Chapter 613: So There Are Still Perks After All
Ian’s kick was like a hornless dragon’s graceful turn or a celestial fairy descending from beyond the heavens—perfect from every angle of power and technique. If there had been judges scoring on the sidelines, they would have unanimously held up perfect-score cards!
In slow motion, Ian’s cheap flip-flop slammed squarely onto Bakkin’s face.
*Bam!* The next second, the old woman shot off like a cannonball, crashing with a thunderous roar into a shop across the street, sending nearby tourists into a frenzy of screams.
“Holy crap!” After kicking Bakkin away, Ian patted his chest in lingering fear and said, “That was close—I almost lost my dignity!”
Baccarat was still in a daze, and Edward Weevil’s reaction was a beat slow. After his mom was sent flying by Ian, he kept staring at Baccarat with a goofy grin.
When he finally snapped out of it, he exclaimed, “Mama!?” Then he rushed over and fished Bakkin out of the rubble.
Bakkin was already unconscious, with a huge shoe print on her face and blood streaming from her nose, which oddly matched Edward Weevil’s dangling snot.
Edward Weevil shook her a few times but couldn’t wake her up. Enraged, he gripped his imitation naginata—identical to Whitebeard’s—and stomped heavily toward Ian, the ground shaking with each step.
“You… you bad guy! How dare you hurt Mama!?” Edward Weevil yelled. “I’ll kill you!”
There was no denying it—when Edward Weevil got angry, he looked terrifying. Baccarat was startled and tried to pull Ian away to escape, but Ian stood calmly in place, watching Edward Weevil charge at him.
Just as Edward Weevil raised his naginata to strike Ian down, Ian suddenly pointed above Edward Weevil’s head and shouted, “Oh! Look! There’s a roasted pig flying in the sky!”
Roasted… roasted pig!?
Edward Weevil had been craving roasted pig earlier, so the word hit a nerve. A delicious image formed in his mind, his killing intent vanished, and he stopped mid-swing, turning to look where Ian was pointing.
“There’s no roasted pig…” Edward Weevil looked around but couldn’t find the pig Ian mentioned. Scratching his head in confusion, he turned back to ask Ian, only to find that Ian and Baccarat had disappeared!
“Ah! Tricked!” Edward Weevil thought for a moment before suddenly smacking his fist into his palm in realization.
“You… you dared to trick me!” Edward Weevil was furious, searching everywhere for Ian. “Not only is there no roasted pig, but you also hurt Mama—I’ll definitely kill you!”
But this was a busy commercial street, crowded with people. How could he possibly find them now?
…………………………………………
Around the corner of a nearby street, Baccarat, who had been pulled away by Ian, breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that Edward Weevil couldn’t find them.
She smiled at Ian and said, “I didn’t expect you to suddenly strike that old hag. That kick was awesome!”
“Don’t even mention it!” Ian said gloomily. “I almost got psychological trauma just now…”
Baccarat chuckled. “Who told you to carry so many chips? In Gran Tesoro, those chips are money. That old hag is so money-grubbing—her nose is sharp!”
“But seriously,” she continued, “why didn’t you just knock out her son too? With your strength, it would’ve been easy, right?”
Ian rolled his eyes. “Would you want to bully a mentally disabled kid? What kind of satisfaction is there in beating up someone like that?”
Baccarat nodded, then remembered Ian’s earlier line and doubled over laughing. “Ha… haha! A roasted pig flying in the sky—how did you come up with that? Too funny!”
“As long as it works, right? We got away cleanly,” Ian said with a grin.
“But once that old hag wakes up, she’ll probably come looking for revenge,” Baccarat said. “She’s nothing, but her idiot son… didn’t you notice? His beard looks just like Edward Newgate’s, and even his surname matches…”
Ian didn’t seem too concerned. He pointed at his own clothes and said, “Do you think he can find me dressed like this as a tourist? I’ll just change outfits later. I can’t be bothered dealing with such freaks… But Baccarat, since you know them, tell me more—what’s the deal with these two?”
“They’re pirates!” Baccarat said. “And they’re a two-man crew. Did you see the skull pattern on them? That’s their pirate flag—the Weevil Pirates. They came to the Gran Tesoro two months ago. When Tesoro saw Edward Weevil, he was shocked—that beard is way too similar to Edward Newgate’s. The boss suspected he might be connected to Whitebeard, so he’s been treating them like VIPs.”
“Actually, we’ve secretly investigated their identities through our intelligence network,” Baccarat explained. “Edward Weevil is a notorious pirate in the New World, with a bounty of 480 million Berries. As for Miss Bakkin, she has no bounty. But judging by Edward Weevil, he’s just a kid who blindly follows his mom’s orders…”
Ian nodded and asked Baccarat, “Has that old hag ever claimed that Edward Weevil is Whitebeard’s son?”
Baccarat was taken aback, then shook her head. “No, she hasn’t. But anyone who sees Edward Weevil would probably think that way, right? Some people have asked her, but she neither confirms nor denies it.”
Ian understood. This was the butterfly effect. Since Whitebeard hadn’t died in the war and his crew was now more renowned than ever, if Bakkin dared to claim Edward Weevil was Whitebeard’s biological son, someone connected to the Whitebeard Pirates would likely pass the news to them. Once they asked the old man, Bakkin’s lie would be exposed immediately.
Baccarat’s description confirmed Ian’s suspicion that Bakkin was a fraud.
But Ian realized Bakkin was clever. By neither confirming nor denying, she left herself room to maneuver and others room to speculate. Even without exploiting Whitebeard’s death to seize his legacy, she still used people’s fear of the Four Emperors to her advantage.
Ian speculated that it was precisely because of Edward Weevil’s appearance that the World Government saw the hidden benefits of such a figure.
In the original timeline, although Whitebeard died in battle, his crew’s strength remained largely intact. To wipe out the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates, the World Government and Marines would have needed to deploy massive forces. But when they discovered Edward Weevil, they realized they could use him to destroy the remaining Whitebeard forces. To muddy the waters, they even risked offending Marine Admiral Zephyr to recruit him as a Warlord…
Ian had always found Zephyr’s defection from the Marines in the original timeline suspicious. How brain-dead would the World Government and Marines have to be to drive away a Marine Admiral just for a Warlord?
But after meeting Edward Weevil in person, Ian saw the clues. It seemed the only plausible reason was to target the Whitebeard remnants…
And perhaps there was a deeper reason: the World Government and Marines found Edward Weevil easy to control. With such a simple-minded kid, controlling his mom meant controlling him. After several Warlords betrayed them in battle, they were probably too worn out to deal with more rebellious types, so they sought someone easier to manage.
Ian didn’t know the full truth, but he felt he had guessed most of it.
Now the question was: since he had run into Edward Weevil and his mom Bakkin here, how should he handle them?
Kill them? Stop them from using Whitebeard’s name to scam people?
That would be good—it would protect the old man’s reputation and prevent the World Government and Marines from using them to stir up trouble later.
But if he killed them, Black Wrist Zephyr would stay in the Marines and never rebel…
On the flip side, if he pushed things along and let Edward Weevil become a Warlord, the Marines would lose a former Admiral, which would be a blow to their combat strength.
Causing trouble for the World Government was something Ian was happy to do…
He hadn’t decided yet, and thinking about it gave him a headache, so he put it aside for now.
Just then, Baccarat led Ian through the commercial district to the seaside resort area. There, Ian ran into Konenai in a swimsuit!
She was holding several ice cream cones, apparently heading back to the beach. When she saw Ian, her eyes lit up, and she ran over to him. “Captain, perfect timing! Come help us apply sunscreen!”
“Sunscreen!?” Ian stared at Konenai’s stunning figure and suddenly snapped to attention, raising his hand. “Hell yeah! Please let me do it!”
Because it hit him—Reiju and Robin were with Konenai. The implications were obvious…