This sudden change brought the villagers, who had been struggling to resist, to a standstill.
"It's Della! Della has been captured."
"These damn pirates are so cunning!"
"What do we do now?"
"Della!"
Village Chief Martin, in particular, panicked upon seeing his granddaughter captured.
He dropped his pitchfork, his face filled with bewilderment while looking at his held granddaughter, then at Ian, who had also stopped. "Ian…"
But he only managed one word before stopping.
As the village chief, he knew that if he spoke carelessly now, he would surely endanger everyone.
Ian didn't respond to Village Chief Martin's call. He simply stopped, frowning at the captain of the Giant Bear Pirates, and sighed inwardly.
Sure enough… He's still lacking strength!
If not for a hostage, he would have already cut these guys down, but with the current situation, nothing could change the fact of his insufficient strength.
Ian pondered for a moment, unsure whether to lay down his weapon.
He didn't care about weapons.
These pirates… Even without weapons, he could easily beat them to death with his bare hands.
The two sides immediately engaged in a standoff.
At this moment, Robin, who had also run down, saw this scene. Seeing that a pirate was holding the little girl who had declared war on her at noon, her brow furrowed.
Her hands unconsciously crossed over her chest, but froze again for a split second.
What is she doing?
Her eyes were filled with confusion, as if she couldn't understand why she was doing this.
But a voice in her head kept urging her to use her ability; if she did, it would solve the problem.
But what ability?
Just as Robin grit her teeth, ready to try whatever her ability was, Ian spoke with an expressionless face: "I can put mine down. But how will you guarantee you won't hurt the hostage?"
"I'm the captain of the Giant Bear Pirates. I never lie. If you lay down your weapons and let us go."
Giant Bear spat on the ground with disdain and snorted. "I'll let her go!"
"Okay!"
Without hesitation, Ian threw his axe.
"Ian! Don't listen to pirates!"
Seeing this, the villagers all showed a hint of panic, including Village Chief Martin.
"He's lying! Pick up that axe!"
However, as soon as they spoke, things happened as feared.
"Hahaha, there's actually a Marine who listens to pirates. What an idiot!"
Seeing the monster actually drop its weapon, Giant Bear laughed heartily again. His expression changed again, becoming ferocious, and he roared without hesitation: "Everyone, charge! Kill this bastard!"
"Aye, captain!"
The pirates, already prepared, rushed forward without hesitation, all with ferocious grins.
"Ian!"
But before the villagers and Robin could react, their faces changed.
Bang!
Ian's eyes narrowed, and he grabbed one of the pirates who had rushed forward with a single hand.
His right hand, with veins bulging out, squeezed the pirate's head tightly, as if holding an orange.
Then he stared at the Giant Bear with a calm gaze, instantly frightening all the pirates, who dared not move forward.
Just as Giant Bear was about to say something.
"Crack!!!"
A crisp sound echoed, and then, under everyone's gaze, Ian casually flung the pirate to the ground.
The pirate, who had charged forward with a sinister smile, was now bleeding profusely, his face becoming even more terrifying as he lay motionless on the ground.
He had been crushed to death by Ian's hand.
Everyone stared at the figure in front of them in horror.
Damn it! How could a West Blue Marine be that powerful?
"Release her and leave!"
Ian said expressionlessly while staring at the terrified pirates. "Or all of you die here."
Hearing this, Giant Bear swallowed hard. Looking at that calm expression, terror filled his heart. At last, gritting his teeth, he growled: "We're leaving!"
"Captain!"
"Stop talking nonsense! Everyone, get aboard!"
Hearing the crew members about to say something, Giant Bear roared and stared intently at Ian. "I didn't expect someone like you to exist in this remote place. It's my bad luck!"
Without waiting for Ian to reply, once his crew had scrambled aboard in panic, he dragged Della with him toward the ship.
Only when they reached the edge did he throw her aside while shouting loudly: "I'm a man of my word, retired marine!"
Then he kicked a nearby crewman. "Hurry up and set sail!"
Seeing Ian still didn't make a move against them, Giant Bear finally let out a breath of relief and spat into the sea: "What bad luck!"
At this moment…
"Brother Ian, I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Go to Village Chief Martin first."
Ian patted Della, who had run into his arms, then let her go. Looking at the pirate crew already pulling away from the dock, he picked up his axe from the ground and walked toward the shore without expression.
"Dear."
Robin also came up at this time, as if she wanted to say something.
"Wait a moment, and don't let that merchant ship get away; our goods are still on it."
Ian smiled as he spoke, then stood at the shore.
With his legs slightly spread sideways, veins bulged all over his body, and his once loose shirt was suddenly stretched tight by the bulging muscles.
Everyone stared at Ian, who was standing still on the shore, their hearts filled with confusion.
What was Ian doing?
The pirate ship had already sailed far away.
Just as they were wondering… Ian's upper body turned slightly to the right, his right hand holding the axe stretched out behind him.
At that moment, his previously expressionless face hardened, and a cold growl emanated from his mouth: "Dust slash!"
After being offended, the other party still wanted to run away?
And a pirate with only 60 million Belly at that.
If his former colleagues knew this, they would probably laugh him to death.
As Ian's cold words fell, his leaning upper body and right hand simultaneously swung forward, and suddenly…
Whoosh!
Amidst everyone's stunned expressions, a fierce and terrifying flying slash hurled itself towards the pirate ship ahead.
Giant Bear, who had also noticed it, also wore a look of horror, his voice filled with disbelief: "A… A great swordsman?!"
With an unstoppable force and crashing waves, the flying slash struck the ship.
In an instant…
Boom!!!
With a thunderous explosion, a massive hole was cleaved into the ship's center.
Seawater gushed in like giant hands, dragging the ship into the depths of the sea.
At that moment, everyone on the dock and even the despairing Giant Bear Pirates being dragged into the sea stared at the expressionless figure standing on the shore.
One thought echoed in their minds: [Which brainless Marine Branch would let such a monster retire?!]