Chapter 366: Hyper Mobility
When the Dragon Hunter Pirates launched their attack on Germa's fleet under Ian's orders, Jinbe had already led the Fish-Man Pirates' crew members into the water.
To be honest, when it comes to naval combat, the Fish-Men's innate advantage is simply too great. They can move freely at the bottom of the sea, and once they sink a human ship, anyone who falls into the water instantly loses most of their combat effectiveness.
The number of ships on Germa's side far exceeded Ian's. Even though some had been sunk by the Thunder Roar Cannon, the remaining ships still outnumbered Ian's forces by a wide margin. This was naturally the perfect time for the Fish-Man Pirates to shine.
As the Fish-Man Pirates' warriors submerged and moved toward Germa's snail ships, Jinbe surfaced and made the first move against the Vinsmoke Family members.
Ichiji, struck by Jinbe's Water Shot, felt no pain. In fact, all four of the Vinsmoke siblings belonged to the category of artificial humans. From the moment of their birth, their lineage factors had been modified, granting them powerful bodies completely devoid of the sense of pain.
However, they possessed an extremely intense desire for battle.
When Jinbe's attack hit Ichiji, the latter's fighting spirit surged. In the wars Germa had participated in before, as long as the brothers took the field, they could achieve victory with overwhelming force. Over time, it had become somewhat dull, so he had long wanted to test the caliber of a Warlord of the Sea.
With a wild laugh, Ichiji activated the jet boots on his feet and dove toward Jinbe below at an astonishing speed.
"Leave this to big brother!" Niji, seeing this, wasn't surprised. He waved his hand, calling Yonji and Reiju to continue charging toward Ian's ships.
"..." Reiju followed without a word, but as she passed above Jinbe, she lowered her head and glanced at him.
Looking up, Ian saw the figures in the sky and spoke, "They're coming. Who wants to take one on?"
Ace clenched his fists together in front of his chest, his fighting spirit blazing, and said, "I'll handle one!"
As he spoke, flames erupted from Ace's body, and he suddenly threw a punch toward the sky.
"Fire Fist!"
Boom! A massive ball of flame shot from Ace's hand, aimed directly at Niji in the sky. It seemed he had chosen Niji as his opponent.
Niji suddenly halted in midair, jerking his head back sharply. Ace's Fire Fist grazed just past his forehead, nearly setting his pompadour hairstyle on fire.
"You!" Niji, enraged and embarrassed, immediately lunged toward Ace.
Ace grinned, pressed down on his cowboy hat, and leaped high, landing on the deck of a nearby ship. It was one of the Fish-Man Pirates' vessels. By then, the Fish-Man crew had already jumped into the water, leaving the empty deck as the perfect space for Ace and Niji to fight.
"I'll hold back for now," Sabo said with a slight smile to Ian. "We have enough hands. I'll stay hidden for the time being."
Ian nodded. He understood Sabo's concerns and said nothing, instead turning his gaze to Crocodile.
"Hmph!" Crocodile caught Ian's look and immediately understood that Ian wanted him to act. Reluctantly, he snorted and pointed his pirate hook at Yonji in the sky. "Kid, get down here!"
Yonji flicked his cape without a word and charged down toward Crocodile.
That left only Reiju among the four Vinsmoke children. After a moment's thought, Ian said to Boa Hancock, "How about I handle her? She seems to use poison. If you face her, it might be troublesome."
"Then, I'll lead the Kuja Pirates to attack their ships!" Boa Hancock replied.
"Good!" Ian nodded. Boa Hancock immediately leaped onto the Kuja Pirates' ship. With the two giant sea snakes pulling it, the Kuja Pirates' vessel sped toward Germa's snail ships at incredible speed.
It had to be said that this was a reasonable allocation. As soon as the Kuja Pirates' ship approached the snail ships, the massive, seemingly dull metal snails began to panic!
The two sea snakes pulling the ship were fierce Sea King creatures. Their presence naturally frightened the snails, causing them to retract their large eyeballs and hide inside their shells.
This instantly robbed Germa's ships of their mobility. Though the Germa soldiers quickly reacted and tried to jump over to attack the Kuja Pirates' ship, they were met with a hail of arrows imbued with Haki...
As the two sides clashed, Reiju landed lightly on the deck of Ian's ship.
Her pink hair covered her right eye, and her expression was serious as she asked Ian, "Your appearance here isn't a coincidence. Was the storm earlier your doing?"
"That's right!" Ian nodded, slowly lowering his stance and placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. He said coldly, "Since Germa dared to attack my base while I was away from the island, you should be prepared for revenge."
Reiju closed her eyes and let out a soft breath. Surprisingly, she didn't argue. In truth, she had long anticipated that this day would come.
Reiju's designation was 0. She was Judge's first child and the first modified experiment. To put it in perspective, she was the prototype. As the first test subject, Reiju not only gained a superhuman body like her brothers but also retained her emotions. In Judge's eyes, such a creation was actually a failure.
What Judge wanted were true warriors like Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji—devoid of emotion, fear, or dread. In his words, even if they were monsters, as long as they could win wars, that was enough.
Reiju, however, didn't meet Judge's standards. But precisely because of this, she was more capable of critical thinking.
She had always observed Germa's current state. Although this family of assassins and war merchants was admired and feared in the underworld, earning them the title of the Evil Army, Reiju knew that behind such a fearsome reputation lay a huge hidden danger. Sooner or later, Germa's warlike nature would bring about their downfall.
And now, after provoking Ian, a Warlord of the Sea, that omen seemed to be manifesting...
"If Germa is to fall today, then let me fall with it," Reiju thought to herself as her body moved.
She bent down and charged at Ian, her fists clenched as if to punch him.
"It's a feint!" Ian judged the moment he saw her movement.
With increasing combat experience and the number of opponents he had faced, Ian's battle instincts were gradually sharpening.
Sure enough, as Reiju reached Ian, her body performed an incredible maneuver. While charging forward, she made a ninety-degree right-angle lateral shift, directly sidestepping to Ian's right.
Ian was startled. Such a move was completely unexpected.
Fortunately, Ian was mentally prepared. Sensing Reiju's movement through his Psychic Field, he immediately turned and drew his sword, slashing down at her.
But what Ian didn't anticipate was that Reiju was using a double feint. After shifting to his right, her body eerily rose straight up again, instantly appearing above his head and stomping down toward his crown!
This was definitely not a movement a human body could make!
Reiju's movement was so unpredictable that even Ian's Psychic Field couldn't sense it.
For Ian, the Psychic Field functioned like Observation Haki, allowing him to predict an opponent's attack movements. But this prediction relied on subtle physical cues from the opponent's body. For example, if someone wanted to move right, they would naturally shift their shoulder slightly in that direction. Even a tiny movement would be amplified and fed back through the Psychic Field, enabling Ian to predict it.
But Reiju's movements had no warning signs at all!
Ian quickly realized that this must be the ability of her jet boots!
With the prediction failing, he had to rely on reaction speed. Fortunately, Ian's reaction speed was now fast enough. He immediately halted his sword strike and changed his technique.
"Flash Slash: Crescent Moon!"
He reversed his grip and swung his sword upward. The Thousand Cherry Blossoms in his hand traced a white crescent arc, meeting Reiju's descending leg.
But the next second, just as Ian's blade was about to collide with Reiju's leg, her other leg kicked in from the side without warning, knocking Ian's sword away!
With a slap, Reiju landed, failing to kick Ian, but Ian also failed to hit her.
Germa's Science Unit was not to be underestimated. What Reiju had demonstrated was the effect of [Mobility] brought about by her jet boots!