Arlong never imagined that this Sea Fish would actually circle back and kill his remaining Fish-Man subordinates.
Just a fish, and it could pull the tiger away from its mountain. I can't even do that.
Arlong was furious and charged directly at the Sea Fish.
But the next moment, the Sea Fish accelerated away, swimming towards the distance, glancing back at him before leaving.
This provocation made Arlong even angrier, and he hastily gave chase.
Hachi followed closely, but as he passed the Spab, he heard Fish-Men calling for help nearby. He also remembered the Sea Fish's act of circling back.
If he chased alone, he might not catch up. And if the Sea Fish got far away and circled back again, the remaining Fish-Man soldiers could also be killed.
"Don't chase anymore."
So he suppressed the anger in his heart with all his might, stopped Hachi, and turned back, shouting, "Treat the wounded."
Besides Arlong and Hachi, there were nearly ten other surviving Fish-Men.
Four of them had left with Arlong and Hachi, four survived, and two others were injured by Xia Qiu.
About seven or eight had been eaten.
"That means the Arlong Pirates now only have sixteen Fish-Men."
Arlong's expression was grim. Including himself, there were twelve people here.
Only four Fish-Men remained guarding Arlong Park, making a total of sixteen. Add Nami and Moo Moo, and there were only eighteen.
Two out of three executives were lost.
The entire Pirate Crew lost half of its Fish-Man soldiers, weakening its strength by two-fifths.
"Damn it."
Arlong's face was gloomy, his originally blue skin now turning blue-black.
Arlong found Kaneshiro still alive and asked him, "What happened after I left?"
"After you left, he came back again, crashed twice more, and then the ship couldn't hold up. We had to go into the water, and he attacked us," Kaneshiro said nervously.
"Crashed four times? And the ship sank?" Arlong asked incredulously.
Kaneshiro said nervously, "Boss Arlong, the first three crashes damaged two compartments each. The fourth crash damaged three compartments, and the four locations were very scattered, disrupting the buoyancy balance."
Arlong glared at Kaneshiro and asked, "What were you doing? Why didn't you repair it?"
"This kind of damage requires major repairs, it couldn't be fixed at all," Kaneshiro replied, lowering his head, his voice trembling.
"Useless."
Arlong slammed the water, wanting to raise his hand to slap the shipwright to death, but he held back in the end.
"Boss Arlong, what do we do next?" Hachi asked from the side.
"What can we do?"
Arlong snorted and said, "The ship is broken, we can only go back for now."
"What about the Sea Fish?" Hachi asked. "Just let him leave like that?"
"Can you catch him?"
Arlong glared at Hachi, then said, "We'll deal with the Sea Fish when we get back. We've only gone out twenty nautical miles, we'll swim back."
"Yes."
Hachi and the other Fish-Men responded. After treating the wounded, they submerged and swam together towards the distance.
...
"Are we going back? It's in the direction of Jumada Island."
Xia Qiu, hundreds of meters away from the Arlong Pirates, detected their departure with echolocation. The direction they were heading was Jumada Island, so he followed.
It went smoother than expected.
He hadn't expected it to be Chuu who came down after attacking the pirate ship; he thought it would be a regular Fish-Man.
Chuu's specialty was water cannons and speed. The power of his water cannon was immense; if it hit him, it might blast off his scales.
But in terms of strength, he was the weakest among all the executives.
Xia Qiu easily captured and killed him, then moved away from the ship.
Afterward, he located people chasing from behind. The fastest would definitely be Arlong, followed by the one with eight arms, Hachi, and other soldiers.
Xia Qiu led Arlong for four or five nautical miles, creating a distance of seven to eight hundred meters. When he saw Arlong stop, he made a big circle and turned back to find the Fish-Men near the Sea Ship.
Upon returning to the sea, he found that the ship hadn't sunk.
This thirty-meter-long ship, three years ago, before the Arlong Pirate Ship even reached the East Blue, Xia Qiu could have broken its keel and created a crack from bottom to top.
And now, Xia Qiu could directly shatter the ship.
Even with larger ships, Xia Qiu could make them irreparable and sink them slowly.
But this ship, he hadn't sunk it in two attempts, and it could still sail.
He crashed into it twice himself, causing the ship to sink and forcing the Fish-Men into the water.
The materials of this ship were not ordinary; it was much sturdier than a typical pirate ship, truly living up to its origin from the Grand Line.
So, if Arlong hadn't pursued him, he probably wouldn't have found any opportunity to attack around the ship.
But fortunately, Arlong chose to give chase and was left behind by him, giving him the chance to completely destroy the pirate ship and consume seven or eight Fish-Men.
At this moment, Arlong returned to the ship's side, chasing him.
Xia Qiu chose to flee, planning to wait until they had swum a certain distance and were exhausted before attacking.
With Arlong, Hachi, and ten soldiers, some of whom were injured, Xia Qiu actually felt he had a decent chance of defeating them.
However, he was unwilling to take risks, unwilling to let any of them escape, and even more unwilling to sustain significant injuries.
Just one misstep could lead to his utter ruin.
Therefore, Xia Qiu opted for the method with the highest success rate.
Another important point was that by consuming Chuu and so many Fish-Men, he would gain a tremendous amount of Reinforcement Energy, even more than when he consumed Kuroobi.
Once digested, his physical strength would increase again.
And when they were exhausted, it would be an even more foolproof plan.
Of course, these were just excuses. The most crucial reason was that Xia Qiu was an idealist; the most important thing in anything he did was to follow his heart.
Xia Qiu kept pace with the Arlong Pirates, trailing them from a distance of about seven to eight hundred meters.
At this distance, Xia Qiu could still pinpoint their forms.
In the water, Fish-Men were even more agile than on land.
But the problem was that he had devolved certain fish-like characteristics, and his physique wasn't suited for swimming entirely in water, leading to greater resistance.
Secondly, their method of propulsion was similar to humans, requiring the strength of their arms and legs.
There was also the matter of rest. Fish only needed minimal propulsion to maintain balance while resting; many fish would slightly move their pectoral fins to maintain a basic state of equilibrium.
But Fish-Men were different; they needed to relax their bodies and required an environment without significant pressure, among other things.
Furthermore, differences in feeding and water pressure would lead to their stamina depletion.
So, while they could move forward in the water, they still consumed a great deal of energy.
And when their stamina reached a certain point, it would be his time to strike.
Xia Qiu followed closely behind them, waiting for the perfect opportunity to arise.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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