Chapter 293: Go Back
After bringing everyone to Skypiea and seeing the buildings up close, they were indeed extremely shocked.
In truth, for many people, even if they knew of Skypiea's existence, they might not necessarily have the chance to personally visit and see it. Only some lucky individuals, or perhaps unlucky ones, could stumble upon these sky islands by chance.
Barron Gray Terminal was located ten thousand meters in the sky, where the air was indeed very thin. After coming up, those with weaker constitutions not only found it somewhat difficult to breathe but also had to wrap themselves in thick coats.
However, when Ian announced that he intended to turn this Skypiea into the second territory of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, everyone felt quite excited.
Waldo was especially thrilled. After all, he had once been a colleague of Vegapunk and had seen many advanced technologies, naturally knowing something about ancient technology. But when he personally witnessed the technology of this sky island city, he still couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
When Ian took him and found the windmills used for propulsion in the city, Waldo tinkered and studied them for a while, then nodded to Ian and said, "I estimate there's no problem. As long as there's enough energy, I can repair them and get them working normally."
"Alright, I'll leave it to you then!" Ian said. "Stay on this Skypiea for now."
Since they had brought quite a few people up this time, Ian assigned tasks to everyone, sending them to explore the city. If they encountered anything strange, they were to report it back to him.
After that, Ian took Fujitora to the underground ruins.
To be honest, Fujitora was also seeing a Poneglyph for the first time. Although he couldn't see with his eyes, his Observation Haki could perceive the outline of the stone tablet. Since Observation Haki was more inclined to a kind of "listening" power, when he stood before the underground ruins' stone tablet, he told Ian with great shock that he could hear a vast and ancient sound emanating from it.
"Who could have created this?" Fujitora said, reaching out to touch the inscription while sighing. "What do they want to convey to future generations through these stone tablets?"
"I don't know either!" Ian also looked up at the stone tablet and said, "Perhaps we'll only know when all the secrets are unraveled one day!"
After saying this, Ian said to Fujitora, "Uncle Fujitora, you might have to work hard for a while. Stay on this Skypiea and supervise Waldo as he repairs the city."
Fujitora asked curiously, "What about you? Where are you going?"
"I plan to find someone!" Ian said. "I think I need to figure out what this stone tablet records. If it's important, I'll hide it. But if the content isn't significant, I might use this stone tablet for something."
"Content? Can you find someone who can decipher ancient text?" Fujitora asked in surprise.
He felt that this young man, Ian, was truly hard to understand, often doing astonishing things.
"Of course, you might even know her!" Ian said with a smile. "Her name is Nico Robin! You might have heard of her."
Fujitora frowned and said, "Her? That child who destroyed six warships back then?"
Given Fujitora's age, he had certainly heard of Nico Robin's wanted poster. The World Government offering seventy-nine million Berries for a child had caused quite a stir back then. Many greedy bounty hunters thought a child would be easy to catch and scoured the world looking for Nico Robin. Fujitora, who had been wandering all along, must have heard about it, so he naturally remembered.
The reason Fujitora mentioned it this way was that he didn't seem to know much about the true situation on Ohara. After the World Government used a Buster Call to erase Ohara from the map, they used propaganda to issue a wanted notice for Nico Robin under the charge of "destroying six Marine warships." So, what the world knew was only this crime. Only those truly in the know understood what had happened to this child.
Seeing that Fujitora didn't know Nico Robin's true past, Ian didn't intend to explain it to him for now. He just said, "Yes, it's her. So I might go out to sea for a while. It could take a few months. Please take care of things during this time, Uncle Fujitora."
"Since you've decided, go ahead!" Fujitora said. "I am the First Mate of the pirate crew. With you gone, it naturally becomes my responsibility."
Hearing Fujitora say this, Ian was indeed very pleased. Choosing to bring Fujitora aboard back then was clearly a wise decision. With him holding things down, even if Ian, as captain, left for a while, the pirate crew wouldn't have any problems.
After giving his instructions, Ian fetched paper and ink to make a rubbing of the stone tablet's inscription.
He certainly couldn't carry such a large stone tablet around everywhere, so making a rubbing was the most suitable option. Even so, the final result was a very large sheet of paper.
Folding and storing the rubbing carefully, Ian took a balloon back down to the ground. There were far fewer Dragon Hunter Pirates members here now, but some remained on guard, including Konenai and the others. Ian informed everyone that he would be away for a few months. If anything came up, they should contact Fujitora. If it was truly urgent, they could contact him directly, as Ian had a Den Den Mushi with him.
After everything was settled, Ian set out to sea on a small boat.
The boat he was riding wasn't the crew's warship. That warship couldn't be handled by one person alone. But he wasn't worried. After seeing Ace's small, flame-powered single-person boat back then, Ian had asked Waldo to build him a similar one some time ago.
The difference was that this small boat wasn't powered by flames but by electricity. Ian not only had lightning abilities himself but also had Thunder Stones, so choosing this energy source was the most suitable.
Such a boat didn't involve much technology, and Waldo hadn't put much effort into making it. This was something Ian had prepared for himself. He had originally planned to take this small boat back to the East Blue for a visit, but now he was making it a side trip.
Yes, after being away for so long, Ian felt it was time to go back and see. Ian still didn't know that Kuina had woken up, but he remembered that Zoro's eighteenth birthday was approaching. At that time, the guy would be setting out to sea. Maybe this trip back, he could see him and ask about his recent situation.
With everything sorted, Ian sat on the small boat, furled the sails, and set out.
Back when he first entered the Grand Line, Ian had once wondered how to get out. But later, he realized that once you had enough strength, coming and going from the Grand Line was child's play.
There was no other trick—just take the Calm Belt!
Although the Calm Belt was full of large Sea King nests, because there were no winds or currents, the climate there was very stable. A small boat would normally have weak resistance to wind and waves, but in the Calm Belt, there was no need to worry about these issues. The only things to deal with were the Sea Kings trying to attack him.
But these Sea Kings were no longer a big problem for Ian now. As long as he didn't encounter those extremely massive ones that could capsize the boat, he could take them all down.
So for this voyage, Ian only brought a Den Den Mushi, a permanent Log Pose for Alabasta, and the stone tablet rubbing. He didn't need anything else. He just needed to navigate by the sun and head straight toward the Calm Belt.
The electrically powered small boat, like a high-horsepower motorboat, carved a trail of waves across the sea, speeding forward with the wind and spray hitting Ian's face, making him feel incredibly relaxed.
He suddenly thought of Ace's small boat, then of Hawk-Eye Mihawk's ship, and of Marine Admiral Aokiji riding his bicycle. These individuals were all able to travel the Grand Line alone using their own power. And now, Ian had become one of them.
From bumming rides everywhere in the past to now traveling the treacherous Grand Line alone—this was a qualitative leap!
So, for a moment, Ian felt a surge of boldness. Standing on the boat, facing the sea breeze, he shouted loudly, "East Blue! I'm coming!"