Pokémon stands out in one particular aspect; while ordinary beasts sharpen their claws or roar merely to intimidate others, the same action performed by Pokémon can genuinely enhance their combat abilities.
Zeraora’s claw-clashing movement is akin to Dark-type move Hone Claws, making his claws even sharper and allowing him to strike his opponents more easily, causing greater damage.
Tekkai proved greatly effective against regular Minks, but against Zeraora, it was insufficient. Zeraora slashed a large gash across his chest, and the lightning on his claws instantly charred the wound, emitting a burnt odor from the center.
Although his Store-Store Fruit could absorb lightning, the lightning attached to physical attacks rendered him powerless. Unless he could absorb all the lightning within Zeraora at once, there was no way around it.
“Uncle, please leave this place to me, you go to other areas.”
Zeraora shook his right hand. For him, this enemy had nothing particularly special about him apart from being able to charge him up. While the energy is good, it is entirely insufficient for Zeraora.
No matter how strong Tekkai is, there is still a disparity between it and Armament Haki. Kami-e and Tekkai are just low-tier skills compared to Observation Haki and Armament Haki.
Though he didn’t land a fatal blow, Zeraora’s assault didn’t cease. His sharp claws relentlessly tore into the opponent’s body, each swipe causing flesh and blood to fly. Tekkai was nothing more than a sitting target in front of him.
“Hachi, it seems Setsuna has brought back an extraordinary son-in-law.”
A tiger Mink stood up, whose body was bearing numerous injuries, but it didn’t affect his combat ability.
These days, Hachi has been boasting on Zou Island. Although he was a bit displeased with Setsuna bringing back a boyfriend after nine years of disappearance, it didn’t stop him from flaunting his premium goods outside.
The result was that most members of the Musketeer Squad now knew about Zeraora. An opponent they couldn’t handle even by besieging him from all sides appeared to be effortlessly defeated by Zeraora, making them realize the difference in their strength.
“Of course, you should see whose daughter she is. Her tastes couldn’t be poor.”
“Yeah, that’s true. After all, she’s Rin’s daughter. It’s just a pity that Rin had that one lapse in judgment in her lifetime.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that? Explain yourself!”
“Oh, don’t misunderstand. Go help out quickly. Those people are not easy to deal with.”
Tiger Mink led the charge towards another battlefield, with Hachi following closely behind. However, Hachi had many questions for him about what he meant by Rin’s judgment.
Meanwhile, Zeraora’s battle with the opponent entered a peculiar cycle. He had to use the Store-Store Fruit’s ability to absorb the lightning released by Zeraora; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to withstand Zeraora’s thunderbolts.
However, his Store-Store Fruit has a storage limit. Once the electric charge reached the maximum, he had to release it. But as soon as he released the lightning, Zeraora would absorb it, making him even stronger.
“Damn beast, die!”
World Government has existed for 800 years and naturally has a knowledge, especially in the training of agents. Most of the agents working for the World Government were staunch loyalists.
After the Enies Lobby incident, Rob Lucci and his team were almost eliminated by the World Government, but later, Rob Lucci had passed the selection process to become a CP0 agent.
The agents responsible for carrying out these dirty tasks are naturally trusted by the World Government. In case they encounter an untrustworthy individual who leaks out such matters, even the World Government would have to deal with some criticisms.
While they didn’t care about such public opinion, it doesn’t mean they like it.
Realizing he was no match for Zeraora, he made a decision. Taking advantage of the opportunity when Zeraora was attacking, he rushed towards Zeraora and clung to him desperately, but this time, he didn’t release the electric charge, instead the energy gauge on his chest began to flicker.
“Die! Energy Storage Self-destruction!”
Since electricity didn’t work on him, he chose to detonate the energy stored within himself. For him, Zeraora was a threat to the World Government that had to be eliminated.
He made up his mind not to let go no matter what, but he didn’t feel any struggle from Zeraora beneath him.
“Big guy, farewell.”
He looked up, and Zeraora was sitting on a nearby rooftop, watching him. The one he had caught was just a Substitute created by Zeraora using energy. Anyone would find it strange and dodge when someone suddenly rushed at them.
Although the Substitute wasted a considerable amount of energy, it seemed that the energy spent was well worth it at the moment.
A mushroom cloud erupted out, destroying many buildings. However, since the party was taking place outside, there was no significant impact.
The explosion also attracted the attention of others. While the knockout gas had knocked out most of the Minks, it surprisingly spared the strongest of the Musketeer Squad and Guardians.
But they didn’t know it was because of Alcremie’ ability, and thought it was because of Caesar’s incompetence. Apart from these two devil fruit users, other agents didn’t have much advantage in the battle.
Initially, the Store-Store Fruit user had held back the elites of the Musketeer Squad such as Hachi and others, while Hitsugisukan held back the leader. But with Zeraora’s intervention, the brief balance was disrupted.
Hachi and the others, who were now free, focused on breaking through. They began to release more Mink warriors, and with their numerical superiority, they launched a counterattack.
“Thunderclap Zeraora…This guy is actually on Zou Island?”
The World Government’s member who had been battling Hitsugisukan noticed Zeraora’s presence. Before coming to Zou Island, he had done his homework. Zeraora was the most famous “Mink” in the New World.
The bounty of 550 million, coupled with his status as Beasts Pirates’ officer, prompted him to scrutinize the opponent more closely. He believed this was an exceedingly formidable opponent.
Logia-types aren’t invincible; some are as strong as the future three Admirals of the headquarters, while others are as weak as Caribou. In the New World, where Haki is very common, Logia types are just one of many abilities.
However, he didn’t think that someone from the Beasts Pirates would appear on Zou Island. It seems that his judgment had been mistaken.
But it didn’t matter; he had a contingency plan.
“Activate Plan Two!”
A more polite term was Plan Two, but a harsher one would be Plan Failure, prepared for a retreat. However, he still hadn’t forgotten the initial mission objective. Several String Clouds were released from his body, capturing a few unconscious Mink into himself.
Then, he released a large swath of clouds to use as stepping stones.
The agents below were his subordinates, however this was the Mink’s homeland, and taking them away in front of them was naturally impossible. Not to mention taking them away, even whether he could leave himself was uncertain.
You can read ahead upto 55 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!