Chapter 185: Enemy Shadow, Attack from the Seabed! (Two in One)
It has been a month since Tsugikuni Yoriichi and his men set their sights on Gekko Moriah.
At that time, Yunyi and his companions were resting in the naval branch and accidentally heard a passing merchant talking about his experiences at sea.
One day, the other party encountered heavy fog while sailing on the sea. In the thick fog, they encountered an "island". They wanted to replenish supplies on the island, so they landed on the island to investigate, but on that "island", they encountered many zombies.
The horrifying scene immediately frightened the merchant back to his boat and left in a hurry.
When the thick fog dissipated, the people on the merchant ship no longer saw the island they had landed on in the fog.
The merchants were all beaming with joy when they talked about this experience, thinking that they had encountered some supernatural event at sea. They were lucky enough to escape and were also glad that they had successfully escaped from that strange environment.
And that experience also became a topic of conversation among businessmen when they were drinking.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi and the others accidentally heard each other's experience, and Yoriichi immediately took it to heart.
There was no other way. The construction of the Navy branch required a massive daily expenditure on materials and labor. Now that the project was nearing completion, Tsugikoku Yuanyi still had a funding gap of nearly 1 billion to fill. With their current funds, they could only sustain it for another two weeks.
Originally, Tsugikuni Yoshiichi thought that there were a lot of pirates in the New World, and he only needed to reach a tacit understanding with King Riku, and rely on the ability of their branch to catch more bounty criminals, so that he could easily fill the funding gap in the construction of the branch.
However, unexpectedly, as the news of Tsugikuni Yoshiichi's troops stationed in Dressrosa spread, the expected pirates coming to provoke a challenge did not happen at all.
These pirates had all learned their lesson and were avoiding the route to Dressrosa. Yoriichi and his crew hadn't seen any pirates in the past few months, but now they hadn't seen any.
It was not until this time that Yoshikazu Tsugakuni realized that he had underestimated his reputation in the world.
At first, he naively thought that he was at most a little famous in the New World, and that there were only three of his deeds that were widely publicized by the Navy.
One is the Flying Pirates who previously wiped out Shiki the Golden Lion, and the other is "rescuing the abducted children from the Roger Pirates."
As for the last one, it just happened a few months ago. A pirate group called Bloody Pirates in the New World was wiped out. The captain was Bloody Kevin, who was worth 1 billion berries. The bounty of the entire group was around 1.5 billion berries.
In Yoriichi's view, all that he did were just small things. One was the fictitious "rescue" of Shiki, the golden lion who would be defeated by Luffy in the future, and the other was just one billion small fry that he dealt with casually.
However, every little thing that Yuanyi sees is actually a major event that can shock the world!
Not to mention the status of Shiki the Golden Lion and Roger's Pirates in this world, just the Crimson Pirates are among the most powerful pirate groups in the New World.
A Captain Worth a Billion Dollars Where in this world do so many pirates worth a billion berries come from?!
You know, when the navy recruits the Seven Warlords of the Sea in the future, the bounties of those pirates who have just become the Seven Warlords of the Sea generally do not exceed 10 billion.
Even a famous figure like Crocodile, whose bounty did not exceed 100 million.
It is conceivable that in today's era, a pirate with a bounty of up to 1 billion is a big shot.
As their reputation spread, the number of pirates on the Dressrosa route decreased sharply, which reduced the "income" of Yoriichi and his friends.
In order to support the construction of the branch, Yoriichi had to go out to sea frequently to look for pirates.
In fact, as early as when Yoriichi Tsugakuni handed the head of the Giant Pirates to King Riku and asked Dressrosa to exchange it for the bounty, the Marine Headquarters had already realized the trick here.
Most of the bounties on pirates are just for show.
Ordinary pirate hunters are simply unable to deal with slightly stronger pirates. Any pirate whose bounty exceeds tens of millions will either die at the hands of the navy in exchange for merit, or be robbed by pirates and disappear on this sea.
It has only happened a few times in all these years that a pirate group with a total bounty of over 100 million is wiped out at one time and comes to the navy to collect the bounty.
And now, it happens frequently in Dressrosa.
The people at headquarters are not fools, so they know what is happening here.
However, Kong Gukong turned a blind eye to this. After all, he could only choose one between merit and bounty. He was relieved that Yuichiro chose to exchange his head for the bounty. If it was purely based on merit, he would not be able to explain to the other navy if he did not promote Yuichiro Tsugikuni to admiral.
However, he had no way of explaining to the World Government that he had promoted a boy under the age of eighteen to the position of General.
Therefore, the branch and the headquarters formed this wonderful tacit understanding.
"Lieutenant General, we have been out to sea for almost ten days, and we still haven't found any trace of Moonlight Moriah."
"Considering the time required to return and the remaining supplies on the ship, we should probably go back soon."
The sky was clear and blue. Ji Guoyuan stood at the bow of the boat, gazing at the sea, with a hint of sadness between his brows.
After counting the supplies, Cyrus came to the deck, walked to Yunyi's side, and reported to him.
In order to reduce the load and speed up the warship's travel when going out to sea, Yunyi only brought one month's worth of food and fresh water with him this time.
By now, half of the time has passed. If there is no harvest in the short term, we have to consider returning home.
"Well, it seems that I was a little too imaginative."
"If my guess is correct, the merchantmen who landed there should have been a ship."
"Zombies. They should be Gekko Moriah's Moonlight Pirates."
"But in the vast ocean, the possibility of finding those guys is still too low."
"Inform them to continue patrolling for two more days. If there is no harvest, we can return."
Yoshiichi Tsugikuni tilted his head slightly and gave orders to Cyrus. This time when they went out to sea, Yoshiichi left Koshiro at the base to supervise the work, and only brought two adjutants, Cyrus and Ichisho, as well as the "labor camp prisoner" Mihawk and a group of marines.
These days, Yuanyi has been thinking about whether to get some patrol ships. This ship is too big and the cost of a voyage is very high. If there is a gain, it would be fine. If not, this trip would be a pure waste of money.
Only when you manage a household do you know how valuable oil and salt are. When Yunyi personally commanded a warship, he realized how important money was to the navy.
"yes!"
Cyrus responded and then walked towards the cabin.
Not long after Cyrus left, as the warship sailed, the originally clear sky was soon covered by dark clouds.
Fine rain fell from the sky.
A cloud of mist inexplicably rose in the sea in front of the warship.
"Um?!"
Jiguo Yuanyi raised his head, looked at the sky that was suddenly covered with dark clouds, and let out a light exclamation.
"The weather in the New World really changes at any time!"
With a sigh, Yunyi shouted towards the back of the cockpit, "Slow down and turn on the searchlight."
As Yunyi's cry reached the cockpit, the spotlights at the bow of the ship switched on, beams of light piercing the fog. The warship quickly slowed down and sailed slowly into the thick fog.
After entering the thick fog, the rain became lighter and the drizzle seemed to be obscured by the thick fog in the area.
Yuanyi stood at the bow of the boat and couldn't help but stretch out his hand, but he couldn't feel any raindrops falling.
The thick mist quickly wet Yuichiro's hair.
At this moment, Cyrus, Yixiao, and Mihawk also returned to the deck. Yixiao and Mihawk were drinking tea in the cabin. When they felt the warship slow down, they thought something had happened and immediately came to the deck to check.
As soon as I arrived on the deck, I saw the thick fog around me.
"Lieutenant General, do you think it's possible with this thick fog?" Cyrus observed the surrounding environment and suddenly became excited.
Upon hearing this, Jiguo Yuanyi shook his head slightly: "I'm not sure. My observation Haki doesn't sense any human aura."
"Maybe not here."
Boom!!!!
As soon as Ji Guoyuan finished speaking, a muffled sound suddenly came from the bottom of the sea. At the moment the loud noise occurred, the entire warship seemed to be hit by something and it tilted significantly. The navy on the deck was caught off guard and fell directly to the ground.
Cyrus and others also quickly grabbed the railings, and their expressions suddenly changed.
"There's something under the boat!"
Mihawk let out a low cry, steadied himself, and quickly looked underwater. However, due to the thick fog and the sea water blocking his view, he couldn't see the situation underwater clearly.
"Is there something? I can't feel anything!" When Mihawk shouted, Yixiao grabbed the railing with one hand and the crutch with the other, tilted his head slightly, then frowned and suddenly said.
At this moment, Jigoku Yoshiichi's face was also solemn, because like Yixiao, he could not sense what was under the ship with his Observation Haki.
But there is no doubt that there must be something under the boat!
Boom!!!!
After the inexplicable collision, the warship had already tilted significantly, but before the warship could right itself, another violent collision hit the warship again.
This time, the force was even stronger than the previous time. The warship, which was already tilted, was in danger of capsizing.
"A smile!"
At the critical moment, Ji Guoyuan called out to Yixiao. At the same time he called out to Yixiao, Yixiao had already drawn out a blade.
"Leave it to me!" The power of the Yixiao Devil Fruit was directly applied to the warship. The momentum of the warship capsizing stopped instantly, and then the bow was quickly straightened.
Just when everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the collision came again.
"Bang!" This time, the sound of the collision was clearer. The next second after the collision, a shrill alarm sounded on the warship.
"The bottom of the cabin is damaged and water is coming in?!" Cyrus exclaimed in surprise the moment he heard the alarm.
The moment Tsugikoku Yoshiichi heard the alarm, he quickly looked over and smiled.
Without waiting for Yuan's order, Yixiao drew out the long sword in his hand, and the terrifying lifting force was directly added to the warship. In just a few breaths, the entire warship had left the sea and began to take off.
"I want to see what it is!"
Before Tsugikoku Yoshiichi could make any move, Mihawk had already grabbed the hilt of Kurokato Ye, quickly took it off his back, and then jumped directly into the sea.
The observation Haki lost its effect, and both Ichimo and Mihawk felt a little uneasy.
Faced with this situation, Mihawk decided to use a knife to eliminate the anxiety in his heart!
As Mihawk jumped off the deck, Tsugikoku Yoriichi and Cyrus quickly looked out at the sea. Not long after Mihawk disappeared into the thick fog, a flash of green blade light flashed from the mist.
The next second, the sea was directly split apart by Mihawk's slash, and the huge waves that were raised quickly spread out in all directions. The wind was howling, and the thick fog on the sea surface also dissipated a lot at this moment.
And a huge black shadow quickly emerged from the bottom of the sea.
The dark red blood directly dyed the sea area, and a strong fishy smell came to the face as the black shadow rose.
Soon, the culprit that attacked the warship surfaced from the sea. It was a giant fish that looked like the king of the near sea, and it was hundreds of meters long.
"Sea king?" Seeing this thing, Cyrus couldn't help but mutter, his face full of surprise.
If it was an attack by a sea king, how could Yixiao not sense it?
"At best, it's a juvenile sea king, and it's a corpse!"
Tsugikoku Yoshiichi walked to the side of the ship and leaned over to look at the dead sea king on the surface, his brow furrowed. What attacked them was more like the corpse of a young sea king than a young sea king.
The corpse exuded a strong stench of decay, not like it had just been killed. The head of the young sea king had been separated from its body and was now floating on the sea. Yuanyi looked at the sea king's head and found that its mouth was densely packed with countless iron sheets, as if it had been sealed artificially.
Judging from the degree of decay of the body, it's probably been there for about a month.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Cyrus asked, suppressing the urge to vomit and looking down at the corpse on the sea.
At this moment, Jiguo Yuanyi seemed to have understood something, but he was also a little confused and frowned, not knowing what he was thinking.
After a while, Yuan Yi said to everyone:
"It should be the masterpiece of Moonlight Moriah."
"He is the user of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, which allows him to insert captured shadows into corpses, turning them into puppets that obey his orders."
"Our observation Haki couldn't sense it, probably because the one who attacked us was a corpse."
"But what I didn't expect was that the controlled puppet could actually move in the sea."
"I don't know if my judgment is wrong."
"Yixiao, leave this sea area first, repair the hull, and then look for the other party's trace."
"The corpse can evade the capture of Observation Haki, but Gekko Moriah and his men cannot do that."
"We've come to the right place. We can't waste this opportunity!"
As Jiguo Yuanyi gave the order, Yixiao used the power of his fruit to control the warship and quickly flew away from the sea area. After stopping in a seemingly calm sea, Yixiao slowly lowered the warship back to the surface of the sea. However, in order to make it easier for the boatmen to repair it, Yixiao still used his power to tilt the warship so that the hole in the bottom of the ship would not be pressed into the sea water.
The warship stopped and the marines on board got busy repairing the ship.
And Yunyi stood on the deck, silently spreading his Observation Haki, looking for traces of the enemy.
After some emergency repairs, the warship regained some mobility. Although the Marines' repair techniques were rough, they were sufficient.
After the repairs were completed, the warship began cruising in the fog.
Soon, Ji Guoyuan's observation Haki that he displayed yielded some results.
Yuanyi's frown gradually relaxed.
He has already sensed the enemy!
(End of this chapter)
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