21: Chapter 21, Pet Slot Number Two

The red setting sun spilled like blood into the wide pool of Arlong Park.

The originally clear pool water had now been completely dyed a strange, dark blue by the corpses of the three main officers and their thick, viscous blue blood.

"Plop..."

The red wine glass Arlong was holding in his hand slipped powerlessly from his grip in that instant, shattering upon the hard marble floor.

The crimson liquid spread across the marble slabs, as if mocking his once arrogant stupidity.

Kuroobi, Hatchan, and Kiss...

His three most prized officers had been easily slaughtered like stray dogs on the side of the road in just a few minutes, right in front of this black-haired young man he had called an "inferior human"!

Fear.

An unprecedented, bone-chilling fear instantly spread along Arlong's massive, sturdy blue spine, straight to his brain.

"You... you devil!"

"Huh? It seems I'm the villain?"

Arlong gritted his teeth, his pair of blood-red shark eyes filled with trembling.

But his pride as a member of the arrogant Fishman race did not allow him to retreat.

"Don't think that just because you killed them, you can survive in Arlong Park!"

Arlong suddenly pulled a strange shell whistle from his chest, placed it to his lips, puffed out his cheeks with a ferocious expression, and let out a sharp, shrill whistle that pierced through the entire village!

"Wahahaha! Come out! Mohmoo! Tear this arrogant human to pieces!"

"Boom—!!"

Following Arlong's roar, the originally calm pool in the center of Arlong Park began to boil frantically in an instant!

Large swaths of bubbles erupted from the depths of the pool, and terrifying giant waves rolled, as if some unimaginable deep-sea monster was about to break free from the abyss beneath the ground.

"Roar—!!"

Accompanied by a massive roar like muffled thunder, a terrifying monster, so huge it almost blotted out the sky, slowly rose from the pool water.

It had a pair of buffalo horns as huge as a small mountain, its body was covered in a layer of thick, blue-green hide, and it was dozens of meters long. Just the half of its body that emerged from the water was larger than the multi-story tower in Arlong Park!

A highly oppressive Marine mammal that lives on the seabed and possesses bovine characteristics—the Sea Cow "Mohmoo"!

"Sea... Sea monster!!"

"Run! It's that monster that destroyed Gyoncorde!"

The villagers standing outside the gate were scared out of their wits the moment they saw Sea Cow Mohmoo. Even a tough man like Genzo was pale at this moment, his legs unable to stop trembling.

In a remote and ordinary sea like the East Blue, a deep-sea behemoth as massive as Sea Cow Mohmoo was nothing short of a disaster descending upon the mortal world.

"Rice... that's the sea beast Arlong brought back from the Grand Line!"

Nami's knuckles were white, and she shouted a warning while being supported by Makino.

However, Rice stood on the shore, narrowing his eyes slightly.

He looked at the giant sea cow churning up the water in the pool and roaring at him; not only was there no fear in his eyes, but a glimmer of excitement and satisfaction gradually lit up in them.

"So this is a sea cow?"

Rice put his hands in his pockets, staring at Mohmoo's massive body, and laughed as if he were examining some rare treasure:

"The size is perfect, and the strength is plentiful. As a power source for the white dove to set sail into the Grand Line, it couldn't be more suitable."

"Arrogant! Mohmoo, eat him!"

Arlong roared madly.

"Roar!!"

Sea Cow Mohmoo felt Arlong's command, and a fierce light surged in its giant, copper-bell-like eyes.

It swung its hooves, as heavy as a small mountain, bringing with it an overwhelming, foul-smelling sea wave, and smashed down towards Rice on the shore!

The massive shadow completely enveloped Rice, and the terrifying pressure even made the surrounding air tremble violently.

Facing this attack that was almost like a natural disaster, Rice slowly exhaled a breath of white air.

He squatted slightly, and the heavy force poured into the ground through the soles of his feet; the marble slabs within a few meters were instantly shattered by this invisible recoil force.

"The old man said that if you train your defensive power to the limit and combine it with extreme speed, then every collision will be earth-shattering."

Rice's gaze became incomparably cold in an instant.

He slowly closed his eyes, and the muscles and bones in his body resonated and compressed to an almost overloaded state in an instant.

This power was something he had realized during Garp's hellish devilish training.

Utilizing the principles of the Marine Six Powers, perfectly superimposing the defense of "Iron Body" with the speed of "Shave," thereby turning his own body into the most indestructible killing meteorite in the world!

"Hum—!!"

On Rice's bare upper body, his skin instantly refracted a blue-black metallic luster that was almost as crystalline as a diamond, yet as pitch-black as the night!

[Iron Body]!

At this moment, his body density had been forcibly compressed to a superhuman realm where even cannons could not leave a white mark.

Immediately after, Rice opened his eyes, his deep pupils reflecting the giant beast claw falling like a small mountain.

He stepped on the shattered red earth, and the calf muscles of his right leg vibrated violently at a speed of hundreds of thousands of times per second in an instant.

[Shave]!

"Boom—!!"

The heavy explosive sound completely tore through the night sky of Cocoyasi Village.

The ground where Rice had been standing collapsed into a giant crater several meters wide, and his figure turned into a deep, blue-black, high-speed meteorite flashing with a cold metallic luster, shooting straight up into the sky!

A brand new realization, the ultimate hardcore finishing move—

[White Dove · Steel-Cast Meteor]!

In mid-air, Rice's body, which had completely turned into [Iron Body] and whose hardness exceeded that of a diamond, surrounded by the terrifying white sonic boom ring generated by breaking the sound barrier, met Sea Cow Mohmoo's huge head head-on!

The scene was just like a deep black meteorite, fearlessly smashing into the giant deep-sea monster.

"Bang—!!!"

In the instant of the collision, the air in the entire Arlong Park was completely and forcibly scattered.

The violent power ripples turned into a white ring-shaped shockwave, which roared and spread from the point of impact, instantly shattering all the parasols, bars, and stone benches in Arlong Park into flying debris.

The seawater in the entire pool, under this terrifying impact, turned into a giant water wall dozens of meters high, crashing towards the surroundings.

"Woo...!!"

In Sea Cow Mohmoo's giant eyes, an extreme, near-collapsing fear and pain were revealed in an instant.

Its massive bull head, which was said to be unable to be broken even by warships, had one of its giant horns snap off at the root with a crack the moment it collided with Rice's body, due to the massive recoil.

The extremely violent force surged straight into its brain along its skull, completely shattering its weak animal intelligence.

Its mountain-like body, under this terrifying steel meteorite impact, flew backward without any power to resist, crashing heavily back into the pool and splashing water everywhere.

"Plop."

In the falling mist of water, Rice landed somewhat elegantly on Mohmoo's giant bull nose that was exposed above the water.

His breathing was slightly rapid, and the iron-blue metallic luster on his skin surface gradually faded, revealing his original, sturdy, bronze-colored perfect muscles.

"Roar..."

In the pool, the original ferocity and tyranny in Sea Cow Mohmoo's copper-bell-sized eyes had long since vanished without a trace, replaced by two swirling circles of tears.

Its massive body trembled violently in the pool water, emitting a weak, pitiful whine like a puppy that had been brutally beaten.

Looking at the young man standing on its nose, it didn't even have the courage to lift its eyelids, its big head bobbing on the water surface, large drops of tears mixing with the pool water as it flowed, desperately begging for mercy.

"Not bad, the defensive power is passable; it seems it's not that easy to be smashed to death by me."

Rice patted Mohmoo's only remaining giant horn and looked down at it with a slightly mischievous smile:

"Listen well, sea cow. I'm not killing you today because I lack a power booster to pull the ship."

"Besides, Makino loves to cook on the ship, but the weather in the East Blue is hot, and those expensive meats and vegetables spoil easily."

Rice stepped on Mohmoo's cold, massive belly that was emitting a chill, showing a satisfied expression:

"Since you are a deep-sea mammal, your internal temperature is extremely low."

"From today on, clean out your stomach for me. Inside, it will be Makino's 'natural fresh-keeping cold storage' at sea in the future!"

"As long as I find one piece of meat that has rotted, I will use that move from just now to smash your head into tofu pudding. Do you understand?"

"Woo...!!"

Hearing the name of that devilish finishing move, Sea Cow Mohmoo's massive body trembled violently.

How could it dare to say no? It only felt a chill in its belly, and with a mournful face, its massive bull head nodded frantically in the water, its big eyes filled with helplessness and submission.

"Rice... this, this is also possible?"

Nami watched the deep-sea behemoth from behind, which was as docile as a giant golden retriever, and then listened to Rice's breathtaking designs for a "ship-pulling power system" and a "Sea Cow brand natural ice storage," and she was completely stunned and bewildered.

"Rice's idea... is indeed very practical."

Makino covered her mouth and chuckled gently from the side, her eyes filled with admiration for her man's whimsical ideas.

Rice turned his head and looked at Nami and Nojiko:

"The sea beast is taken care of. Next..."

His gaze passed over the trembling Mohmoo and landed on Arlong, who was already pale-faced on the ruins of the high platform.

"...It's time to crush this dead fish."