Chapter 52: Seeking Follow-up Reads! Wind Dragon's Roar Devours the Twin Cats!
Dragon's appearance was indeed shocking, but the Black Cat Pirates on the ship were all South Sea elites with rich combat experience. After a brief moment of surprise, some had already aimed their Muzzles and unhesitatingly pulled the trigger.
[Bang!] The first loud gunshot directly kicked off the battle. More gunshots rang out from all directions, and dense Bullets rained down like a downpour.
Seeing this, Dragon frowned slightly, forcibly suppressing his instinctive urge to use Haki. For him, if he used Haki or overly strong Body Technique, this battle would lose its meaning. He had to ensure he only used the Ability of the Hurricane Fruit to deal with it.
In an instant, the Bullet rain approached, but it was blocked by a pale green Whirlwind that appeared out of nowhere around Dragon and slowly swirled. The Bullets, losing their momentum, fell to the Deck with a pattering sound, covering the ground.
"As expected, it's a Devil Fruit Ability, but it looks very different from ours, meow!" 'Fishing Cat' was seen jumping over from his White Ship at some point, squatting on the Mast of the Black Ship, looking down at Dragon.
He and 'Three-Legged Cat' came from the lowest rungs of the South Sea, so they hadn't received much good education. They were only taught literacy for three years by two kind old men, and had no chance to learn about Devil Fruit knowledge. Therefore, their understanding of Devil Fruits was limited to knowing it was the 'Treasure of the Sea'.
Furthermore, until now they had only heard of, but never seen other Devil Fruit Ability Users in the South Sea, so they thought everyone was like them, possessing different Zoan forms.
"He seems to be able to turn into wind and control wind. The Cannonball just now must have been blown back by him using wind. Watch carefully, meow!" The Black Cat 'Three-Legged Cat' solemnly reminded his companion, while carefully observing the opponent's fight.
At the same time, the Black Cat Pirates on the Deck, seeing that Firearm fire was ineffective, and the Pirates around them wielding Steel Sword, Dagger, and Longsword, all revealed their fiercest expressions and swarmed forward to attack.
Sure enough, this time, the suddenly appearing Navy could no longer stand still and ignore the attacks. Instead, accompanied by the green Wind Aura, with extremely ethereal movements, he weaved through the crowd, dodging the slashes and stabs from all angles. Occasionally, some people felt their Weapons contact an Entity, but it was only a layer of translucent Wind Aura.
Dragon, on his side, was forcibly suppressing the urge to counterattack, while dealing with the Pirate's siege and feeling the power of the wind.
At this moment, if Rear Admiral Aven saw him, he might think the former was using Observation Haki, but this was just sensing the flow of Air, coupled with the occasional semi-Logia Transformation.
Dragon felt that he was already a Logia Type Ability User, so he had to get used to utilizing the characteristics of Elementalization as soon as possible.
And the move he was using at this moment had already been named 'Wind Dragon Protection' in his heart. The Wind Aura blessing on his body not only enhanced agility and speed, but also provided protection and Airflow perception. It seemed to be a fairly comprehensive support skill, but it was more than just that.
"Wind Dragon!" In the next moment, the green Wind Aura that had been quietly swirling around Dragon suddenly erupted. More Wind Aura surged out, forming a spiraling Wind Dragon that fiercely swept nearly a hundred Pirates on the Deck into the sky.
"Ahhhhhhh!" It wasn't over yet. The Pirates enveloped by the gale began to develop dense, bloody cuts all over their bodies. The excruciating pain, like the torment of a thousand cuts, caused them to scream and wail instinctively.
"My heavens, what the hell is that thing?" 'Fishing Cat' instantly appeared beside 'Three-Legged Cat', watching in disbelief at the Wind Dragon spiraling around a Tornado. Dragon's Figure in the eye of the wind was faintly visible.
Just as this Wind Dragon appeared, his animal instinct frantically warned him. Fortunately, he obeyed his instinct and jumped down at top speed. Otherwise, he would probably be suffering from the cutting wind right now.
"..." 'Three-Legged Cat' didn't respond to 'Fishing Cat' because he didn't know what to say. Dragon's Ability was too astonishing; he didn't know how to deal with it.
Ten seconds later, as the Wind Aura dissipated, the Black Cat Pirates, covered in Wounds and bloody cuts, fell like dumplings. Some unlucky ones fell directly into the vast Sea.
The most astonishing thing was that a huge hole appeared in the Deck, right where Dragon had been standing. However, he didn't fall, but floated there in mid-air, with a much smaller Wind Dragon still swirling around him.
What made 'Three-Legged Cat' and 'Fishing Cat' most nervous was that Dragon's Gaze was focused on them, causing the two to adopt a wary Posture like felines.
However, the latter had no killing intent towards these two 'Cats'. He had already learned about their information on the way here. For Pirates like these who only targeted Nobles, didn't harm Civilians at all, and didn't kill many, they still needed to be captured, but there was no need to kill them.
But being stared at like this finally made 'Three-Legged Cat' and 'Fishing Cat' unable to hold back. With the idea of striking first to gain the upper hand, despite no words or Eyesight exchanged, they almost simultaneously attacked Dragon.
The African Lion Cat Form and Pallas Cat Form Ability Users, one on the left and one on the right, were so fast that their Figures blurred. In less than a breath, they approached Dragon.
Their ten Cat Claws, sharp enough to cut through metal, fiercely clawed over. One attacked high, and the other low, their coordination was quite seamless.
"Black Cat Frenzied Claws, meow!" "White Cat Frenzied Claws, meow!" At the same time, the Wind Dragon on Dragon's body roared out and grew larger in the wind, quickly transforming into a Wind Dragon over three meters tall and ten meters long.
It completely ignored 'Three-Legged Cat's' clawing and slashing. Instead, it headbutted him away. As fast as he came, he was sent back just as quickly. Then, with a flick of its dragon tail, it whipped 'Fishing Cat' back from the other side.
[Bang! Bang!] The two heavily crashed onto the ship's railing in succession, both spitting out a mouthful of Fresh Blood, looking in fear at Dragon, who slowly floated in front of them, and the Wind Dragon swimming in mid-air, staring at them.
In fact, as Zoan Ability Users, although the Wind Dragon's attack was heavy, it wasn't enough to incapacitate them, but the huge gap in Strength between them was despair-inducing.
"Captain! Captain!" Just then, the Crew Members of the White Cat Pirates on the other White Ship, stepping on the ropes of Grappling Hooks, gritted their teeth and ran over, brandishing Weapons.
They had also seen the Strength that Dragon displayed, but the two Captains usually treated them well. Most of them had previously suffered oppression and bullying from Nobles. It was the Captains who appeared and severely punished the Nobles, and brought them out to the Sea to live without worry about food and clothing, freely and unrestrained.
So at this moment, even those Black Cat Pirates who had been cut by the Tornado, as long as they had the strength to stand up, were enduring the pain and desperately charging towards Dragon.
"Captain, you take the White Ship and run!" "Yes, run quickly, we'll hold him back!" The Pirates from both the Black Cat and White Cat Pirate Crew believed that with the two Captains' Strength, they would definitely be able to escape successfully. They were Devil Fruit Ability Users!
"Y-you guys..." 'Three-Legged Cat' and 'Fishing Cat' teared up, but they didn't choose to leave on their own. Instead, they stood up and roared along with their Crew Members, attacking Dragon.
"We'll die together, meow—" Dragon was also a little surprised to see this scene. He had encountered many Pirate Crews before, but he had never seen Pirates so united, even willing to die for their Captains.
He became curious about these Pirates. "Alright, I'll lock you up first." Dragon felt that enough time had passed.
In the next moment, the Wind Dragon violently expanded, and then with a boom, it exploded, transforming into a raging green gale that swept across everything around it, engulfing all the Pirates and the 'Twin Cats'. The White Ship and Black Ship were torn apart and dismantled in the wind.
[Awoo——————] The faint Wind Dragon's Roar echoed across the Grand Line.
(End of Chapter)