Chapter 769: There Are Two Guys as Strong as Me!
As the headquarters of the Marines, Marineford was naturally heavily guarded. The patrolling warships and the various coastal defense guns aimed at the sea ensured that the members of the Ian Family could never be a match for the Marines.
Therefore, Ian had arrived at Marineford ahead of his family members' departure by ship, precisely to clear the way so that they could land smoothly upon arrival.
At the very least, he needed to secure a foothold first.
To be honest, Ian didn't want to directly clash head-on with Marine Headquarters either—that would be exhausting, wouldn't it? If possible, Ian wished the Marines and the World Government would be sensible enough to line the streets and see him and his family off as they left.
But when he saw the dense formation of Marine troops at Marineford from afar in the sky, Ian knew there was no avoiding it.
No doubt, this was the idea of Akainu, who stood at the front of the crowd, glaring at Ian with a look of deep resentment. The Five Elders, the rulers of the World Government, were old and shrewd, always calculating pros and cons. Only Akainu, with his endless hatred for Ian, would recklessly deploy such a force and openly challenge him.
As for the fact that the ordinary Marine soldiers would suffer heavy casualties once the battle began... Hah, with Akainu's personality, did you think he cared?
No wonder former Fleet Admiral Sengoku had opposed Akainu becoming his successor. A ruthless leader who disregards the lives of his subordinates would indeed lead the Marines into an abyss.
And now, it seemed that was exactly the case...
Floating in midair, Ian looked down at the Marine forces gathered at Marineford's port. Lifting his head, he saw the fortress of Marine Headquarters not far away—the iconic building of the Marines. Last time, when Ian was detained at Marine Headquarters by Sengoku, he often wandered around that area. Back then, he was barely considered a guest, but now...
As Ian observed the Marine formation from above, Akainu and Kizaru were also muttering to themselves. They couldn't help but be fixated on the small figure flying beside Ian—identical to him, with tiny black flame wings on its back and a golden aura radiating from its body.
"I never heard that Ian kid had a child..." Kizaru muttered. "Who the hell is that little brat?"
"Hmph, who cares who he is!" Akainu snorted coldly. "Bringing a child to the battlefield—he'll regret it!"
With that, Akainu stepped forward, hands in his pockets, his Marine coat draped over his back, a cigar clamped between his teeth. Looking up at Ian, he said, "I didn't expect you to have the guts to take this route, Ian. I've been waiting for you for a long time!"
"Oh, really?" Ian replied with a smile.
Akainu pulled his hands out of his pockets and raised them, showing off his steel fists to Ian. "These hands have been quite inconvenient. Every time I drink tea, if I'm not careful, I crush the cup. Even my beloved cigars have been crushed many times. Whenever that happens, I think of the humiliation you inflicted on me back then. But now, I finally have the chance to repay you properly!"
As the Fleet Admiral, admitting his past failure in front of so many subordinates and Marine soldiers was indeed a humiliating act. Akainu was truly going all out this time.
"Tsk, tsk," Ian clicked his tongue, shaking his head in midair. "So, you're just trying to settle a personal grudge, and you're dragging your own soldiers here as cannon fodder, regardless of their lives? Is that it?"
Hearing Ian's words, the Marine soldiers below stirred uneasily. They knew all too well that against a Yonko like Ian, they, as ordinary soldiers, were useless. The key was the combat power of the Marine Admirals. If Ian had brought his subordinates, it would be a different story—big shots fight big shots, and small fry fight small fry. But now, Ian had come alone, rendering the ordinary soldiers useless...
As Ian said, in this kind of battle, they were no different from cannon fodder.
No one wanted to die. Marine soldiers were human too, so Ian's words shook their morale.
However, Akainu, as the Fleet Admiral, snorted coldly and said, "You're a pirate, and capturing pirates is the Marines' duty. There are no cowards in the Marines. Even if they die on the battlefield, it's their duty!"
"That's quite a ruthless and heartless thing to say..." Ian shook his head, no longer interested in trading barbs with Akainu. "Alright then, let's have a good fight! But before we start, allow me to formally introduce the little Ian beside me!"
Ian pointed to the small figure floating next to him. "Don't get the wrong idea—he's not my son. He's my clone!"
Hearing this, even Kizaru widened his eyes. He had been guessing who the little brat was but never considered the possibility of a clone. Now that Ian introduced him as such, Kizaru sensed something was off.
The same unease spread among the other Marine Admirals and Vice Admirals, who stared nervously at the small figure beside Ian.
Ian continued, "Since he's my clone, he can use the same abilities as me!"
At this, even Akainu was stunned.
"That's right!" Ian said, enjoying the look on Akainu's face as he spread his hands. "Congratulations! Now there are two guys as strong as me!"
"KILL THEM!!!" As soon as Ian finished speaking, thick smoke began to billow from Akainu's body—a sign of his magma transformation. As he activated his ability, he roared out loud.
He had no choice but to act. When Akainu heard Ian's words, he realized this was going to be a huge problem. No one had ever imagined that the Yonko, Black Dragon Ian, would come in two!
What the hell? This wasn't following the script at all!
In an instant, the steel fists on his hands melted into a pool of liquid iron and fell to the ground. Akainu's arms transformed into searing, rolling magma as he swung them repeatedly, launching massive fist-shaped magma projectiles toward Ian in the sky.
These magma projectiles soared high into the air, arced through the sky, and then began to descend, covering all the space around Ian.
Meteor Volcano—Akainu's signature and iconic technique!
If Ian hadn't arrived here ahead of time, the ships carrying his family members would have faced a devastating blow at the start of the battle. But now, with only Ian and Little Ian present, this technique was easier to evade.
Boom! Boom! Two sonic boom clouds appeared—one large, one small. Ian instantly accelerated to his maximum speed, weaving through the gaps between the Meteor Volcano projectiles. At the same time, Little Ian, connected to him telepathically, also burst into supersonic flight, following Ian out of Akainu's attack range.
After firing that Cero on Sabaody Archipelago, Little Ian had disappeared and returned to Ian. But by now, the cooldown had passed, allowing Ian to summon him again.
During this summoning, Ian discovered another characteristic of his little clone: whatever state his main body was in, Little Ian would appear in the same state.
For example, Ian now had the Black Dragon Wave's flame wings, so Little Ian also had them—just smaller versions. Ian was in a Super Saiyan transformation, so Little Ian was too.
This was a relief for Ian. He had previously worried that if he had Little Ian use flight skills, the moment he extended his flame wings, he might disappear due to skill activation...
However, the two smaller swords at Little Ian's waist—Miniature Thousand Cherry Blossoms and Black Wing Demon—could not be used for Final Release or Resurrección because they weren't real. So, if Ian wanted Little Ian to also enter Final Release or Resurrección state, he would have to perform those transformations first before summoning Little Ian.
As compensation, even without Final Release or Resurrección, Little Ian could still use skills like White Emperor Sword or Black Cero, though with reduced power.
The two figures—one big, one small—moved in perfect sync, as if rehearsed. Little Ian stayed close to Ian, mimicking his movements as they swiftly navigated through countless magma projectiles, breaking out of the Meteor Volcano's coverage in the blink of an eye.
But just as Ian emerged, a golden light appeared before him. Kizaru had also joined the fray! Appearing directly in midair, he spread his hands, and countless photon bullets shot toward Ian and Little Ian, enveloping them once again.
Ian reacted quickly. Little Ian hid behind him while Ian covered his entire body with Haki, enduring the impact and explosions of the photon bullets as he charged straight at Kizaru!
With his super-speed regeneration ability, Ian wasn't afraid of getting hurt now. Locking onto Kizaru with his Psychic Field, he instantly drew his sword and slashed down at him.
Realizing he was locked onto by Ian's Haki, Kizaru knew he couldn't dodge. He condensed a Light Sword from his hand to block Ian's strike. But he forgot that Ian wasn't alone this time. As he blocked Ian's slash, Little Ian emerged from behind Ian, thrusting his miniature Thousand Cherry Blossoms toward Kizaru's waist!
Although using a skill would cause Little Ian to disappear, why use a skill? Sword attacks weren't skills—they were ordinary attacks!
The smaller Thousand Cherry Blossoms looked like a short tanto, but the unexpected two-on-one attack caught Kizaru off guard. Little Ian's blade cut a wound across Kizaru's waist!
"You little brat!" Kizaru was annoyed. He hadn't expected Ian's clone to be so seamlessly coordinated with the main body. He raised his leg to kick Little Ian.
But Ian raised his hand and fired a Black Particle at him, forcing Kizaru to abort his attack and flash away to the side!
Akainu and Kizaru had attacked in succession, but only a few seconds had passed. The Marine soldiers below finally snapped out of their daze and began firing their guns at Ian in the sky.
Meanwhile, the remaining Marine Admiral, Tea Pig, also acted. He had the soldiers bring over a large crate of bombs and began lighting them one by one, preparing to detonate them.
Normally, with a crate of bombs lit one after another, the first ones would have exploded long before he finished lighting the last. But strangely, these bombs only had their fuses burning, spreading downward at an extremely slow pace.
After lighting all the bombs, Tea Pig grabbed them and threw them one by one into the air.
An even stranger scene unfolded. The bombs, once thrown, didn't fall quickly due to gravity. Instead, they defied physics, maintaining a slow upward trajectory until they reached midair, where they began to explode.
This explosion also exhibited a bizarre phenomenon. Everyone could see the bombs slowly expanding from the center, as if time had frozen, with the explosion's flames spreading bit by bit.
Soon, the bombs thrown by Tea Pig filled the sky, each one in a state of "exploding," but the process was abnormally slow!
This was Tea Pig's Devil Fruit ability, known as the "Lazy-Lazy Fruit." It could make anything he touched exhibit a "lazy" state.
This ability was somewhat similar to Silver Fox Foxy's Slow-Slow Beam, but far more powerful. Foxy's Slow-Slow Beam required emitting light rays to envelop objects and could be reflected by mirrors, but Tea Pig's ability didn't have that limitation.
When used well, this ability was incredibly formidable. Tea Pig indeed had Admiral-level strength, but due to his personality, he wasn't well-liked at Marine Headquarters. He was "too down-to-earth" and lacked any sense of Admiral authority...
These bombs thrown into the air effectively blocked many flight paths in the sky. The slowly exploding bombs were untouchable.
But... Tea Pig forgot that the one needing mobility in the air wasn't just Ian and Little Ian—Kizaru was also there!
"Ah! Damn it!" Realizing this, Tea Pig opened his mouth wide in shock. It was his first time cooperating with Akainu and Kizaru, and he hadn't considered everything.
"Idiot!" Kizaru cursed under his breath, forced to retreat from the bomb-filled area and switch to long-range attacks.
Surrounded, Ian looked around at the bizarrely exploding bombs and smiled.
He had to admit, three Marine Admirals working together was quite troublesome...
"Little one, time to go big!" Ian said to Little Ian.
Little Ian's antenna-like hair twitched, and then everyone below saw the two Ians—one big, one small—perform identical movements, like a father-son workout routine.
They hovered in midair, straightened their bodies, and crossed their two swords above their heads.
"Let everything return to nothing!"
"Biu!!"
The next second, the sky over Marineford seemed to have gained two suns. A blinding, eye-searing flash of light poured down in all directions...