Even Karin herself was startled by this suddenly 'zoomed-out' world.
She had thought she could become quite large now, but she truly hadn't imagined she could reach this extent.
In fact, in Karin's perception, even this current state still wasn't the limit.
Fortunately, she didn't transform while inside Master Lantern's body.
Otherwise, the goldfish bursting open would be a small matter… whether others, even including Karin herself, could survive would be the real issue.
Just a momentary lapse, and the wings Karin casually flapped stirred up a gale on the sea surface.
Waves surged violently, and the two ships shook like small sampans.
"Ahhhhh!!"
"Help!"
"Pull me up!"
On the former World Government's battleship, a group of agent sailors cried out in alarm; some unlucky ones were directly flung into the sea.
Since these people dared to mix on the sea, naturally they must know how to swim.
But even the best swimmers would find it hard to save themselves after falling into such turbulent seawater.
Compared to the chaotic World Government's battleship, the situation on the Shark Emeralda was much better.
Although Lucci, Kaku, and Kalifa were all Devil Fruit users who couldn't touch water, their physical fitness and reflexes were also on a completely different level from those ordinary agents.
Even Kalifa, who hadn't eaten a Zoan-type fruit, could now use Geppo to step on the air.
It's just that the strong winds still blew her figure about unsteadily.
In contrast, Olga and the others, who had previously tied themselves tightly to the ship, were obviously much safer.
Although still shaken to the point of wanting to vomit, safety wasn't an issue… at least not until the Shark Emeralda capsized.
"Ah... not good."
Karin reacted in time and immediately shrank her size.
Simultaneously, she manipulated strong winds to counter, trying to calm the wind and waves.
As the saying goes, illiteracy harms.
That strong wind indeed suppressed the stirred waves back down, but the World Government's ship was also violently torn in two under the two opposing stresses.
The agents who had just been relieved at not falling into the sea now followed in their colleagues' footsteps.
Thankfully, the Shark Emeralda had an entire ship made of alloy steel plating. Comparatively, though slower, its wind resistance was much better than that ordinary battleship.
Seeing those drowning people who were as small as ants, Karin hesitated for a few seconds, then still chose to fish them out.
She shrank her size, then extended dozens of chains infinitely from her tail end, binding the sailors and agents, who were choking on seawater to the point of being dazed, into a cluster and pulling them up from the water.
Karin also understood that these people knew about [Pure Gold].
If the goal was to let the Acier father and daughter live a stable life under assumed names, the best method would be to silence them all.
But… she still couldn't be as decisive as Sasuke.
Especially deciding the life and death of so many people at once was still somewhat psychologically stressful for a young girl.
—Even though they had already made aggressive moves.
Looking at those people, Karin's mind quickly considered how to deal with them.
She first changed her size to about ten meters, then threw that group of either unconscious or conscious guys onto the Shark Emeralda's deck.
"Well? Are you still planning to attack me?"
With somewhat complicated thoughts, Karin tilted her bird head and looked at the CP0 trio beside her without any emotion.
At this moment, Lucci and the others had already entered combat stances, looking as if facing a formidable enemy.
Hearing Karin's words, Kaku and Kalifa subconsciously turned their gazes toward Lucci.
But Lucci had no idea now either.
Fight?
Fight your head.
Never mind that Karin's body had shrunk now… just earlier, she could become that big, simply flapping her wings casually was enough to stir up a disaster.
How could they fight?
Go up and kneel before her?
But for a proud guy like Lucci to admit his own weakness, even directly surrender, was still too difficult.
Lucci, in leopard form, narrowed his eyes, quickly scanning Karin.
Full of openings all over.
But his intuition told him that if he attacked, he would definitely die.
'Then… what about attacking that father and daughter?'
Just as Lucci turned his gaze toward Olga and Acier, still tied to the mast, Karin seemed to have lost patience.
Clatter clatter...
Different from the chains used to fish people out, the chains extending from Karin's body this time all carried a golden glow.
The three of them, upon hearing the chain sounds, immediately left their spots, simultaneously using Soru.
But those chains seemed to have eyes, turning mid-air and chasing after them with speed not inferior to theirs.
"Can't dodge! Shatter them!"
Lucci still wanted to resist stubbornly, while Kaku and the other instinctively followed his order, choosing to strike at the chains.
Even though they realized they probably couldn't escape,
But they couldn't just do nothing and surrender, right?
"Rankyaku—" x2
Facing chains of unknown nature, Kaku and Lucci both chose not to make physical contact.
"White Lightning!"
"Leopard Tail!"
Two kicking attacks rushed toward the chains in mid-air, soon making contact.
Zzzttt—
The golden chains didn't seem to be coated with Haki, so under the two's full-power strikes, the two Rankyaku actually managed to cut the chains slightly.
'Effective!'
'That's good!'
Just as a trace of hope emerged in their hearts, the chains rapidly 'recovering' to their original state, as if time were reversing, immediately froze the expressions on their faces.
Different from the [Nirvana Purifying Chains] that could restrain energy entities, these ordinary chains created after absorbing Pure Gold, though unable to penetrate solid matter, could quickly recover like an 'element'.
"Damn it!"
Lucci, still refusing to believe, fired several Shigans. Aside from creating a few small pits on the chains that were instantly restored, he achieved no results.
In the end, he could only unwillingly be wrapped layer by layer into a dumpling by the chains, completely unable to move.
Kaku was even more straightforward, directly choosing to give up, standing still and letting the chains bind him.
In contrast, it was actually Kalifa, who had eaten the [Awa Awa no Mi], who managed to break free from the chains. (T/N: Bubble-Bubble Fruit.)
"Oh?"
Originally as composed as Buddha suppressing the Monkey King, Karin was somewhat surprised facing Kalifa, who had escaped her restraints.
Using the bubbles created by the Awa Awa no Mi, Kalifa made the surfaces of those chains incredibly 'slippery'. Just by exerting force along the direction of the gaps, she slipped out like a swimming fish.
Of course, that was the extent of it.
Facing the enemy still stubbornly resisting, Karin directly controlled a whirlwind to lift her.
Formless, intangible air currents couldn't be made slippery… even the bubbles wrapped around her body were blown away together.
"Really..."
Karin leisurely landed on the ship, wind blades cutting the ropes on Olga and the others, then shrank her size and landed on Lucci's head.
Lucci wanted to resist, but bound into a dumpling, he couldn't move at all.
"No need to be so tense. If I wanted to kill you, I would have already done it."
As soon as these words were spoken, the struggling movements of the several people immediately stopped.
"...What do you want?"
By now, Karin had finally regained her composure and figured out how to handle them.
"You are World Government's agents, right?"
Looking at their uniform white suits, Karin asked and answered with a nod.
"But now the World Government is gone. What can you, who have become stray dogs, offer me?"
These words directly pierced the topic CP0 least wanted to mention.
Kaku and Kalifa's expressions weren't good.
In contrast, Lucci, who just had a look of facing death unflinchingly, was the first to react, showing a mocking smile.
"What? Do you want to become some [Pirate King] too?"
Karin just shook her head at his words.
"I'm not interested in that."
"But as for you, since you're already serving as dogs for others, how about becoming my hounds instead?"
"You!"
Kaku's face turned as black as a pot bottom, immediately wanting to refuse, but was nudged by Kalifa beside him, stopping his words.
"I think... we don't have the right to choose, do we?"
Lucci still saw things most clearly.
"Can't be helped. I don't want to kill you all either, but for the peaceful lives of my two new friends—"
"Well? Have you thought it over?"
Karin didn't conceal her intention.
The decision she made was to take in this group of people as the foundation of her own crew.
Relying on Naomi alone to sail the ship was still a bit stretched.
"Heh! Even if we dare to agree, would you dare to let us... stay... by... your side?"
When saying the last few words, Lucci's speech became somewhat disjointed.
Because he saw Karin actually untie the restraints on them.
"I've never paid attention to the barks of defeated opponents, but—"
As she spoke, Karin willed it, and a very thin golden chain appeared on each of their necks.
The chain only manifested for an instant initially, then turned invisible.
"Since you're serving as hounds, you should at least wear a collar properly."
Watching the several people constantly feeling their necks, trying to find the thin chain from just now, and Lucci glaring at her with an unwilling gaze, Karin's bird face actually showed a human-like smile.
'Somehow... this feeling seems pretty good too.'
Somehow, it seems Karin awakened more than just her Devil Fruit ability.