Chapter 97: Fire Fist Unleashed
The three headquarters warships she had brought were stationed far apart at three points around the bait location, concealed by scattered reefs and the cover of night. Only after seeing the signal flare did they simultaneously close in. Marine warships were large, with naturally bigger sails and greater speed, allowing them to promptly surround any hooked pirate vessel.
However, perhaps even Tina herself hadn’t anticipated that there would be pirates willing to rescue Marines…
Instead of luring in Iron Bone Ewing, they had attracted an unknown pirate crew. Tina raised her binoculars and stared at Ace’s Jolly Roger for a long time, but couldn’t recall which pirate crew’s flag it belonged to in her mind.
Indeed, Ace had only just set sail and hadn’t even been issued a bounty yet. What reputation could he possibly have?
The key issue was that she couldn’t communicate with the Marines acting as bait at the time. When Ace reported the ship name *Spade*, the bait Marines didn’t know if it was a smoke screen deliberately released by the Iron Bone Pirates, so they still called out to Ace and his crew for help.
This series of misunderstandings ultimately led to the current situation: the Spade Pirates had plunged headfirst into a Marine trap.
Chef Jimmy was already cursing in regret, and Ian couldn’t help but shake his head. He had been unwilling to believe it was a Marine trap, but now with the facts before him, Ian suddenly felt a sense of “where has the trust between people gone?” This so-called emergency distress signal had not only been abused by pirates but was now being exploited by the Marines as well.
If this kept up, the so-called distress signal would become completely unreliable, and in the end, it would be the real victims who suffered.
“Are you satisfied now?” Ian shot Ace a glare and said, “This is what you get for insisting on coming to rescue people!”
But Ace just laughed heartily and replied, “Isn’t this great? It means no one is actually in danger!”
Ian was momentarily speechless. He could only think that it was no wonder Ace and Luffy were brothers—their personalities were quite similar, likely a result of living together for so long.
Come to think of it, why weren’t his and Zoro’s personalities alike? He and Zoro had lived together for a long time too…
As his mind wandered with these random thoughts, Ian watched as Spade, under Splee’s command, tried to break through the Marine encirclement.
However, the so-called encirclement depended on the situation. If Ian and the others had actually gone to rescue those Marine soldiers, they might have already been trapped in the labyrinth currents by now. Surrounded by countless hidden reefs and with three warships closing in from behind, there would have been no escape—unless they could navigate the labyrinth currents and find the correct route to the Labyrinth Island.
But now, with three warships trying to form an encirclement, there were still plenty of gaps. Since Ian’s ship hadn’t been caught in the labyrinth currents and was smaller than the warships, their chances of escape were still considerable.
Ian certainly didn’t want to be captured by the Marines. Although his identity was that of a pirate hunter, being on Ace’s pirate ship left him with no way to explain himself—he would be treated as a pirate too.
Under everyone’s control, the Spade headed for the gap between two warships, aiming to use its smaller size and agility to break through the encirclement.
However, on the warship, Tina, having figured out Ian and the others’ intentions, took a drag from her cigarette and revealed a charming smile.
The Marine soldiers on the ship, seeing Tina’s smile, immediately wore dazed expressions.
“Prepare the javelin cannons!” Tina shouted.
The soldiers on the warship responded excitedly, quickly loading thick steel javelins into the cannon barrels and inserting the primers.
This was a common attack method used by Tina’s direct unit. Their cannons rarely used cannonballs; instead, they used javelins. When fired, the tails of these javelins could easily pierce through a pirate ship’s hull.
It was somewhat similar to Pix’s Porcupine Fruit spines, but far more powerful because these javelins were made of real steel!
And this time, Tina not only used javelins but also had her Marine soldiers tie ropes to the tails of the javelins.
As Ian, Ace, and the others sailed the Spade toward the side of the warship, trying to slip past, they were unaware that danger had already silently targeted them.
This was mainly because Ian didn’t know who was commanding these warships. If he had known it was Tina, a crack unit of Marine Headquarters, he might have warned everyone earlier.
Black Cage Tina! She was a famous figure even at Marine Headquarters!
Because of this ignorance, Ian had been keeping an eye on the warship’s cannons but wasn’t too worried. He figured that if cannonballs came flying, he and Ace could block them. The Spade was constantly moving, so the cannons’ accuracy wouldn’t be very high.
Tina also noticed the pirate ship’s intentions and smiled, then immediately ordered the cannons to fire!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! From the twelve cannons on the warship’s side, twelve javelins were fired. Because the distance was so close, they flew in straight lines, and their target wasn’t the people on the deck but the entire hull of the Spade!
This caught Ian and Ace completely off guard. When they saw that the objects piercing the hull were thick steel javelins, Ian’s eyes nearly bulged out!
If he hadn’t known that Pix had already been killed, Ian might have thought Pix had come back for revenge!
Piercing the hull wasn’t a big deal—javelins didn’t explode like cannonballs—but the next second, the Spade suddenly came to a halt, causing everyone on board to lose their balance and fall to the deck.
“What’s going on!?” Splee shouted anxiously. “Why isn’t the ship moving!?”
Ian and Ace leaned over the railing to look below and saw that the javelins fired over had long ropes attached to their tails, with the other ends tied to the warship!
This meant the Spade was completely tethered to the warship! Given the Spade’s size, there was no way it could compete with a Marine Headquarters warship, so it was forced to stay in place, unable to move.
Unable to move meant no escape. The Spade Pirates’ members grew anxious and urged Ace to think of a plan.
“Ian, can you cut those ropes?” Ace asked Ian.
Cutting them was possible—a single sword slash would do the job—but…
Ian looked up and saw the cannons on the opposing warship aiming at the Spade’s hull again. He realized that even if he cut the ropes once, the warship would keep firing more javelins.
“Can’t cut them!” Ian shook his head. “This side of the hull is already severely damaged. If we get hit by more javelins, we’ll sink!”
Ace also realized this and grinned, saying, “So that means we have to take on the warship?”
“That’s the only option…” Ian shrugged. “But didn’t you say the old man is a Marine? Can you attack his subordinates?”
“This is already a battle, so I won’t hold back!” Ace said, clutching his hat as flames began to erupt from his entire body.
At that moment, Tina also came to the railing, looking down from a height with her arms crossed and a cigarette in her mouth. She observed the small Spade below. The pirate ship was already tied up by the ropes and couldn’t escape, so Tina was curious to see what this unknown pirate crew would do.
It should be an interesting scene, Tina thought. These filthy pirates, with their ragtag nature, were probably already arguing among themselves, right?
But when she reached the railing, she saw Ian and Ace talking on the deck before looking up at the warship.
“What are they doing? Still smiling at a time like this? Tina doesn’t understand!”
When she saw Ace’s smile, Tina felt puzzled.
However, what she didn’t expect was that the next moment, Ace would act. His right hand blazed with fierce flames as he crouched down, then suddenly thrust his right fist toward the warship!
“Fire Fist!!!”
A mass of flames, even larger than the island of Biki, shot out from Ace’s right arm. At such close range, it struck Tina’s warship in an instant!
This time, it was completely different from when Ace had sparred with Ian. Ace had been holding back for a while, unable to use his powerful moves for fear of damaging his own ship. But now, with the warship as his target, Ace could finally unleash his strongest attack!
With a thunderous roar, the Fire Fist struck the warship’s side, causing a massive explosion. A huge hole was blown into the hull of Tina’s warship. The flames Ace had unleashed directly burned a large gap through the warship’s thick hull.
At this point, Ace’s Fire Fist wasn’t powerful enough to destroy an entire ship in one hit, especially against the sturdier Marine Headquarters warship. Still, it was quite impressive. The explosion from the Fire Fist sent Marine soldiers flying into the sea, with wooden splinters and debris scattering everywhere. The entire middle section of the warship was now ablaze!
Ace’s attack had coincidentally struck the spot where Tina was standing. When the explosion hit, she reacted quickly enough, using Moon Step to leap into the air.
Although she had dodged the danger, Tina’s shock was beyond measure!
She had thought this was just an unknown, low-tier pirate crew, expecting to easily capture them. But instead, she had directly hit a wall!
On that ship, there was a Logia Devil Fruit user!