Chapter 213: The Great Salamis War (Part 4)
The Mohawk-haired man quickly contacted his companions in the Whitebeard Pirates, informing them that the Dragon Hunter Pirates had landed in the Salamis Duchy.
Ace had been searching for Ian's whereabouts all this time. Upon hearing this news, he was overjoyed and asked the Mohawk-haired man to tell Ian to wait in the Salamis Duchy for two days. Whitebeard Old Man and he would both come here.
After receiving the message, Ian figured two days wasn't long, so he settled in to wait.
During those two days, the members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates had a blast in this country. As a resort destination, the Salamis Duchy had every kind of entertainment imaginable. Margaret and a group of girls went on a massive shopping spree in the commercial district, dragging Baby-5 along with them.
Baby-5 initially acted tsundere, not wanting to go, but Margaret had learned Ian's trick and simply used the word "please," easily pulling her away.
There was also a large amusement park on the island. Though not as magnificent as the one on Sabaody Archipelago, it still attracted many people. Dorry was the most excited about it and immediately dragged a bunch of people to play there.
Here, even though they were of different races, they didn't need to worry about being kidnapped or captured.
Fujitora took some money from Ian and headed to the casino. The casino on this island was the legitimate kind, but Ian was still worried about Fujitora, so he had Zeke and the others accompany him.
As for Ian himself, he wandered around the island alone.
Ian considered himself a bit of a foodie, so he mostly searched for restaurants on the island. Since he had money on him, whenever he saw a place with a decent crowd, he'd go in and order their signature dishes.
While eating, Ian would think of Ace and couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
If that guy were here, he'd probably pull off another one of his "rampage of eating and ditching" acts again...
Besides wandering around looking for food, Ian also found a tattoo shop on the island.
Once he saw the tattoo shop, Ian couldn't move. He looked down at his two clean white arms and walked into the shop without hesitation.
Because the Black Dragon Wave was nurtured in his right arm, even though it was wrapped in the special cursed bandage, some heat still leaked out. Not much, but enough to ruin the sleeve on his right arm. Ian also had a slight obsessive-compulsive tendency—he felt uncomfortable with one sleeve and none on the other—so he simply tore off both sleeves.
As a result, Ian hadn't worn clothes with sleeves for a long time. His arms were now well-proportioned and muscular, but they looked a bit plain.
So, taking this opportunity, Ian had his crew's Jolly Roger tattooed on his left arm.
The tattoo artist was skilled. After it was done, Ian looked in the mirror and felt satisfied. Now, with the crew emblem on his left arm and the Black Dragon Wave on his right, it was somewhat symmetrical.
As he walked out of the shop, Ian noticed a commotion on the street ahead. A crowd had gathered around something.
Having nothing else to do, Ian went over to check it out. Pushing through the crowd, he saw three men who looked like pirates kicking and punching a young man wearing a hat on the ground.
Though the young man was being beaten by three burly guys, he curled up on the ground, desperately protecting something in his arms.
Ian didn't bother with the matter; he knew there were peace officers here.
Sure enough, not long after, a squad of soldiers in unique uniforms arrived. These were the guards of the Salamis Duchy. As soon as they appeared, they pulled the three men apart and tried to arrest them.
But the three pirates immediately raised their hands and said, "We're not causing trouble! It's this guy's fault—he was secretly taking photos of the girls in our crew!"
The guards were taken aback. They knew pirates on this island generally didn't dare cause trouble easily. If these three were beating this guy in the street, it might be as they said.
So the guards sternly pulled the beaten young man up and asked, "You were taking secret photos!?"
"I wasn't taking secret photos!" the young man said, blood streaming from his nose but still shouting loudly. "I'm a reporter! A reporter from the News Coo!"
Ian was surprised and looked down, seeing that what he had been protecting in his arms was indeed a camera.
"A reporter!?" The guards were stunned, but then frowned and said, "Don't you know this island doesn't welcome people from the World Government?"
Most reporters in this world belonged to the News Coo, a large newspaper group supervised by the World Government. Ian didn't know the exact name, but he knew the News Coo birds that sold newspapers worldwide were part of this group. They were under World Government control, issued Marine wanted posters, and cooperated with the World Government to suppress sensitive news.
Though thanks to this News Coo, people around the world could get fresh news and learn about new pirates, those who knew its background didn't exactly welcome it.
The Salamis Duchy was one of them.
The guards immediately tried to confiscate the young man's camera. Unwilling to give it up, he resisted, and during the struggle, his camera fell to the ground with a crack and broke.
Seeing the camera was ruined, the guards stopped bothering him, only warning, "You're welcome as a tourist, but you're forbidden from reporting or interviewing in this country. If we find out, we'll arrest and deport you immediately!"
Since the Salamis Duchy was a non-member state of the World Government, who knew how these reporters might write about it?
The guards left, and the young man sat on the ground, tears streaming as he stared at the broken camera, unable to get up for a long time.
Curious, Ian walked over, crouched in front of him, and said, "The camera's broken. Can't you just apply for a new one from your newspaper?"
"No!" the young man said without looking up. "I'm still an intern reporter. I haven't gotten any good news in a long time. I'll probably be fired when I go back this time, and I'll have to pay for the camera myself!"
Ian didn't know what to say and just asked, "If you can't find news, you go around taking pictures of female pirates?"
"You don't understand..." The young man looked up at Ian. "Who wants to see those fierce-looking male pirates? But female pirates are different—sexy, bold! Many readers love seeing female pirates!"
Ian couldn't help but roll his eyes. This guy was basically the paparazzi of this world, wasn't he?
"Even if you want to take pictures of female pirates, sneaking around like this will get you killed one day!" Ian said. "Why don't you find an excuse, like asking them to be a magazine cover, and take pictures openly?"
The young man was stunned for a moment, then suddenly slapped his forehead in realization. "Yeah! Why didn't I think of that!?"
Shaking his head, Ian got up and left. He felt this intern reporter was a bit dumb and not fun.
But after Ian left, he didn't see the young reporter staring at his back, lost in thought for a long time.
"Huh? Strange, that guy just now... he looks really familiar!" The young reporter scratched his head and muttered to himself. "I feel like I've seen him somewhere before..."
He slapped his forehead. "Come on, think! Ah, right, he has a tattoo on his arm, seems like a pirate..."
Somehow, the young reporter ended up following Ian from a distance.
After walking for a while, Ian noticed the guy following him and turned around displeased. "Hey, kid! Are you tailing me?"
As he spoke, Ian tightened his grip on the Thousand Cherry Blossoms scabbard.
"No!" The young reporter quickly shook his head. "I just think you look familiar, like I've seen you somewhere!"
"Whether you've seen me or not, don't follow me!" Ian said coldly.
"Oh, okay!" Scared by Ian, the young reporter shuddered.
Ian turned to leave again, but just then, he noticed something strange happening on the street.
A large number of Salamis Duchy soldiers suddenly poured out from various street corners. Carrying all kinds of weapons, they rushed forward quickly.
"Hurry, hurry! Follow!"
"Head to the port immediately! Stand guard!"
More and more soldiers emerged, and at the same time, an alarm sounded throughout the street.
The wailing alarm quickly spread across the entire Salamis Duchy. The pedestrians on the street finally reacted, screaming in panic and scattering in all directions!
Ian stared at the scene in shock, then grabbed a passing soldier and asked, "What's going on? Are pirates attacking?"
"Let go!" The soldier shook off Ian's hand impatiently and ran off without looking back, continuing to follow the group toward the port.
A massive number of soldiers were all heading toward the same target—the port. Combined with the alarms sounding everywhere, the first thing Ian could think of was a pirate attack.
But which pirate crew would be bold enough to attack a country? And one under the protection of the Whitebeard Pirates?
Just as he was thinking this, a familiar figure appeared in Ian's field of vision—the Mohawk-haired man!
He also spotted Ian in the crowd and quickly ran over, panting, "Ian... Ian Boss, it's bad! Enemies are attacking!"
"Pirates?" Ian asked.
But the Mohawk-haired man shook his head desperately. "No... no! It's the Marines!"