Chapter 737: The Great Swordsman of Wano Country
“…Should we wait until you finish this round before coming in!?”
Ian and Marco stared speechlessly at the trio on the other side of the spiderweb, finally managing to utter that sentence after a long pause.
“Don’t!” Ace quickly tossed his cards onto the small table in front of him and said, “We’re done, we’re done!”
Fujitora, however, lamented regretfully, “What a pity. I finally felt like I had a chance to win this one…”
At this point, Fujitora’s face was already covered in paper strips, more than Ace and Izo’s combined. Ian couldn’t help but silently mock him—how could someone who’s blind play cards? If it were mahjong, at least you could feel the tiles, but how do you feel poker cards in a game of Dou Dizhu? No wonder he was losing so badly!
As for why they were sticking paper strips on their faces instead of playing for money, Ian guessed they probably didn’t have a single Berry among them…
Sometimes, Ian really found Fujitora oddly endearing…
Izo also chuckled and waved a greeting to Ian and Marco. The three of them quickly tore off the paper strips stuck to their faces, finally looking somewhat normal again.
Standing up, Fujitora walked over to the spiderweb and, speaking through it to Ian, said, “I figured you’d be arriving around now…”
“What’s going on?” Ian asked, puzzled. “With a prison like this, why didn’t you just escape on your own?”
Originally, Ian had imagined that the three of them might be locked in a water cell or something, unable to escape because water neutralized Devil Fruit powers. But he never expected to find that the prison wasn’t anything like he’d thought. The environment wasn’t harsh at all; in fact, it seemed quite comfortable. The fact that they could play cards was proof enough.
“Sigh, it’s a long story,” Fujitora sighed. “It’s not that we don’t want to escape—it’s that we can’t.”
“Is it because of this spiderweb?” Ian noticed that neither the other prisoners nor Fujitora’s group got too close to the web. Sensing something unusual, he didn’t recklessly touch it with his hand. Instead, he drew his blade and poked at it with the tip.
But then, something strange happened. The spiderweb, which he’d expected to break easily with a light poke, turned out to be incredibly tough. As Ian’s blade pressed into it, the web deformed and sank inward, but it didn’t tear. Even more, Ian felt the resistance on his blade tip rapidly increase as the web stretched.
“It’s useless,” Ace told Ian. “That web is said to withstand tens of tons of pulling force. The more force you apply, the stronger the rebound…”
Ian noticed this too, so he stopped pushing forward and tried to pull his blade back, intending to see if he could just slash it open. But then he found that his blade was stuck!
The tip had been caught by the spiderweb!
Just that tiny contact area was enough for the web to grip the blade. It was almost unbelievable. When Ian yanked hard to pull the blade out, the entire web stretched outward with the tip, but it still wouldn’t break!
“What the hell!” Ian couldn’t free the blade even with both hands, exclaiming in shock, “What kind of spiderweb is this!? Is it from Spider-Man!?”
Ace and the others didn’t know who Spider-Man was, but Izo explained to Ian, “This is the web of an adult ground spider. Unlike young ground spiders, the webs of adults are unbelievably tough. In Wano, this rare creature is considered a type of yokai…”
Boom! A black flame erupted from Ian’s sword. He decided not to keep foolishly pulling at it and instead tried to burn it away.
However, the hellfire that had never failed him before finally met its match. Under the intense heat of the black flames, the spiderweb didn’t burn up as expected. Instead, it became even more translucent and crystalline!
This time, even Marco and the others widened their eyes in disbelief.
How was this possible!?
“Don’t bother,” Ace shook his head. “I tried burning it with my own flames, but it had no effect. This web seems to withstand extremely high temperatures—I don’t know the principle behind it. To dissolve it, you need a high-concentration saltwater solution. That’s what Izo said…”
Where am I supposed to find high-concentration saltwater right now? Ian frowned, studying the web, wondering if he should try cutting it with his Black Wing Great Demon form enhanced with Haki.
Just then, a loud shout came from beside them—Bonney let out a “Heya!” Ian and Marco turned to see Bonney, now back to her original size, standing in the empty cell next to them. She kicked hard at the wall facing Ace’s group!
Her kick was quite powerful, and several cracks appeared in the bluestone wall. Ian’s eyes lit up—right! If they couldn’t get through the spiderweb head-on, they could try from the side!
Before he could act, Fujitora shook his head and said, “Don’t waste your strength. There’s spiderweb inside the walls too, and the same goes for the ceiling and floor. The stones of these cells are essentially stuck to the web!”
“So we really have to find salt and water?” Marco scratched his head.
“And medicine too!” Izo quickly added. “Besides the spiderweb, the three of us have parasites inside us now!”
“Parasites!? What’s going on!?” Ian was stunned. Why did Wano keep throwing such bizarre things at them?
“In Wano, there are quite a few Devil Fruit users,” Izo explained. “Although these users are called sorcerers, Wano also has ways to counter them. In the coastal waters near Wano, there’s a special type of Sea King that hosts a rare small creature called a sponge worm. If these sponge worms burrow into a person’s body, they emit a strange energy that interferes with the wavelength of Devil Fruits, creating an effect similar to Seastone… It doesn’t make Devil Fruit users weak like Seastone does, but it prevents them from using their abilities. Ace and Fujitora are both Devil Fruit users, and they’ve been injected with these sponge worms to stop them from escaping with their powers… These worms can only be expelled from the body with a specific medicine…”
“I…” Ian didn’t know what to say. Something like a tapeworm could be used to counter ability users!?
Wano seemed like a feudal society, with hardly any advanced technology from the outside world, but the way they utilized these strange rare creatures could achieve effects that even modern science couldn’t match…
“Alright, Marco, Bonney, wait here. I’ll go outside and find some saltwater,” Ian said.
Ace, however, looked at Bonney with curiosity and asked, “I’ve been meaning to ask—who is this woman?”
“She’s your sister! Your cousin!” Ian replied casually, then, ignoring Ace’s stunned expression, turned to leave through the original entrance.
But just then, a voice suddenly rang out, “No need to look. The saltwater you seek, I have brought!”
Everyone turned to look. On the corridor of the prison, a figure had appeared out of nowhere. It was a tall man wearing wooden clogs and a black samurai outfit. He didn’t have a samurai topknot, but his long hair was tied up and hung down behind his head. A black eyepatch covered his left eye, and a horizontal scar ran across the bridge of his nose, giving him a resolute expression.
In his left hand, he held two sheathed swords—one of which looked somewhat familiar—and in his right hand, he carried a gourd. He casually tossed the gourd to Ian, and after watching Ian instinctively catch it, he spoke, “Inside is saltwater. Sprinkle it on the spiderweb.”
Ian and Marco warily eyed this sudden samurai. They could sense an inexplicable aura about him. Though his expression was calm, beneath that calm lay immense strength.
“Who are you?” Ian asked him.
But the samurai didn’t answer Ian. Instead, he looked at Fujitora in the cell and said, “My friend Issho, long time no see?”
Fujitora sighed and replied, “I should have guessed it was you. For prisoners to have playthings, there must be a high-ranking figure looking after them…”
“Fujitora, you know him?” Ian asked Fujitora.
“Yes,” Fujitora nodded. “He is the strongest samurai by the shogun’s side, the greatest swordsman of Wano—Lord Mogami…”
Huh!? Hearing that name, Ian suddenly remembered what the samurai from the Shirakaba family had told him. This man before him was the great swordsman most revered by the samurai of Wano!?