Chapter 714: Candidate (2/60)
Just as when ordinary people mention some technical issue, they immediately think of an authority or expert in that field, when it came to navigators, Ian and Robin first thought of Nami. After all, among the excellent navigators they knew, Nami was the only one that came to mind.
However, mentioning Nami suddenly reminded Ian that it had been a while since he last heard news of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Back during the New Edd War battle, the other Supernovas had already entered the New World, but the Straw Hat Pirates had followed Ian and made an appearance in that war. After the war ended, they parted ways with Ian and returned to Sabaody Archipelago to retrieve their ship, planning to continue their adventure.
At the time, Sea Knight Jinbe had also taken his leave. Ian vaguely recalled Jinbe mentioning something about inviting Luffy and the others to Fish-Man Island.
He had no idea where they were now—whether they were being taught by Rayleigh, or if they were in Fish-Man Island beneath ten thousand meters of water. But Ian was certain they hadn’t entered the New World yet. Otherwise, with Luffy’s personality, he would have caused some news somewhere that would have reached Ian’s ears.
Regardless of the situation, the original history had already been disrupted. Ian guessed that Luffy and his crew probably wouldn’t get to experience the two-year training arc again. Whether that was good or bad for them remained to be seen.
Luffy’s own brother, Ace, didn’t intend to interfere with his adventure, so Ian certainly wouldn’t either. Although Ian was worried about that idiot Zoro, he decided to follow Ace’s example.
Ian, Zoro, and Kuina—the three of them as fellow disciples—each had their own experiences and would make their own choices when facing things. No one could replace anyone else in making decisions.
But thinking about this, Ian’s expression suddenly turned strange. He rubbed his chin and mused, “Now that I’ve become one of the new Four Emperors, does that mean one day I’ll receive a challenge from Zoro?”
“What are you thinking about?” Robin noticed his expression and asked curiously.
“I’m thinking, if I threw out a hundred billion Berries right now, could I lure little Nami over?” Ian chuckled and replied.
“You underestimate Nami too much!” Robin covered her mouth and laughed softly. “If she knew how much you raked in at Gran Tesoro, a hundred billion Berries probably wouldn’t be enough…”
“Too expensive!” Ian spread his hands. “Talking about money hurts feelings, so if we ever need Nami’s help, it’s better to appeal to her emotions directly!”
“There’s no rush for now!” Robin said. “We only have one Road Poneglyph in our hands. According to what you said, to find the final island, Laugh Tale, we need three more Road Poneglyphs! Do you know where the other three are?”
“I only know about two of them!” Ian thought for a moment and frowned. “One is definitely in Big Mom’s hands, and the other… without a doubt, Kaido, another Emperor, has one. Whitebeard didn’t have one, but whether Red-Haired Shanks holds one is hard to guess and even harder to ask!”
In truth, Ian knew of another Road Poneglyph—the one on Zou, the homeland of Dorry and Bepo. But that one was hidden extremely well, known only to the Mink Tribe of Zou and no outsiders. So Ian didn’t mention it rashly, as it would be hard to explain how he knew.
He only mentioned the Poneglyphs held by Big Mom and Kaido, since it was no secret that these two Emperors collected Poneglyphs.
As for the fourth missing one, Ian truly had no idea! Mentioning Red-Haired Shanks was purely speculation on his part.
Sure enough, Robin was sharp. As soon as Ian mentioned Shanks, she understood his thoughts and said thoughtfully, “Indeed, Pirate King Roger once reached Laugh Tale. If they found it using the Road Poneglyphs, that means they gathered all four. Even if they only had rubbings, such an important thing wouldn’t be casually discarded. After Roger’s death, the whereabouts of those Road Poneglyphs could only be in two places!”
“Yes!” Ian nodded. “Either they were taken by the World Government, or they were hidden by Roger’s crew! As for the World Government, it’s unlikely. Stussy, that CP0 agent, has been lurking near Big Mom for so long, clearly after her Road Poneglyph. So if the World Government already had those rubbings or Poneglyphs, they wouldn’t be coveting Big Mom’s… I’d say this possibility is about sixty to seventy percent correct!”
“That’s why I think Shanks, as one of Roger’s former crew members, is very likely to have the last Road Poneglyph!” Ian spread his hands. “Even if he doesn’t have it, he probably knows where it is. And not just him—Rayleigh is also very likely to know.”
In his memory, Shanks had always been searching for a “successor” to the Pirate King. Perhaps it was because he held the last Road Poneglyph that he sought a successor. Rayleigh was similar; he was a famous figure on Roger’s crew, so the Road Poneglyph could easily be in his hands.
There was another person who might know, but Ian didn’t mention it: Scopper Gaban, the left hand of the Pirate King, once as renowned as Rayleigh. Ian had never met this man, but when he pretended to have his memory altered by Pudding, he had extracted from Big Mom that Scopper Gaban was in Wano Country!
The whereabouts of the Road Poneglyph stones were unknown, but that didn’t mean there weren’t preserved rubbings. In fact, Ian was well aware that even the Road Poneglyph in Big Mom’s collection might have several rubbings in existence. Not only had Roger secretly copied it, but others might have done so before Big Mom even obtained the stone.
Speaking of rubbings, Ian remembered the day he defeated Big Mom. Reiju had found him, looking annoyed, and pulled a rubbing from her chest with a huff.
That was when Ian learned that Arest and Stussy had secretly made a rubbing, planning to plant it in his room to frame him. But by a twist of fate, Reiju had stumbled upon it and hidden it first. Without that little incident, Stussy and Arest might not have been exposed. It was truly a trick of fate.
But what Reiju hadn’t expected was that Ian never used that rubbing. He had directly killed Big Mom and taken over Whole Cake Island, so the original Poneglyph was already in his hands. What use was a rubbing?
That was why Reiju felt so frustrated. She had been so tense and worried, fearing that the Big Mom Pirates would rudely search all the guests.
It was rare to see Reiju in such a mood, so Ian found it amusing and had to gently soothe her.
Getting off track—those who could obtain these Road Poneglyph rubbings were certainly interested in the One Piece. But first, they couldn’t read the ancient text, and second, they couldn’t gather all four Poneglyphs. So for centuries, only Pirate King Roger had ever set foot on the final island, Laugh Tale.
Roger didn’t understand ancient text either, but he could “hear” the “voice” of the Poneglyphs!
Because of these difficult conditions, Kaido had grown impatient and instead plotted against Wano Country. Besides stirring up chaos there to avenge a friend’s death, he planned to directly confront Kozuki Oden, a key figure from Wano, and ask him outright for the location of Laugh Tale!
That was certainly the fastest method. The Kozuki family were the stonemasons who carved the Poneglyphs, and Kozuki Oden himself had accompanied Roger to Laugh Tale. Asking him directly for the final island was far better than slowly collecting the Road Poneglyphs and then finding someone to decipher them!
Ian guessed that even if Kaido hadn’t acted, the Big Mom Pirates would have. Among the Four Emperors, they were the most eager to become Pirate King.
Thinking of these two, Ian suddenly turned his thoughts to himself.
Now that he had become an Emperor himself and had taken over Big Mom’s Road Poneglyph, and most importantly, Robin—the only historian who could decipher ancient text—was on his side, it seemed he had also become a candidate for Pirate King…