Chapter 236: The Hard-to-Treat Whitebeard
While Fleet Admiral Sengoku was racking his brains, Ian and his Dragon Hunter Pirates were enjoying a grand vacation.
When they learned that Princess Celeste of the Salamis Duchy was actually a fellow escapee from Mary Geoise, everyone in the Dragon Hunter Pirates immediately treated this country as their own home. After Ian finished healing their injuries, they went wild on the island.
Looking back, since escaping from Mary Geoise and forming the pirate crew, no one on the ship—including Ian—had ever truly rested. They had been stuck in a cycle of fighting, fleeing, and sailing. But now, after repelling the pursuit of a Marine Admiral, everyone finally breathed a huge sigh of relief. They knew that, in the short term, the Marines wouldn’t send anyone else after them.
So, taking advantage of this opportunity, they all planned to rest and recuperate properly.
With Princess Celeste around, Margaret and the other girls on the ship quickly became close friends with her. Under her guidance, they spent their days wandering through the various shopping streets of Salamis Island, shopping and having fun. Meanwhile, Ian and the men explored the country’s cuisine, taverns, entertainment venues, and casinos. Ian gave each of them a generous allowance and let them do as they pleased.
So, what was Ian doing?
On the private sunny beach of King Carlos on Salamis Island, the blue sea gently lapped against the golden sand in waves, while a breeze rustled through several tall coconut trees. It was a refreshing coastal scene. Yet, in the midst of this beautiful view, no one was enjoying the seawater. Instead, a huge beach umbrella had been planted in the sand.
Under the umbrella, a square table had been set up. Ian, Fujitora, Ace, and Marco were gathered around it, noisily shuffling mahjong tiles.
That’s right—Ian had fulfilled his promise to Uncle Fujitora by creating mahjong, a game that didn’t exist in this world’s various gambling methods.
This was why Ian didn’t like gambling. Aside from mahjong, he had no clue how to play other games like Texas Hold’em or Blackjack, so how could he develop a love for them?
But mahjong was different…
With the right materials, Ian could easily carve an entire set of mahjong tiles. After enthusiastically teaching Fujitora the rules and dragging Ace and Marco into the game, the four of them only needed a few rounds to become completely addicted to mahjong.
Fujitora was probably the happiest of them all. Unlike other gambling games, mahjong allowed him to identify the tiles by touch even though he was blind!
Once he got the hang of it, Fujitora’s tile-handling technique looked like that of a seasoned veteran.
“Slap!” Fujitora picked up a tile, rubbed it lightly with his middle finger, then slammed it down on the table with a resounding thud. He laughed heartily and declared, “Two Bamboo! Self-drawn pure suit! I win!”
He swept his tiles down onto the table, and as Ian, Ace, and Marco sighed in defeat, he cheerfully collected the money.
In the past, Fujitora had always lost nine out of ten bets. Besides having bad luck, he was often cheated because he couldn’t see. But now, playing mahjong felt like divine intervention. In just a few rounds, Ian, Ace, and Marco had lost so much their faces turned green! It seemed like Fujitora was unleashing decades of pent-up gambling luck all at once.
The one-month gambling bet between Ian and Fujitora had long since expired, but Fujitora never mentioned leaving. He had now fully accepted his role as the Dragon Hunter Pirates’ First Mate.
Ian couldn’t help but wonder if Fujitora was worried that if he left, no one would play mahjong with him.
If he remembered correctly, Fujitora originally loved betting on dice. But now, Ian had successfully shifted Fujitora’s hobby…
Not just Fujitora—even Ace and Marco, despite losing until their faces were green, still shuffled and stacked the tiles with a clatter, ready to continue the battle.
On the beach, instead of enjoying the sunbathing and seawater, they were openly gambling under an umbrella—a real mood killer. But there was no helping it. Of the four people around the mahjong table, only Ian wasn’t a Devil Fruit user. Could they really expect them to swim in the water? So this so-called royal private beach was completely wasted.
“Red Dragon!” Ian played a tile and asked Ace, “Has the Marines sent any news to Whitebeard Old Man yet?”
“No,” Ace shook his head. “But the Pirate Hunter Squad came once and gave Old Man a Den Den Mushi. Zephyr contacted Old Man once, but it seems they didn’t reach an agreement.”
Over the past few days, Ian had learned about the detention of Zephyr’s students, Ain and Binz. When he heard about it, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Initially, Ian hadn’t planned to capture them—he only subdued them to prevent these two Ability Users from causing trouble and inflicting too many casualties on the Dragon Hunter Pirates.
But then, unexpectedly, Baby-5 and Ace had tied them up one after the other.
Ain and Binz were a Rewind-Rewind Fruit user and a Bloom-Bloom Fruit user, respectively. Ain’s Rewind-Rewind Fruit ability was especially fascinating. If possible, Ian would have liked to recruit them into his crew.
Unfortunately, he knew it was impossible. Ain and Binz’s respect for Zephyr was something he couldn’t change.
So Ian temporarily set aside that idea. After meeting them briefly, he handed the matter over to Whitebeard for full handling.
Fortunately, Ain and Binz behaved themselves. Knowing who they were up against, they gave up any thoughts of escape. With the entire Whitebeard Pirates stationed on the island, they had no way out. Perhaps Zephyr had also instructed them to prioritize their own safety. Seeing their cooperation, Whitebeard didn’t make things difficult for them, allowing them to move freely on the island with only two people assigned to watch them.
After hearing Ace’s answer, Ian nodded and said nothing. He guessed that the Marines and the World Government were probably discussing a solution internally. After all, after the last incident on Stripe Island, Whitebeard, in a rage, had sent people to destroy one of the Marines’ fortresses. If they didn’t give Whitebeard an explanation this time, it wouldn’t just be a fortress at stake.
It might even mean that all of the Marines’ visible forces in the New World would come under attack from the Whitebeard Pirates…
This was probably the Marines’ biggest headache right now. If they had actually captured the Dragon Hunter Pirates, then provoking Whitebeard would have been worth it—at least the goal would have been achieved. But now, not only had they failed, but they had also angered Whitebeard, this harbinger of doom.
At that moment, Marco spoke up, asking Ian, “Ian, about that thing you mentioned last time—we tested it, and the results weren’t too good…”
“Oh?” Ian’s interest was piqued, and he pressed further, “How so?”
When Baby-5 had accidentally captured Ain, Ian had come up with an idea. Although Whitebeard had stepped in this time to help force back the Marines mainly because of Ace’s plea, Ian still felt he owed Whitebeard a big favor and needed to find a way to repay it. So he had mentioned Ain’s Rewind-Rewind Fruit ability to Marco and the others.
Whitebeard was indeed getting old, and his physical condition was deteriorating day by day. Marco and the other adopted sons saw this and were deeply worried. So when they heard about Ain’s Rewind-Rewind Fruit ability, their eyes lit up.
Ian’s suggestion at the time was to have Ain try using her ability on Whitebeard once.
However, now that Marco was explaining, Ian realized things weren’t as simple as he had imagined.
Whitebeard’s declining health had multiple causes. Age was certainly the main factor, but besides that, there were injuries from his youth and the influence of his own Devil Fruit ability!
The injuries from his youth were a minor issue. The most troublesome factor was the impact of his own Devil Fruit ability!