Since Fogg and Winnie were already engaged in battle, Robert decided to personally confront the Marine lieutenant commander who had come to reinforce the enemy.
Last time, he had been recovering from his injuries and had not fought.
Today, he would show this Marine what true terror really meant.
Though Nos had brought three warships, Robert felt no fear whatsoever.
He ordered his helmsman to turn the ship and sail directly toward the reinforcing fleet.
On the deck of his warship, Nos saw that the fighting ahead appeared to be intense, and he let out a slight sigh of relief.
The sea was vast, after all.
Though he had roughly determined the transport ship’s position through prior communication, there was still the risk of misjudging the location or mistiming his arrival.
If he showed up after the Glide Pirates had already stolen the money and fled, his entire plan would have been wasted.
Now, however, everything seemed perfect…
the location was right, the timing was right.
He could enter the battlefield at the most opportune moment.
The Marines on the supply ship were already tying down part of the pirate forces, so he would not have to face too many enemies at once.
It seemed luck was on his side.
Now all that remained was to win the battle.
When Nos spotted Robert’s ship heading toward him, he pointed at Robert and said to Pons, who was standing beside him: “That man is Robert.
Fogg and Winnie are nowhere to be seen…
they are likely already engaging the Marines on that supply ship.” Pons spoke up: “I’ll go and deal with Robert first.” With that, Pons transformed into his Gengar form and flew directly toward Robert’s ship.
Nos had not expected Pons to be so bold as to charge out all by himself.
If his earlier spar with Holt had indeed been him holding back, then such a daring move made sense…
otherwise, it would be sheer recklessness.
Robert saw a purple-black, balloon-like object drifting rapidly toward him and furrowed his brow.
‘What was that thing?
An enemy?
A Devil Fruit user?
But was there any Devil Fruit in the world that looked so strange?’ Whatever it was, since it was coming straight for him, he would simply attack.
Robert pushed off with his feet, using his exceptional leaping ability to launch himself into the air.
“Take this…
Chill Wave!” While airborne, Robert aimed both palms at the rapidly approaching Pons.
A faint blue glow emanated from his palms.
Pons was startled to see the enemy launch a ranged attack and quickly made himself intangible.
However, Robert’s Chill Wave itself had no direct destructive power.
But as its light swept over Pons’s body, it sent a bone-deep chill through him.
This was not a physical cold that made his body feel frigid…
it was a chill that emanated from the very depths of his soul, making him feel as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.
Even with his intangibility, Pons could not fend off this chilling invasion.
Robert was a Paramecia-type Cold-Cold Fruit user, capable of generating “cold” to attack his enemies.
The cold he produced was not limited to a drop in physical temperature…
it also encompassed a coldness of the heart and spirit.
The spiritual cold was especially deadly.
As the chill within Pons’s heart spread, he was soon overwhelmed by feelings of isolation, withdrawal, and terror… Suddenly, the enemy before him seemed terrifying, like an immense mountain pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe.
Pons’s body even began to tremble uncontrollably.
He stopped flying forward and hovered motionlessly in the air.
After landing back on his deck, Robert leaped again, this time launching himself straight at Pons.
When he reached Pons, Robert delivered a falling axe kick from above, slamming his heel down onto Pons’s head.
Pons was sent flying, hurtling downward toward the sea and eventually plunging straight into the water.
Robert, using the momentum from that kick, executed several backflips and landed steadily back on his ship’s deck.
Once submerged, Pons felt his body being enveloped by seawater, and all strength drained from him.
As a Devil Fruit user, he could not escape the sea’s curse that robbed him of his power.
Though Robert’s fruit ability had ceased affecting Pons, he had lost all strength and could not even control his own body as he tried to fly back out.
Pons struggled to hold his breath, but how long could he last?
At this rate, he would eventually drown.
If Lieutenant Commander Nos sent someone to fish him out, he might be saved…
but could he really count on that?
Besides, Nos’s Marines were already engaged with the pirates and might not have the spare manpower to rescue him.
Pons felt his body growing colder.
This time, it was no longer the chill from Robert’s ability, but the genuine cold of being submerged in seawater.
He had been too arrogant.
Relying on his Gengar abilities, he had charged at Robert with overconfidence…
only to be defeated with ease.
‘Was I going to die here in the sea?
I had transmigrated into the world of One Piece out of nowhere, and in only two years, I was about to meet my end in battle.
How utterly tragic…’ If he died now, that would truly be the end.
There would be no more transmigration opportunities.
He refused to accept it…
he was unwilling!
Between his two lives, he had only lived for about twenty-something years.
He did not want to die!
He did not want to die so young!
In that instant, a powerful surge of will to survive erupted from deep within Pons’s heart.
The next moment, his eyes…
red in his Gengar form…
flared with a violet light, and black energy emanated from his body.
In an instant, seawater surged upward into the sky, forming multiple waterspouts.
One of them lifted Pons’s body and carried him high into the air.
After rising to about twenty meters, the waterspout supporting Pons dissipated, and he hovered steadily in the air once more.
“Geh geh geh geh…
!” Pons let out a strange, chilling laugh…
the signature laugh of Gengar.
A violet glow still flickered in Pons’s eyes.
He raised his right hand and pointed at Robert’s ship.
The other waterspouts immediately crashed down upon it.
Robert was horrified, ‘What kind of ability was this?!
As a Devil Fruit user cursed by the sea, what kind of fruit could possibly allow one to control seawater!?’ This technique was one Pons had grasped at the brink of life and death…
Poltergeist.
In the Pokémon games, Poltergeist was a Ghost-type physical attack that controlled the target’s held item to strike them.
If the target had no held item, the move would fail.
Based on the move’s description and in-game animation, Poltergeist used “phantom” or “spirit” powers to control the enemy’s item and attack them.
In this reality, however, the things Poltergeist could control were naturally not limited to items the enemy carried.
Anything within sight could become the object of manipulation.
The damage inflicted depended on the destructive power of the controlled object, rather than on Pons’s own attacking strength.
Moments ago, when he was on the verge of drowning beneath the surface, Pons had erupted with immense power, attaching a large amount of “spirit” energy to the surrounding seawater and shaping it into those twisting waterspouts.
Now, as the waterspouts struck Robert’s ship, they shattered the deck, snapped the mast, tore the sails, and left the entire vessel in shambles.
If this continued, the ship would soon be sunk by the waterspouts.
Robert tried to find an opportunity to counterattack Pons, but the ship was shaking violently from the waterspout strikes.
He lost his footing and stumbled.
By the time he regained his balance, a waterspout struck him directly.
Now it was Robert’s turn to be soaked by seawater and robbed of his strength.
His body slumped onto the deck.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Pons flicked his stubby little hands a few more times.
Several of the pirates’ sabers were pulled from their sheaths by his control, flew into the air, and then plunged down toward Robert.
Utterly weakened and unable to dodge, Robert’s head, chest, and abdomen were quickly pierced through by multiple blades.
He died instantly.
The pirates still struggling to avoid the waterspouts on the deck were utterly devastated.
Their captain…
whom they had believed to be invincible…
had been killed so easily.
Aboard his own warship, Nos was overjoyed at the sight.
He immediately ordered his helmsman: “Advance and attack the enemy ships!” Earlier, when Robert had kicked Pons into the sea, Nos had been full of regret.
How could he have been so foolish as to believe this young man could defeat Robert and his crew?
The boy had charged ahead so eagerly, and Nos had assumed he was truly formidable…
only for him to be effortlessly defeated.
When Pons fell into the water, Nos had genuinely considered ordering a retreat.
But that would undoubtedly be seen as desertion, and if he were held accountable afterward, he would be in deep trouble.
After all, the Marines on the supply ship had all seen him arrive with reinforcements, and it was unlikely the pirates would kill every single one of them.
If any survivors later reported that he had merely circled the area and retreated without fighting, his career…
and even his life…
would be ruined.
He, who loved to calculate gains and losses, had ultimately been undone by his own desires.
If it were not for the possibility of promotion and glory after defeating Robert, would he have gone to such lengths?
He should have just stayed safely at the base and not stirred up trouble.
Now, if he chose to fight, Robert would just crush him again…
and he might even lose his life.
If he chose to retreat, things would not end well either.
Nos was caught between a rock and a hard place.
Meanwhile, Robert’s ship was drawing closer to Nos’s vessel.
He had to make a decision quickly…
fight or flee.
Just as Nos was agonizing over his choice, the situation took a dramatic turn.
Pons burst out of the sea, surrounded by multiple waterspouts, and swiftly killed Robert…
the enemy captain…
in the blink of an eye.
How could Nos not be overjoyed?
How could he not immediately order the attack?