Chapter 41: Rescue
Ian once wondered if his terrible luck was because he hadn’t prayed to the gods before setting sail.
As soon as he left port, a storm hit. Then, while fishing, he ran into pirates who stole his stuff. Now, he falls asleep on his boat, wakes up, and the boat is gone. Was there anyone more miserable than him in this world?
He sighed, looking down at the corpse of the Sea King beneath his feet. The blood flowing from the body had already stained a large area of the nearby sea. The strong smell of blood had attracted many circling sharks, but perhaps intimidated by the sheer size of the Sea King’s corpse, they hadn’t dared to approach yet.
But that was only temporary. Once they realized the Sea King was dead, the fearless sharks would swarm in and tear into its flesh.
Watching the dense pack of sharks not far away, Ian knew time was running out. If the sharks devoured the Sea King completely, leaving only its skeleton, he would lose his foothold. Once he fell into the sea, he would have to fight off these sharks, among other things.
But come to think of it, was the Sea King really this big?
Nearly a hundred meters was just an estimate; it might not be that long, but judging by its size, it was definitely several dozen meters. Could this thing be a mutant?
Shaking his head, Ian stopped thinking and stood up, scanning the sea surface in all directions, hoping to spot a ship or something to rescue him.
And sure enough, as he looked, he actually saw something! In the distance, on the horizon ahead, a mast appeared.
Since the planet was round, when you saw a ship approaching on the sea, you’d usually spot the mast first, then the hull. Seeing this also meant the ship was still far away, with the curvature of the earth already visible between them.
But seeing a ship was a good thing. Ian quickly rummaged through his bag. He remembered that when Coby had bought supplies for him, he’d also gotten some distress flares.
In this world, shipwrecks were practically a daily occurrence, so people sailing usually prepared a few distress flares to mark their location in case of danger, signaling for rescue. Flares were practically everyday items.
Of course, these flares were essentially a type of fireworks, using gunpowder. If they got wet, they’d be useless, and survivors would have to find other ways to signal, like lighting a bonfire to send up smoke signals.
Ian found the flares and saw they weren’t wet. He hugged one and kissed it, feeling grateful to Coby for thinking to prepare these for him.
The flare didn’t need a special lighter; just pulling off the cap would ignite the gunpowder inside.
With a muffled *bang*, a force shot the flare into the sky, leaving a straight trail of red smoke that lingered even in the wind.
Thank goodness! Thank this world for still having technology!
After sending the signal, Ian could only hope that the ship would see his distress call. But when he looked again, he realized there wasn’t just one ship in the distance, but three. The other two seemed to be lagging behind, which was why he hadn’t noticed them earlier.
They were too far away, so Ian couldn’t make out what the three ships looked like, let alone the flags on their masts. He didn’t know what kind of ships they were. If they were merchant ships, they’d usually respond to a distress signal. What worried him was the possibility of pirate ships.
It wasn’t that Ian was afraid of pirates. In fact, if he ran into pirates, that would be great—he could just take them down and steal their ship. What he feared was pirates ignoring his signal and leaving him stranded.
As he was watching, Ian suddenly heard splashing sounds around him. Looking down, he saw the sharks already tearing into the Sea King’s corpse. Besides sharks, other fierce carnivorous fish had joined in, fighting over the meat and churning the sea into a froth.
At this rate, even if the Sea King’s corpse were twice as big, it would soon be devoured. So Ian had to save himself. He crouched down, trying to stay close to the water’s surface. Whenever a shark came to bite, he’d slash it with his sword, killing it. In just a few minutes, he’d taken down several sharks.
Though this was a drop in the bucket for the shark pack, it slowed down the rate at which the Sea King’s corpse was being eaten. Ian now hoped the three ships would see his signal and come quickly.
He didn’t know how long passed. Ian himself lost count of how many sharks he’d killed. What he didn’t expect was that the blood from the dead sharks made the sea even more pungent, attracting more carnivorous fish. The Sea King’s corpse was almost gone.
During this time, he was so busy he didn’t even have a chance to look up at the three ships again. But Ian had no good solution. He couldn’t just let these fish feast forever; he could only kill as many as came, buying time.
With most of its flesh gone, the Sea King’s body had sunk lower. Ian no longer needed to crouch to reach the water. In a few more minutes, he’d have to accept falling into the sea.
But just then, Ian heard several *whoosh* sounds.
He recognized that sound—it was the sharp whistle of cannonballs flying through the air.
But strangely, he hadn’t heard the cannons firing!
As he looked up in confusion, several cannonballs landed on the sea near him and exploded. The massive shockwave scared the sharks below, which flicked their tails and dove deep with a splash.
The cannonballs landed with remarkable precision, right in the densest parts of the shark pack. The effect was stunning—the predators in the sea quickly thinned out by more than half.
Then, Ian finally got a clear look at the three ships that had arrived… big ships!
Really big ships, enormous! And not just big—their blue-and-white paint scheme and the seagull emblem on their billowing sails unmistakably marked them as three high-ranking Marine vessels!
Ian was stunned. He’d thought they might be merchant ships, cruise liners, or even pirate ships, but he’d never considered Marine warships!
So he stood there, dazed, as one of the warships approached him. Marine soldiers in white coats and hats lined the railing, their guns aimed at him warily.
A Marine in a coat, holding a sword, wearing a hat like a spy, appeared at the railing and asked coldly, “Was that your distress signal?”
“Ah, yes!” Ian replied. “Who else do you see here besides me?”
“Who are you? A pirate?” The spy-like Marine scrutinized Ian’s outfit, seeing him holding a long sword in one hand, a bag in the other, and a barrel of wine tucked under his arm. He didn’t look like an ordinary traveler or fisherman, so the Marine instinctively tightened his grip on his weapon, ready to draw.
“No!” Ian quickly shook his head. Even if he were a pirate, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to admit it to a Marine—that would be like having his brain kicked by a donkey.
So he quickly identified himself: “I’m a pirate hunter!”
He could see that the Marine soldiers relaxed a bit when they heard “pirate hunter,” but their guns still pointed steadily at him. These were clearly well-trained elite Marines.
Given the size of their warship, Ian knew these Marines weren’t ordinary. If the 153rd Marine Branch in Shells Town had soldiers like these, how could Buggy have ever broken into the base?
The spy-like Marine still had doubts about Ian’s answer. He knew no one would admit to being a pirate in front of the Marines. But before he could say more, a hearty laugh came from the ship behind.
“Hahaha! Schroeder, don’t be so tense. Even if he is a pirate, are you afraid? Let him on board!”
Hearing this, the spy-like Marine, Captain Schroeder, said nothing. He waved his hand, and a small boat was lowered from the warship. Several Marines rowed with oars, guns in hand, heading toward Ian. Ian breathed a sigh of relief. When the boat got close, he pushed off with his feet and jumped onto it.
The armed soldiers kept a close eye on him as the small boat headed for the warship. When they reached the side, Ian climbed up the rope ladder onto the deck.
Ignoring the wary Marines around him, Ian plopped down on the deck as soon as he was aboard.
The feeling of solid ground was incredible. After all that bobbing up and down on the Sea King’s corpse, he’d been on the verge of getting seasick.
“Hahaha! What a huge sea beast, kid! Did you take it down?”
The same voice rang out again, and then a figure landed with a *thump* in front of Ian!
Ian looked up, and the next second, he almost bit his tongue. The person who had jumped over from the other ship and landed before him was none other than Garp!!
Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters, Iron Fist Garp!!
And then Ian remembered what Morgan had said back at the 153rd base—that Garp was coming.
At the time, Ian thought he was just trying to scare Buggy, but who knew it was true!?
Ian was heading toward Loguetown, while Garp was coming from Loguetown. As long as their routes didn’t diverge, running into each other wasn’t surprising at all…