Chapter 084
"Soru!" In a blur, Rin appeared at the battlefield—just as the highly poisonous Sea King-class serpent launched itself at Artoria. Having just defeated the giant sea frog on the other end of the trench, he activated the Navy's Rokushiki technique, Soru, and appeared instantly between Artoria and the threat. With a spinning roundhouse kick enhanced by Busoshoku Haki, Rin launched the serpent straight into the side of a coral-stone hill—the impact leveled the entire mound, burying the massive creature under tons of debris.
"Rin, you're here!" Artoria's face lit up with relief upon seeing him. The heavy pressure in her chest eased.
"I took care of things on my end and Anilu should be arriving soon. He's finishing off that other Sea King-class creature." Rin turned toward her, his tone calm and reassuring.
"You're not hurt, are you?" Artoria quickly moved to inspect him for wounds, still breathing heavily from the intense battle she'd endured.
"I'm fine. What about you?" Rin asked, brows furrowed. He had noticed the disarray the terrain ripped up, the sulfuric acid-burned craters, the melted stones. It looked like a battlefield between titans, not just a knight and a serpent.
"I'm okay for now… but Rin, why are so many Sea Kings appearing here? They usually stay deep within the Calm Belt, nesting along the edges of the Windless Zone. So why are they invading this part of the Grand Line, and why are they so aggressive?" Artoria's voice carried genuine confusion. The Sea Kings weren't acting normally.
"I'll explain once we've cleared them out. We need to drive them back toward their territory before they regain full strength—if they do, we'll be locked in another fight, and I don't want that." Rin's eyes narrowed, watching the wreckage shift he knew the battle wasn't over.
"Alright, but Rin, look out!" Before she could finish, Artoria's voice turned sharp. A massive serpent fang hurtled through the air faster than a cannonball—aimed straight at them. Artoria tackled Rin to the side, shoving him to the ground just in time. Rin dodged but not unscathed. The fang grazed Artoria's back, slicing a clean, deep wound across her shoulder blade.
"Artoria!" Rin caught her in his arms, his voice laced with panic.
The serpent had dug itself out of the rubble, angered and desperate. It had hurled the very fang that Artoria cracked earlier an act of vengeance. She had sensed the danger a moment before it struck, sacrificing herself to save Rin. Now, her blood began to darken the water around them.
"Artoria!" Anilu's voice called out as he arrived on the scene. He was stunned to see her wounded and collapsing into Rin's arms.
"You'll pay for this!" Rin's voice trembled—not with fear, but fury. Artoria was wounded his Artoria and that was something he would not forgive.
"Anilu! Take care of Liya!" Rin called to his comrade, his tone shifting back to calm resolve. His eyes, though, were filled with fiery vengeance.
"Artoria... wait for me," Rin whispered to her softly. He placed her down carefully in Anilu's arms, then turned, his gaze snapping toward the serpent like a blade. In a heartbeat, Rin launched into the air with explosive speed, fury guiding his movement like a war cry.
Anilu caught Artoria and gasped. "She's been hit with venom—no, that's black blood." He quickly pulled out a hydrostatic gel from his gear a medicinal item developed in the Vegapunk-designed Marine medical kits. He applied the gel to Artoria's wound, neutralizing the corrosive threat and preventing infection from seawater exposure.
"Rin… ahem… Rin…" Artoria's lips moved faintly, pale and quivering. She was trying to speak, but the pain overtook her and then, she slipped into unconsciousness.
"You'll give me death before I give you mercy!" Rin bellowed, suspended in mid-air. Below him, the serpent uncoiled from the ruins, its eyes burning with rage but also fear. It could see the hatred in Rin's gaze.
Terrified, the creature turned to flee.
"Trying to run now? Too late," Rin growled. He moved faster than the serpent's eye could follow. With a sharp motion, he activated a new technique a hybrid of his Pika Pika no Mi powers and the willpower fueled by rage.
In Rin's hands, light condensed into flame a phenomenon triggered by his awakening. This wasn't ordinary fire. It was luminous, plasma-like energy: Solar Flame, a manifestation of light that burned underwater, incapable of being extinguished and capable of returning to his body if unused.
The serpent hissed. It had no choice now it would fight or die.
"Shhh!" it shrieked, opening its mouth to spew a massive cloud of corrosive sulfuric acid. The same stomach acid it had used to melt coral and stone now surged toward the incoming fire. The acid neutralized a few of Rin's flames but not all. His technique wasn't like Anilu's electricity. These flames were intelligent, heat-based light constructs that could reform and reattach like fragments of a living entity.
The sky above the sea boiled as the flames rained down—torrents of golden fire. The serpent writhed, trying to avoid them, but Rin's barrage was relentless. He had shaped the fire into hundreds of darts, burning spheres, and blade-like arcs, all homing in on the serpent.
Watching from the safety of a nearby rock alcove, fish-men, mermaids, and pirates alike were frozen. They'd never seen a battle like this. A man turning light into fire, forcing a Sea King to retreat.
The serpent twisted in panic, spraying acid in every direction to fend off the flames but Rin's offense was overwhelming. Finally, desperate, the serpent coiled and launched itself upward—its body tense, its eyes filled with madness. It was going for a kamikaze strike.
It would rather die than submit.
"Hmph. A grasshopper before a storm. A mantis against a carriage," Rin muttered coldly. He hovered mid-air, light radiating from his entire body. Right now, his soul blazed with fury and power. There was only one thought in his mind: Kill this Sea King. No mercy. No escape.
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