Below, the prehistoric Pliosaur lay on the shore, lifting its sharp, elongated jaw, waiting for Tom and Vivi to fall into its mouth from above.
From dozens of meters away, Tom could already faintly smell the waves of bloody stench emanating from the creature's maw.
Tom had no intention of letting the Pliosaur go, but he decided to get back to the island's interior first.
Putting away his fishing rod, Tom quickly took a component from his belt and attached it to the net launcher on his left wrist, making the device appear several times larger than before. The launch port changed from a single hole to two rows of six holes stacked vertically, with a larger central opening visible in the middle.
"What are you doing?"
Vivi, not understanding what Tom was adjusting, asked. The Pliosaur's gaping mouth drew closer and closer...
When the warm, foul-smelling breath wafted up from below, it gave Vivi goosebumps—utterly disgusting.
"Let's go!"
While using the net launcher on his right hand to shoot a line and pull Vivi—who was falling alongside him—closer, Tom raised his left arm.
With a whoosh, a tightly woven large net, connected by six fishing lines, shot out from the augmented launcher on his left wrist.
The crescent-shaped parachute net spread open like a simple parachute. As Tom held Vivi, they used the canopy above to catch the air.
Despite bearing the weight of two people, the parachute allowed Tom and Vivi, while descending, to successfully ride the headwind, escape the range of the prehistoric beast's maw below, and continue slowly drifting toward the island's interior.
Floating slowly down from the sky while getting a chance to see the island's scenery... this was a first for Vivi. Seeing the Pliosaur lying on the shore grow farther and farther away, she could finally calm down.
Earlier, falling from high altitude had felt like the world was spinning. But now, all her inner fear and unease disappeared, as if they were floating on the wind. The wind-borne sensation felt comforting—a sense of freedom impossible to experience with feet planted on the ground.
Immersed in limitless exhilaration, Vivi unconsciously closed her eyes, simply using her body to feel everything. She felt completely integrated with heaven and earth, without worries or restraints, accepting things as they came, drifting with the wind, fully enjoying the thrill of breaking free from constraints during the freefall.
Meanwhile, while holding Vivi and descending, Tom had to keep his left arm raised to control the parachute for a safe landing while also watching for pursuit from the Pliosaur behind.
"Good thing you're not overweight. Otherwise, we'd be in trouble."
Tom said thankfully. If Vivi were heavy, they couldn't have drifted forward on the wind with just one parachute.
Vivi didn't react to his words. Looking down, Tom saw her eyes closed, a look of relaxation on her face, looking quite pleased. He was startled: What? From just a few dozen meters, she's already intoxicated? Does this woman actually enjoy thrill-seeking activities like skydiving?
Just as Tom wondered if Vivi had a thrill-seeking gene, a loud roar came from behind. He hurriedly turned his head and saw the prehistoric Pliosaur slithering across the ground like a snake, rapidly chasing, tearing through vast stretches of forest.
Mr. 3, having emerged from his wax sphere, didn't see Miss Goldenweek but spotted Tom and Vivi gliding in the air with a strange device. He let out a sinister smile, about to chase after them, planning to ambush them from behind as they landed.
Before he could take more than a few steps, a thunderous roar came from behind. The ground shook like an earthquake. Turning, he saw a pitch-black, over-forty-meter-long creature resembling a crocodile charging toward him.
"What kind of monster is this?!"
Mr. 3's eyes nearly popped out, cold sweat pouring down, and he without hesitation once again encased himself in a wax sphere.
The prehistoric Pliosaur then crushed over the small wax sphere like a giant wheel and continued toward Tom.
"It's the type that doesn't easily let go of prey."
Tom had planned to deal with the Pliosaur later when he had time, but it had already chased him this far.
"What's happening?"
Vivi, sensing commotion, opened her eyes to see the Pliosaur roaring angrily as it chased. The wonderful sensation vanished, replaced by disappointment, but she immediately said, "We're in danger!"
Hearing this, Tom froze on the spot.
Damn. If I'm waiting for you to remind me...
Seeing the Pliosaur getting closer and closer and land very close, Tom retracted the parachute on his left wrist.
Vivi had been admiring the crescent-shaped parachute, wanting to remember its design for potential future use. Unexpectedly, she looked up just as Tom reeled it in.
Without the parachute, they immediately plummeted. The sudden weightless sensation made Vivi's heart tighten, but warmth at her waist soon followed, calming her. Her delicate face felt hot, slightly flushed, very unaccustomed.
Just before hitting the ground, with the Pliosaur's foul-smelling gaping mouth nearly upon them, Tom quickly embraced the still-falling Vivi, used the net launcher on his right hand to shoot a line that stuck to a large tree ahead, and swung forward, smoothly avoiding the Pliosaur's bite.
The Pliosaur, chasing Tom, kept its gaping maw open, devouring all trees and beasts blocking its path, terrifying the forest's birds and beasts.
"Good! I'll finish it right here!"
After swinging a good distance forward on the line and landing, Tom released Vivi and turned to face the rapidly crawling Pliosaur.
"Wait, why aren't we running?"
Vivi, steadying herself, asked Tom. With his skills, escaping the Pliosaur's pursuit shouldn't be impossible.
"Because I, the one it sees as prey, am now going to counter-kill it!"
Tom took the fishing rod from his arm sheath, attached a sharp spearhead to the tip, and said to Vivi, "If you're scared, hide over there."
"Do you think I'm a hindrance?"
Vivi asked with some hesitation.
"Not that. You're not fat. You're fine."
Tom's words left Vivi completely confused, her head full of question marks. She truly didn't understand what he meant.
Before she could ask for details, an eight-meter-tall Tyrannosaurus rex charged toward them from ahead. "That dinosaur is huge!" she exclaimed.
Ordinary T. rexes were around six meters. This one was over eight, indeed much larger.
This T. rex had been frightened into panic by the Pliosaur slithering behind it and accidentally ran right into Tom and Vivi.
Unfortunately, Vivi's exclamation was still ringing in her ears when the massive T. rex was swallowed in one bite by the pursuing Pliosaur.
"It ate such a huge T. rex in one bite!"
Vivi watched, shocked, as the Pliosaur nearby chewed the T. rex it had just swallowed.
Loud crunching sounds came from the Pliosaur's mouth—bones being crushed to powder—making Vivi's skin crawl.
"What's strange about that? It often eats T. rexes for breakfast."
Tom said, walking toward the still-consuming Pliosaur, meeting its fierce, menacing dark-green pupils gaze.
"You asked for this!"
Tom suddenly accelerated and charged toward the Pliosaur, his right hand gripping the spear, continuously condensing and compressing power.
Vivi saw the spear drag along the ground in Tom's right hand. As he ran forward rapidly, the sharp spearhead drew a long trail, but the spear in his hand remained perfectly steady.
The Pliosaur seemed to sense danger. It angrily roared skyward and lunged toward Tom with speed far faster than before, long, sharp jaws and ghastly white teeth bared.
A wave of stench rushed toward him. Tom frowned, then leapt sideways to the Pliosaur's flank.
He then jumped back extremely fast, instantly creating a large distance.
With a boom, the Pliosaur's elongated jaws slammed into the ground, missing Tom, causing slight tremors and clouds of dust.
"Why did you retreat..."
Vivi didn't understand why Tom didn't attack after dodging. But before she finished, Tom disappeared from her sight.
Yes, to Vivi, it was like a magic trick—Tom vanished instantly. She couldn't see him at all now, which made her a little panicked.
The Pliosaur suddenly let out an extremely painful wail, startling Vivi as she searched for Tom. "What happened?"
"Spear Style: Instant Strike!"
Tom's spear pierced the Pliosaur's body, the sharp spearhead piercing straight through its jet-black spiked armor.
"How did you get over there?!"
Vivi was so shocked her mouth hung open to see Tom's position completely opposite from where he'd disappeared.
In reality, Tom had used the Soru technique from the Six Powers, combining it with his spear. By maximizing compressed power and accelerating with movement speed more than ten times his usual, he managed to break through the Pliosaur's hard armor in one strike.
He could freely use the not-yet-mastered Soru because the Pliosaur's massive body made the targeting errors from high-speed movement almost negligible.
Before the Pliosaur could turn its massive body toward Tom's previous position, Tom pierced its body from another angle, making it roar in pain.
"Not done yet!"
As Tom pulled out the spear from the Pliosaur's body, a bright red blood fountain sprayed out. The pupils in his eyes changed into crimson, as if dyed red by the blood.
Vivi stared blankly at Tom through the blood-red curtain, watching with her own eyes as his black pupils transformed into dark crimson. In a daze, she had the illusion of seeing Tom transform from a man into a bloodthirsty demon, making her unconsciously step back three paces.
"Continuous Dance!"
As Tom's voice rang out, he once again disappeared from Vivi's sight.
Clang! Clang!
While using Soru to move at extreme speed, Tom's spear occasionally scraped sparks against the ground, leaving crisscrossing trenches.
Though most of the forest nearby had been destroyed by the Pliosaur, some trees still got in the way, which he knocked down incidentally during his movements.
Slish! Slish!
Vivi's vision blurred. Tom appeared, piercing the Pliosaur's body, then in the blink of an eye appeared from another side, leaving another bloody hole.
In just a short moment, Vivi saw no fewer than eight bloody holes on both sides of the Pliosaur's body, all seemingly gushing blood simultaneously.
"ROOOOOAR!!!!!"
Severely wounded, the Pliosaur went berserk. Its long tail like a whirlwind sweeping fallen leaves, swept across the surroundings, making everything a mess; even deeply rooted trees were ripped out.
Vivi felt a cold wind approach, saw the enormous tail sweeping toward her, and had no time to dodge. Just as she was stunned, she suddenly realized the tail was getting farther and farther away—a strange, indescribable feeling.
"I told you to hide."
After using Soru to reach a distant spot and seeing Vivi still standing there blankly, Tom had hurriedly used his fishing rod to "reel" Vivi over.
He panted heavily, his right hand gripping the rod trembling slightly from overexertion. The Pliosaur's spiked hard armor was incredibly tough; the recoil from repeatedly piercing it had left his hand numb.
Just as Vivi was about to say something, Tom ran forward, shouting at the Pliosaur, "Stop right there! Don't run!"
Tom hadn't expected the Pliosaur to be so tenacious. Despite nearly twenty bloody holes, it still had the strength to escape, and very fast at that. Its rapid crawling scraped a layer of skin off the ground, leaving a conspicuous, long blood-stained trail.
After its rampage, the Pliosaur really did run away. As it fled toward the shore, the blood fountains spraying from its body actually knocked down trees on both sides, showing just how strong the spray was.
"You're still chasing it?"
"Of course! It's my prey now! How can I just watch it slip away?!"
As Vivi followed Tom in the same direction, Mr. 3 struggled out of his flattened wax sphere. Coincidentally, Miss Goldenweek found him. Seeing him lying on the ground looking wretched, she walked over and asked, "You look like something ran over you. Are you okay?"
"Who is that man with Princess Vivi?! If not for him, I wouldn't be so unlucky!"
Mr. 3 felt today was extremely unlucky and blamed all his resentment on a certain someone.
Meanwhile, as Luffy tried to catch a flying pterosaur to ride, Zoro and Sanji noticed unusual commotion from Tom's direction and decided to investigate.
Unfortunately, Zoro, walking through the forest, the green-haired man decisively got lost.
Tom chased the fleeing Pliosaur. As it was about to reach the shore and slip into the sea, Tom accelerated.
But just as he was about to catch up, two small, round objects flew toward the Pliosaur, followed by bursts of loud explosions.
Boom! Kaboom!
The Pliosaur, struck by sudden explosions, let out several painful wails. Half its body already in the seawater, it finally stopped moving completely.
"Yahahahaha! As expected of Mr. 5, taking out that ugly creature that suddenly scared us in one go!"
"Hmph. How could such a lowly beast handle us? We are senior agents, after all."
Miss Valentine and Mr. 5, having landed on the island secretly to find Mr. 3, were badly startled when the Pliosaur rapidly crawled out nearby. Instinctively, Mr. 5 dug boogers from his nose and tossed them at the already severely wounded Pliosaur.
If not for Tom's heavy damage leaving many bloody holes, Mr. 5's booger bombs couldn't have harmed the spiked hard armor Pliosaur at all.
But Mr. 5 got lucky. His booger bombsunfortunately exploded near the bloody holes, expanding the wounds and hastening the Pliosaur's death.
"It's you guys!"
Tom glanced at the Pliosaur, half on shore, its bloody holes no longer bleeding—its heart had completely stopped beating, dead beyond doubt. He darkened his face and walked toward Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine. Their attire wasn't much different from Whisky Peak: one a bespectacled afro, the other a fashionable, beautiful blonde woman with a parasol.
"Was it you who finished it off?"
Tom casually pointed at the dead Pliosaur behind him, asking grimly Mr. 5.
"It's you! Yes, I killed it!"
Mr. 5 sneered, saying to Tom, "Last time you escaped us by good luck. I'll soon deal with you just like that beast!"
"You've got nerve! That was my prey! How dare you finish it off without permission?!"
Tom, clenching his right fist, charged at Mr. 5. Vivi, arriving slower, saw Tom full of anger, cursing words she didn't fully understand, and smashing his fist hard into Mr. 5's face.
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T/N :
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