As the ground trembled, everyone standing on the island swayed, their faces filled with shock.
What's happening?
Lorelei, who was closest to Giovanni, was the first to realize his intent. Her eyes narrowed. She hadn't expected that Giovanni actually planned to sink the island and create a massive whirlpool.
If he succeeded, all the warships around the island would be swallowed up, and the situation would become extremely dangerous.
But does he really have the power to sink an island?
Lorelei was doubtful. Even for an Elite Four, accomplishing such a feat would be extremely difficult. But as the ground began to crack open, Lorelei finally became convinced that Giovanni was serious.
He's a madman!
Cursing inwardly, Lorelei looked at Giovanni, whose expression remained calm as if he was about to turn and leave. She wanted to stop him but didn't know how.
If he wanted to leave, there was no way to keep him here. At their level, battles could no longer be judged by victory or defeat alone.
The main objective this time wasn't to arrest Giovanni, but to reclaim the elite specialists of various fields. With this in mind, Lorelei reluctantly gave the order for her Pokémon to prevent Giovanni from destroying the island.
In the sky above, a Garchomp, a Gliscor, and a Honchkrow intercepted several Gengar. They were all Giovanni's Pokémon, coordinating their actions with the Pokémon on the ground.
Even though half the personnel had been recovered, Giovanni was clearly dissatisfied. Team Rocket's losses this time were catastrophic, and whether he would be able to successfully leave with his team members and the people from the prison island was still uncertain.
As Giovanni turned to leave, the cracks on the ground grew bigger and bigger, and the entire island seemed to cry out in agony. All over the island, Giovanni's Ground-type army was relentlessly destroying everything. In just four seconds, the whole island suddenly began to sink!
However, with Lorelei present, the power of ice solidified, freezing the seawater and significantly slowing the island's sinking.
But when the power of earth collided with the power of ice, the island's fate once again became uncertain.
"Elite Four Lorelei, what should we do?!"
"Order the warships to move away from here. Have any members without Water-type or Flying-type Pokémon abandon boarding the island, and immediately escort the rescued personnel out."
"Leave this to me. At the same time, send out a signal to inform everyone that the enemy intends to escape by air."
"Yes!"
Team Rocket evacuating by air was within their expectations, but the move to sink the island had caught the League completely off guard.
Giovanni's actions completely reshaped Lorelei's understanding of this criminal organization leader. And as messages came from her Pokémon, Lorelei's expression finally changed.
She had only held out for a short time before the opponent's power completely overwhelmed her. The island continued to sink, indicating her strength was far inferior to Giovanni's.
"No, if it's this fast, the warships won't have time to withdraw." Lorelei sprang into action again, not expecting that the warships intended for encirclement had now become a liability, a means for the enemy to impede her.
Given the size of this island and the damage caused by Giovanni's Pokémon, it would be enough to create an astonishing whirlpool. By then, her ice army would be even more powerless, and the loss would not only be warships, but also the lives aboard. The power unleashed by the island's sinking would be so great that even those with Water-type Pokémon would not be able to move freely.
Just as Lorelei was faced with this seemingly unsolvable move, two new developments appeared on prison island.
First, due to Giovanni's power of earth, all Team Rocket members and helicopters were lifted by stone pillars rising out of nowhere, readying Team Rocket for evacuation.
Second, during Gengar's siege, Agatha finally rushed over from the warship. Using her Pokémon's Confusion to fly through the air, she watched Giovanni standing atop the towering stone pillar.
...
...
On a certain helicopter.
A squad of Team Rocket members were nervously escorting two hostages on board.
"Move faster."
Xilan, captain of the Saffron City Team Rocket branch base, barked anxiously as she directed the subordinates assigned to her. She had never expected this mission to be so intense. Two Elite Four had even appeared.
"Report: the hostages are awake and extremely agitated!"
At that moment a Team Rocket member shouted.
"Awake? Knock them out again, we don't have time for them now." Xilan pulled the Team Rocket member aside and shouted.
"Forget that, these people are valuable. Carter, have your Kirlia use Hypnosis on them." But she soon had to change tactics.
"Hypnosis?"
Carter, who was actually Mismagius in disguise, said helplessly, "Captain, my Kirlia's Poké Ball seems to have been lost in the earlier chaos."
"Lost?" A vein pulsed on Xilan's temple; she was furious. She had thought Carter would be a reliable aide, and hadn't expected him to be so unreliable.
"Whatever method you use, calm them down first. The helicopter's lifting off immediately, you know the consequences if anything goes wrong!!"
"Yes!" Carter replied earnestly.
Mismagius walked to the two recovered, now-awake elites behind the cargo area and examined them curiously.
One was an elderly man, an authority in some unknown field; the other was a girl not yet fifteen. It was hard to understand what talent had caused the girl to be kidnapped by Team Rocket.
At this moment both had regained consciousness and were frantically taking in their surroundings.
Their memories were still stuck at the moment when Team Rocket had performed a mass Hypnosis on all of them. The current situation was far beyond what they could accept. Explosions were constantly heard from outside, which was genuinely frightening, and the place where they were in was also shaking constantly as if it might plunge into an abyss at any moment, making it impossible for them to stay calm.
The elderly man was a Professor who primarily researched the human soul and had already been imprisoned on prison island for months.
The young girl had only recently been brought to prison island; she had deciphered Pokémon script at age six and earned the title of Professor, becoming a genius who stirred a huge storm in academic circles. Her emotions were extremely unstable at the moment.
"I suggest you two stay quiet, it won't end well if you are too noisy." When Carter came up beside them he spoke bluntly.
"What's happening outside?" The old professor, true to his age, quickly steadied his emotions.
"That? Congratulations, the League came to rescue you, but unfortunately they seem to have taken only half of the people, and you weren't among them." Mismagius, disguised as Carter, said with a grin. As soon as he spoke, the fleeting joy those two had just felt plummeted.
At that moment the helicopter made a sound as if it were about to take off.
"All right, the helicopter's about to lift. Your chances of being rescued…" Carter shook his head.
Both heard the sound of the helicopter taking off and went pale; they hadn't expected that even with the League's personal rescue, they still couldn't be saved.
"Are we still going to be imprisoned?!" The old professor struggled angrily against the ropes binding him, but could not break free.
The girl was on the verge of tears. Seeing their state, Carter said helplessly, "Actually, you still have a chance. It depends on whether he can precisely shoot down the dozen or so helicopters carrying hostages."
TN: Hey guys, I've picked up a new One Piece novel. You can search it: One Piece: The Undying King.
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