Chapter 234: Good Deeds Have Good Rewards
When Ian followed Whitebeard into the palace of the Salamis Duchy, he finally met King Carlos here.
Originally, he thought that anyone who could become a friend of Whitebeard must be a wise and mighty king, especially after hearing about the king's deeds from Marco. That was how Ian had always imagined him.
However, to his great surprise, when he actually met the king, he found that His Majesty Carlos was nothing more than a short, fat man.
He was less than 1.4 meters tall, with a big head and short legs. If it weren't for his cape and crown, Ian wouldn't have believed that such a person could be the king of a country.
If there was one thing worth praising about this king, it might be his beard, which was very distinctive. It was quite bristly, but one side curled upward while the other drooped down. From a distance, it looked like a seesaw was stuck on his mouth.
So when Ian saw Whitebeard laughing loudly, crouching down to hug King Carlos, he even wondered if the reason these two became good friends was because of their beards.
While they reminisced, Ian and the others couldn't interrupt, so they could only idly observe the palace around them.
The palace of the Salamis Duchy wasn't particularly magnificent, but since it was a palace, it was quite large. They were in a hall covered with carpets, with clean and bright corridors on both sides, but there didn't seem to be many guards.
Just as Ian was looking around, he suddenly noticed a girl hiding behind a statue in the right corridor, showing half her face, secretly watching him.
This girl looked to be only about thirteen or fourteen years old, like a big loli. Ian saw that her clothes were elegant, not like a maid's, and he wondered if she might be the princess of the Salamis Duchy.
Although he only saw half her face, Ian could still tell that this girl was very beautiful. And for some reason, that half-face gave him a familiar feeling, as if he had seen her somewhere before.
Especially since this girl kept staring at him with her big eyes, full of excitement.
Just as Ian was tempted to sneak over and see her full face, he suddenly heard a burst of laughter, followed by a voice saying, "Which one is Captain Ian of the Dragon Hunter Pirates?"
Ian turned his head and saw that it was Carlos who had spoken. He stood side by side with Whitebeard, looking very short, but with a cheerful smile on his face.
When meeting a king, of course, not everyone could come in. So only five people were present: Whitebeard, Marco, Ace, Ian, and Fujitora. Whitebeard had apparently already explained to Carlos the real reason the Marines came to Salamis and introduced Ian to him. So although Carlos asked this way, his eyes were fixed on Ian.
Seeing this, Ian had to temporarily set aside the girl and stepped forward to Carlos, saying, "I apologize, Your Majesty Carlos, for causing you trouble this time."
After all, the Marines had come to pursue the Dragon Hunter Pirates, and because of their battle, the port of the Salamis Duchy had been completely destroyed. Although this wasn't Ian's intention, logically and emotionally, an apology was necessary. Ian and his crew weren't the kind of truly vicious pirates who could just walk away.
Fortunately, Carlos was a friend of Whitebeard. With Whitebeard Old Man mediating, Ian thought the Salamis Duchy wouldn't make things difficult for them, at most requiring some compensation.
Sure enough, after Ian apologized, Carlos chuckled and said, "No, you don't need to apologize. Actually, I've been very curious and wanted to see what kind of person you are. You know, there aren't many people in this world who dare to rescue slaves from the Celestial Dragons."
Seeing that Carlos had no intention of holding the Dragon Hunter Pirates accountable, Ian was a bit surprised. Although the Marines had started the fight, Ian and his crew had caused considerable damage to the port. In Carlos's eyes, a verbal apology was enough?
Ian glanced at Whitebeard in surprise. Could their friendship really be that deep?
However, the next second, Carlos revealed his true intention. He smiled at Ian and said, "In fact, I want to thank you in person!"
Was this short fat man crazy? He wanted to thank him?
"Celeste, come out and meet your benefactor!" Carlos said with a smile.
With these words, the girl who had been secretly watching Ian from the side walked out and came before everyone. She very politely bowed to Whitebeard first and said, "Uncle Edward!"
Whitebeard also looked at Celeste in surprise, but then saw her looking at Ian excitedly and saying, "Benefactor, don't you remember me?"
Ian scratched his head in confusion and asked, "You are..."
"Ah, right, you might not remember my face!" Celeste said. "Benefactor, back then, you were the one who rescued me from Mary Geoise!"
Ian suddenly understood. This girl was probably one of the slaves he had rescued from Mary Geoise. But after realizing this, he couldn't help but gasp and said, "You... you're the princess of the Salamis Duchy? How could you also..."
"It's not strange!" Carlos shook his head with a dark expression. "Since we withdrew from the allied nations, Salamis has been constantly raided by pirates. My daughter Celeste was also kidnapped during a pirate attack. Over the years, I've been searching for her whereabouts, but I never expected that she was sold by pirates to the Celestial Dragons as a slave. If it weren't for you, Captain Ian, I might never have seen my daughter again in my lifetime!"
After saying this, Carlos actually bent down and deeply bowed to Ian, saying, "Thank you for saving my daughter!"
Ian was still a bit stunned at this moment, but he quickly helped Carlos up and said, "This... I really didn't expect that even a princess of a country could be treated as a slave by the Celestial Dragons..."
He was indeed very surprised because he never thought he would meet one of the slaves he had rescued here, and that she was actually a princess of a country.
Hearing Ian's words, Carlos gritted his teeth and said, "I only learned about this after my daughter returned. These damned Celestial Dragons, one day, they will pay the price for this!"
Looking at the princess in front of him, Ian asked her, "Um... Celeste, right? How did you get back? Did Jinbe bring you here?"
"Yes, that's right!" Celeste nodded. Although she was young, she seemed very sensible. "It was indeed the Fish-Man Pirates who brought me back, but Jinbe didn't come along. My father wanted to thank him but couldn't."
It seemed that what he had entrusted to Jinbe, he had faithfully carried out.
"So, Captain Ian, you don't need to apologize to us!" Carlos said with a smile. "You have restored the princess to this country. On the contrary, we should thank you."
With that, everything was completely clear. For a moment, even Ian couldn't help but feel that good deeds really do have good rewards.
"Gurararara!" Whitebeard also laughed loudly and said, "This is really interesting!"
But then, Whitebeard glared and said, "Seriously, Brother Carlos, you're too reserved. Why didn't you tell me about Niece Celeste's disappearance? Did you think I couldn't help bring her back!?"
"It's not that!" Carlos reached out and patted Whitebeard's calf, sighing as he said, "Because even I didn't expect at the time that the Celestial Dragons would make a princess of a country into a slave..."
"These Celestial Dragons really are..." Even Fujitora couldn't help but speak up after hearing this, but he couldn't find the words.
"Alright! Let's not talk about these unpleasant past events!" Carlos said with a smile. "Now, the two benefactors of this country are gathered here. This is a day of joy. Please stay here for a while and let me and my daughter entertain you properly."
With his words, music specially used by the Salamis Duchy to welcome honored guests began to play in the palace. Neatly dressed waiters filed out, setting up a long banquet table with a large amount of delicious food.
The welcoming banquet had begun...
....................................
While Ian and the others were happily being entertained in the Salamis palace, far away on the Red Line, Sengoku's mood was extremely gloomy.
"What nonsense!" Sengoku slammed his fist heavily on his desk. He rarely lost his temper, but now he couldn't hold back anymore. "Two Marine Admirals dispatched, and they can't handle a single pirate crew!?"
A Marine intelligence officer stood not far from Sengoku's desk, trembling at the sound of the fist, but still hesitantly reported, "Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Admiral Borsalino just sent another document. The content... the content is an impeachment of Instructor Zephyr. He says... he says it was because of Instructor Zephyr's fault that the Seastone bullets were used by the enemy..."
However, before he could finish, Sengoku straightened up and glared at him, shouting, "Shut up!"
"Ah! Yes!" The Marine intelligence officer was startled and quickly stood at attention and saluted.
Sengoku sat back down in his chair. He realized that sending Kizaru and Zephyr together this time might have been a mistake. Originally, he had only wanted to take this opportunity to help repair their relationship. However, the development of events exceeded his expectations. Not only had the rift between Kizaru and Zephyr not been repaired, but it had deepened even more...