Chapter 26: Neuro-scan
The chaos at the port erupted very quickly.
Just as Elus’s flagship sailed into the port, the commotion broke out. The ordinary merchant ships originally moored at the port dropped their disguises, and rows of dark cannon muzzles aimed at the warships entering the port. The cannon fire that shook the atmosphere and sea waves echoed continuously in the sky above the port like exploding firecrackers.
The gunfire continued for a while,
Choking gunpowder smoke spread like thick fog between the ships.
“Umit, that old guy, really dares to do it! Senor, did you deliver Doflamingo’s message?” On the rooftop terrace, Diamanti, who was holding a telescope to observe the changes at the port, turned his head to look at the iron-blooded tough guy from the block army behind him—Senor.
“I relayed it to Umit word for word.”
“Tch! That old bastard······ Dof, should we stab this old guy in the back again?”
Diamanti suggested.
Unlike his subordinate, the iron-blooded tough guy Senor, Diamanti was always willing to use any means necessary for victory. As long as it brought victory, no matter how despicable the method, he would use it.
“Just watch!”
Doflamingo sat on the beach chair, his eyes closed under his sunglasses.
He did not use his eyes to look at the commotion at the port. Compared to eyes that could sometimes be deceived, he trusted the intelligence ‘seen’ with Observation Haki more. Just as he had brushed off Diamanti’s foolish suggestion, suddenly, he sat up abruptly.
“Dof?”
“Young Master?”
The cadres of the Donquixote Family were startled.
Represented by Diamanti and Trebol, the two highest-ranking family cadres, the group carefully attended to him on both sides, scrutinizing Doflamingo, whose face showed a hint of solemnity.
“All of you, shut up!”
Before anyone could ask, Doflamingo coldly issued the order.
Although somewhat frustrated, these family members’ loyalty to Doflamingo was unquestionable. Even with a belly full of confusion and bewilderment, they obediently shut their mouths, merely exchanging glances with their eyes to inquire what exactly was going on.
Unfortunately, everyone was baffled, including the two highest cadres who had no idea what had happened.
Speaking of which, in the Donquixote Family, aside from Doflamingo, it seemed only Vergo, who had infiltrated the Navy, possessed Observation Haki. None of the other family members had it, leaving them at this moment blindly watching Doflamingo like the sightless.
“Sokachio Elus······”
Doflamingo stood in front of the beach chair, his eyes wide open under his sunglasses, gazing toward the port shrouded in rolling gunpowder smoke, gradually calming the storm surging in his heart bit by bit.
He ‘saw’ it.
That special power he had never seen before.
It was somewhat like Conqueror’s Haki, but as its possessor, he could confirm it was definitely not Conqueror’s Haki.
Although the two had extremely similar qualities, it was not, so it was not. To discerning eyes, these were absolutely not things that could be confused.
“Black Prince, Elus······ Fufufu! Interesting, interesting!” Doflamingo leaned back on the beach chair again, his usual laughter dispelling the family’s unease. “All of you, watch the show properly! Black Prince and King of Maritime Transport······ This is absolutely a rare spectacular drama, fufufu!!!”
The family members exchanged glances, but no one dared to ask what had happened. They could only pick up their telescopes one after another, each finding a suitable vantage point to focus on the commotion at the port.
————
Seagulls let out waves of uneasy cries in the sky, startled by the cannon fire below, those poor little creatures.
“Not elegant at all!”
Elus stood on the deck at the ship’s bow, his gaze piercing through the gunpowder smoke gradually thinning in the sea breeze, staring at the seagulls full of unease and panic. “Using such a boring, rotten trick······ Your Excellency the King of Maritime Transport, have you run out of tricks?”
He let out an unceremonious mockery, even though Umit was not in front of him.
This wave of surprise attack was completely useless.
The four aides-de-camp plus Farrug, the attendant to the aide-de-camp, five people guarded Elus’s flagship airtight. The cannonballs flying from all directions were knocked back in mid-air before they could get close. In the end, aside from the pervasive gunpowder smoke making the air worse, it had no meaning.
Moreover,
All the ships that fired were crushed hard by his spiritual pressure. Umit’s subordinates silently collapsed at their posts, and only their souls, still in a dazed state, were drawn over by an invisible gravitational pull, devoured clean by the Hogyoku, leaving not even a scrap.
“Your Highness, below······”
“Keep advancing.”
Elus waved his hand, interrupting Eschbach’s inquiry. “Dillon, Eschbach, Dick, Kappas······ I give you five minutes. Five minutes later, I want to disembark and go ashore. Remember, this is an order.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Even the laziest Kappas obediently lowered his head, accepting the seemingly tyrannical order.
Next,
The four aides-de-camp took turns into action, effortlessly clearing every ship blocking the path forward.
Five minutes,
Very short!
But not an absolutely hopeless order.
With some effort, it might just work.
The aides-de-camp worked hard. Dick charged at the forefront, transforming into a massive leopard that tore apart and destroyed all ships along the way. Dillon and Kappas followed behind, clearing debris and fragments. Even Angru the Strangling Ghost was driven into the water by Dick to eliminate hidden underwater threats and ambushes, ensuring the path ahead was clear and unobstructed.
As for Eschbach, he rowed an assault boat, using an iron chain to tow the massive warship forward at astonishing speed along the cleared path.
In four and a half minutes,
Elus’s flagship steadily docked at the shore, and the gangway for disembarking firmly connected to the land at the dock.
“Not even a single welcoming guest······ Looks like my status as prince isn’t enough!” Elus walked on the gangway, his gaze sweeping back and forth over the dock, soon settling on the vast expanse of mushroom-shaped rocks undulating to the southeast.
There,
He sensed a massive number of souls, clusters of flames with varying brightness appearing in his mind, locking onto the positions of strong persons one by one.
This was—
[Neuro-Scan].
Still a ability developed based on spiritual pressure, which could be called “spiritual pressure awareness.” Combined with Observation Haki, it could sense soul fluctuations of everyone around, including enemies, to know their strength and position. In Elus’s mind, it displayed the detected targets as burning flames.
Besides the enemies in the mushroom-shaped rocks,
He also ‘saw’ the intensely burning flames on the rooftops of the buildings not far from the port.
“I’m viewing the scenery from the bridge, and the scenery viewers are watching me from the building······ Joker, that guy is really leisurely.” Elus muttered a couple of times, not paying too much attention to the Heavenly Yaksha secretly watching the spectacle. His attention focused on the deep, thick, turbid malice in the mushroom-shaped rocks area.
