Facing thirty pirates armed to the teeth, the group of two women, one man, and one cat looked hopelessly outnumbered.
And yet, while surrounded, Zhang Da Ye was calmly… fixing Tom's clothes.
Tom had changed into a cowboy outfit, and after Zhang Da Ye straightened his hat, Tom drew his revolver, twirling it with a flourish—looking rather dashing.
Rui Mengmeng accepted the knight's sword Zhang Da Ye handed her, gripping it nervously with both hands, still a little unsure.
Artoria held her invisible holy sword. She hadn't even bothered activating her magical armor—this 76-million-Berry pirate didn't feel particularly threatening to her.
Brack, the pirate captain, felt insulted. Thirty-two men surrounding four people, and yet these guys were acting like they were on vacation?
The blonde little girl with the ahoge swaying in the wind looked especially ridiculous—did she think that single strand of hair could pierce them to death?
Annoyed, Brack fired a shot into the sky. "Boys! Bring me that money!"
"Yeahhh!!" Thirty-one underlings charged at once.
"They're coming! They're coming!" Rui Mengmeng panicked as pirates rushed toward her, swinging her sword on instinct.
Clang! Her blade knocked an enemy's weapon clean out of his hands, and with surprising force, carved a deep gash across his chest.
"You useless piece of trash!" another pirate cursed, stepping in to cleave her head with a massive blade.
Rui Mengmeng's face was on the verge of tears. "So scary! Too scary!" Yet her body reacted swiftly, sidestepping the strike and thrusting her sword into the pirate's back.
It looked dangerously close—but in reality, she was fine.
Artoria, sticking to her plan of letting Zhang Da Ye and Rui Mengmeng gain real combat experience, was "fighting lazily"—slicing down any pirate that rushed her, but holding back enough not to end things too quickly.
Zhang Da Ye casually grabbed a folding stool, knocking out two pirates with clean swings. He was experimenting with weaponized props. To him, these thugs' attacks were nothing worth worrying about.
One pirate took a stool to the face. Another got clobbered with a frying pan. Then Zhang Da Ye pulled out… a bowling ball.
This bowling ball was odd. It didn't feel heavy in his hands, yet when he lobbed it, it smashed a pirate straight into the ground, leaving him stuck there and unable to get back up.
[Tom's Bowling Ball: Once used to smash Jerry's big cousin straight through the floor… though Tom paid dearly afterward.]
Brack broke into a cold sweat. How the hell were these people beating thirty-plus men?
No—wait, not just people. That cat wasn't normal either. With tongue hanging out and pistols blazing, Tom was gleefully firing away.
Even weirder—the shots hit, but no one died. And weren't revolvers supposed to have only six bullets? Why hadn't he reloaded after more than a dozen shots?
Truth be told, Tom's aim was terrible. Back when he used a shotgun on ducks, he'd fire eight times and barely clip one's wing. Normally, if Tom pulled out a gun, it meant something bad was about to happen.
But here, at such close range with so many targets, all he had to do was shoot. As long as he didn't hit his own allies, it was fine.
And so, pirates were hopping around holding their shot feet, yelling in pain—only to be finished off by Rui Mengmeng, who looked more terrified than they were.
In less time than expected, the pirate crew had been reduced to groaning heaps. Zhang Da Ye turned his eyes to Brack, who had yet to move. Could he handle someone worth 76 million?
He glanced at Artoria. She gave him a reassuring nod. "Go ahead. I'll back you up."
Brack was panicking. Watching all his men get wiped out, he realized he was screwed. He began edging backward, ready to flee.
"Hey! You!" Zhang Da Ye shouted, not knowing his name since Brack hadn't introduced himself.
Brack reflexively turned—just in time to see a streetlight pole crashing down on him, pinning him to the ground.
Even as he blacked out, he couldn't understand—why the hell was there a streetlight pole here?!
Zhang Da Ye scratched his head. "This guy's really worth seventy-six million? Or is this streetlight secretly some kind of Noble Phantasm?"
After all, when he first pulled it from the system, the description said something about Gilgamesh's treasury.
"No," Artoria said flatly, crushing his hopes. "That's just an ordinary, broken streetlight. He was simply too weak."
With all pirates subdued, Zhang Da Ye recalled his props, carefully storing away the streetlight—swinging it around had felt oddly satisfying. With his current strength, he could just barely manage it.
"Let's tie them up first. I want to check out their ship."
They bound the pirates tightly, using knots Artoria had taught him. (Tom's method was wrapping people like caterpillars and finishing with a neat little bow.)
The four of them rowed a small boat toward the pirates' ship.
For Zhang Da Ye, it was the first time seeing such a vessel up close. He was excited. Almost as if responding to his anticipation, the ship's cannon suddenly fired a round.
"Someone's still on board!"
"Excalibur Wind Hammer!"
Artoria released compressed wind from her sword, detonating the cannonball mid-air before it could hit them. Opting for caution, she struck from a distance.
Then she leapt from the small boat, sprinting across the sea as if it were solid ground, and vaulted onto the ship, swiftly cutting down the two pirates loading the next shot.
"…Why can she run on water?" Rui Mengmeng asked in shock.
"She's blessed by the Lady of the Lake. Walking on water is natural for her," Zhang Da Ye explained.
No sooner had he said that than Tom jumped into the sea with a splash—and immediately sank.
Zhang Da Ye quickly fished him out by the scruff of his neck. "What the hell are you doing now?"
Tom, eyes wide with innocence, pointed at Artoria, then at himself, then mimed running in midair.
Zhang Da Ye immediately understood. "You… want to run on water like her?"
Tom nodded eagerly.
"…Forget it. That's her special ability—you can't learn it… uh, actually, maybe don't rule it out. You're the cat who casually strolls in midair sometimes, after all."
So, he let Tom try. While Zhang Da Ye and Rui Mengmeng rowed on, Tom jumped into the sea again and again, climbing back onto the boat each time.
Whether or not he'd master water-walking was uncertain, but at least he was having the time of his life.