Ren stepped through the red fog-like cloud. He had already taken back his Kusarigama and now had a spear out and he was alert to anything that could happen.

He was starting to like the spear more than other weapons, but nonetheless, he had a variety of weapons and would use the advantage they provided whenever he could at certain appropriate times.

*Bam*

By his side, the hulking figure of the old man Whitebeard stood.

He slammed his bisento on the ground as he took in his surroundings.

Ren also did the same as him and surveyed the area.

What greeted his view was actually nothing besides an endless desert-looking space. Sandy dunes and very few trees were visible in this hot temperature place.

But then even as he and the old man were highly alert to the surroundings, they didn't see anything with their eyes. It was completely bare of any monsters.

Still, that was just on the surface. And if one were to look deep they were sure to be astonished… and if not careful, they'd even be dead.

'Underground…'

Their observation haki picked up a few more things than their eyes visibly did.

"7 SS ranks," Ren remarked.

"And they seem to be under the ground and not moving…?"

He continued on perplexed. He could see their auras being stationary.

So far, any monster they came across attacked them as soon as it saw them. Like It was some sort of instinct drilled into them to kill the humans.

They mostly targeted Ren and tried to ambush him since it seemed that sneaky attacks were their specialty. Coupled with using poison.

But to see these monsters not moving, it was certainly a weird behavior on their part.

"When I scanned this area earlier, they were just S ranks, it seems they ranked up in the meanwhile,"

Came Whitebeard's reply. He had a grave tone as his eyes gazed underground.

These monsters had also increased in rank it seemed and now they became some serious threats that can't be taken lightly.

Ren turned even more serious.

He had a different thought in mind.

7 SS ranks were dangerous true, but the way the old man was talking, it seemed like he wasn't concerned about them at all but rather something else. Something even more dangerous…

'Right, there is still the boss,' He thought about that and concluded that it must be related to the boss monster.

"Did the boss become SSS rank already? But why didn't the system notify us then?" Ren was perplexed as he heightened his observation to the max level.

He was more inclined to believe in the system, but at the same, he didn't think the old man would be wrong.

Yet, he couldn't identify where the monster was.

"It is about to do so… However, this monster… I just didn't expect its size to be this big…" Whitebeard uttered a sigh as he then tightened his muscles.

It seemed that his work wasn't going to be as easy as he thought at first.

Just as he finished saying so, deep vibrations spread through the ground at an alarming rate.

It shook violently as if it was splitting apart like an apocalypse was currently taking place.

Then, the sand was raised from the ground in various parts as if something deep within the bowels of the earth was surfacing after decades of inactivity.

Seven vague giant forms appeared in a tight circle around Ren and whitebeard.

They were the seven SS-rank scorpion monsters.

But Ren only briefly looked at them and then returned to the old man.

"Its size?" He asked. Was the boss monster very huge?

Despite how menacing and strong the monsters looked, he was still concerned more by what the old man had said.

Since he had mentioned that it was huge in size. He couldn't actually detect the boss but as he saw whitebeard he found out that the old man's eyesight didn't leave the ground.

'As expected of these scorpion monsters, they stick to being underground' Ren reached this thought.

Whitebeard raised his eyes to look at Ren.

"The boss monster… We are standing on top of it!" He delivered a bomb.

"The red energy surrounding us seems like it is being absorbed by it and it is the reason why it's getting stronger…"

He continued explaining.

And Ren had a flashback and remembered this same red energy from that gate situation.

"Even that time at the gate this red energy was there too…" He remarked.

Whitebeard took note of that.

But then he raised his weapon before he twisted it and let go.

His hands then grabbed the entire area and specifically the empty air as if were substantial and tangible, and then he rapidly shifted it.

[Shima Yurashi (Island Shaking)]

Then he grinned.

Before the whole area started to shake even more violently.

This led to tremors occurring, the ground splitting, and even surfacing higher.

And more importantly, it led to the huge monster that was absorbing the energy to reach the surface too.

It was similar to the other scorpions just bigger in size. But another important thing to note was how durable its exoskeleton looked o be, and that it had two stingers instead of just one.

Still even as Whitebeard had acted fast, it seemed as if the monster was already done.

The last of reddish energy fog finally entered its body, and it started glowing so bright, that they had to close their eyes as they felt they might get blinded by the light.

"It's already too late…" Whitebeard took a hold of his bisento and sighed.

He hasn't been performing at his peak due to his old age and sickness, otherwise, there was no need for Ren to help him on the way to reaching here. And at that time, he would finish everything in a few minutes with a few casual punches instead of fighting for so long.

And now this monster had reached SSS rank. And not just entered it, it reached the limit immediately as if it had been n this rank for a while.

'That energy is dangerous…'

Meanwhile, with Ren, he observed everything Whitebeard did so far.

'This is The Man Who Can Shake the World!'

Just a casual display of strength turned the area upside down and unearthed the ground leading to various huge chunks of earth flipping around and being thrown into the sky.

This was a direct showing of strength an SS rank was capable of. And Ren knew the old man still had plenty of moves to show.

It was true he had seen Plutia move, but since her feat was just blocking and attacking plainly, it didn't sound anything impressive.

But here, his idol from the anime one piece, Whitebeard, directly displayed the same move that flipped the headquarters of the marines in the war of Marineford.

'Take the pic Robin!!' he desperately wanted a picture of this taken. As he found the circumstances to be perfect.

Whitebeard was flipping the very air around, while Ren was floating nearby, appearing as if he was unaffected completely, and with his spear rested on his shoulder.

The attack also led to the huge monster that was as big as his eyes can see, to be shown.

Even its back area that was armored seemed to be big enough to accommodate the already seven large scorpions and still have room for another twenty of them.

Meanwhile, he and the old man would seem like a dot on top of its back. It was truly giant in size. A behemoth, and a dangerous one at that.

It also exited the ground as its cover was taken off, and then when the last bit of energy entered its body, it glowed so brightly that Ren had to close his eyes.

Inside the bright area, the monster was undergoing some changes.

When the brightness forcing them to close their eyes went away, finally they could see what had happened.

The humongous body size of the scorpion decreased as it compacted. The deep red color of its exoskeleton lessened in intensity and took on a more orange-reddish color.

It lessened its size to such a state that it was only tens of meters long, even smaller than the other scorpions.

But it had taken a more humanoid shape instead, and its power seemed to increase, unlike its size.

Its upper body was still armored but it took on the shape of a human's chest area that was layered with armors to protect it, and it had two hands that ended in pincers instead of fingers. They gleamed dangerously and implied their sharpness just by opening and closing.

Meanwhile, its lower body remained the same except for the decrease in size. The same two stingers extended above its body dangerously.

This was the newly advanced SSS ranked boss monster.

Simultaneously, the system that had been silent finally issued a warning.

The warning was the same to destroy the gate, but the details were changed.

Ren focused on that.

[Monster boss state: SSS rank]

*******************

-Special thanks to *"Arun"* ; *"ShadowFangus"* ; *"Coby"* ; *"John Dunkley"* ; *"Heitor Prado Bortoletto"* ; *"Ahmed"* and *"ThatEpicTragedy"*

-Read advanced chapters ahead of the public release:

https://www.patreon.com/ThighsSeeker