An unexpected person!

Ian again felt that nagging sensation in the back of his mind. The moment the old man vanished, his mind went on high alert.

He had previously stopped using his observation Haki, so he turned it on again, this time intending to keep it on.

When he did, he again saw the truth.

Previously the cloaked old man had been attacking attempting to bisect Ian with a downward slash.

But upon using his observation Haki, he found the old man attacking him from the right side with a horizontal attack instead of a vertical one.

This was intriguing for Ian. Still, Ian didn't stop the sword or anything. He had his psychic barrier in place at all times.

But this time, his opponent proved to be more adept than Ian's previous opponents…

The barrier lasted for a few seconds before it was bisected and the sword passed towards Ian, who still didn't flinch at all.

'This has just gotten more fun!' Ian thought to himself with a grin on his face.

He then looked at the people at the back.

One of them had fog spreading from him as the center. This was the one that Ian guessed had the illusion ability.

The other person though, was just looking on intensely. His figure standing there a bit lazily.

Ian's hand shout at blinding speeds and caught the sword that was attacking him. He didn't even coat his hand in Haki.

And the sword was suddenly stuck.

The old man was someone proud of his strength, but even he started to struggle and exert his power to continue and injure Ian.

Still… no matter how hard he tried, it didn't budge even an inch.

'Good sword…' Ian thought to himself.

If not for his ridiculous defense, the sword would cut right through him.

"You are pretty strong for an old man!" Ian remarked to his opponent.

"I don't need praise from someone like you!" The old man snorted. Still trying his best to liberate the sword.

Gathering his energy, he coated his sword in Haki and released the energy making Ian release the sword and move a step back.

"Oh! It was not praise old man… There is no way you would be this strong if you were a normal human… I have seen your ruler's kind enough times to know when a human has been contaminated…" Ian explained to him.

This struck a chord with master Rey who was at the very back courtesy of Ian. He first had heard that the supposed leaderless world government had a ruler who was in fact a devil… and now one of the highest people from the world government was in fact a contaminated human, whatever that was. He guessed it meant they were half devils or something…

And indeed just like Ian had said, the strength of the old man was not a joke. And even whitebeard was not this strong at his old age. Even if he was not sick he would not be. This was someone with the strength of the old man in his peak… minus the devil fruit capable of destroying the world.

Even the aura he felt from this old man was not exactly pure like he was used to.

It was blue on the exterior but had a sickly red slushing around on the inside. It felt sick to look at and Ian didn't want to keep looking at it.

'Shit, I was distracted…' Ian realized his mistake as he was suddenly attacked by a fourth member who was playing as if he fainted…

The attack came suddenly from the back. A giant magma fist assaulted him, and Ian hurried to activate his power to guard. Using his telekinetic barrier along with him crossing his arms to shield himself.

Still, the magma fist passed through him with no damage whatsoever…

This made Ian shocked. He thought he was holding his observation Haki on? So how was the illusion able to take effect?

But then he remembered his mistake of letting his guard down and assuming that his observation Haki could guard against these illusions, which lead to the other cloaked person to use it to his advantage. Ian now knew that there was no fourth person and no magma fruit…

And now capitalizing on this the sword-wielding old man came with his own attack.

His sword was as black as the night, but a dep glow of purple was surrounding this black.

An indication of a master of the art of Haki.

If that attack were to hit, Ian's outward defense would have nothing to guard against, as this attack would injure him internally.

His telekinetic barrier proved inadequate earlier, and his elemental form would not be able to do anything as the sword was filled with Haki.

So for the first time in a while now, Ian was forced to actually dodge.

Reforming into lightning, Ian moved leaving a trail of electricity and it appeared as if he teleported away.

In that situation, he would not be able to use his shadow teleportation as it required him to concentrate.

Ian now knew that this situation was quite serious.

That illusion fruit holder was quite troubling to deal with.

So Ian was going to start with him. He was Ian d. Louis, and he would be damned if he let these people get the better of him.

He had already guessed who these people were.

Well, at least the two who had been attacking so far. They should be two elders from the world government.

Their abilities should have been chosen precisely to take care of Ian.

Illusion, plus a master swordsman, that had reached a very high threshold in his swords arts. Since brute force was proved to be inadequate in killing him they brought someone who could attack the mind. Ian really had to give it to Im.

Ian reinforced his barrier around him with many layers. He had been complacent apparently as he had just one layer previously.

He also didn't like the fact that he had been attacked twice now and he came out as the losing side. Even though he was not hurt or anything.

Ian made a note to himself.

A note to show these people who the boss was by going all out.

And just as he thought that Ian again reformed to lightning and neared the sword-wielding old man.

And this time, since Ian was focusing more on the fight, he managed to pick up a sort of fog that was nearly impossible to notice, try to enter his body.

His barrier would not stop gasses from entering. So this explained how he was caught off guard earlier. Since the fog was in his body it proved harder for him to notice the illusion.

Taking his spear out, Ian proved that he was getting serious.

The old man with the sword was abruptly hit with the spear the moment he had seen Ian take his weapon out.

He didn't understand what happened at all. He had just seen him take his weapon out, and suddenly he was flung into the ground getting buried after leaving a trench through it.

The moment he had stopped, the impact resulting from that had him cough up blood.

Then not leaving anytime for the second old man to check what the hell was going on, Ian Had already reformed near him and attacked.

Similar to the sword-wielding elder, this one took a downward slash of Ian and was flung backward, all of his internal organs damaged much like the other elder.

And then suddenly a person appeared in a yellow light and clashed with Ian using a sword made of light.

This was the third person there. He had moved as he too reformed into light and tried to protect the illusion master. But he was too late, as he had thought Ian was going to continue to attack the swordsman now that he had attacked him.

Never did he imagine Ian to be targeting the illusion master all along.

And indeed, for Ian to take care of the sword-wielding old man it would be easy. But this fog illusion person was a bit tricky. So he was the real target.

Still…

"I didn't think that the marines' would even bring you this time… Kizaru!" Ian talked as he interlocked his spear with the light sword belonging to Kizaru!