Testing the Blade, Big Bear-Style Fūrai Cannon

The sea swelled. Eyes broke through the surface, revealing a dark green forehead, followed by a mountain-like back.

Its front half was a giant lizard, while its rear half was soft and serpentine like a sea snake. The traits of two creatures had been stitched together, forming a malformed colossal beast over three hundred meters long.

Ginny finally came back to her senses.

The beast's tail moved as well.

A shadow suddenly engulfed the entire White Shell.

"Shadow Wall," Moria's voice came from behind them.

The shadows on the deck surged toward the side of the ship, condensing into a pitch-black barrier between the massive tail and the hull.

After the impact, the Shadow Wall caved in violently but did not shatter.

The tremendous force sent the entire White Shell sliding sideways dozens of meters before it violently bounced back.

"Ginny!" Moria dropped to one knee on the deck, both hands braced against the floor. "Go get Lin Nuo, now!"

"Brother Lin Nuo..." Ginny staggered to her feet. "He said he was going out this morning to gather information. He hasn't come back yet!"

"That bastard." Moria gritted his teeth.

"Why did it have to be now?"

Crack. The fractures in the Shadow Wall widened.

The Sea King raised the tip of its tail. This time, it was aimed at Moria.

"I'll help you!"

At that moment, Big Bear leaped onto the deck, raising both hands toward the sea.

The air compressed, forming a transparent sphere in front of his palms. Then he released it.

The shockwave exploded! The recoil sent the White Shell shooting forward nearly a hundred meters, instantly opening up distance from the Sea King.

"S-Saved!"

But before the three of them could catch their breath,

three columns of water rose simultaneously from the sea on both sides of the White Shell and directly ahead of it.

Three slightly smaller but equally malformed Sea Kings rose from beneath the waves.

One had six compound eyes and a centipede-like body. Another was covered in bone spines. The last was an enlarged jellyfish, its bell filled with glowing, sparking tentacles.

They had appeared in exactly the right positions to cut off every escape route for the White Shell.

The six-eyed beast lunged first, its jointed limbs paddling through the water at terrifying speed.

Several of its limbs pierced straight through the ship's side.

The White Shell's watertight compartment was breached, and seawater began pouring in.

"The ship!" Kuma turned back, his pupils contracting.

Moria's face went pale.

He could use his ability to hold back one, and Kuma could hold back another, but there was still a third!

And now, the six-eyed beast had adjusted its posture and lunged again, aiming directly for the deck.

For Ginny, standing on it.

Then—

Ginny heard the sound of fabric being sliced by a blade beside her ear.

Her eyes widened.

Before her, the six-eyed beast's gaping, bloodthirsty maw stopped less than three meters away.

It split neatly down the middle. A black line ran from the top of its head, through its mouthparts, and across its body.

Then its body separated to either side, the cut smooth as a mirror.

At the center—

A Lunarian holding a black longsword hovered in midair.

"Brother Lin Nuo!!"

The figure landed, the tip of his blade lightly touching the deck as the lingering flames faded away.

Lin Nuo swept his gaze over the situation on the deck.

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No! But Brother Lin Nuo, I think we accidentally sailed into the Calm Belt."

Lin Nuo reached out and rubbed Ginny's hair. "It's fine. Even professional navigators run into accidents."

He looked toward Kuma and Moria. "Where are Alice and Teach?"

"Ah! The cabin was hit just now! Sister Alice and Teach are both inside!"

Lin Nuo's gaze sharpened.

"Moria, Kuma!" he shouted. "Go down to the cabin with Ginny and check on them. Leave this to me."

"Understood!" Kuma blasted the beast away with a palm strike, then turned and ran toward the cabin.

Moria withdrew his shadows and followed.

Only Lin Nuo remained on the deck.

The moment he turned around, the three Sea Kings had already locked their gazes onto him.

Lin Nuo raised his left hand. Lunarian Flame ignited in his palm, and he pressed it against the black blade in his right hand.

The flames were absorbed into the blade like water into a sponge.

This new move consumed a lot. Better end this quickly...

As soon as the words fell, Lin Nuo vanished.

In the next instant, he appeared directly in front of the bone-spined Sea King.

The black blade slashed out! It cut in from the left side of its neck and instantly slid out through the right!

The bone-spined monster froze, then its enormous corpse toppled straight into the sea, sending up massive waves.

The jellyfish beast let out a shriek, its tentacles erupting with high-voltage currents that swept toward Lin Nuo.

Flame of Regeneration ignited around Lin Nuo, blue fire racing across his blade.

As he spun and swept his blade sideways—

A flash of blue light streaked out. A twenty-meter-long flaming slash howled through the air and struck the jellyfish Sea King's translucent bell.

Hiss. Its bell was neatly cut into upper and lower halves.

At the same time as he unleashed the slash, Lin Nuo twisted his body through the air again and launched a chain of kicks.

"Crane Claw!!"

He kicked the two halves of the bell away, sending them crashing toward the stitched-together beast in the distance, which had been about to spit fluorescent light.

Bang!!!

The beast took the heavy blow, its fluorescent glow dispersing inside its throat. It let out a howl and crashed into the sea...

The battle ended, and Lin Nuo stopped his pursuit. He hovered in the air, staring at the stunned beasts below, when a thought suddenly came to him.

The system inventory opened.

That chibi seahorse icon appeared in his palm, then transformed into a strange creature.

It swished its tail and looked at him with tiny eyes.

"Memory Seahorse · Living Specimen"

"Perfect. I'll test its effect on a Sea King first."

Lin Nuo flew toward the sinking Sea King, grabbed a protruding horn with one hand, and pressed the Memory Seahorse against it.

"Extract."

As soon as the words fell, the seahorse's body lit up.

Countless fine threads seeped out of the Sea King's corpse and were absorbed by the seahorse.

The process lasted about ten seconds.

The seahorse's body swelled slightly, and Lin Nuo could sense that a new memory had been stored within it.

After finishing all that,

Lin Nuo did not waste any more time and turned to fly back to the White Shell.

At the bottom level of the cabin,

seawater had already risen to their calves.

Alice held up a hammer and drove the last nail into a wooden plank.

Teach seemed to find it entertaining and copied her movements beside her.

Kuma, Ivankov, and Moria blocked both sides of the breach, slowing the flow of water coming in.

Alice struck three more times, driving the nail fully in.

"Finally!" She let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"That scared me to death. The water suddenly rushed in just now. Good thing everyone reacted quickly and plugged it up."

The breach was barely sealed with wooden planks and oil-soaked canvas.

Though there was still a slight leak, it would be enough for the time being.

"Where's Lin Nuo?" Alice turned and asked.

"I'm here," Lin Nuo's voice came from the stairway.

He quickly walked down the stairs. Seeing the state of the cabin, he frowned slightly.

But when he saw that everyone was unharmed, he sighed in relief.

"Is it settled outside?"

Lin Nuo nodded.

"How's the ship?"

Alice gave a bitter smile. "We made emergency repairs. It can only hold for a while like this. We'll need a professional shipwright to fix it later, and soon."

"The leak is slow, but if it keeps going, the keel could be damaged."

Lin Nuo fell silent for several seconds.

"There's something I need to tell everyone." He motioned for them to gather closer and lowered his voice.

"I just discovered that there are large Marine warship patrol formations across the waters from here to Reverse Mountain, about seven days away."

"A wanted criminal may have appeared in this area."

"That wanted criminal is you, isn't it?" Moria raised a brow.

"I don't know, but even the outer waters are like this."

"Once we get closer to the Red Line, especially the entrance to Reverse Mountain, the defenses will only be tighter."

He looked at the leaking breach. "If it were only food, we could still fish."

"But the ship needs repairs now, and there are supplies we can't get by fishing—fresh water, medicine, wood and tools for repairs. We have to go ashore to resupply."

Everyone looked at one another.

Ginny suddenly raised her hand, her eyes lighting up.

"I'm good at gathering intelligence and eavesdropping. As long as we get close to an inhabited island or a Marine warship, I should be able to figure out the Marines' patrol patterns!"

Ivankov reacted as well. "Right! Ginny was the one who leaked the news about God Valley back then!"

"She got the information about the Devil Fruit too."

"Oh, then we'll be counting on you!"

Ginny patted her chest, her face full of confidence.

"Leave it to me. I'm an intelligence expert!"

"Good. Then before we approach Reverse Mountain, I may need to fly out a few more times to scout the exact routes and conditions on the islands."

"Can I leave the ship's safety to all of you during that time?"

Lin Nuo looked around at everyone.

"Of course!" everyone answered.

"That said..." Lin Nuo scratched his head, looking a little helpless.

"Our course is off now. We sailed into the Calm Belt."

"Without wind, a sailing ship can't move. How are we supposed to get out of these waters?"

Moria looked completely calm.

"Can't you just fly away while carrying us and the ship?"

Lin Nuo: "..."

"Do you think I'm a transport plane?!"

"With a ship this big, if I could carry it while flying for long periods, I would've flown straight to the Grand Line already!"

"What a waste of a pair of wings."

"What did you say, you onion head?!"

"I'm talking about you, you useless white-haired bastard who wasn't around when it mattered!!"

Watching the two of them start fighting,

Kuma slowly spoke.

"Um..."

He raised his bear paws, the pads in his palms facing everyone.

"While fighting the Sea King just now, I think I discovered something."

"I can compress air, then release it in a directed burst to generate thrust."

"If I control the direction and force properly... maybe I can make the ship move even without wind."

The cabin fell silent for a second.

"Oh-ho?" Ivankov's eyes widened.

"Oh-ho, oh-ho!" Ginny jumped up.

Lin Nuo looked at those thick bear paws and thought of Franky's Fūrai Cannon.

"How about it..."

"Shall we try it right now?!"