Chapter 636: Connecting the Events
Like a scene from a disaster movie, when those two massive waves violently slammed into the Golden City, all the dazzling lights throughout the city were extinguished in an instant...
It felt as if the Golden City had been destroyed in a single moment... Well, in truth, it was pretty close.
Under the watchful eyes of Ian and his group, the entire massive hull of the Gran Tesoro sank a significant amount under the impact of those powerful waves. If the ship hadn't been large enough to maintain sufficient buoyancy on the surface, eventually bouncing back up, Ian and the others might have witnessed the giant vessel being driven straight to the bottom of the sea.
Due to the earlier chaos in the Golden City, most people had already left by ship. Those still remaining in the Golden City were essentially Tesoro's subordinates and World Government personnel. Well, perhaps also those greedy pirates who had stayed behind to continue looting. Now that the massive waves had struck, their retribution had arrived...
Everyone watched with lingering fear. Only those who sailed the seas truly understood the terror of the ocean, especially a tsunami like this. Imagining themselves in that situation, what would happen if two such waves slammed into their own ship?
Devil Fruit users, in particular, were most wary of such power, because once swept into the sea by a tsunami, it was basically game over.
Ian turned and asked Aokiji, "Was this caused by Dragon? What kind of Devil Fruit user is he exactly?"
However, Aokiji glanced at Ian and replied with a strange expression, "I... don't know either!"
"Huh!?" At Aokiji's words, not just Ian, but practically everyone on the ship was stunned.
Because the one who had earlier warned everyone to steer the ship away from the Tesoro was Aokiji himself, leading everyone to assume he understood Dragon's abilities. Now that they asked him, he said he didn't know!?
Ian and the others looked at Aokiji as if to say, "Are you kidding me!?"
"It's true!" Aokiji shook his head. "I really don't know about Dragon's Devil Fruit ability. In fact, I haven't seen Dragon in over twenty years!"
"Ah!?" Tashigi was startled and blurted out, "Admiral Aokiji, you... you know Dragon!?"
"Of course!" Aokiji nodded. "He was once a Marine like me, and we were fellow Vice Admirals in the same era."
Tashigi, Smoker, and Kuina were all taken aback by this. In the Marines, they often heard Dragon's name, but they knew nothing of his past. So hearing Aokiji personally confirm that Dragon had once been a Marine was shocking to them.
Aokiji, however, noticed that Ian didn't seem particularly surprised. He paused, then realized, asking Ian, "It seems Old Man Garp mentioned this to you?"
"Yeah, something like that!" Ian nodded. In truth, it was Shanks who had told him that Dragon was once a Marine, but Ian didn't need to explain that to Aokiji; it would lead too far off track.
"Since that's the case, why don't you know his ability either?" Ian asked Aokiji.
Aokiji shook his head. "Though we were contemporaries, our instructors were different. My teacher was Admiral Zephyr, while Dragon was personally trained by Vice Admiral Garp! So most of the time, we didn't train together with Dragon. And he was a very reserved, low-key man who spoke little. As a result, he had few friends in the Marines, and we knew very little about him."
"Even if you knew little, you must have known something, right?" Ian pressed.
"Of course!" Aokiji nodded. "Though we didn't know his Devil Fruit ability, we knew some of his capabilities. He seemed able to control storms and rain, having demonstrated such abilities a few times during missions. That's why, when I felt that strange gale earlier, I suddenly thought of him..."
"He reached the rank of Vice Admiral, so why did he suddenly leave the Marines?" Smoker asked, cigar in mouth, looking puzzled at Aokiji.
"Well..." Aokiji hesitated, finding it hard to speak. "Something happened back then..."
But before Aokiji could continue, Robin suddenly became emotional, shouting, "Why not say it!? Do you Marines intend to hide this matter forever!?"
Everyone looked at Robin in surprise, confused by her sudden outburst. Only Ian understood why Robin had lost control, so he stepped forward and patted her shoulder.
Robin suddenly burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably as she leaned into Ian's arms.
Ian comforted her, saying, "It's alright, it's all in the past..."
Their strange behavior left the others bewildered. When Shanks had told Ian about the past, most of them had been drunk, so only Ian and Robin knew about what had happened at Bannero and Ohara.
Ian turned, his eyes cold, and said to Aokiji, "Why not say it? You've left the Marines now. Is there still a need to cover up their scandals?"
"..." Aokiji remained silent.
"What scandal?" Smoker now had an ominous feeling.
"If you won't say it, I'll say it for you!" Ian, seeing Robin in tears, knew that this old memory had stirred up her recollections of Ohara. Filled with anger, he cast caution aside and revealed both incidents.
The result left everyone on the ship stunned speechless!
"So... so you're saying that during that time, it wasn't just Ohara that suffered a tragedy, but also Bannero!?" Crocodile exclaimed in surprise.
"That's right!" Ian nodded. "Almost simultaneously, Ohara and Bannero disappeared from this world, and all of it was caused by you Marines!"
Everyone turned to look at Aokiji, especially Tashigi and Smoker, who were hit hardest by this revelation.
"No wonder you were searching for maps of the South Blue from over twenty years ago in the archives back in Loguetown," Smoker recalled. "So you already knew about this back then?"
"No," Ian shook his head. "Someone told me about it later."
Aokiji looked up at the sky and sighed. "Sigh, is this fate? Ohara had a survivor, Nico Robin, and Bannero had you, Ian, another survivor. And you've ended up together..."
Everyone fell silent. They finally understood why the World Government and Marines had gained an enemy like Dragon. For a moment, they all felt a shared sentiment with Aokiji's lament about fate.
Just imagine: survivors from two places over twenty years ago, reuniting as companions over two decades later. At that moment, it felt as if everyone could sense the will of fate—that elusive thing actually seemed to exist...
Aokiji sat down on the deck and said to Ian, "You know more than I expected. I finally understand why you harbor such hatred for the Celestial Dragons. But there's something you might not know..."
"What?" Ian asked coldly.
"Dragon is so highly valued by the World Government not just because he's the leader of the Revolutionary Army," Aokiji said. "But also because, after the Bannero incident, he once attacked Mary Geoise!"
"Huh!?" Everyone was stunned. "Dragon attacked Mary Geoise too!?"
"Yes," Aokiji nodded. "And he went alone. However, his reason for attacking Mary Geoise was different from yours. He seemed to be searching for something there."
"Searching for something?" Ian furrowed his brow, thinking. "Did he find it? When did this happen?"
"It was a year after the Ohara and Bannero incidents," Aokiji said. "I remember it clearly because it happened right when Akainu, Kizaru, and I were on a mission together. We didn't witness it, but after returning, we inquired in detail. Dragon infiltrated Mary Geoise secretly without alerting anyone. No one knew what he was searching for. But when his cover was blown, he fought off the guards and left calmly."
Aokiji glanced at Ian and continued, "It's said that Dragon fully unleashed his Devil Fruit power that time. Unfortunately, everyone who witnessed Dragon's ability kept their mouths shut."
"Why?" Ian asked curiously.
"I don't know," Aokiji shook his head. "But after that, Dr. Vegapunk, under the World Government's orders, began researching Artificial Devil Fruits. It's said that the Celestial Dragons specifically funded it..."
"Huh!?" Ian's heart stirred at this.
The Celestial Dragons specifically funded it, getting the World Government to order Vegapunk to research Artificial Devil Fruits? How could this be...
Thinking this over, Ian suddenly asked, "Dr. Vegapunk's Artificial Devil Fruit research failed, didn't it!?"
"How did you know?" Aokiji was also surprised, pausing before asking.
Ian couldn't help but slap his forehead. So that was it!
He understood now. The Artificial Devil Fruit that the Celestial Dragons had Vegapunk research was definitely the failed product sealed away at Punk Hazard!