Chapter 131: The Quiet-Quiet Fruit
The next morning, Konenai came to find Ian. She was holding a white hat with a black rose pinned to it. Behind her followed two people: one was a short, petite girl, and the other was a handsome, weathered-looking middle-aged man.
Konenai first had Ian swap out his current hat for the black-rose one, saying, "This is the symbol of the guard corps. On this ship, you must wear this hat."
Ian nodded, took it, and placed it on his head, folding his original bear-ear hat and putting it in his pocket.
Only then did she introduce the two people behind him. Pointing to the short girl, she said, "This is Walnut."
Walnut was only about as tall as Ian's waist. Though she wore a small suit of armor, she didn't have the black-rose hat. Ian looked at her black hair and black eyes, with two buns tied on her head, and couldn't help but think of Chun-Li. With her cute face, she was absolutely adorable!
Ian felt a sense of familiarity, so he crouched down, smiled, and greeted her, "Hello, little beauty!"
However, unexpectedly, the little girl Walnut looked angry, hands on her hips and pouting, "Little beauty? I think you're not even as old as I am!"
Konenai smiled slightly and said to the embarrassed Ian, "Don't mind her. Walnut looks young, but she's actually twenty-three years old."
Ian's eyes nearly popped out. Damn, he couldn't tell at all!
"Sorry, sorry!" he quickly apologized, but Walnut just snorted and ignored him.
Konenai then pointed to the weathered, bearded middle-aged man and said, "This is Yardy."
Ian reached out his hand and said, "Hello, Uncle!" thinking, *This time I shouldn't get it wrong, right?*
However, the weathered Yardy scratched his head awkwardly and said, "Um, Ian, big brother... I'm only seventeen..."
*Pfft!* Ian nearly spat blood. *What the hell is going on here!?*
These two people's appearances were completely opposite!
Ian looked at Konenai in frustration and found her covering her mouth, snickering. He immediately realized she had deliberately set him up to watch him make a fool of himself.
Yesterday, she seemed like such a serious blonde older sister, but he never expected she had this kind of twisted sense of humor.
"Alright, alright, no more messing around!" Konenai said seriously. "I brought them here just to introduce them to you. On this ship, they are my nominal subordinates, and now you are too. When the time comes, you'll follow us and do whatever you're told. Don't reveal your identity, got it?"
Ian nodded and asked, "When will we reach Mary Geoise?"
"We'll arrive in four days!" Konenai said. "We've already received intelligence that the Marines have finally deployed forces to deal with the criminals planning to loot the Heavenly Tribute."
"Oh?" Ian asked. "Who was deployed?"
"It's Marine Admiral 'Akainu' Sakazuki! Four warships have been dispatched!" Konenai said. "At the same time, the real Heavenly Tribute has been secretly moved. The battle is expected to break out when we arrive at Marineford. No one knows how long it will last, but it will definitely draw the Marines' attention. That's when we'll take the opportunity to ascend to Mary Geoise."
Ian nodded. Kuma had guessed correctly. The World Government and Marines had responded to the group planning to loot the Heavenly Tribute. What surprised Ian was that they hadn't chosen to avoid it but had instead deployed Sakazuki, meaning they intended to forcefully suppress it.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Even if manpower was insufficient, during the World Conference with so many national leaders present, the World Government and Marines probably wouldn't choose to back down. They likely didn't want these leaders to think less of them, so they opted for such a tough stance.
Good. That meant Mary Geoise would have one less Admiral stationed there.
"Once we infiltrate Mary Geoise, you can leave," Konenai said. "We'll each carry out our own missions. If you need anything, contact us, and we'll support you."
"Mm, understood!" Ian nodded.
"Also, when you leave, Walnut will help you," Konenai said with a smile. "Don't let her small size fool you. She's a Devil Fruit user!"
"Oh, really?" Ian looked down at Walnut's two white buns on her head, finding them amusing and wanting to touch them.
"What, you don't believe me?" Walnut saw the look in Ian's eyes and knew what he was thinking. She huffed and reached out, touching Ian.
In an instant, Ian felt a strange force envelop his surroundings, but he couldn't tell what it was. He opened his mouth to ask, "What did you do to me?"
As soon as he spoke, he noticed something strange. He couldn't hear his own voice!
Not only that, but all sounds around him seemed to have vanished. Every noise was gone. Ian saw Konenai across from him open her mouth and smile, saying something, but he couldn't hear a single sound.
"What are you saying!?" Ian was a bit panicked.
Finally, Walnut raised one hand and made a snapping gesture. After that, Ian's ears finally heard sounds again.
"Now you know how powerful I am, right?" Walnut said proudly, looking at Ian.
"Is this... the power of the Quiet-Quiet Fruit!?" Ian finally understood what had happened and couldn't help but exclaim.
"Yes!" Konenai nodded with a smile. "Walnut only got this power recently, but it's very useful, isn't it?"
The Quiet-Quiet Fruit, in Ian's memory, was originally the fruit ability of Doflamingo's brother, Corazon!
The term "Corazon" actually referred to an important position in the Donquixote family, not a person's name. Corazon's real name was Rosinante!
But thinking about it, Ian realized it made sense. The Quiet-Quiet Fruit was indeed Rosinante's ability, but Rosinante, Doflamingo's biological brother, had long been killed by his own brother. Once a Devil Fruit user dies, their Devil Fruit regenerates somewhere in the world. Walnut might have obtained the regenerated Quiet-Quiet Fruit!
This... this was... Ian didn't even know what to say.
"When you act, Walnut will create a quiet field for you. As long as Walnut is fine, this field will persist!" Konenai said. "By silencing your sounds, your movements will be much more convenient!"
This was a great help. Ian couldn't help but ask curiously, "Can this quiet field be selective? For example, silencing my sounds but allowing me to hear others?"
"Of course!" Walnut raised her little face proudly.
With that, Ian felt even more at ease. He looked at Konenai and Yardy and asked, "Are you also ability users?"
Konenai shook her head and said, "Yardy and I are not..."
Walnut spoke for Konenai, "Konenai is the captain of the second squad of the Rose Guard Corps. Her swordsmanship is amazing. Yardy is a big brute; he's incredibly strong."
So that's how it was. Since Konenai was a captain of the guard corps, it would indeed be easier for her to move around on this ship.
After introducing everyone, Ian, Walnut, and Yardy followed Konenai onto the deck for routine patrols.
As they went up to the deck, no one paid much attention to Ian. Just as Konenai had said, there were too many people on this ship. Ian's current appearance was no different from an ordinary guard, so he wouldn't attract notice.
At that moment, under the escort of Marine escort ships, this vessel had entered the current of Enies Lobby. The triangular currents of the World Government all flowed in a fixed direction, forming a circular loop. So they would first pass Impel Down, then Marineford.
Ian had originally wanted to see what Impel Down looked like when they arrived, but he found that only a small part of the prison was above the sea surface; the rest was submerged in the water.
Since he couldn't see it, Ian had no further thoughts. After spending four full days on the ship, they finally saw Marineford.
In reality, Marineford was a large city. Marine Headquarters was just the largest building in that city. When Ian's ship docked at the pier, he could see Marine Headquarters in the distance.
The manpower here was indeed tight. Ian noticed that at three other piers, ships from other countries attending the World Conference were also docked. Since these national leaders or royal families had many accompanying personnel, the Marine inspections seemed quite chaotic.
The king of the Rose Kingdom also disembarked. Ian and Konenai, as guards, followed ashore. As they walked, Ian quietly asked her, "Do you know when the ship carrying the Heavenly Tribute that was supposed to be looted will arrive? And to which Celestial Dragon will the money and goods be sent?"
"I don't know that," Konenai said in a low voice. "But once we're at Mary Geoise, it should be easy to find out. This is a big deal, and many people will probably be talking about it."
Ian nodded and stopped talking, quietly following the procession. Just then, he heard a familiar voice saying, "It's a shame Princess Vivi didn't come this time. I was looking forward to meeting her."
Ian looked over and saw that the speaker was Tina. She was still the same, smoking a cigarette and wearing a coat. But at that moment, she was talking to King Cobra of Alabasta!
Cobra looked worried and said, "Sigh, she probably doesn't have the mood to come. It hasn't rained in Alabasta for a long time. The ongoing drought is worsening, and the people's lives are deteriorating. We almost couldn't scrape together this year's Heavenly Tribute..."
As they spoke, Ian walked past behind Tina, deliberately lowering his hat.
This so-called Heavenly Tribute was essentially extorted from the people of each country. When a country was normal, they could grit their teeth and scrape it together. But when a disaster struck, like drought or flood, it became a huge problem.
However, the Celestial Dragons didn't care about any of that. No matter what, you had to pay the required amount without any mercy. This had led many countries to fall into famine because of the Heavenly Tribute: the people tightened their belts to gather the tribute but ended up with no money to buy food!
Although the Celestial Dragons still appeared lofty and above it all, in reality, the hatred people held for them had accumulated to an unbearable level. Not just non-member countries, but even some member country leaders and royal family members had begun to complain about the Celestial Dragons, though they didn't dare say it openly.
King Cobra of Alabasta was probably one of them...
Princess Vivi was likely already investigating Crocodile's Baroque Works by now.
Ian thought about this as he moved forward with the procession. After a simple inspection, they began to ascend diagonally toward Mary Geoise at the top of the Red Line...