One Piece Gunslinger

Li Ang's Den Den Mushi is no ordinary Den Den Mushi. If it were someone else's Den Den Mushi, feeding it like Li Ang would probably have killed it long ago.

However, Li Ang's Den Den Mushi is a Devil Fruit user—you heard right, a truly outdated one, with incredibly strong physical abilities and digestive capacity. That's why it can enjoy such a luxurious lifestyle with Li Ang.

It's a twist of fate that this Den Den Mushi became a Devil Fruit user. The fact that Li Ang would feed his pet with a Mapo Tofu rice bowl is enough to prove how careless he is when it comes to feeding his pets.

So one day, the Den Den Mushi, which hadn't eaten all day, was hungry, and Leon even used it to make a phone call. Then it saw a strange fruit being tossed up and down in Leon's other hand.

Thus, the snail-shaped Den Den Mushi (electric slug) that ate the Insect Fruit was born.

The biggest change is its hardness. It already had a shell that could exhaust even a snail, and now that shell is incredibly hard. No wonder it was able to weather so many storms with Li Ang.

"Ah, son, can you contact Long for me?" Li Ang said, looking at the Den Den Mushi who was burying its head in its bowl and eating heartily.

The Den Den Mushi grunted twice before reluctantly dialing the number in the dragon's hand. There was no way around it; any animal that had eaten a Devil Fruit was incredibly intelligent, and now Li Ang had to ask for its permission before making any calls.

"Hey, you actually dare to contact me now? Aren't you afraid I'll drag you back?" Dragon's voice came through the phone after the call connected.

"Ah, that's why I only called you. I figured you weren't at the Revolutionary Army headquarters right now. If you were at headquarters, I'm doomed."

"Speak up, what is it? You wouldn't contact me for no reason."

"It's nothing, I just wanted you to help me deliver two packages."

……

It took Li Ang a lot of persuasion to convince Monkey D. Dragon, the world's most vicious criminal, the commander-in-chief of the revolutionary army and the head of the intelligence department, to deliver a package to him.

Only Li Ang would do something like this.

"Alright, now everything is truly ready." After putting away the Den Den Mushi, Li Ang stretched and got back to work.

……

"Hey, why are you so late today? Are you in a bad mood?" A merman shouted at the two people pushing a cart below in front of the dragon's domain.

Actually, it wasn't late at all today. Everyone got up early in the morning, full of energy and enthusiasm, so how could they have gotten the time wrong?

However, since we are now under someone else's roof, we have no choice but to bow our heads. Before the fishmen eat this spiked food, we can only endure it for now.

So the two of them could only act as usual, behaving timidly and fearfully, and successfully got away with it.

"Hmph, let's see if you can still be so arrogant after you've eaten it all," the two thought to themselves as they fled in a disheveled state, as usual.

"This acting is not bad, no, I should say it's a natural performance."

Li Ang saw all of this. Although he was hiding on a distant hillside, he could see all the movements in the entire Evil Dragon Domain through his 15x sniper scope.

This is the advantage of a sniper: I can hit you from thousands of meters away, while you can't even see me. If Li Ang fires, the bullet will hit the target in just one second; by the time you hear the gunshot, the person is already lying on the ground.

"Very good, just as planned, they quickly brought these things in. Judging from the smoke, this is probably the kitchen. I wonder how good these fishmen are at cooking."

"That must be Ah Long. Judging from his appearance, I doubt the laxative will have much effect on him in the end. After all, he's no ordinary little fishman."

"Not to mention Ah Long, even some cadres will probably conserve some strength for the time being."

"Ah, found it, hehe, manatee moo moo, finally we can replace the engine."

Chapter 172 Tyrant Li Ang

The manatee Moo Moo is not a creature native to the East Blue, but was brought here by Arlong from the Grand Line. Although its greatest talent is acting cute, it is still a ferocious sea monster at its core.

Originally, after Arlong was defeated, the manatee Moo Moo returned to the Grand Line, but later, for some reason, it was captured by Caribou and used to pull ships.

It's clear that the manatee's greatest use isn't in combat, but in pulling ships. It can pull any large ship like Caribou, so pulling Li Ang's small, dilapidated boat is a piece of cake, and Li Ang won't have to operate the human motor anymore.

If you lack the power, you can make up for it with spare parts. A legendary-class ship naturally needs to be equipped with a legendary-class engine to truly showcase its legendary nature.

Moreover, Leon had to show the threat of subduing the manatee, since it wouldn't eat those food items and usually had to find its own food in the sea. Otherwise, no amount of food would be enough to feed it.

"Oh, good, looks like it just woke up. Hmm? It swam out slowly? I'd better catch up quickly."

So Li Ang put away his sniper rifle and turned to go to the shore to find his little wrecked boat.

Although the manatee MooMoo basically only acts cute when it appears, in Li Ang's opinion, this manatee MooMoo is more difficult to deal with than the entire Arlong Pirates.

This is not due to force, but rather to the terrain.

After all, Arlong and his companions were fish-men. From the moment they set foot on land and established their dragon territory, they were destined to fall. They abandoned their greatest advantage as fish-men to fight humans on land. It's hard to call that arrogance or sheer stupidity.

In any case, if it were Li Ang, he would definitely choose to build the base at sea, similar to a floating restaurant. This kind of terrain is practically invincible for fish-men. Even if ten warships came to sink the ship, the fish-men could jump into the sea and make a few holes in the bottom of the warship, and the outcome would still be uncertain. As for the base, at worst, it can just be rebuilt.

No matter how low Ah Long's intelligence is, or how arrogant and disdainful he is, he can't force the manatee Moo Moo, a sea monster, to come ashore. It's not an amphibious creature like a fish-man; it's a real marine animal.

Therefore, if Li Ang wants to deal with this manatee Moo Moo, he needs to enter an environment that is unfavorable to himself and favorable to the manatee. Li Ang cannot even fight in the near sea, as that would alert the fishmen in the dragon's domain. He can only follow Moo Moo when it goes to the deep sea to hunt.

So Li Ang, in this manner, paddled his little bankrupt car and chased it for nearly half an hour before it finally stopped.

"Is it right below here? This is really tricky."

According to Li Ang's Observation Haki, a massive life form below was hunting a large group of tiny life forms.

It turns out this creature stopped because it found a school of fish. But the manatee was happily eating on the surface and had no intention of surfacing to get beaten up.

However, Li Ang was not worried at all. He sat calmly on the boat, as if he were in deep meditation, confident that the manatee Moo Moo would eventually surface.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the manatee had almost finished eating the fish and began to climb up little by little.

"We've been waiting for this moment."

Li Ang leaped into the air and kicked MooMoo, the manatee that had just revealed its horns, forcefully pushing its head back into the sea.

Fighting sea monsters in the ocean is unrealistic. Leon isn't a fish-man; he can't do what Arlong did when he tamed it.

In such situations, Haku would usually be the one to handle it, but since Haku isn't around now, Leon has no choice but to use his wits to seize the opportunity and take advantage of the situation to end the battle on the sea.

At this point, some might say, "The manatee was kicked back down before it even surfaced. Any other creature with normal intelligence would have dived down and run away. Why would it knowingly come up to get beaten up when it can't win?" Even if this is a world full of idiots, the animals can't all be idiots, right? Besides, the creatures here are generally very intelligent and have a lot of spirituality.

However, Li Ang was certain that as long as he could knock it down before it surfaced each time, it would really act like a fool, trying every possible way to stick its face out to get hit.

The reason is that it is a sea creature, not a fish.

Fish-men can move freely in the sea because they possess some fish-like characteristics and can breathe through gills.

Marine mammals are not fish; they don't have gills. They breathe with lungs. Although they can dive to the seabed, they need to surface to breathe. Just like dolphins and whales, they need to surface periodically and cannot stay underwater indefinitely like fish.

Since leaving the coast of Cocoyasi Village, the manatee MooMoo has not surfaced, and having spent several minutes chasing fish just now, it hasn't had a breath of fresh air in a long time.

If Moo Moo doesn't breathe again, he might become the first manatee to drown.

Knowledge is power, and Li Ang made full use of his knowledge, avoiding a blind battle underwater. Marine life can drown? This seemingly obvious concept was perfectly normal to Li Ang.

So after being hit hard by Li Ang again, the manatee Moo Moo not only did not dive underwater, but instead eagerly tried to surface.

However, Li Ang wouldn't give in to its wishes so easily. If it wanted to breathe a breath of air, it would have to ask for its permission first.

Holy crap, you need a permit to breathe air? Does that mean you have to pay taxes? Li Ang's behavior is even more hateful than the Celestial Dragons! Sea creatures, let's all rise up against him!

Unfortunately, the manatee Moo Moo was unable to rally the rebel army and was ultimately forced into the water by Li Ang time and time again.

Although it tried to float up again in a different spot, Li Ang swam faster on the surface than it did underwater. No matter where it swam, it was always pinned down by Li Ang.

"Hey, I know you can understand human speech. If you're willing to submit to me, I'll let you come up. How about it?" After stopping him from coming up again, Li Ang felt that it was about time. If this continued, he would really drown, which would be a huge loss.

"Don't worry, I'll deal with your original master, the fishman Arlong, in a bit. He won't have a chance to cause you any trouble. You can be considered my spoils of war, though I've already paid for them in advance."

However, the manatee did not respond to him from underwater.

“Well, it’s hard to talk in the sea, and besides, manatees don’t speak human language. Here’s what we’ll do: if you agree, let your tail surface first,” Li Ang continued.

The manatee Moo Moo has never suffered like this since birth. It has never worried about breathing. To need permission to breathe air—is there no justice, no law?

However, under Li Ang's oppressive power, the manatee Moo Moo, suffering terribly, had no choice but to submit to Li Ang's tyranny and obediently follow Li Ang's orders, first bringing its tail to the surface of the sea.

"Very good, you can surface now. From now on, you're my personal engine. What does engine mean? Simply put, it's what pulls the boat. If you dare to run away or resist, I won't be so lenient next time, hmph."

Looking at Li Ang's arrogant demeanor, others who didn't know the situation might have thought that Li Ang had given the manatee Moo Moo a tremendous favor, when in fact it was just a petition that allowed the manatee Moo Moo to breathe.

Li Ang is wasting his talents as a revolutionary. He should be a Celestial Dragon. His methods are far superior to those of the Celestial Dragons. He can oppress and dominate even small plants, let alone humans.

However, Li Ang was completely oblivious to his bullying and persecution of the kind and adorable creatures. He even displayed a smug arrogance, believing that wild beasts were nothing special and that human intelligence was the ultimate weapon. He also couldn't understand what was so superior about bullying a mere engine.

In contrast, the manatee Moo Moo drooped its head, as if it had already foreseen a future of slavery with no hope of ever rising above its former glory.

"Come on, put these two ropes on. What? You can't do it? What use are you? You can't even put a rope on yourself." I don't know how Li Ang communicated with the manatee Moo Moo. It doesn't even have hands, so how is it supposed to put a rope on itself? Seriously, this guy is making the slave put a rope on himself. Even the most ruthless slave owner I've ever seen wasn't this outrageous.

After putting a rope around Moo Moo the manatee, Li Ang felt it was a bit of a waste of its potential. It even looked a little out of place.

The manatee Moo Moo could pull even a large ship like the Caribou's. Now it's pulling a small, dilapidated boat, giving the impression of putting a battleship engine on a small speedboat.

This damn little wreck isn't even as big as a manatee's eye. It feels like the speedboat's hull isn't even as big as a single screw on the engine; how can it possibly be coordinated?

"Never mind, anyway, I don't have to stay afloat all the time. I can pull it underwater. If we encounter pirate ships at sea, when they think I can bully them at will, I'll just pull out a huge engine from underneath and scare them to death."

"Okay, then when we get close to shore, I'll use the old engine to paddle over, letting it stay in the water and wait for me, without revealing its presence. Wow, this whole operation—isn't that the legendary 'playing dumb to fool the enemy'? From now on, I'll be relying on you to slap people in the face and show off on the road, moo moo."

As Li Ang had the manatee Moo Moo tow the boat back, he sat on the boat, happily imagining the scenes of showing off and slapping people in the face in the future.

Meanwhile, among the group of fishmen in the Dragon's Domain, after eating breakfast seasoned with special condiments, only Arlong and his three subordinates were still able to stand. Even the three subordinates were somewhat weak and powerless, their fighting strength greatly reduced.

Meanwhile, at the gates of the Dragon's Domain, the villagers of Cocoa Village were ready to storm the Dragon's Domain.

Chapter 173 Humans are the true rulers of the land

"What happened? How did they do that?"

Seeing the other mermen fall one by one, and hearing shouts of battle outside the door, coupled with his throbbing stomach, Ah Long was understandably terrified.

"I suspect they poisoned the ingredients that were delivered this morning," Xiaoba, pale-faced, replied.

"Nonsense, what other possibility could there be?" Ah Long's face was contorted with rage. "I'm saying, how dare these people rise up in rebellion? Who gave them the courage?"

Yes, Ah Long isn't stupid. He has a set of methods for creating fear.

When conquering Cocoyasi Village and the other villages, he first struck with overwhelming force, demonstrating his formidable strength by utterly defeating every single combatant.

Next, he demanded money from everyone to buy their lives, killing those who couldn't pay. This was another heavy blow, aimed at cementing his image as cruel and ruthless in people's minds.

That wasn't the end of it. He then colluded with Colonel Rat, sealing off all escape routes. He also made their relationship public knowledge, aiming to eliminate any hope of seeking help from the Navy.

After Ah Long's combination of punches, most people would have no choice but to accept their fate and give up any thought of resistance. For the past few years, they've openly remained within the Dragon's Domain, assuming no one else would dare to lay a hand on them.

But no solution in this world is foolproof, and no oppression can last forever. It's not that people lack the will to resist, but rather that there is no one to lead and unite everyone's strength.

Li Ang's appearance served as a good unblocking mechanism. What did Li Ang do? Actually, he only said a few words. It was the general public who truly took action.