Silver Axe shifted from a one-handed grip to both hands on the haft, trading defense for a surge of raw offense. Beneath the armor, his arms swelled muscle bunching power geysering from shoulder to palm.
"Silver Flash!"
For a man that massive and fully armored, the speed was mind-bending. He vanished reappeared less than a meter before the Sea Fiend and the great axe came down, edge so fast it scored a silver arc through the air.
It all happened in a lightning blink.
"Demon Shield!"
Boom!
A blue shell blossomed around the woman, an eggshell dome that wrapped her whole form. Silver Axe's blow crashed into it with a deafening report and stopped cold.
His pupils tightened. "What the ?!"
That strange light-screen had halted his full-force strike as if it were nothing.
Captain John blanched as well. "She didn't just have those petrifying flames… she can do this too? Even Silver Axe can't crack it head-on!"
One monster of a Sea Fiend, and the two of them were already on the back foot.
The woman's scaled fist snapped out at once. This time Silver Axe had been wary he slipped his torso aside and the punch hissed past then swung again, turning the axe mid-flight to hack at the blue barrier from a new angle.
Another steel-on-glass clang the dome held. But this time fine cracks spidered across the blue.
"What is this ability? It's absurd!" Silver Axe grit his teeth. Every trick she revealed made the fight more vicious.
Even while splitting her focus between offense and defense, the woman didn't yield an inch.
Now that John and Silver Axe had felt out some of her kit, they found their rhythm; at least they wouldn't be losing in the next breath.
Out on the sea, the shift in the Sea Fiend's song finally snapped the crew from their trance. But the Sea Kings' riot had already exacted a price only a scant dozen pirates remained upright on the ruined deck.
Kaido drove the battered ship toward the leviathan's back. From the rail he saw the melee raging there and sucked in a breath. "What is she…? Her power's insane."
Among women he'd only seen Charlotte Linlin fight like that. Yet this creature hideous where Linlin was merely fearsome wove her abilities with cold precision, technique flawless, keeping two elites busy at once.
John and Silver Axe dug deeper in response, showing card after hidden card. The combat sang.
With swigs of his homebrewed tonics, John buffed himself in bursts one draught for power, another for speed, another to wring out latent potential his strength spiking as he pressed the attack. For a stretch he even forced the writhing serpent hair to give ground; blades and wind drove the snakes back hissing.
Cut to the deep:
Ares and Slardar.
After mulling it over, the Sea Fiend shook his head at Ares's invitation. "From the moment I was born, my duty has been to guard this treasure," he said. "To keep it buried in the abyss forever."
He longed for the world above the brilliant oceans and the open sky but duty was etched into bone. Kin lost to time, comrades who died defending the trove every one had left him the same charge: protect it.
Ares was blunt. "If I take the treasure… you wouldn't have to guard it anymore, right?"
Slardar stared, wrong-footed by the man's… logic. Words failed him.
"Heh. Then it's settled," Ares grinned. "I'll find the hoard. Once it's gone, you're free."
He already admired Slardar's strength in the sea. Now, seeing that ironclad resolve, he liked him even more. The thought of adding another powerhouse to his division alongside Kaido filled him with a boyish glee; laughter rolled out of him, bright and unguarded.
Long years alone made that sound hit Slardar like a distant memory back when more than two or three of his kind remained, when the Sea Fiends laughed and lived as a people.
When Ares's mirth faded, he said, "I'm heading back for now. I will find that treasure. And when I do, I'm coming for you."
"Come with me into the wide sea. Let the name of the Sea Fiends ring again let the world know you still exist, and you're still strong."
Before Slardar could answer, Ares turned and knifed toward the surface.
The Sea Fiend watched him go, heart tugged hard. His body stayed rooted in the black water but now there was a spark of something he hadn't felt in an age. Hope. Let that man find the trove…
Splash
Ares burst through the waves. His Observation Haki wasn't overwhelming, but his senses were razor-keen; he reached out for the ship. "Gone, just like I thought. I'll have to work out where they headed."
With a memory like a chart room, he retraced their route in his head and swam the line back.
He broke the surface where the ship should have been. Empty sea. He scanned the horizon nothing.
Did I botch the bearings? He re-ran the mental map. No… it was this way. So where's the ship?
He soared upward, wings of water shedding from his scales, and wheeled high, surveying every quarter.
Nothing.
"Forget it. Something must've forced them off. I'll just track them down." After a few minutes circling, he chose a heading by chance the same Wang Zhi had taken and arrowed away.
Earlier:
Parting from John, Wang Zhi had swum on alone only to sight a massive island he hadn't noticed before. Treading water, he eyed the looming shore. "Maybe they made for land?"
He struck out harder, cutting a line for the beach.
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