The nights in the Calm Belt always arrived abruptly.
One moment it was a bright afternoon feast, the next the sky darkened at a visible speed.
“Something’s wrong.”
Zane, perched on the serpent figurehead, suddenly raised his head.
His dark-golden vertical pupils locked onto the sea ahead.
The obscure heat signature from earlier had changed.
If it was a distant candle flame before, now that heat was expanding at a terrifying speed.
“Gurgle… gurgle…”
The mirror-like calm sea began churning violently.
Countless bubbles rose from the abyss, each one bursting and releasing a nauseating stench.
The two massive sea serpents pulling the ship curled up in terror as if facing their natural predator, trembling uncontrollably no matter how hard the beast tamers whipped them.
“What’s happening?
The sea serpents are terrified?” Sandersonia’s face changed drastically as she gripped her snake staff tightly.
“Alert!
Everyone on alert!” Marigold roared, Armament Haki instantly coating her arms.
At that moment, a light appeared.
It was a powerful beam shooting up from the extreme depths, piercing thousands of meters of seawater and illuminating several square nautical miles like daylight.
Under this pale glow, the Kuja Pirates’ giant ship looked as tiny as a leaf floating in a bathtub.
Splash—!!!
The sea exploded.
Without any warning, a “mountain” rose.
It was a super-giant monster over five hundred meters long.
Its body was covered in moss- and barnacle-encrusted rock-like skin.
Its abyssal maw was wide enough to swallow an entire island, lined with thousands of spear-like fangs.
The source of the intense light was a thick, lighthouse-like fleshy lure on its head.
The deep-sea overlord of the Calm Belt — Gigantic Lantern Anglerfish!
“So this is… the heat source from earlier?” Zane narrowed his eyes.
There was no fear in his pupils — only a near-greedy excitement.
This wasn’t a monster.
This was a moving mountain of Evolution Points!
“ROAR—!”
The Lantern Anglerfish let out a deafening roar.
The terrifying sound wave mixed with a fishy gale blew several young warriors clean off the deck.
Then, its massive gills swelled, and its gaping maw generated an irresistible suction force.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
Seawater surged backward!
The Perfume Snake was dragged helplessly toward the abyss like a toy caught in a vortex.
“Damn beast!”
Hancock’s beautiful eyes widened in fury.
She quickly formed a heart shape with her hands, pink light gathering in her palms.
“Sweet Sweet Gale—”
“Hiss!
(Stop!)”
A sharp hiss interrupted Hancock’s attack.
Hancock paused and turned to Zane.
“Night?
This monster wants to swallow us.
I’ll turn it to stone!”
“Hiss— (If you petrify it, the ship will crash into a rock!
Besides… can you eat stone?!)”
Zane was almost infuriated by this wasteful woman.
Such a massive chunk of meat — if it turned to stone, the system would probably deem it inedible.
He’d be losing out on a fortune!
Before Hancock could react, Zane moved.
[Talent Skill Activated: Mimicry · Partial Enhancement!] [Target Areas: Head, Neck Muscles, Venomous Fangs!]
His originally two-meter-long body underwent a bizarre change the moment he launched forward.
He didn’t enlarge overall — he kept his streamlined shape — but his head and neck suddenly swelled tenfold.
Layers of scales bulged into a ferocious warhammer shape.
In this moment, he was like an armor-piercing shell fired from an electromagnetic cannon!
“Lord Night?!” The warriors cried out in alarm.
In front of a five-hundred-meter behemoth, Zane’s small form seemed negligible.
To anyone watching, this was no different from a moth flying into a flame.
“Foolish.”
Though the Lantern Anglerfish wasn’t very intelligent, it instinctively sensed the provocation.
It didn’t even bother closing its mouth, simply increasing the suction to swallow the tiny insect along with everything else.
Just as it wished.
Zane didn’t slow down.
He even used the suction to accelerate further!
Whoosh!
The black-and-gold streak shot straight into the gaping abyss and vanished into endless darkness.
“Night!!!” Hancock let out a heart-wrenching scream.
In that instant, her Conqueror’s Haki erupted so violently it created visible cracks in the surrounding air.
Just as she was about to charge in recklessly—
“Gurgle…”
The giant body of the Lantern Anglerfish suddenly stiffened.
Its turbid, tyrannical eyes bulged outward, bloodshot.
The next second—
“AAAAAAGHH—!!!”
An extremely miserable shriek tore through the sky.
The sound was filled with indescribable agony, as if its organs were being burned alive.
The giant beast began thrashing wildly on the sea surface.
Every tail slam created hundreds-of-meters-high tsunamis.
The Perfume Snake rocked violently in the waves, but no one cared about stabilizing themselves — all eyes were fixed on the rampaging monster.
Inside the Lantern Anglerfish’s body.
This was hell.
Zane clung tightly to the esophagus wall with his tail.
His massive jaws stretched to the limit like a flamethrower, unleashing nonstop destruction on the soft, vulnerable inner walls.
[Fire Venom Breath (Full Power)!]
Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!
Dark-red venom mixed with extreme heat instantly burned through the esophagus.
The toxin was not only highly corrosive but also carried a burning property that clung like maggots to bone.
Pain?
Good — it should hurt!
The red glow in Zane’s eyes intensified.
He rampaged through the monster’s body like a meat grinder, his sharp scales tearing apart every organ he encountered.
Heart?
Crushed!
Trachea?
Shredded!
Stomach?
Burned through!
For Sea Kings with extremely tough external defenses, the interior was often the fatal weakness.
Zane was like Sun Wukong in Iron Fan Princess’s stomach — except this one brought deadly poison and hellfire!
Only three minutes passed.
With one final powerless wail, the mountain-like behemoth stopped struggling.
Its massive body went limp on the sea surface, white belly upturned like a floating island.
A huge bloody hole had been torn open in its abdomen.
Splurt!
A black snake head covered in mucus and blood emerged from the hole.
Zane took deep breaths of fresh air.
Though filthy, the soul-deep satisfaction made his eyes narrow in pleasure.
“Hiss— (It died already?
Too weak.)”
He crawled out of the corpse but didn’t immediately return to the ship.
Instead, he lay directly on the giant liver.
Gluttony activated!
This time, it wasn’t simple swallowing.
Every scale on Zane’s body seemed to open like mouths.
A strange black light enveloped the corpse beneath him.
He was plundering — stealing hundreds of years of life essence this deep-sea tyrant had accumulated.
[Ding!
Successfully killed super-large Sea King!] [Devoured high-energy flesh… Gained 1,200 Evolution Points!] [Devoured special organ (Deep-Sea Lantern)… Gene bank analysis in progress…] [Obtained Passive Skill: Deep-Sea Intimidation (Beginner)!] [Skill Description: Your aura now carries the pressure of an apex deep-sea predator, causing fear in aquatic creatures smaller than you or with weak willpower.
Can command lower fish species.]
Amazing!
Zane felt his power surge again.
His body, which had shrunk after molting, visibly grew to around ten meters.
He licked his lips with satisfaction before lazily swimming back to the Perfume Snake.
The moment he boarded—
A fragrant wind rushed toward him.
“Night!
You scared me to death!”
Hancock didn’t care about the blood and mucus covering him.
She threw herself forward and hugged his thick neck tightly, her eyes red and brimming with tears.
“Don’t ever do something so dangerous again!
Never!”
Feeling her soft, trembling body pressed desperately against him, Zane swallowed his complaints.
He sighed helplessly and gently patted her back with his tail, as if comforting a child.
“Hiss— (There, there.
Don’t cry.
Look, we have tonight’s feast taken care of.)”
Looking at the mountain-like spoils, the Kuja warriors on deck were completely stunned.
This was their Vice Captain?
Single-handedly, in just three minutes, he dismantled a deep-sea tyrant that even warships avoided — from the inside!
Marigold swallowed hard.
Her gaze toward Zane now held not just admiration, but deep awe.
“Monster…” she muttered.
“This is a real monster.”
At that moment, the lookout suddenly shouted again, voice trembling:
“R-Report!
Three o’clock direction!
Fleet spotted!”
“It’s… Marine Headquarters warships!
Three of them!”
The atmosphere froze instantly.
Hancock released Zane, wiping away her tears.
When she turned around, the fragile woman vanished.
In her place stood the domineering Empress.
“Marines?”
Hancock glanced coldly at the three black dots on the distant horizon, a disdainful sneer curling her lips.
“Perfect timing.
I was just looking for somewhere to vent my anger.”
Zane, coiled behind her, lazily yawned.
A playful glint flashed in his golden vertical pupils.
Onigumo, huh?
Hopefully you’re more interesting than that dumb fish.