Chapter 370: Aokiji Boards the Ship
For Ian, dealing with the Germa Group alone wasn't worth such a massive mobilization, gathering four Warlords to strike together.
To use an apt metaphor, Ian's actions were like "brandishing a sword at Xiangzhuang while aiming at the Duke of Pei"—his real goal was to use Germa to deliver a severe blow to Doflamingo in revenge.
All along, Ian and Doflamingo had maintained a relationship of smiling faces on the surface while stabbing each other in the back behind the scenes. Ian had killed Doflamingo's subordinate Vergo, ruining Doflamingo's planned infiltration of the Marines, and then extorted a huge sum of money from him.
Doflamingo, no pushover himself, had seized an opportunity to bite back, using the Germa Group to destroy the Dragon Hunter Pirates' base on Travira Island.
Strictly speaking, this was no different from a complete falling out. However, since both were publicly members of the Seven Warlords and under the World Government's authority, they couldn't openly come to blows. So Ian could only maintain surface harmony and take a roundabout approach to retaliate against Doflamingo.
"You used Germa as a pawn, didn't you? Fine, if you can use them, so can I! I'll chase Germa's tail all the way to Dressrosa, and when a battle breaks out on the island, if I accidentally destroy a few of the Donquixote Pirates' factories, that's perfectly understandable, right?"
With the Fish-Man Pirates around, those three ships, though blasted with a large hole, were far from sinking. The Fish-Man pirates in the water held the vessels up while onboard craftsmen used materials to repair the damaged sections.
During this repair time, Ian was studying a sea chart provided by Jinbe, plotting the pursuit direction.
Earlier, Crocodile's storm had blocked Germa's advance, and Ian's group had cut off their retreat from behind, forcing Germa to flee left or right. Fortunately, Gaji and his crew had chosen the direction toward Dressrosa, saving Ian the trouble of forcing them to change course.
As for Germa's snail ships, many had been sunk by the Thunder Roar Cannon. Waldo was leading some Fish-Man Pirates in an attempt to salvage them, since those snails carried various structures—possibly Germa research facilities. Salvaging them might yield some of Germa's scientific research data.
From the start, Ian hadn't expected to force Gaji to hand over his research data. These materials were the foundation of the Germa Group's survival; Gaji wouldn't just surrender them under pressure. Otherwise, with so many organizations eyeing Germa's black tech, they'd have been wiped out long ago if such simple methods worked.
As they busied themselves, Fujitora suddenly spoke to Ian: "Captain, we have guests!"
Ian and Ace were startled. Following Fujitora's gaze, they saw a man riding a bicycle slowly approaching across the sea.
It was Aokiji! Had he finally grown tired of waiting and decided to show himself?
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Aokiji pedaled his bike to the side of Ian's ship. He dismounted, hoisted the bicycle onto his shoulder, leaped high from the frozen sea surface, and landed on the deck.
"Admiral Kuzan!" Ian greeted with open arms and a smile. "Welcome. I thought you planned to keep following us on that bike forever!"
Aokiji wasn't surprised that his surveillance had been detected. He set his bike down by the railing, turned around, hands in his trouser pockets and suit jacket draped over his arm, walked up to Ian, and looked down at him. "So you've known about me all along, huh? In that case, coming over to say hello was the right call."
As Aokiji appeared, Sabo and Koala quietly pulled down their hat brims and retreated into the cabin.
As for Nico Robin, the moment she saw Aokiji, her previously relaxed expression tensed up, and she trembled uncontrollably.
Aokiji naturally noticed her. Frowning slightly, he said, "Nico Robin, long time no see."
Robin didn't reply, just instinctively stepped back while staring at him.
But at that moment, Ian stepped forward, positioning himself between Aokiji and Robin, blocking their line of sight.
"Admiral Kuzan," Ian said, "you didn't come here just to flirt with the beauties on my ship, did you?"
Aokiji stared at Ian for a long moment before asking, "Do you know who she is?"
Ian glanced back at Robin. "I know a little, I suppose."
"And yet you still brought her aboard?" Aokiji frowned. "Do you realize what kind of trouble getting involved with that woman brings?"
Ian smiled. "Admiral Kuzan, since you recognize her, that means you're involved with her too. What kind of trouble do you think that brings you?"
Aokiji fell silent. Then he simply sat down, crossing his long legs on the deck, hands resting on his knees, and looked around at everyone.
When Aokiji's gaze met Jinbe's, Jinbe gave a slight nod in greeting. Crocodile shot Aokiji a provocative glare with his usual contemptuous expression. Boa Hancock stood with her arms crossed, expressionless.
"The reason I came," Aokiji said to the group, "is that I'm genuinely curious. I thought you'd cripple the Germa Group here—after all, so many Warlords gathered together is a terrifying force. But instead, you let them escape. What are you really after?"
Aokiji could no longer hold back. He had been tailing Ian's fleet for a long time, expecting that after the battle with Germa, this temporary alliance would disband, and his mission would be complete. But instead, the plot had taken a twist at the critical moment—Germa had gotten away.
At first, he didn't think much of it, but the more he pondered, the more suspicious it seemed. It looked like Ian and his crew had deliberately let Gaji and the others escape...
Four Warlords together drew unprecedented attention. The longer this combination existed, the more uneasy Aokiji grew. So, upon realizing this, he had no choice but to appear and confront Ian directly.
But Jinbe and the others didn't answer Aokiji's question. They all turned their eyes to Ian.
Ian shrugged. "What if I said I let them escape by accident? Would you believe me?"
"No," Aokiji shook his head. "From my observations, you never went all out. If you had used the same power you showed when fighting Admiral Borsalino, even if Germa escaped, they'd be crippled. But I didn't see any willingness from you to fight, and you don't seem like someone who makes careless mistakes."
"Oh, what can I do?" Ian pretended to be frustrated. "I went to Marine Headquarters asking for help, but Fleet Admiral Sengoku refused. If you admirals had lent a hand, maybe they wouldn't have gotten away..."
Strangely enough, hearing this, Aokiji actually felt that if Sengoku had agreed to let him help, things might have been better—at least he wouldn't be so anxious now, worried that this bunch might cause some global incident, leaving the Marines and World Government to clean up the mess.
Seeing that Ian wasn't willing to tell the truth, Aokiji said no more. He simply lay down on the deck, hands behind his head, and said, "Alright, I'm tired from cycling. Mind if I hitch a ride on your ship for a while?"
Ian was speechless. Was this guy planning to keep close surveillance?
But he couldn't very well kick Aokiji off the ship, so he had no choice but to tacitly agree.
However, this meant Sabo and Koala had to move to another vessel. If Aokiji recognized Sabo's identity, it would be disastrous.
After spending two or three hours at sea making repairs, the group finally fixed the ships and set off to pursue Germa's fleet.
And unlike before, there was now an Admiral on board...