Chapter 16 : Preparing to Go to the Ninja World

After a playful artillery battle like children playing, the navy warship finally approached the ships of the Black Spade Pirates. Soon after, several grappling hooks flew over from the warship, apparently preparing for a boarding battle.

The members of the Black Spade Pirates didn't resist, and although they all picked up their weapons, they didn't seem too serious about it, with everyone still laughing and joking.

"Fire Fist Ace, surrender now!" A heroic-looking female navy officer jumped aboard, wielding a sword with a serious expression.

Youta used his Observation Haki on this female officer and came to a conclusion: weak!

Seriously, what gives this lady the confidence to ask a natural Devil Fruit user like Fire Fist Ace to surrender without any Armament Haki or sea stone weapons? Just because she's wearing sea stone handcuffs on her waist?

Ace scratched his head. "Sorry, but I can't let myself be captured by you before surpassing him!"

"Hmph! Stop making excuses! This time I'll make sure to send you to Impel Down!" The female officer yelled and charged at him.

She jumped, she attacked, she... fell flat on her face.

Well, with that level of strength, daring to come and hassle like this, miss, you're really brave.

Ace, being the type of pirate who doesn't commit real atrocities, otherwise, we'd probably be discussing what to name your child by now, or where to scatter your ashes.

Then followed a round of verbal sparring between the two, and in the end, Ace didn't do anything to this officer named Iska, simply sending her back to the warship.

As for Youta, he didn't even intervene—didn't the other members of the Black Spade Pirates do anything either? Obviously, there's a lot of story behind this, probably with a hint of ambiguity.

But when this female navy officer was thrown back, she glared fiercely at Ace and said, "Don't get cocky, Fire Fist Ace! The next time I come to find the Black Spade Pirates, I'll be a real Navy Vice Admiral!"

Hearing this, Youta couldn't figure out what expression to make. Miss, are you here to arrest pirates or to give them information?

But looking at the strange atmosphere between Iska and Ace, and her complex gaze, Youta decided not to voice his sarcasm.

Forget it, it's become a common practice in the Navy to go easy on pirates, what can a lone pirate say?

What's immediately going to pursue the Black Spade Pirates is a Navy Vice Admiral, so it's probably going to be a tough fight.

At this level of Navy Vice Admiral, there's no difference between headquarters and branches anymore. Branch Vice Admirals are base commanders, and their strength is no less than that of Headquarters Vice Admirals.

In addition, the Double Haki proficiency of Navy Admirals is almost standard. Although Haki isn't an absolute factor of strength, for Ace, a natural Devil Fruit user, whether the opponent can use Armament Haki is definitely a concern.

"It looks like I'm going to have a tough fight just joining the Black Spade Pirates." Youta sighed. He wasn't afraid that Ace would fail. Before encountering Whitebeard, Ace was definitely a prodigy-level figure, and a Navy Vice Admiral definitely wouldn't be his match.

But the other members of the Black Spade Pirates might have to take a beating. These people's strength isn't actually too bad, compared to the average Supernova pirate crew, they might even be considered average.

But compared to the elite officers brought by the Navy Vice Admiral, they're still quite lacking.

By then, it will probably fall on Youta, the second main combat force of the Black Spade Pirates, to shoulder the main responsibility.

...

"Is this the Island of the Jungle? Feels a bit like a Maya city." Youta murmured as he looked at the approaching island. The route taken by the Black Spade Pirates was different from that of the Straw Hat Pirates, so their arrival at the island was different too.

This is a very obvious summer-type island in the Grand Line, with large tropical rainforests. And there are buildings that look like pyramids, quite unique.

"Alright, everyone rest on this island. We'll gather at the pier in a week."

"This time, Mihawk will watch over the ship. If there's any situation, just use the Den Den Mushi to contact me. The rest of you can go and have fun." After Ace finished speaking, the crew of the Black Spade Pirates cheered.

Sailing in the world of pirates sounds very romantic, but life at sea is actually very boring and monotonous. What's truly interesting are the different sights of the islands.

Even in the original manga, the journey of the Straw Hat Pirates at sea is just a passing glance, with most of the story focusing on their adventures on different islands.

It's no wonder that the crew of the Black Spade Pirates, who have been stuck on the ship for almost a month, are so excited.

As for Mihawk, the one watching the ship, he's the ultimate otaku among otakus. Youta has been with the Black Spade Pirates for so long, and has only seen him once on the deck, when Ace introduced him to the crew when he first joined.

So letting him watch the ship, he's not angry at all, but rather very happy.

Youta was originally going to remind Ace that there's a Navy Vice Admiral's ship chasing after them, so they should keep all the crew members together. In case the Vice Admiral catches up, it would give them a chance to break out.

But then he thought again, besides himself and Ace, the other crew members are basically just ornaments. Even if they were caught, it wouldn't matter much. As long as Ace defeats the Navy Vice Admiral, he can naturally rescue them all.

"But now that we've landed, I can also take care of my own business. Seven days should be enough for me to get the practice methods for those ninja scrolls from the black market."

Yes, Youta has decided to go to the ninja world's black market to buy some ninja scrolls. Besides the Belly from the world of pirates, he also has a lot of gold, a hard currency, so buying some B-rank ninja scrolls should be more than enough.

Of course, the ninja scrolls in the black market are at most B-rank, and even if there are A-rank ninja scrolls, most of them are widely circulated, not very practical.

Some top-secret level ninja techniques don't circulate in the black market at all, and even those B-rank ones are common and popular.

Techniques like Lightning Armor, Light Heavy Rock Technique, Heavy Rock Technique, are definitely not possible, at most some Water Dragon Bullet, Earth Dragon Bullet, Water Flow Wall and other techniques.