Pirates' Magic Odyssey: Unveiling Eight Skills At The Beginning - Chapter 24

“Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle…”

Continuous thick, viscous fluid oozed from Marcullo’s wound making a sizzling sound as it came into contact with the flames on his body.

The swallow-eel fish-men were a peculiar type of fish-men with highly developed jaw muscles, allowing them to easily open their mouths wide to swallow prey. They stored the food they consumed in their stomach pouches.

Furthermore, since swallow-eel fish-men lacked troublesome rib bones, they could somehow convert the stomach acid in their stomach pouches into this special viscous fluid. This fluid could be used both as a deadly toxin against enemies and as a miraculous remedy for healing their own wounds.

“You little brat…”

Marcullo stares intensely at the young man in front of him. He pulled two iron rods from his waist, assembled them together, and activated a mechanism hidden in the rods. This caused the tip of the rod to shoot out a spearhead made of deep-sea iron, shimmering with a cold light in the sunlight.

Marcullo’s body and spear moved as one, swinging the long spear like a dragon.

His two companions, who were supposed to help, were unfortunately blocked by Smoker and Tashigi when they attempted to move forward.

Smoker had a cigar in his mouth, and smoke enveloped him, gradually obscuring his appearance. He said, “This path is off-limits.”

Seeing this, Garo, the master of Goldfish Swordsmanship, and Tans, the master of empty-handed combat, frowned.

“So, he’s a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user?”

Despite this revelation, the two of them didn’t panic. The Sun Pirates were not an inexperienced crew, and Tans calmly put on a pair of finger claws made from Sea-Prism Stone, a material that wasn’t cheap on the black market.

He assumed a starting stance for Fish-Man Karate, ready to engage in battle.

“Ding!”

Almost simultaneously with the clash of swords and spears, the system’s prompt sounded.

“Congratulations, host, for quoting a classic line from Dota. You have earned a chance to spin the prize wheel. Do you want to activate the prize wheel?”

The long spear was blocked by the Flame Sword, and Marcullo, noticing that Yang Ming had merely retreated seven steps, used this opportunity to dissipate the force transmitted through the spear tip. This surprised Marcullo.

Fish-men were ten times stronger than normal humans, and Marcullo initially thought that the young man was just a skilled brat. However, he was taken aback by the fact that this young man, despite his age, possessed such strength that he could withstand Marcullo’s full-force attack.

Yang Ming shook his sword, using it to relieve his tingling hands.

“Fish-men are incredibly strong!”

“If it weren’t for the fact that I recently increased my strength significantly, I probably wouldn’t have been able to withstand his attack.”

While dealing with Marcullo’s aggressive spear techniques, Yang Ming glanced quickly at the prize wheel that had appeared. There were three main categories of prizes: hero skins, hero skills, and equipment items.

Hero skins: Crystal of Magic Hair, Beast of the Forest, Thunderstorm.

Hero skills: Time Barrier, Dragon Bloodline, Black Hole.

Equipment items: Archangel’s Sword, Crusader’s Great Shield, Dragon Slayer.

Marcullo noticed that Yang Ming seemed to be momentarily distracted and felt a mix of anger and a hint of delight.

Seize the opportunity while he’s weak, take his life!

Like most fish-men, Marcullo and his companions were not wearing shoes due to having webbed feet. As the viscous slime soaked into the soles of his feet, reducing friction with the ground, he glided rapidly forward like he was ice-skating, taking advantage of the decreased friction. He approached swiftly, his long spear aimed at Yang Ming when he least expected it.

Just at that moment, the lottery results were revealed.

?Dragon Bloodline?: Dragon blood flows within you, granting you powerful regenerative abilities. You can easily manifest or hide dragon scales.

As the dragon factors imprinted in his DNA flowed into Yang Ming’s body, they resonated strongly with the Dragon Roar passive ability.

“Hum!”

Yang Ming’s body trembled.

In Marcullo’s astonished gaze, the long spear in his hand had clearly crossed the barrier of the Flame Sword. It had pierced into Yang Ming’s chest, but the sensation transmitted through the spear tip was not the expected feeling of penetrating flesh. 

Instead, it felt like the spear had struck something as hard as steel, causing a tingling in his hands from the recoil.

Marcullo lifted his head abruptly, staring at the young man who had plowed two scorching furrows into the ground with his feet. He muttered to himself, “What… what’s going on?”

Marcullo stared at the torn piece of clothing on Yang Ming’s chest, revealing not human skin but something resembling scales of a serpent-like creature.

Marcullo had never seen a dragon before and couldn’t immediately identify the origin of these scales.

Yang Ming glanced at the dragon scale revealed by the tear in his clothing. 

It only had a faint white mark on it and thought to himself, “I never expected that combining dragon scales with iron blocks and the Dragon Roar passive would significantly boost my defense.”

“My current condition is almost on par with activating Armament Haki, right?”

“If I learn Armament Haki in the future…”

Seeing Marcullo attacking once again, Yang Ming immediately swung his sword to counter.

The clash of blades and spears filled the air as both sides engaged in intense combat.

After Garo, the master of Goldfish Swordsmanship, had severely wounded Tashigi with a single strike, he noticed that Marcullo was struggling to defeat the young man. Garo couldn’t wait any longer to finish off Tashigi and rushed to provide support.

He circled around behind Yang Ming and exchanged a smile with Marcullo.

The two of them had been partners for many years and didn’t need to exchange many words.

Marcullo shouted loudly, swinging his long spear to create a flurry of afterimages, trying to divert most of Yang Ming’s attention.

Even though the Dragon Bloodline provided formidable defense, certain vulnerable areas like the eyes couldn’t be covered. If the spear tip pierced Yang Ming’s eye, it could directly damage his brain.

Seizing this moment, Garo, the master of Goldfish Swordsmanship, moved like a venomous snake ready to strike. His sword silently closed in on Yang Ming from behind.

Apparently, while Garo was battling Tashigi earlier, he had been aware of the ongoing fight here and noticed something unusual about Yang Ming. To avoid his attacks being ineffective against Yang Ming’s body, he targeted his head.

Even ordinary members of a pirate crew that could make a name for themselves on the Grand Line were not to be underestimated.

However, both of them failed to notice one crucial detail.

Since Yang Ming began dealing with the two fish-men pirates who initially ambushed him, he hadn’t been using his full strength!

Yang Ming gripped the sword hilt with both hands, raising the blade high above his head. He positioned his legs shoulder-width apart with slight knee bending, and a pendant hanging from his waist swayed which displaying a blazing ruby that emitted scorching light.

“Fifth Style: Flame Tiger!”

Blazing flames surged from under Yang Ming’s feet, wrapping around his body like a fiery python.

Rolling waves of scorching heat distorted the air.

The hot wind brushed through Yang Ming’s bangs, and his jet-black pupils reflected the roaring flames.

He resembled a decisive Flame King, ready to bring destructive blows to his enemies when provoked.

Feeling the intense heat wave, even the two fish-men attacking from both sides instinctively slowed their steps.

Fish-men disliked fire not only because of their nature but also due to an instinctive aversion.

Under the command of the Flame King, the raging flames pounced on Goldfish Swordsmanship Garo, like a hungry tiger unleashed from its cage.

The unfortunate fellow didn’t even have time to scream before he was burnt to a crisp.

With this accomplishment, the Flame Tiger’s momentum became even more overwhelming as it charged toward Marcullo again.

The surrounding air temperature sharply rose, making it difficult to breathe for a moment, likely due to the rapid consumption of oxygen.

Marcullo felt extremely dehydrated, not a good sign for a fish-man.

“Let’s do it!”

Marcullo gritted his teeth, exerting all his strength to thrust the spear.

This was not a heroic act but rather seemed a bit laughable, akin to a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

The long spear produced a few sparks, but for the formidable Flame Tiger, it only caused minor harm.

“Boom!”

Marcullo followed in his companion’s footsteps and fell to the ground, completely blackened and emitting the scent of burnt flesh.

Yang Ming slowly sheathed his sword, then suddenly slapped his forehead as he realized something.

“Oops, I forgot to hold back just now!”

“Is this guy… dead?”

Seeing this, Marcullo’s mouth twitched, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Yang Ming crouched down, extending his finger to briefly check Marcullo’s nose.

Despite his severe injuries, Marcullo, relying on his stronger physique compared to other fish-men, managed to barely hold onto life.

Watching Marcullo and Goldfish Swordsmanship Garo fall one after the other, the other subordinates were defeated by Drake and his companions. 

Tans, the master of empty-handed combat, who was initially calm, suddenly revealed a fatal weakness. Smoker noticed it immediately.

White smoke enveloped the arms of Tans, the master of empty-handed combat, and right behind him appeared Smoker’s figure.

Before Smoker could press the enemy to the ground and handcuff him, Tashigi came with her injured body. She delivered several roundhouse kicks in a row, leaving Tans’ face swollen, resembling a pig’s head.

“Hiss!”

Watching Tans transform into something akin to visiting a beauty salon, Smoker took in a sharp breath.

“Women, they’re truly terrifying creatures.”

Smoker thought he spoke quietly enough not to be heard by Tashigi.

Little did he know, right after he finished speaking, Tashigi halted her steps, turned around suddenly, and said, “Smoker, do you have the guts to say that again?”

Smoker awkwardly smiled. What else could he say?

When Yang Ming arrived, Smoker got to see the unpredictable side of women.

Tashigi hugged Yang Ming tightly, letting him experience what it meant to have a broad and loving bosom.

“It’s still Tashigi’s little man. After seeing Tashigi get injured, he rushed over to support Tashigi right away.”

Smoker pursed his lips and couldn’t help but sigh.

They were basking in the joy of their recent victory, completely unaware that a group of news reporters had appeared in the crowd at some point, rapidly capturing this scene with their cameras.

One of the reporters slipped away from the crowd, entered a secluded alley, and took out a Transponder Snail Den Den Mushi:

“Please report to the young master that the initial plan was a success.”