119. One Pot

Sabaody Archipelago.

This is an open field with no residential areas nearby, only tall trees scattered around.

"You... were also kicked here by that Marine bastard?"

"...."

Silence! A moment of silence!

There were four individuals present.

The voracious woman Urasova is in her regular form, with tendrils covering her entire body.

Gehrman had long, flowing hair, tattered clothes, mud dripping from time to time on his body, and clear shoe prints on his face.

There were also two men, Sanchez and Altluk, glaring fiercely.

"Hey! I just mentioned that if we team up, we might have had a chance to take down that guy!"

"You're putting it lightly. Why didn't you take the lead? See, I got slapped by that guy several times!"

Sanchez became more and more animated as he spoke, even pointing at the slap marks on half of his face and addressing Altluk.

"Aren't you the Zoan Devil Fruit user? Aren't you supposed to endure better than me? If you had held your ground for a bit, and I attacked from behind, we wouldn't have been kicked away."

"Heh, I think you just want to seize the chance to deceive me, don't you?"

Gehrman, seated cross-legged on the ground beside them, finally couldn't bear listening any longer. His forehead pulsed like a tic, and the corners of his mouth twitched. Were these two guys for real? And was the guy talking about slap marks mocking the shoe prints on my face?

"Stop arguing, you two, let's just disperse and run away now!"

Gehrman actually looked down upon the rest of them. After all, the bounties of several other Supernovas were over 100 million, and he had more than 200 million. Thus, he believed that his strength far surpassed these individuals.

"I can't run away!"

Muscular girl Urasova shook her head.

"Huh?"×3

As soon as these words were uttered, three pairs of eyes were immediately fixated. Even Sanchez and Altluk, who were still chattering, fell silent, anticipating Urasova's explanation.

"You must be surprised, right? How could that Marine locate a few of us so quickly in such a short span of time?"

"Is it the Marine's intelligence agency?"

"No, it's Haki!"

"Haki?"×3

"Yes, it should be Observation Haki, and it's an incredibly potent form of Observation Haki at that. It's likely that every move we make right now is within the Marine's perception."

"What?"×2

Sanchez and Altluk suddenly had a sinking feeling in their hearts.

Gehrman, on the side, was thoughtful, "Is it possible that Haki appears as a layer of black substance? (A/N: There was previously controversy about whether Haki has color in the eyes of unawakened individuals. I'll just depict it as having color here. After all, anime and comics have contradictory information. It's not my fault.) Can it touch the entity of a Logia user?"

"Huh? Are you a Logia Devil Fruit user?"

Ulanova was a little surprised. No wonder this guy's bounty was much higher than theirs. The elementalization of Logia was so potent that he could essentially move freely in the first half of the Grand Line.

"How do you know?"

"Are you a idiot?"

"You..."

Hermann looked slightly angered, but he held it back and turned his gaze to Urasova, awaiting the answer to the previous question.

"Armament Haki!"

Urasova did not disappoint him, primarily because she feared that this guy might act against her in anger.

"Pah! Pah! Pah! It's genuinely rare for someone to understand Haki in the first half!"

When Gehrman was about to delve into a detailed discussion about Haki with Ulanova, a burst of applause suddenly echoed in the ears of the pirates.

"You again?"

Several people followed the sound, and Atlas, clad in pure white attire, emerged in their field of vision. This troublesome Marine was looking at them with a sneer on his face.

"Don't be nervous. It's just a Marine Vice Admiral, not a Marine Admiral. I don't believe that the four of us, Supernovas, can't handle a Marine Vice Admiral!"

Gehrman sneered, attempting to rally several people to confront Atlas.

After hearing this, Altluk glanced at Gehrman's slightly scornful expression and, for some reason, felt a bit uneasy.

'By the way... brother, does your face hurt when you say that?'

"At this point, we can only fight to the death. I've alerted my crew for support. We'll endure for a while, and then we'll employ the human sea tactic to wear him down. In any case, his physical strength has its limits."

Urasova nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

"Okay!"×2

The pirate captains present were not fools, so they naturally informed their crews that they only needed to prolong the confrontation for a while.

"You... really know nothing about the Marine Vice Admiral."

Atlas shook his head slightly and advanced toward the pirates with his long strides.

"Hodan" (Cannonball)

"Kasoku" (Acceleration) 

Gehrman and Altluk took the lead in attacking, one from a distance and the other from up close. It was hard to believe that this was the first time the two were cooperating.

But…

Atlas continued to walk slowly and unhurriedly, his expression unchanged in the face of the two attacks.

Altluk's axe reached Atlas's neck first, its cold gleam about to sever Atlas's main artery.

"You are dead."

Altluk seemed to have foreseen the scene in front of him, with the Marine clutching his neck and tears of regret streaming from his eyes.

"It's...too slow!"

Atlas simply moved his neck slightly, and to the surprise of the onlookers, there seemed to be no change. Altluk's attack had failed!

Thanks to Atlas's exceptional nerve reaction speed, combined with Observation Haki, even users of speed-enhancing Devil Fruits found it difficult to get close to him.

Bang!

Ignoring the airborne mud shells, he turned around! A leg whip!

He delivered a powerful kick to Altluk's chest!

Suddenly, a burst of explosive flames was launched from behind, and the terrifying high temperature and explosive force instantly reduced the mud cannon shells to dust.

Now, Atlas is essentially equivalent to a humanoid Dragon Talisman, with 360-degree coverage of impenetrable armor which can shoot explosive fire!

"Puff~!"

A mouthful of blood sprayed out, and Altluk touched his sunken chest.

The ribs... are broken!

Sanchez and Ulanova did not expect to be defeated so quickly, and they did not dare to neglect the situation. One transformed into a centaur form, while the other's muscles bulged, tearing her clothes apart in an instant!

"Roar!"×2

As if venting their anger, the two of them roared simultaneously, their immense size making the atmosphere feel oppressive.

`Numachi no doro!' (Swamp mud)

Gehrman, who claimed to be the strongest among the group, was naturally not to be outdone. He secreted a large amount of mud from his body, instantly covering the nearby field with a disgusting swamp that rapidly spread in the direction of Atlas!

"Let's see how you hide!"

Almost at the same moment, Sanchez in his human-animal form and Urasova in her giant form attacked Atlas from both sides!

----------

Read 35 chapters in advance in Patr*on: patr*on.com/Cosmic_Kaminari