magic water bubble, the two of them swimming one after the other toward a certain deeper expanse of ocean.

Only then did the people of Atlantis realize the intruder might be a friend of Aquaman, relaxing their minds as the army successively retreated back into Atlantis.

Half an hour later, the ocean in the entire region began to vibrate violently.

One hour later, the vibrations ceased.

Just as Mera was preparing to wait for Arthur's return and thoroughly question what background this badly behaved teenager came from, the Golden Trident suddenly rippled with pale golden waves, then took the initiative to fly out of Atlantis, charging toward the dark deep sea.

Mera was somewhat displeased.

She knew her husband used to be a bit "fond of play" in his early years.

"He's already a king; why hasn't he shaken off the bad habits of his youth yet?"

Seismic waves even more violent than before continuously surged up, followed by another few tens of minutes of quiet.

Then, incomparably fierce tremors began to unceasingly impact the entire kingdom of Atlantis.

The people of Atlantis, who had just pacified an unprecedented massive undersea earthquake, had to mobilize in full force, using Magic and technology to protect their city and prevent these continuous violent tremors from destroying it.

Strictly speaking, the repair workload of this final night was several times greater than the massive undersea earthquake successfully suppressed during the day.

Thick hostility gathered between Queen Mera's delicate brows; with Aquaman absent, she temporarily took over his duties, running everywhere all night, issuing orders and repairing the city.

To actually fight with a kid for this long?!

This was obviously losing his head!

Not to mention causing such massive losses to the entirety of Atlantis, inflicting severe physical and mental exhaustion upon the people.

It also severely disrupted her beauty sleep.

He must be severely punished upon his return!

Three hours later.

Aquaman, who could no longer even be described as bruised and swollen, shivered as he swam back to Atlantis.

The moment he passed through the Magic water bubble, Aquaman—swollen all over like a pig—felt his legs go soft and collapsed to the ground, the trident he was barely managing to hold clattering down with a muffled thud.

The anger Mera had prepared to settle with Aquaman instantly vanished, and she rushed forward without missing a beat, raising her hand to summon water streams imbued with healing Magic to lift the still-trembling Aquaman.

Looking at Arthur with heartache, Mera couldn't help but scold him.

"You too, knowing you couldn't beat him, why fight for so long!"

Hearing this, Aquaman trembled all over and struggled to lift that unrecognizable pig-like face.

His sausage lips, swollen threefold, vibrated at a higher frequency than a fascia gun at maximum power.

Two paths of clear tears flowed tortuously between the winding trenches of his pus-filled bumps.

"Run... I, I couldn't run away!"

Aquaman looked as though he had suffered the greatest grievance in the world.

"He's too much of a beast, that kid is just too damn much of a beast!"

As he spoke, Aquaman creaked and passed out from anger.

As the healing Magic continuously took effect, the swollen wounds gradually recovered, and within a few seconds Aquaman sobered up again.

A hint of anger gradually welled up in Mera's eyes.

"This is going too far! How can he act like this? I'm going to contact the Justice League to report him!"

"Wait!"

Aquaman suddenly grabbed Mera's arm.

"Actually, my injuries aren't that heavy either; look, they've already mostly recovered, and I have another matter to confirm right now!"

At first, the bare-handed Aquaman was indeed no match for Shane, but not having felt any threat to his life, coupled with the pride of a man and a king, caused Arthur to stubbornly endure the beating of the first hour.

Afterward, Aquaman couldn't really hold out anymore.

Whether Wonder Woman taught too well or Shane truly was gifted with extraordinary talent.

This kid had actually genuinely mastered a combat style that inflicted pain without causing injury.

Helpless and unable to endure the agony any longer, Aquaman gritted his teeth, used his abilities to push back the surrounding seawater, extracted a small amount of oxygen using plankton, and then called for a pause, earnestly requesting his opponent to let him fetch the Golden Trident for another round.

Shane readily agreed.

In less than the time it takes for a cup of tea, Aquaman summoned his exclusive battle weapon, and the momentum boosting his entire body caused even Shane a hint of surprise.

Aquaman regained his confidence and slammed his trident heavily to the side.

"I am the King of the Seven Seas, and this weapon allows me to be imbued with the power of all the oceans on Earth whenever I am in the sea!"

In the subsequent exchange, Shane was heavily suppressed by Aquaman in a head-on clash for a while.

The total mass of all oceans on Earth was approximately 1.4×10^18 tons.

Aquaman did not unleash the full strength the trident imbued him with, otherwise their contest would have exceeded the bounds of a spar.

Yet what troubled Shane was that the opponent seemed capable of continuously applying excessive pressure to him through a certain authority-type Magic.

Although he himself was immune to Magic and the opponent used Magic, the manifestation ultimately boiled down to pure physics.

After being fiercely jabbed dozens of times by Aquaman with that anchor-like trident butt, carrying a heavy burden far exceeding the actual depth of the ocean, Shane—whose mobility was severely impaired—very straightforwardly and frankly surrendered.

He had come to vent his anger, not to kill or injure people, but he certainly couldn't just keep taking beatings like this either.

Shane very politely pointed at his mouth, and Aquaman expanded another water bubble.

Then Shane began to ask for guidance.

Because he found it very strange; although he was not entirely incapable of exerting faster speed and greater power, under this kind of super water pressure blessed by Magic, every punch and kick of his had to be restrained and cautious.

Otherwise, a careless mistake would bring a disaster of submarine tectonic plate shattering proportions to the Earth.

Yet Aquaman could swim with unbridled speed that clearly exceeded the danger threshold without stirring up any destructive cavitation explosions.

Aquaman was so enthusiastic; seeing Shane be so polite, he directly told Shane that this was a very profound superpower utilization technique.

"This is neither Magic nor authority; theoretically, most superpowered individuals can master this technique from the perspective of their own abilities, as long as they learn to embrace the ocean rather than resist it."

Shane's eyes lit up as he pointed at himself.

"Can I learn it too?"

"Of course, the people of Atlantis are simply born with it, and I can teach you."

Following that, Aquaman lost himself amidst continuous sincere addresses of Teacher Arthur, spending several tens of minutes guiding Shane.

Shane quickly mastered the technique.

Aquaman even praised his high natural talent.

Then the two sides began sparring again.

As a result, this time Aquaman couldn't even manage to run away, because Shane could now swim just as fast as him.

After venting his anger for a full three hours, looking at the pig-headed Aquaman who finally seized the opportunity to open a water bubble and frantically shook his head to signal he wouldn't fight anymore, Shane frowned and pondered in silence for a moment.

Because Arthur's personality was a bit too honest and straightforward, Shane began to suspect that those pink pearls might not have been a setup orchestrated jointly by Aquaman and Batman for him.

"Those two pearls you gave me last time, where did you get them?"

"I just grabbed them at random from the Atlantis treasury, what's wrong? Batman specifically told me you urgently needed money, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to give you some travel funds to ease your financial difficulties."

Aquaman breathed heavily, lying without any shred of dignity in the moist seabed sand, looking at Shane with a gaze containing both appreciation and a trace of fear.

Shane cast a pitied look at Aquaman.

Yet he didn't bluntly engage in such sowing of discord, even though Batman's actions would blow up in scandal sooner or later.

"This is tens of thousands of meters beneath the sea; how on earth did Batman pull that off?"

After simply sighing with those words, he offered a sincere apology and thanks to Aquaman for his selfless guidance.

Then Shane left.

Leaving behind only a bewildered Aquaman.

Not until returning to Atlantis and clearing his head under Mera's healing Magic did Aquaman finally begin to taste the underlying meaning.

The next day, looking at the litter of wiretapping devices dismantled from the royal treasury, Aquaman's expression turned so gloomy that even those closest to him felt a deep sense of fear.