Chapter 539: Vice Admiral Momousagi's Hand Kiss
If Ian were here, he would probably be very surprised, because the speed at which the Marine reinforcements appeared was beyond his expectations!
From the time Ian and his crew invaded Impel Down to now, only an hour or two had passed. Yet the reinforcements had arrived from receiving the distress signal to showing up in roughly the same amount of time. This was completely impossible!
The World Government's dedicated route, known as the Triangle Current, connects Enies Lobby, Impel Down, and Marine Headquarters. The principle of this triangular current is that there is a massive whirlpool at its center, driving the water flow. Since it's a whirlpool, the direction of flow is fixed, moving in only one direction.
Therefore, setting out from Marine Headquarters to reach Impel Down is not a direct journey. One must ride the current to Enies Lobby first, then follow the water flow of the Judicial Island route to reach Impel Down. Conversely, leaving Impel Down via the dedicated current only has one destination: Marine Headquarters!
Since they had to go to Enies Lobby first, the Marine reinforcements would definitely take a relatively long time to appear. This was why Ian, after having Enel destroy the prison's escort ships, could confidently carry out his plan. He knew that even if the Marines dispatched reinforcements immediately, by the time they reached Impel Down, it would already be too late.
However, things in the world are often unexpectedly surprising. Fleet Admiral Sengoku had a reason for requesting Vice Admiral Momousagi from Vice Admiral Tsuru and sending her on this mission.
The Marine ships led by Vice Admiral Momousagi could, against all logic, travel directly from Marine Headquarters to Impel Down!
In Enel's observation, the several Marine warships of the reinforcements, shortly after appearing, rapidly grew larger in his field of vision. This meant they were approaching Impel Down at an astonishing speed!
"What's going on!?" Enel was also stunned. He had come with Ian on a warship before, so he knew the speed of such vessels. But seeing the speed of the enemy ships now, he even suspected his eyes were playing tricks on him.
The arriving Marine warships totaled five. On the lead ship, a tall, beautiful woman was holding a telescope, looking towards Impel Down.
This woman had fair skin. Her long, dark hair was tied into a large braid, hanging over her right shoulder. She wore a pink top with lace patterns at the collar, and a sharp short skirt, revealing her evenly proportioned, long legs in high heels. On her left thigh, there was a black spider tattoo.
She wore a white Marine coat over her shoulders, its empty sleeves flapping in the sea breeze. At her waist hung a long sword, her weapon: the famous blade "Konpira"!
Vice Admiral Momousagi held the telescope in one hand, while the other hand grasped a rope. This rope hung over the ship's side into the seawater, taut and shaking with the waves. A faint pink glow spread from Momousagi's hand, covering the rope and extending its effect into the sea...
"There's a warship over there. That long-eared guy on it is one of our targets, right?" Vice Admiral Momousagi lowered the telescope and asked a Marine Rear Admiral beside her.
Only when she put down the telescope could one see her true appearance. Vice Admiral Momousagi's beauty wasn't stunning, but she possessed a sexy, mature, noblewoman's aura. Every gesture and movement exuded an air of high-class elegance.
That Marine Rear Admiral, facing Momousagi, was intimidated by her aura and felt very restrained. He always felt like a country bumpkin in front of Vice Admiral Momousagi, so he stammered in reply: "Y-yes. That person should be one of the Seven Warlord Ian's subordinates, the boatswain of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, Enel. Marine Intelligence still doesn't know his origins..."
"It doesn't matter! We'll just capture him!"
Vice Admiral Momousagi gently brushed aside a strand of hair hanging over her forehead, dropped the rope she was holding, and a strange thing happened. The speed of the five warships instantly decreased.
But by now, the Marine warships were already close to Impel Down. Momousagi pointed a finger and ordered, "Open fire! Destroy that ship!"
Her orders were quickly executed. The cannons at the bows of the five warships erupted with flashes of light, and over a dozen cannonballs flew towards the ship Enel was guarding.
Hearing the cannon fire, the prison guard force at Impel Down erupted in cheers, shouting, "Reinforcements! The reinforcements are here! The support from Marine Headquarters has finally arrived!"
"Continue firing! Don't stop until that ship is sunk!" Vice Admiral Momousagi commanded.
And so, Enel was in trouble. The five Marine warships didn't close in but kept firing. Enel alone couldn't defend against so many attacks. Soon, his ship was hit by cannonballs.
Boom! A cannonball landed on the deck at the stern, blasting a large hole. Amidst the soaring flames and black smoke, countless fragments flew everywhere.
Not just the stern, but the sides were hit too. The entire ship was engulfed in smoke and fire.
Enel looked somewhat disheveled under this attack, but he quickly began to counterattack against the enemy ships.
"God's Judgment!" Enel's right arm disappeared, and a ball of lightning instantly appeared above the ship where Vice Admiral Momousagi was. Then Enel swung his arm down, and the lightning bolt shot towards the warship.
Based on Enel's experience, even if such a lightning bolt couldn't sink the enemy ship, it would at least blow a large hole in their deck. However, to his complete surprise, after the lightning bolt struck, there was a flash, and nothing happened!
There were no screams from the Marines as he expected, no explosion from the deck being destroyed. Nothing!
"Strange!?" Enel didn't believe it. He gathered another ball of lightning and hurled it at the warship.
This time, Enel finally saw clearly. As the lightning bolt descended, a woman on the deck gently raised her right hand and caught it with the back of her hand!
She really caught it! The ball of lightning condensed into a blue-white orb, resting on the back of the woman's hand. It flickered, grew smaller and smaller, and finally fizzled out...
"What kind of ability is that!?" Enel's eyes nearly popped out. This was the third time he had seen someone casually catch his thunder. The first was Ian, the second was that red-haired guy Ian called Shanks, and now the third person had appeared: the black-haired woman on the opposite ship!
Enel knew that she was likely a Devil Fruit user too, but he didn't know what ability she had used to make his lightning disappear.
"Hehe!" After catching Enel's lightning, Vice Admiral Momousagi covered her mouth and chuckled. "A Logia Devil Fruit user. Now I understand why Fleet Admiral Sengoku is so wary of the Dragon Hunter Pirates!"
"Yes!" The Rear Admiral beside her nodded. "Now the Dragon Hunter Pirates not only have Fujitora Issho, the Gravity-Gravity Fruit user, but also Enel, the Thunder-Thunder Fruit user, plus Ian's Pay-to-Win Fruit. Many within Marine Headquarters privately call these three the 'Big Three'! For the Marines, the Dragon Hunter Pirates' strength has grown too rapidly. If they manage to take the prisoners from Impel Down, they will definitely become a major threat to the Marines!"
"Speaking of which, I haven't met that young man named Ian yet!" Momousagi said amidst the booming cannon fire, smiling. "I must get a good look at him this time..."
Just as Vice Admiral Momousagi finished speaking, a frivolous voice sounded beside her. "Actually, I'd like to say that if you could defeat Ian, I might be very happy... But it seems you won't have that chance now!"
Turning around, Momousagi saw Enel sitting on the ship's railing.
His ship was almost blown to pieces, so Enel naturally couldn't stay on board waiting to fall into the sea. He had teleported onto Vice Admiral Momousagi's ship...