Beep. Beep. Beep.
A burst of mechanical buzzing suddenly rang out in the air, and then a red targeting reticle appeared out of thin air on the deck of the warship, finally settling on Akainu's chest.
Crackle, crackle.
At the same time, Registeel raised both arms and formed the shape of a turret in front of itself, golden energy beginning to gather between its hands.
Before long, a mass of compressed, condensed lightning appeared in Registeel's hand. To Registeel, the energy sphere was small, but to Akainu, its size had already reached half his body.
"Great Eruption!"
Facing this bizarre creature, Akainu did not sit idly by.
While Registeel was charging up, Akainu had already closed the distance, appearing right in front of it. His arm billowed with thick black smoke like a volcanic crater, magma carrying tremendous impact power blasting straight toward Registeel's eye area.
Boom!
At the same moment, Registeel's Zap Cannon finished charging. A Pokémon's Zap Cannon was not the same as the Railgun understood in conventional terms.
A conventional Railgun uses the Ampere force generated by electromagnetic fields in an electromagnetic system to accelerate metal projectiles, granting them the kinetic energy needed to strike targets, with both range and velocity far exceeding those of conventional artillery. [TN: Words used in Chinese for Railgun and Zap Cannon are the same.]
It enhances a projectile's power by imparting propulsion, whereas a Pokémon's Zap Cannon condenses electric current into a shell and then fires it at the opponent.
Whoosh!
As a mass of electric current, Registeel's Zap Cannon was no slouch in speed either, streaking past Akainu's head, while Akainu's magma was stopped midair by a Protect barrier.
"Another one of these barriers… a product of the Beasts Pirates?"
Defensive barriers that blocked attacks had already become a signature technique within the Beasts Pirates. This life-saving skill was so practical that Marine bases in the New World had adopted new combat requirements.
When fighting Beasts Pirates pirates, one must launch continuous, relentless assaults. Even with confidence in a one-hit kill, one must not relax. No one knows when a certain officer might suddenly deploy a barrier and launch a desperate counterattack.
By today, this barrier had even faintly become a symbol of the Beasts Pirates. Just as Akainu was about to continue his attack, a sense of danger surged from behind him. The Zap Cannon he had just dodged had not disappeared after missing its target; it flew back again.
Lowering his head to glance at the tracking mark still fixed on his chest, Akainu seemed to understand something. He manipulated his body into magma form and split apart, intending to evade the attack.
But the Zap Cannon detonated directly as it drew near, powerful electricity and shockwaves engulfing both Akainu and Registeel.
Lock-On + Zap Cannon—the most classic combo of the Legendary giants.
Zap Cannon itself requires charging and has a low accuracy, making it difficult to hit an enemy. Lock-On, however, grants subsequent attacks homing capabilities like guided missiles. Even if the shot misses, the attack will find its way back.
After the lightning faded, arcs of electricity still flickered across Registeel's surface, while Akainu's body began to reassemble, the explosion having scattered him apart.
Although he was a Logia-type, unlike certain fires helpless against smoke, lightning and shockwaves could still affect magma.
Even if the Steel Giant created by Regigigas couldn't use Haki, it wasn't completely helpless against this Logia-type opponent.
Seizing the moment before the Lock-On mark faded, Registeel immediately began charging a new round of attacks. This Registeel was weaker than the Regice still acting as an air conditioner, roughly on par with Zeraora from years ago.
It lacked an advantage in speed, but its defense, size, and stamina were exceptional. Even if it couldn't defeat Akainu, holding him off was more than enough.
Tiger, at the side, wasn't just watching. During gaps in Registeel's fight, he also launched attacks on Akainu. Tiger, who could control seawater, was far more threatening than Registeel.
On the open sea, they were enough to slow Akainu down.
But merely delaying him and preventing Akainu from disengaging for the moment was not enough to satisfy Regigigas.
[Special humans]
Regigigas itself acknowledged that among humans there were certain special individuals capable of unleashing tremendous combat power, unlike ordinary humans, but that did not change Regigigas's attitude in the slightest.
[It looks like one isn't enough, then… how about two?]
Regigigas, who had been preparing to relocate the New Fishman Island, paused its actions and instead reached toward the seafloor beside it.
At this moment, it had no intention of personally joining the fight; not because it couldn't, but out of sheer disdain. If not for Arceus's command, it would never have come here.
Aside from Arceus, there was no one on these seas who could give it orders.
Its fingers swept aside the silt on the seafloor, quickly finding the bedrock. As its arm exerted force, it tore a massive boulder from the bedrock and then hurled it once more toward the Marines.
"Emergency evasion!!"
Seeing the incoming boulder, the warships immediately veered to both sides. While sailing at sea, they had not formed tight, chained formations; even during a siege aimed at an island, sufficient spacing was maintained between ships.
The warships within that area spun their helms to the limit, darting aside and narrowly avoiding the hurled boulder.
"Is that monster only good at throwing rocks?"
"If that's all it can do, it doesn't seem that scary."
The boulder Regigigas had thrown sank into the sea as if nothing had happened, and the people aboard the warships relaxed slightly.
"What is that?!"
They might have relaxed, but the neighboring warships did not have that luxury. All the vessels dispatched on this mission were large warships—large enough that even a Giant Vice Admiral could deploy with them.
Aside from Akainu, this fleet was not lacking Vice Admirals; it simply didn't have as many as during Buster Call.
Among the accompanying Marines was also a Giant, and now a new opponent stood before him.
"Support Vice Admiral Lonz!"
Akainu had charged out alone, making it difficult for them to assist him, but this intruder was different. In an instant, artillery fire erupted in unison, completely engulfing the creature in front of Lonz with gunfire, with chunks of rock occasionally raining down.
The roaring bombardment seemed to irritate the being within the smoke. Several sharp stone spikes shot out, instantly silencing many of the cannons. Then, an arm like a massive hammer swept out from the smoke.
Thud!
With a crisp clang, Lonz raised his axe to block the attack, then swung his other fist into the cloud of dust.
Bang!
A dull impact reverberated, and the feedback from his arm gave Lonz a bad feeling. As an H-shaped red light flared to life, the mysterious figure came fully into view.
Its body was also gray, but its composition had shifted from metal to stone.
Huge orange rocks formed its shoulders, standing like shoulder armor atop its frame. Its thick, powerful arms were likewise made of stone.
The front of its hands lacked fingers entirely—there were only two arms like massive sledgehammers.
The Rock Peak Pokémon—Regirock. A Pokémon born of stone, standing alongside Registeel as the Rock Giant of the Legendary Giants.
While Registeel looks somewhat rounded, Regirock was a pure combat model.
Its jagged stones made it look even more terrifying. Though its body was more fragile than the Steel Giant's, the rocks that had just been shattered and fallen were returning to its body at a speed visible to the naked eye.
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