The massive body of the Sea King broke through the water's surface, lunging straight at them with a fishy wind. Its spear-like beak glinted coldly in the sunlight, looking as if it was about to crash into the small boat.
"Luffy! Right side!" Kaizer's heart was in his throat as he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Luffy didn't just avoid it; instead, she let out an excited "Wow!" and stood directly on the bow. She pulled her left leg back and wound her right fist back with great force.
"Gum-Gum—!"
Kaizer watched with wide eyes as her arm stretched out like a rubber band, extending to a distance that was almost invisible.
"Pistol!"
"Bang!"
The retracting arm carried the sound of a sonic boom, and her fist, like a cannonball fired from a barrel, slammed solidly into the Sea King's forehead.
"Roar—!"
Accompanied by a wail, the massive sea beast was sent flying backward by the punch. With a loud splash, it crashed into the distant sea, sending up a huge spray of water before floating motionless on the surface.
Kaizer stood there with his mouth agape, staring blankly at the scene.
Manga was manga, but seeing this exaggerated Gum-Gum Pistol with his own eyes was a completely different experience.
The power was simply too shocking.
Amidst his shock, a very realistic question popped into his head.
"Is it... dead?" he asked, pointing at the floating behemoth in the distance.
Luffy retracted her arm and clapped her hands proudly, grinning to show a row of white teeth. "It doesn't matter if it's dead or not! What matters is that I've become very strong, and I can already beat it! Hehe!"
The Sea King, which had once bitten off Shanks's arm, had been sent flying by her single punch!
The sunlight shone on her face, making her smile appear pure and dazzling.
Kaizer felt like he could understand Luffy's feelings, but manga was manga, and reality was reality.
Luffy's way of thinking was indeed as simple as ever.
He frowned, thinking of a more practical issue.
"Luffy, the existence of the Sea King threatens the safety of everyone in Foosha Village, right? Besides, if we get rid of it, the fishermen's harvest should be even greater in the future. I think it's better to confirm its death."
What if this thing was just unconscious and came back to terrorize Foosha Village after its wounds healed in a few days?
Since he had come to this world, wouldn't his transmigration be in vain if he didn't make even a small change?
Luffy tilted her head and thought for a moment. "That's true! Then let's go take a look!"
The small boat rowed up to the Sea King. As expected, the giant creature was only unconscious and still had a weak breath. Kaizer pulled out a prepared dagger from his luggage and stabbed it several times in its vulnerable eye. The Sea King twitched for a while before falling completely silent.
"Done." Kaizer breathed a sigh of relief, rinsed the dagger in the seawater, and put it away.
"Yay! We have meat to eat!" Luffy cheered, her eyes glowing as she looked at this massive "ingredient."
The problem was, how to eat it? This giant creature was far too large for their small boat to carry.
Luffy snatched the dagger from Kaizer's hand, stretched her arm, and forcibly carved several large pieces of the best meat from the Sea King, tossing them onto the boat. Blood instantly dyed the surrounding seawater red.
"Hehe, the Sea King that ate Shanks's arm is now going to be eaten by me!"
While the smile was still on Luffy's face, Kaizer sensed something was wrong.
On the surrounding sea surface, dozens of triangular dorsal fins had appeared at some unknown time. They were rapidly closing in on them, heading toward the area dyed red with blood.
A school of sharks! They were drawn by the smell of blood!
"Oh no!" Kaizer's scalp tingled. This small boat could not withstand the impact of sharks!
"Row, fast!" He grabbed an oar and paddled desperately. Luffy also reacted, her rubber arms grabbing an oar and churning the water frantically like a propeller.
The small boat suddenly accelerated, rushing away from the Shark School.
But the sharks were faster! A particularly large shark had already caught up to the stern, opening its toothy maw to bite down!
Luffy turned around, about to throw a punch. "Gum-Gum—!"
"Don't waste your energy!" Kaizer hurriedly stopped her. "There are many of them underwater that you can't hit. Just row fast!"
Luffy retracted her hand reluctantly and continued to use her rubber propeller. With both of them working desperately, they finally managed to temporarily shake off the Shark School.
Before they could catch their breath, Kaizer noticed a dangerous, large whirlpool appearing on the sea ahead!
Is this destiny?
"Ahead! A whirlpool!" he shouted.
Kaizer was panicking, but he saw that Luffy was actually still laughing.
"Hehe, this is so exciting! Even though I can't swim, it doesn't matter whether I can swim or not now!"
Seeing Luffy smile so happily in the face of disaster, Kaizer suddenly felt a surge of emotion. Even as a girl, the protagonist was still the protagonist; her poise was truly extraordinary. To become a man worthy of her, he still had a long way to go.
There was no time to hesitate! The whirlpool was already right in front of them!
Kaizer used all his strength to activate [Six Powers - Soru] again. His figure flashed as he jumped beside a wooden barrel, struggling to open the lid before diving inside. Luffy stretched her arm to grab the barrel and nimbly jumped in as well.
Just as the two of them squeezed into the barrel and closed the lid, they felt the barrel being sucked into the whirlpool by a massive force, spinning frantically.
The space inside the barrel was extremely narrow.
Luffy was a Rubber Person, so her body could deform and squeeze at will. She was practically pressed right against Kaizer, her soft limbs inevitably entangling him as she sought space. The girl's warm body temperature, the supple and elastic sensation, and the itch of her short hair brushing against his neck... Kaizer was squeezed so tightly he couldn't move; it was certainly uncomfortable, yet a certain indescribable pleasure was mixed into that discomfort.
They were so close... so close that he could clearly smell the scent of sunlight and seawater on Luffy.
The barrel spun wildly in the whirlpool, and the oxygen gradually decreased.
A ridiculous thought even popped into Kaizer's head: If... if they suffocated from a lack of oxygen, would Luffy give him artificial respiration like she did when they first met?
As soon as this thought appeared, he felt his heart rate quicken and his breathing become shallow, further increasing his oxygen consumption.
In the darkness and turbulence, he didn't know how much time had passed. It could have been a few minutes, or perhaps a few hours.
Finally, the frantic spinning stopped. The barrel seemed to have drifted into calm waters, and then a dull thud came from the bottom, as if it had run aground on a beach.
Some muffled human voices came from outside.
"...This barrel looks pretty good, let's carry it back..."
"...Maybe there's booze inside..."
Then, the barrel was pushed and began rolling on the sand.
The two people inside the barrel glanced at each other.
Luffy lowered her voice. "Are we on shore?"
Kaizer nodded, signaling her to get ready.
The next second, Luffy suddenly kicked the barrel lid open!
Fresh air rushed in instantly. The blinding sunlight made them both squint.
They climbed out of the barrel and stood on solid ground, breathing deeply. Kaizer stretched his numb limbs while Luffy looked around curiously.
Then, they saw several people nearby.
One of them was a chubby little boy with pink hair and round glasses, wearing ill-fitting clothes. He was holding a pile of sundries and looking at them in stunned silence as they burst out of the barrel, so frightened that he dropped everything in his hands.
Looking at this familiar face, Kaizer's heart skipped a beat.
Yo, isn't this the future world-renowned Marine officer, the legendary... Deserter King, Koby?
At this point in time, he should be working as a chore boy for the Alvida Pirate Crew.