Xia Qiu charged back into the battlefield. Seeing Xia Qiu's figure, Arlong felt fear for the first time.
He wasn't his opponent, and he couldn't possibly win.
Getting close to him was useless. How could he possibly defeat him?
Arlong had the thought of being invincible for the first time.
But as he hesitated, Xia Qiu charged straight at him.
This time, his target was Arlong.
At this moment, there were only three Fish-Men on the battlefield: Arlong, Hachi, and a Fish-Man soldier. Arlong was the strongest, the fastest, and contained the most Reinforcement Energy.
Xia Qiu's first target for consumption was Arlong; there was no way he would let him escape.
So, Xia Qiu aimed for Arlong.
"The target is me?"
Seeing Xia Qiu charging at him, Arlong temporarily abandoned the idea of escaping and had no choice but to fight.
Xia Qiu was still more than ten meters away. Arlong immediately dodged, pushing off with his legs and darting to the right.
Trying to dodge?
Xia Qiu immediately twisted his body and swam after Arlong.
At this distance, Xia Qiu could still change direction and hadn't lost Arlong.
Arlong continued to retreat. Xia Qiu's head brushed past his body, allowing him to narrowly evade the pursuit.
Just then, Hachi also lunged forward, aiming for the area beneath Xia Qiu, from his pelvic fin to his anal fin.
Xia Qiu wasn't worried. He slightly shifted his body, aiming his massive pectoral fin at Arlong. At the same time, his tentacles separated, extending to the right and rear.
Arlong had no way to dodge Xia Qiu's pectoral fin. Xia Qiu's pectoral fin was about eight meters long, representing 20% of his body length, larger than the 15% of a blue whale, but significantly smaller proportionally than that of a shark.
Arlong didn't dodge. Instead, he directly spread his arms and grabbed towards the side of the pectoral fin.
Bang.
Arlong was hit by the pectoral fin, but he also managed to grab the inner part of the fin with his hands, about two meters from Xia Qiu's body.
"I'll tear off your pectoral fin."
Arlong applied a little force, but Xia Qiu continued to charge forward with extreme speed, forcing Arlong to hold on tightly.
Meanwhile, Hachi had reached Xia Qiu's abdomen and intended to attack, only to find that Xia Qiu's abdomen was covered in four layers of spikes.
If I attack, I'm bound to get hurt.
Arlong adapted to Xia Qiu's movements and was about to exert force.
At that very moment, the tentacles struck.
Two tentacles whipped directly towards Arlong's body, while the other two lashed out at Hachi.
"Not good."
Arlong felt a tremor from below, knowing the tentacles were coming. He quickly dodged, but being pinned by the pectoral fin prevented him from dodging upwards. So, he slid his body downwards and simultaneously stomped his right foot towards Xia Qiu's body.
Arlong's body was a towering two point six meters. He held onto the two-meter section and contracted his body, stepping onto the area below Xia Qiu's gills.
Whoosh.
Arlong shot past Xia Qiu's pectoral fin, continuously dodging Xia Qiu's tentacles.
However, Xia Qiu's tentacles were too long, reaching twelve meters. As Arlong moved away from the edge of the pectoral fin, he was struck by a tentacle.
Arlong didn't panic. He spun to the right, dodging the tentacle's lash with his side.
Facing the lashing tentacles, Hachi retreated rapidly, narrowly avoiding them as well.
Xia Qiu, however, passed by both of them, widening the distance.
Another failure.
Xia Qiu felt a bit frustrated. These two only dodged and didn't fight back, leaving him helpless.
Arlong and Hachi were also incredibly vexed.
Fighting him was impossible; there was nowhere to land a blow.
The front had sharp teeth and ramming horns, the back had dorsal fins and spikes, the abdomen had tentacles, the rear abdomen had spikes, and the tentacles could also attack.
He could lash out from the sides, and combined with his body, it was very difficult to attack him.
"He ran?"
Arlong suddenly noticed another Fish-Man soldier in the distance stealthily moving away from the battlefield.
He was weak and couldn't even dodge Xia Qiu, so he simply fled.
Was it just him and Hachi left?
Arlong's heart was filled with despair.
At this moment, Xia Qiu circled around and swam downwards, disappearing into the seabed.
"He's gone?"
Hachi blinked, looking in Xia Qiu's direction.
"Let's go, quickly."
Arlong, his body covered in blood, yelled at Hachi as they swam forward.
After swimming for a while, a massive tremor came from beneath them.
Xia Qiu burst out from below again, attacking the two of them.
"Finished eating, let's go again."
After eating a shark weighing over two tons, Xia Qiu charged back, engaging the two.
Boom, boom, boom.
Xia Qiu's impacts were relentless. Arlong and Hachi dodged in time, avoiding major injuries, but they sustained wounds.
The continuous damage accelerated their stamina drain.
Xia Qiu was confident that if this continued, exhausting them to death would be no problem.
"Boss, what do we do next?"
Hachi stood beside Arlong, looking at the giant Sea Fish swimming in the distance, and asked breathlessly.
"We're no match for him. If this continues, we'll both die."
Arlong narrowed his eyes, then said, "You run directly in a moment, I'll hold him off."
"Run?"
Hachi looked at Arlong, surprised that his boss would tell him to run, and said, "I don't want to run."
"If you don't run, we'll both die here," Arlong said coldly.
Hachi said anxiously, "Then I'll stay and hold him back, Boss, you run."
"Can you stop him?" Arlong glanced at him sideways.
Hachi lowered his head and said, "I..."
Arlong said coldly, "You don't have a sword, you can't even hurt him, how can you possibly stop him?"
"Then fight him."
Hachi said angrily, "If I'm going to die, I'll die with you, Boss Arlong."
"Idiot, our Pirate Crew has already lost so many men, do you want to see the entire crew wiped out?" Arlong glared at Hachi and said, "If you stay, you can't stop him, but if I stay, I can ensure you survive. This is the best outcome."
Arlong was no longer willing to run. He had killed so many of his subordinates, how could he possibly flee now?
More importantly, this Sea Fish wouldn't let him run; he was its primary target.
Instead of this, it was better to let Hachi leave, and he would stay and have a good fight with it.
"Boss..."
Hachi was unwilling to do this.
Arlong looked at Hachi and said, "I need you to go back and take the Fish-Man soldiers who stayed behind back to Fish-Man Island. Ari and the others don't like attacking humans, so I had them stay behind. You also don't like attacking humans, so you survive and take them back to Fish-Man Island."
"Back to Fish-Man Island?" Hachi's eyes widened.
Arlong nodded and said, "That's right, back to Fish-Man Island."
There was a hint of regret in Arlong's eyes, not regret for targeting people, but regret for bringing them out and letting them die outside.
"Okay, I'll take them back," Hachi said seriously, then turned to leave.
But at this moment, Arlong said, "Don't go directly to Jumada Island. I might not be able to hold out until you get back to the island; its speed is far too fast for you. And be careful, it has a way to lock onto us. But the range is limited, I estimate around a thousand meters. So, first head towards the Zhumeda Archipelago, create some distance, then change direction and leave. Find a place to hide for a few days, then return to the island from the back of Jumada Island."
"Boss Arlong."
Hearing this, Hachi could no longer hold back his tears and wept profusely.
"Get lost."
Arlong roared as Xia Qiu charged towards him.
"Yes."
Hachi turned and left, swimming into the distance.
Arlong, however, charged directly at Xia Qiu, his eyes filled with killing intent.
I might not die.
I want to have a good fight with you.
...
Ten minutes later, Xia Qiu gnawed Arlong's corpse to pieces and swallowed it.
"So troublesome."
Xia Qiu's body was covered in blood, and while he hadn't sustained any fatal injuries, he was wounded all over.
Ten minutes.
Xia Qiu and Arlong had battled for a full ten minutes after Hachi escaped.
During these ten minutes of fighting, Xia Qiu had been the one holding back.
This was because Arlong was attacking him with reckless abandon, trying to trade injuries.
Xia Qiu could only dodge, accumulating numerous wounds on his body. Some were deep enough to expose bone, but none were fatal.
He had finally killed Arlong.
This would provide him with a massive amount of Reinforcement Energy.
But Xia Qiu didn't have time to wait.
There was still Hachi.
Xia Qiu noticed him heading towards Zhumeda Island, disappearing from the edge of his echolocation.
It had only been ten minutes; he was sure he could catch up.
Xia Qiu swam in the direction of Zhumeda Island.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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