Chapter 178: Should I lift it!

“What! Why, do you think I’m bluffing?” Ian looked at Hancock in disbelief.

“Hum!” Hancock snorted coldly and said, “You have seen the fate of that impostor, haven’t you? I admit that you are so powerful that you can hurt the Vice Admiral Doberman, but this doesn’t mean that you can pretend to be the real arsonist!”

Ian touched his chin and said, “As I said, I’m the real thing. And why would I be impersonating another person? If you don’t want to believe it, then that’s on you!”

Looking at Ian’s appearance, Hancock was more furious. The other swordsman, Frodes, has already made her very angry. Her Kuja pirate chased the Marines all the way to that island, but she only found a fake guy, which meant that she had made a long trip for nothing…

Now after following the leader of the Dragon Hunters, who might know something, Hancock went up with some expectation to have a frank talk with Ian. However, what she didn’t expect was that the man in front of her was also claiming to be the mastermind…

She had always felt that Ian was either an associate of the real mastermind of Marijoa’s incident, or one of the rescued slaves. She never expected that Ian can be the real man in black.

Although Ian was also carrying a long sword, judging from the fighting process between him and the two vice admirals, the abilities he showed were fundamentally different from that of the man in black.

So she was very angry and said in a cold voice: “According to the information I got, the real mastermind was a Flame Ability User, but you were using Thunder Abilities. You dare lying to my face. Do you think that by defeating a vice admiral, you can look down to a Shichibukai?”

“Huh, all right.” Ian laughed and asked Hancock, “Let’s put that aside for a while. Let me ask you a simple question now, what are you going to do when you find the real mastermind?”

“It’s none of your business!” Hancock was still unsure of Ian’s true identity, so it was impossible to tell him her true purpose.

“Let me guess!” Ian said, narrowing his eyes: “You are a Shichibukai. Normally, you are subject to the orders of the world government and Marines, so I guess that you are helping the Marines catch the arsonist?”

“I said, it’s none of your business!” Hancock’s expression began to cool down.

“Oh, it doesn’t look like you’re planning on arresting him!” Ian ignored her and continued, “So, you want to recruit him? Or to be exact, provide him with protection!?”

Hancock finally burst out and turned her shyness into a pure fury, but this was because the man in front of her had read her mind again…

‘The second time, this is the second time he does it!’ Her own thoughts and ideas were guessed by the man in front of her, which made Hancock have the same sense of shame as if she was being stripped…

‘Who the hell is this man? How can he tell what’s in my mind? Is it too obvious what I’m doing?’

Hancock was a Shichibukai. She cares a lot about her identity and doesn’t want to lose it. Therefore, she can only do things secretly to help the mastermind of the Marijoa incident. She had to come up with an excuse to cover her arrival to Mainspring Island, but now, her thoughts were read by a stranger!?

‘This isn’t working! It seems that equal communication is not feasible, so I have to take this man down and force him to talk! If he is an associate of black-clothed man, then I will spare his life, but if not, then I have to kill him!’

With this in mind, Hancock decided to stop talking, got up, and kicked Ian with her right leg.

This time, her kick was much faster compared to her previous ones in Mainspring Island!

In this World, although Devil Fruits Abilities were very strong, in fact, there was a collocation problem between Devil Fruit and the user himself. Can their own conditions, personality, and fighting methods fully match the power of the devil fruit? This was a very complicated issue.

However, Hancock was typically a perfect match with her devil fruit. She was a very beautiful woman with incomparable charm. She can exert the ability of the Love-Love Fruit to the extreme. If Mrs. Kokoro, the main conductor of the Sea Train, ate the Love-Love fruit, would she be able to do a thing with it!!?

Moreover, although she was a Devil Fruit User, this does not mean that she was completely relying only on her own fruit ability to fight. In fact, she was also proficient in using the three types of Haki, and her physical skills were quite powerful…

Although it is impossible to compare the strength gap with other Shichibukai, she was so powerful that even the Marine Fleet Admiral, Sengoku, has personally said it.

When she kicked Ian, Hancock has also used her Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) to consider Ian’s every possible movement. She was confident that no matter how the man in front of her dodges, he can’t escape from her…

However, to her surprise, in the face of her kick, Ian did not try to dodge at all, he just stretched out his left hand, and with a loud bang, received her kick.

Kicking him like this made Hancock think that Ian’s left hand would be petrified immediately, but the results were confusing, Ian wasn’t affected!

If she could look at the palm of Ian’s hand carefully, she would find that there was a strange light film (“a thin flexible strip of plastic”) in the palm of Ian’s hand. The light film has isolated the contact between their skins, and nullified Hancock’s fruit ability.

And this layer of light film was nothing else than Orihime’s defensive technique, Santen Kesshun: Three Sacred Links Shield!

Ever since he met Boa Hancock on the Mainspring Island, Ian has been thinking about how to guard against her strange petrification ability, if he ever had to fight the Pirate Empress!

In the face of her attack: Mero Mero Mellow, Ian could divert his attention through pain, making the petrification ability ineffective. But what if their fight turns to a direct engagement?

It would be a bit unrealistic not to be touched by Hancock for the whole fight, unless Ian’s speed was extremely high. But what if he gets hit accidentally?

Many people in the New World can use the Haki, but why are those devil fruit users still so powerful? This was naturally due to the strength of Haki, unable to completely isolate the Devil Fruit Ability!

During his battle against Aokiji, Ian found out that his left wrist was frostbitten, even when he was protecting that area with Busoshoku Haki, Aokiji’s ice kept on freezing his wrist.

Maybe Ian wearing a glove at that time resisted a bit of Aokiji’s freezing effect, but Hancock’s ability was more domineering and effective on inorganic substances. If he uses gloves to touch her body, nothing would change; even the gloves would be petrified with his hands…

So after thinking about it, Ian came up with this trick. He used Orihime’s skill: the Three Sacred Links Shield to block the petrification ability!

He can freely control the size of the Three Sacred Links Shield and concentrate it completely between his palms. In fact, the light film formed was actually a kind of spiritual energy. This layer of energy was like a filter device, which filters out Hancock’s petrification ability!

Of course, to use Inoue Orihime’s skills, Ian needs to inevitably put on her hairpins on his hair. Fortunately, he was wearing the bear ear cap at the moment, which was thankfully covering the hairpins. (T/N: BTW! Didn’t she notice Kuma’s hat!!??)

Holding Hancock’s ankle with his hand, Ian felt relieved when he saw that his trick worked.

At this time, Ian’s nose again smelled the scent of Hancock’s leg and couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.

He subconsciously followed Hancock’s ankles and looked forward. At rest, the look at such a long, white, smooth leg was a test of men’s willpower.

Especially when he looked all the way and saw Hancock’s thighs, Ian felt the hot blood rushing to his head…

‘What kind of scenery is hidden under that cheongsam!? This gorgeous lady, is she wearing “it” or not? I’m afraid that this has been an unsolved problem for many years, right? And all of those who have tried before to solve this have pledged their lives for this cause! All guesses can only be swayed by imagination…’

The difference between Ian and the others was that if he wants to, he can easily get the answer as soon as he raises Hancock’s leg slightly with his left hand!

Should I lift it, or not, no I have to do it…!!

Ian just kept hesitating…