# Chapter 630: Pitiful Man
Robin and Reiju returned to the vault and informed Ian and the others of this news.
Ian was not surprised at all. He had long guessed that the World Government's attempt to capture Dragon would be met with Dragon's counterattack. He just hadn't expected Dragon's counterattack to be so fierce—directly leading the Revolutionary Army members lurking in Gran Tesoro to fight the World Government head-on, and even damaging this giant ship-city.
This Revolutionary Army leader seemed unusually decisive. Those Revolutionary Army members had been hiding in this city for who knows how long, and now under his leadership, they had suddenly exposed themselves. This certainly didn't align with the Revolutionary Army's previous plans, but Dragon hadn't hesitated at all.
Of course, Ian guessed that this might also be related to their group keeping Tesoro occupied. Otherwise, those hidden Revolutionary Army members would surely have gold powder in their bodies and would be under Tesoro's control. But now Tesoro no longer had the ability to capture those Revolutionary Army members.
Bang! Tesoro was sent flying backward. After hearing the explosion, this guy had become very uneasy. When he heard Robin and Reiju return to say that the Revolutionary Army was fighting fiercely in his city, he immediately wanted to rush out.
Strictly speaking, whether it was the massive amount of money stored in the vault or the gold everywhere in this city, none of it was Tesoro's foundation. What he truly relied on was this gambling ship that he had spent enormous effort building. If he lost money, he could earn it back. If he lost gold, he could get more. But if this gambling ship really sank, he would truly have nothing.
Without the ship, no wealthy people or nobles would come to his place for entertainment. Without a source of income, he could no longer pay tribute to the Celestial Dragons to maintain Gran Tesoro's special status. In short, losing the gambling ship meant losing everything.
However, his desire to rush out wouldn't be fulfilled so easily. After Ian's flames melted the gold on them, Katakuri and Perospero, who had broken free, were both eager to settle the score.
The one who struck just now was Katakuri. After punching Tesoro back, Katakuri brought his hands together, cracking his knuckles, and said: "Tesoro, you've got some nerve. Do you know what happens to someone who attacks the Big Mom Pirates!?"
"Or how about I turn him into a candy man!" Perospero sneered with a lisp, still very unhappy about Tesoro trapping him in gold earlier. "Let's compare—is your gold harder, or is my syrup harder?"
"Get lost!" Tesoro climbed up from the ground, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and shouted at Katakuri and Perospero with reddened eyes.
He was feeling extremely frustrated right now. Damn it, you guys were the ones trying to rob my vault! And now you're blaming me for attacking the Big Mom Pirates?
However, many things in this world don't follow logic. Especially for pirates—if fists can solve a problem, they generally won't bother with reasoning.
So soon enough, Tesoro could only charge forward and start fighting Katakuri with a flurry of blows.
Ian and Fujitora had no interest in beating a downed dog like Tesoro. Right now, under Ian's command, the Dragon Hunter Pirates were busy moving the banknotes.
"We need to hurry!" Ian said to everyone. "I don't know if the battle between the Revolutionary Army and the World Government will cause this ship to sink. We need to leave here as quickly as possible!"
Ian was right. The chain reaction caused by the battle between the Revolutionary Army and the World Government intelligence agents had already appeared. Not to mention the commoners living at the bottom of Gran Tesoro who had lost everything and were controlled by Tesoro to serve the nobles—there were also the pirates who had come to the city. They had long been drooling over the city's wealth. Now, seeing the chaos, they immediately started causing trouble in Gran Tesoro, robbing everywhere.
As a result, the wealthy nobles and powerful figures, bloated and fat, were terrified and began taking their ships to flee this place of trouble.
But getting out wasn't easy for them either. Their ships were all at the port, and now so many ships were trying to depart urgently, naturally not following any traffic rules. The port was completely jammed.
The more anxious they became, the harder it was to leave. These high-class people were frantic and blamed everything on Tesoro, cursing him for failing to maintain order.
It was foreseeable that even if Tesoro could save his gambling ship this time, no one would want to come to his Gran Tesoro anymore.
You see, the reason these high-class people were willing to come to Gran Tesoro for entertainment was not only because it could provide everything they wanted, but also because of the city's special status. In this absolute domain recognized by the World Government, since no one dared to cause trouble, the personal safety of the nobles could be guaranteed.
But now, someone bold enough had finally made a move here, and Tesoro was powerless to suppress it. Thus, Gran Tesoro's status in the eyes of these high-class people plummeted!
They had seen through Tesoro's outwardly strong but inwardly weak nature, understanding that it wasn't that no one dared to make a move in Gran Tesoro—it was just that they hadn't encountered anyone who dared to do so.
When dozens of gold boxes, newly made by Enel using lightning metallurgy, were all filled with money, under Fujitora's gravity control, the Dragon Hunter Pirates' sailors easily lifted these gold boxes.
Tesoro no longer dared to let these gold boxes collapse. He even wished Ian would take the money and leave quickly, giving him a way out.
"Let's go!"
After seeing that all the money in the vault had been moved, Ian gave the order. Urouge nodded, raised the Seastone pestle in his hand, and with all his strength, smashed it heavily onto the ground.
A large hole appeared in the floor, and then the Dragon Hunter Pirates' sailors, one after another, carried the boxes and jumped down through the hole.
Below the vault was the long spiral staircase. Going back that way was too troublesome, so Ian and the others took a more direct approach—jumping straight down.
With Fujitora there, every sailor carrying a box floated down like a feather, slowly descending toward the bottom of the tower. There was no need to worry about safety.
Ian felt that they must have gotten used to jumping down from Skypiea, becoming habitual paratroopers...
Fujitora extended his hand to Aokiji, making a "please" gesture, which made Aokiji and the others shake their heads and follow, jumping down as well.
As for Katakuri and Perospero, Ian had no obligation to remind them. If they wanted to kill Tesoro, they could go ahead.
However, when they saw that the Dragon Hunter Pirates had all retreated, Perospero also panicked. He was worried about his and Katakuri's share. So he exchanged a glance with Katakuri, stopped fighting, and followed Ian and the others, jumping down through the hole.
As for Tesoro, he was completely ignored by everyone.
Ian didn't want to deal with him because he knew Tesoro's past and looked down on him. Tesoro had once been treated as a slave by the Celestial Dragons and hated them to the bone. But when he became successful and powerful, he chose to cooperate with them instead, providing Heavenly Tribute in exchange for their support of Gran Tesoro. In Ian's view, this was nothing but cowardice to the bone.
So Ian despised Tesoro from the bottom of his heart. That was why he had been cold toward Tesoro from the very beginning.
But despising him didn't mean Ian wanted to kill him. In fact, Ian felt a bit sorry for this guy because he knew that after this incident, Tesoro would likely be abandoned by the Celestial Dragons very soon.
Tesoro probably never understood that the reason the Celestial Dragons and the World Government gave him and his Gran Tesoro special status wasn't because they were afraid of him—it was because the Celestial Dragons and the World Government needed a channel to provide them with funds.
Neither the Celestial Dragons nor the World Government could openly run a casino business. But casinos brought in money too quickly, and they didn't want to give it up, so they indulged Tesoro.
To put it nicely, they gave him special treatment. But to put it bluntly, he was just a puppet helping the Celestial Dragons and the World Government make money.
The Celestial Dragons and the World Government could support one Tesoro, and they could support two, three! In short, Tesoro was not indispensable in their eyes.
This time, Tesoro had provoked the Dragon Hunter Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates all at once, and with the appearance of the Revolutionary Army and Dragon, the impact was too great. The Celestial Dragons and the World Government absolutely wouldn't dare to continue using him.
Without this behind-the-scenes support, Tesoro was already finished. Even if Ian didn't kill him, his future wouldn't be good...
Katakuri and Perospero were the same, but they still held onto a bit of wishful thinking, hoping that if they left Tesoro alive, they might be able to come back and fleece him again later...
After everyone had left, Tesoro looked at the empty vault and fell to his knees in defeat!
The five hundred billion Berry wealth that had once filled this vault was always Tesoro's pride. He had operated Gran Tesoro for many years through various means to achieve this dazzling number.
But today, in just a short while, all his pride had been shattered!
Boom! Another earth-shaking explosion came. Tesoro snapped out of his daze, remembered his ship, and quickly ran out of the vault, jumping down from the tower.
He couldn't get those five hundred billion Berry back from ruthless people like Ian and the others, but he felt that at least he had to save his Gran Tesoro gambling ship...