It was actually the Buggy Pirates?
Looking at the bow of the ship, he noticed it was shaped like an elephant, with its long trunk modified into a cannon.
There was no mistake!
This was Buggy’s pirate ship, the Big Top!
Ian never expected that the ones who stole his belongings would be the Buggy Pirates.
It was quite a surprise.
This made things a bit tricky.
Ian had a deep impression of Buggy.
Setting aside his future achievements, when Buggy first debuted, he was already a pirate with a bounty in the tens of millions!
Ian had set sail earlier than Zoro, which naturally meant he was earlier than Luffy as well.
He didn’t know what Buggy’s current bounty was, but he could be certain it wouldn’t be low.
Since he didn’t have a clear understanding of his own strength yet, Ian didn’t know if he could defeat Buggy.
Under normal circumstances, he might have temporarily avoided a confrontation, but not right now.
He had to get his clothes, hat, and Transponder Snail back!
Lost in thought, Ian naturally remained silent.
This led the lackeys of the Buggy Pirates to assume he was terrified of them.
One by one, they drew their weapons and approached him with sinister grins.
“Kid!
Since you’re here, don’t even think about leaving!
Be a good boy, drop your weapon, and wait for Captain Buggy’s judgment!”
“Haha, if the great Captain Buggy is in a good mood, maybe he’ll let him be a lowly shipwright and scrub our decks every day!”
“And what if the captain is in a bad mood?”
“Haha, then he’s screwed!
He might be used to replace that unlucky bastard hanging over there!
When the cannon fires…
Boom!”
The gang of lackeys brazenly discussed Ian’s fate, completely failing to notice that his expression was growing increasingly dark.
At that moment, one of the pirates finally lost his patience.
He raised a cutlass and slashed at Ian, intending to injure and tie him up.
Ian stood completely still, watching the blade chop toward his shoulder.
Just as everyone thought he was too scared to fight back, Ian suddenly moved!
With a slight sidestep, he dodged the lackey’s slash and slid right behind him.
His katana was unsheathed in an instant, and with a blinding flash of steel, he brought the blade down heavily!
The pirate lackey let out a miserable shriek.
A massive gash was carved into his back, and blood sprayed out as he collapsed to the deck.
However, it wasn’t over yet.
After striking down the first lackey, Ian’s body moved again at blinding speed, weaving through the group of pirates.
Every time he shifted his position, a bright flash of steel followed—chopping, slashing, thrusting, or parrying.
Each strike was different, but the result was always the same: with every flash of the blade, a pirate lackey screamed and fell!
By the time the eight or nine lackeys who had surrounded him were all cut down, Ian’s movements finally ceased.
The exact moment he came to a halt, his blade slid perfectly back into its sheath!
*Phew!
Perfect!*
Even though they were just lackeys, there were too many of them.
Since he was alone, getting surrounded would be bad!
Therefore, right from the start, Ian used his current strongest sword technique: Chain Issen!
This move truly lived up to being a technique that required Advanced Swordsmanship to execute.
It heavily relied on the seamless connection of attack movements.
When striking down the first opponent, one had to simultaneously form the intent to attack the next, while physically preparing the starting stance for the follow-up.
Otherwise, the combo would fail and be interrupted midway.
Ian had practiced for a long time in Shimotsuki Village before finally mastering it.
The advantage of this technique was that a single burst of Nen Energy could be divided into several portions for continuous use, rather than consuming a full point of Nen Energy for every single hit.
Most importantly, this move was incredibly effective for dealing with large numbers of pirate lackeys!
The remaining lackeys of the Buggy Pirates, who were still standing further away, hadn’t even reacted yet.
They stared blankly at Ian, who was still holding his sheathing stance, completely at a loss for what expression to use to convey their shock and bewilderment!
They had thought he was just a shipwrecked, rookie traveler drifting alone at sea.
How did he suddenly turn into a ruthless demon who killed without blinking?!
This shift in tone was way too fast!
Ian had no idea what the pirates were thinking.
After cutting people down and seeing so much blood for the first time, he surprisingly didn’t feel the nausea or urge to vomit often described in novels.
Instead, he felt a faint sense of excitement—a clear sign of his adrenaline surging!
He realized he seemed quite suited for this kind of combat!
Of course, Ian hadn’t actually killed the lackeys lying on the deck; he had only severely injured them.
He hadn’t aimed for any vital spots, and the Nen he used was almost entirely applied to buff his own body rather than coating his blade.
Naturally, the attack power was lower.
If these pirates received timely medical treatment, they wouldn’t die anytime soon.
After all, he hadn’t truly reached the point of killing without batting an eye.
But the other pirates didn’t know that.
Assuming their fallen comrades had been slaughtered by Ian, they snapped out of their daze and immediately began shouting in anger.
“Get him!
Kill him!”
“Yeah!
He’s dead meat for offending the Buggy Pirates!”
However, all bark and no bite, they yelled for a long time without a single person daring to actually charge forward.
The sight of Ian instantly cutting down eight or nine men had terrified them.
Just thinking about it made them realize they were no match for him.
So, as they shouted, their eyes unconsciously darted toward Chief of Staff Cabaji, hoping he would step in.
Cabaji sat on his unicycle with his arms crossed, his mouth hidden behind his black-and-white checkered scarf.
His expression was unreadable, but a closer look revealed a dark, brooding look in his eyes.
He hadn’t spoken a word since Ian jumped onto the ship.
The difference was that, at first, he simply couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge a rookie like Ian, content to let his subordinates teach him a lesson.
But now, he was speechless for a different reason!
After witnessing Ian’s swordsmanship, he realized he wasn’t confident he could beat him!
He couldn’t help it; Ian’s movements when using Chain Issen had simply been too fast!
Just as Cabaji was hesitating over whether to make a move, a massive lion’s roar suddenly echoed across the deck.
The sound came from the rear of the ship.
Ian heard it too and looked over, only to see a man riding a lion slowly walking out.
“What’s going on?
Why is there such a strong stench of blood?
Aren’t you afraid of agitating Richie?” he said in displeasure the moment he appeared.
When Ian saw this person, he burst out laughing, pointing at him and saying, “Haha!
Your hat is even weirder than mine!”
The man who had just appeared was wearing a ring of fur on his head that even wrapped around his cheeks, making his entire head look like a fluffy sheep!
The lion he was riding was no better.
The mane on top of its head was actually combed into a long braid that stood straight up.
No matter how you looked at it, it was incredibly stupid.
“How rude!
This is my hair!!”
Hearing Ian’s laughter, the man riding the lion flew into a rage, veins nearly popping out on his forehead.
Anyone would probably be angry if their hair was mistaken for a fur hat, right?
However, after roaring, he finally realized something was off and asked Ian in confusion, “Who are you?
Why are you on our ship?”
This was, of course, the vice-captain of the Buggy Pirates, Beast Tamer Mohji.
Truth be told, there were quite a lot of bizarre people in the pirate world.
Looking at his fur-like hair, Ian suddenly wondered: *Could this guy be from the Mink Tribe?*
*If so, which tribe would he belong to?
The Sheep Tribe?*
Just as Ian’s imagination was running wild, Mohji finally noticed the pirate lackeys lying in pools of blood on the deck.
He instantly realized what was going on—this half-naked kid in front of him was an intruder!
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, daring to provoke the Buggy Pirates on our own ship!” Mohji said to Ian through gritted teeth.
“Bullshit!” Ian wasn’t about to take the blame for this.
“You guys clearly stole my things, and you have the gall to say I’m the one provoking you!”
Mohji couldn’t care less.
As the vice-captain, if he let Ian off the hook now, he wouldn’t be able to show his face on the Big Top anymore.
Completely ignoring Ian’s retort, he patted the lion Richie beneath him and ordered, “Take him out!”
The lion Richie let out another massive roar.
Carrying Mohji on its back, it leaped right in front of Ian and viciously swiped its sharp claws at him.
Seeing its fierce approach, Ian was already prepared.
He quickly took a step back, dodging the claw strike.
Feeling the gust of wind scrape past his face, he couldn’t help but break a slight sweat.
He wasn’t afraid of fighting people, but facing off head-on against a fierce beast like a lion was a first for him!
Missing its first strike, Richie immediately lunged forward to bite Ian.
The pouncing speed of a fierce beast like a lion was much faster than a human’s.
In his haste, Ian could only jam his scabbard into Richie’s mouth to block the attack.
However, to his absolute shock, Richie actually bit his sword cleanly in two!
Ian stared dumbfounded at the remaining hilt in his hand, unable to process what had just happened for a moment.
He hadn’t expected the low-quality katana he brought with him to last very long, but he never imagined it would break this quickly!
“Hmph!
Don’t underestimate Richie’s bite force!” Mohji crossed his arms, looking down at Ian from his mount.
“Richie is a terrifying beast.
The number of people who have lost their lives in his jaws can’t even be counted on two hands!”
But before he even finished speaking, Richie suddenly stopped moving.
The lion lowered its head, sniffed Ian’s broken blade, and in the next second, actually stuck out its tongue and started licking the broken steel…
“…” Ian stared speechlessly at the lion Richie, who was licking the blade like a giant dog.
While in the ocean, he had used this katana to stab fish, so the blade still carried a fishy scent.
Richie had probably smelled the fish and decided it was dinner time…
Although he didn’t want to say it, Ian couldn’t hold back his tsukkomi.
“Are you guys really pirates?
Because you look a lot more like a circus to me…”