Chapter 58: A Beautiful Misunderstanding
Krieg was enraged by Ian and Ace's casual attitude, the two of them playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who would fight him. How could he just stand by and watch them settle it like that?
He flung his cape back, revealing multiple flintlock pistols mounted on his shoulders, waist, and hands, and immediately opened fire on Ian and them!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bullets flew in all directions toward the two. However, despite their playful demeanor, Ian and Ace had been keeping an eye on Krieg. The moment he fired, they dodged.
Ian used his longsword to deflect bullets as he evaded, so he came out completely unscathed. Ace, however, suffered a minor injury. As he rolled, a bullet grazed his cheek, leaving a thin trail of blood.
"Oh wow, that was close!" Ace wiped the blood from his face and said to Ian, "Forget it, this guy's all yours!"
With that, he left Ian and Krieg behind, turned around, and ran back to hoist the still-prone Johnny and Joseph onto his shoulders.
Ace recognized the two as well. He knew they were the ones who had attacked him yesterday and been knocked out. Though he didn't understand their relationship with Ian, seeing them badly injured, he decided to carry them away from the scene.
Meanwhile, Ian had engaged Krieg. He made a probing thrust straight at Krieg, but Krieg didn't even try to dodge. He let Ian's longsword strike him right in the waist.
*Clang!* The tip of the blade met Krieg's armor and could go no further.
"Don't waste your strength!" Krieg sneered. "This armor of mine isn't ordinary steel—it's made of a special alloy! Swords and blades can't scratch it!"
Hearing this, Ian's face fell in disappointment. He looked at Krieg with disdain and said, "Damn! All shiny and gold, and I thought this armor of yours was actually made of real gold! Turns out it's just alloy. You got my hopes up for nothing. Tell me, if you're broke, why pretend to be rich? Did you paint that gold color on with cheap lacquer!?"
"You...!" Krieg had been trying to look impressive, but Ian's words slapped him right in the face. Veins bulged on his forehead.
Taking advantage of his height, he threw a punch down at Ian's head. Ian tried to block with the flat of his blade, but Krieg's fist struck the sword with such force that it nearly sent the weapon flying out of his hands.
Krieg's fists were studded with hard diamonds, and combined with his monstrous strength, a punch like that to a person's head would likely shatter their skull.
After taking that one blow, Ian realized he had underestimated this guy. In terms of raw power, Krieg was on par with him. And without his psychic power to use skills, relying solely on his Sword Saint Longsword, it would be difficult to break through that armor.
So Ian shifted his attack angle, suddenly accelerating and swinging his blade toward Krieg's leg!
A barely perceptible smirk crossed Krieg's face as he kicked out at Ian.
Ian's sword struck Krieg's shin, but the familiar metallic sound rang out again. Hidden beneath his pants leg was the same armor! Ian hadn't expected that. The blade failed to cut through, and Krieg's kick landed squarely on Ian's face, sending him tumbling backward.
"Hahaha!" Krieg laughed triumphantly. "Did you think I'd leave such an obvious opening?"
The surrounding pirates erupted in cheers. Their captain was truly something else. That pirate hunter who had killed so many of their men couldn't do a thing against him.
Ian picked himself up off the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood. His jaw felt numb. He looked at the spot on Krieg's leg where he had struck. The pants leg was torn, revealing the same golden gleam underneath. This guy Krieg had really wrapped himself head to toe in armor.
Just how insecure are you?
Ian looked up at Krieg's head. That seemed to be the only unprotected spot.
But before Ian could make another move, a sudden sense of danger washed over him. He instinctively leaped away from his current position!
The moment he jumped, a massive explosion erupted right where he had been standing!
*BOOM!* The shockwave from the blast hit Ian midair, sending him flying. The force in the blast wave crushed against his body, making him feel like he was being squeezed from all sides. It was unbearable.
He realized what had happened. That explosion was from a cannonball! Someone had fired a cannon at him!
But it couldn't have been Krieg. He had been watching him. He hadn't seen Krieg make any move!
As Ian scrambled to his feet, covered in dust and grime, a familiar laugh rang out: "Hahahaha! How did that cannonball feel, you kid with the bear-ear hat?"
Ian turned around and saw a group of people at another street corner behind him. At their head was a man wearing a captain's hat. A gray-white skull pattern was crossed on his forehead, and below the pattern was a big, round, bright red nose.
"Buggy!?" Ian was genuinely surprised. Although he had heard about Buggy's prison break from Garp, he never expected to see him here!
Beside Buggy stood a cannon. It seemed that the cannonball had come from it. Behind him were Mohji and Cabaji, along with the lion, of course.
Krieg was also surprised by the explosion. When he heard Ian call out the name, he turned to look at Buggy.
Though he had never dealt with Buggy directly, he knew the name of the Buggy Pirates. As one of the more notorious pirate crews in the East Blue, their captain was on the wanted list.
But Krieg didn't know why the Buggy Pirates had shown up. So he kept quiet for now, waiting to see how things would develop.
The Marine soldiers on the periphery, however, were breaking out in cold sweat. This was bad. Having the Krieg Pirates show up was bad enough, but now the Buggy Pirates had appeared too. Just a couple of days ago, because of Buggy's prison break, his bounty had been updated. He was now a pirate worth tens of millions as well. With two pirate crews worth tens of millions appearing in Loguetown at the same time, how were they going to handle this?
"Lieutenant, what do we do?" a petty officer quietly asked the lieutenant.
The lieutenant didn't know what to do either. With the Marine forces in Loguetown, dealing with just the Krieg Pirates would be a struggle. Adding the Buggy Pirates on top of that, it didn't look like the Marines could win.
"Pass the order. No one fires a shot!" the lieutenant said, sweat pouring down his forehead. He lowered his voice. "It looks like both pirate crews are here to settle a grudge with that pirate hunter. Let's just hope that once they've taken their revenge, they'll leave on their own."
The petty officer's eyes widened. "Is... is that appropriate? That man is a pirate hunter! We're not going to help him?"
The lieutenant grabbed the petty officer by the collar and said through gritted teeth, "Help? Tell me how! Send all the soldiers charging in? Have you thought about the consequences? If we fail, both crews will ransack the entire town of Loguetown!"
The petty officer finally understood. He, too, was drenched in cold sweat.
The lieutenant let him go and said dejectedly, "All we can do now is pray for that pirate hunter. Let's hope he doesn't die here..."
* * *
"Surprised, kid!" Buggy laughed heartily, hands on his hips. Then he suddenly pulled out a black key and held it up. "See what this is?"
Ian didn't recognize it at first, but then he remembered the seastone key he had lost. He said in surprise, "That's my key! How did you get it?"
"You want it back, don't you?" Buggy said smugly. "But I'm not giving it to you... Huh!?"
Before he could finish, Buggy suddenly got a clear look. Ian was standing there alone. Buggy's eyes bulged. He let out a startled cry and grabbed the scrawny pirate from yesterday, pressing his big red nose right against the man's face. He ground his teeth and said, "Didn't you say he was handcuffed to someone else!?"
The scrawny pirate, who had just been promoted to chief sailor, was so scared he almost wet himself. He stammered, "B-Buggy Captain! I swear... I swear I didn't see wrong!"
"Didn't see wrong!?" Buggy roared, spittle flying everywhere. "Then where's the other guy!?"
What Buggy didn't know was that until this morning, Ian had indeed been handcuffed to Ace. But Ian had used the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword to cut the chain, freeing them. When Buggy had fired the cannon from a distance earlier, he hadn't noticed whether Ian was alone. Now that he saw clearly, his first thought was that his subordinate had lied to him!
Fortunately, Mohji stepped in to smooth things over. He said to Buggy, "Captain, look at the kid's wrist. It seems the handcuffs are still there."
Buggy shaded his eyes and looked closely. It seemed to be true.
Without the key, the chain could be cut, but the wrist cuffs themselves couldn't be broken. The seastone there was thicker. Seeing this, Buggy finally relaxed. He put his hands on his hips again and laughed loudly. "Kid, I know those are seastone handcuffs on your wrists. You're a Devil Fruit user. What can you do with those on?"
The Buggy Pirates' underlings joined in the laughter. "Yeah! Where's your fire?"
Krieg, listening nearby, was stunned. He looked at Ian in surprise. He hadn't known Ian was a Devil Fruit user. Thinking about it, a sly grin spread across Krieg's face again.
Ian just scratched his head. What was going on? He had run out of psychic power. Why did Buggy think he couldn't use his flames because of the seastone handcuffs?
He didn't even know how to answer. If he told Buggy that this was all a beautiful misunderstanding, would Buggy ever have any confidence in his own intelligence again?