Chapter 102: Psychic Diffusion
Since there were still other Marine soldiers in the cabin, Ian didn't dare stay long and quickly came out.
However, even though he had left, his eyes were filled with extreme shock.
Tina was probably distracted by the matter of the Krieg Pirates, so much so that she didn't notice Ian being bold enough to eavesdrop outside her room. When she spoke, her tone wasn't deliberately lowered.
After reporting the Krieg Pirates incident to headquarters, the feedback she received was for Tina to stop investigating.
When Tina asked why, headquarters told her that the Krieg Pirates matter had been handled by the newly formed Pirate Hunter Squad led by Black Wrist Zephyr!
Hearing this, Ian's mind buzzed, and he finally understood what was going on. He quickly left the cabin and quietly returned to the deck.
Although he pretended nothing was wrong, his heart was pounding.
Black Wrist Zephyr—Ian certainly knew that name. This man was a former Marine Admiral, a contemporary of Garp and others. In his youth, he was a master of Armament Haki, earning the title "Black Wrist" for his ability to harden both arms with Armament Haki. Originally, Zephyr adhered to a "no-kill" philosophy, belonging to the gentle and humane faction. But later, a tragic incident occurred: his family was killed by pirates.
It seemed from that point on, Zephyr's philosophy changed, and he began to hate pirates. He initially wanted to resign from the Marines, but was persuaded to stay, transitioning from Admiral to instructor to train the next generation of Marines.
The two current Admirals, Aokiji and Kizaru, were both his first students. Not only that, but throughout his career as an instructor, he trained many outstanding Marines, including Tina on the ship now and Smoker far away in the East Blue.
This Black Wrist Zephyr could be said to be a soul figure within the Marines.
He had been continuing his career as an instructor, but now he suddenly appeared here and attacked the Krieg Pirates. This shocked Ian, and he quickly began counting on his fingers to calculate the timeline.
Calculating this, Ian immediately realized that at this point in time, Zephyr's age was around 69-70. The exact age was hard to pin down, but it was roughly that number. That meant about five years ago, Zephyr's Marine training ship had been attacked by pirates! The attacker was a Devil Fruit user, and almost all the Marine trainees on that ship were killed, with Zephyr losing his right arm in the process.
For revenge, with the help of Marine scientists, Zephyr had his right arm transformed into a Seastone mechanical arm called the "Crusher" and formed a special force known as the "Pirate Hunter Squad," beginning to hunt pirates who were Devil Fruit users.
With this calculation, Ian suddenly understood how the massive penetrating wound on Krieg Eoin's chest had been caused. It must have been Zephyr's Seastone mechanical arm pressed against his chest, preventing him from using his fruit ability, and then he was blown away with a single shot!
And those "children's" bodies found among the Krieg Pirates—those were definitely the work of Zephyr's subordinate, the beautiful woman named Ain, using the Back-Back Fruit's power!
According to the timeline, Zephyr's Pirate Hunter Squad had just been established not long ago, but it was already enough to explain everything that happened to the Krieg Pirates.
In a way, it was also the tragedy of the Krieg Pirates. Normally, even if Zephyr had formed the Pirate Hunter Squad, their area of operation should have been in the New World. But as luck would have it, Krieg Pirates captain Eoin was not only a Devil Fruit user but had also attacked Marines. Both of these were things Zephyr hated most, so he didn't hesitate to come all the way to the first half of the Grand Line to directly annihilate the Krieg Pirates.
At this time, Zephyr was still in contact with the Marines. His Pirate Hunter Squad, in essence, was also a Marine force, so they naturally had Marine support for intelligence.
That meant two forces were actually targeting the Krieg Pirates: one was Tina, and the other was Zephyr. Tina was in the open, while Zephyr was in the shadows. Being targeted simultaneously by a Marine Headquarters Captain and a former Marine Admiral—saying the Krieg Pirates were unlucky was an understatement. If they hadn't died, that would have been truly bizarre...
Ian had set sail three years before Luffy, so he remembered some things, but others only came to mind when he encountered them. The sudden appearance of Black Wrist Zephyr served as a reminder to Ian that the Marines' latent power was still formidable. Not to mention the three current Admirals, there were also retired Admirals like Zephyr still around.
He just didn't know which pirate, who had attacked Zephyr's training ship and taken his right arm, would become a Warlord a few years later during the personnel changes among the Seven Warlords of the Sea, leading to Zephyr turning against the Marines...
Ian stayed on the deck, lost in thought. Soon enough, Tina came out of the cabin with a troubled expression.
Tina was probably shocked in her heart. Zephyr had been her teacher, so she naturally knew what kind of person he was. Now, he had become so brutal toward pirates, wiping out an entire pirate crew without leaving a trace, with such bloody scenes. Such a drastic change in personality was very impactful for Tina.
Krieg Eoin's body had been recovered, so Tina's mission was effectively complete. But Tina couldn't be happy at all.
Under these circumstances, Ian didn't want to disturb her. He silently returned to his room and began his Psychic Training skill.
Zephyr's appearance not only served as a reminder to Ian but also made him realize that with his current strength, he was enough to deal with ordinary pirates, but when facing stronger opponents, he was still far behind.
Devil Fruits could certainly enhance a person's power in a short time, but they also had obvious drawbacks: seawater was one, and Seastone was another. Ian was well aware of these disadvantages, so he had made up his mind not to eat a Devil Fruit. With the system in his mind, he could also become stronger, so why artificially create weaknesses for himself?
With the unlocking of new card slots, allowing him to equip more cards, Ian's most direct feeling was that his Psychic Training skill had accelerated. Because of the increase in Psychic Power value, he could gain much more proficiency each day.
Now, his Psychic Training skill was finally about to reach the advanced level.
The Psychic Training skill was somewhat different from the Swordsmanship skill. Its proficiency grew slowly, but the effects were very significant. Ian was now looking forward to what changes the advanced Psychic Training skill would bring him.
After once again converting his full Psychic Power value into Ice Tear Stones using the Shelley card for storage, the proficiency of the Psychic Training skill finally broke through.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Ian felt that at the moment the Psychic Training skill broke through, his understanding of Psychic abilities seemed to undergo some change.
[Advanced Psychic Training: Increases Psychic Power recovery per hour. Current recovery value: 10. Increases total Psychic Energy by 40%. Unlocks Psychic Diffusion ability. Proficiency (6/80000)]
Compared to the previous intermediate Psychic Training skill, the advanced version not only doubled the recovery value but also significantly increased the total Psychic Energy. What Ian cared about most was the Psychic Diffusion ability at the end.
He had speculated before about the various ways to use Psychic abilities, and now it had finally appeared!
However, what appeared first wasn't the Psychic Materialization he had anticipated, but Psychic Diffusion, which surprised him quite a bit.
Standing up, Ian closed his eyes and began to try using the Psychic Diffusion effect.
He could feel that as his mind moved, a strange force began to spread outward from his body as the center. This force seemed somewhat different from the Psychic power he usually wrapped around his weapons. When wrapping, the Psychic power was condensed, but now the Psychic power he used was loose. It was like a sponge—when squeezed tightly, it felt like wrapping, and now, when released and allowed to expand, it felt like diffusion.
As this diffused Psychic power spread out, all the objects it touched were reflected back. Even with his eyes closed, Ian could feel that he could "hear" clearly what was around him!
It felt like a bat's ultrasonic waves... This sensation was truly wonderful.
Ian closed his eyes and walked around in this small room without bumping into anything.
As his Psychic power spread further outward, the scene outside the room was also reflected back.
The air seemed to be flowing, and someone was passing by outside... Hmm, a wooden splinter on the floor had lifted up; the passerby might trip over it...
He really did trip... His left shoulder would hit the ground first...
Just as Ian was using his Psychic power to sense the situation in the corridor outside, a sound of falling came, and a passing Marine soldier grimaced while rubbing his left shoulder, then muttered softly and left...
This feeling really resembled Observation Haki! Ian felt extremely excited. He discovered that he could use this perception to make predictions about what was about to happen.