Looking at Manaphy in front of him, Vander Decken IX suddenly felt a bit flustered. The “surprise” came too abruptly.
Vander Decken IX’s mind works in strange ways. When he realized Shirahoshi was Poseidon, his first thought was to marry her. Despite the vast difference in their size, age, status and appearance, this idea was the first to appear in his mind.
The Vander family has always sought to successfully get closer to Poseidon through intermarrying, changing their bloodline in this way. So, this behavior was ingrained in Vander Decken IX’s very bones.
To him, marrying Shirahoshi was the best way to control Poseidon. He also had strange thoughts about Manaphy, but since they were both male, it was impossible as he had no interest in men.
Instead, he planned to have a daughter with Shirahoshi and then make Manaphy his son-in-law. This was his long-term strategy.
Shirahoshi, being royalty, would not leave the Ryugu Kingdom, making her whereabouts fixed.
But, to prevent Manaphy from disappearing, he intended to capture him directly.
Plans, however, cannot keep up with changes. He didn’t know when Manaphy appeared here, but it seemed Manaphy had heard what he just said.
Despite hearing those words, Manaphy’s tone remained so naive, making Vander Decken IX want to try abducting him.
“Ahem, Sir Manaphy, it’s like this. I have a grand dream. Would you be interested in hearing it?”
As he spoke, Vander Decken IX extended a hand towards Manaphy. As long as he made contact with Manaphy once, he could find Manaphy anywhere due to his Mark-Mark Fruit’s ability. By touching the other person’s body with his palm, he could lock them as a target.
Once he has locked onto a target, anything Vander Decken IX throws would automatically track the target to the ends of the earth.
Moreover, this throwing isn’t in the physical sense. As long as he touches an object and makes a throwing motion, even things he can’t lift will be affected by his ability and will fly away.
Small items like throwing knives and axes to large objects like the Noah were all subject to this ability. Unless shot down or obstructed mid-flight, they would continue tracking their target.
Each hand could lock one target. Washing his hands would remove the target, and he would need to touch the person again to re-lock onto them.
To avoid locking the wrong target, Vander Decken IX usually wore gloves and had already planned to have Manaphy in his left hand and Shirahoshi in his right hand for life, at the cost of never washing his hands again.
At this moment, Vander Decken IX took off his glove, seemingly to show respect but actually intending to mark Manaphy.
But Manaphy had no interest in this.
“So, were you lying about discovering the mineral deposit here?”
This was Manaphy’s main concern. It was his job, and he would be very angry if someone lied to him about it.
It was still the same cute appearance, but Manaphy’s voice became much colder.
“Catch him!”
Vander Decken IX’s expression suddenly turned excited. This was different from his plan, but since the target was right in front of him, there’s no way he could give up.
There were no mineral deposits here; he was just fooling Manaphy. Manaphy’s change in voice indicated he wasn’t as easily fooled as a child. This will be exposed sooner or later, so Vander Decken IX decided to act immediately.
But, at this moment, he overlooked the danger before him; fighting Manaphy in the deep sea is just foolish behavior.
Manaphy himself isn’t a weakling, and he is also an expert in calling for help.
The lie Vander Decken IX used to lure him over was that he had discovered a mineral deposit, so Manaphy had brought a group of strong “miners.”
Swampert is a Pokémon that can replace an impact drill and power hammer in the sea. Its arm strength is terrifying, capable of easily lifting objects weighing one ton.
Seeing that Vander Decken IX plans to attack their group pet, they didn’t need Manaphy to say anything; they had already taken action.
The Swamperts opened their mouths, launching Mud Bombs that shot through the water, hitting the Fish-Men pirates. Even underwater, they managed to achieve a unique form of firepower suppression.
After the Mud Bombs hit their targets and dispersed, a large amount of mud was released, muddying the water here, making it impossible for the Fish-Men to see their targets and causing them to swing their weapons blindly.
Swamperts, on the other hand, were different. Having lived in swamps, they had long developed the ability to see in muddy water. Taking advantage of this, the second wave of Swampert had already charged into the crowd.
Their arm muscles exploded with superhuman strength, each punch accompanied by screams. The already decrepit Flying Dutchman was riddled with further holes, nearing disintegration.
Vander Decken IX’s Mark-Mark Fruit could auto-lock onto enemies, but if he can’t touch the person, his ability is completely useless.
His martial arts skills were poor, and his combat strength was lower than ordinary Fish-Men. Moreover, being a Devil Fruit user, he relied on bubble coating to move freely. Breaking the bubble coating would instantly render him powerless.
“Wadatsumi! What are you waiting for? Catch him!”
“Okay, Captain Vander! Just watch me!…..Captain, I can’t see where he is. Can you tell me where he is first?”
Wadatsumi was eager to act, but he soon realized he couldn’t find Manaphy. With the mind of a child, he instinctively asked the person he saw as a parent.
“Idiot! Can’t you clear this muddy water first?”
“Oh, as expected of the captain, great idea.”
Wadatsumi took a deep breath, sucking in a large amount of clean seawater. As a blowfish Fish-Man, his inflated body resembled a giant balloon. He then spewed the water towards the Flying Dutchman.
The large amount of seawater cleared away the nearby muddy water and also swept away many Fish-Men; they were all pirates who had been knocked down by Swampert.
“Captain, just wait a bit. I’ll catch him!”
“Interesting, you two deal with that ugly four-legged creature. I’ll catch the big guy.”
Manaphy thought Wadatsumi was quite silly. It seemed like a waste for such a big, strong guy not to work in mines, so Manaphy decided to add a “titan” to the mining company.
A strange sound wave emitted from Manaphy’s body, and not far away in the silt, a strange fish with lobster claws seemed to hear the summons and swam towards Manaphy.
Though Vander Decken IX lied, finding a Sea King in the ocean was too easy for Manaphy.
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