Giant Shark

Under Squalo's bewildered, mocking gaze, Li Qing rolled frantically across the deck.

In just a few seconds, he had wiped away every puddle "portal" that allowed "Clash" to teleport.

It could no longer launch relentless teleportation attacks against Li Qing. Instead, it was like a fish stranded out of water, able only to flop about helplessly on land.

At that point, the only place left on the entire ship with enough water to contain "Clash" was the cup of iced drink Li Qing had taken two sips from earlier.

"Success."

Listening to the faint ripples coming from the glass, Li Qing already knew:

After he had erased all the standing water, that Stand had nowhere left to go.

It could only teleport into that tiny drink cup, forced to shrink down to a size with no offensive power at all.

"So... did I win?"

"No, I can't conclude that yet."

"I've basically wiped out all the 'water' on the ship, but we're out at sea."

Although he currently held an advantage, Li Qing was even more nervous than when he had been passively beaten around at the start.

He stared intently at the glass containing "Clash," carefully listening to the enemy Stand's movements as he silently prepared himself for the terrifying possibility in his mind.

Sure enough.

After Li Qing had erased every puddle on the ship, leaving "Clash" without any "coordinates" for teleportation,

it still vanished soundlessly from the glass, just as it had before.

Then, exactly as Li Qing had feared, "Clash" instantly appeared in the sea.

Its Stand ability allowed it to teleport from one body of water to another, and the ocean contained an endless supply of seawater. Naturally, it too could serve as its teleportation medium.

Most terrifyingly, "Clash" could automatically change size according to the amount of water in the area it occupied.

So, the instant it emerged from the sea,

what surfaced was no longer a small shark merely a few dozen centimeters long, but a twenty-meter-long "prehistoric giant shark"!

Its body was so massive, so towering.

The small yacht Li Qing had boarded was a full thirteen or fourteen meters long, yet before "Clash," it looked as tiny as an exquisite life-sized figurine.

"Clash" rose from the water atop enormous waves, slowly turned its head, and opened its abyss-like, blood-filled maw at Li Qing on the yacht.

"Ah..."

"The situation I least wanted to see has happened after all."

Li Qing let out a deep sigh.

He had no doubt that at its current size, the enemy could swallow both him and the boat in a single bite.

And the moment "Clash" appeared, it whipped up towering waves across the previously calm sea, so even Andrew beside him sensed that something was wrong.

"Wh-what is going on?!"

"Why are waves suddenly coming up out of nowhere? And this boat—what's pushing the boat over?"

The yacht had already been tipped and thrown off balance by "Clash's" colossal body. Andrew could only cling tightly to the deck railing to steady himself.

"Could there be some kind of sea monster?"

"But... but I can't see anything at all!"

"Haha."

Li Qing laughed carelessly.

"Congratulations, Captain. You guessed right."

"If we're lucky, the two of us might reunite inside the sea monster's stomach later."

"Shut up."

"I don't want that kind of luck!"

Under that bizarre invisible yet tangible assault, Andrew was already on the verge of breaking down.

Li Qing, on the other hand, remained fairly composed.

He patted Andrew on the shoulder and said, half seriously and half jokingly,

"I'm only joking."

"After all..."

"I don't know whether you'll die, but I probably won't."

"Huh?"

Andrew was startled by the cold indifference in Li Qing's words.

And at that moment, "Clash" bared its enormous, door-wide shark teeth and lunged mercilessly at Li Qing and Andrew.

In an instant, wind howled and waves surged.

The yacht pitched violently amid the huge waves stirred up by "Clash," while the terrified Andrew instinctively shut his eyes against the gale.

But Li Qing did not sit there waiting to die. He made his move—

Completely ignoring the giant whale shark crashing down before him, he abruptly turned amid the raging winds and waves and threw a punch through the air toward the unobstructed stern.

"Sonically Enhanced Wave!"

Brilliant white light gathered in his fist like the sun, then shot forth with a piercing howl.

The Sonically Enhanced Wave was not aimed at "Clash," but at Squalo, fifty meters away.

"It's you, isn't it?"

"The Stand User controlling this powerful Stand!"

There were only three people on this stretch of sea. Li Qing had long since fixed Squalo's position in his mind, waiting only for the right moment to launch a long-range surprise attack with Sonically Enhanced Wave.

At that moment, the sphere of light from Sonically Enhanced Wave successfully flew past the stern, roaring straight toward Squalo.

If it struck successfully, Li Qing could use the effects of Sonically Enhanced Wave and Echoes Act to directly attack the enemy's real body before "Clash" swallowed both him and the yacht.

Yet a sneering smile appeared at the corner of Squalo's mouth.

"Only now did you think to attack the real body?"

"You're too slow!"

"Clash's" ability was teleportation. As long as there was enough standing water nearby, no one could keep up with its speed.

Defeating it in a direct battle was nearly an impossible task.

Therefore, after Squalo's enemies learned of "Clash's" ability, they would immediately search for Squalo's location and try to bypass the Stand to attack his real body directly.

Only Li Qing—only he would stupidly fight "Clash" for so long before finally thinking of going after Squalo himself.

Watching the white sphere of light draw ever nearer, Squalo's smile became even more mocking.

"This is the 'tracking light sphere' the Boss mentioned, right?"

"It's a pretty good ability. On land, combined with his powerful sensing ability, it would definitely pose a huge threat to my real body."

"Unfortunately..."

"We're on the ocean now—this is my home field, Squalo!"

The moment his words fell,

before Sonically Enhanced Wave could get within twenty meters of Squalo, it was blocked by a Meat Mountain.

That Meat Mountain was "Clash."

In an instant, it teleported to the sea behind the yacht and, with its mountain-like bulk, effortlessly blocked the Sonically Enhanced Wave tracking sphere Li Qing had fired in desperation.

At that moment, it was a teleporting wall of fortress stone.

None of Li Qing's abilities could get past that Meat Mountain's obstruction.

And with "Clash's" current enormous size, killing Li Qing would take no more than one bite.

"Enough."

"Keeping 'Clash' this large consumes quite a lot of my mental energy."

"If I weren't in a hurry to get back and have lunch with Dichano, I really wouldn't want to use this move."

Squalo wiped the sweat from his brow, looking somewhat exhausted.

"I won't waste any more time on you."

"Do it, 'Clash'!"

Sonically Enhanced Wave could not pierce through the Stand to attack its master. Golden Bell Shield could not be used for movement without an ally. And fifty meters of sea lay between Li Qing and Squalo, with a twenty-meter giant shark sprawled across the water between them.

At Squalo's command, this giant shark with teleportation powers finally revealed its savage, terrifying fangs.

No matter how one looked at it, Squalo had already won.

He only needed to sit quietly in his speedboat and admire the despair on Li Qing's face from afar.

However.

Under Squalo's uncertain, astonished gaze, Li Qing smiled instead.

Facing the giant shark lunging toward him, he calmly took out a lighter, lit a cigarette, and said,

"Sorry."

"It seems I won this battle."