Chapter 372: White and Black Fire
Ian's combined fleet had been steadily trailing behind the Germa fleet, advancing at a leisurely pace.
One advantage of Germa's snail ships was their ability to ignore terrain, allowing them to easily land on islands or even climb steep mountains. Judge had originally intended to use this method to shake off their pursuers, but Ian refused to let him succeed.
Whenever an island appeared along the way and the Germa fleet changed course to land, Ian would act. Using his Flame Wings, he would fly ahead to catch up with the Germa fleet, then wave his hand to summon black thunderclouds from the sky. A torrent of lightning storms followed, with serpentine bolts of electricity continuously striking the sea surface.
Faced with such tactics, Judge naturally wouldn't risk death. If he dared to force his way through the thunderstorm zone, his entire snail fleet would be annihilated.
Thus, despite grinding his teeth in frustration, the Germa fleet was forced to alter its course and sail in the direction Ian desired.
After this happened several times, Judge realized something was wrong. He noticed that Ian seemed to be forcing Germa to follow a specific route. As long as the fleet's heading didn't change, Ian wouldn't appear.
Judge couldn't guess Ian's intentions, but a vague unease settled in his heart. Such bizarre situations usually meant the opponent was preparing a major move. Judge feared that one misstep would lead to Ian finishing him off.
Not just him—even Aokiji, who was staying on Ian's ship, couldn't figure out why Ian was chasing the Germa fleet without attacking them.
However, due to his identity, the crew remained wary of him. No one mentioned Ian's plan in his presence, so Aokiji could only follow along in confusion.
Fujitora and Aokiji got along quite well, so Fujitora taught him how to play mahjong. Jinbe and Crocodile joined as opponents, while Boa Hancock watched from the sidelines.
Aokiji quickly became engrossed in this game Ian had brought to the world. Though he didn't gamble much, he found mahjong interesting and even learned to feel the tile patterns with his fingers, just like Fujitora.
Ian found the scene speechless. He thought that if this were the original manga, this image might end up on a cover page...
Ace had taken over the ship's bow, lying there and snoring loudly. Ian couldn't practice his swordsmanship with the noise, so he woke Ace up and dragged him into a conversation.
Only then did Ian finally ask Ace why he had come to find him on Travira Island back then.
"It's the Old Man's idea," Ace said, looking drowsy as he yawned and scratched his head. "That bastard Teach betrayed the Whitebeard Pirates. I'm his division commander, so I have to bring him back. The Old Man didn't want me to go at first, but then he changed his mind and told me to come find you first and hear your opinion."
"Do you have to catch him?" Ian asked with a frown.
"Of course!" Ace said seriously. "Honestly, Ian, when you tried to assassinate Teach back then, did you already sense his true nature?"
Thanks to Ian's earlier warning, Ace's relationship with Teach wasn't very good. They hadn't become friends, so when Teach defected, Ace didn't feel deceived. He simply felt it was his duty to bring Teach to justice. As a result, Ace remained relatively calm now.
Faced with Ace's question, Ian found it hard to answer. After thinking for a moment, he said, "It's more of an intuition. I investigated Teach. He's been by Whitebeard's side for years, but he never had a bounty. To the Marines, he seemed like a nobody. Yet within the Whitebeard Pirates, rumors spread that he once injured Red-Haired Shanks. Don't you find that strange? He clearly has strength, but he always hid behind the Old Man..."
Hearing Shanks's name, Aokiji, who was playing mahjong, couldn't help but glance back at Ian.
Ian smiled at him and said, "Admiral Kuzan, the Marines must have been shocked when they got that news, right?"
"That's right," Aokiji replied, turning back to pick up a mahjong tile without looking. "After that incident, the Marines heard the name Marshall D. Teach for the first time. But our intelligence on him is completely blank. We still don't know Blackbeard's origins... Did he really injure Red-Haired Shanks?"
"That's true," Ace nodded. Many members of the Whitebeard Pirates had participated in that battle with the Red Hair Pirates.
"Then that man really is as deep as Ian says," Aokiji shook his head and said, slapping down a tile. "Two Bamboo!"
Across from him, Crocodile suddenly pushed over his tiles and, cigar in mouth, said smugly to Aokiji, "Mahjong! Pure Suit!"
Defeating Aokiji at mahjong seemed to give Crocodile a unique sense of satisfaction...
Aokiji stopped participating in the discussion, so Ian said to Ace, "Honestly, I don't recommend you chase after Teach. You might not know this, but Teach is now a Devil Fruit user."
"Is... is it Thatch's Devil Fruit?" Ace asked, suddenly understanding. "Come to think of it, Teach attacked Thatch because of that Devil Fruit... But it's just one Devil Fruit. The Whitebeard Pirates occasionally get them too. Why did Teach target Thatch's specifically?"
"It's probably a very rare Devil Fruit," Ian said vaguely, unable to reveal the truth.
But this statement made Ace and the mahjong players pause.
"Could it be a Logia Devil Fruit!?"
Everyone turned to look at Aokiji, who also wore a serious expression.
Logia Devil Fruits were universally recognized as the strongest type of Devil Fruit. The three Marine Admirals were all Logia users, and even Ace, a new Flame-Flame Fruit user, had rapidly grown to the level of a Warlord. So it made sense that people valued Logia fruits highly. If the fruit Teach stole was a Logia, everything would add up.
However, the situation was more serious than Ace imagined. The fruit Teach stole wasn't just a Logia—it was one of the most unique Logia fruits. Ian knew this but couldn't say it.
"It doesn't matter. Even if Teach is a Logia user now, so what?" Ace put on his cowboy hat and grinned at Ian. "My Flame-Flame Fruit won't lose to him!"
"By the way, Ace, I noticed your flames have changed color. Is your fruit ability evolving?" Ian asked him.
"That's right," Ace nodded. "You told me back then that the Flame-Flame Fruit's development should focus on higher temperatures. I've made some progress recently. The color of my flames is gradually turning white."
With that, Ace extended his hand, and a blazing white flame appeared in his palm. As the flame emerged, scorching heat began to radiate outward.
Ian felt it and realized Ace's flame temperature had indeed increased.
The orange flames of before were typical natural flames, probably around seven to eight hundred degrees. But now that the flames had turned white, the temperature far exceeded that. Though Ian couldn't measure it precisely, he estimated it was well over a thousand degrees.
So the question was: how did Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit compare to Akainu's Magma-Magma Fruit in terms of temperature?
If Ace's flames surpassed Akainu's, could the Flame-Flame Fruit still be considered an inferior version of the Magma-Magma Fruit?
Watching Ace's blazing white flames, Ian couldn't help but extend his own hand. A pitch-black flame emerged from his palm.
As they brought their hands together, Ace's white flame and Ian's black flame shone in contrast. The scene made the mahjong players look over once more.