Chapter 143

Chapter 143: Walking Alone in the Dark Alley, Loving You

"Adrian, that bastard used Wadatsumi as a weapon!" Watching the big head screaming and flying towards them, Adrian also suddenly understood what had happened.

"Sharkler! Are you okay?" Rui Mengmeng ran to the back of the boat and shouted at the shark giant, who had returned to its original form.

At this moment, the shark giant was still carrying Wadatsumi forward, looking like a shark that had lost its dreams.

"I'm... fine..." While speaking, due to Wadatsumi following their boat, Sharkler rolled from one side of the cockpit wall to the other, and a clanging sound came from the loudspeaker.

After such a tossing, Sharkler might develop seasickness.

"Boss, is there any way to solve this?" Rui Mengmeng asked anxiously.

Adrian said, "Yes, there are at least three ways to solve this problem."

Surprised, Rui Mengmeng asked, "So many? What are the methods? It's not another one of your unreliable plans, is it?"

Adrian pointed to Wadatsumi chasing them from behind and said, "I guarantee it's reliable. The first plan is to have Artoria go and crush Wadatsumi."

"Crush... him?"

"Yes, anything thrown by Vander Decken, as long as it's shattered, won't continue to track."

"Please don't use the word 'as long as' here, and besides, that's too bloody," Rui Mengmeng objected. "Also, Sharkler is still hanging on there and might get hurt, right?"

"In that case, the second plan is to throw Tom out. As long as Tom makes contact with Wadatsumi, even if he hits the target, the ability effect will disappear."

"Meow?" Tom shook his head in disbelief. How did you come up with such a cruel plan?

Adrian regretfully patted Tom's head. It was clearly the simplest and safest plan. "Then we have no choice but to incapacitate Vander Decken at least."

"Let's go with that!"

"I understand." Artoria also agreed with this plan. With a wave of her hand, Altair changed direction again with Wadatsumi in the sea, heading towards Vander Decken.

"Hey??? Why is that ship so fast!" Vander Decken widened his eyes. "Don't come near us!"

When they were a few hundred meters away from Vander Decken, three large cannons were aimed at him, especially the one pushed to the front of the ship by Tom, which was the steadiest and most accurate.

Tom was serious because Adrian had said that if the cannons missed, they would consider other options.

What were the other options? Maybe it was some bad idea like throwing a cute little kitten again!

They couldn't let that happen, so after aiming, Tom seriously lit the fuse, and when he thought the fuse was burning too slowly, he blew on it a few times.

With a "bang," the cannonball was fired, and Tom's face was completely blackened, with only his lips swollen like sausages.

Tom turned his head innocently and blinked his eyes, as if about to cry.

Perhaps because they had experience from the first shot, or perhaps they were just lucky, both Adrian and Rui Mengmeng's shots were very accurate this time, just like Tom's.

Due to the clever timing, the three cannonballs bizarrely lined up and ran towards Vander Decken as if they were a train traveling with a clattering sound.

Helpless, Vander Decken was trying to swim away through the bubbles, and when he heard the sound, he suddenly turned around. "Oh... no!"

The first cannonball hit him on the forehead, making him involuntarily tilt his head upward.

Then the next two cannonballs followed the "head" of the train and rolled over Vander Decken's face, leaving a prominent red mark?

"It hurts so much!" Vander Decken vigorously rubbed his cheeks and self-taught himself to pull out his flattened nose, but the red mark stubbornly remained.

However, his suffering was not over. During the time he was rubbing his face, Altair's big head bumped into him.

"Damn fish!" Vander Decken was dizzy from the impact.

Altair also took this opportunity to gently lift her head and pick him up to the deck.

Vander Decken hadn't even sat up yet when he saw a large hammer with "100kg" written on it rapidly enlarging in his field of vision. "What are you going to do..."

Bang! Crack!

Vander Decken's head sank into the deck, and three chibi Whitebeard Pirates circled above the hole.

Tom casually threw away the hammer, clapped his hands, and thought he wouldn't have to be thrown out, right?

Meanwhile, Wadatsumi, who was closely following behind the ship, began to slow down.

"Ah, it finally stopped!" Sharkler stood steady again, controlling the shark giant to stop Wadatsumi.

Adrian quickly filled a bucket with seawater and immersed Vander Decken in it to prevent him from causing any more trouble.

"This is the mastermind, he looks so ugly." Rui Mengmeng gave an impartial assessment of Vander Decken's appearance.

"Saying he's ugly is giving him too much credit; he's simply a monstrosity," Adrian thought Vander Decken was even uglier than in the pictures. "And Tom did a good job, although he broke the deck too forcefully."

Artoria encouraged Altair and brought out some reserved meat rewards for it from the cabin. Altair had worked hard too.

"Wow! Captain doesn't want me anymore!" Wadatsumi cried heartrendingly in the sea, like a child abandoned by an adult, still upset about what Vander Decken had done to him.

"Boss Adrian, what should we do with him?" Sharkler had already put away the shark giant and returned to the ship. "He looks so pitiful like this, I can't bear to hit him."

Rui Mengmeng said, "Indeed, he looks really pitiful."

"From his previous behavior, it seems he was deceived and used by Vander Decken," Artoria added, "If we leave him alone, he might be used by someone else someday."

"Then let's find someone to mentor him." Adrian thought that Wadatsumi's nature was that of an immature child who didn't know any better. He did whatever Vander Decken told him to, and he wasn't truly malicious. It might be better to take him back and let Princess Otohime mentor him.

After all, the Ryugu Kingdom needed more combat power, and with Wadatsumi's size, he was naturally a supernova-level combat force.

Moreover, the Neptune family's character was unlikely to mistreat him, at least not as casually as Vander Decken had done.

"Waaah! My legs hurt, and my hands hurt!" Wadatsumi cried and rolled in the sea. "Why should I go with you? Aren't we enemies? Are you trying to deceive me? My injuries were caused by you."

"...I feel like I don't have the talent to comfort a child," Adrian realized he might not

be good at reassuring kids. Maybe singing a line from 'Walking Alone in the Dark Alley, Loving You' would work well here?

Wadatsumi's side story:
On a small island, there were many residents who offered abundant tributes to the sea god.

After the incident with Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates on Fish-Man Island, Wadatsumi was exiled and happened to pass by this island. When he was hungry, he ate all the tributes.

The residents thought it was a miracle from the sea god, so they brought even more tributes.

Wadatsumi accepted all the tributes and wanted to repay the humans. He found an underwater ruin and moved the houses, throwing them onto the shore as a gift.

However, that ruin was the home of many sea creatures, and they thought the humans on the island had stolen their houses, so they caused trouble near the small island.

Coincidentally, Jinbei was on his way to Cacao Island and found a lost baby sea cat that he wanted to return to its mother.

The sea cat's home was in that ruin, but it had already been emptied by Wadatsumi.

In the end, Jinbei found the small island, explained the situation to the humans and sea creatures, and helped resolve the conflict.

The lost sea cat found its mother.

The sea creatures and the island's residents became friends and often helped the humans catch fish.

While moving the houses back underwater, Jinbei found a piece of historical text. This text was likely the source of the historical text that Jinbei had given to Big Mom as a gift at the tea party.

Jinbei thought Wadatsumi wasn't a bad person and invited him to join the Sun Pirates. This was also why Wadatsumi followed them to provide cover when the Straw Hat Pirates escaped from Cacao Island.