Chapter 53: Something Forgotten
♂ "Can't... can't find it! What do we do now?"
After more than half an hour, Ian and Ace had searched almost the entire plaza but still couldn't find the key.
"Check your pockets again?" Ace suggested.
Ian said irritably, "I've checked countless times already. It's not there, and that's that!"
He was now filled with regret. Ever since setting sail, he'd first run into Buggy, then Johnny and Joseph, and now Ace. They all said that spending too much time with idiots was contagious, and unfortunately, all three of them had a pretty high idiot factor. He'd been unconsciously infected too, ending up wrestling on the ground with Ace like a little kid, and now he'd lost the key!
Damn, these idiots were terrifying!
Now that they realized the handcuffs couldn't be opened, Ace was actually laughing and saying, "That's perfect! Why don't you just come out to sea with me and become a pirate? My Spade Pirates only has me right now. If you join, I'll make you the first mate!"
"Get lost!" Ian roared after hearing that. "Then why don't you say you can just come with me to see Garp?"
After saying that, Ian suddenly froze. Right, the key was lost. He could go find Garp and figure something out. Maybe he had a spare key or something.
But when Ian excitedly told Ace about this, Ace immediately threw a punch at Ian's face. Ian barely dodged it, tilting his head to avoid the hit, and said angrily, "What are you doing? Don't you want to get these handcuffs off?"
"I told you, I'm not going to see the old man!" Ace said seriously, clenching his fist. "I know he wants me to become a Marine for my own good, but that's not what I want. If these handcuffs really can't be opened, then just cut off my wrist!"
Feeling the determination in Ace's words, Ian got a headache. Garp had really given him a tough mission. How was he supposed to know that Ace would be this stubborn?
"Forget it, forget it!" Ian said in defeat. "We'll talk about seeing Garp later. Let's figure out how to get these handcuffs off first. It's inconvenient for me, and it's the same for you!"
He told Ace to sit cross-legged on the ground with him. They put their cuffed hands together, and Ian picked up his Sword Saint Longsword, aiming at the middle of the handcuff chain, ready to strike.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ace suddenly yelled. "Are you sure about this? Your hand won't shake, right? What if you hit me?"
Ian almost fell flat on his face. He roared, "Weren't you just saying that if we couldn't open them, you'd cut off your own wrist? Why are you scared now!?"
Ace scratched his head and said, "That was only if there was no other choice! Since you're not taking me to see the old man for now, why would I cut off my own wrist?"
"You..." Ian didn't know what to say. He found that talking to Ace was sometimes really exhausting, so he changed the subject. "Don't worry, I won't hit you!"
With that, Ian put all his strength into a single slash!
Clang!! A metallic ringing sound rang out as the blade struck the handcuffs, sending sparks flying.
Ian had been practicing swordsmanship for years. The moment the blade touched the surface of the handcuffs, the feel told him something was wrong. This Seastone was much harder than he had imagined! It was even harder than ordinary steel.
Sure enough, even though sparks flew, there wasn't a single mark left on the surface of the handcuffs.
"Huh!? I don't believe it!" Ian frowned and raised his longsword again. This time, he wrapped some Nen around the blade.
He struck again. This time, it seemed to have some effect. A small dent appeared on the connecting chain of the handcuffs! But it was very shallow!
"No way!" Ian exclaimed in surprise. Even that wasn't enough?
Did he have to materialize his Nen to be able to break Seastone handcuffs?
"Hahaha, this is getting tricky!" Ace laughed loudly.
Ian looked around and saw that there were still quite a few tourists staring at them. When the two of them had been fighting earlier, maybe because it was just the two of them brawling, no one had reported it to the town's sheriff or the Marines... well, maybe they had, but no one bothered to deal with it.
Up until now, no one had interfered with them. They were just watching the show.
But Ian knew that any moment now, they would really attract attention.
"Listen up, Ace!" Ian said seriously to Ace. "I'm going to try one more time. Whether it works or not, we need to get out of here!"
"Oh! Okay!" Ace nodded, not quite understanding.
Ian gripped his Sword Saint Longsword and let out a long breath. "Evil King Flame Slayer Sword!"
Then, flames suddenly burst out from the blade!
"Whoa!!" Ace exclaimed in amazement when he saw this. "So you're just like Luffy..."
Meanwhile, the tourists who had been watching the commotion let out terrified screams. "M... Monster!!?"
For sailors, Devil Fruits were something they could understand. They knew what they were. But for ordinary citizens, these things were too far removed from their lives. This was the East Blue, not the Grand Line where Devil Fruit users were as common as dogs. So when these tourists saw something unbelievable happen, they immediately thought of Ian as a monster! It was the same for Smoker, who would later be stationed here...
Once they came to their senses, they screamed and scattered in all directions. It wouldn't be long before the Marines in Loguetown showed up.
Ian wasn't afraid, but Ace was a pirate. If the Marines found out who he was, they would definitely try to catch him.
That was why Ian had told Ace they needed to leave after one try. He couldn't let other Marines catch Ace. The only one who could catch Ace was Ian himself.
"It's not enough!" Feeling the Psychic Power attached to the flames, Ian gritted his teeth and increased the output of his Nen.
The flames on the blade, as Ian's Nen output increased, gradually changed from loose to dense. The orange flames slowly turned into a light blue color. This was a color change caused by the increase in Nen, which raised the temperature of the flames.
In just this short time, Ian had used up almost a hundred points of Psychic Power Value. This was what he had managed to recover over the past two days.
When he felt it was about right, Ian raised the blade and stabbed it down at the handcuff chain!
He had hoped that the high temperature would melt the Seastone, but unexpectedly, waves of energy came from the Seastone handcuffs, slowly neutralizing the flames on Ian's blade.
This strange neutralization happened very quickly. Ian only managed to cut halfway through the chain before he couldn't go any further. The flames on the blade then went out!
It worked! But not enough!
Looking at the dent cut into the Seastone chain, which was still barely connected, Ian and Ace each pulled hard in opposite directions, but they couldn't break it!
"No good. Looks like I need to try again," Ian said, panting heavily. Using up so much Psychic Power Value in such a short time had brought back that feeling of exhaustion. So he said to Ace, "We'll have to wait until tomorrow!"
"Fine!" Ace had no objections. He nodded and said, "Then let's get out of here first!"
The two of them slipped into the crowd before the Marines arrived, leaving the execution platform plaza.
By the time they got back to the main street, it was getting dark. Ace's stomach let out a loud gurgle. He was clearly hungry.
"Let's go eat!" Ace said, looking around for a restaurant on the street.
Ian asked helplessly, "Eat? Do you have any money?"
"No!" Ace laughed.
So, you were planning to eat and run again, weren't you!? Ian had a look that said he knew it all along. He said with a headache, "Don't go to a restaurant. Let's just find an inn to stay at. If you want to eat, we can have the inn prepare something. I still have some money here. It should be enough to cover it... right?"
By the end, Ian had lost his confidence. He remembered Ace's astonishing appetite...
So they found a clean inn in town. They got a double room with two beds. To avoid anyone seeing the handcuffs, Ian took off his shirt and covered them. They also had the innkeeper bring their food to the room. But two grown men going everywhere together inevitably drew strange looks from the innkeeper...
Damn, this was embarrassing! Who knows what unhealthy thoughts were going through that innkeeper's head...
Ian, troubled by this headache, had dinner with Ace, and then they each lay down on their beds. He was quite grateful that it was Ace's right hand cuffed to his left hand, and not both right hands. Otherwise, even sleeping would be a problem! He didn't want to have to squeeze into the same bed as Ace.
After drifting at sea for several days, Ian hadn't touched a soft bed in a long time. He had just been lying there for a while when he started to drift off.
At that moment, he felt like he had forgotten something. What about Johnny and Joseph? Why hadn't he seen them since earlier?
Forget it. Never mind. Those two should be able to take care of themselves... Thinking this, Ian fell asleep to the sound of Ace's snoring...
But what he didn't know was that, out on the sea outside Loguetown, dozens of large ships were anchored.
This was a huge fleet. Every ship was a large seagoing vessel, and they were all different models. At first glance, one might think it was a merchant fleet.
However, the black pirate flags flying from the top of each ship's mast revealed the identity of this fleet. This was a pirate crew! A very large pirate crew!
The black pirate flag depicted a skull, and on either side of the skull was an hourglass pattern. Any sailor with a bit of knowledge would probably scream in terror at the sight of this flag!
This was the flag of the Krieg Pirates, the largest pirate crew in the East Blue!
By now, night had fallen. Lights were lit on every pirate ship. On the largest ship at the front of the fleet, screams were coming from the cabin.
This ship was the flagship of the Krieg Pirates. Krieg, known as the Tyrant of the East Blue, was sitting majestically in a chair in the cabin, leisurely smoking a cigar, while coldly watching two people being beaten by a group of pirates.
When the pirates had beaten them enough and dispersed, Krieg spoke in a cold voice. "Are you willing to talk now?"
The two who had been beaten were now lying weakly on the ground, unable to get up. Their bodies were swollen all over, and their mouths were full of blood. They looked miserable, almost unrecognizable.
Only the tattoo of the character "Sea" on one of their cheeks was still faintly visible.
If Ian were here, he would probably recognize them. Because the two being beaten were none other than Johnny and Joseph!