Chapter 488: Shocking Secret
Seeing the expression on Shanks’s face, Ian couldn’t help but feel his heart pound wildly. It wasn’t because he was frightened by Shanks’s killing intent; on the contrary, Ian could sense that Shanks’s murderous aura wasn’t directed at him at all.
The reason his heart was racing was that he realized he had likely asked the right person! Shanks definitely knew what had really happened on Bann Bannor Island in the West Blue back then.
To be honest, Ian was a transmigrator who had taken over someone else’s body. Logically, he shouldn’t need to care much about the original owner’s background. But he couldn’t help being curious. If he had always been an orphan, that would be one thing, but when he set sail, Master Koushirou had given him that letter. And from what he had investigated, Bann Bannor Island had experienced a major incident back then, seemingly no less significant than the destruction of Ohara. How could Ian not want to dig deeper?
Ian always felt that since he had occupied this body, he should at least help it uncover its origins, if only to fulfill the original owner’s last wish.
So Ian quickly spoke up to Shanks: “Don’t misunderstand, Big Brother Shanks. This is about clues to my background. When I set sail, my master Koushirou gave me a letter…”
Then, Ian recounted the whole story to Shanks.
“You… you’re a survivor of Bann Bannor!?”
To Ian’s surprise, after he finished speaking, Shanks’s eyes widened, and he stared at Ian in disbelief.
What astonished Shanks even more was that Ian had been rescued as an infant. This was simply…
“It’s fate!” Shanks couldn’t help but sigh, looking up at the sky, then picked up his wine glass and gulped it down.
Ian didn’t say anything, just waited for Shanks. After a long pause, Shanks suddenly spoke: “I do know about this. You could say you asked the right person. If you had sought out other people from the West Blue, no one could have told you the real truth…”
Ian’s spirits lifted, and he pressed on: “What really happened? Did Bann Bannor Island really suffer a great plague back then?”
“Plague? Hmph!” Shanks snorted coldly. “That’s just the ‘truth’ that the World Government and the Ilusia Kingdom showed the world…”
With that, Shanks suddenly changed the subject and said to Ian: “Do you know? Twenty years ago, I was just an intern on the Oro Jackson!”
Ian was momentarily stunned, but then realized that Shanks was referring to Roger’s pirate ship, the Oro Jackson.
So, at that time, Shanks was already an intern on the Pirate King’s ship. Given his age, he probably hadn’t been on board for long.
Sure enough, Shanks took a sip of wine and continued: “As luck would have it, the West Blue was my hometown. At that time, the Oro Jackson happened to be in the West Blue. That’s when, by chance, I boarded Captain Roger’s ship. And during the time the Oro Jackson lingered in the West Blue, two major events occurred there!”
Ian was listening intently when Shanks suddenly asked: “You know about the Ohara Incident, right?”
“Of course!” Ian nodded, but at the same time, he noticed a figure quietly appearing at the cabin entrance.
It was Robin. She had likely been awakened by Shanks’s earlier burst of killing intent and had come out to hear Ian and Shanks discussing the West Blue’s past. Naturally, she stayed to listen.
“Since you know about the Ohara Incident, do you know how long it took from the outbreak to the end?” Shanks asked Ian.
Ian shook his head. How could he know? But just then, Robin suddenly spoke up: “Four days! It only took four days!”
Shanks was startled and turned to look at Robin. He glanced at her but said nothing, just nodded. “Yes. From the assembly of the Marine fleet to Ohara being erased from the map, it took only four days!”
Ian was puzzled and asked Shanks: “What does the time frame have to do with Bann Bannor?”
“Of course it does!” Shanks gave Ian a meaningful look. “Do you think a Buster Call fleet could travel from Marine Headquarters to the West Blue in four days?”
Ian calculated for a moment and then shook his head. In his view, from the fleet’s assembly to departure, at least a day would be wasted. Even if they took the Calm Belt, they couldn’t reach a specific island in the West Blue that quickly. Ian estimated it would take about a week.
But with that calculation, Ian also noticed the inconsistency and asked Shanks doubtfully: “You mean the Buster Call fleet was dispatched from a West Blue branch?”
“How is that possible?” Shanks shook his head. “The West Blue branch couldn’t have such a massive fleet. That fleet was directly under Marine Headquarters!”
“What’s going on?” Ian was confused, unable to grasp what Shanks was trying to say.
But Robin suddenly caught on and blurted out: “Are you saying that the fleet that carried out the Buster Call was actually transferred from Bann Bannor Island!?”
Hearing this, Ian was also stunned.
“Exactly!” Shanks nodded approvingly. “That fleet was indeed transferred from Bann Bannor. On the maps from twenty years ago, the distance between Ohara and Bann Bannor was only a three-day voyage!”
Ian shot up from his seat, shocked. “Big Brother Shanks, are you saying that fleet was originally at Bann Bannor to carry out a Buster Call mission!?”
That was Ian’s guess, but Shanks shook his head. “No, that’s not it. That fleet was actually at Bann Bannor to carry out a blockade mission!”
“Blockade mission?” Ian frowned. “Didn’t you say there was no plague on Bann Bannor? Then why did they blockade the island?”
“Because what they were blockading wasn’t a plague, but ‘people’!” Shanks picked up his glass and took another big gulp. “In fact, I only found out afterward. There was never any plague on Bann Bannor Island. The Marine fleet at the time had no idea what their mission was about. They just followed the request of the Ilusia Kingdom’s king to help blockade the island.”
“But in reality, there was a special group of people on Bann Bannor Island at the time!” Shanks’s expression grew even colder, and he gritted his teeth as he uttered three words: “Ce! les! tial! Drag! ons!”
When Ian heard those words, he froze and couldn’t help blurting out: “Them again!?”
“Hmph!” Shanks snorted coldly. “The reason is simple. At that time, the Celestial Dragons were visiting the Ilusia Kingdom!”
Ian immediately understood. Just like their visit to the Goa Kingdom back then, the Ilusia Kingdom had also invited the World Nobles for a state visit. Although Ian saw these Celestial Dragons as nothing but scum, he had to admit that these World Nobles, bearing the title of Creators, were welcomed in many countries.
In many people’s eyes, the World Nobles were the benchmark for all nobles. Because of the geography of this world, many countries were monarchies. With monarchies came noble classes, and with nobles chasing after them, the Celestial Dragons naturally became the role models and goals they aspired to.
“Are you saying that those Marine fleets were actually protecting the visiting Celestial Dragons?” Ian ventured a guess.
“Yes!” Shanks nodded. “You might not know this, but twenty years ago, and even earlier, whenever the Celestial Dragons went on visits, the Marines would dispatch large fleets to accompany and protect them. But the Ilusia Kingdom’s visit this time was probably the last…”
Ian wanted to ask why, but he knew Shanks would continue, so he and Robin listened quietly.
“Because of the fleet accompanying the Celestial Dragons’ visit to the Ilusia Kingdom, when the Ohara Incident broke out—specifically after Marine Vice Admiral Saul escaped—the World Government urgently redeployed the fleet stationed at Bann Bannor to Ohara, so they could destroy it as quickly as possible!” Shanks said. “That’s why the Ohara Incident happened shortly after the Bann Bannor incident. The fleet was directly transferred from Bann Bannor!”
Shanks’s words seemed to trigger Robin’s memories of Ohara, and she began trembling all over. Seeing this, Ian stood up, walked over, took her hand, and pulled her to sit beside him, hoping it would help her feel better.
Once they sat down again, Ian asked: “So what exactly happened at Bann Bannor?”
“Hmph, this all starts with King Shundaruka of the Ilusia Kingdom at the time!” Shanks said. “Shundaruka was a typical tyrant. When the Celestial Dragons visited his country, to leave a deep impression on them, he came up with a unique ‘game’ to entertain the visiting Celestial Dragons!”
Shanks took a deep breath and said: “That game was called… ‘Human Hunting’!”
“Wha… what!?” Ian thought he had misheard.
“As the name suggests, living humans were provided as prey for the Celestial Dragons to hunt!” Shanks clenched his fists, veins bulging. “The Celestial Dragons could do whatever they wanted with the ‘prey’ they caught—skin them for roasting, or turn them into specimens for collection, whatever pleased them! And this hunting ground was set on Bann Bannor!”
When Ian heard Shanks’s words, his mind buzzed. He suddenly remembered the human specimens he had seen in the Celestial Dragons’ treasure vault at Mary Geoise. At the time, he thought those specimens came from slaves they had executed, but now it seemed there were other sources!?
And what about roasting? Did those Celestial Dragons actually eat… eat people!?
Such a horrifying and appalling revelation from Shanks’s mouth made Ian’s anger surge uncontrollably.
“King Shundaruka of the Ilusia Kingdom also knew that if such a thing were exposed, he would die horribly!” Shanks suppressed his own anger and continued. “So he spread the rumor that Bann Bannor Island had suffered a plague and asked the Marine escort fleet to help blockade the island. The unsuspecting Marine fleet complied.”
“But the Marines never imagined that after they blockaded Bann Bannor Island, Celestial Dragons from three families would begin their human hunting game on the island…” Shanks’s fists cracked audibly. “The entire island’s population, about several thousand people, were slaughtered by them as a form of entertainment! Even women and children were not spared!”
By now, it wasn’t just Ian and Robin listening to Shanks’s story. The crew of the Red Hair Pirates had also gathered around. They listened quietly as Shanks spoke, their minds painting a picture of the horrific scene, and one by one, they burned with helpless rage.
“At the time, because three families of Celestial Dragons were visiting, the Marines took it very seriously. They dispatched seven Marine Vice Admirals from Headquarters to protect them, along with numerous CP agents!” Shanks paused to catch his breath. “But later, due to the Ohara Incident and Vice Admiral Saul’s sympathetic escape to Ohara, only one Marine Vice Admiral was left in the Ilusia Kingdom to protect the Celestial Dragons!”
At this point, Shanks suddenly asked Ian: “Do you know the Revolutionary, Monkey D. Dragon?”
Ian was startled but quickly nodded, wondering why Dragon, his boss, had suddenly come up.
But the next second, Shanks uttered a sentence that left Ian utterly shocked!
“The Marine Vice Admiral who stayed behind was Dragon!”