Amigo Pirates

The submarine broke through the surface and slowly rose, the Amigo Pirates' flag snapping in the wind.

With Lucas and the other two deliberately exposing their whereabouts, the enemy soon came knocking.

Largo stood at the very front, dressed in a flamboyant Shika Kingdom-style robe and holding a harp.

"Hiss hiss hiss, idiot. You actually dared to fight me in open ground. I'll gladly take that 300 million Beli bounty."

Behind him stood his younger brother Corto, along with more than fifty heavily armed pirates, every one of them wearing a vicious expression.

"Du Feld really spared no expense."

Lucas raised an eyebrow. He knew full well that he had not yet made it onto the World Government's wanted list. The 300 million was purely a private bounty from the Loan Shark King.

"Big brother, why waste words with him!"

Vice-captain Corto stepped forward from the crowd, baring his teeth as he raised both arms. Five machine guns were strapped to each wrist, their pitch-black barrels aimed at the three of them.

"Rat-a-tat-tat!"

Flames burst from the muzzles, and a rainstorm of lead bullets came screaming toward them. When the bullets reached within three meters of Lucas, they seemed to crash into an invisible net and abruptly stopped in midair.

Before Corto's horrified eyes, those bullets turned around and flew back along an even fiercer trajectory.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft!"

Vice-captain Corto was riddled with holes before he could say another word.

About a third of the fifty men behind him were caught in the attack. Screams and sprays of blood erupted together as they collapsed in a crooked heap.

Largo transformed his body into a net in time, and the bullets passed through its mesh before striking the beach behind him.

He was the user of the Ami Ami no Mi.

Not only could he turn himself into a net, but anything he ate would also become a net.

After returning to normal, Largo lowered his eyes to his younger brother's corpse. He crouched down and closed Corto's wide-open eyes, then stood back up and picked up his harp.

"AMORE, my dear younger brother Corto."

"You died such a miserable death."

He set down the harp and looked toward Lucas.

"This cannot end here, sir. As a requiem for my brother, I will kill you."

He pulled out a piece of steel from somewhere, tilted his head back, and swallowed it. A thorny iron net grew from his palm.

Lucas extended both hands and caught the oncoming thorny iron net with his bare hands.

"Useless."

"My capture rate is 120%. My net has never been—"

Before Largo could finish bragging, his smile froze on his face.

Lucas exerted force with his arms, and the thorny net Largo had praised to the heavens was torn apart in his palms like clay, reduced to iron scraps.

"A flashy but useless ability."

Lucas vanished from where he stood with Soru, appearing in front of Largo in a flash. He raised his arm high and threw a punch.

"[No Impact: Body Net]!"

Largo reacted quickly, his body rapidly transforming into a net-like structure.

The force of the punch passed through the mesh, and the gust it generated sent a whole swath of Amigo Pirates flying behind him. Largo himself, however, was completely unharmed.

"Hiss hiss hiss, useless. In this form, physical attacks are useless against me. Once you run out of stamina, I win."

"Is that so?"

"Then what about non-physical attacks?"

As Lucas's words fell, Largo felt the blood inside his body being tugged by some invisible force. It was as though his blood had been given a will of its own, frantically battering against his blood vessel walls in an attempt to burst through the confines of his skin.

Bloody thorns pierced out from beneath his skin, spreading outward from his heart like a thorn flower nourished by blood blooming inside his body.

Large amounts of blood containing Life Energy seeped out of his body and floated in the air, forming a crimson blood mist.

Largo's body rapidly withered within that blood mist.

Baccarat promptly tossed several fruits over from behind.

Apples, oranges, and pears traced arcs through the air. Lucas transferred the Lineage Factor extracted from the blood mist into one of the apples.

The instant the apple landed, it changed. Intricate patterns emerged across its peel, transforming it into a new Devil Fruit.

The Ami Ami no Mi had been reborn.

Even the most useless fruit could have a time to shine.

Seeing their captain and vice-captain taken out so easily, the remaining Amigo Pirates completely lost their will to fight. They scrambled toward the shoreline on hands and feet.

Lucas extended a hand in the direction of their escape, activating both his Electromagnetic Force and blood-control ability.

The pirates who had run dozens of meters suddenly stiffened. Bloody thorns emerged all over their bodies, starting from their hearts and spreading along the paths of their blood vessels toward their limbs, as if invisible thorns had pierced them from within in an instant.

The bloody thorns broke through their skin and turned into bloody water, carrying Life Energy out of their bodies.

Driven by the momentum of their running, their bodies staggered forward a few more steps before rapidly shriveling up like deflated balls. One after another, they fell face-first onto the beach.

The blood drawn from their bodies gathered in midair, forming a floating pool of blood. Like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, the blood slowly flowed into Lucas's body.

Feeling his lifespan reserves increase once more and his physique strengthen slightly, Lucas's expression did not change at all.

Everything felt best and left the deepest impression the first few times.

After the number of times increased, it just felt like that.

After cleaning up the battlefield, the three boarded the submarine docked by the shore. They searched it inside and out, but did not find even a single crewman left behind. They did find quite a bit of Beli and weaponry, though.

Lucas entered the control room and looked at the densely packed valves, gauges, and control levers on the panel. He frowned, wanting to twist a few valves but not even knowing where to begin.

Just as he was wondering whether he could force it to run with Electromagnetic Force, Robin entered with a book in her hands.

"I think I can give it a try."

"When did you learn how to operate a submarine?"

Lucas's face was full of question marks.

Robin raised the Submarine Operation and Maintenance Manual in her hand.

"I just learned. If this book is accurate, there shouldn't be a problem."

Lucas fell silent for two seconds, then called Baccarat over.

"Give her an extra layer of luck insurance."

Baccarat reached out and touched Robin's shoulder, transferring invisible luck to her.

The facts proved that being knowledgeable and lucky really could produce different results. Before long, under Robin's somewhat unpracticed control, the submarine slowly sank into the sea. The hull swayed slightly, then stabilized and followed the current toward the deep sea.

Through the observation window, dark blue seawater flowed past them, and schools of fish swam alongside the submarine.

"By the way, where are we going next?"

Robin asked without turning her head, her eyes fixed on the instrument panel.

Lucas leaned against the cabin wall, gazing at the deep sea outside the window, and spoke three words:

"Flower Country."

TO BE CONTINUED

(PS: Some readers might be curious about what the Shika Kingdom is. It was a country that appeared during the Reverie arc, and its real-world inspiration is Mexico.

Now that that has been said, the style of Shika Kingdom should be quite clear.)