Chapter 367: Ian Enters Serious Mode
Reiju landed about two or three meters in front of Ian. He held his sword but didn't take the chance to pursue, instead watching her with a somewhat serious expression.
He realized he had underestimated the scientific power of Germa.
What technological equipment brought was a different kind of close-combat ability. Ian had always thought the Six Powers represented the peak of physical combat, but he never expected Reiju's displayed fighting skills to far surpass them!
When Reiju kicked the edge of Ian's blade from the side earlier, he felt an incredibly strong impact transmitted through the sword—likely the power boost from her jet shoes.
Ian carefully examined the combat suit on Reiju. Besides the shoes and gloves, he noticed a few other noteworthy details.
First was her cape. Actually, looking closely, this cape could also be seen on Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji, but theirs looked normal, while Reiju's was shaped like butterfly wings.
Another common feature was that all four seemed to wear something like earphones. Ian had reason to believe that might also be part of the combat suit.
If these pieces of equipment all had unexpected uses like the jet shoes, then Ian had to be cautious.
To be fair, if it were just about individual combat strength, these four children of the Vinsmoke Family could never match the Seven Warlords. But their powerful technological gear offset that weakness.
"Again!" Ian was starting to get interested, beckoning to Reiju with his finger.
"..." Reiju stared at Ian without a word, then stomped the ground. The bubbles at the bottom of her jet shoes gave her a powerful recoil, instantly bringing her in front of Ian.
Whether it was hereditary or not, Reiju also seemed to favor kick-based combat. When she charged at Ian, she raised her knee sharply, aiming to strike him. As Ian dodged the knee attack, she swung her long leg into a sweeping kick. Ian met it directly with the blade of Thousand Cherry Blossoms, and when the blade collided with her leg, a metallic clang rang out.
Reiju's skin showed no sign of damage at all. Meanwhile, her other leg, acting as the pivot, spun her entire body in the air under the jet shoes' power, kicking toward Ian's neck.
It was as if her whole body was floating in the air—something an ordinary person could never achieve.
Realizing that normal weapons seemed useless against Reiju's steel-like body, Ian coated his blade with Armament Haki, hardening it.
His Armament Haki now had vastly different strength than before, and this time it worked. In the slash, Ian's blade struck Reiju's calf.
But to his surprise, the Haki-hardened blade only managed to cut a crack in her leg guard.
Hit by Ian's sword, Reiju's face showed a pained expression, but she gritted her teeth. The jet shoes on her heels drove her leg upward in an arc, aiming for Ian's chin.
Ian tilted his head back to avoid it, but as Reiju flipped her body, she suddenly threw a punch at close range!
Ian pressed both hands on the blade of Thousand Cherry Blossoms, raising it vertically to block her fist.
But then, he felt an incredibly powerful force explode from her fist. The next second, Ian was pushed backward over ten meters by the impact transmitted through the blade!
"Shockwave!?" Ian was astonished, instantly realizing what had just happened.
Was it from those gloves on her wrists!? This was full of surprises!
Still, relying solely on this power wasn't enough to threaten Ian. Whether it was the jet shoes' kicks or the shockwave gloves' blasts, they were only moderately strong compared to Ian's now-surging power attributes—not enough to pose a real threat.
Turning his head, Ian glanced at the fight between Ace and Niji on the other side, and saw that Niji was completely outmatched by Ace!
After many days, Ace also brought Ian a pleasant surprise. He noticed that Ace's flames were no longer the usual orange-red but had a blazing white mixed in!
Ian knew exactly what that meant—Ace's flame temperature had finally increased through training!
Ace had taken Ian's advice from when he left the Whitebeard Pirates to heart, and Ian felt deeply gratified.
In other words, the current Ace was stronger than the Ace of the original timeline. This forced Niji to endure higher temperatures during their fight.
Perhaps the bodies of the Vinsmoke Family were all steel-like, impervious to ordinary blades and bullets, but high temperatures were the bane of such steel bodies. After fighting Ace for a while, Niji's clothes were almost completely burned off.
"Damn it, damn it!" Niji cursed through gritted teeth as he launched fierce attacks at Ace. His pompadour hairstyle was half-burned, the front end now bald and ragged.
In contrast, Ace seemed to have plenty of room to spare. Although Niji could use Haki to hit Ace's real body, Ace was equally agile, using large-scale flame attacks to force Niji to jump away with his jet shoes.
Aside from Ace, Jinbe's situation was similar. His fight with Ichiji, though one was in the water and the other in midair, was heavily in Jinbe's favor. When Ian looked over, he saw Jinbe using his Fish-Man Karate to clash fists with Ichiji's shockwave gloves.
Three-Thousand-Tile Seiken vs. Shockwave—the result was Ichiji being sent flying by Jinbe's punch, rolling several times in the air before stabilizing.
As for Crocodile's fight with Yonji, it wasn't much to see. One reason was that Crocodile wasn't fighting with full effort; another was that the marine combat environment limited his Devil Fruit abilities. Even so, Yonji couldn't defeat him, only managing a stalemate.
Ian then made a judgment: Gaji's children, created through Lineage Factor manipulation, were slightly weaker than the Seven Warlords. Their technological gear might give them some advantages, but if the fight dragged on, they would inevitably lose.
However, saying the Germa Group was weak would be unfair.
For one thing, Ian and his group seemed to dominate Reiju and her siblings, but that was because four Warlord-level fighters were each facing one of them. If Ian hadn't brought Jinbe and the others as help and had to take on all four alone, even he might not have come out on top.
Moreover, looking at Reiju and her siblings, Ian finally understood where Germa's true strength lay.
How many pirates were at the Warlord level? Only seven, plus Kuma, who had stepped down, making eight. While Warlords were powerful, they grew gradually, and their experiences were often impossible to replicate.
And the Germa Group? They had four individuals close to Warlord-level strength all at once!
Yes, the true power of Germa's technology lay in mass production!
Imagine it: what if there were ten such fighters near Warlord-level? A hundred? A thousand!? Even... ten thousand!?
Realizing this, Ian felt a chill run down his spine. No wonder so many in this world wanted to get their hands on Germa's technology—this black tech that could mass-produce strong fighters would tempt anyone!
It was a force that could flatten the entire world!
Seeing that Ace and Jinbe were about to finish their fights, Ian decided it was time to get serious. Although he was interested in Germa's combat suits, now wasn't the time to investigate. He needed to complete his plan quickly.
With that thought, Ian's aura suddenly changed. His eyes locked onto Reiju as he bent down, gripping his sword.
At that moment, Reiju felt like a lamb being targeted by a dangerous wolf.
When Ian's presence firmly locked onto her, he struck. His body turned into a streak of light, charging toward Reiju.
Gritting her teeth, Reiju knew she couldn't escape, so she decided to fight to the death. She met Ian's charge with a kick.
At that instant, faint lightning flickered around her calf.
This was the Electromagnetic Crushing Strike—the hidden trump card of the jet shoes!
But Ian was faster than Reiju imagined. Before her leg was even halfway up, Ian had already brushed past her.
Ian stopped, still holding Thousand Cherry Blossoms in a slashing pose.
The blade of Thousand Cherry Blossoms spun once in Ian's hand, then he gently sheathed it. The guard clicked softly against the scabbard.
With that sound, a bloody gash suddenly burst open on Reiju's chest, blood gushing out. A look of terror on her face, she slowly collapsed to the ground.
The gap in strength was too great. Ian was now at the top tier among the Seven Warlords. Even if Reiju's body was steel-like, when Ian truly wanted to cut, he could still wound her!
"You're quite ruthless, going that hard on a girl," Fujitora said, walking up from behind after observing the battle with his Observation Haki, smiling at Ian.
"Don't worry, I didn't kill her. I cut shallowly!" Ian replied with a smile.
Just then, Ace and Niji's fight also ended.
"Flame Burst!" With Ace's roar, a spiral of fire struck Niji's abdomen, exploding instantly and engulfing him. When the flames dissipated, Niji lay on the ground, charred black, smoke rising from his body.
On the other side, Jinbe had knocked Ichiji into the sea. Before he could fly back up, Jinbe grabbed him and dragged him underwater, then used the water's force to perform a shoulder throw, sending Ichiji flying.
Ichiji's body crashed into the seabed rock layers, dazed and choking on seawater. Under the immense pressure, he couldn't catch his breath and passed out from drowning.
Jinbe had actually drowned Ichiji... Only then did Jinbe slowly drag Ichiji to the surface and toss him onto the ship.
Two brothers and one sister were defeated within minutes. Yonji, still fighting Crocodile, finally realized how strong his opponents were. Seizing an opportunity, he broke away from Crocodile and flew back toward the Germa fleet.
Crocodile didn't pursue. He returned to Ian's ship, looking displeased, and said, "Is that enough?"
"Enough!" Ian patted Crocodile's shoulder and said, "Not bad, Old Sand, your acting skills are impressive!"
Yes, Ian had deliberately instructed Crocodile to let Yonji escape. Yonji seemed to be the weakest of the four, so Ian specifically let him go to report back.
This way, Gaji should show up, right?