Chapter 45: Loguetown
A small boat was lowered from the warship onto the sea surface, and soon it began moving, heading in the opposite direction from the warship, forging ahead.
At the railing of the warship, Garp stood with his dog-head hat, arms crossed, watching the small boat fade into the distance.
Captain Schroeder stood beside him, watching as well. After a long moment, he spoke quietly to Garp: "Vice Admiral Garp, that hat on the kid's head..."
"I know!" Garp suddenly cut in. "That hat is exactly the same as the one Kuma wears."
"Then why did you say earlier that you couldn't remember?" Schroeder asked, puzzled.
"Is there any need to say it?" Garp turned to him with a slight smile. "It's just the same hat. Can you prove he has any connection to Kuma?"
"I can't prove it!" Schroeder shook his head. "I'm just worried that another Warlord-level pirate might show up later, and that would be troublesome."
"That's exactly it. Sometimes, it's better to play dumb!" Garp grinned. "Don't worry. Even though I don't know his relationship with Kuma, I can tell that kid isn't a pirate. By the way, you fought him just now. What do you think of his strength?"
"His swordsmanship fundamentals are perfect. It's clear he was taught by a master!" Schroeder said. "His strength is decent, but his speed is even better. It's a shame that his style of swordsmanship isn't suited for such a large blade."
"How does his swordsmanship compare to yours?" Garp asked.
"...Hard to say," Schroeder replied after a moment of thought.
Hearing this, Garp burst into loud laughter. He felt even more convinced that sending Ian to catch Ace was a good move. Even Schroeder admitted the kid's swordsmanship was impressive, so if he fought Ace, it should be no problem, right?
Now, all he had to do was wait!
Back on the deck, Garp waved his hand and said, "Set sail! Target: Shells Town!"
…………………………
Meanwhile, on the small boat, Ian was vigorously rubbing his hand. He regretted it! He regretted shaking hands with Garp in a moment of impulse!
Iron Fist Garp! Just from the name, you could tell how strong the old man's grip was. In a moment of excitement after reaching an agreement, Ian had subconsciously shaken Garp's hand. But Garp's iron-like grip gave a gentle squeeze, and Ian's entire hand swelled up!
Even now, with the boat back on course, Ian's hand hadn't gone down yet. This made Ian seriously suspect that Garp had seen through something and was giving him a "little" lesson.
Yes, in the deal with Garp, Ian hadn't lost out at all—he had come out ahead!
Without having to deliver on anything yet, Ian had already gotten a small boat and a pair of Seastone Handcuffs. As for catching Ace, Ian hadn't given it a second thought.
It wasn't that Ian wanted to back out, but he had no idea where Ace was. In such a vast world, amidst a sea of people, what were the chances of running into Ace? You could imagine it, right? Ian had never planned to exhaustively track Ace down. Since they couldn't meet, the agreement with Garp wouldn't take effect for now.
In other words, whether he wanted to catch Ace or not was entirely up to Ian's mood.
Lying in the cabin, Ian didn't dare to read this time. He was afraid that if he read and fell asleep again, he'd be attacked by a Sea King, which would be disastrous. The first time, he had been lucky enough to be rescued by Garp's Marine ship. If it happened again, it would really be...
So this time, even though he was lying down, he was constantly keeping an eye on the surrounding sea.
If the wind was favorable, it would take about a day or two to reach Loguetown. Ian took this opportunity to plan his future training direction.
Checking in his mind, his level had reached 6 and a half. This experience came from defeating Buggy, but the sparring match with Schroeder on Garp's ship hadn't given him any experience.
That Captain Schroeder hadn't used his full strength in their fight. He was truly skilled in swordsmanship. Ian remembered that when he first boarded the ship, Schroeder had been holding a sword, but during the fight, he hadn't used it at all.
Although he hadn't gained experience, Ian had gained some insights. He realized that physical combat was his current weakness.
Thanks to the card's enhancement effects, Ian's speed and strength were decent, and he had trained in both areas regularly. However, this training wasn't formalized or systematic, so it couldn't be considered true physical combat. It was like a bodybuilder—though muscular, he might not know martial arts, right?
The benefits of learning physical combat were obvious. It would improve Ian's endurance and resilience, and strong physical combat would also enhance his swordsmanship, making his strikes faster and more powerful.
Thinking about this, Ian understood why his basic swordsmanship skill had maxed out in proficiency but couldn't advance to a higher level—it was likely due to his lack of physical combat training.
So, physical combat training had to be put on the agenda.
However, Ian didn't have a good method for training physical combat. The Marine's Six Powers were excellent, but he needed someone to teach him.
Maybe he should actually catch Ace once and hand him over to old man Garp, so Garp could teach him? Ian mused. If it was Garp, his physical combat must be incredibly powerful, right?
Besides that, there was the card system. The next card slot would unlock at level 10, and then Ian could equip a new card. If he could draw a character skilled in physical combat, maybe equipping it would unlock his basic physical combat training ability?
Don't forget, the basic Nen Training skill had come from this.
Tsk! Thinking about having to spend money to recharge and draw cards again, Ian felt like this pit was just one wave after another. If he collected the 7 million Berry bounty for catching Buggy, what kind of card would he draw? If he didn't get a card with physical combat skills, would he have to keep drawing?
Ian suddenly thought of a saying: Don't challenge a rich second-generation's pocket money with your time. But now it seemed that even if he were a rich second-generation, he might not be able to fill the black hole of this system...
So Ian felt that he had to rely on himself. He needed to speed up the fusion and creation of his own sword techniques.
In the following time, whenever his Nen recovered a bit, Ian would use the Evil King Flame Slayer Fist to practice empty strikes on the boat, training his Nen skill. He wanted to break through to the advanced level of Nen Training as soon as possible. Maybe then, he could use his Flame Flash technique.
Yes, Flame Flash! That was the name Ian gave to his self-created sword technique. Using the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword to perform a Flash Slash—wasn't that Flame Flash? As for later achieving more powerful moves like a Seven-Flash Slash, he'd call it Flame Seven Flash. For an Eight-Flash Slash, it would be Flame Eight Flash!
As for even more powerful moves, like Flying Shadow's level of striking over a dozen times in one go, calling it Flame Over Ten Flash didn't sound good, so he'd call it Flame Chaos Flash!
Giving himself thirty-two thumbs up for his naming skills, Ian felt a bit proud.
After two days of sailing, there were no more mishaps. Aside from some rough waves, Ian arrived safely at the island where Loguetown was located.
When he first saw land on the horizon, Ian thought Loguetown must be quite large. But when he actually landed, he found it was even bigger than he had imagined.
At Loguetown's docks, countless ships were moored—probably no fewer than a thousand. Among these docked ships were fishing boats, merchant ships, cruise liners, and Marine warships. In more secluded corners, you could even see large ships flying black flags. Needless to say, those were pirate ships.
At first, Ian found it strange that these pirate ships were so openly docked at the port. Wasn't that a problem?
But after he got ashore, he realized that Loguetown was even more prosperous than he had imagined. It couldn't really be called a town; in fact, Loguetown was almost the size of a small city. On the wide streets, shops and signs stood everywhere. Among the bustling crowds, you could see stylishly dressed sexy women carrying beautiful bags, lingering in every brand-name store, picking out items and letting their dapper male companions pay for them...
It felt like a modern metropolis! How could such a commercial city refuse pirates?
After all, pirates were a great consumer group. They needed supplies, relaxation, and entertainment. Compared to ordinary people, pirates spent money much more freely.
This led to Loguetown not refusing entry to pirates. After all, this was where the Pirate King Gol D. Roger was executed. This "Town of the Beginning and the End" had a strong deterrent effect on pirates. Plus, Loguetown had the largest Marine base in the East Blue, so naturally, they weren't afraid of pirates causing trouble or robbing.
"Whoa!" As soon as Ian entered Loguetown, a sense of familiarity washed over him. Compared to Shimotsuki Village, he preferred this kind of lively city life.
Of course, to live in such a place, you first needed money. Ian had money, but it was still just on paper, not yet cashed in. So, Ian stopped a passerby and asked for directions to the Marine base. Then, he walked while sightseeing, heading toward the base.