Chapter 347: Ghostly Legends
"Calm down, Shanks."
Seeing Shanks' expression, Beckman quickly reminded him.
With a formidable enemy before them, they couldn't afford to let emotions take over—especially in this environment.
Huff!
Hearing Beckman's reminder, Shanks took a deep breath, staring at the figure that had paused before them.
He could feel that in the Demon Mist Sea, his emotions were more easily stirred than usual.
They couldn't afford to drag this out too long. Even just stalling could lead to their entire crew's annihilation.
"Though your strength isn't much, your teamwork is impressive."
Winter looked at the wary group before him and offered a word of praise.
This was his first time seeing humans up close. By the time they started patrolling the seas, few dared to approach the Demon Mist Sea.
This was his first encounter with living humans and his first time fighting them.
It felt pretty good. The emotions they displayed during battle touched something in him.
But right now, combat was what he enjoyed most. Only in battle did his cold, lifeless heart seem to ignite.
"Come on! More! Let me feel more."
Hearing the one-eyed, blue-skinned man say this, the crew exchanged glances and resumed their coordinated assault.
While the Red Hair Pirates battled Winter, on the other side, Andre, Hughes, and their crew were also engaged in combat with Dark Night.
However, compared to Shanks' side, this group felt more like they were being toyed with.
Dark Night's ability was particularly tricky—he could turn intangible and drift like mist, making him nearly impossible to defend against.
Andre and his crew found it incredibly frustrating to fight him.
Currently, in Andre's pirate crew, only four people could use Haki.
Among them, Andre and Hughes had only recently learned it. Andre could use all three types of Haki—yes, even Conqueror's Haki, though it was unstable.
Hughes only had Observation Haki so far and still needed time to learn Armament Haki.
The other two Haki users were officers on the ship, new recruits Andre had picked up in the New World. They already knew Haki when he took them in.
As a standout figure among the Worst Generation's Supernovas…
The Andre Pirates were still a crew that people held in high regard.
Though they only had four members who could use Haki, even the Red Hair Pirates didn't dare underestimate them.
That was because the Andre Pirates had Hughes—Golden Toad Hughes—whose ability allowed him to produce venom.
Within this crew, even the ordinary members carried two blades.
One was for regular combat, while the other was kept hidden and rarely drawn.
But once unsheathed, it posed a tremendous threat to enemies.
Clearly, the blade of this second weapon was coated with Hughes' venom.
If someone were careless and got cut—even just a scratch that drew blood—it could be extremely dangerous and potentially fatal, even to ordinary strong fighters.
Beyond their knives, people also had to be wary of whether their bullets were laced with venom as well.
It could be said that Golden Toad Hughes' presence made the Andre Pirates a crew that many deeply feared.
Of course, Andre himself disliked such underhanded fighting methods.
So, under normal circumstances, they wouldn't resort to it. But if the situation became dire, they couldn't afford to care about that.
For the average crew member, survival mattered more.
That said, this deterrence meant little to Dark Night, who stood before them like a ghost.
Not only was it nearly impossible to hit him, but his very lifeform seemed immune to this type of venom.
Facing a barrage of gunfire and sword strikes, Dark Night's ghostly figure dissipated, only to reappear behind a pirate. Like a shadowy specter, he murmured softly in the man's ear.
"Ahh!"
Despite it being just a whisper with no further action, the pirate froze as if pinned by a ghost.
A torrent of fear surged through his mind—twisting, condensing, and then erupting. He screamed in terror before collapsing entirely.
Falling in the Demon Mist Sea almost certainly sealed his fate.
"You bastard!"
Andre glared furiously at the ghostly Demon Clan member before him.
He had lost count of how many had fallen already.
Though Andre didn't care much for his ordinary crew members, letting the enemy act so freely made him look incompetent—and that was something he couldn't tolerate.
"Roar!"
With a bellow, his body began to transform dramatically, morphing into a menacing, cold-blooded beast—the Ancient Zoan, Reptile-Reptile Model: Sarcosuchus form.
Fortunately, Andre's ship had been built exceptionally large to accommodate his massive transformed size.
Otherwise, a normal ship wouldn't have enough room for him to maneuver.
Seeing their captain transform, the pirates around Andre scattered further away to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
"To think you can transform like that—how interesting."
Dark Night's faceless head tilted toward the colossal creature before him, observing it with curiosity.
Dark Night was born from the fear of the night, primarily the fears of children.
During childhood, people tend to be more sensitive and fearful of the dark, largely due to ghost stories and legends that influence them.
Hiding under the covers at bedtime was a common ritual.
The slightest rustle or movement could set their nerves on edge.
And in this world, where many things defied common understanding, children's belief in ghost stories was significantly heightened.
Beyond ghosts, the night itself instilled fear in humans. As creatures heavily reliant on vision, the darkness stripped away visibility, threatening their sense of control.
Additionally, many powerful threats thrived unaffected in the night, amplifying the danger.
Dark Night, as a Demon born from these combined factors, possessed a diverse array of abilities.
"Roar!"
Massive fangs glinted coldly as they lunged toward Dark Night with ferocious force.
A powerful aura swept forth, carrying an oppressive air pressure. If it were an ordinary person, they'd likely be paralyzed with fear, helpless against the onslaught.
This time, facing such an attack, Dark Night didn't dodge again.
From his back, a wheel of black arms extended outward like the Thousand-Hands of Guanyin, stretching infinitely like ghostly hands.
They reached for every part of the massive beast before him.
Andre felt the hands gripping him—endowed with immense toughness and strength. Even his explosive charge couldn't break their hold.
But worse is that the areas seized by these black hands began to grow cold and weak.
His two eyes were caught, though he closed them in time.
But that black hand, as if it were ink, directly melted into his eyes.
At this moment, he only felt darkness all around him, and even opening his eyes, he couldn't see anything.
Had he gone blind?!
"Andre!!"
Seeing Andre in danger, Hughes quickly rushed over to help with his sword, but his blade wasn't imbued with Armament Haki.
With just the blade alone, he couldn't cut through those black hands.
"Andre…"
Watching his blade pass through the black hands as if they were illusions, Hughes was filled with self-blame.
If only he was stronger, if only he had insisted on stopping Andre from coming here in the first place.
There had to be some way—he would not give up…
( End of this Chapter )