Chapter 404: The Oath of Brotherhood
It was precisely because of this thinking that Ian had considered using Germa's technology to exchange with the World Government for the Pacifistas.
Although it was Kuma who initially prompted Ian to do this, Kuma likely intended to give Ian an additional source of strength.
Ian understood Kuma's goodwill, but he was well aware that while the Pacifistas sounded formidable, for true experts, these robots weren't much. The key to using Pacifistas lay in their mass deployment—if hundreds of Pacifistas appeared together, they could almost match the combat power of all Marine soldiers combined.
However, Ian's desire for the Pacifistas wasn't based on this. He felt that with Waldo now under his command, perhaps by analyzing the Pacifistas, he could figure out something about Kuma and Vegapunk.
Whether it was Nico Robin or the Pacifistas, Ian wanted to keep them in his grasp.
Seeing Ian's determination, Crocodile also knew that Nico Robin probably wouldn't be coming back. But for him, it didn't matter. Crocodile had originally sought out Robin for her ability to read Poneglyphs. Now that Robin was in Ian's pirate crew, if Crocodile truly found a Poneglyph, he could still come back to find Robin—as long as he had enough bargaining chips.
That was Crocodile's thinking, but obviously, he was oversimplifying things. Even if he obtained a Poneglyph and came back, Robin might not tell him the true content on it. Don't forget, Robin had even lied about the rubbing of Ian's Poneglyph back then.
There was no helping it. Robin herself knew that her ability to read Poneglyphs was extremely dangerous. Without understanding Ian's character and intentions, how could she rashly reveal information about the Ancient Weapons? She only wanted to pursue the truth, not become a sinner of history.
So even now, with Robin having joined the Dragon Hunter Pirates, it still seemed more like she was going with the flow out of submission. She hadn't truly integrated into the Dragon Hunter Pirates yet.
Crocodile turned to leave, and Ian said to him with great meaning: "Safe travels. Remember what I told you—you might come back one day!"
Crocodile didn't even turn around, giving Ian only the back of his slicked-back hair.
Ian smiled and said nothing more. Crocodile was determined to return to Alabasta, and he might still end up falling into Luffy's hands. When that happened, he would probably be captured by the Marines again.
Unlike Doflamingo, who had connections with two Yonko pirate crews that made the Marines hesitate to arrest him... If that were the case, then what awaited Crocodile would be imprisonment in the underwater great prison, Impel Down.
Crocodile and Jinbe's departure seemed like a signal, and soon after, Sabo and Ace came looking for Ian.
Sabo planned to leave. He had originally come back with Ian to see Ace, but unexpectedly, in Dressrosa, they had obtained a large number of weapons—extremely useful supplies for the Revolutionary Army.
Now, Sabo had already taken Konenai and the others to secretly transfer the collected weapons to another ship. They planned to quietly leave Dressrosa under the cover of night and return to the Revolutionary Army's headquarters at Baltigo with these weapons.
The reason for leaving quietly was that Aokiji and many Marines were still on the island. Aokiji had seen Ace and Sabo find these smuggled weapons and wouldn't allow them to flow out again.
So, when Sabo informed Ian of his intentions, Ian thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry, I'll handle Aokiji."
Sabo smiled slightly, stepped forward to give Ian a hug, patted him on the back, and said, "Thank you, Ian. I'll head back to headquarters first. If you need any help, feel free to contact me anytime!"
Ace grinned from the side and said, "Look what I brought?"
As he spoke, Ace pulled out a bottle of wine from behind him. Under Sabo and Ian's surprised gazes, Ace set down three cups and poured wine into each of them.
"Is this... the oath of brotherhood wine!?" Sabo suddenly recalled.
"Yeah! It brings back memories!" Ace said with a grin. "I remember the days when the two of us and Luffy were on that island..."
He then turned to look at Ian and said, "But today is different. We're setting up the oath of brotherhood wine again to celebrate gaining another brother!"
Sabo also smiled and said, "That's right!"
The two of them picked up their cups first and looked at Ian with smiles.
Ian didn't hesitate. He smiled back and picked up his cup as well.
"Drink this oath of brotherhood wine. From now on, we are bound by blood. No matter where we are, no matter what we do, this bond will never be severed..."
As the three of them recited this phrase together, their cups clinked.
After they all drank the oath of brotherhood wine, they looked at each other and suddenly burst into laughter.
Ace lifted his hat and took out a piece of paper from inside, saying, "Let's exchange Vivre Cards! Each of us will hold the other two's Vivre Cards. That way, no matter where in the world the other is, we'll always know where our brothers are!"
So the three exchanged Vivre Cards. Ian took Ace's and Sabo's, Ace took Ian's and Sabo's, and Sabo took Ian's and Ace's. Then they carefully placed these Vivre Cards inside their hats and put them back on.
This action was so synchronized—Ace's cowboy hat, Sabo's top hat, and Ian's bear ear hat. After putting their hats back on, they couldn't help but laugh again.
"I'm leaving. You two take care!" Sabo hugged Ace and Ian one by one, then turned and walked away, waving as he went.
With only Ian and Ace left, Ian turned to Ace and said, "Now that things here are settled, Ace, are you still planning to pursue Teach next?"
"Yeah!" Ace nodded solemnly. "Actually, I've been asking Sabo to use the Revolutionary Army's intelligence network to track Teach's whereabouts. Combined with news from the Old Man, I've now grasped Teach's movements. While we were chasing Germa and arriving at Dressrosa, he seemed to have stayed in the West Sea for a long time. But now it looks like he intends to return to the Grand Line. I have to seize this opportunity to capture him."
"The West Sea?" Ian sat back down and began to ponder. Suddenly, he asked Ace, "Why do you think Teach went to the West Sea?"
Ace was taken aback, not quite understanding Ian's meaning.
Ian explained, "Have you noticed? Teach is a very purposeful person. He stayed in the Whitebeard Pirates for so long just for a Devil Fruit he wanted. Even when he escaped, it doesn't seem like he fled to the West Sea without a plan..."
"You mean he deliberately chose the West Sea?" Ace asked with some confusion.
"I'm not sure!" Ian frowned. "I feel like he probably went to the West Sea with some specific purpose."
"I heard that Teach recruited companions in the West Sea and formed the Blackbeard Pirates!" Ace said. "Maybe he went there to recruit crew members. After all, the West Sea has many famous pirates."
Ian still felt something was off. If Teach wanted to recruit companions, why choose the West Sea? If he was looking for strong members, wouldn't the South Sea be better? After all, the South Sea was widely recognized as the strongest of the four seas.
But Ian wasn't Teach, and he couldn't figure out Teach's true intentions, so he had to set it aside for now.
"How about this!" Ian said. "Wait for me another day or two. Once I've arranged things with my crew, I'll go with you to pursue Teach!"
Ian couldn't let Ace go after Blackbeard alone. If that happened, he suspected Ace would still fall into Teach's hands. Now that they had drunk the oath of brotherhood wine, he and Ace had become true brothers, so he certainly couldn't sit by and let that happen.
"Alright!" Ace thought for a moment and accepted Ian's suggestion. After all, Whitebeard had originally told him to find Ian. Ace deeply respected Whitebeard, so he naturally listened to his words. Moreover, he trusted Ian's judgment. He always felt that Ian seemed to know everything, and being with him made things feel much more certain.
So, that night, after Sabo quietly set sail by ship, Ian began making his arrangements...