Pons had not previously disclosed the nature of his abilities to anyone.
Therefore, Reg and the other Marines were taken completely by surprise when he transformed right before their eyes, and they all stared in utter astonishment.
The most striking thing was just how bizarre Pons’s transformed appearance was…
though they had seen other Devil Fruit users before, what Pons had become now… what exactly was it?
Pons flew directly toward Narut.
Though he did not know the man by sight, Reg had mentioned that he was a Swordfish Fruit user, and among the pirates present, only one had a distinctly fish-like face.
Among the merchant ship’s guards, there was one skilled fighter who, even after his companions had fallen one by one, continued to fight fiercely and took down several pirates.
In response, Narut had activated his Devil Fruit ability and engaged the man personally.
With his fruit ability activated, Narut’s face transformed into that of a fish, making him look somewhat like a fish-man.
The most significant difference, however, was that this “fish-man” could not enter the water.
He stood over two meters and fifty centimeters tall and looked immensely imposing.
At this moment, he was clearly overpowering that skilled guard.
Narut’s weapon was a large chopping blade about one meter and fifty centimeters in length.
Combined with the explosive power granted by his Zoan-type Devil Fruit ability, each swing carried tremendous intimidation.
The guard he was facing was named Josh, who stood just over one meter and ninety centimeters tall.
Compared to Narut, he looked rather small and was only able to hold his ground by relying on his reasonably competent swordsmanship to keep Narut at bay.
“Hehehehehe…” Narut let out a strange, grating laugh and then said to his opponent: “You’re pretty nimble with your blade.
Why not join my pirate crew?
As a pirate, pillaging wealth will earn you far more than working as a paid guard!” “I refuse!
I would never associate myself with vile pirates!” Josh rejected Narut’s offer outright.
“You ungrateful fool…
then die!” Just then, some of the surrounding pirates called out to Narut: “Captain, the Marines are here!” But Narut paid it no heed, ‘The Marines?
It was just that Reg fellow with his useless sailors again…
nothing to worry about.’ “Take some men and intercept the Marines.
I’ll deal with this one first, then I’ll handle Reg afterward,” Narut ordered his subordinates.
That subordinate was about to carry out the order when Pons flew in from the air.
Without a word, Pons hurled a Shadow Ball directly at Narut’s head the moment he was within range.
Narut sensed the disturbance from behind.
After forcefully driving Josh back with a heavy swing, he turned around and saw a pitch-black orb hurtling toward him.
Even Narut was startled.
He quickly swung his large chopping blade to intercept the Shadow Ball that was about to strike him.
The Shadow Ball exploded upon contact with the blade, sending Narut staggering backward two steps.
By then, Josh had already regained his rhythm and lunged forward with his sword, thrusting at Narut.
Caught between attacks from both directions, Narut was thrown into disarray.
Combined with Josh’s reasonably skilled swordsmanship, Narut made a careless mistake and was stabbed in the ribs by his opponent.
Injured, Narut’s temper flared.
His eyes toward Josh grew noticeably more vicious and murderous.
‘I was merely trying to recruit you earlier, so I wasn’t going all out.
Do you actually think that was the limit of my strength?!’ “Rushing Water Blade: Fish Leap Serial Slash!” Leveraging the formidable physical prowess granted by his Zoan-type ability, Narut unleashed a flurry of slashes in the span of an instant…
too fast for the naked eye to track.
The continuous torrent of blades crashed down upon Josh like layer upon layer of surging waves, as if intent on shredding his body to pieces.
Josh managed to parry the first three strikes with his swordsmanship, but then his shoulder and abdomen were slashed in quick succession, blood gushing from both wounds.
Just as Narut was about to bring his blade down and sever Josh’s head, Pons fired another Shadow Ball at Narut.
Though Narut could have killed Josh first and then dealt with the Shadow Ball’s attack, doing so would still risk injury.
In that instant, Narut made a snap decision…
he abandoned his pursuit of Josh entirely, leaped into the air with his exceptional jumping power, and landed atop the mast.
He glared furiously at Pons, who was hovering not far away in midair.
Like everyone else who saw Gengar’s form for the first time, Narut’s initial reaction was: ‘What in the world was this thing?’ But in the next moment, he stopped caring about that question.
Whatever it was, all that mattered was that it was an enemy.
And if it was an enemy, then it had to be eliminated!
“Rushing Water Blade: Fish Leap Assault!” Narut bent his legs slightly, raising his large chopping blade above his head.
After a brief moment of gathering power, he shot through the air like an arrow released from a bow, hurtling toward Pons with overwhelming speed.
His intent was to pierce this bizarre enemy clean through with an attack of unstoppable momentum.
The sheer force and intimidation of this technique were indeed formidable.
Against any other opponent, it might well have been a one-hit kill.
But Pons showed no intention of dodging or evading.
Instead, he simply phased his body into intangibility.
Narut’s blade and body passed straight through Pons without inflicting any harm whatsoever.
‘What just happened?!’ As Narut plummeted back down, his mind went completely blank.
He could not comprehend what had occurred just now.
Because his attack had carried such overwhelming momentum, Narut landed not on the merchant ship he had been on previously, but on his own pirate vessel below.
His feet struck the deck with tremendous force…
combined with his weight of over ninety kilograms, the impact left two large craters in the planks.
Narut pulled his feet out of the holes and looked up, glaring at Pons once more, ‘Physical attacks did not work on that peculiar thing?
Was that not a trait exclusive to Logia-type users?
But that thing, though bizarre in appearance, did not look like a Logia-type at all…’ The question was, what was he supposed to do against such an opponent?
Meanwhile, the Marines had already engaged the pirates in combat.
After leaving ten sailors to guard the prisoners, Reg led the remaining Marines in their assault on the pirates.
Reg charged aboard the pirate ship first, his face fierce as he faced the bloodthirsty pirates.
Lieutenant Reg’s weapon was an iron rod about half a meter in length.
Though his combat ability was not as strong as Zodyl’s or Narut’s, he was undeniably fearsome against ordinary pirate grunts.
He quickly took down several pirates with ease.
Narut noticed this and wanted to go after Reg, but Pons once again blocked his path.
“Acid Spray!” Pons spat several globs of acid at Narut in rapid succession.
Narut instinctively swung his blade to deflect them.
Though his fierce slashes scattered the acid globs, the splattering droplets still splashed onto his skin, burning and corroding it.
“AAAAGH…
!” The searing pain coursing through his body tore a furious roar from Narut’s throat.
His glare at Pons grew even more vicious.
“I swear I’ll kill you!” Pons ignored the man’s blustering.
To him, it was nothing more than the impotent rage of a cornered foe.
However, now that the Marines had boarded the ship, using Smog would not be advisable…
it would risk poisoning the Marines as well.
Using Confuse Ray on Narut was also not an ideal strategy; if the confusion drove him into a frenzy, he might ignore Pons’s subsequent attacks and instead cause carnage among the Marines who had already come aboard.
As for Lick, which he had never once used in all this time…
there was absolutely no way he would use it on a creature like this.
Just thinking about it made him queasy.
That left only Shadow Ball and Acid Spray as viable options.
Still, against an opponent of Narut’s caliber, those two skills ought to suffice.
Pons continued pelting Narut with Acid Sprays.
Narut, afraid of being splashed by acid once again, dared not continue deflecting them with his blade.
Instead, he was forced to dodge and weave across the deck to avoid the attacks.
But the deck only offered so much space.
Some Acid Sprays struck the planks and splattered onto Narut’s legs, causing him to wince in pain with every step.
At this point, Pons and Narut were fighting in the rear of the deck, while the Marines and pirates clashed at the front.
Neither group dared approach the area where Pons and Narut were exchanging blows, for fear of being caught in the crossfire.
On the merchant ship and the other pirate vessel, Marines and pirates were also locked in combat.
With Narut being tied down, the overall situation was favorable to the Marines.
Seeing the tide of battle turning against him, Narut grew increasingly agitated.
He stopped fixating on Pons and, with a powerful push from his legs, launched himself toward the Marines at the front of the deck.
If he could not kill that floating freak, then he would at least vent his anger by cutting down some Marines!
Narut tore into the Marine ranks at blinding speed, swinging his blade wildly.
In the span of a few heartbeats, three sailors lay dead at his feet.
Reg rushed to intercept Narut, preventing him from slaughtering more of his men.
“Reg, don’t think for a second that just because you’ve found some monster to help you, you can actually beat me!” Narut roared as he brought his chopping blade down upon Reg.
“Your days of running rampant end today!
Surrender now!” Reg stood his ground, wielding his iron rod to block Narut’s assault.
Pons wanted to attack Narut again, but now that Narut and Reg were locked in close combat, using Acid Spray or Shadow Ball as ranged attacks carried the risk of hitting Reg by mistake.
After a moment’s thought, Pons formed a Shadow Ball in his palm.
However, rather than hurling it at Narut immediately, he held it cradled in his hands and then dove straight down toward Narut.
He intended to deliver the Shadow Ball point-blank, pressing it directly against Narut’s body in close-quarters combat.
Narut sensed Pons’s approach and tried to evade, but Reg abruptly shifted from defense to offense.
Ignoring the risk of being cut himself, he lashed out at Narut with his iron rod in an almost relentless barrage, forcing Narut to have no time to respond to Pons’s attack.
Narut grew even more enraged.
If Reg kept him tied up any longer, he would certainly be struck by that purple-black creature’s attack as well.
Driven by sheer desperation, Narut gritted his teeth and deliberately took a blow from Reg’s rod.
Even as the pain shot through him, he kicked out and sent Reg flying several meters away.
But it was too late…
Pons was already upon him.
The Shadow Ball cradled in his hands was almost pressed against Narut’s head.
Narut could see clearly that he no longer had time to dodge.