Ch 16: Preparing to Go to Ninja world

Chapter 16: Preparing to Go to Ninja world

After a long period of artillery fire that resembled children playing, the navy warship finally approached the Spade Pirates' ship. Several grappling hooks flew over from the warship, clearly signaling the start of a boarding operation.

The Spade Pirates didn't try to stop them. While everyone picked up their weapons, they didn't seem particularly concerned and continued laughing among themselves.

"Fire Fist Ace, surrender!" a heroic female marine shouted as she leapt toward the ship, sword in hand, looking serious.

Ayaan's Observation Haki swept over the female officer, and he immediately reached a conclusion: weakling.

Honestly, this beautiful lady didn't have Armament Haki, nor did she carry any seastone weapons. And yet, she dared to demand the surrender of a natural-type Devil Fruit user? Just because she had a pair of seastone handcuffs at her waist?

Ace scratched his head. "Sorry, I can't let you catch me before I beat that guy."

"Hmph! Stop making excuses! This time, I'll definitely send you to Impel Down!" the female officer yelled as she charged at him.

She came up, she attacked... and she failed.

Seriously, with such limited strength, you still dare to get in the way? Sister, you're really bold.

Fortunately for her, Ace wasn't the type of pirate who committed heinous crimes. Otherwise, we'd be discussing what to name your child... or where to scatter your ashes.

A short verbal spat followed. In the end, Ace didn't harm the female officer—named Iska—and simply tossed her back onto her battleship.

As for Ayaan, he didn't make a move at all. The other crew members didn't either. Clearly, there was a story here... and most likely, one with a bit of romantic tension.

However, as Iska was thrown back, she shouted fiercely, "Don't get cocky, Fire Fist Ace! Next time, a real vice admiral will be the one coming after you!"

Ayaan didn't say anything, but his expression was unreadable. Beautiful lady, are you here to catch pirates or to provide them with intelligence?

Still, observing the subtle chemistry between Iska and Ace, and the complicated look in her eyes, Ayaan held back his sarcastic remarks.

Whatever. This kind of thing has become common practice in the navy. What can a pirate like me even say?

But if a vice admiral really is on their way, then things might get serious.

At the vice admiral level, there's no real difference between headquarters and branch officers. A vice admiral stationed at a base is just as strong as one from Navy HQ.

In other words, while the Four Seas have a clear divide between branches and HQ, the Grand Line doesn't. All naval forces in the Grand Line—whether HQ or branch—are elite. In fact, the highest rank in a Four Seas branch is usually just a colonel. Only the Grand Line branches have generals. So at that level, there are no weaklings.

Moreover, admirals and vice admirals typically have mastery of both types of Haki. While Haki isn't the only factor that determines strength, for a Logia user like Ace, whether or not the enemy has Armament Haki makes a massive difference.

"Looks like a tough battle awaits me after joining the Spade Pirates," Ayaan sighed. He wasn't worried about Ace losing. Before he met Whitebeard, Ace was definitely the child of destiny. A mere vice admiral wouldn't be able to stop him.

But the rest of the Spade Pirates would likely get beaten. Their overall strength wasn't bad—compared to the average Supernova pirates, they were about average.

However, compared to the elite soldiers a vice admiral might bring, they were far inferior.

At that point, the one who would have to step up would probably be Ayaan—the second main fighter of the Spade Pirates.

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"Is this Jungle Island? It kind of looks like a Mayan city," Ayaan muttered as he gazed at the island ahead. The Spade Pirates took a different route from the Straw Hat Pirates, so their arrival point was also different.

This was clearly one of the summer islands in the Grand Line—tropical rainforests, pyramid-like structures, and a vibrant, exotic landscape made it stand out.

"Alright, everyone, rest up on this island for a few days. We'll meet back at the dock in a week."

"Michal will guard the ship this time. If anything happens, contact me right away. The rest of you can go have fun."

With that, Ace's announcement sent the crew into cheers.

Sailing across the One Piece world might sound romantic, but in reality, life at sea is dull and repetitive. The true excitement comes from the ever-changing islands and their unique environments.

Even in the original manga, the Straw Hats' journey across the sea was only briefly shown. Most of the focus was on their adventures on different islands.

No wonder the Spade Pirates, who had been stuck on the ship for nearly a month, were so excited to finally land.

As for Michal—the one staying behind to watch the ship—he was the ultimate introvert. Ayaan had been part of the crew for quite some time, and he'd only seen Michal once, on the day he joined, when Ace introduced everyone. And then... nothing.

So when Michal was assigned to stay back and guard the ship, he didn't get angry—in fact, he looked happy.

Ayaan thought about reminding Ace that a vice admiral was chasing them and that dispersing the crew might be risky. What if the vice admiral showed up while they were scattered? Wouldn't that be the perfect chance to defeat them one by one?

But then again... aside from Ace and himself, the others were pretty much support characters. Even if they got caught, as long as Ace defeated the vice admiral, rescuing them wouldn't be difficult.

"Well, we've finally landed. I can take care of my own matters now. Seven days should be enough to collect the ninjutsu training methods from the black market."

Yes, Ayaan had already decided—he would head to the black market of the ninja world to purchase some ninjutsu scrolls. Besides the Berries he brought from the One Piece world, he now had a lot of hard currency like gold, which should be enough to buy several B-rank scrolls.

Of course, the black market only ever sold up to B-rank ninjutsu. Even if there were A-rank ones, they were mostly generic and impractical.

Secret techniques would never appear on the black market. Even many of the B-rank scrolls were common ones you could find anywhere.

Ninjutsu like Lightning Release Armor, Light-Weight Boulder Jutsu, or Heavy-Weight Boulder Jutsu? Absolutely no chance. At best, he might find things like Water Dragon Bullet, Earth Dragon Bullet, or Water Wall.

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