Chapter 70: The Fish-Man's Weakness
Seeing that the legendary "Yao Yao Ling" failed to intimidate anyone, Ian stopped bothering with it. He couldn't actually reveal the Roger Town Marine unit's call sign anyway.
Although Ian had darkly tricked Tashigi and the others as teammates, he was only mischievous, not malicious. Tricking them once was enough; if he kept doing it, Tashigi would probably fight him to the death.
Arlong wasn't like Buggy, who lacked intelligence. Ian never really thought he could fool him from the start. Precisely because Arlong was smart, he used bribery to evade capture. Ian was just exploiting this, pretending to be a greedy Marine coming to collect tribute, just to meet Arlong on land.
Extorting tribute was just a side move. Even if Arlong hadn't seen through Ian's identity, the bribe wouldn't have been much. If Ian really wanted money, he could defeat Arlong and search his base himself.
Ian wasn't surprised that the Arlong Pirates' executive recognized him, but he thought it happened too fast.
Ian wasn't a pirate or a wanted criminal. His photo couldn't be plastered on wanted posters for everyone to know. Even if he was somewhat famous now, aside from people in Roger Town, others might have only heard his name without knowing his face.
Being called out by the other side meant only one thing: someone had tipped them off!
No doubt, it was that rat Nezumi! As a fellow Marine, he might have Ian's bounty hunter profile.
Of course, being recognized wasn't a big deal. Nezumi would probably rush over, but it would take time. Ian just needed to finish quickly and take down Arlong's crew!
So, after scratching his head and standing up, Ian already had his weapon in hand, smiling at Arlong: "Since you know who I am, what are you waiting for? Surrender obediently?"
Ian's earlier teasing had fully aroused Arlong's ferocity. His pupils were completely vertical, like a Sea King beast, making the surrounding Marines' scalps tingle. He bit down on his huge teeth and snarled at Ian: "Just as I thought, I hate humans the most, especially cunning ones like you! Today, even if you brought the Marines, I'll keep you here. I'll tear your body apart and throw it into the sea to feed the sea beasts!"
"Attack!" Tashigi reacted quickly enough, immediately shouting at her Marine soldiers!
The battle began at that moment. The Marines opened fire at the surrounding fish-men pirates. Bullets couldn't be blocked by fish-men. As gunfire rang out, many fish-men pirates were hit, blood spurting as they fell!
Fish-men were individually strong, but the Marines had numbers on their side. Thanks to Ian's plan, the Marines were fighting the fish-men pirates on land. So, as the battle started, the Marines gained the upper hand. Even if some fish-men drew weapons and charged, several Marines worked together to take them down.
For the Arlong Pirates, this battle caught them completely off guard. At sea, no matter how many Tashigi had, they couldn't beat the fish-men. But now, with the fish-men unable to get to the sea, their advantage was largely gone.
Not only that, the warship docked at the pier, seeing the battle erupt, had Marines on board using cannons to support their comrades. With a few booming shots, the fish-men pirates were thrown into chaos.
Realizing the situation was against them, Arlong immediately ordered: "A few of you, take out that warship at the pier first!"
The swimming pool in Arlong Park was actually connected to the sea. Hearing his command, two executives of the Arlong Pirates—the kissing fish-man Chuu with his protruding lips and the cartilaginous fish-man Kuroobi with bone fins on his arms—tried to jump into the pool. But at that moment, a flaming longsword appeared before them, blocking their path.
"I said, I'll handle the executives!" Ian blocked their way: "So you're not going anywhere!"
Only then did the Arlong Pirates understand how Ian got his reputation. Facing the flames on his blade, Chuu and Kuroobi instinctively stepped back.
This movement made Ian's mind stir. Could fish-men be afraid of fire?
Ian guessed right. Fish-men really were afraid of fire. Despite looking human, they spent most of their time in the sea, being cold-blooded creatures. While they could adapt to land temperatures, extreme heat was a problem. Usually, when on land for long, they'd splash water on themselves to keep their skin moist. Facing high-temperature flames that could dry out their skin, they had a natural fear.
In fact, against them, a knife might be less effective than fire. A knife could cut their skin but wouldn't cause necrosis, but fire was different. Once their epidermal cells were burned, they couldn't secrete the mucus on their skin. Fish-men were naturally ten times stronger than humans, but that didn't mean they had no weaknesses. Fire was one of them!
Realizing this, Ian's spirits lifted. Before coming, he had calculated that Arlong's strength might far exceed his own, making the fight troublesome. So, Ian avoided sea combat and chose land battle. Now, discovering another weakness of fish-men, the fight would be much easier.
To be precise, the battle with the Arlong Pirates had already begun the moment Ian set sail on the warship.
"Take him out first!" Chuu and Kuroobi quickly reached a consensus. Kuroobi, a master of Fish-Man Karate, lunged to engage Ian, while Chuu fired Water Shot from behind.
Ian ducked to avoid Kuroobi's kick. Before he could straighten up, Chuu's Water Shot arrived. He could only raise his sword to block with the flat of the blade, but a tremendous force pushed him back far, almost to the edge of the pool.
"So much power! Can't underestimate them!" Ian thought, then swung a sword slash toward the two!
His expert-level swordsmanship allowed Ian to release his Nen, but he wasn't very skilled yet. The flying slash he sent out had Nen that varied in strength. This slash used a bit too much force. After they dodged, it grazed past their heads and cracked the stone wall behind them.
Kuroobi threw a straight punch at Ian's chest. Ian gritted his teeth, concentrated Nen on his chest for defense, and took the hit. Though it nearly made him spit blood, he seized the opportunity and punched Kuroobi in the face.
This punch was thrown with blazing flames. Though his strength couldn't match Kuroobi's, and the punch alone couldn't injure him, the flames on his fist made Kuroobi scream in pain.
He desperately tried to put out the flames, but it was useless. Those flames were formed by Ian's Nen. Unless Ian stopped outputting Nen, the fire wouldn't go out. Half of Kuroobi's face seemed to melt. When Arlong ran over and threw him into the water, though the flames were extinguished, Kuroobi could only float on the surface, eyes rolling back, incapacitated.
Burns inflicted more damage on fish-men than expected!
One of his executives being taken out by a single flaming punch was something Arlong never anticipated.
While Arlong was tending to Kuroobi, Ian's figure suddenly vanished. Chuu, who was firing Water Shot at him, was stunned, then felt intense pain all over his body! His entire body caught fire!
Ian's Evil King Flame Slayer Sword had struck him seven times in an instant. Fish-men had tough bones, so Ian didn't cut too deeply, but the flames on the blade lingered in the wounds. The burning effect made Chuu scream too, as he desperately ran toward the pool and plunged in.
Ian's flames had a clinging effect, but for now, he could only produce ordinary flames, not the black demonic flames. Such flames required oxygen to burn, so they would indeed be extinguished in water, preventing further Nen output.
Even so, Chuu and Kuroobi were badly burned. Arlong, looking at the two floating motionless on the water, knew he had bitten off more than he could chew. He never expected this bounty hunter's flames to be so effective against fish-men!
He had always thought Ian's title "Burning Blade" was just a nickname, never imagining he could actually ignite flames on his sword and fists.
With two executives down, Arlong had to face Ian himself. Decisively, he jumped into the pool.
Ian naturally wouldn't go into the water to fight him, so he stood on the shore and shouted: "Arlong, if you don't come out, I'll go cut down your other men!"
As soon as he spoke, Arlong's head emerged from the water. He raised his hand and made a throwing motion toward Ian, and a water droplet detached from his wrist, flying at Ian with incredible speed.
"Water Shot!?"
Ian was startled. Arlong could use this move too? He quickly raised his sword to block, but the droplet was so fast that by the time he lifted the blade, it had already struck the flat of the sword. Ian heard a sharp *ding* and noticed a small bulge on his side of the blade. Turning it over, he saw that the spot hit by the droplet on the Sword Saint Longsword was slightly dented!
Damn! Ian's heart ached. The Sword Saint Longsword wasn't a great weapon and wasn't very comfortable, but it was still better than ordinary blades. Such thick steel, and Arlong could dent it with a water droplet! How could he use it now!?
Seeing Arlong dive again, Ian was furious. He immediately ran toward where Tashigi and the others were fighting.
If you want to hide in the water, fine. I'll go after your comrades. Don't you cherish your fish-men brothers? I'll cut them down one by one and see if you come out!
But after just two steps, Arlong fired another Water Shot from the pool at Ian.
This time, Ian didn't dare block with his sword. He dodged, and the droplet grazed his chest, tearing his shirt. It flew into the distance and even created a small hole in the wall.
In truth, Arlong's Water Shot was far weaker than Jinbe's. Maybe because he didn't use it often. Arlong's greatest pride was his strength. He used this move now mainly because he didn't want to come ashore and face Ian directly, also fearing Ian's flames.
Ian and Arlong reached a stalemate. Whenever Ian tried to help Tashigi and the others, Arlong would surface and attack, trying to slow him down.
After a few exchanges, Ian felt something was off. Wasn't this guy stalling for time?
From Ian's expression, Arlong seemed to realize he'd been caught, so he stopped hiding and laughed from the water: "I forgot to tell you, I have another executive. He's not here right now—he went to feed Mou Mou! When he gets back, you'll see the terror of a monster from the Grand Line!"
Ian slapped his forehead. How could he forget that? He knew what Mou Mou was. He immediately turned to look at the warship at the pier. Was Arlong trying to destroy the ship?
Now Ian was a bit anxious. With the warship's cannon support, Tashigi and the others had the upper hand against the Arlong Pirates' grunts. But if the warship was destroyed, he and Smoker would have a hard time explaining things.