Chapter 157: Establishing the Pirate Crew (Part 2)
Hearing this, everyone on the ship burst into laughter.
Ian laughed too. He thought of the future Supernova, X. Drake, who had once been a Marine Rear Admiral but for some reason later became a pirate. Indeed, compared to that, the identity of a pirate hunter meant nothing!
"Captain!" Dorry scratched his head foolishly and handed over a wanted poster. "You're now a big-time pirate!"
Ian had naturally seen this wanted poster. It was left behind by Jinbe. Not just him, but everyone on the ship had seen it by now.
For some reason, when everyone looked at that wanted poster, a sense of pride swelled in their hearts.
The person on it was their captain! A big pirate with a bounty of over 500 million!
Since they were now part of the pirate crew, the mindset of comparing bounty amounts among pirates had taken root in everyone, including Ian. As he took the wanted poster, he couldn't help but think, *This is my worth!*
Just like famous celebrities, Ian now had a price on his head. The feeling was incredibly satisfying.
The bounty amount represented the World Government's recognition of his threat level and importance. What was most remarkable was that Ian's bounty wasn't the result of evil deeds.
Sometimes Ian thought, *The Celestial Dragons are actually good people too! They give me money, Devil Fruits, fame, and maybe even status in the future. What kind of spirit is this? Even the old man with a white beard in fantasy novels isn't as selfless as them...*
"Besides me, does anyone else have a bounty?" Ian asked them.
A big man raised his hand and said, "Captain, I used to have a bounty of 14 million!"
"Me too! I had 11 million!" another person raised his hand.
Before asking, he didn't know. After asking, he was shocked. Besides Ian, there were several others on the ship with bounties. Although the amounts weren't high—the lowest being only 3 million—there were many of them.
The highest was Sardine! He had a bounty of 60 million!
After asking in detail, Ian learned that most giant warriors from Elbaf, like Sardine, made a living as pirates. A few became mercenaries or joined the Marines.
The Marines had many giants, and they usually held high ranks. This was because giants were a naturally born warrior race. Once they reached adulthood, they possessed formidable combat power. The Marines valued them highly and offered high ranks to those they could recruit. Similarly, for giant pirates, their bounties were also set high.
As for how a warrior like Sardine ended up being captured as a slave, the reason was quite ridiculous. The guy was a heavy drinker—or rather, all giants were heavy drinkers. When he landed on Sabaody Archipelago, he was drugged by human traffickers, tied up, and sold.
Aside from their combat talent, giants were quite simple-minded. Perhaps because they had immense strength and few could harm them, they had little wariness of others.
After tallying up, Ian was somewhat surprised. The total bounty of their pirate crew added up to 670 million!
"Among you, are there any Devil Fruit users?" Ian asked.
This question left everyone exchanging glances. They looked left and right, but no one stepped forward.
This caught Ian off guard. He had thought that with so many people having bounties, there should be at least one Devil Fruit user. But it turned out there wasn't a single one?
It wasn't unreasonable for Ian to ask. In this world, Devil Fruits were like bugs and cheats. Ordinary people might be strong, skilled in combat, or have great physical strength, but without Haki, they were nothing. On the other hand, a Devil Fruit user, even if physically weak, could instantly stand out the moment they gained their ability.
Ian asked about ability users because he wanted to build the crew's executive framework. No matter what, a pirate crew needed some elite individuals to lead the main combat force.
Now, the situation was unexpected.
Although Sardine and the others had decent combat power and could serve as executives, Ian still felt a bit disappointed.
"Wait, I remember there is a Devil Fruit user!" a voice suddenly came from behind.
Everyone turned around and saw Margaret. She was lively and stuck out her tongue, saying, "It's true! It's that Matthew. It's just that he doesn't seem to understand his own ability very well!"
"Matthew? I think I've heard that name before..." Ian pondered.
"Captain, don't you remember?" Margaret widened her eyes. "He's the chef who made your food!"
Ian was stunned, then recalled. "He's a chef?"
"Yes!" Margaret said. "Should I call him over so you can ask him yourself?"
Ian quickly nodded. Soon, Margaret brought the chef named Matthew up.
As soon as he appeared, Ian began scrutinizing him. He noticed that Matthew had a very distinctive appearance. He had long golden hair tied into a braid that hung to one side, resting on the shoulder of his white chef's uniform. He looked quite handsome.
But he had dead fish eyes!
His gaze was dull and lifeless, with big dark circles under his eyes, as if he had been sleep-deprived for a long time. When brought up, he spoke in a slow, drawn-out tone: "Cap...tain... do... you... need... some...thing... from... me...?"
Not just Ian, but everyone else on the ship felt a shiver run down their spines when they heard his tone. That slow, dragging speech made them want to drag him over and punch him just to make him finish his sentence quickly.
Ian asked him, "Are you a Devil Fruit user?"
"I... don't... know..." Matthew replied in that same slow tone.
Ian's teeth ached just listening to him. That kind of speech was pure torture for the listener.
He had to ask Margaret, "Are you sure he's an ability user?"
Margaret nodded. "I'm sure. When I touched him, I noticed that anyone who comes into contact with him inexplicably falls asleep!"
"Oh!?" Ian perked up. "Matthew, touch someone and let me see!"
"O...kay... Cap...tain!" Matthew didn't object. He slowly reached out and touched a big man beside him.
Ian clearly saw that after being touched by Matthew, the man's eyelids began to droop. Soon, he couldn't hold on any longer and fell onto the deck with a thud, snoring loudly.
Instant sleep!?
The people on the ship were horrified and quickly moved away from Matthew, afraid of accidentally being touched by him.
"How... did... he... fall... asleep...?" Matthew asked curiously with his dead fish eyes.
"Don't you realize it yourself?" Ian asked him strangely. Such an ability was definitely a Devil Fruit!
And it might even be a Paramecia-type like the Sleep-Sleep Fruit or the Drowsy Fruit!
But facing Ian's questions, Matthew's slow speech was too frustrating. Ian barely managed to suppress the urge to punch him and finally got the full story from Matthew.
To Ian's surprise, Matthew was a court chef from West Blue, and a very famous one at that. He originally served the royal family of his country. But two years ago, his king luckily obtained a Devil Fruit and wanted to eat it to gain its power. However, this pampered king had heard somewhere that Devil Fruits tasted like feces, so he hesitated.
In the end, the king called Matthew and told him to find a way to cook the Devil Fruit to make it taste better.
Matthew did as he was told. He peeled the Devil Fruit, marinated it with cream and honey, and made it into a fruit pudding for his king.
The taste did improve, but strangely, after eating it, the king didn't gain any Devil Fruit ability.
The king was furious, thinking Matthew had deceived him and swapped the fruit. He immediately threw Matthew into prison. Later, because Matthew's culinary skills were famous, the prison warden sold him to slave traders, and he eventually ended up with the Celestial Dragons.
As Matthew spoke in his slow tone, he wiped away tears. He felt wronged because he hadn't hidden the Devil Fruit or swapped it.
Ian looked at him speechlessly and finally said, "You must have tasted a bite yourself after making the finished product, right?"
Matthew looked up, his dead fish eyes unchanged, but he said in a surprised tone, "Cap...tain... how... did... you... know... I... took... a... bite...?"
"Stop!" Ian couldn't take it anymore and quickly stopped his questioning. But he had figured out the origin of Matthew's Devil Fruit ability.
Chefs always taste their own cooking first. That was normal. But if the dish was a Devil Fruit, that was a different story...
By that logic, your king didn't wrong you after all...
Pulling Matthew aside, Ian studied his Devil Fruit ability further and gained a better understanding of it.
This fruit could be called the Sleep-Sleep Fruit, the Drowsy Fruit, or the Hypnosis Fruit. Matthew's ability was that when his hands touched a living creature, it would be forced into sleep for ten minutes!
This ability could be quite useless because Matthew had to make direct contact with his hands, and as a chef, he had little combat power.
Moreover, this forced sleep could be broken by pain. For example, if someone touched by Matthew was stabbed or punched by someone nearby, the drowsiness would be dispelled.
However, it could also be incredibly powerful.
Ian speculated that if Matthew could use Haki and touch the physical form of a Logia user, then even the three Marine Admirals—Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu—could be made to fall asleep instantly! That was quite overpowered.
Regardless, having Matthew as an ability user improved Ian's mood somewhat.
After getting to know the crew members, the remaining issue was deciding on the pirate crew's name and flag.