"He's diving down from above."
Miss Goldenweek looked up at Tom riding the giant pterosaur in a dive and said to Mr. 3 beside her.
"Foolish fool! Daring to attack me head-on! I'll show you my power!"
Seeing the person on the pterosaur's back attack with a long whip from about twenty meters in the air, Mr. 3 said to Miss Goldenweek, "Leave this to me. You hide over there."
Standing on the Quetzalcoatlus's back as he drove it toward Mr. 3, Tom separated the reins made from his fishing rod into two, using one as a whip. From high above, he lashed out with a straight, powerful strike down at Mr. 3.
Seeing the long whip from above about to hit him, Mr. 3 gave a sinister smile and pressed his hands to the ground. "You can't hit my Candle Wall!"
With Mr. 3's shout, his hands secreted thick, white candle wax, instantly erecting an extremely hard candle wall before him to block Tom's attack.
"So he's a candle man. No wonder his head suddenly caught fire."
Tom saw that when Mr. 3 used his Devil Fruit power, the hair standing up on his head ignited into small flames. It seemed his hair automatically burned when he used his ability.
Seeing the whip about to be blocked by the Candle Wall, Tom didn't hesitate. Before the whip could strike the wall, he retracted it. Simultaneously, he pulled the reins, directing the Quetzalcoatlus to circle around to Mr. 3's side from the air.
After gaining deeper insight into Fish-Man Karate, Tom's control over force application had become increasingly fluid and precise. That's why he could quickly retract the long whip when Mr. 3 created his Candle Wall defense.
He used a whip instead of a rod or spear because, from high altitude, a whip was more flexible and easier to retract, making it harder for Mr. 3 to dodge.
Mr. 3 hadn't expected that immediately after creating the Candle Wall—before he could even retract his hands from the ground—Tom would pilot the Quetzalcoatlus to his side and launch another whip strike from the air.
Crack!
The long whip struck squarely across Mr. 3's face, sending him flying. A long, slanted whip mark appeared on his face, a bright red mark running from his left cheek diagonally upward to his right eye corner.
"Ah, he hit him."
Vivi had assumed Tom would engage Mr. 3 in ground combat. She had even drawn her weapon, the Peacock Slashers, and prepared to fight. She never expected Tom would simply ride the pterosaur in circles in the sky, using a long whip to injure Mr. 3 from a distance.
In truth, from the very beginning, Tom had no intention of fighting Mr. 3 on the ground. Being airborne gave him a commanding height advantage, able to control the pterosaur and change direction at will, attacking Mr. 3 from various angles. There was no need to abandon such a huge advantage and go down to deal with him.
Most importantly, being airborne gave him a clear view of everything below, so he didn't have to worry about Mr. 3 playing dirty.
"Damn it! That hurts!"
After taking a whip strike and crashing through several trees, Mr. 3 touched the whip mark on his face on the ground. The piercing pain contorted his face.
A sharp whistling sound passed by his ear. No sooner had Mr. 3 stood up than he saw a whip coming from the upper right. Before it even reached him, he felt a cold wind on his face, indicating the immense force behind Tom's strike.
Crack!
Before Mr. 3 could react, he was hit again, sent flying another direction and slammed heavily to the ground. Another blood-red whip mark appeared on his face, running from his right cheek diagonally downward, across the bridge of his nose, to the corner of his mouth on the left side.
The two whip marks crossed, forming a large 'X' on Mr. 3's face.
"Your face looks really ugly."
Miss Goldenweek, seeing the 'X'-shaped wound on Mr. 3's face, spoke with complete sincerity on her innocent face, stating it quite honestly.
"Is now the time to worry about that?! How can you still leisurely sit there drinking tea and eating rice crackers?!"
Mr. 3 was shocked to see Miss Goldenweek had laid out a small mat and was drinking tea and eating snacks amidst all this.
"Didn't you tell me to do this?"
Miss Goldenweek's small childish hands held a cup of steaming tea. She took a sip and said to Mr. 3, "Besides, he's in the air. My ability is useless against him. This is all I can do right now."
"Even if you're not very invested in the mission, you can't be this casual!"
Seeing another whip strike coming from above, Mr. 3 hurriedly said to Miss Goldenweek, "We can't handle him like this for now. Retreat!"
Tom, flying around on the giant pterosaur, constantly changed position. As a candle man, Mr. 3 truly had no way to deal with him. Before he could stop to aim an attack, Tom's whip would surely strike him first.
Rather than passively taking hits, it was better to run first.
Thus, Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek immediately fled, weaving through the forest.
"They're running already? I haven't even used my new move."
Seeing Mr. 3 trying to escape, Tom pulled hard on the reins, making the Quetzalcoatlus speed toward him.
Unfortunately, Mr. 3 only had two legs. No matter how fast he ran, he couldn't escape the airborne pursuit of Tom on the Quetzalcoatlus.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sounds rang out in succession. While chasing Mr. 3 from the air, Tom relentlessly attacked with his long whip. The whip strikes tore his clothes and left more and more long bloody marks on his body.
"Why does he keep attacking me?!"
Mr. 3 was starting to lose his endurance. Though despicable at heart, he always considered himself an artist, dressing refinedly with an artistic flair, complete with elegant glasses.
But now, his clothes were tattered. Every movement pulled at his wounds, making him grimace in pain. The large 'X' on his face was almost deformed. There was no trace of his usual refined appearance; he looked utterly wretched.
"Miss Goldenweek has fallen behind."
Vivi noticed Tom only attacked Mr. 3. Miss Goldenweek, though slower, wasn't targeted—likely because Tom disdained attacking a little girl.
"I know. But I don't want to deal with her now. I'm not a pervert."
In truth, Tom saw Miss Goldenweek falling behind during the chase, but he truly had no intention of attacking her. He really had no interest in whipping a girl who looked no more than ten years old.
I never told you to whip Miss Goldenweek either. Compared to you, I'm the normal one, right?
Vivi thought, a dark cloud over her head upon hearing Tom's words.
"I'll turn him into a wax doll statue!"
Mr. 3 could no longer endure it. While escaping, he looked back at Tom on the giant pterosaur, his eyes flashing with ferocity. This time, when Tom's whip sent him flying, he learned his lesson. He actually created a wax sphere to encase his entire body, making himself impervious to Tom's attacks from any angle.
"Hmm. He had this trick up his sleeve. Let's keep chasing."
Tom watched as Mr. 3 transformed into a wax sphere and began rolling rapidly forward, smashing through several large trees without losing momentum, quickly leaving Miss Goldenweek far behind. He hurriedly urged the Quetzalcoatlus to pursue.
Chasing further, without realizing it, Tom on the Quetzalcoatlus drew closer to the sea. At that moment, the previously docile pterosaur suddenly went berserk. Its body shook violently as if gripped by fear, ignoring the pull of Tom's reins, insisting on turning back.
"What's going on?"
Vivi lost her balance, nearly fell, but was caught by Tom.
"I think there might be something in the sea below that's scaring it."
Tom focused his gaze on the waters below. The Quetzalcoatlus was like it had gone mad, completely out of control. Just as he pulled back the reins, he saw a massive creature over forty meters long surge from the sea toward them, its speed like a rapidly accelerating rocket.
"What's that?!"
Vivi saw the giant creature had spikes all over its back. At first glance, it resembled a crocodile, but much larger, with a dark-colored body. Its tail alone was over ten meters long. Its fierce and brutal gaze sent chills down her spine.
Tom, seeing the giant creature crash toward them, had no mood to answer questions. Before he could do anything, the pterosaur he was riding was struck by the creature's pointed head, knocking it unconscious.
The massive impact sent Tom and Vivi on the pterosaur's back flying nearly a hundred meters into the air.
Looking down as the island's scenery grew smaller and smaller, for a moment, both Tom and Vivi felt like they could truly fly.
As Tom and Vivi fell from the hundred-meter height, they saw the giant creature fall back into the sea, raising a massive wave. Then it emerged from the surface, crawling onto the shore, crushing a large swath of jungle. It raised its head, opened its long, sharp jaws, revealing rows of white teeth, and swallowed the falling Quetzalcoatlus in one bite.
After devouring the pterosaur, the giant creature roared skyward. The thunderous sound wavesechoed across heaven and earth, shattering a small patch of jungle ahead and kicking up rolling dust. It didn't close its mouth but kept its long, gaping maw open. Rows of hundreds of extremely sharp teeth gleamed with cold, sinister light in the sunlight.
"It wants to eat us!"
"We're so small; we probably wouldn't even fill the gaps between its teeth! But it still won't let us go. Truly a beast!"
Vivi and Tom had different reactions seeing the giant creaturelying on the shore, mouth open, waiting for them to fall in and deliver themselves.
"How can you still say things like that?! Think of something fast, or we'll be eaten!"
Vivi saw remaining, bloody bones in the creature's mouth, judging them to be the remains of the recently eaten Quetzalcoatlus. She was so frightened her face turned pale, screaming in panic, "No! What's going to happen to us?!"
"Why are you in such a hurry? It wants to eat us, but I want to kill it!"
While falling, Tom carefully examined the giant creature waiting below with its mouth open, excitedly saying to Vivi beside him, "Look! It's even larger than a T. rex. It must be that prehistoric sea monster, a Pliosaur! It's a carnivorous giant creature even more terrifying than a T. rex. My first time seeing one. But I didn't expect it could live on land too. Is it amphibious?"
"I don't care what it is!"
Vivi saw they were about to fall into the prehistoric behemoth's mouth as food, yet Tom was still explaining what kind of creature it was. She sincerely hoped this was just a nightmare...
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T/N :
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