Chapter 489: The Truth
“D-Dragon... was once a Marine!? And not just that... a Marine Vice Admiral!?”
Ian felt like he had been stunned speechless far too many times today.
Shanks smiled slightly and said, “What’s so surprising about that? You might not know this, but he’s about the same age as the current Marine Admirals—Aokiji, Akainu, and Kizaru. And they were all recruited into the Marines in the same batch!”
“Haha!” Shanks couldn’t help but slap his thigh and laugh as he spoke, saying, “Thinking back on it now, it’s really amusing. Dragon, known as the world’s most wanted criminal, was once a member of the Marines’ ‘Golden Age’!”
“Golden Age?”
“Yeah, the Golden Age!” Shanks nodded. “Among that batch of Marines, several incredibly powerful individuals emerged. Almost all of them became Marine Vice Admirals or higher. But at the time, Zephyr’s group of trainees developed the best. Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu all became Marine Admirals, so that batch of trainees was called the Golden Age.”
“Was Dragon also taught by Zephyr?” Ian asked.
Shanks looked at Ian with some curiosity and asked, “You’ve called Dragon ‘old man’ twice now. What, do you know him?”
“Well... I’ve met him once,” Ian replied vaguely, finding it hard to explain. In truth, the only time he had ever seen Dragon was back in Shimotsuki Village all those years ago.
Shanks didn’t seem too suspicious and just laughed heartily. “Then we’re about the same. I’ve only met him once too! Dragon wasn’t Zephyr’s student. He was actually personally trained by Marine Vice Admiral Garp!”
Ian understood immediately upon hearing this. Dragon was Garp’s son, after all. Given Garp’s personality, he would have wanted all his descendants to join the Marines. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have pushed Luffy and Ace so hard back then. So it wasn’t strange that Dragon had become a Marine—it was probably forced on him by Vice Admiral Garp.
But from Shanks’ tone, it seemed he didn’t know that Dragon was Garp’s son...
Ian didn’t mention it and continued listening to Shanks’ story.
“If Dragon had stayed in the Marines, one of the current Three Admirals might have been replaced,” Shanks said with some regret. “But unfortunately, after the Buster Call on Ohara was issued, and Akainu and the other Vice Admirals left Banbanor for Ohara, another major incident occurred at Banbanor.”
“Did Dragon break into the ‘Hunting Ground’?” Robin asked nervously from the side.
“Yes,” Shanks said. “At the time, the king of the Ilucia Kingdom claimed that Banbanor was suffering from a plague, but no medicine or doctors arrived to help. Dragon found this suspicious. Then, near the island, he spotted a Celestial Dragon’s ship. Out of curiosity, he went to Banbanor to investigate.”
“Whether it’s you or me, I doubt we can imagine the impact that scene on the island had on Dragon,” Shanks said, his face shadowed and his tone heavy. “Though the world is full of mutual slaughter, what happened on Banbanor was completely different. The Celestial Dragons treated the people of Banbanor like pigs and dogs. They brutally massacred those who couldn’t resist, then cut off their eyes, ears, noses, and other organs, preserving them in antiseptic solutions as collectibles. Or they skinned people alive, stuffed the skins with straw to make specimens, and laughed heartily as the flayed victims screamed in agony...”
“Those beasts!!” Ian trembled all over, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. His eyes were icy cold. When he thought of the human specimens he had seen in the treasure vault and how they might have come from the residents of Banbanor, he felt an uncontrollable urge to kill...
The murderous intent from Shanks and Ian spread unchecked across the ship. If a Celestial Dragon had dared to appear before them at that moment, both of them would have charged forward without hesitation and torn them to pieces...
Robin and the Red Hair Pirates crew felt the surging killing intent and anger, silently empathizing with them.
After a long while, Shanks was the first to calm down. This was his second time recalling the scene Dragon had described, so he had more resistance. He patted Ian on the shoulder, helping him settle down as well.
“You can probably guess what Dragon did next,” Shanks said. “He was completely enraged by the Celestial Dragons’ atrocities. In that moment, he lost all reason and attacked the Celestial Dragons fiercely.”
“Given Dragon’s strength at the time, he might have killed all the Celestial Dragons from those three families. But unfortunately, there were many CP agents accompanying them, along with the Celestial Dragons’ guards and guards sent by the Ilucia Kingdom to protect them. To protect the World Nobles, these people threw themselves at Dragon without fear of death!”
“Dragon killed many, but as alarms sounded, more and more guards arrived, including Marine soldiers under his command. These confused soldiers thought Dragon was attacking the Celestial Dragons, so they didn’t hesitate to attack him too!”
“In the end, Dragon couldn’t overcome so many enemies. He was caught off guard and captured! The terrified Celestial Dragons, now recovered from their shock, flew into a rage and wanted to execute Dragon on the spot!”
Hearing this, Ian couldn’t help but ask, “Did the Celestial Dragons have that much authority? Could they directly order the execution of a Marine Vice Admiral?”
“Of course,” Shanks nodded. “You can’t imagine how powerful the Celestial Dragons were back then. But they didn’t get their wish. After Dragon was captured, the Marine soldiers under him sensed something was wrong. They refused to carry out the order and reported the matter to Marine Headquarters.”
“At that time, Dragon was a star in the Marines, a strong candidate for Admiral. Fleet Admiral Sengoku couldn’t let Dragon be executed by the Celestial Dragons like that. So he argued fiercely and reached an agreement with the World Government to bring Dragon back for trial.”
“But no one expected that on that very night, Dragon escaped!” Shanks said with some satisfaction. “The Celestial Dragons never imagined that their arrogance would directly force a potential Marine Admiral to rebel, turning him into the person the Marines and World Government fear most today!”
“Serves them right!” Ian couldn’t help but shout in delight.
“Afterward, when the truth about Banbanor was exposed, even Fleet Admiral Sengoku refused to back down!” Shanks laughed heartily. “The entire high command of the Marines stood up to speak for Dragon. Eventually, the World Government was forced to persuade the Celestial Dragons to drop the matter and suppress the incident. To do this, they had to agree to the Marines’ demand: never again to escort any Celestial Dragon’s travels!”
“The Marines must have been furious too, right?” Ian said. “In that period, they lost two Marine Vice Admirals at once!”
“Exactly, Vice Admiral Saul and Vice Admiral Dragon!” Shanks nodded. “So afterward, Marine fleets were rarely seen escorting Celestial Dragons on their travels. That was the case when they went to the Goa Kingdom in the East Blue back then... Vice Admiral Saul fell at Ohara. The Marines originally wanted Dragon to return, but after that incident, he lost all trust in the Marines and the World Government and never went back!”
Ian nodded. He could somewhat understand. At the time, Fleet Admiral Sengoku knew that Dragon was the son of his friend, Vice Admiral Garp. With such a major incident, he couldn’t face Garp. So after Dragon left, Sengoku felt guilty toward Garp and chose to conceal the relationship between Garp and Dragon. That’s why many Marines later didn’t know about the connection between Dragon the Revolutionary and Garp.
As for old man Garp, he was probably still proud of Dragon’s sense of justice, so he didn’t mind mentioning it. (That’s why, in the original story, when Garp mentioned that Luffy’s father was Dragon, Coby and the others were so shocked.)
“Perhaps the World Government knew that if the Celestial Dragons’ human hunting was exposed, it would shock the world. So they did everything to cover it up and never mentioned Dragon’s defection again,” Shanks said, taking a swig of his drink and slamming the cup heavily on the table. “In the end, they stuck with the Ilucia Kingdom’s story, claiming that Banbanor had suffered a plague and everyone on the island had died!”
“Ian, you should thank Dragon,” Shanks said, looking at him. “I suspect you survived because of Dragon’s attack on the Celestial Dragons. That was the only time the island’s blockade had a gap...”
Ian couldn’t help but scratch his head. He never expected to have such a connection with Dragon. In a way, Dragon was his savior! If Dragon hadn’t caused such a commotion on Banbanor, his parents might never have been able to send him away. Then Master Koushirou and his wife wouldn’t have found him...
Thinking about it, Ian realized that the course of history had already changed over twenty years ago...
Ian took a drink himself and then asked Shanks, “But how do you know all this? Could it be...”
“That’s right,” Shanks nodded, his tone heavy. “After Dragon escaped, he happened to run into our Jackson. And the one who saved him was me!”