Pirate: It’s not a phantom beast, it’s a phantom god!

Chapter 331 Ancient Brachiosaurus
"Hmm~~~"

Just as Kara was trying to persuade everyone to be wary of Ra, a comfortable groan came from their ears... Connor had woken up.

"Connor, you're awake!"

"How are you feeling? Is there anything else that's bothering you?"

Seeing Connor wake up and sit up, the scholars of Ohara stopped caring about the beasts and immediately surrounded him, chattering incessantly with concern.

"Oh my, you're finally awake! We were so worried!"

"Does your head still hurt?"

"I didn't expect that little girl was actually receiving treatment... Could it be some kind of massage therapy technique?"

"I really have to thank them properly this time."

"If anything happens to Connor, we guys really don't know what to do."

Although Ohara is nominally a mecca for archaeology, and archaeology is recognized as a legitimate discipline, the archaeological community itself is actually quite small, with only a handful of people scattered throughout.

After all, archaeology is a discipline with a high barrier to entry, and with the overt and covert suppression by world governments, the number of formally trained archaeologists has actually been declining in recent years.

Therefore, every scholar in this circle values ​​their like-minded colleagues very much.

As the youngest member of the research team, Connor was actually watched grow up by many of the scholars present, many of whom even regarded him as their younger brother or nephew... truly the darling of the group.

"Alright, everyone, quiet down!"

"Connor has just woken up, everyone please don't scare him."

Seeing that Connor was surrounded by a group of people as soon as he woke up, and was somewhat at a loss, Dr. Clover, his teacher, immediately stepped forward to protect him behind her.

After everyone calmed down, Dr. Clover turned around and asked with concern:

"How are you, Connor? Is anything bothering you?"

"Uh...no."

Connor, who had just woken up, was clearly still a little dazed.

"Does your head still hurt?"

"Hmm...it doesn't hurt at all."

Connor touched the spot where he remembered being hit, but found that he felt no pain at all.

Not only that, Connor also felt his body become warm and comfortable, like taking a sunbath on a cold winter day.

"Um... teacher, where is this?"

Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, Connor asked in confusion.

He remembered that he should have been on the ship, and when was it dawn?
"This is a deserted island in the Calm Belt."

"A desert island?"

"Hmm. Actually, after you fell unconscious last night..."

Dr. Clover and the other scholars from O'Hara recounted their experiences from the previous night to Connor in detail.

……

And at the same time, on the other side.

"Mr. Quinn, what is this...?"

Inside the base, when she was pulled back, a visually striking 'poop' stood directly in front of her.

This 'poop' is enormous, standing five or six meters tall, and if stretched out, it would be over ten meters long. It is also quite thick in diameter, and when stacked up, it looks like a small mountain.

"Oh? You're back~ Finished chatting with those archaeologists?"

The poop spoke.

The sound, which resembled that of a living being, came from the top of the feces.

The voice was somewhat muffled, like someone was biting something in their mouth, but it was still recognizable as Quinn's voice... This made it even more disgusting.

Looking at Quinn, who now resembled a pile of excrement, La was somewhat curious:

"Mr. Quinn, what are you doing right now?"

"Ah~ I'm modifying my body~"

"I just made a small rocket, and I want to try putting it inside my body to see how it works."

As the yellowish-brown poop mountain suddenly twisted like a snake, Quinn, who was naked and had a welding torch in his mouth, made way for it, revealing the "object" behind it - a four-legged dinosaur body without a head or tail.

Moreover, this body, consisting only of limbs and torso, is currently in an "unfolded" state, much like a Transformer with a mechanical style.

Well... what I was seeing was rather absurd and comical, like a highly creative cartoonist suddenly having a wicked sense of humor and starting to create some bizarre things.

"Miss La, please wait a moment~ It will be ready soon."

Sizzle~ Sizzle~
Sparks from the welding continued to fly out, accompanied by blinding flashes of light.

Now I know why Quinn always wears sunglasses on his face... In his 'poop' form, he has no limbs, so he can't hold up the protective face shield.

Click!

After a crisp metallic clang, two launchers were mounted on either side of the body, with two red-painted rocket-like weapons poised to fire.

"Phew~ Finally done. It's such a hassle not having hands~" Quinn casually tossed the welding torch out of his mouth and let out a long sigh.

"How about we build a pair of auxiliary robotic arms before modifying the body next time... or would it be better to just build a fully automated modification platform?"

In this state, although he can freely coil his body like a snake, it is still inconvenient without hands, especially since body modification is a delicate task.

His chin was incredibly sore after every previous makeover.

"Is the renovation complete?"

He pulled Quinn over, picked up the welding torch that had been thrown to the ground, and carefully examined the other's body, which had been modified into a turret.

She was a little curious. Queen should be in dinosaur form after using his Devil Fruit powers, but dinosaurs are also living beings. How did he manage to separate his head and body to this extent?
"That's right, it's done. Miss La, let me tell you, this is the ingenious modification plan that I came up with."

Seemingly noticing Ra's confusion, Quinn added with a touch of pride:
"As you can see, I am actually a Brachiosaurus Fruit user, which allows me to transform into a Brachiosaurus."

"Ah."

"But if it is a regular Brachiosaurus, after the main body of the 'snake body' is launched, the remaining four legs of the torso will be unable to move and will become useless 'snake legs'."

"Ok?"

A typical Brachiosaurus? A serpentine body? Launching?

La, who was thinking along the lines of what the other person was saying, was suddenly stunned.

The 'snake body' should be understood to refer to Quinn's current snake-like form...

But why can a regular Brachiosaurus launch its 'serpentine body'? Shouldn't its limbs and torso be a single, continuous unit?
A series of seemingly unrelated words inexplicably appeared in the same sentence, leading La to suspect that the other person had simply omitted something important.

"But after my modifications, I added weapon devices to the originally useless 'snake legs,' as long as I..."

“Please wait a moment, Mr. Quinn.”

Hearing the other person's explanation, La felt even more confused. Seeing Quinn still talking on and on, she had to interrupt.

"Um...yes, is there a problem?"

"There are indeed some problems."

"I'd like to ask, Mr. Quinn, what exactly are those so-called 'snake body' and 'snake feet'?"

"Ah, that."

"That is actually a part of the ancient Brachiosaurus's body. The Brachiosaurus's body structure consists of 'snake feet' that act as carriers, which wrap around the 'snake body' that is the main body, just like a turtle that can change its shell."

"And whenever they spot prey, they will give it their 'snake feet'..."

"But wasn't Brachiosaurus a herbivorous dinosaur?"

"Huh? Is that so?... So, when fighting predators, the Brachiosaurus can launch its 'snake body' as the main body to entangle its opponent and then crush it with force."

"This is the power of the ancient Brachiosaurus!"

Quinn said this while proudly straightening his now-single body.

"..."

"I see."

"It is I who am lacking in knowledge and learning."

After a moment of silence, La finally nodded in agreement.

Hearing Quinn's explanation, she inexplicably thought of Jhin's "Sable King," which, according to him, was also an improvement on the hunting methods of ancient pterosaurs.

La initially thought this was just the other party's imagination, since Jin had never actually seen how ancient pterosaurs hunted... but now it seems that the other party was wronged.

The dinosaurs in this world are probably not the same species as the dinosaurs in her memory.

Thinking about this made me feel relieved.

After all, there are always some minor differences between two worlds, which is understandable.

Seeing that Ra had no more questions, Quinn continued to explain his 'genius' design.

“Besides unexpectedly reflecting the ‘snake body’ to catch the enemy off guard, I also added weapon devices to the originally useless ‘snake legs’.”

“These weapons are all automatically aimed and fire based on my voice.”

In line with Quinn's words, the weapon launchers that had just been installed on 'Snake's Foot' began to automatically turn and aim.

"As long as I shout 'Brachiosaurus launch—'"

"Wait a moment."

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I'm about to demonstrate this now~ The rockets I'm installing this time are the latest beast version. Not only can they track targets, but their power is also several times greater than before. One rocket can..."

“Mr. Quinn, although you may have your own considerations, I actually do not recommend that you shout out the order to fire when you are being targeted.”

"Or at least don't fire indoors, since the ceiling here is only temporarily repaired and probably can't withstand too much impact."

"..."

"Eh--?!"

(End of this chapter)