【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 346: Mermaid or Dugong

"I was almost split in half!" Luffy gritted his teeth and looked at Rob Lucci who was suspended in the air. Fortunately, he retracted his legs that had turned into third gear in time at the critical moment, but for the agile opponent, the speed of third gear was too slow. Even though it was very powerful, the speed of second gear was very fast and the power was very strong, but the time it could be used was very short.

"Rubber, rubber... shrink!" Feeling the navy's artillery attack, Luffy immediately released the air in his body and flew towards the pillar behind him, successfully avoiding all the artillery attacks and avoiding falling into the sea due to the sinking of the warship.

"That was a close call... How could these guys blow up their own people!?" Luffy frowned as he sat on the pillar. "They must be stupid... But, I've become small again..."

Luffy frowned as he looked at his body that had shrunk again. "Shifting into Gear Third is an interesting and powerful idea, but the side effects are a bit significant... I've been expanding for about a minute, and it looks like I'll have to stay like this for a minute as well. I need to find a place to hide before I can return to my original state, or I'll die..."

Thinking of this, Luffy stepped forward and immediately ran into the building, hoping that guy wouldn't find him so quickly...

……

"Hurry, the entrance to Enies Judicial Island is right there! We are about to escape!" Zanbai sat on King Blue carried by the giant, looking at the main gate in front and shouted excitedly, they were about to escape!

"We're almost there, come on! Giant!" Franky's family, who were sitting on King Blue, shouted excitedly.

Thanks to the giant and Carrera, they were able to untie the ropes on their bodies and reach the entrance of Judicial Island as quickly as possible after the Demon Slaying Order was activated. As long as they passed this entrance, they could leave before the warships' shells covered the island!

"We can finally escape!" Cassie and I excitedly kicked open the main gate of the entrance to Judicial Island. Just when they thought they had successfully escaped, the three warships that appeared before them made them fall into despair.

"This is bad!" Teruston shouted as he looked at the three huge warships.

"It seems that they don't want to let us go!" Zanbai gritted his teeth as he looked at the cannons of the warships aimed at them.

"There's a waterfall and a burning island behind us, and a warship in front of us..." the Cube sisters said worriedly, "There's really nowhere to run now!"

"What are you thinking about, Barry!"

"Reminiscing about life..." Barry replied, cigarette in his mouth.

"How unlucky!" Pipli gritted his teeth after hearing Barry's answer.

"The navy and officials have completed their reception. All ships are to distance themselves from the main gate!"

"Warships number six, seven, and eight are targeting the pirates in front of the main gate!!"

"emission!!"

……

Undersea passage leading to the Gate of Justice

"Hurry up, you two! Don't be so slow!!"

Hearing Usopp's urging, Zoro pulled the blanket Usopp was lying on dissatisfiedly and said, "Stop giving orders!"

"I'm covered in wounds, and all my ribs are broken, at least six of them!" Hearing Zoro's complaint, Usopp covered his chest dramatically, looking extremely weak.

"There are still a lot of them, so what's the big deal? You're really holding people back!" Sanji complained as he ran while pulling the blanket on the other side.

"By the way, do you want to know the secret of my new weapon, the bow?"

"Shut up, if you say anything else, just run down by yourself!" Zoro shouted dissatisfiedly. This guy doesn't look like he's injured at all!

"Ugh! Spare me some ribs, all my ribs are broken!" Usopp immediately covered his chest and pretended to be in pain and gasping for breath. "At least... there are ten of them."

"There are a lot of them too!" Sanji said mercilessly. Really, if it weren't for this guy, he would have run to the front to protect Miss Nami and Sister Robin, and there would be no need to run with these two stinky men.

"Sanji-kun, hurry up!"

"Yes, Miss Nami~" As soon as Sanji heard Nami's shout, he immediately moved his body and sped up, completely ignoring Usopp on the blanket.

"Wow! Slow...slow down!!" Feeling the sudden increase in speed, Usopp immediately grabbed the blankets on both sides and screamed in horror.

"Help!" At the same time, Kokoro's voice and Usopp's voice overlapped.

"What's going on!?" Nami screamed in horror.

Zoro looked at Nami, Robin and the others who were running back in confusion, "Why are you running back?!"

"Ms. Nami, what's wrong with you? Are you going to rush towards me?!" Sanji's eyes were full of hearts, and his expression was rippling as he looked at Nami and Robin who were rushing towards him.

Usopp looked at Sanji and Zoro in disbelief. Didn’t these two guys see the sea water behind Nami and the others?

"The sea water is coming!!" Chopper explained while running.

"Sanji, Zoro, think of a way quickly!!" Usopp shouted in horror. He didn't want to be drowned by the sea!

Zoro reacted immediately, drew out his blade and chopped at the wall of the passage. Seeing that only a trace of the wall was left, Zoro was a little surprised. "Isn't this a wall made of stone or iron?"

"The underwater passages must be able to withstand strong water pressure and are usually reinforced with super thick steel!" Sanji came back to his senses and immediately explained.

"Then we have no way to escape!" Usopp shouted in despair as he looked at Nami and the others who were submerged in water. The next second they were also completely submerged in water.

Sanji held the powerless Robin and Chopper and tried to swim upstream, but it was of no use. The entire passage was full of water. Looking at everyone who was completely submerged, Sanji looked anxious. He had to think of a way. If this continued, everyone would be drowned!

Just when everyone was in despair, a voice suddenly rang out from the water, "It's okay, hold your breath... I won't let you die!"

Feeling their bodies being pulled, everyone in the water reluctantly opened their eyes and looked at the person who saved them. Then they looked at the fish tail in front of them in disbelief, and even thought they were dreaming. It was actually the dreamy mermaid who saved them.

Everyone was unable to remain immersed in the beautiful dream for long, because the mermaid turned around and Grandma Kokoro's voice instantly came from there.

"I'm going to speed up! Hold your breath!!"

Seeing Granny Kokoro's version of a mermaid, everyone's mouths dropped open in disbelief. The breath they had been holding was instantly released. The unbearable shock caused them to completely faint. Before losing consciousness, everyone unanimously denied everything they had seen. That was definitely not a mermaid, it was a dugong!

"Alright, the cleanup of converting the escort ship into a lifeboat is complete!" Franky looked proudly at the marines who had fallen into the sea, then turned to look at Qi and said with a smile, "Next, we just have to wait for the Straw Hat guys to arrive!"

"They are coming!" Qi said with a smile as he felt the movement coming from the bottom of the boat.

"What?" Franky walked to the railing in confusion and looked down at the sea. The next second, Granny Kokoro, who was not wearing any clothes, emerged from the water. Franky was frightened by this scene and screamed.

As for Qi, he had dodged away long before Granny Kokoro came up, because his intuition told him that he would regret seeing what was going to happen next, and Frankie's scream confirmed this for him.