Super Card System - Chapter 451

Chapter 451: Soaring current

“Quickly! Quickly!!”

At Ian’s urging, the ship had been fully deployed with the help of the strong wind caused by the unusual weather, and was sailing forward at an extremely fast speed.

At this time, the black clouds in the sky were constantly chasing after their ship at a high speed, bringing with them a heavy atmosphere. Even Robin and Reiju could feel the unusualness of it all.

Both knew that the Grand Line was full of bizarre weather patterns that either eluded ordinary sailors or led them to their doom. It seemed they were about to experience one such phenomenon.

As the ship continued to move forward, Ian and his crew saw the Straw Hat Pirates’ ship at a closer distance.

Not only was the Going Merry there, but there were also two other peculiar ships further away, each with a gorilla and a monkey standing at their bows, the leaders of the two salvage ships that were helping Luffy and his crew search for the Knock Up Stream.

The Going Merry looked a little different now, with a pair of wing-like appendages now extending from either side of the hull. As Ian saw this, he quickly summoned his Black Dragon Wave to swallow it up and then opened his black flame wings, handing the Jerma Technology data box to Robin to hold, and then hugged Robin’s waist with one hand and held onto Mathew with the other, saying to Reiju, “Hurry up, abandon the ship! We must get onto the Straw Hat Pirates’ ship!”

Reiju nodded and immediately activated her Jet Boots, picking up Doroni, who was still steering, from behind and dragging him along with Ian, while he flew in the front.

The reason they had to abandon the ship was that Ian knew their ship had not been reinforced or modified in any way. Once the Knock Up Stream burst out from below the sea surface, the fragile ship would immediately be crushed to pieces. Only by getting onto the Straw Hat Pirates’ ship could they have a chance of avoiding the upcoming disaster.

Of course, Ian didn’t have time to explain this to Reiju, but fortunately, she didn’t ask any questions and just followed closely behind him as he flew with the two others.

At this time, Luffy and Zoro were marveling at the strange celestial phenomenon in the sky. Nami, Chopper, and Usopp already had a sense of impending danger, their faces turning pale. However, Zoro, with his keen eyesight, noticed Ian and the others flying towards them. He couldn’t help but be stunned and asked, “What is that?”

When Ian and the others flew closer and Zoro finally got a good look at Ian, he was shocked to the point of almost dropping his jaw!

With enormous black flaming wings spreading from his back, Ian landed on the deck of the Merry Go with Robin and Matthew in his arms, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

‘’Thank goodness we made it!’’

Reiju also landed on the deck, her face etched with exhaustion as she set down the heavy Doroni, then she tried catching her breath…

“You…you guys…” Zoro trembled, pointing at Ian. “How did you end up here!?”

Ian was furious at this point and couldn’t help but punch him on the head, shouting, “How dare you ask us why we’re here!? You almost got us killed!”. His eyes were blazing with anger

Ian was really speechless by his karma. Luffy and the others could have gone to Sky Island earlier or even later, but nooo… it had to happen until Ian and the others sailed into this area… Now Ian and the others were dragged into this mess.

Zoro clutched his head in pain after being hit by Ian’s powerful punch, while Luffy giggled and said to Ian, “Ian, you came just in time! We’re going to Skypiea! Can you believe it, an Island in the Sky!”

Luffy spoke like a child showing off his new toy, his teeth and eyes gleaming with excitement. Only Chopper and Nami were relieved to see Ian’s appearance as if they had found a savior. They rushed over and hugged him. Chopper held onto his thigh, and Nami clutched his waist as she looked up at Ian with teary eyes, pleading, “Ian Sama, you came in time to save us! Please stop Luffy!”

Ian turned his head to look at the sea and chuckled bitterly, “It’s too late now. We can’t stop him.”

Everyone followed Ian’s gaze and saw a massive whirlpool forming on the sea ahead. It was so huge that it covered the entire horizon. Unfortunately, the center of the whirlpool happened to be where Ian’s ship was located. As soon as the whirlpool formed, the previous ship that Ian and his team were on was immediately swallowed up without even a splash.

The group stared in shock at the scene before them. Robin and Reiju broke out in cold sweat, realizing that if they had been a moment too late, they would have been buried at sea with the other ship.

Now, the whirlpool’s impact had reached the Merry Go, but because they were on the edge, the ship was merely being swept along by the rapid water flow, circling around in a frenzy.

During this circling process, a colossal body appeared in the vortex – a sea king caught in the same force that had controlled them. However, this sea king had no resistance and screamed in agony as it was carried into the center… Then, with a gurgling sound, it was submerged…

Ian heard a chattering of teeth and looked down to see Nami and Chopper, both with faces ashen with fear. Nami hugged him tightly, her eyes brimming with tears.

But Luffy, being the reckless fool that he always is, was still waving goodbye to the apes and monkeys that were not affected by the whirlpool.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!” Nami, Chopper, and Usopp finally screamed, “Why didn’t anyone warn us about the whirlpool!? Spare us! It’s so scary!”

Reiju also looked back nervously at Ian and said, “What should we do? We could be dragged in on this ship too!”

Ian looked at the number of people and could only shake his head. Only he and Reiju had the ability to fly, and they couldn’t take so many people with them. So he said, “Leave it to fate! If something happens and the ship sinks, we’ll just have to save as many people as we can,”

Although he knew that Luffy and his group had the help of the apes and monkeys, and perhaps they could fly to the sky island using the Knock Up Stream, no one knew if their appearance would cause a butterfly effect and lead to their failure.

Just at that moment, the sky was shrouded in darkness, and the sea in this area turned completely black. And the Merry Go was being drawn closer and closer to the center of the whirlpool!

“Wow-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! We gonna fall!” Usopp screamed hysterically, thinking that the entire pirate group was about to end. However, just at that moment, the entire sea suddenly became calm, as if the enormous vortex had been a mere illusion, disappearing abruptly.

“What… what just happened!?” The people were terrified, not understanding what was going on.

“No! This is wrong!” Nami, the navigator, rushed to the edge of the ship and looked down at the sea below. Her face turned pale as she said, “The vortex didn’t disappear! It just moved to the bottom of the sea!”

“Quickly, Luffy!” Usopp seized Luffy by the collar at this moment and said urgently, “Turn the ship around now, we need to escape from this forbidden place!”

However, Luffy looked unwilling as he shook his head, like an old man staring at Usopp.

It seemed like even the heavens wanted to help Luffy, as the distant ape suddenly shouted loudly to them, “Be careful! The knock-up stream is coming!”

As he finished speaking, the people suddenly realized that the water around them seemed to be sinking.

However, this was not sinking, on the contrary, it was the sea surface where the Merry Go was located, slowly rising! This created the illusion of the water sinking.

“Hold on tight!” Ian saw this scene and was shocked. He shouted to everyone, “Hold on to any immovable object, the impact will be tremendous!”

Hearing his shout, even Nami and the others who were terrified, followed Ian’s instructions.

Just as they grabbed onto something, the Knock Up Stream finally erupted completely! A force that could destroy the heavens and the earth suddenly lifted thousands of tons of seawater from the bottom of the sea! The sudden Knock Up Stream shot straight into the sky from the sea surface!

And the people on the ship felt a strong pressure hit them, pressing them tightly to the deck, they were unable to move.

Suddenly, the Merry Go was lifted into the air by the towering wave, crashing through the clouds above. The sight was awe-inspiring, which looked like the spray from a cannonball landing in water, only much much larger and covering the sky.

When the intense pressure subsided, the passengers realized that the ship was now headed skyward, riding a spiral wave that twisted higher and higher. “Hahaha, this is so much fun!” Luffy laughed carelessly. “Come on, Merry! Let’s see how high we can go!”

However, their joy was short-lived as Nami and the others noticed that the ship was drifting away from the surface of the wave and beginning to float, while at the same time, the crew members struggled to keep their grip on anything solid!

Usopp was the first to lose his grip; the railing he was holding onto suddenly snapped, and he was blown out of the ship by the hurricane. “Usopp!!!” Sanji and the others who saw this couldn’t help but shout, and Zoro reached out a hand to try to catch him, but he missed by a hair’s breadth!

“Fool!” cried Ian as he watched Usopp hurtle toward the clouds. His Flame Wing flapped hard, and he flew out, reaching out to catch Usopp.

However, in just that split second, the distance between the Merry Go and Ian grew wider and wider…