OPTC Chapter 202 A-Rank and Ex-Rank
The chubby panda zombie, after knocking down its teammates, hefted its oversized spiked mace and charged back into the animal zombie ranks.
Most of these animal zombies were Perona's subordinates, transformed from cute little animals like pandas, koalas, and kangaroos. Normally, they lived in Perona's private garden, which she proudly called "Perona's Wonder Garden." In truth, it was basically her personal zoo. Outside of Perona herself, perhaps only Robin could understand such an eccentric taste.
At this moment, the animal zombies were attacking Zhang Da Ye and Shark Chili with a variety of weapons. But in reality, it was more like Zhang Da Ye and Shark Chili were the ones chasing them down.
Even though Hogback had strengthened these bodies, making some zombies unusually strong, others fast, and some with incredible jumping power, they still weren't powerful enough.
Shark Chili's strength needed no elaboration—his super-transformed Fishman Karate could earn even Jinbe's praise.
And Zhang Da Ye—while he often called himself the weakest—was still someone capable of leaving "small wounds" on a Sea King. Against zombies, he was more than enough.
The panda zombie swung its massive mace. Zhang Da Ye raised his folding chair to block. If it weren't enchanted, the chair would have been shattered instantly.
Finding the chair a little short in reach, Zhang Da Ye stowed it away and pulled out a streetlamp pole. For large opponents like this, the streetlamp was far more effective.
Too bad he didn't have a bamboo shoot on him. He really wanted to test whether tossing one would make the panda scamper off to fetch it.
"Fishman Karate: Tang Caowa Straight Punch!" Shark Chili launched a fist strike. The shockwave rippled through the fur of the zombies, but nothing else happened.
Shark Chili stared at his fist. "This technique's still too advanced. To create a powerful 360-degree shockwave like Jinbe-sensei… I've got a long way to go."
With all the general-class zombies defeated, the zombie army was collapsing. Only a few ordinary ones crawled out of the rubble to attack, posing little threat.
The strongest among them was probably Hogback's maid, Cindolly. She locked onto Zhang Da Ye, who was swinging his streetlamp. "Dish Disc Attack! One, two, three…"
Despite the flashy name, all she did was fling square plates like shuriken.
According to Hogback, Cindy hated plates because "that woman" once smashed ten plates her fiancé treated as family heirlooms to test him. The result? The fiancé broke off the engagement and kicked her out.
"The woman" must have been the owner of the shadow within Cindolly.
The plates may have looked ordinary, but Cindolly's modified body had immense strength. A plate hurled by her could do serious damage—enough to split Zhang Da Ye's scalp and leave him with a throbbing headache.
But at moments like this, you could always count on Tom.
Once upon a time, Tom had been thrown out of the house for breaking plates too—though that was Jerry's fault. In the process, Tom had honed a first-rate plate-catching talent.
The instant Cindolly threw a plate, Tom darted forward instinctively. He caught one with his left hand, one with his right, and stopped the third with his face.
If Cindolly's plate-throwing skill was A-Rank, then Tom's plate-catching was Ex-Rank. You never knew what stance he'd use to catch the next plate.
"Plates must be wiped out from this world!" Cindolly screamed, furious that this annoying cat wouldn't let her break them. She hurled seven plates at once, harder than before.
Tom leapt and spun, using all four limbs, and just barely caught them all. He stacked them neatly on the ground and wiped his sweat.
Then Cindolly pulled out another stack. Tom braced himself for round two…
Having just defeated the four knight zombies, Artoria glanced at Tom. Frisbee game? He seemed to be enjoying it. Best not to disturb him.
She darted forward, swung her sword twice to intercept a pair of rockets, then leapt past the animal zombies around Zhang Da Ye and struck at empty air.
A spray of blood appeared midair. Absalom's figure flickered into view before collapsing, then vanished again in desperation and bolted.
Six fluttering flags appeared and praised her. "Amazing. I've been searching for him all this time and didn't spot a thing."
"When your eyes can't see, sense their presence," Artoria said calmly, recognizing Ye Yan. "Leave him to me. You should go find the one using ghost powers."
"Fair enough. Right up my alley." Ye Yan slipped away, still cloaked in invisibility, weaving through the battlefield before darting into the castle.
He hesitated as he passed near Cindolly, eyeing the towering pile of plates stacked around Tom. In the end, he didn't knock her out. Let her keep Tom company for a bit longer—Tom actually looked kind of happy. Was this the joy of catching plates?
Tom, tongue lolling, did not feel happy at all. He was exhausted, but he couldn't stand letting even one plate shatter on the ground.
As more plates of varying size flew at him, Tom spun into a whirlwind again.
Meanwhile, the ghost-user Ye Yan sought was peeking out from a window, watching in horror as Artoria once again struck down Absalom.
"Master Moria, this is bad!" Perona wailed, her ghostly body floating through the walls into Moria's chamber.
"What is it, Perona? Sounds like chaos outside. Did you catch them?" Moria lounged in his room, waiting. As soon as he gathered a few shadows, he could go back to sleep.
"No! Absalom's been taken out!"
"What???" Moria finally rose from his bed. "Explain what happened!"
Perona stammered through what she had seen, emphasizing the shark giant smashing buildings, the swordswoman who could see through Absalom's power, and her beloved Kumacy who was about to be destroyed.
Moria's face darkened. He didn't care about Kumacy; if it broke, he could just make another. But someone who could ignore Absalom's invisibility—was that Observation Haki?
He had fought Kaido in the New World. He knew enough to realize these were real heavyweights.
And that ten-meter-tall giant…
"A giant, is it? Fine. Then let's show them what a true giant is!" Moria snarled. He didn't yet have a shadow worthy of himself, but there was no choice now.
He would summon a shadow into a general-class zombie first. Once they crushed these intruders, he would soon have powerful shadows at his disposal.
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