Chapter 62: The Issue of Compensation
"L-Leader!?"
Demon Human Gin turned his head with difficulty, only to witness Kreig kneeling to the ground.
The captured members of the Kreig Pirates, tied up in the square, had been loudly cursing the Marines moments before, but at this sight, they all fell silent in unison.
"The leader... is dead!?"
No one wanted to believe it, yet the truth lay before them—half of Kreig's body slowly slid off right under the eyes of all the pirates.
The leader, who had seemed invincible to the Kreig Pirates, was cut down just as he was about to escape...
To be fair, Kreig had been somewhat successful as a leader, having established authority within his crew. But the moment this iconic figure fell, a chain reaction set in. With their backbone gone, it was as if their morale had been drained in an instant. Some Kreig Pirates still resisting against the Marine soldiers lost all will to fight, their weapons clattering to the ground as they let themselves be subdued and tied up.
This inadvertently reduced the casualties among the Marine soldiers.
Tashigi slumped to the ground, fighting back another wave of nausea. She had seen the corpses of pirates before, but not firsthand as they were killed. This time, however, she had watched Kreig die with her own eyes.
At the same time, she stared at Ian in astonishment. She never imagined that this young man, who seemed about her age, was actually a swordsman master!
Though this world had cannons and firearms, many still used cold weapons, with swords being the most common and mainstream. Anyone who used a sword as a weapon could be called a swordsman or swordfighter.
The next level up was the swordsman master, a common term. Being able to unleash flying slashes was the hallmark of a swordsman master.
Yes, people here didn't call it sword aura; they called it flying slashes, because this attack method wasn't exclusive to sword users. The Marine Six Powers' Tempest Kick could also produce similar effects. If they insisted on naming it after the weapon, they couldn't very well call a Tempest Kick's slash "foot aura," could they?
In Tashigi's eyes, the strike Ian had just unleashed was undoubtedly a flying slash, so she naturally classified him as a swordsman master.
The principle behind such flying slashes was the same. Ian used psychic power, while other swordsman masters used the power of Haki. Haki was an innate power in people, requiring constant training to manifest, but it didn't just appear out of nowhere during practice.
During training, people gradually develop a sense of energy—the most basic form of Haki power. Though it might not be strong enough to materialize early on, it could still be used (like Zoro's move, 36 Caliber Phoenix).
While others were shocked, Ian himself was also surprised. His action had been purely instinctive. His massive psychic power was on the verge of losing control, and he only wanted to expend some of it, but inadvertently unleashed such a slash.
Because he had used the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword, the psychic power he released had already begun to solidify, like an oxyacetylene torch cutting through steel. Kreig's armor offered no defense against this slash.
Ian was surprised for two reasons: first, the effect of the slash itself, and second, because he had never imagined that psychic power could be used this way—detached from his body and released outward!
Previously, his use of psychic power mostly involved wrapping, attaching, or enhancing himself. He had imagined solidifying or expanding it, but he never thought of releasing it like this. He had always believed that psychic power had to rely on his body to be used.
Undoubtedly, this unexpected experience opened a new door for Ian.
Just then, a system prompt echoed in Ian's mind, informing him that his advanced swordsmanship skill had leveled up!
Ian paused and quickly checked, finding it was true. The bottleneck that had been stuck for so long had finally broken through, advancing to expert-level swordsmanship!
[Expert-Level Swordsmanship]: Sword speed +40%, destructive power +40%, enables sword aura attacks. Proficiency (0/100,000,000)
The improvement in swordsmanship meant Ian's sword speed increased, and the power of his slashes rose accordingly. However, Ian felt that the main benefit of these basic skill upgrades was meeting the requirements for using certain card skills.
But this breakthrough, triggered by accidentally unleashing a sword aura, made Ian wonder: perhaps after reaching advanced levels, these basic skills didn't just improve in a single aspect?
For instance, with swordsmanship now, pure technique had little room for growth. It was only when combined with psychic power that it broke through. So, would future breakthroughs in advanced psychic training to expert level require the integrated use of other basic skills?
Of course, these questions were still far off, and speculating now was useless. The proficiency requirement for expert-level swordsmanship had increased tenfold, needing a million to max out. Basic skills only got harder to improve as they progressed, taking more and more time.
Sheathing his sword, Ian looked at his now-empty psychic power value and smiled bitterly. That single slash had drained all his psychic power in just a few seconds, and the experience was far from pleasant. The life force consumed by actively using the Evil Eye skill manifested in his body as extreme weakness and fatigue. Unlike the mental exhaustion from depleting psychic power, this was a physical sensation—like a severely wounded person, with massive energy loss, pain throughout his body, and difficulty even moving a finger.
This situation made Ian very alert. He realized that the life force attribute wasn't just a simple number; it was more like a chart reflecting his physical condition. As life force decreased, various symptoms appeared in his body. The life force bonuses from cards didn't truly increase his vitality; they were more like added durability. If he took too much damage, he would still die!
Demon Human Gin had also fallen to his knees, covering his face as tears and blood mingled. Ian looked at him in silence. Gin was quite loyal to Kreig, but that loyalty was misplaced. Kreig never treated his men as people, but as dogs, sacrificing them without hesitation at critical moments. Devoting loyalty to such a person was utterly worthless.
As Marine soldiers came to bind Gin and take him away, likely for treatment, Ian hoped that if Gin survived, he would find a better master than Kreig. As for whether Gin would seek revenge later, Ian couldn't worry about that now. Being a pirate meant accepting the consequences, and being a pirate hunter or Marine meant the same.
Ian felt no regret for killing Kreig, even feeling fortunate to have taken him down so quickly. After all, Kreig's weapons included poison gas bombs. If he had unleashed them, many people would have suffered.
The Marines in the square had snapped out of their shock and began cleaning up the scene. But whether Marine soldiers or captured pirates, they all looked at Ian with fear, occasionally glancing at the collapsed execution platform.
Everyone understood that this incident had blown up. So many pirates were dead, including the East Blue's overlord Kreig. Now, the famous landmark of Loguetown, the execution platform, had been cut down by a single slash. Though not intentional, how would the Marines explain this when the residents of Loguetown returned?
Smoker walked over to Ian. He first looked down at the seastone handcuffs on Ian's wrists, realizing he might have been mistaken. This young pirate hunter didn't seem to be a Devil Fruit user—no ability user could demonstrate powers while wearing seastone handcuffs.
Smoker had spent most of his time at Marine Headquarters in the Grand Line, so he was well-traveled. Though he knew Ian wasn't a Devil Fruit user, he wasn't surprised by the flames on Ian's sword. This world was full of strange people; not all unusual abilities came from Devil Fruits.
What intrigued him more was the illusion of a third eye on Ian's forehead when he attacked. Walking up to Ian, he asked, "You don't happen to have Three-Eye Tribe blood, do you?"
This question caught Ian off guard. He couldn't see the illusion himself when using the Evil Eye skill and had no idea about the third eye on his forehead. So, he found Smoker's question baffling and replied, "What Three-Eye Tribe?"
Smoker misunderstood, thinking Ian didn't know his own origins, and explained, "I've heard that in the second half of the Grand Line, the New World, there's an island with a tribe that has three eyes."
"Oh, and then?" Ian asked.
He knew about the Three-Eye Tribe. This world had not only them but also giants, dwarves, long-arm tribes, fish-men, and countless other strange races. He just didn't know why Smoker was bringing this up.
"..." Their conversation was going nowhere, and Smoker didn't know how to continue. Finally, he pointed at the collapsed execution platform and said, "Alright, let's set that aside for now. What do you plan to do about this?"