Chapter 343: The Underworld's Commission
"This... this is a soul?" Ian looked somewhat surprised at the light orb in his hand, finding it utterly fascinating.
That's right, fascinating! Although Ian could now use some human-like powers, whether it was flames, lightning, or even space itself, none had exceeded his scope of understanding, so he found them quite normal. But this so-called soul—Ian was truly seeing it for the first time!
Perhaps it wasn't just him; most people had probably never seen what a soul looked like either...
While Ian was marveling, Crocodile was filled with terror. When Ian's hand had pierced his body earlier, he had been puzzled as to why he wasn't injured. But the moment Ian withdrew his hand from Crocodile's body, Crocodile felt as though he had lost something vitally important. A powerful sense of emptiness and weakness immediately washed over him.
Instinct told him that the light orb Ian held in his hand was an extremely important thing extracted from his body!
"What... what did you do to me!?" Crocodile clutched his chest, feeling himself up and down, but there was truly no wound on his body.
That single sentence snapped Ian out of his daze. He shifted his gaze from the soul orb to Crocodile.
Ian understood very well why the Great Serpent card consumed so much Psychic Power. It was likely because the Great Serpent's skills involved high-level forces. Whether it was the spatial shattering from the "God's Finger" or the power to extract souls now, both were effects simulated using Psychic Power. The spatial shattering, in particular, wasn't as powerful as Ian had imagined.
This wasn't just due to the Psychic Power simulation; it was probably also because the Great Serpent card itself was in an imperfect state. Consider this: if Ian could truly cause large-scale spatial collapse, he could easily destroy an entire country, not just injure Crocodile and make him spit blood.
Thus, the Great Serpent's ordinary skills weren't too formidable, but what truly mattered about this card was that it granted Ian a special ability—soul destruction!
In Ian's impression, within this pirate world, only two people truly mastered soul power. One was Brook the skeleton, who was probably still wandering in the mist of the Florian Triangle at this point. The other was the Four Emperor, Big Mom!
Now, with the help of the Great Serpent card, Ian had also glimpsed a trace of soul power. Although for now it was limited to extraction and destruction, it was indeed a devastating weapon.
Holding the soul orb in his right hand, Ian smiled slightly at Crocodile and said, "Aren't you curious about what I pulled out of your body?"
Crocodile gritted his teeth, staring at Ian, saying nothing, waiting for his answer.
Ian lightly tossed the orb in his hand, then clenched it tightly and said, "This is one-tenth of your soul power! Or rather, one-tenth of your life force! What do you think would happen if I crushed it?"
Crocodile's eyes widened in fury at this. One-tenth of his soul!?
Damn it! He finally understood why he had felt that sense of losing something important when the orb left his body!
"Im... impossible!" Crocodile roared in disbelief. "How could you possibly master soul power!? As far as I know, the only person in this world who can control souls is the Four Emperor, Big Mom!"
Crocodile, having been in the New World, naturally knew about Big Mom, so he refused to believe that Ian could also wield such power.
In truth, he was half right. Ian indeed couldn't manipulate this soul power—at least, he couldn't absorb it or use it for other purposes. Big Mom's Soul-Soul Fruit could extract the souls of living things and place them into non-living objects, granting them movement and personality. Ian could only destroy them.
"Want to bet on it?" Ian wasn't annoyed. He smiled at Crocodile, but his hand gripped the soul orb tightly, looking as if he would crush it the moment Crocodile dared to say yes.
"..." Crocodile fell silent. How could he dare to bet?
If Ian's claim was true, this was one-tenth of his soul, meaning one-tenth of his lifespan. If Crocodile could live to be eighty, this orb represented eight years of his life. With just one squeeze from Ian, he would lose eight years!
In the distance, Robin was also deeply shocked. Behind Ian, she had used her Flower-Flower Fruit ability to create an ear, eavesdropping on their conversation. She never imagined that the orb in Ian's hand was Crocodile's soul.
What... what kind of ability was this!?
"What exactly do you want?" Crocodile gritted his teeth and asked Ian, his tone filled with intense reluctance.
He realized that he truly couldn't deal with Ian. Ian's endless array of abilities had already overwhelmed him, a Logia user. Now, with one-tenth of his soul in Ian's hand, he was effectively under Ian's control.
However, hearing this question, Ian also felt a bit troubled. Yes, what should he do with Crocodile?
Just kill him? That didn't seem right. Even if he crushed the soul orb, it probably wouldn't kill Crocodile, would it? At most, it would leave him severely injured again. Crocodile wasn't even forty yet; losing one-tenth of his lifespan likely wouldn't kill him.
Besides, what benefit would killing Crocodile bring him? He was already a Warlord of the Sea. He couldn't replace Crocodile's position. Moreover, Warlords could be hostile but not kill each other. If he killed Crocodile, the World Government would probably revoke his Warlord title, right?
In short, killing Crocodile held no meaning for him.
Ian was troubled about how to handle this. He felt that simply threatening Crocodile to take Nico Robin away wasn't worth it. So, after thinking it over, Ian said, "I can refrain from destroying your soul orb, but tell me—what are you offering in exchange?"
This threw the problem back to Crocodile. To get his soul back, he had to offer something of equal value.
Crocodile realized this too. He glanced at Nico Robin's location, hesitating.
What Ian had taken was one-tenth of his soul. If Crocodile were ruthless enough, he could just abandon that one-tenth of his soul, freeing himself from Ian's threat. But Crocodile didn't dare to gamble. If Ian could take one-tenth, who could guarantee he wouldn't take two-tenths or three-tenths?
So, after some thought, Crocodile had to say, "You can take Nico Robin!"
"Not enough!" Ian shook his head.
Crocodile took a deep breath and said, "Then I'll add a piece of information in exchange?"
"What information?" Ian asked, puzzled.
Crocodile laughed. The scar running across his entire face looked quite ferocious. He pulled out a cigar, bit down on it, lit it, and said confidently, "Information you definitely want to know!"
"...Go on," Ian said after staring at him for a moment. "If I find it suitable, we can make the exchange."
"A few days ago—just before you arrived at Alubarna—I received intelligence, information from the underworld!" Crocodile spread his hands. "It was a commission. Someone posted a high-bounty job in the underworld!"
"Continue," Ian nodded.
"The bounty was as high as ten billion Berries!" Crocodile sneered. "And the job was to attack an island, killing everyone on it!"
Ian felt something was off and pressed further, "What do you mean?"
"What do I mean? Don't you understand?" Crocodile laughed wildly. "The name of that island is Travira—the island of you, the Warlord Black Dragon Ian!"