Chapter 257: Extremely Fortunate!
To be honest, since entering the Grand Line, Ian had visited quite a few islands, but the ones he had arrived at were mostly peaceful. An island currently engulfed in war like this was a first for him.
The reason he judged it to be a war was the sheer number of dead. The corpses in the sea were one clue, and the cannonball scars on the island were another.
Facing such an island, with so many unknowns, Ian and his crew didn't dare let their guard down. After some discussion, they decided to leave a portion of the crew to guard the ship, with Vice Captain Fujitora staying aboard to prevent any attacks on their vessel. Ian would take half of the combat-capable members to go ashore and investigate.
The spot Ian's ship approached didn't have a port, so while still at a slight distance, Ian and twenty-five members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates boarded a small boat.
Saladin and Dorry, being large in stature, naturally didn't fit on the small boat. Ian brought Zeke and the others along.
As they rowed toward the shore, Zeke took the opportunity to examine the corpses floating near the small boat and said, "Captain, this sea battle didn't happen long ago—about three or four hours back. There might still be fighting on the island, so we need to be careful."
"Yeah," Ian nodded and said, "Everyone, check your weapons and make sure you're ready to fight at any moment."
The crew acknowledged and began inspecting their swords, guns, and other gear. About ten minutes later, Ian and his group landed. The landing point was a sandy beach. The sand, originally golden, was now stained red with blood. Several bodies lay scattered haphazardly at the edge of the beach. After getting off the boat, Ian crouched down to examine them and found that most of the dead were dressed like commoners. Their clothes were tattered, and their hands and feet bore bloodstained abrasions from shackles.
Scattered around these dead individuals were their weapons—very few guns, and the occasional one was just the most basic pistol. The rest were tools like mining picks, iron shovels, and some swords and blades.
"Slaves?" As soon as the Dragon Hunter Pirates members saw their appearance, their expressions turned grim.
Ian's face darkened as well as he looked at the other bodies. There were also a few corpses that looked like pirates on the beach, but their numbers were very small.
Without needing deep deductive reasoning, Ian quickly figured out what had happened on the beach. Those pirates must have been chasing these people who looked like slaves. The slaves had desperately fled to this beach, trying to swim away to escape, but they had likely failed. A skirmish had broken out on the beach, and all the slaves had been killed, while the pirates chasing them had only suffered minimal losses.
This left Ian puzzled. If the island had been plundered by pirates, the dead should have included all sorts of people—civilians, women, children—all possible. But oddly, almost all the dead were able-bodied men, and they all looked like slave laborers. What was going on?
Zeke walked over and shook his head at Ian, saying, "Captain, no survivors..."
"Let's go deeper and take a look," Ian said.
The group followed behind Ian as they moved forward. Beyond the beach was a dense forest, but scattered sporadically within it were more corpses. These bodies paved a path, guiding Ian and his crew in the direction they needed to go.
Many wild beasts in the jungle, attracted by the smell of blood, were tearing at the corpses. When they saw Ian and the others appear, they roared and charged at them.
Ian walked at the front, his hand resting on the sword hilt at his waist. Every beast that lunged at him was slain one by one. At first, the beasts attacked wildly, but after Ian killed a significant number, the remaining ones realized this group was not to be trifled with. They let out low, whimpering growls and slowly backed away.
Seeing the beasts retreat, Ian paid them no more attention and led the group out of the dense forest. The first thing they saw was a tragic scene.
In the valley below the forest, there had once been a village, but it had now been brutally razed by pirates. The entire village was filled with swirling smoke, and some fires that hadn't been extinguished yet were still burning. The ground was littered with all kinds of corpses.
Ian hurriedly led the group down toward the valley. Once they entered the village, he immediately ordered everyone to spread out and search for survivors.
Zeke and the others acknowledged and dispersed. Ian also rushed into one house after another, beginning his own search.
He found the largest house and went inside. It was covered in blood, with several bodies lying on the floor. Ian checked them and found they had already breathed their last. He shook his head and continued searching deeper inside.
But just then, he heard a sound of wind behind him. Ian's heart tightened, and he instantly drew his sword to block behind him.
With a clang, Ian's blade caught an incoming longsword. It was a knight's sword, stained with blood. Thinking it was an enemy, Ian was about to swing back at the attacker, but as his blade was about to reach them, he let out a surprised sound and quickly pulled back!
The person before him was a woman clad in a suit of knight's armor. Though her face was covered in blood, Ian recognized her at a glance!
"Ko... Konenai!? How is it you!?"
Ian was stunned. He never imagined he would see Konenai here!
And Konenai, after swinging her sword, had also recognized Ian. Hearing him call her name, a smile appeared on her face, and then she collapsed with a crash toward Ian.
Ian quickly caught her, but as he wrapped his arms around her, his hands came away covered in blood from her back.
Konenai had fainted. It was due to a shocking wound on her back. She seemed to have been slashed heavily from behind, and even her knight's armor had been cut open, the injury severe.
Ian knew she was likely in a state of excessive blood loss. If he didn't save her soon, she would die. So he quickly switched to the Orihime Inoue card and began treating her.
The Orihime Inoue card could reject damage, thereby healing injuries. But Ian had tried it before—this rejection ability had its limits. If a person had already died, even using this card couldn't bring them back to life.
Fortunately, Konenai wasn't dead. With Ian's continuous output of Psychic Power, he finally pulled her back from the brink of death. Under the light of the Twin Heaven Return Shield, not only did the wound on her back disappear, but the armor on her back was also restored.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Ian gently patted Konenai's bloodstained face and finally woke her up.
"I... Ian!?" Konenai opened her eyes, and upon seeing Ian, she looked at him in disbelief. "What I saw before... it wasn't an illusion!?"
"Of course it wasn't an illusion!" Ian said with a smile. "Don't worry, you're fine now!"
Konenai sat up and moved her arms and legs. Finding that the injury on her back was indeed gone, she finally relaxed and said, "Ian, I've finally waited for you!"
"What do you mean?" Ian asked, puzzled. "I was wondering how I ran into you here. Were you waiting for me all this time?"
Konenai nodded and said, "Yes, we received orders from the Revolutionary Army high command to come here and wait to rendezvous with you. But we never expected to wait for a whole month!"
This likely traced back to the incident on Salamis Island. Revolutionary Army leader Dragon had appeared on Salamis Island, but he hadn't shown himself to Ian at the time, so Ian didn't even know about it. Dragon had originally come because he received a report from Kuma, worried that Ian might run into trouble under the attack of two Marine Admirals. He wanted to lend a hand, or at least help them escape at a critical moment.
But due to the appearance of the Whitebeard Pirates, Ian was fine. Dragon quietly left and contacted other Revolutionary Army officers, dispatching Konenai and her group to rendezvous with Ian.
The purpose of the rendezvous, needless to say, was to return the identity chip to Ian. At the same time, as per the original plan, a fake identity chip made by the Revolutionary Army would also be handed over.
Originally, Konenai and her group were supposed to come find Ian right after the World Conference ended, but they were delayed waiting for the fake identity chip to be made.
Back then, Dragon guessed that the Dragon Hunter Pirates might not stay long on Salamis Island, and based on the Log Pose, their next destination was likely this island. So he sent Konenai and her group ahead to wait for Ian.
However, what Konenai and her group didn't expect was that this wait would last a full month.
Because Ian and his crew had stayed on Salamis Island for a month. If not for Ian's sudden assassination of Teach, they might have stayed even longer.
It was a stroke of luck. If Ian had delayed even one more day and arrived here, he probably wouldn't have seen Konenai alive...
After hearing the full story from Konenai, Ian couldn't help but gasp in shock!
This... this was truly...
Ian didn't know how to describe it all. It felt like fate had ordained it. If he had been one step too late, the consequences would have been unimaginable!
It was easy to imagine that Konenai definitely wouldn't have carried the identity chip on her. She would have hidden it somewhere. If Ian arrived and Konenai was dead, the location where the chip was buried would become a secret, never to be found.
At that point, the World Government had granted Ian the status of a Seven Warlord of the Sea, but if he couldn't produce the identity chip... well...