Xia Qiu attacked the Fish-Men, left Arlong Park, sank to the seabed, and waited quietly.
At this moment, a heat flow began to appear within Xia Qiu, spreading outwards to his surroundings.
The heat flow was considerable. If I had to evaluate it, it would be roughly equivalent to the time he attacked the Porcupine Pirates and consumed Moor and the First Mate.
It was a bit more than Lieutenant Colonel Berio, but a little less than Colonel Lido.
Such a heat flow was already quite substantial.
Just two ordinary Fish-Men, who didn't look particularly robust, provided so much energy.
It seemed this was thanks to the toughness of the Fish-Man race; their natural arm strength was ten times that of humans, and their bodies contained even more powerful energy.
Within a not-so-large physique, they nurtured immense strength. This was a horizontal growth, not a vertical one; this energy was more like Reinforcement Energy.
Although Fish-Men were generally taller than humans, for example, Jinbe was three meters tall, Arlong was two meters sixty, and the Giant Squid Fish-Man from the New Fish-Man Pirates could reach four meters.
However, they had a growth limit, and within that limit, their strength continuously increased.
Of course, the giant pufferfish Fish-Man, the Bald Sea God, was an exception; his height was at least over two hundred and fifty meters.
And his strength surpassed that of Jinbe and Sanji, making him a Giant among Fish-Men.
Apart from the giant Giants, the strength growth of most Fish-Men was not significantly different from that of humans.
Xia Qiu was unsure if there was growth energy, but clearly, most of it was Reinforcement Energy.
It was enough.
Two ordinary Fish-Men could provide such energy, making Xia Qiu very excited.
They weren't strong, only responsible for guarding. How much energy would the strong Fish-Man soldiers, officers, and even Arlong possess?
He still needed to attack more Fish-Man soldiers and the Arlong Pirates' officers.
With this thought, Xia Qiu looked at the seabed where he was lying, waiting quietly.
...
Time flowed by, and in the blink of an eye, it was afternoon.
"Why haven't Regin and Peters returned yet?"
In Arlong Park, Hachi, with his six octopus arms, stood there, his four hands crossed over his chest and two scratching his head, looking somewhat agitated. "Did they slack off and go somewhere else?" Hachi was in charge of guarding. As the second-in-command of Arlong Park, his strength was sufficient to handle most threats.
"Lance, Eddie, you two go find them and bring them back," Hachi said, looking at two Fish-Men standing in the distance.
"Yes."
These two Fish-Men immediately responded, walked out of Arlong Park, and headed into the distance.
"Lance, where should we look?" Eddie asked the Fish-Man beside him curiously.
Lance smiled and said, "Regin is a drunkard. After these two sent Lord Arlong off, they probably went to secretly drink. Let's search that forest over there first."
Eddie nodded and walked towards the distance with Lance. But just then, he looked at the distant port and frowned slightly. "Where did the plank road go?"
Of the entire plank road, only a section near the shore remained. The rest of the wooden planks floated on the water, but a large portion had disappeared.
Lance looked at the plank road and asked doubtfully, "Was it dismantled? Or was it knocked down by something?"
"Without the plank road, it will be very inconvenient for Lord Arlong and Kuroobi to disembark. They will be very angry if they see this," Eddie nodded and said to Lance, "Don't worry about Regin and Peters for now. Let's go back and report to Hachi."
"Okay."
Lance and Eddie returned to Arlong Park and told Hachi about the situation. He frowned.
"Who would dismantle the plank road? Did those villagers do it?" Hachi frowned, his expression grim, upon hearing their words.
"No one else but them," Lance said somewhat angrily. "Let's go find them."
"How could it be them?"
A voice sounded from behind, a somewhat childish voice.
"Nami?"
Hachi turned around and saw Nami walking towards them. Hachi asked curiously, "Why do you say it wasn't the villagers?"
Nami snorted and asked, "Why would they do it?"
Hachi thought for a moment and said, "Dismantle the plank road so that the pirate ship can't dock?"
"Idiot."
Nami said exasperatedly, "You are Fish-Men; you won't drown in water. A damaged plank road has no impact on you. It would only anger you, so why would they do it?"
"That's right."
Hachi thought about it. Nami was right; those villagers had no reason to do such a thing.
Lance asked confusedly, "Then why was the plank road damaged?"
Nami thought for a moment and said, "It's possible the plank road wasn't built sturdily, or perhaps the pirate ship hit it when setting sail, or maybe Regin and the other two damaged it?"
Saying this, Nami looked at Lance and asked, "Did you two retrieve the fragments of the plank road to examine them? Are there any signs of collision, or was it dismantled by hand? The reason can be analyzed from the fragments."
"No."
Lance and Eddie shook their heads. Eddie said, "We saw the plank road was broken, so we came to report it."
"Even if you're reporting to me, you should investigate clearly. You're useless, not even as good as Nami."
Hachi snorted and said, "You two better go check it out quickly."
"Yes."
Lance and Eddie quickly responded and ran outside together.
"Hachi, aren't you going with them?" Nami asked Hachi, her eyes flickering.
"It's just a reconnaissance mission. Those two are enough," Hachi shook his head.
"Mm, that's right."
Nami smiled, turned, and walked towards the tower. She climbed the stairs back to her room on the fifth floor, which was piled high with documents.
Nami walked to her desk, picked up her telescope, and looked into the distance through the window.
The entire harbor came into view.
Lance and Eddie then slowly appeared in her sight.
Seeing them, a smile appeared on Nami's lips, her eyes filled with anticipation.
...
"No one has come down to investigate?"
Xia Qiu returned after another meal, lying submerged underwater, waiting.
The two Fish-Men had disappeared. Shouldn't they send someone to investigate?
Someone would come down to repair the plank road.
As soon as they arrived, he could ambush them, kill them, and devour them.
So Xia Qiu lurked at the bottom of the sea, waiting quietly, ready to strike.
But Xia Qiu waited until the afternoon. He went out to eat a few times in between, but no one came.
Could it be that they didn't see it?
Xia Qiu was unwilling to let this opportunity pass. With the main force of the Arlong Pirates gone, this was a perfect chance for him to attack.
At most, he would face a single cadre.
Even if it was a cadre, with a surprise attack, he might still have a chance to fight. Even if he couldn't win, he could escape into the deep sea.
Just a little longer.
Xia Qiu continued to wait, hiding under a distant cliff, sensing the vibrations on the water's surface around him, constantly releasing sonar waves to explore the surrounding waters.
But at this moment.
Splash, splash.
Two vibrations came, and Xia Qiu's echolocation locked onto two figures.
They're here.
Xia Qiu grinned, revealing his ferocious teeth.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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