# Chapter 361: No Fault in Defeat
For the time being, Ian stopped chatting with everyone and focused on treating the other injured members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates.
Doctor Erlang finally had a chance to rest. As the ship's doctor, he was originally capable of detoxifying everyone, but the problem was that developing an antidote required time. Moreover, the toxins everyone had been poisoned with this time were a mixed type, and normal detoxification methods were ineffective. The fact that he had managed to keep everyone alive until Ian returned was already quite remarkable.
As Ian continued his treatment, one by one the members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates woke up. They were very happy to see Ian.
The giant Sardine also sat up on his enormous hospital bed, looking quite frustrated.
They hadn't been defeated in a fair fight but had fallen to poison. As a member of the warrior race, he felt this was an insult.
After everyone had been revived, Ian gathered them together and said, "Alright, tell me in detail what happened back then."
Fujitora nodded and said, "The attack came very suddenly. The enemy approached our sea area in multiple large snail-like ships. As soon as they got close, they bombarded our base with fierce cannon fire. Then those snail ships actually crawled directly onto the shore, and from the ships jumped down many identical-looking soldiers. Although these soldiers were ordinary humans, they were very formidable. Their bodies were strong, their weapons were advanced, and the guns and cannons they carried were not ordinary goods."
"Leading these soldiers were four people. Their clothing was very similar. According to Walnut, they looked strange, wearing things like earphones on their ears, and their shoes were also quite odd." Fujitora described.
Crocodile interjected, "That's the combat uniform of the Germa Group."
"Those soldiers caused a lot of trouble for our people," Fujitora continued. "They were completely fearless. When they attacked, they threw themselves at us without regard for their lives. Even knowing they would be cut down, they would charge forward without hesitation, using their lives as the price to entangle our people and create attack opportunities for their companions. Many of our crew members were injured this way."
"Yeah!" Dorry scratched his head and said, "Even now, thinking about it feels unbelievable. All those people had identical faces. You'd knock one down, and another would pounce on you. It felt like facing the same person over and over, endless and inexhaustible."
"We relied on the defensive measures of our base and fought them for a day. On the second day, Fire Fist Ace approached our island," Fujitora said. "When he discovered we were under attack, he immediately joined the battle."
Ian glanced at Ace and smiled at him. "Thanks, Ace."
"It was the right thing to do," Ace grinned back. "You're my brother. If your pirate crew is in trouble, I definitely have to help."
Fujitora smiled and continued, "However, when the enemy soldiers had suffered heavy casualties, those four—three men and one woman—also made their move. I and Ace were each surrounded and attacked by two of them."
"Their combat strength was quite formidable," Fujitora recalled the scene. "None of these four used weapons; they fought with physical combat techniques. Their strength was immense. Sardine tried to rush up and help me, but after taking a kick from one of them, he was actually sent flying during the exchange of blows!"
Ian looked at Sardine and saw him scratching his head sheepishly, so he knew it was true. This surprised him quite a bit.
Sardine, as a giant, was known for his strength. Back at Mary Geoise, he had led a group of Fish-Man slaves in pulling that ship, allowing everyone to escape. Moreover, after Fujitora joined the crew, they had trained under his gravity suppression.
Sardine's punching strength now was conservatively measured in tons. Yet such a punch could actually be countered and sent flying by the enemy!?
"Their feet all had strange shoes that seemed to be able to eject air currents," Ace spoke up beside him. "I suspect the reason their kicking power was so strong was related to those shoes."
Ian nodded, not too surprised. The Germa Group was a science unit, and if he remembered correctly, Reiju, Ichiji, and the other four were also Lineage Factor-modified humans. Their physical bodies were naturally extraordinary.
"When I and Ace were both pinned down, the crew members gradually started getting injured," Fujitora said. "But fortunately, they were also tough, so no one was in mortal danger."
Hearing this, Ian asked Fujitora, "Couldn't your Gravity Fruit ability do anything to them?"
"Unfortunately, it had very little effect," Fujitora shook his head. "I originally wanted to use my ability to suppress them, but those strange shoes on their feet could produce counter-thrust to offset my gravity. Every time, they managed to escape. And since this was our territory, I couldn't use overly extreme methods—that would have destroyed our island."
"I and Ace fought against the four of them, and neither side could gain the upper hand. But their soldiers outnumbered our crew several times over," Fujitora sighed. "I thought we would remain deadlocked like that, but then a sweet fragrance spread through the air..."
"That woman named Reiju used poison?" Ian pressed.
"Yes. At the time, there was a light breeze on the island, and those toxins spread quickly," Fujitora said. "Our people began falling rapidly. Even I started feeling dizzy."
Ian sighed. He knew this wasn't Fujitora's fault. Although Fujitora was also called a monster, he was still human after all. Faced with this kind of toxin, he would certainly be affected.
Ace spoke up beside him, "I was also poisoned at the time. I originally wanted to use flames to burn away those poisonous powders, but the toxins spread very quickly. If I used fire, I would have had to burn a large area. Your crew members were all lying nearby, so I couldn't act."
"Can't an elementalized body resist the erosion of toxins?" Ian asked him.
"It can. But by the time I realized there was poison in the air, I had already inhaled quite a bit," Ace said. "Even if I elementalized at that point, the toxins had already invaded my body. So soon, I also started feeling dizzy. I had no choice but to use larger flames to force back the four of them. Then Fujitora used his fruit ability to make everyone float up and temporarily disengage from the battle."
"I didn't dare let everyone descend again, so I simply brought them up to Skypiea," Fujitora said. "Fortunately, Captain, you had secured Skypiea before you left. Otherwise, we might not have had a place to take refuge."
"After we left, they destroyed our base," Konenai, who had also woken up, spoke up. "They even destroyed our ships. They probably didn't know we still had Skypiea as a backup base, so they tried to cut off all our escape routes. They stayed on the island for three more days, and only left after realizing we weren't coming down."
"That was about twenty-something days ago," Zeke added beside him.
Ian finally understood the whole story and felt a lingering fear. Fortunately, he had kept Skypiea as a hidden card. Otherwise, this time would have been a huge disaster. By the time he returned, perhaps only Fujitora and Ace would have been left, and all the other crew members might have died...
Vinsmoke Reiju, this woman known as the Poison Pink, made Ian think of Magellan, the warden of Impel Down. The difference was that Magellan had the Venom-Venom Fruit. His poison was liquid—more violent, but possible to dodge and defend against. Reiju's poison was different. Those poisonous powders spreading through the air would invade through breathing. In terms of transmission, it was almost impossible to guard against.
"They withdrew over twenty days ago?" Ian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So where are they now? Still in the New World? Or have they already returned to the North Blue?"