"Slave traders… slave ships…"
Longinus' eyes unfocused for a moment—then killing intent surged like a tidal wave.
For him, those words were the deepest taboo.
The one line no one could cross.
As several iron cannonballs arced toward the Sea King below, Longinus lightly pressed a foot on the serpent's head and spoke indifferently:
"Dive.
Sink their ships."
The Sea King's massive, millstone-sized eyes trembled with humanlike terror.
Then—like a torpedo—it plunged completely beneath the churning waves.
The gunners of the Jacks Pirates blinked hard.
What… what was that?
The Sea King had dove before the cannonballs landed.
Was it absurd luck…
or did the beast possess human-level intelligence?
If it was luck, fine.
If it was intelligence—
none of them wanted to imagine what would happen next.
"C-captain…"
The pirate who had relayed the earlier order crept forward.
"That Sea King… it dove underwater. Our volley missed."
Jacks didn't care.
A mere extra prize didn't matter.
"It ran? Then good for it. Ignore it.
Focus on the important part—don't let Louis burn his own ships.
Those supplies are the Hiska Kingdom's stockpile for the war… that's the real treasure!"
Seeing the messenger still lingering, Jacks scowled.
"Spit it out. What else?"
"M-my apologies, Captain, but… it looked like the Sea King noticed the danger and intentionally dodged. If it has intelligence and tries to ram us from below, we—"
"IDIOT. Did a fish eat your brain?"
Jacks sneered.
"How could a dumb beast have intelligence? And besides, my ship, the Black Reaper, is reinforced with—"
He reached toward his waist, ready to draw the weapon he was so proud of.
But then—
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
The hull shook violently.
Each impact reverberated like thunder in the pirates' chests.
Cracks split along the ship's sides, spreading like living veins of terror.
"It—it's back!
The Sea King's here for revenge!"
A pirate flattened himself against the deck, trembling uncontrollably.
"Hold steady! WE CAN W—"
Jacks tried to shout them back into order, but the ship suddenly gave a deafening crack.
His heart dropped.
He hugged the mast in panic.
"GET THE OTHER SHIPS TO ME—NOW!
I'M A DEVIL FRUIT USER!
DO YOU WANT ME TO DROWN OUT HERE!?"
His orders still carried weight.
The nearby ships hurried toward him—
Only for a colossal serpent tail to erupt from the sea—
and smash those ships into splinters with a single sweep.
They didn't even last a heartbeat.
The smaller ships were nothing like the flagship.
Not one could withstand even a brush from that monstrous tail.
The rest of the pirate fleet scattered instantly, terrified beyond reason.
Louis' fleet, watching from afar, could hardly believe their eyes.
A pirate crew that had loomed so fearsomely moments before…
now crumbled in the blink of an eye.
And the one who saved them was—
a Sea King?
Even so, Louis' men stayed tense.
Sea Kings were indiscriminate killers.
Who knew when they'd be next?
"General Louis… what should we do? Strike it now while it's still on the surface?"
Everyone shared the same belief—
Sea Kings are unbeatable in the water.
And the Jacks Pirates had just proven it the hard way.
"No… do not make any sudden moves."
Louis inhaled deeply.
He knew they didn't have the means to kill it before it dove again.
Provoking a Sea King was suicide.
"We avoid angering the beast at all costs."
"Wow~ so that's a Sea King? The ocean really is different from the island!"
A light, sweet voice chirped behind him.
Louis' calm shattered instantly.
"My little angel—why are you out here?!
Get back to the cabin, now!"
The pink-haired little girl puffed her cheeks.
"Tina isn't a kid anymore! And Tina saw your whole fight just now! Daddy, you were suuuper lame!"
"Lame… lame… laaame…"
The words echoed in Louis' skull like a curse.
For any doting father, this was a direct hit to the soul.
The "ferocious" Sea King drifted closer, its massive shadow covering half the ship.
Soldiers gripped their weapons so tightly their palms sweated.
Had they not been strictly trained, someone would've panicked already.
The Sea King's jaws opened wide—
as if it meant to swallow the entire ship whole.
Louis' heart sank.
His hand rested on the hilt at his waist.
If the beast dove to finish them, he had only one shot—
a single iai strike before it disappeared beneath the waves.
And then—
A figure leapt from the Sea King's mouth.
Landing cleanly on the deck before them.
The "terrifying" Sea King lowered its towering body to deck level.
Its huge eyes gleamed… submissively?
It let out a hesitant whimpering sound—
Like a dog waiting for its master's praise.
"Good job.
You can go."
Longinus nodded.
For the first Sea King that had ever escaped his hands…
this performance would be its bragging rights for a whole year.
The Sea King chirped happily, tail slapping the ocean, and dove back into the depths at record speed.
A man who could be the guardian deity of a kingdom was no fool.
Louis had already pieced together the truth.
He didn't know how this boy tamed a Sea King,
nor why he chose to save them—
But that didn't matter.
Without him, Louis couldn't imagine what would've happened
to himself,
his fleet,
his kingdom…
or Tina.
Beside him, Tina blinked her large, sparkling eyes.
This big brother barely older than her…
could tame a Sea King?
So cool!
She wanted to learn!