Chapter 144: The Power of the Demon Realm Flame
Although the crisis had been resolved, Ian was gasping for air heavily.
Originally, after fusing his Haki and Psychic Power, Ian's current Psychic Power recovery was tied to his physical stamina. As long as he had ample energy, his Psychic Power would recover quickly. However, during his battle with Aokiji, Ian's stamina had plummeted at an alarming rate.
Cold was the most effective way to accelerate physical energy consumption. Each time Ian was frozen by Aokiji, he lost a massive amount of stamina. Now, though he had managed to hold on thanks to the flame's counteracting effect, he didn't know how much longer he could keep this up.
Struggling to stand from the ground, Ian nearly stumbled and fell back down. He noticed a swelling pain in his left hand and both legs.
It was a strange sensation. He knew that due to the rapid alternation between extreme cold and high heat, his skin had likely necrotized and should no longer feel pain. Yet the muscles beneath still had some sensation, radiating a dull ache, as if his skin was being pushed apart from within by the muscles underneath.
While flames could undo the freezing effect, they also dealt immense damage to Ian himself!
Watching Ian wobble to his feet, Aokiji scratched his head and said, "You really are a troublesome guy..."
Hearing such words from a Marine Admiral could be taken as a compliment, but Ian couldn't muster any joy. He knew that if he continued fighting Aokiji like this, he would truly die!
"Give up resisting!" Aokiji said to Ian. "My orders are to capture you alive, but if you keep fighting back, don't blame me for what happens next."
Just as Ian was about to say something, he suddenly heard a huge cheer coming from behind him.
Turning around, he saw that the slaves had broken through the ice layer at the ship's bottom. This meant the ship was no longer fixed in place by the ice.
"Benefactor!" the giant warrior from Elbaf shouted at Ian. "Get on the ship quickly!"
As he shouted, he ran to the bow of the ship. Besides him, several Fish-Man men also joined him. After reaching the bow, they caught ropes thrown down from above.
These ropes were connected to the bases of various masts on the ship, tied securely.
After catching the ropes, the giants and Fish-Men hoisted them onto their shoulders and began pulling with all their might. These beings were representatives of monstrous strength. Under their strenuous efforts, with veins bulging, the ship carrying the many slaves actually began to move!
With even more effort, they managed to drag the ship out of the ice pit!
"Whoa!!!"
Seeing this, all the slaves on the ship erupted in cheers.
Although Aokiji had frozen the entire river surface with his ability, the ice was still slippery. Under the pulling of the giant and Fish-Man slaves, the ship, using its keel as a pivot point, began to slide across the ice!
This principle was similar to ice skates. Once out of the pit, dragging became much easier. Under their efforts, the massive ship slowly accelerated, heading toward the downward channel ahead.
"Hurry! Benefactor, we're about to set off!" the giant warrior continued shouting.
The slaves on the ship also waved their hands, tears streaming down their faces, and shouted in unison to Ian: "Hurry! Benefactor, we're leaving together!"
"Let's go together!"
"Let's go together!"
The shouts quickly became unified. All the slaves were calling out to Ian, their benefactor who had led them out of hell.
Ian smiled bitterly. He wanted to do the same, but the problem was that his legs were barely cooperating!
In the distance, the Marine soldiers saw the slave ship trying to leave and began to gather at the riverbank to continue the pursuit.
However, at that moment, Aokiji suddenly spoke up: "Don't come over!"
The Marine soldiers were stunned, not understanding why Aokiji said that, but they obeyed and stopped.
Aokiji turned to Ian and said, "If you surrender, I can let those slaves go. I believe that as long as we catch the mastermind, they won't pursue the escaped slaves!"
But Aokiji's words were wasted, because Ian wasn't paying attention to him at all.
He was listening to the system's report in his mind.
"Sufficient Evolution Stones available. Proceed with evolving the Shadow Card to a higher star level?"
"Confirm!"
After giving the command, Ian snapped back to reality and asked Aokiji, "What did you say?"
Aokiji was a bit annoyed but repeated his words.
"Admiral Kuzan, you're overthinking it!" Ian suddenly broke into a smile, though it was hidden behind his mask since Aokiji couldn't see it.
"I never thought of myself as a hero!" Ian said. "I'm not the type to sacrifice myself for others!"
"What do you mean?" Aokiji frowned.
"Can't you hear?" Ian turned to look at the slave ship and said, "They're calling me, wanting me to go with them!"
An even stronger chill erupted from Aokiji. The buildings and other objects on the shore were instantly frozen. Such intense cold showed that Aokiji hadn't been going all out during their earlier fight.
"You can't escape!" Aokiji said grimly to Ian.
"Is that so?" Ian laughed.
Just as Aokiji was about to say something, he suddenly noticed a strange phenomenon on Ian's right hand, which was holding the sword. Ian had earlier taken off his outer night clothes to wrap the Devil Fruit box, but he was still wearing a tight black long-sleeved T-shirt underneath. However, in Aokiji's eyes at that moment, the right sleeve of the T-shirt was gradually turning into countless black ashes!
From the wrist to the elbow, then to the arm, the fabric seemed to be instantly incinerated by something extremely hot, withering away without even emitting flames.
"What's happening?" Aokiji was also puzzled.
"It was wise of you not to let those Marine soldiers come closer earlier..." Ian said. "Because I don't know how powerful this next move will be..."
Under Aokiji's gaze, on Ian's pale but sturdy arm, now exposed after the sleeve vanished, a black pattern slowly began to appear.
The black color emerged like spilled ink, starting from the wrist, winding up to the elbow, and then reaching the arm.
As the black pattern appeared, Ian's right hand began to emit astonishing heat!
The heat grew higher and stronger. Even from a distance, Aokiji could feel it. This heat inherently conflicted with his Ice-Ice Fruit ability, making him uncomfortable.
"What is that!?" Aokiji frowned, thinking.
The Shadow Card had successfully evolved to the five-star level, meaning Ian could finally use the Shadow Card's ultimate skill. However, this was Ian's first time using it. He realized that to form the Flame Slayer Black Dragon Wave, he needed to continuously inject Psychic Power to nurture it. This injected Psychic Power was rapidly draining his remaining reserves.
A slight dizziness began to set in. Ian knew this couldn't continue. How much Psychic Power the Black Dragon Wave would drain was uncertain. So, gritting his teeth, he crushed all the Ice Tear Stones he had accumulated!
But the Psychic Power recovery from these stones was like a drop in the bucket, quickly sucked away by the black dragon on his arm.
Seeing his Psychic Power about to run out again, and the black dragon on his wrist still not fully formed, Ian had no choice but to activate the Evil Eye Master's active skill again!
Ten seconds! This skill only lasted ten seconds. Whether he could complete it depended on this final trump card!
The Shadow Card's evolution to five stars brought higher attribute bonuses. Ian's current Psychic Power had already exceeded one thousand points. Once the Evil Eye Master skill was activated, at the cost of consuming life force, it not only rapidly filled Ian's Psychic Power but also doubled it.
The abundant Psychic Power was quickly injected into the black dragon on his wrist. When the Psychic Power was drained again, the Black Dragon Wave finally took shape!
This... this must have injected no less than three thousand points of Psychic Power, right!?
Ian marveled at his right hand. Although the wrist didn't emit flames, the astonishing heat had already distorted the surrounding air!
Ian looked at Aokiji and said, "Sorry, Admiral Kuzan, but I'm going to escape!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ian thrust his right hand, holding the Enma sword, sharply toward Aokiji!
"Roar!!!"
Whether it was an illusion or not, Aokiji heard a dragon's roar in his ears. Then he saw a massive black fire dragon burst forth along Ian's sword blade. The black dragon, winding and twisting, opened its massive mouth and lunged at him with incredible speed!
Even Aokiji felt the threat of death at this moment, because the heat emanating from the black dragon was astonishing. As soon as it appeared, objects within its heat range instantly turned to black ash!
This was the true power of the Demon Realm Flame!
Dodge! Must dodge!
In an instant, only one thought remained in Aokiji's mind. He fully activated the Shave technique to escape the black dragon's impact range!
Aokiji managed to dodge, but what was behind him suffered. The Flame Slayer Black Dragon Wave roared forward, twisting its body like a real dragon, radiating intense heat. Even objects at a distance were affected, instantly burned to nothing, leaving only black carbon-like marks.
Even Ian probably didn't expect the Flame Slayer Black Dragon Wave to be so powerful. The Black Dragon Wave he released ravaged an entire straight line, burning everything in its path—whether it was boxes or stones on the dock, or Marine soldiers and their rifles and mortars—all turned to nothing.
When the Psychic Power could no longer sustain it and the Black Dragon Wave dissipated, all that remained was an empty path. On this path, about a hundred meters wide, everything had vanished.
The ground had turned into magma, bubbling with hot bubbles. A massive boulder had a smoking, circular gap in it. The astonishing heat still radiated through the surrounding air. A withered tree, affected by this heat, burst into flames with a crack.
Ian had already turned and run toward the ship the moment he released the Black Dragon Wave. Meanwhile, Aokiji and the Marine soldiers stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the scene.