Chapter 203: A Hot Commodity
The weather at sea was calm and sunny, with the sea breeze carrying the sharp cries of seabirds.
Such fine weather was perfect for fishing or sunbathing, yet the entire crew of the Dragon Hunter Pirates were all leaning over the ship’s railing.
“Blegh!!”
“Ugh!!”
Whenever these sounds rang out, one could see a certain crew member of the Dragon Hunter Pirates opening their mouth and spewing a stream of clear vomit into the sea.
The entire ship’s crew was like this, including Ian and Fujitora, all of them leaning over the railing, polluting the ocean.
There was no helping it—they had spent a full two hours finally escaping from the Snake Storm!
In that kind of turbulent storm with crashing waves, sailing a ship on the sea was practically suicide. Any single wave could have sunk Ian’s vessel.
Fortunately, Fujitora made the entire ship weightless, allowing it to float, and under Margaret’s command, Saldin and the other strong crew members desperately manipulated the sails, using the wind to make the ship fly, weaving through the gaps between the massive waves.
However, in such extreme weather, the wind at sea was nothing but chaotic currents. One moment it might blow from the left, and the next, it could shift to the right.
Ian had never experienced such a violently rocking ship. Even when he first climbed Reverse Mountain, it hadn’t been this perilous. Fighting against such powerful winds and waves for two hours was nothing short of a miracle.
When they finally broke free from the storm zone and the ship crashed back onto the sea surface, the entire crew inevitably suffered from seasickness!
Ian lay slumped over the railing, feeling like even his bile was about to come up, and Fujitora wasn’t much better off.
The climate in the New World was even more volatile than the first half of the Grand Line. Ian looked up at the sun and clouds in the sky—such beautiful weather felt jarringly abrupt. It was hard to believe the Snake Storm had just occurred; the danger seemed like a nightmare, almost unbelievable.
After everyone had vomited until there was nothing left, they collapsed onto the deck, lying in a tangled mess.
Dorry crawled over to Ian’s feet, clutching his thigh and wailing, “Captain, that was terrifying! I thought we weren’t going to make it!”
“There, there,” Ian said weakly, patting his furry head. “Go find Matthew and have him touch you. You’ll sleep it off.”
“Mm!” The big black bear Dorry grunted obediently and crawled off to find Matthew.
Reminded by Ian, the others suddenly remembered Matthew’s hypnotic ability. Exhausted and limp, they desperately needed rest, so they all crawled over to Matthew.
“Uncle Issho, how are you?” Ian turned and asked Fujitora.
“I… I think I’ll go find Matthew too!” Fujitora had barely finished speaking when he felt another wave of nausea and quickly covered his mouth.
Watching this, Ian couldn’t help but shiver. The power of nature was truly the most formidable—even someone as strong as Fujitora was being tossed around like this.
The warm sunlight shone directly down onto the deck. The members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, already drowsy, quickly fell into a deep sleep with Matthew’s help. Even Margaret and the other girls lay sprawled across the deck without any regard for appearances.
After helping everyone fall asleep, Matthew didn’t know what to do with himself. Devil Fruit users are immune to their own abilities, so he couldn’t touch himself to fall asleep. In the end, he found Ian, who knocked him out with a strike to the back of his neck, and he collapsed onto the deck.
Ian didn’t know much about navigation, and during the fight with the Snake Storm, he hadn’t been able to help much. Seeing everyone asleep, he thought he’d take the watch.
But good intentions aside, he couldn’t resist the drowsiness himself and soon fell asleep.
The Dragon Hunter Pirates’ ship drifted quietly on the sea, moving slowly with the current. The entire vessel was silent.
In the sky, a news bird carrying a bag and wearing a hat flew over the sea. Spotting Ian’s ship below, it landed on the railing and cooed a couple of times, as if asking if anyone on board wanted to buy a newspaper.
But since the entire crew was asleep, no one responded. After waiting a while with no reply, the news bird scratched its head with its wing in confusion and flew away.
This small incident meant Ian and his crew missed that day’s news, so they naturally didn’t learn that their and Fujitora’s wanted posters had been updated…
Ian didn’t know how long he’d slept when he was suddenly jolted awake by a booming sound.
He sat up abruptly, rubbing his sleepy eyes and looking around, trying to figure out where the noise came from.
Just then, a massive column of water shot up from the sea beside the ship!
With a splash, the high-rising spray was blown by the wind and scattered across their deck. The cold water droplets jolted the crew awake as well.
Groggy from waking up, Ian’s mind was foggy for a moment before he realized: wasn’t that water column caused by a cannonball hitting the water?
Someone was firing at their ship!?
Ian snapped to attention, his drowsiness gone. He stood up quickly, grabbed a telescope, and scanned the surrounding sea. He spotted several pirate ships at the five o’clock position behind them. The cannonballs seemed to be coming from those ships.
The first shot was just the beginning. Through the telescope, Ian saw smoke rising from the cannons on those pirate ships, followed by the roar of artillery. One water column after another erupted around their vessel.
It was clearly an attack. Without waiting for Ian’s orders, the Dragon Hunter Pirates immediately sprang into action. They unfurled the sails and began steering the ship to evade the incoming shells.
“Hard to port 180!” Ian shouted. “Damn it, they attacked us while we were sleeping! Turn around and crush them!”
“Whoo!” The crew, refreshed after their rest, grabbed their weapons and glared at the approaching ships, eager to fight and vent the frustration of their earlier seasickness.
Ian called Margaret over and asked, “How’s our course? Have we drifted off?”
Margaret checked the Log Pose and replied, “A bit, but not too badly. We can correct it later.”
Ian sighed in relief. “Good. You non-combatants get into the cabin!”
Margaret nodded and led the girls inside. Ian cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck before asking Fujitora, “Uncle Issho, want to stretch your legs?”
“No need,” Fujitora said with a smile. “Those pirates are probably just trying to rob us. You all should be able to handle it.”
Since he said that, Ian didn’t press further.
As the two sides closed in, Ian’s ship began returning fire. These pirate ships belonged to a crew called the Bahamut Pirates, likely an unremarkable group. Though they had many ships, none were large. They tried to engage Ian from a distance with cannons, hoping to sink his ship, but Ian simply slashed out a sword strike, cleaving one of their ships in two!
Then, the Dragon Hunter Pirates’ ship closed in on the remaining vessels for a boarding battle.
Though the Dragon Hunter Pirates only had a few dozen combatants, they were no pushovers. The Bahamut Pirates, an ordinary crew, were quickly routed in the close-quarters fight.
Ian’s crew didn’t want to cause too much harm; they mostly kicked the pirates into the sea. Seeing they were losing, the last remaining pirate ship fled in panic.
Ian didn’t order a pursuit. Instead, he had the crew salvage supplies from the pirate ships.
Defeating an unknown pirate crew wasn’t something to boast about, but it at least gave everyone a chance to stretch their limbs.
However, Ian hadn’t expected that over the next two days, they would encounter four more attacks in succession!
This finally made Ian suspicious.
Normally, pirate crews meeting at sea didn’t always fight. Ian’s crew had been in the New World for a while and had encountered many pirate ships without much conflict. But this time, every one of those four attacks started with the other ships opening fire as soon as they spotted Ian’s vessel.
What the hell was going on?
Ian felt like he’d stirred up a hornet’s nest, but he couldn’t figure out why.
Finally, when a fifth pirate crew attacked them, Ian had had enough. Leading the Dragon Hunter Pirates onto the enemy ship, he decided not to let them escape. He grabbed their captain and demanded an explanation.
The captain knelt before Ian, Ian’s sharp Enma sword pressed against his neck, trembling as he said, “You… you’re the Dragon Hunter Pirates, right?”
“You know our name?” Ian was taken aback. “So you came after us on purpose?”