Chapter 10: New World Pirates Are Something Else!
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host, on successfully defeating the pirate 'Behemoth'!]
[Reward Gained: 20 Enhancement Points!]
[…]
[Congratulations, Host, on successfully defeating the pirate 'Lightfoot'!]
[Reward Gained: 40 Enhancement Points!]
[…]
[Congratulations, Host, on successfully defeating the pirate 'Granhan Nar'!]
[Reward Gained: 30 Enhancement Points!]
[…]
[Current Accumulated Points: 1400 Points!]
[Friendly Reminder: Every 1000 points can be used to enhance your Devil Fruit abilities or overall physical quality. Initiate enhancement now?]
As the pirate lackeys fell unconscious one after another, a series of system prompts chimed continuously in Ian's mind. Dozens of pirates had contributed a total of 1350 Enhancement Points. Watching the soaring numbers, Ian felt his blood boil with excitement!
After all these years in the East Blue, aside from his daily tasks, earning a thousand points had always been a grind. He'd be lucky to get that many after spending a month or two wiping out several waves of pirates. And now, with a single move, he'd easily gained over a thousand points.
New World pirates... are something else!
Tch! Ian sucked in a breath, a near-fanatical expression on his face. A gleam of greed shone in his pupils. He couldn't wait to find out how many points Gladius, a cadre of the Donquixote Family, was worth.
Though shocked, Gladius didn't choose to wait passively for death. Escaping from the ship in the middle of the vast ocean was nearly impossible. Besides, fleeing without a fight had never been his style. He quickly raised his left arm and activated a hidden mechanism in his hand. The gear mechanisms on his left arm rotated simultaneously, ejecting several gray stones. As they flew toward Ian, the stones continuously expanded in size, swiftly growing to the dimensions of barrels before reaching him.
"Bastard! How dare you just stand there?! Underestimate me, and you will pay the price! Pop Pop Projectiles!" Gladius roared furiously.
As his words ended, the maximally expanded stones instantly exploded.
BOOM!
BOOM!
...
Deafening explosions roared, one wave louder than the last. The deck surface couldn't withstand such high-intensity bombardment, large sections turning charred and shattered. The terrifying blast impact caused the ship to shudder violently on the sea. Many of the pirates lying unconscious on the deck were sent flying by the powerful shockwaves, scattered haphazardly across the ship.
The collateral damage from the explosions was the least of his concerns right now. The only goal was to defeat Ian, to blast him into dust!
Smoke and dust filled the entire ship, yet Gladius's expression showed no sign of relief. With the aid of his Observation Haki, he could clearly sense that his Pop Pop Projectiles... hadn't hit Ian at all! It was clear that when he attacked, he had already locked onto Ian's position, ensuring he had no room to escape. Yet, at the moment of explosion, Ian seemed to have vanished into thin air, escaping the blast radius.
Suddenly, his Observation Haki foresaw an intense sense of crisis. Gladius grew alert and immediately acted again. Starting from the top hat on his head, his entire body began to expand at a rapid pace, like an inflating balloon.
One of the Pop-Pop Fruit's killer moves... Full-Body Detonation! It caused his body to expand continuously, transforming into an unstable bomb with power ten thousand times greater than his projectile attacks. In this state, if Gladius suffered an external attack, he would instantly trigger a terrifying explosion, blasting all enemies within a certain radius to ashes!
As for the pirate lackeys on the ship and the captured children... Gladius no longer cared. The sudden surge of fear in his heart revealed just how formidable an enemy Ian was. The figures of the powerful foes he had faced before flashed through his mind. If he didn't use his true trump card now, he probably wouldn't even have a chance to save himself.
Whoosh...
Above the deck, the howling sea breeze suddenly ceased. The very air seemed to congeal at that moment, forming a suffocating, immense pressure. A weight as heavy as a mountain fell upon Gladius, pressing down on his spine. He nearly collapsed to the ground, utterly crushed by this powerful force.
"On... on top!" Gladius strained to lift his head, shielding his eyes from the glaring sunlight with one arm as he tried to look upward.
He finally saw it clearly... High above, a figure was plummeting as rapidly as a meteor. It was Jock Ian! His entire arm had turned jet black, coated in a terrifying aura of Armament Haki. The real source of the oppressive force condensing the air was the fearsome power and pressure brought by this violent Armament Haki.
"Armament Haki... actually... to this extent?! Jock Ian... just what is your true identity?! Damn it... I can't move at all! Then come and try my strongest explosion! Bastard... Using such powerful Armament Haki for an attack, your body's defense must be lowered. Today, I'll blast you to ashes!"
Veins bulged on Gladius's forehead. The pressure on him intensified as Ian fell. Avoiding a direct confrontation with Ian was impossible now. He could only rely on the Pop-Pop Fruit's killing move and fight Ian to the death.
Creeeak...
Creeeak...
The deck beneath Gladius's feet couldn't bear the weight, gradually cracking and deforming. The earlier projectile explosions had already damaged the ship's structure. This pirate ship seemed on the verge of collapse!
High in the air.
"Hahaha! So scared your legs went weak and you can't even move? Let's see what's stronger—your bombs, or my fists?!" Ian laughed wildly, his voice brimming with confidence and arrogance.
Over the years, the system's enhancements to his physical prowess, combined with the multiplicative effect of Armament Haki on his attacks, meant that dealing with pirates boasting bounties of tens of millions without even using his Devil Fruit abilities was... child's play. Using just his fists was more than enough!
Just then, a speedboat rapidly approached the stern of the pirate ship. The person aboard was Hina, who had turned back. The warship was too slow to reverse course, and the longer they delayed, the higher the chance of something going wrong. After giving the order, Hina had taken the emergency speedboat down alone and raced back.
"That explosion just now... Did this bastard really start a fight with a Warlord's crew?! Thank goodness I caught up, I can still stop this!" Hina breathed a secret sigh of relief.
Shing!
Shing!
Two thick black iron bars shot forth from Hina's arms, sharply piercing the thick wood of the stern and forming a binding ring around the ship. As the bars closed, Hina leaped onto the pirate ship.
Mid-action, a terrifying scene unfolded before her...