Regirock did not have a body made of strange metal like Registeel, but it possessed regenerative abilities.
As long as the life core bestowed upon it by Regigigas still existed within its body, Regirock could regenerate endlessly by absorbing rocks. If it were on land, it could even accelerate its recovery by absorbing rocks from its surroundings.
There were far fewer rocks in the open sea, so Regirock's recovery speed was affected, but it was still an unreasonable perpetual-motion machine.
Boom!
An arm formed of rock slammed toward Lonz, engaging in a fierce melee with the Giant. Although Lonz held a massive battle axe in his hands, it seemed utterly powerless against a body made of solid stone.
"What the hell is this thing? It can actually contend with a Giant in terms of strength?!"
Regirock was also around ten meters tall, much shorter than Lonz, yet this short block of stone could somehow match a Giant in raw power.
On Akainu's side, he completely held the advantage. Neither Registeel nor Tiger chose to fight Akainu head-on; instead, they relied on their defensive abilities and the seawater to keep him at bay.
But on Lonz's side, it was pure suppression. Whether in physique or strength, Regirock displayed overwhelming power.
"If that monster attacks, can Fleet Admiral Sakazuki stop it?"
A soldier looked toward Regigigas, which had moved close to the New Fishman Island. The portion exposed above the sea already reached a hundred meters, and counting the submerged part, its total height exceeded two hundred meters.
For humans, that was an utterly exaggerated size. Ordinary Giants were generally around twenty meters tall; Little Oars Jr. was thirty-eight meters, and Oars was sixty-seven meters.
A typical residential building stood about three meters per floor. Regigigas was equivalent to a seventy-story skyscraper, and the sense of oppression a living, moving creature of that scale brought was on an entirely different level.
If Regigigas were to fall here, the waves it kicked up would be more than enough to drown them.
"Don't be scared. It's just bigger, that's all. It's not like we've never faced things like this before."
"That's exactly why I'm worried…"
Not all of the Marine's veterans were dead yet. This soldier had taken part in the Summit War and had seen firsthand what a rampaging Little Oars Jr. was like.
Neither the cannons nor the Giant Vice Admirals had been able to stop Little Oars Jr. This monster, six times larger than Little Oars Jr., could undoubtedly cause even more terrifying destruction.
"You should be worried about another problem. Just how many of these monsters can that thing make?"
The comrade beside him was far calmer. No matter how large Regigigas was, it still hadn't moved closer to them, so it wouldn't affect them anytime soon. But Regirock was another matter entirely.
Until now, Regigigas had only thrown back the magma launched by Akainu and grabbed a huge boulder from the seabed. Such simple actions have already created these two monsters—who knows if more will appear later.
The Vice Admiral rank among the Giants is rather unique. Due to the Marines' efforts to win over the Giants, their ranks were generally inflated to some extent.
Even so, a stone giant capable of wrestling Giants head-on was not something ordinary soldiers like them could deal with.
So many cannons had been firing for ages with barely any effect. Forget anything else, if Regigigas threw even a single rock onto each ship, the combat capability of this fleet would be effectively crippled.
"Damn it, our warships have actually become the battlefield for this monster!"
"Ordinary soldiers fall back! Soldiers who can use Rokushiki, move forward and find a way to support Vice Admiral Lonz!"
As Lonz and Regirock became entangled, artillery could no longer provide support. The other Marines could only look for ways to help using their own methods.
Marines who had mastered parts of Rokushiki were elite, but even they found it difficult to intervene in this battle.
Lonz had just brought his axe down on Regirock's shoulder. The blade sank into the rock, shattering many chunks of stone that scattered across the deck, but at the same time, Regirock landed a punch squarely in his abdomen.
The axe strike didn't even count as a flesh wound to Regirock, but Regirock's heavy punch dropped Lonz to his knees on the deck. His stomach churned violently, and he immediately retched on the ground.
Then Regirock raised its arm. Even without fingers, that all-too-familiar motion sent a chill down Lonz's spine, especially when a targeting reticle appeared on the ground, making his body stiffen.
Forcing control over his rigid body, Lonz rolled to the side. Seeing the red reticle drawing closer and closer, he hastily hurled his axe toward Regirock's feet.
Lonz knew very well that a thrown axe would at most knock a few fragments off Regirock's body, fragments that would soon be reabsorbed. Such inconsequential attacks were useless.
He wasn't Akainu, a Logia user.
Lonz could see it clearly: once that mark locked onto him, no matter how he dodged, the attack would track him down.
If he couldn't immediately deprive the enemy of its ability to act, then the only thing he could try to destroy was the deck beneath them.
Crack!
The axe pierced through the deck and fell straight into the sea. But Lonz achieved his goal. When the deck beneath their feet was destroyed, Regirock instantly lost its balance, its heavy body crashing down the deck.
"Don't come any closer! Everyone, abandon ship immediately! All other artillery, attack the warship I'm on, sink this ship right now!"
Lonz was certain that the stone monster was far denser than he was. He refused to believe it could float in the water.
Since this was the open sea, and conventional combat methods were proving ineffective, then it was time to take a different path altogether.
Neither Regirock nor Registeel showed any signs of being able to swim, so after destroying their footholds, there might be a chance to achieve a remarkable result.
Although the order sounded strange, once the superior's command had been given, these soldiers only needed to carry it out.
The soldiers who had yet to leave the warship immediately jumped into the water and swam with all their strength toward the distance.
"Hurry up and swim! Do you want to get dragged into the whirlpool?!"
When a ship sinks, it creates whirlpools on the surrounding sea surface. If one can't escape the area in time, they will inevitably be dragged down to the seabed. Since Lonz had given the order to sink this ship, its sinking was only a matter of time.
The Marines weren't stupid enough to bombard Lonz along with it. Moments later, a large number of shells slammed into one side of the warship where Regirock stood, and Lonz himself rejoined the battle.
Boom!
An explosion rang out from beneath the deck. The Marines who had evacuated last had left behind delayed fuses in the ammunition hold. Under the combined force of internal and external firepower, the large warship began to sink beneath the sea, and Lonz pulled away at the very last moment.
The drawback of having no fingers was exposed at this moment. Those hammer-like arms were fine for combat, but made it very difficult to restrain an opponent.
Just as Lonz had expected, Regirock indeed could not swim. More accurately, aside from those revived Water-type fossil Pokémon, most Rock-types didn't even have the concept of swimming in their minds.
The bulky body sank the instant it touched seawater. Although it fired several Zap Cannons toward its surroundings, it still failed to slow the sinking.
"Well done, Lonz."
Akainu caught sight of Regirock sinking to the bottom out of the corner of his eye, then set his gaze on the floating stone beneath Registeel's feet. If that big stone couldn't swim, there was no reason this iron shell could.
"Hound Blaze!"
Akainu's arm transformed into a hound's head, biting down on Registeel's extended arm. Under the searing heat of the magma, Registeel's arm glowed a vivid red.
"Fish-Man Jujutsu · Yama Arashi!"
At the same time, a curtain of water crashed down from the side. The massive volume of seawater forced Akainu to release the Hound Blaze clamped onto Registeel's arm, but the scattered magma and the overheated arm produced large amounts of white steam as the seawater rapidly cooled them.
Only because Registeel's body was special could it withstand this. If it had been ordinary metal, such rapid heating and cooling would likely have caused it to crack apart.
Registeel was different. Its special body not only endured the extreme heat and rapid temperature shifts, but large amounts of frost even condensed at the tips of its fists as both fists swung in from either side toward Akainu.
To deal with heat, use cold—Registeel understood that much. After realizing that ordinary punches couldn't harm Akainu, it switched to using Ice Punch.
If Registeel hadn't been created by Regigigas right in front of Akainu using his magma, and if Arceus's powers weren't being gradually revealed, another share of the blame would surely have landed squarely on Queen.
With its metallic appearance, robot-like structure, origins in "Kuzan's Lineage Factor," eyes capable of firing lasers, and the ability to deploy defensive barriers, Registeel looked more and more like an upgraded version of a Pacifista.
It could only be said that the times had saved Queen. If Regigigas had appeared earlier and its personality had shifted from aloof to mass troop spammer*, that pot of blame would have turned into an impenetrable suit of armor. [TN: It describes a player who aggressively produces and deploys huge numbers of basic units (soldiers/troops) to overwhelm opponents through sheer quantity rather than advanced tactics or tech.]
Perhaps many years later, a new Devil Fruit called the Pot-Pot Fruit would be born on the seas, its ability being to deceive others' trust through seemingly unintentional actions.
Registeel's fist struck a mass of magma. Ice Breath flowed from the fist into the magma, quickly draining its heat until the surface began to freeze, but Akainu was not inside it.
To reach the rank of Admiral, even without a Devil Fruit ability one would still be a monster of a fighter. For them, Devil Fruits were icing on the cake, not the source of their strength.
Stripped of the magma fruit, Akainu's personal power would certainly be less than it was now, but within the Marines he would still stand in a league of his own.
At this moment, he had already arrived in front of Registeel. His foot did not transform into magma; instead, it was wrapped in a layer of Haki as he stepped onto the volcanic rock beneath Registeel.
"Let's sink to the bottom together, tin can."
Akainu struck and immediately retreated. After completing his objective, he used Geppo to leap into the air. Once he confirmed that Registeel had also begun to sink, Akainu refocused his attention on Tiger.
"So there's also a nobody like you among the Fish-Men? I thought Jinbe was the most troublesome one, but it seems I was mistaken."
"Hmph, human. It's not your time to boast yet. Do you really think this settles it? You underestimate the power of the Lord."
Tiger didn't understand Regigigas's power, but he had absolute confidence in Arceus.
Since Arceus had sent Regigigas here, it meant Regigigas had a one-hundred-percent guarantee of handling everything.
And reality unfolded just as Tiger expected, though Regigigas's mood was quite different from what Tiger imagined.
There was a major difference between the Pokémon created by Regigigas and those created by Arceus, one of the biggest being memories.
Because of that, Pokémon created by Arceus possessed greater intelligence, while those created by Regigigas required some time.
Regigigas itself had been created by Arceus, so it understood the condition of other created Pokémon. Even the strangest one, Darkrai, had perfectly completed his mission after getting lost.
Diancie, Shaymin, and Manaphy hadn't experienced many battles, but they had fulfilled their roles within their special fields. Even the mass-produced Genesect were protecting islands within their territories.
Zeraora had grown step by step into something even stronger, and even that hibernating old refrigerator within the Legendary giant family had put on a spectacular debut.
Even without possessing a Plate, the Legendary giant it created might not be as strong as the Ice Legendary giant directly created by Arceus, but it shouldn't have sunk straight to the bottom like this.
[How embarrassing.]
Regigigas attributed all the blame to the terrain. If this had been land, such a situation definitely wouldn't have happened. It still chose not to act personally, instead lifting one of its legs from deep beneath the sea.
Rumble!
A dull roar echoed from the seafloor. In a place beyond human sight, the deep-sea continental shelf began to move. After all, Regigigas was a Legendary Pokémon capable of dragging entire continents.
One of Cynthia's ancestors had even witnessed Regigigas dragging continents with their own eyes. Although it was a Normal-type, Regigigas's power was inherently capable of influencing the continental shelf.
When Regigigas's strength slammed into the depths of the earth, the first to react were the Vibrava living within the New Fishman Island, as they had already sensed the strange vibrations coming from underground.
In the deep sea, vast amounts of seawater poured into the fissures, cooling the magma seeping up from the seabed. At this time, the Marines also noticed that something was wrong.
"Hey… is there something coming up from the sea?"
A Marine leaned over the railing, watching the water beside the ship. A massive shadow seemed to be rising from the depths.
"There's something new… no, it's land? Land is rising from the sea!!"
Clang!
Another dull crash rang out as the warships shook violently. When the Marines looked around again, they realized they were now on top of a stretch of land.
Corals growing on the reefs still emitted beautiful glows. Sea fish trapped in puddles twisted desperately before finally flopping back into the ocean, while seaweed that had lost the buoyancy of seawater collapsed limply to the ground.
All of this indicated that this landmass had originally been deep beneath the sea.
"Warship No. 3 and No. 5 have gotten stranded. They are too far away, they can't get back into the sea!"
At present, three warships were stranded on this newly risen island. Including the ship that had just been sunk, nearly half of the fleet had lost its mobility, effectively cutting the fleet's strength in half.
"It's not dead yet! That rock can still move!!"
The Marines had no time to question why the seabed had suddenly risen, because Regirock and Registeel were still present on this raised land.
Even after those special sinking incidents earlier, neither Regirock nor Registeel had changed much. They simply couldn't swim or float due to their own density.
But being unable to float didn't mean they couldn't hold their breath. What the Legendary giant family excelled at most was sleeping. Finding a place to sleep for several hundred years was perfectly normal. Within rock layers or beneath glaciers, the places they slumbered in were very likely devoid of oxygen.
Correspondingly, the Legendary giants also possessed astonishing "breath-holding" ability. This brief period of submersion wasn't even enough to put them into hibernation.
[I've given you the terrain. Try harder.]
Regigigas's thoughts were conveyed to the minds of Registeel and Regirock. Then it spread its arms, gripping the foundation of the New Fishman Island from both sides, as a strange force flowed into the continental shelf below.
The entire island, like a piece of luggage, was dragged away into the distance by Regigigas.
"Stop right there!"
Just as Akainu was about to continue the pursuit, a surge of waves raised by Tiger cut off his advance, followed immediately by Registeel's fists storming toward him.
Their boss felt it had lost face, and these two Legendary Giants, who had nearly sunk to the bottom, also felt a sense of shame. So, once they secured a stable foothold, they immediately launched an even more ferocious offensive.
Registeel's wildly swinging arms extended and retracted rapidly like rubber. The cold currents gathering above allowed its fists to make contact with Akainu, and a mechanical replica of the Gum-Gum Gatling Gun appeared on the battlefield.
As it punched, Registeel's body seemed to activate as well. Red light flickered on its eye area, and laser beams continuously shot toward Akainu.
It wasn't the only one going berserk. At this moment, Regirock stomped both feet into the ground, instantly creating a deep crater beside it. The land that Regigigas had just raised began to crack, and Regirock's hands started colliding and pounding against its chest.
Accompanied by an enraged roar, massive amounts of rock were blasted outward. Sediment that had lain on the seabed for years, now brought to the surface for the first time, churned and rolled in all directions.
As Regirock slammed its arms into the ground, countless gigantic boulders erupted upward. Rock spikes several meters in diameter pierced through the grounded warships, sending many Marines flying into the air.
"You b*stard, let me show you the true power of a giant!"
Watching Regirock's wild destruction, Lonz also broke into a run toward it.
"Vice Admiral Lonz!! Watch out!!"
But before he could reach Regirock, it let out another thunderous roar.
Golden light flared from the rock spikes it had just raised. Energy within the cracks began to spill outward, and before Lonz could react, the rocks exploded like bombs.
Rock spikes half a meter in size turned into wildly flying artillery shells. Massive stones coming from all directions left Lonz with nowhere to evade.
After a full minute of relentless explosions, several huge cracks appeared on Lonz's helmet, his body was covered in countless bruises, and the warship that had already been grounded there was blasted into pieces.
Lonz's figure began to sway unsteadily, the blood flowing down obscuring the viewing slit in his helmet.
That was the strongest attack Regirock could unleash by borrowing the energy of the rocks on the ground. Being struck by countless Rock Wrecker and still not falling was a testament to the Giant's sheer force of will.
"Mr. Fleet Admiral, where are you looking? Even on land, getting distracted isn't a good idea."
This land also provided Akainu with footing, but from his current position, he could still be attacked by Tiger in the sea.
"Fish-Man Karate Secret Art · Wave Drill!"
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