Super Card System

The artillery fire had momentarily ceased. Vice Admiral Gion, as agreed, awaited the exchange of prisoners with Ian.

Navy soldiers, following Gion’s orders, closely monitored the sea, watching for any signs of approaching ships.

Not only did they keep an eye on the sea, but they also occasionally glanced at the sky. Gion had learned from the Navy Headquarters that Ian had initially escaped aboard a golden airship when he fled the Headquarters. Thus, Gion strongly suspected that the ship coming to Ian’s aid was a vessel that could fly.

Standing on the ship’s deck, Vice Admiral Gion anxiously contacted the Navy Headquarters via Den Den Mushi.

She had been tasked with intercepting Ian this time, but now a major problem had arisen. Admiral Sengoku’s original intention was to utilize Gion’s Devil Fruit ability to see if, together with Magellan, they could capture Ian. After all, the Navy now knew quite a bit about Ian’s abilities, understanding that most of his attacks relied on fire and lightning, along with his mastery of swordsmanship. Gion’s Gentle Fruit happened to be able to “tame” such energy attacks, and she was also skilled in swordsmanship. From any perspective, Gion had a restraining effect on Ian.

Furthermore, with Magellan’s Venom-Venom Fruit ability, and the release of Shiryu at a crucial moment for their backup, so along with the two jailers from Impel Down and Vice Admiral Gion, believed that the three of them were sufficient to deal with Ian and his gang of jailbreakers.

However, Sengoku had not personally been present at the scene, so his predictions about the situation were insufficient. No one had anticipated that Magellan’s formidable Venom-Venom Fruit ability would have no effect on Ian whatsoever!

This was unavoidable. Although the Navy had gathered intelligence on Ian’s abilities, they were unaware of Ian’s ability to repel toxins with the Three Sacred Links Shield. This ability had rarely been displayed, and even those who had been healed by Ian only believed he possessed a healing ability. No one had imagined that the Sacred Shield could also repel poison attacks.

The consequence of this misjudgment was that when Vice Admiral Gion arrived at the prison, Magellan couldn’t effectively delay Ian’s progress! This resulted in Ian’s jailbreak action proceeding much faster than Gion had anticipated. By the time she arrived, Ian had already rescued the prisoners!

This was the biggest mistake, causing the situation to shift from Gion, Magellan, and Shiryu against Ian… to Gion alone facing three Warlords of the Sea!

This turn of events was beyond Gion’s expectations. She hadn’t even had a chance to truly engage with Ian before she had to retreat to the sea surface.

And the worst part was that although she had captured the helmsman of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, essentially nabbing an important member of Ian’s crew, now even Magellan had been captured!

This forced her to make compromises, reluctantly preparing to negotiate with Ian.

She now realized that her mission might not be accomplished, so she hurriedly contacted the Navy Headquarters, hoping to see if they could still send some reinforcements to assist her.

However, unfortunately, Admiral Sengoku told her that due to the withdrawal of forces into the New World, preparing for a war against the Whitebeard Pirates, the defense of the Navy Headquarters was now quite depleted. There were only a few warships guarding Mariejois. In theory, no pirate crew should dare to attack the Navy Headquarters, but who could say whether there were some foolhardy individuals out there? Sengoku was quite troubled now. He could indeed divert a few more warships to assist Gion, but without corresponding capable leaders, even if they came, their assistance to Gion would be minimal. 

Actually, there were reinforcements available. The only naval force that could be mobilized now was the “Marine Special Forces” led by former Admiral Zephyr. However, Zephyr’s Special Forces had been hunting pirates outside for a long time. Even if they could contact him now, it would take a long time for him to arrive at Impel Down…

After learning about this situation, even Gion fell silent. Almost everyone at the Navy Headquarters thought that Ian’s choice of timing for this raid on Impel Down was just… ridiculous! It was driving the Navy up the wall!

“It seems we’ll have to rely on ourselves…” Gion silently hung up the Den Den Mushi.

Just then, Head Jailer Domino approached Gion and reported, “Vice Admiral Gion, it has been confirmed through the telescope that Head Jailer… no, Shiryu of the Rain, is not among the enemy ranks. Their Lv6 prisoners only include Fishman Jinbe and Crocodile. The rest of them seem to be absent. Impel Down is currently experiencing severe leaks. Should we send Blue Gorilla jailers to seal the leaks underwater? Please indicate…”

“Let’s find a way to seal them up!” Gion said, “We need to ensure that Impel Down can resume operations as soon as possible after this incident…”

“Yes, ma’am!” Domino saluted and then turned to leave.

It’s strange. Shiryu of the Rain isn’t with the enemy. So where did he go? Or did something happen on the sixth level?

Unable to figure it out, Gion turned to her deputy, a rear admiral, and asked, “How is it? Any ships appearing on the sea?”

“There is none!” the rear admiral shook his head. “There are no suspicious targets in the sky either!”

Gion looked up at the sky. This area was the Calm Belt, and the weather had always been fine, so visibility in the sky was high. If there were indeed any suspicious targets, they would be visible at a glance.

“Don’t let your guard down. Remain on high alert!” Gion ordered.

The rear admiral nodded in acknowledgment, while Gion stood with her arms crossed, gazing into the direction of Impel Down.

“Ian… What exactly are you planning by like?”

…

At the entrance to Impel Down, a large number of prisoners gathered, some anxiously waiting and occasionally looking towards the sea.

Although the Navy’s artillery fire had ceased, relieving them somewhat, the expected supporting ships had yet to appear. Undoubtedly, they were feeling uneasy.

With freedom seemingly within their grasp, just one step away from leaving Impel Down, everyone was worried that they might fail at the last moment.

“Captain Ian, Boss!” a prisoner approached Ian cautiously and said, “Maybe we shouldn’t wait anymore. Let’s find a way to take away a warship first!”

“Yeah, yeah!” the other prisoners chimed in.

“What’s this? You don’t trust me?” Ian looked at the group of prisoners with a sly smile.

Seeing Ian’s expression, the prisoners couldn’t help but shiver, recalling the scene on the sixth level of the prison. They quickly waved their hands and smiled obsequiously, “No, no! Of course, we trust you, Boss…”

“Then shut up!” Ian snapped impatiently.

Immediately, the prisoners fell silent…

“How boring!” Luffy complained, then grabbed onto Buggy and said, “Hey Buggy, make your lion jump through a hoop or something!”

Buggy exploded with anger, grabbing Luffy’s collar and growling, “We’re Buggy’s Pirate Crew, not a circus! Straw Hat brat, are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“Yeah! We only came to the Grand Line to seek revenge on you!” Alvida hefted her iron club and said, “Once we’re out of here, we’ll be enemies again. You better be prepared!”

“Haha, yeah yeah!” Luffy laughed heartily, hands on hips, then turned to Trafalgar Law and asked, “Hey, Tora, do you want to see the lion jump through a hoop too? It’s fun!”

“…” Law looked at Luffy with a bewildered expression.

“We already said we’re not a circus!” Buggy roared at Luffy, “Can’t you understand!?”

However, just at that moment, Ian turned back and said to Buggy, “Actually, I’d like to see it too!”

Buggy was immediately stunned. He glanced at Ian, then at his lion, Richie, and finally snapped his fingers, saying, “Richie, jump!”

In the next moment, somehow, Moji managed to produce a hoop, and Richie, the lion, began jumping through it. Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp sat in a row, clapping and laughing heartily as they watched.

“There’s only ten minutes left. Will your ship actually come?” Crocodile approached Ian, asking quietly.

Before Ian could respond, there was suddenly a splash, and Jinbe emerged from the sea. Everyone turned to look at him.

Jinbe nodded slightly at Ian.

Ian’s spirits lifted immediately. Finally, it had arrived!

He hoisted Magellan onto his shoulders and flew towards the Navy warships.

Ian’s reappearance made the Navy tense. However, when Ian flew over the warship and addressed Gion, “Forget it, I’ve changed my mind. Let’s exchange prisoners first!”

Gion didn’t believe him. It hadn’t even been an hour, and Ian had already flown over. It must be that his supporting ship had appeared. So she didn’t answer Ian’s question at all but instead glanced at the Navy rear admiral beside her.

However, the rear admiral looked puzzled. They had been observing the sea and the sky all this time and hadn’t seen any sign of a ship!

What on earth was going on?

Gion was also puzzled. While she was thinking about what Ian might be up to, she heard Ian urging her again.

“…Fine, let’s exchange!” Gion thought for a moment and finally agreed. She thought it was better this way. If they exchanged Magellan first, they could freely open fire on them.

Then, Gion grabbed Enel and threw him towards Ian, while Ian threw Magellan towards Gion. Both of them caught the exchanged prisoners.

However, unlike before, this time Magellan’s mouth was covered with a piece of torn cloth. As soon as Gion caught him, he immediately made muffled noises.

Sensing something was wrong, Gion quickly tore off the cloth covering Magellan’s mouth.

“Careful! They might escape from underwater!” As soon as the cloth was removed, Magellan immediately shouted.

Gion was shocked and quickly looked up, but Ian, who had received Enel, had already vanished!

Gion quickly took out her telescope and looked towards Impel Down. She saw that the calm sea had suddenly churned up, and then…

And then, a yellow… submarine! Suddenly emerged from the water!

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