...Well, it's highly likely that when Oda started drawing the manga, he didn't intend to make Shanks one of the Four Emperors, so later there was the explanation that Shanks had bet his arm on the Straw Hat, which was barely a patch.
Although perhaps no one could understand what the point was of betting such an arm on Luffy...
Regardless, this small Sea King, which was nearly a hundred meters long, could indeed be called an overlord of the sea in the East Blue, and the "strong" who could rival it were few and far between.
But obviously, Luffy was waiting for this opportunity. After nearly ten years of training, he could just use this Lord of the Coast to bring it to an end!
"Gum-Gum — Pistol!"
The swinging rubber fist turned into a long spear and smashed directly onto the Lord of the Coast's cheek. After knocking this Sea King into a grotesque expression, it also sent the colossal beast, which had been lording over the Village, crashing into the sea with its eyes rolling back and its teeth spitting out.
"Wahahahaha, a mere Lord of the Coast cannot stop my determination to yearn for the sea!"
Luffy looked smug, but he didn't pursue the Sea King that had fallen into the sea. With the barrier of the sea, Luffy might be able to defeat the Lord of the Coast, but it would be very difficult to actually kill it.
Watching the smug Luffy, a smile appeared on the corner of Vegapunk's mouth, and he took a small red and white ball from his arms.
"Hehe, how can a mere Lord of the Coast be considered the nemesis of the Sun God? Let me add some spice for you!"
The red light entered the sea, and a strange pressure spread out. On the looming, long, and massive body, scales and claws were vaguely visible.
"That... what is that!"
A look of fear appeared on Nami's face. She, who had been standing by the side of the ship, backed away repeatedly until she reached Vegapunk's side, and only then did she say tremblingly.
Although Nami in the original work was part of the cowardly trio in the Straw Hat Pirates, along with the emergency food and the long-nosed one, her strength didn't seem to be anything special.
But in fact, this young girl was quite capable of fighting, and her courage was definitely not smaller than an ordinary person's. Even when she first appeared, she was much stronger than the average small-fry pirate.
It was just that the Straw Hat Pirates were full of elites and perverts, so she only appeared timid and weak.
In fact, the weak ones on the Straw Hat Pirates were only weak relative to those main force perverts. Whether it was Usopp, Nami, or Chopper, their talent and potential were far beyond ordinary people.
And after Nami joined the Umbrella Corporation early on, although she hadn't developed combat techniques based on the Clima-Tact, her pure physical body and Haki cultivation were much stronger than they were two years later in the original work, and she could be considered a strong person in the entire East Blue.
However, with Nami's strength at this moment, she was still scared out of her wits by the aura of the "Pokémon" that Vegapunk had just released, which showed that this was definitely not something simple.
"That... is a replica experimental product I created when I was trying to strengthen MetalSeadramon. It's a pure dragon-shaped Sea King created by extracting the Azure Dragon blood from Kaido's body!"
"It's really strange. The dragon-like creature created from the lineage factor extracted from Kaido's body has no fear of seawater at all. It seems that there are still many secrets in the Devil Fruit that I don't know about!"
Nami was confused. Devil Fruit? Lineage factor? Dragon-like creature? What were all these things?
As for Kaido, Nami knew a little bit about his identity. Wasn't he one of the four greatest pirates with the highest bounties in the New World?
However, there was one thing Nami was very clear about, and that was that the thing Vegapunk released had a combat power that was absolutely much stronger than the Lord of the Coast!
"Roar roar roar!!"
A terrifying roar resounded on the sea, huge waves surged, and even a large number of dark clouds appeared in the sky. A huge dragon head slowly emerged from the water, and Luffy, who had been smug, had his expression stiffen.
A body ten times larger than the Lord of the Coast, just by surfacing, had already set off violent ten-meter waves. The villagers of the Village exclaimed and immediately scattered like birds and beasts to avoid being hit by the huge waves into the sea.
Luffy's small boat jumped up and down in the waves. Even this rubber boy with a big heart subconsciously wrapped his arms tightly around the mast to avoid being thrown directly into the sea by the small boat and suffocating to death.
"Hey, big guy, are you the dad of the Lord of the Coast?! You look so much alike!"
However, even so, Luffy still shouted with his mouth wide open. His originally stiff face had now turned into a look of curiosity, and his eyes even revealed a bit of excitement.
It must be admitted that some people are born not knowing what fear is. As the protagonist, Luffy obviously also possesses all the characteristics of a newborn calf.
"This doesn't look like father and son at all?! One is obviously a dragon, and the other one looks like an eel!"
On the invisible ship, Nami complained.
Head like a camel, horns like a deer, eyes like a rabbit, ears like a cow, neck like a snake, belly like a clam, scales like a carp, claws like an eagle, palms like a tiger—what emerged on the sea was indeed the giant dragon created by Vegapunk using the separated Azure Dragon lineage factor!
Although this castrated version of the giant dragon didn't have the Flame Cloud ability to fly, nor did it have the ability to summon lightning and wind, it still maintained the giant dragon's tough scales, terrible physique, and the ability to breathe dragon fire. For the current Straw Hat, it was undoubtedly an opponent that was far too overpowered.
The giant dragon's huge eyes stared at the Straw Hat in front of it. Although it was just a castrated version of a clone, its intelligence was still much stronger than that of ordinary versions of sea beasts—maybe even a little smarter than the Straw Hat!
Naturally, it also understood what the Straw Hat said. It grinned slightly, revealing white dragon teeth, and faint smoke came out of its mouth.
Then the giant dragon seemed to snort, and hot flames suddenly spewed out from its nostrils, turning into a cylindrical beam of fire. With a boom, the small boat was blown to ashes. The unlucky Straw Hat only had time to let out an "ah" before he was roasted to medium-rare and fell into the sea.
"Alright! It seems the protagonist doesn't have much of a halo after all..."
Vegapunk shook his head, took out the "Poké Ball" again, and directly took the giant dragon back. Then he stretched out his hand, and the seawater gushed, soon spraying out the still-smoking Straw Hat, who landed on the deck.
"Hmm, let's draw some blood first... and then heal and strengthen this Straw Hat. I wonder if I can force the awakening of the Straw Hat's Nika Fruit!"
Muttering to himself, Vegapunk felt that this kind of thing was very promising. The World Government's fear of the Nika Fruit would definitely not be groundless. It seemed that the power of the Nika Fruit was by no means just what was shown in the manga at the current stage.
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