After this clash, Vane had more or less figured out his opponent's depth. Judging purely by strength, getting a bounty over a hundred million would be truly difficult. If Vane drew his sword, this guy would be cut down by him in just a few moves.
Using only fists and feet would be like Strawberry beating that chubby vice-captain—he'd have to spend a lot more effort.
Vane didn't draw his sword and instead continued fighting bare-handed.
The more fiercely he fought, the faster he absorbed Articuno's energy. This sea urchin's strength was decent enough to serve as a whetstone to speed up the absorption of energy.
"Ice Pistol."
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Three cold stars shot from Vane's fingertips and landed on the spinning sea-urchin ball, splashing up three icy blossoms. Doushi only felt his body turn a bit cold; after a few rubs to generate heat, it no longer affected him as he continued charging in.
"I've absorbed so much of Articuno's energy. If one day I can release an ice beam, I'll freeze you in one shot."
The fight between the two didn't have a fixed battlefield. That made things miserable for the surrounding buildings and the "innocent" pirates. The destructive power of a battle between bounties in the tens of millions and near a hundred million was already quite considerable; wherever they went, the buildings there would collapse along with it.
Even more chaos broke out. Fire and ruins stirred up the destructive genes of the Whiskey Peak pirates, and all kinds of grudges and plundering erupted at this moment.
The pirates stationed at Whiskey Peak, whether willing or not, were slowly dragged into this turmoil.
...
"This is really chaotic, meow. How about we head back first? If it's all turned into ruins, there's nothing left to stroll around anyway."
The group, already not very interested, naturally had no intention of staying once they saw the surroundings getting more and more chaotic. Everyone began to retreat together.
On the way, there was no shortage of bloodshot pirates attacking them. Lena dropped one piece of trash with each shot, and Perona, being carried as Martha ran, also commanded her Negative Ghosts to deal with those who tried to sneak-attack.
"Haha! Burn, fight! Let me show you how powerful the ironclad ship is!"
The Ironclad Pirates, who had climbed the Red Line together with Vane and the others, actually seized the timing at this moment and drove their ironclad ship into the inner river of Whiskey Peak.
This ironclad ship, besides being wrapped all over in a layer of iron plating, also had many iron cannons installed. In terms of firepower, it was quite formidable.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
The ironclad ship fired like crazy. The surrounding buildings suffered again, and some crowds were hit as well.
"It won't be long before others know that the great Iron Pirates destroyed Whiskey Peak. Then our bounties will rise again! Hahaha!!"
A considerable number of pirates regarded the Navy's bounty as a kind of honor—the higher their bounty, the more respect they had when talking about it.
This was also how most ordinary people saw it: when they encountered a pirate with a high bounty, they would be overawed by that bounty.
"Which bastard is firing blindly like that, meow!"
Meowth and the others were also affected by the ironclad ship's shells and almost got blown up.
"A talking cat!"
"Who cares if it talks—blow them to pieces!"
Multiple gun barrels on the ironclad ship began to aim at Meowth's group.
"Looks like we have to teach you guys a lesson! Meow! Go, meow!"
Meowth pressed the newly obtained Poké Ball in his hand toward the river channel.
The previously calm inner riverway rippled, the ripples growing larger and larger until a sheet of water bulged up.
"Roar!!"
A long, gigantic pink figure appeared in the middle of the waterway in front of the ironclad ship.
"Monster! A monster!"
"What's going on, why is there… a Sea King?"
What appeared in the center of the river was a Gyarados, and a red Gyarados at that.
"It's Gyarados, meow! That's great—and it's red!"
Although Gyarados looks a bit strange, in the pirate world it's actually easy to accept. Sea Kings themselves look very strange, and Gyarados would completely be taken for a Sea King.
"Quick, quick, aim the cannons at that Sea King!"
"Gyarados, use Hyper Beam to destroy the ship in front of you."
The red Gyarados immediately turned its angry face toward the ironclad ship. Just as the opponent's gun barrels were being adjusted, its furious maw released an orange-yellow energy beam!
Hyper Beam is also called the Destruction Beam. It's a big move commonly used by Normal-type Pokémon, though it's certainly not exclusive to them.
Some hot-tempered Pokémon use this move often—for example, Ursaring, and also Gyarados.
Boom!
The bow of the ironclad ship was blown apart. The enraged Gyarados didn't stop there. Without Meowth needing to command it again, Gyarados lifted its body, swelling slightly.
Hydro Pump!
A thick stream of water was blasted out at high speed. Because of that speed, after the ironclad ship was blown open, the exposed internal structure was, in front of the Hydro Pump, torn apart in great swaths as if it were made of paper.
"What's going on?!"
"Help! Help!"
The pirates on the ironclad ship were at a loss. The previous Hyper Beam had left them stunned. Now this Hydro Pump, while within their understanding, had astonishing power.
"That's it, Gyarados! Sink these guys, meow!"
The red Gyarados dove and began to "stir up trouble" beneath the waterway. A whirlpool appeared on the surface. The already-sinking wreck was dragged down, and with Gyarados creating a vortex underwater, it was completely reduced to fragments in the whirlpool.
"Does that kind of creature really exist?"
"I thought our Gyarados submarine was just an imagined design."
The Rocket Team grunts had seen the Gyarados submarine that Meowth made, and the aquatic beast that just appeared, aside from its different color, was exactly the same as the submarine, so they could call it by name.
"That's the feeling—this feeling of using Gyarados to bully others, meow!"
In the Pokémon world, Meowth had been sent flying by Gyarados more than a few times. Because Gyarados had ruined his plans many times, his impression of it was extremely deep. Once he brought out a Water-type Pokémon, it was Gyarados.
Gyarados can use some Dragon-type moves, but in fact it's a Flying-type and Water-type Pokémon.
"I want to sit on Gyarados and really experience it."
Meowth excitedly tried to climb onto Gyarados's body and ride back along the waterway.
But Gyarados was tsundere and had no intention of letting Meowth climb onto it.
"Ah, whatever… Gyarados is just like that. It's already good enough that it listens and attacks."
Gyarados's personality isn't very close to people to begin with, and this one wasn't raised by him from a young age. Being able to follow his commands was already quite good.
If he wants to ride it, he'll need a very long time.