When Rosen transformed into flying sand and was the first to reach the stern, he saw a towering humanoid creature with numerous octopus-like tentacles wrapping around a crew member, preparing to stuff him into its gaping mouth.
The creature stood like a man but was about six meters tall—an enormous figure with more than ten black, slime-covered tentacles. Its head was massive, and its mouth, when opened, seemed large enough to swallow a person whole.
"Sea Demon?!" Rosen's mind tensed. Having spent some time in this sea, he had occasionally listened to Robin talk about various things and had picked up some knowledge. The creature's appearance bore some resemblance to the legendary "Sea Demon."
But it was even more grotesque.
"Desert Saber!" Rosen closed in and unleashed a sand blade attack. With a sharp slicing sound, two of the creature's tentacles were severed, causing it to let out a piercing screech.
Fortunately, the severed tentacles were the ones binding the crew member, saving him temporarily. However, the man appeared unable to move—likely injured when the tentacles had constricted around him.
"Roar!" The Sea Demon lashed out in fury, swinging its tentacles with incredible speed. The black appendages slashed down like whips, each over seven or eight meters long.
Rosen didn't sense any real danger and remained unfazed. After all, he was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user.
Boom! A tentacle struck Rosen's body but passed through harmlessly. However, the impact left a massive crack in the ship's structure. Rosen frowned. "That's quite a bit of power."
"Roar!" Failing to land a hit, the Sea Demon grew even more enraged, wildly flailing all its tentacles at once, creating a chaotic storm of whipping shadows.
If all those tentacles struck the ship, the Dawn would undoubtedly need repairs. Without hesitation, Rosen launched his counterattack.
"Sandstorm Burial!"
A colossal fist of sand, formed from airborne dust and his own transformed body, surged forward and smashed into the Sea Demon, launching it into the air.
The ocean was home to too many strange creatures, and Rosen had no interest in studying them. As the Sea Demon was sent flying, he quickly followed up with a long sand spear, piercing straight through its chest—aiming for the heart. Since it had a humanoid shape, that spot was likely to be fatal.
Everything happened swiftly. By the time Robin and the others arrived, Rosen had already finished dealing with the threat.
But then—shouts of alarm and gunfire erupted from the bow and other defensive positions on the ship.
"An attack?!" Rosen's first thought was an ambush, but there were no approaching ships in sight. Could it be a submarine? That wasn't entirely impossible.
Transforming into sand, he ascended higher to get an aerial view of the Dawn—and saw that countless black tentacles had latched onto the ship. The thick slime coating them had an incredibly strong adhesive force.
One by one, more Sea Demons crawled aboard. At a glance, there were over twenty of them.
Rosen frowned. Had he stumbled into a Sea Demon nest?
Regardless, he couldn't let these creatures run rampant on the Dawn. If they were as destructive as the first one, the ship could be sunk. Those tentacles packed a serious punch.
A crew member swung his blade at a tentacle, slicing it off—only to be struck by another, sent flying. By the time Rosen saw him again, the man's breathing was weak.
These sailors weren't top-tier fighters, but they weren't weak either. Yet the Sea Demons could take them down with ease, proving their strength.
"They're climbing aboard!" A crew member shouted in terror. These bizarre sea creatures were unlike anything they had seen before.
With nearly the entire ship under attack, Rosen had to make a quick decision. He dashed toward the area with the highest number of invaders.
"Mr. 5, Valentine, Dugong! Handle the stern and midsection! I'll take care of the bow!"
"Understood!"
Mr. 5 struck a Sea Demon with a Finger Pistol technique—Boom!—activating his Bomb-Bomb Fruit ability, charring the creature black.
Yet, shockingly, the Sea Demon wasn't completely dead. It extended its tentacles, wrapping around Mr. 5's leg.
Unfortunately for it, it had chosen the wrong opponent. The moment it touched Mr. 5's body—Boom!—another explosion went off, obliterating the tentacle.
Mr. 5 sneered. "You picked the wrong guy to mess with."
"Light Arrow Barrage!" Valentine fired a series of laser-enhanced arrows, piercing through the Sea Demons and detonating them, sending charred chunks of flesh tumbling to the deck.
Dugong was even more direct. The tentacles couldn't even touch him, and any Sea Demon that took a punch from him was instantly knocked out.
"Flying Sand Blade!"
Rosen faced over a dozen Sea Demons climbing onto the bow. With a single swipe of his hand, a swirling storm of razor-sharp sand slashed forward, shredding the first few creatures into pieces.
Then he launched another Sandstorm Strike. Though the ship's environment lacked enough sand to create a full-scale sand tornado, it was more than enough to handle these creatures.
A massive wave of Sea Demons was torn apart by the storm.
But on the sides, several had already leaped onto the ship, their tentacles lashing the deck and carving deep, jagged cracks. Rosen quickly turned and unleashed several sand blades, slicing through the creatures and decapitating them.
However, two of them reacted swiftly—one had only half its shoulder severed. Rosen assumed it was a fatal wound.
Yet, to his surprise, the creature continued its attack as if unscathed.
"It's still alive?"
Rosen felt no real threat from their attacks—though strong, they couldn't harm him. But their resilience was unusual. Their defense wasn't particularly impressive, yet their vitality was monstrous.
"Desert Greatsword."
With a single slash, he beheaded the creature. Only then did it stop moving.
"Be careful! These Sea Demons are tough to kill!" Robin warned. She seemed reluctant to use her Devil Fruit abilities against these slimy creatures, instead pulling out a sleek, high-powered pistol and firing a series of precise shots. She looked rather stylish doing it.
"Aim for their heads or blast them apart completely!" Rosen instructed.
Firing the ship's cannons wasn't a viable option—it could damage the vessel or harm the crew. But aiming for the head was much easier. As he had already tested, decapitation was fatal for these creatures.
Before long, the attacking Sea Demons were all wiped out.
They were not weak—numerous, tentacle-laden, and extraordinarily resilient.
But they had picked the wrong target. Rosen was one of the Shichibukai. It was nearly impossible for them to pose a true threat to him and his team.
The ship, however, had suffered significant damage.
"Dugong, check the underside of the ship. See if something is blocking us. We need to get out of here before more of these things show up."
At this point, sending anyone else into the water wasn't an option. Many of the crew were Devil Fruit users, and even those who weren't would be at a disadvantage underwater.
After all, humans couldn't exert their full strength in the depths. If they encountered more Sea Demons down there, it could be disastrous.
Dugong gave a quick nod and leaped into the sea.
(End of Chapter)
=========================================================
DROP THEM POWER STONES PLEASE
SUPPORT ME ON P@TREON IF YOU'D LIKE ACCESS ON ADVANCED CHAPTERS
PAT REON . COM / TurdTranslations (Just remove the space).