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Shirley’s order came down from a megaphone on the pirate ship overhead. I closed my eyes just as the sky exploded above me. I knew what it was. The ship had fired its plasma cannon off into the distance, far away from me and Squallow. And then...

“Gyaaaah!”

The giant screamed. Night vision worked by gathering light-sensitive cells into the retina of the eye so that you could see even at night when there was very little light from the moon and stars. It worked great if you were nocturnal, but it was too strong in regular light levels. Seeing a bright flash when using night vision would be enough to either temporarily or permanently blind you.

That was the point of the plasma cannon. I’d closed my eyes and looked down to avoid the blast of light, but the giant had been looking up at me and taken it head-on. We hadn’t been able to get to the giant before, but now he was totally defenseless. I raced towards him as fast as I could. This was my only chance!

“Grrowaaah!”

Huh? At the last second, the giant rallied with a roar.

Squallow, still attached to the giant’s forehead, raised his head and looked up at me. His left arm changed shape... Was that the plasma cannon I’d seen at Ryugu Palace?!

Crap! If I kept my eyes open, the plasma cannon would blind me. But if I closed them, I couldn’t dodge it. I had no idea which was the better option. But in the midst of my turmoil, two tiny hands covered my eyes.

“Dodge like I tell you to!” Fam yelled into my ear.

Even without night vision, she could see when the plasma cannon was firing.

“Go right!”

I twisted my body to the right as hard as I could. I felt a blast of heat right next to me.

“Gaaaaah!”

I leveled myself out again and forced myself to land on the giant’s forehead, right next to the Squallow and Tetra.

“Tetra!”

In a single step, I covered the distance between me and Tetra, and I used my enhanced strength to tear through the cables and tentacles to free her.

“Graaah!” Squallow roared.

Hundreds of fleshy spears sprouted from the giant’s forehead, all of them pointed at me.

“Fam!” I yelled.

“Boss! WAKE UP!” Fam screamed as she released a maximum-power electromagnetic wave from her horn.

Strengthened by her feelings, the pulse hit Squallow and the master chip amplifier on his back directly.

“Guaah...”

Squallow groaned in intense pain, but the blades and tentacles that were about to attack us all came to a stop. Right now, Squallow was only following orders from the master chip amplifier. Once the machine started to malfunction, he shut down, too.

Now that I could get to him without him killing me, I jammed the immortal flesh I’d taken from Raul into Squallow’s mouth. There was no point in using it on the giant made out of metal and Berserker Cells. I needed to get it into the part that was really Squallow in order for the flesh to do its job. That’s why I’d gone to all this trouble.

“Guh... waaah!”

Squallow screamed, but then fell silent. When the screaming stopped, his mask fell off. I could see his face, unharmed, underneath.

Then there was a snapping sound as the plasma cannon shattered only to be replaced with a blue arm. The immortal flesh had returned Squallow to his original, perfectly healthy form, and his body separated from the giant’s. He was now—finally—himself again.

“Boss! Aah! You’re heavy!”

“Wait! Are you okay, Fam?!”

Fam tried to grab Squallow and was almost crushed under his weight. I ran to her side to help.