"Roar!!"
A deafening lion's roar, like a clap of thunder, erupted from the mouth of a lion formed from seawater.
In the next instant.
The massive, transparent seawater lion, like a living creature, pounced fiercely toward the pirate ship where John was!
This lion, condensed from seawater, stood over a hundred meters tall, as large as a mountain; as it lunged downward, its momentum was like a landslide.
In an instant.
The pirate ship beneath John's feet began to pitch violently, as if it might capsize at any moment.
"Iron Wall!"
Facing the Golden Lion's attack, John knew he was no match, but he did not just sit and wait for death.
With a jolt of his hands, pieces of steel whistled as they flew up from the deck, clanging together in mid-air before him to quickly assemble into a massive iron shield, attempting to block the seawater lion's pounce.
But his technique was ineffective.
Because the mountain-sized seawater lion before him was blown apart halfway before it could even reach him.
It wasn't because Carlo had arrived in time.
Instead... "Fish-Man Karate! Sea Current Over-the-Shoulder Throw!!"
Beneath the violently undulating surface, a powerful figure extended two thick arms, gritting his teeth and roaring as if treating the seawater in his hands as a tangible object, suddenly exerting force and flipping it upward.
The next moment.
The seawater before him turned into a soaring current, erupting from the deep sea, breaking through the surface, and piercing through the body of the seawater lion above, blowing it apart!
Not only that.
The thick current continued upward into the sky with unabated momentum, shooting toward the Golden Lion like a sharp arrow.
The Golden Lion snorted coldly and moved back, letting the current fly past him and fall back into the sea.
He looked down coldly at the catfish head emerging from the sea.
"Babel, do you want to be turned into dried catfish?"
In the undulating waves, Babel grinned: "Hehehe, Shiki, if you've got the guts, come down into the water and fight me."
"Do you take me for an idiot?"
"So that means you don't have the guts. Carlo dared to fight me in the water; your spirit isn't as great as his."
"You're looking for death!"
With no more words to say, a murderous glint appeared in the Golden Lion's eyes, and he reached out with his large hand again from a distance.
"Lion's Earth Bind!!"
The great power of the Float-Float Fruit descended out of thin air.
The next moment.
The surface of the sea where Babel was located rumbled and surged upward again, quickly condensing into a giant seawater lion that lunged to swallow Babel in the water.
Babel was unafraid; his seemingly heavy and massive body moved with incredible flexibility and speed, slipping away from beneath the seawater lion's jaws.
Once he had pulled some distance away, he repeated his trick, performing his exquisite Fish-Man Karate once more.
He grabbed a thick current in his hands like a long whip and lashed out horizontally, snapping the seawater lion in front of him at the waist.
But... it was useless!
The moment the seawater lion was broken, it healed again, continuing its charge and biting like a tsunami.
At the same time.
On the surrounding sea surface, one, two, three, four more seawater lions condensed in the same manner!
A total of five lions, each over a hundred meters long and composed of seawater, completely ignoring physical damage and harder to deal with than large Sea Kings, charged toward John and the other ships of the Sky Pirates!
John's expression had already changed.
What made things even more difficult for him was that the pirate ships scattered on the surrounding sea were also sailing toward them at the same time.
One dark cannon muzzle after another turned in unison, aiming at their pirate ships, ready to begin the bombardment.
John could already foresee it.
In the next moment, their dozens of pirate ships would be submerged in endless cannon fire.
This made John's mood quite foul.
Normally speaking.
With the current scale of their Sky Pirates.
Fifty to sixty pirate ships and a force of over twenty thousand pirates.
Even in the New World, this would be considered a significant size.
But compared to the Golden Lion.
It was truly just a fraction of his forces.
Looking across, even with only a portion of his forces deployed, the number of pirate ships flanking them was already five or six times their own!
Looking around, the sea was densely packed with pirate ships everywhere.
Not to mention, there were over a hundred damn Flying Warships overhead that they couldn't even reach!
To be honest, he didn't even know how to fight this battle.
Fighting... there was no way.
Once the battle fully commenced, it was unknown if their side could even hold out for an hour under the enemy's bombardment.
Now, John only hoped Carlo would arrive quickly to save the day.
Otherwise, if he arrived a bit late, they would all be finished here.
"Roar!"
That annoying seawater lion pounced at him again.
Feeling irritable, John suddenly pushed his hands forward.
"Get lost! Don't bother me!"
"Magnetic Storm! Metal Storm!"
Before him, the massive iron shield composed of numerous metal blocks instantly disintegrated and shot outward, whistling as it pierced into the pouncing seawater lion's body, slicing it into countless pieces.
Without waiting for it to reform.
Under John's control, those metal plates zipped back and forth within it, churning it into a mess.
This was repeated over a dozen times.
Finally, the seawater lion stopped reforming and collapsed back into the sea with a loud crash.
Seeing this, John's eyes lit up, and he quickly gave orders for the pirates on the other ships to concentrate their fire on these seawater creations.
As for himself, he took a deep breath, leaped onto a metal plate, and flew up into the sky.
The direction he was flying was actually toward where the Golden Lion was.
The Golden Lion also saw his movement and immediately revealed a sinister grin.
"Ho? Are you challenging me, John?"
John sneered at the words: "Challenge you? Shiki! Don't talk about yourself as if you're as high and mighty as Rocks! Oh, I was wrong—even Rocks wasn't as arrogant as you back then. And your current strength, compared to Rocks, is at most... a loli!"
"You're looking for death!" The Golden Lion's face contorted; he raised his right hand high and swung it down violently.
Several Flying Warships floating above his head suddenly plummeted, smashing toward John's head; he was actually using them as projectiles.
"Come at me if you can!"
John laughed loudly and threw his hands outward.
The three pirate ships whistling down suddenly stopped, and then, under the influence of an invisible magnetic force, they were thrown back, shooting toward the Golden Lion.
Holding his twin swords, the Golden Lion casually delivered two slashes, cutting two of the incoming pirate ships in half.
Then he spun around, dodged the third pirate ship, and threw a kick.
A kick wreathed in black and red lightning kicked the void until it collapsed and exploded, forming a massive shockwave that blew the entire pirate ship apart.
The pirate ship exploded, turning into a shower of parts that fell clattering down.
Almost simultaneously.
John below had already approached at high speed, pulling his hands together as blue and white electric arcs erupted in his grasp.
Metal plates whistled up from beneath him, quickly assembling into a massive electromagnetic cannon battery in front of him.
Dazzling electromagnetism lit up in the muzzle, locking onto the Golden Lion.
"Railgun!!"
There was no startup time.
A thick beam of light suddenly erupted from the metal muzzle, shooting straight toward the Golden Lion.
He was just about to swing his sword down to shatter the beam.
Just then, an unexpected object fell from the sky with a clang and hit him on the head, leaving the Golden Lion somewhat dazed.
It wasn't that he was dazed by the impact.
It was that... he clearly still had his future-predicting Observation Haki active!
How could he possibly have been hit?
And by... a ship's steering wheel?