Shanks, however, was already filled with confidence.
"Don't worry! They aren't the only ones who know how to adapt in battle—we do too!"
"Today, let's see whether their rate of mutation can keep up with our ability to adapt!"
With that, he leapt forward, diving toward another of the biological weapons.
This one was covered in a thick layer of slime, able to easily dissolve and neutralize all manner of attacks.
Though it had yet to reveal any particularly deadly offensive ability, even under the combined assault of dozens of pirate elites, it remained completely unharmed.
Shanks' newly refined Finger Gun (Shigan) technique was precisely the kind of targeted strike that could pierce through such a creature!
But just as he was about to strike, a massive figure suddenly barreled in from the side, cutting directly across his path.
If Shanks did not halt his attack, he would end up striking this figure instead.
Charlotte Linlin!
"Outta the way, red-haired brat!" Big Mom bellowed while wildly swinging her thick arms.
A wide-brimmed hat shot through the air, landing squarely in her grasp. She flicked its brim in the opposite direction, desperately trying to slow her momentum.
A dark cloud raced in behind her, cushioning her back to bleed off the terrifying force of her impact.
Seeing this, Shanks had no choice but to abandon his attempt to support the squad of elite pirates.
Catching her by the leg with one arm, he spun with her momentum, applying just the right angles of force. Bit by bit, he redirected her momentum until finally he managed to pivot her into a controlled spin.
After more than ten dizzying rotations, the terrible impact force was at last completely dispersed.
Panting heavily, Big Mom shook her head like a rattle drum.
"That thing is too damn scary! I swear—after this, I'll never eat crab again!"
Shanks followed her gaze—and froze.
Before them loomed a colossal crab, towering nearly thirty meters tall. One massive pincer clamped around the Moby Dick's mast, lifting its entire bulk high above the deck, while the other pincer swung down in devastating arcs!
Each swipe, each smash, each snap carried unmatched brute strength!
Even Whitebeard himself, charging in with blade in hand, was caught by a sweeping blow—sent spinning through the air, smashing through the ship's railing, and plunging straight into the sea!
Several fearless pirates leapt from the mast, blades pointed downward, using their weight to drive their strikes into the crab's shell.
But in an instant, the fine hairs covering its carapace stiffened into hardened steel bristles!
The pirates were skewered at once.
The steel bristles writhed and twisted, shredding their bodies into pulp, which the shell then absorbed—digesting the gore before their very eyes at a horrifying speed.
Shanks stood dumbstruck. For the first time, he grasped the dreadful truth: not a single part of these alien weapons was useless.
Even each individual hair existed solely for killing!
The giant crab raised its pincer again, preparing to crush over a dozen elite pirates in a single blow.
Shanks didn't dare delay any longer. With a swift step, he slid beneath the monster's belly.
He drove his Finger Gun relentlessly into what seemed to be the softer underbelly—firing off a thousand strikes in mere moments, each one landing on the exact same spot!
"Even dripping water can pierce stone! I refuse to believe that no matter how tough your shell is, it can withstand this kind of continuous assault!"
Brimming with confidence, Shanks delivered his strikes—only for the next instant to freeze in horror.
The crab's belly was not hard at all—it was soft. Soft, yet impossibly tough and elastic.
Each strike he landed was absorbed and stored within the shell, then, at the moment his assault paused, unleashed back at him all at once!
It was as if Shanks had delivered a thousand Finger Guns directly against his own fingertips in a single devastating counter-blow!
Even as he realized this at the last instant, and shifted his force to disperse some of the impact, he barely avoided having his only remaining arm destroyed.
Even so, his body was overwhelmed, paralyzed, robbed of movement.
At that moment, the crab's belly hairs bristled, hard as steel!
Then, its massive body came crashing down along the mast, straight toward Shanks.
Shanks—was in peril!
Roya flashed past high in the air, but this time, he truly had no chance to intervene.
The navy's defensive line on the other side was already collapsing.
At that critical moment, Charlotte Linlin's enormous form suddenly threw itself between Shanks and the descending crab!
Her flabby arms braced against the crushing weight of the monster's body.
The steel bristles stabbed mercilessly into her flesh, piercing her all over!
Big Mom let out a pained scream.
The next second, the bristles churned violently, ripping through her body in a grotesque frenzy.
Her flesh was shredded apart in an instant!
Shanks regained mobility just in time, and with instinctive desperation, caught hold of a massive hunk of flesh that fell toward him. Clutching it tightly, he leapt clear of the crab's impact zone.
With a thunderous crash, the blow landed.
Even the Moby Dick's titanic frame shook violently, heaving up and down on the waves.
Had Big Mom not intercepted, Shanks would surely have been reduced to a smear of flesh!
Shanks stared at the bloody mass in his hands—terror and gratitude welling in equal measure—only to realize with sudden joy:
The flesh still retained a human shape.
It was Charlotte Linlin herself—stripped of skin and fat, reduced to bare muscle and bone!
Her massive nine-meter form had been forcibly slimmed to less than five meters tall in a grotesque parody of "weight loss."
"Linlin, now you understand how much it hurt when that brat Momonosuke whipped me on Onigashima, don't you?"
Kaido suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding a lump of black, tarry slime. Without hesitation, he smeared it across Linlin's body, covering every inch.
Then he chuckled softly.
"This stuff should patch you up quick. Congratulations—you've finally lost weight!"
Linlin's face, covered in black slime, twisted into a ghastly smile.
With a frail, trembling voice, she muttered,
"This time… I swear I'll give up sweets."
Shanks couldn't help but laugh, handing her over to Kaido for care. Then, turning back, he charged once more at the giant crab.
Having suffered once already, he now knew exactly how to bring it down.
"So, you absorb force only to rebound it back, huh? Let's see how you handle this!"
His fist turned, gathering force into a spiraling, drill-like motion. With all his might, Shanks drove it straight into the monster's shell!
Pls drop some power stones supper me at my
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