"Bastard! What's going on?" Half-buried in the ground, Queen cursed as he struggled to free himself. He shattered the earth clone that had restrained him with a powerful shove, planting his hands firmly on the ground to pull himself up.
By then, Shin had already finished forming hand seals, and a smile was on his face. "Too late—you're out of chances. Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu!"
Since his fight with Black Maria, Shin has discovered just how effective water release could be in this world. While top-level Devil Fruit users could resist sea water, most devil fruit users would be incapacitated the moment they made contact with it.
A torrent of water surged forth, and Queen's eyes widened. Unable to escape from the ground, he was engulfed, drenched by the rushing water.
Shin clapped his hands. "Well, that was easier than expected."
He quickly created a water clone, which trapped Queen within a Water Prison. Shin mused aloud, "Queen's probably modified himself extensively. He might even be able to function underwater to some degree. Sea water wouldn't affect his mechanical components like his flesh."
Just as Shin considered using the Munch-Munch Fruit to paralyze Queen's mechanical modifications, a sudden crash shook the ground. A massive, ice-covered figure barreled toward him, halting right in front—it was a mammoth encased in ice.
"This is Ivory Jack?" Shin muttered, blinking in surprise. A closer look revealed it was actually Jack in his half-mammoth form.
With a thunderous roar, Jack shattered the ice surrounding him. "I'm Jack the Drought! Not some damn 'Ivory Jack'!"
Just then, a massive mace came down from above, smashing Jack's head into the ground with a loud thud.
Shin chuckled, shaking his head. "You'll be more like Headless Jack soon if you keep getting hit like that."
Standing on Jack's head, Yamato lowered her mace and glanced over at Shin and the water prison containing Queen. "Shin, you're amazing! Even I didn't think I could handle Queen that easily."
"Only because you had sea-prism cuffs on back then," Shin replied with a smirk. "Without them, even the strongest members of the Beasts Pirates, aside from your father, wouldn't stand a chance against you."
Yamato grinned. "True. But back then, they were tough opponents."
A furious roar interrupted them as Jack pulled his head out of the ground again. Shin calmly sent another water clone over, trapping Jack in a second Water Prison.
Yamato watched in fascination. Although she'd seen Shin use clones before, this was her first time witnessing him utilize water-release jutsu. "That's incredible! You can control water. Doesn't that make Devil Fruit users powerless against you?"
Shin shook his head. "Not quite. It helps against ordinary Devil Fruit users, but the strongest have ways to counter it."
After all, Devil Fruits came in all shapes and sizes. Not every user was vulnerable to water; with her freezing abilities, Yamato wasn't affected by water-release jutsus.
"Anyway, let's go find Ace," Yamato said, suddenly remembering their mission. "Uncle King is a tough opponent—much stronger than Jack."
An explosion of water interrupted them as Queen broke free from the Water Prison, attacking Shin's water clone with a brutal blow. Then, with a swift move, he extended a mechanical arm to reach Jack, freeing him from the second Water Prison.
"Where do you think you're going?" Yamato yelled, her body transforming partially into her beast form as she launched herself toward them with her mace.
Queen reacted by positioning Jack in front of him, using him as a shield. Yamato's attack landed directly on Jack's forehead, sending both of them flying backward. As soon as they hit the ground, Queen quickly slipped away, dragging an unconscious Jack with him.
"Huh?" Yamato's jaw dropped as she watched Queen retreat. She hadn't expected one of the highest-ranking members of the Beasts Pirates to act so cowardly.
Shin was equally dumbfounded. He noticed that Jack had tried to resist, only to be held tightly by Queen's mechanical arm, used as a shield, and knocked out by Yamato's strike.
"It's one thing to retreat if you're outmatched, but Queen didn't even give King a heads-up," Shin muttered. "Leaving in the middle of a fight like this, it's like selling out his own crew."
As Queen fled, fire jets suddenly burst from under his feet, propelling him into the air, Jack in tow.
"Are you kidding me? He can fly now, too?" Shin murmured, incredulous. Queen's modifications were extreme, pushing the boundaries of biology and machinery. Even with the Munch-Munch Fruit, Shin couldn't fully understand how Queen managed to survive such extensive transformations.
"They really just ran off?" Yamato asked, still blinking in disbelief.
Shin, glancing up at the ongoing battle in the sky, shrugged. "Maybe it's for the best—it saves us the effort. Without Kaido here, there's no real point in pushing this fight."
"True, but if my father showed up, we wouldn't stand a chance, right?"
"That's why," Shin sighed, "we just need to keep training hard."
Putting the question aside, Shin refocused on the sky just in time to spot Ace locked in combat with the Pteranodon.
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Chapter 90: Hyuga Clan's Sacrifice is now available.