Chapter 452: The Advancing Shandians
The moment he was thrown out of the ship, Usopp thought he was going to die.
Usopp had always been in awe and fear of Ian. Among the Straw Hat Pirates, he was the only one who had never met Ian before, making it hard for him to feel close to Ian. Plus, when he first saw Ian, Ian was already a Warlord of the Sea, which only made Usopp more hesitant to approach him.
But he never expected that the one who saved him in the next moment would be Ian himself!
If Ian hadn’t grabbed him by his long nose this time, Usopp would have been even more grateful...
Ian hadn’t expected that when he reached out, he’d catch Usopp’s nose. Still, it held firm, so he yanked hard and flung Usopp toward the Going Merry!
Usopp screamed, flailing as he flew toward the Going Merry, and Luffy, quick to react, stretched his rubber arm and caught Usopp midair.
Seeing Usopp back on the ship, Ian immediately flapped his wings and flew toward the Going Merry. Saving Usopp had only taken a moment, but he’d already drifted over a hundred meters away from Luffy’s ship, so Ian didn’t dare delay.
But just then, from Ian’s position, he saw Luffy’s ship lift off the water!
Because the Going Merry had been modified with two wings, combined with the sails, the updraft from the massive upward sea current was blowing the ship, and it was actually flying now.
But Ian knew this was bad. If they left the current, the Going Merry would have nothing to support it, and after flying a short distance, it would fall back down!
So Ian decided not to return to the ship for now. He flew to the Going Merry’s mast, grabbed the top, shouted, and pushed down hard, forcing the ship back onto the surface of the sea current!
“Awesome!” Nami on the ship saw this and couldn’t help shouting excitedly, her beautiful eyes sparkling. “Big Brother Ian is reliable after all!”
Once the ship was back on the water, Nami’s confidence returned. For her, a genius navigator, water and wind meant the ship was sailing, and sailing was what she feared least. So she immediately ordered Zoro and Sanji, the two laborers, to adjust the sails, and they began sailing along the upward sea current using the rising wind.
Ian stayed at the top of the mast, pressing down for a while to ensure the ship wouldn’t fly up again, then landed on the deck.
The moment he hit the deck, Usopp rushed over, hugged Ian’s waist, and burst into tears and snot. “Thanks! Thank you! I thought I was done for!”
Ian looked at his long nose with amusement. Because Ian had grabbed it so hard to save him, there were still red finger marks on it. Ian comforted him, then looked up at the water flow above.
This massive upward sea current seemed to be hitting the bottom of the Skypiea cloud layer directly. If nothing went wrong, before the current disappeared, the ship would still reach safely.
Now the ship had stabilized a lot, and Robin was able to walk over. She asked Ian, “Up there, is it Skypiea?”
“Yeah,” Ian nodded. “But not the one we have.”
“I can tell,” Robin smiled. “This way of reaching an island is much more thrilling.”
Ian agreed. He had to admit, though Luffy was an idiot, an idiot’s adventures were often more exciting.
Zoro, overhearing their conversation, couldn’t help asking, “Hey, hey, Ian, what do you mean? Do you have a Skypiea too?”
“Call me senior brother,” Ian said, habitually giving Zoro a headbutt, then added, “I do have a Skypiea. It’s my pirate crew’s base now.”
Nami heard this, spun around, her eyes turning into Berry symbols, and clung to Ian’s arm, pressing him. “Really, Big Brother Ian!?”
She’d heard from Vivi that Ian had gotten ten billion Berries from the World Government, and now she heard Ian had a Skypiea as a base. In Nami’s mind, Ian was practically glowing gold—rich, with land and property. There was no better man than Ian...
Completely lost in her money-grubbing mode, Nami made both Ian and Zoro break out in cold sweat. Just then, Luffy came over excitedly and asked Ian, “What’s Skypiea like?”
He’d taken such a risk to reach Skypiea this way, chasing the so-called dream island, and now that Ian, who knew about Skypiea, was right in front of him, he couldn’t hold back.
“It’s different,” Ian shook his head. “Skypieas differ from each other. You’ll understand once we get up there.”
Ian’s Skypiea, the Barron Gray Terminal, was an abandoned Skypiea with no inhabitants. But the one they were about to land on was not only larger but also home to many Skypieans. They couldn’t be compared.
“Look!” Sanji, who was at the helm, suddenly shouted.
The ship had reached the edge of the cloud layer, but oddly, the upward sea current hadn’t pierced through the clouds; it was just gathering beneath them.
Seeing this, Ian immediately told everyone to hold their breath.
Sure enough, when the ship was swept into the bottom of the cloud layer, it was submerged in water. Everyone had to make all sorts of funny expressions as they held on tight to the ship.
“Yahoo!” The moment the ship broke through the clouds and saw daylight again, Luffy gasped and then jumped up in excitement.
The Going Merry splashed down from the air, landing on the water and stopping.
Everyone was exhausted from the effort, so after emerging, they were all soaking wet, gasping for breath.
Ian, however, still had plenty of energy. He wiped the water from his face and looked out at the ship’s surroundings.
All around was a white expanse, with layers of clouds gathered together, showing the unique scenery of a sky island nation. The Going Merry drifted slowly on the cloud layer.
Ian spread his Flame Wings, left the Going Merry, and flew into the air. He spotted a cloud waterfall ahead, but just as he was about to turn and tell Zoro and the others to head that way, he saw Usopp taking off his clothes, about to jump off the ship to test if the cloud layer was sea.
“Don’t!” Ian shouted, stopping Usopp’s suicidal move. He knew the water below had a bottom, and if Usopp fell in, he didn’t want to save him a second time.
Luckily, Usopp listened and didn’t move.
Just then, Chopper, holding a telescope, exclaimed in surprise, “Ah, that direction! There’s a ship in that direction too!”
Ian looked where he pointed, and sure enough, a few kilometers away, he could faintly see a ship, though he didn’t know where it had come from.
But no sooner had Ian and the others spotted the ship than it suddenly exploded!
That ship, whether pirate or something else, was blown to pieces in the sudden explosion!
Seeing this, Ian suddenly remembered something and shouted, “Not good!” He immediately turned and flew back.
When Ian landed on the deck with a thud, sure enough, a figure was running across the cloud layer, charging straight toward the Going Merry.
This figure wore a strange mask, held a shield in one hand, and a rocket launcher-like weapon in the other. The ship that had exploded was destroyed by him.
“I’ll take you out!”
When he got close, the masked man shouted, then leaped up onto the Going Merry.
“Damn! You want a fight!?” Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy, seeing this, scowled and moved to meet him.
But as soon as they charged, the masked man took them down one by one with just three moves: a kick knocked Sanji down, the cannon barrel smashed Zoro away, and a punch sent Luffy to the deck.
The masked man, swift as a rabbit and agile as a hawk, took down the three, then dropped off the other side of the ship, landing back on the cloud layer.
“W-wait! What are you three doing!?” Nami exclaimed in shock, unable to believe that the Straw Hat Pirates’ three main fighters couldn’t even withstand one move from the opponent.
Only Zoro and the others knew their own situation. Since arriving at this Skypiea, they felt like they couldn’t use their strength properly, but they didn’t know why yet.
The masked man landed on the cloud layer, slid a distance, then turned back and leaped onto the ship again, repeating his tactic.
But this time, his target was Ian!
Ian stood on the deck, watching this clueless guy try to attack him, and couldn’t help snorting.
He knew the masked man was probably a Shandian, but whoever he was, trying to mess with Ian was a big mistake!
Seeing the opponent lift his leg, wearing strange ice skates, to kick him, Ian sidestepped, then reached out with his left hand and grabbed the man’s ankle!
“Get down here!”
Ian roared, swung the man by his leg, and slammed him onto the deck!
Boom! The Going Merry’s deck was smashed into a big hole, and the Shandian who had attacked them was thrown so hard he nearly spat blood.
Ian grabbed the man’s ankle and lifted him out of the hole, but the guy wasn’t giving up. As he was pulled out, he raised his rocket launcher and fired backward at Ian’s face!
But he was fast; Ian was faster. The moment Ian saw him raise the rocket launcher, his right hand, holding the Thousand Cherry Blossoms blade, clicked as his thumb pushed up the guard.
The moment the Shandian fired, Ian’s blade flashed, and the rocket launcher exploded in the man’s hands as it was triggered!
Because Ian had already sliced the rocket launcher into pieces as he fired...