# Chapter 751: No Right or Wrong
Surprised as he was, after reacting, Ian didn't find it strange either.
If Uncle Rayleigh was once Roger's first mate, then Spank Jabba should have been Roger's boatswain, undoubtedly possessing formidable combat strength. And Kozuki Oden had once followed Roger to the final island, which meant he and Spank Jabba were also companions. Spank Jabba had been living in Wano Country all these years, likely hiding out with the Kozuki family.
Now, returning from visiting friends only to find such a tragic disaster had befallen his companion's home, how could Spank Jabba possibly hold back?
The pirates of the Beast Pirates occupying Kuri in Wano Country naturally became Spank Jabba's targets for venting his anger. It was fortunate that Kaido wasn't in Wano Country at the time, or Spank Jabba might have ended up fighting Kaido directly...
After wiping out the pirates in Kuri, with only Queen the Plague, a senior officer, remaining, Spank Jabba naturally had to pursue him.
However, what Ian found somewhat strange was that Spank Jabba seemed to recognize Queen the Plague, since he called Queen "little fox"...
With this curiosity, he naturally had to ask.
Hearing Ian's question, Spank Jabba turned to look at him, which made Ian realize that Spank Jabba could actually see, despite the dark sunglasses. He had Observation Haki, as proven by his earlier observation that Marco's hair had thinned. It was just unclear why he insisted on never removing his sunglasses, even if it meant being comical.
Spank Jabba didn't answer Ian's question directly. Instead, he curiously asked him first: "You're Ian? Rayleigh's disciple!?"
Ian was startled for a moment, then quickly realized that Spank Jabba might have been in contact with Uncle Rayleigh. Otherwise, there was no way he could know about this. Very few people knew that Ian had studied under Rayleigh on Sabaody Archipelago back then.
So he couldn't help asking: "It's me, Uncle Jabba. Was your trip to visit friends this time actually to see Uncle Rayleigh?"
"No!" Spank Jabba shook his head with a chuckle. "That old man and I are both key surveillance targets for the Marines. If I went to see him, the entire Marines and World Government would be alarmed. They'd think we were getting together to discuss some treasonous matters... So to avoid trouble, I didn't go see him this time. He and I only exchange brief letters and news. As long as we know the other is still alive and well, that's enough..."
"I see..." Ian nodded. So Uncle Rayleigh must have mentioned him in letters to Spank Jabba, which was why Uncle Jabba recognized him immediately.
Then Ian suddenly thought of someone and asked tentatively: "Then did you go see Crocus at Reverse Mountain?"
"Haha, you've met him too!" Spank Jabba burst out laughing upon hearing Ian mention that familiar name. "Actually, it wasn't just him. I also saw Shanks, and that red-nosed guy Buggy too. I heard you were the one who rescued him from Impel Down back then?"
Hearing Spank Jabba mention Buggy, Ian couldn't help but smile. "You know, when I first set out to sea, I actually beat up Buggy!"
This made Spank Jabba laugh out loud again. "That red-nosed guy is a Warlord now..."
Because of their shared connections and history, just a few sentences of exchange made Ian and Spank Jabba familiar with each other, with no sense of strangeness at all. To Ian, Spank Jabba was an elder like Uncle Rayleigh, and to Spank Jabba, Ian was his good friend's disciple, not an outsider.
This naturally surprised Ace, Marco, and Izo. Logically speaking, Marco was the one present who knew Spank Jabba best, yet in just a few words, Ian was already chatting enthusiastically with the Pirate King's left hand.
After laughing for a while, Spank Jabba said somewhat despondently: "Ah, I originally wanted to see these old friends one last time before I die, but I didn't expect that after spending several months away, everything would have changed when I returned... If I had stayed in Wano Country, Oden wouldn't have died... Another old friend lost!"
There was a sadness in his words, and Ian didn't know how to respond to this topic. Uncle Rayleigh was the same way back then, occasionally lamenting his aging in his words.
And Whitebeard Old Man too. They all felt they were figures from a bygone era, that the changing world had left them behind...
So he could only change the subject, bringing up Queen the Plague again. "Uncle Jabba, do you know this fox mink? She seems very afraid of you?"
"Hehe, of course I know her!" Spank Jabba laughed. "Because this little fox once traveled to many places with us on the Roger Pirates!"
Hearing this, everyone present was stunned.
"Y-you mean Queen the Plague was once part of the Roger Pirates!?" Marco asked in astonishment. "Then... then why have I never seen her!?"
"Of course you've never seen her!" Spank Jabba glanced at Marco. "Because back then, this little fox was still a child. During the several battles between the Roger Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates, she hid in the cabin and never came out!"
The Roger Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates had indeed fought. In that era, Whitebeard Edward Newgate was both Roger's friend and his greatest rival. But while they fought, they never became mortal enemies.
Oh, the only possible exception might be Red-Haired Shanks and Blackbeard Teach. That guy Teach left a scar on Shanks during one battle that could never be erased...
"A child?" Marco looked at Queen on the ground with some doubt. "So that means she's a bit younger than me?"
"Mm! That's right!" Spank Jabba nodded. "Do you still remember Dogstorm and Cat Viper from our ship back then?"
"I remember! Those two were interesting characters!" A smile appeared on Marco's face.
"This little fox secretly followed Dogstorm and Cat Viper onto the Roger Pirates' ship back then!" Spank Jabba said with a smile. "You might not know this, but when we discovered her, we were all stunned. However, by then we had already left Wano Country and set sail, so we could only keep her on board."
Ian listened with his mouth agape, then asked in surprise: "So she was with Dogstorm and Cat Viper? But then why... why did she..."
"You want to ask why she later joined the Beast Pirates and became a traitor to Zou, right?" Spank Jabba asked.
Ian nodded, indicating that was exactly what he wanted to know.
"Although the Mink Tribe is very repulsed by outsiders, once they accept an outsider as a friend, their loyalty and righteousness are unparalleled!" Spank Jabba sighed. "But this little fox Queen was an exception, and the cause of this was actually us..."
"What exactly happened?" Ian pressed.
"It was a shipwreck!" Spank Jabba explained. "Even though Roger was called the Pirate King by the world, the truth is that our adventures nearly ended in disaster several times. As you know, the climate in the New World can sometimes be so terrifying that human strength cannot resist it. That time... it was when we were approaching the end of the route, Laugh Tale. We encountered an unprecedented great storm. In that storm, both Kozuki Oden and the little fox were swept into the sea. Dogstorm and Cat Viper jumped in to save them, but as Kozuki family retainers, out of loyalty to Kozuki Oden, they both chose to save Oden first. After Oden was rescued, the two realized that the little fox had already disappeared in the storm..."
"Queen was still a child back then. Although she had sneaked onto the ship, she was undoubtedly already our companion. So this incident made Dogstorm and Cat Viper blame themselves for a long time. They blamed each other for not saving the little fox Queen..." Spank Jabba said. "After the storm ended, the two guilt-ridden individuals also left the pirate group. Under Kozuki Oden's orders, they went together to search for the missing Queen. Because of this, they even missed the opportunity to board Laugh Tale with us... However, they never found Queen later. After this incident, when they returned to Zou, they became enemies, both believing it was the other's fault that Queen had died..."
Ian finally understood. So the reason Duke Dogstorm and Master Cat Viper, whom Dorry had mentioned, had such a bad relationship was because of this hidden history!
"But Queen didn't die in the storm, did she?" Ian pointed at Queen on the ground and asked.
"Yes!" Spank Jabba sighed. "She drifted to a remote island far from the storm. After waking up, she waited alone on that island for a full five years. Imagine, a child not yet grown, waiting on that island for so long, hoping we would come to rescue her. Every day she went to the seaside to wait, day after day, but no one ever came..."
This... Ian didn't know how to describe it. It was truly tragic.
"Didn't you expand your search for her?" Bonney asked indignantly beside him. "Five years! Without confirming her death, didn't you ever think she might still be alive? At the very least, you should have had a Vivre Card, right!?"
Spank Jabba smiled bitterly. "Of course we thought about that, but... unfortunately, we only had one Vivre Card for Queen back then, kept by Dogstorm, and it was lost in the storm. Moreover, we were already preoccupied with other matters at that time. After boarding Laugh Tale, we were shocked by the truth we discovered. Then, after returning, Roger, for some reason, chose to disband the pirate group and turned himself in to the Marines and World Government... This series of subsequent events made us indeed forget about the little fox who had disappeared in the storm..."
"What happened next?" Ian couldn't help asking.
"Next? That child finally waited for someone on that deserted island. You should have guessed—it was Kaido!" Spank Jabba said despondently. "Perhaps it was the long wait, our repeated disappointments to her. When she met Kaido, she followed him without hesitation. Not only did she come to hate us, but she also hated Zou and the Kozuki family..."
No wonder she now followed Kaido in aiding his tyranny, attacking the Kozuki family and giving the Vivre Card pointing to Zou to Jack the Drought. This was undoubtedly revenge against those who had abandoned her back then!
This Vivre Card—whether it was Dogstorm's, Cat Viper's, or Zunesha's—no one could imagine what kind of mental journey Queen had gone through during those five years, alone, staring at the Vivre Card that could lead her back home...
The scene was silent for a long time. Finally, Ian broke the silence and asked with a sigh: "Then, Uncle Jabba, what do you plan to do now that you've captured Queen?"
"Actually... I don't know either!" Spank Jabba hesitated. "The death of my old friend Oden made me very angry, and Queen played a significant role in it. But now that I've really caught her, I find I can't bring myself to be angry with her, because the fault was ours back then..."
"Then how about handing her over to Duke Dogstorm and Master Cat Viper for judgment?" Marco asked tentatively.
"It's useless!" Spank Jabba shook his head. "Handing her over to them would only add to their troubles. Moreover, for the Mink Tribe of Zou, Queen's actions this time have already been a betrayal of companions and master. This is a serious crime. Handing her over to Dogstorm and Cat Viper—are you trying to force them to execute Queen again?"
"So..." Spank Jabba looked at Ian. "After thinking it over, I decided to hand her over to you, Ian. Perhaps your earlier idea of turning her over to the Marines isn't a bad choice. The balance between the Four Emperors has long been broken. No one knows what the Marines and World Government will do next, but it's easy to imagine what kind of turmoil the entire world will face. Maybe letting her stay in a prison cell will allow her to safely weather this storm... This is the only thing I can do for her..."
With that, Spank Jabba lowered his head and said to Ian: "I'm entrusting this to you..."
Hearing Spank Jabba's request, Ian didn't know what to say. He couldn't judge this incident from back then, because in this matter, it was impossible to tell who was right and who was wrong.
So Ian could only nod and say: "I promise you!"