# Chapter 353: Coincidence or Trap?
From the signs on the Vivre Card, Ian had always believed that Ace was injured. At the time, he was still wondering what kind of enemy could actually wound Ace.
After all, the current Ace's strength was already not inferior to that of a Warlord of the Sea. Ian guessed that whoever could injure him might be a senior officer of one of the other Four Emperors.
But after making contact with Walnut, Ian realized that things were different from what he had imagined.
"Ace is poisoned. What about the others?" Ian continued pressing. "Were the others poisoned too?"
"Yes!" Walnut said. "A large portion of our members lost their combat ability due to poisoning before being injured by the enemy. Sister Konenai and Uncle Fujitora are also currently poisoned, but they inhaled less of the poison powder, so their condition is relatively better."
"Poison powder?" Ian keenly caught this term and frowned as he asked, "Who exactly attacked our base?"
"I don't know!" Walnut replied. "I don't know their origins. These enemies came on a giant snail ship. They had many soldiers, but strangely, many of the soldiers looked exactly the same. The leaders were four people—three men and one woman. Their attire was very strange, and when we fought them, we discovered that their bodies were abnormally hard. When Uncle Fujitora attacked them, those identical-looking soldiers would actively step in front of them to take the damage..."
Damn! As soon as he heard Walnut's description of the enemy, Ian immediately understood—this sounded exactly like the Germa Group!
So he quickly asked, "Do those three men and one woman have number markings on them?"
"Now that you mention it, I remember!" Walnut said very affirmatively. "They really did have number markings on them. That woman with pink hair had the number 6 on each of her thighs!"
It was definitely Germa 66, no mistake!
Ian sighed and said, "I understand. Stay put in Skypiea. I'll be there soon."
After saying this, Ian hung up the Den Den Mushi and sat on the ship's railing, beginning to ponder.
It was normal that Walnut couldn't recognize Germa 66. Many members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates probably couldn't identify them either, since they had never dealt with them before.
In the pirate world, many story picture books circulated. Many of these books depicted tales based on ancient legends—like the story of "The Great Liar Noland," which told of Montblanc Noland, and the picture book about the Little People's Kingdom. To ordinary people, these might just be children's fairy tales, but in reality, these figures had all existed in history.
In the North Blue, there had long been a story picture book about the Marines fighting an "evil army." It was also considered children's reading material. In this story, the Marines clichédly defeated this evil army time and time again, saving the world.
It felt somewhat like Americans repeatedly saving the world from aliens... something like that.
So in the common perception, this so-called "evil army" had always been fictional. People just listened to it as a fairy tale.
But in reality, this "evil army" truly existed. It wasn't some ancient legend; it still existed to this day. And this evil army was none other than Germa 66!
Germa 66, also known as the Germa Group, was the infamous "killer clan" of the underworld, nicknamed "War Experts"!
From these epithets, one could roughly understand what kind of organization they were. The Germa Group was a powerful military organization in the North Blue, notorious war maniacs who sought pleasure or excitement from war, secretly instigating wars or conflicts. They manipulated or accepted war commissions from various countries, helping these nations wage war and fight, then used the exorbitant war funds to develop and strengthen themselves.
The leader of this evil army was the Vinsmoke Family. The current leader was Vinsmoke Gaji, an outstanding scientist, Sanji's father, and one of Vegapunk's former colleagues. When their research institute was forcibly disbanded by the World Government, Gaji escaped with Vegapunk's research results—the Lineage Factor research data known as the "Blueprint of Life."
In the time that followed, Gaji relied on his research into the Lineage Factor to gradually upgrade the Germa Group into a scientific combat force. Not only did he create a clone army, but he also optimized the Lineage Factor to modify his five children, granting them even greater power.
What was even more absurd was that this war group was actually recognized by the World Government as a member nation! The Vinsmoke Family had once used military force to rule the entire North Blue. Although they had declined now and lost their territory, their seat at the World Conference had always been preserved, giving them the qualification to participate.
As a transmigrator, Ian naturally knew about the Germa Group and the Vinsmoke Family. Although his knowledge was limited, he never expected that the attack on the Dragon Hunter Pirates' base at Travira Island would be carried out by Germa 66!
From Walnut's description of the enemy, Ian realized that the ones leading the attack on the Dragon Hunter Pirates were likely four of Gaji's children.
The eldest daughter, Vinsmoke Reiju; the eldest son, Vinsmoke Ichiji; the second son, Vinsmoke Niji; and the youngest son, Vinsmoke Yonji!
As for the third son, that was naturally Sanji, who was still working as a chef at the Baratie floating restaurant in the East Blue...
Ace, Fujitora, and the others had fallen victim to Vinsmoke Reiju's attacks. This beautiful woman had the nickname "Poison Pink" and could use and absorb toxins, seemingly the ability of some kind of Devil Fruit.
No wonder Ace and the others had been caught off guard. Although Ace was a Flame-Flame Fruit user, many poisons were colorless and odorless. Ace's flames couldn't necessarily prevent toxin erosion, since he still had to breathe.
Ian's head ached from thinking. He had originally thought the attacker might be Kaido, because Kaido of the Four Emperors indeed had reason to target Ian. Not only was that guy a madman, but he also seemed obsessed with Zoan-type fruits. During the World Conference, among the Devil Fruits that the South Sea Pear Blossom Kingdom had tributed to the Celestial Dragons, there was one suspected to be a Mythical Zoan-type. News had eventually spread that Ian had taken it. Kaido was probably quite angry. Suspecting that Ian might have eaten that fruit, Kaido's Three Calamities had appeared at Salamis Island back then. If not for facing off against Whitebeard Old Man, they wouldn't have retreated so easily.
Although later, when the intern reporter Pritz had broadcast the battle scene live, making the world realize that Ian might be a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user, Kaido should have given up on capturing Ian. But Ian felt that the 10 billion Berry bounty might still tempt Kaido to act again.
At the time, he thought the biggest suspect was Kaido. But now the situation had taken a turn, and it turned out to be the Germa Group instead. This was something Ian had never anticipated.
When Crocodile had mentioned intelligence in Alabasta, he had indeed brought up the Germa Group. But at the time, Ian thought there was no enmity between them, so the Germa Group shouldn't actively provoke him, a Warlord of the Sea, right?
But looking at it now, it had nothing to do with any other reason. It was purely for money. A 10 billion Berry deal was enough to make the Germa Group act!
What Ian found somewhat speechless was that when he returned to the East Sea this time, he had coincidentally met Sanji. That might have been an omen...
Those curly eyebrows of Sanji's really were haunting...
Ian was now thinking about how to handle this matter.
There was no doubt that the Germa Group was very powerful. Ian's foresight in finding other Warlords of the Sea to help had truly been the right move. Although they weren't facing off against a Four Emperor, dealing with the Germa Group wouldn't be easy either.
The Germa Group might still be inferior to the Four Emperors. Otherwise, Gaji, as the leader, wouldn't have later thought of forming an alliance with Big Mom to borrow her power.
Headache aside, as Ian thought carefully, he felt something was off.
The cause of the matter was the underworld commission. Ian had reason to suspect that Doflamingo was behind it.
So the question immediately arose: if memory served, Doflamingo's Donquixote Pirates were a famous pirate group from the North Blue. And the Vinsmoke Family was also from the North Blue, always wanting to restore their former glory of ruling the region. For these two groups to be involved together—was it really just a coincidence?