Chapter 752: The Relics of Laugh Tale
Scopper Gaban thought for a moment, feeling that he had more or less said everything he needed to. He put his bamboo hat back on and prepared to take his leave.
But at that moment, Ian suddenly remembered the information Big Mom had told him before and quickly spoke up: "Uncle Gaban, did you ever fight Kaido? Is that scar on his stomach really from you?"
"...Who told you that?" Scopper Gaban asked curiously.
"Big Mom told me!" Ian said. "Is it true?"
"Well... how should I put it..." Scopper Gaban scratched his cheek and said, "It's not exactly false..."
Oh!? Hearing this, everyone immediately became interested. Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, was known as the "Strongest Creature in the World." It was common knowledge that in a one-on-one fight, no one had ever been able to defeat Kaido! It was even difficult to leave a scar on him!
But if what Big Mom said was true, didn't that mean Scopper Gaban, the Pirate King's Left Hand, was the first person to leave a scar on Kaido?
However, facing everyone's eager gazes, Scopper Gaban said awkwardly, "Unfortunately, although I did fight Kaido, I didn't actually defeat him. That scar on his stomach was only indirectly caused by me!"
"Indirectly?" Everyone was confused.
"Yeah, indirectly!" Scopper Gaban sat back down and recalled, "That was about ten years ago. If I calculate it right, it was not long after Queen had just joined Kaido. At that time, I hadn't come to Wano yet. I was heading to a deserted island to deal with some things. On the fifth or sixth day I was on that island—I don't remember exactly—I had run out of food, so I dove into the sea to hunt a Sea King or a large sea beast for food. But as I was searching for prey on the seabed, that bastard Kaido suddenly reached out from the seafloor and grabbed my ankle!"
"Ah!?" Everyone was shocked.
"Don't be surprised. That bastard was actually trying to commit suicide at the time!" Scopper Gaban waved his hand and said, "And that time, he probably jumped into the sea. But that bastard didn't die at all. He had been buried in the mud on the seafloor for who knows how long. He seems to have Fish-Man blood, so he can't die in the sea, but since he's a Devil Fruit user, he didn't have enough strength to swim back to the surface..."
"And you happened to pass by there, so he grabbed you to make you take him back to the surface?" Ian asked in surprise.
"That's exactly it!" Scopper Gaban said irritably. "After he grabbed me, I slashed him with my sword, but that bastard just let me cut him and wouldn't let go. I was running out of breath by then, so I had no choice but to take him back to the surface with me. You have no idea how heavy that bastard is! I almost drowned because of him!"
Everyone thought back to Kaido's massive size and had to admit Scopper Gaban was right. But the fact that Scopper Gaban could swim back while dragging someone heavier than a Giant was pretty impressive!
"What happened next?" Bonney asked excitedly.
"After we got ashore, I naturally fought him!" Scopper Gaban shrugged. "But once that bastard was on land, he was ridiculously strong. He and I fought on that island for three days and three nights, and neither of us could beat the other!"
"Then how did you manage to wound him?" Ace asked curiously.
"On the fourth day, my weapon was damaged!" Scopper Gaban said. "At the time, I was just using an ordinary axe. Even though I could reinforce it with Haki, after clashing with Kaido's fists thousands of times, it still broke. And the moment my weapon broke, I was sent flying by Kaido's immense strength and happened to land right next to the pile of things I was dealing with!"
Huh? Dealing with things? Everyone was puzzled by Scopper Gaban's repeated mention of this phrase.
"I didn't think much of it at the time. Seeing that bastard Kaido charging at me again, I grabbed something nearby and threw it at him!" Scopper Gaban said with a faint smile. "But something unexpected happened. The thing I threw casually pierced straight through Kaido's stomach! That bastard was careless and never expected that something I threw randomly could break through his Haki defense!"
"What exactly did you throw!?" Everyone was extremely curious and pressed him for an answer.
"It was a... tooth!" Scopper Gaban gestured with his hands. "A very long and huge tooth!"
"A tooth!?" Everyone looked dumbfounded.
But Scopper Gaban nodded and confirmed, "That's right, a tooth! One that was even longer and thicker than my entire body! It was the tooth of... 'some kind' of creature. We brought it back from the final island, Laugh Tale!"
"Brought back from... Laugh Tale!?" Everyone gasped. "What kind of creature's tooth was it!?"
But Scopper Gaban just gave a mysterious smile and didn't answer their question. He continued, "You don't think we went to Laugh Tale just to take a look, do you? In fact, we found a lot of unbelievable things there and brought them all back!"
"Where are they? Where are they!?" Bonney said excitedly. "Can we see them?"
Including Ian, everyone looked at Scopper Gaban with the same anticipation as Bonney. These were things brought back from the final island, Laugh Tale!
"Unfortunately, I've already hidden those things away. They're the 'things I dealt with'! Roger said that these things wouldn't have any meaning for now and didn't need to be shown to the world!" Scopper Gaban said. "So after Roger died, I followed his wishes and buried them."
This made Ian and the others feel a wave of disappointment, and they looked at Scopper Gaban with resentful eyes.
"Ahem!" Scopper Gaban coughed twice and shamelessly continued, "After that tooth wounded Kaido, that bastard ran away! When he pulled the tooth out, he was already bleeding profusely. To be honest, I never expected that tooth to have such power. That was probably the first time Kaido had bled that much..."
"So, the scar on Kaido's stomach was caused by that tooth?" Marco asked.
"Yes!" Scopper Gaban nodded. "Actually, I only found out later. That tooth seemed to have some kind of mysterious power. Normally, with Kaido's body's regenerative ability, he wouldn't get scars. But the spot pierced by that tooth left a huge scar! And when Kaido stole my ship and escaped from the island, it seems Big Mom's pirate ship was passing through that sea area. They probably saw Kaido escaping, so that's why Big Mom told you that..."
Ian finally understood what Scopper Gaban meant. He really hadn't been able to defeat Kaido at the time. The tooth that had caused Kaido such great injury was just something he threw casually, without any intention of using it to hurt Kaido. That's why he said it was an indirect injury.
"What about that tooth?" Ian couldn't help asking. "You didn't bury it too, did you?"
"No!" Scopper Gaban shook his head. "If it hadn't been for that fight with Kaido, I probably would have buried it. But after the fact, I realized this tooth was special, so I kept it!"
"Can I see it?" Ian was delighted.
But Scopper Gaban said with a wry smile, "Didn't I say? That tooth is taller than my entire body. Do you think I can carry it around with me everywhere?"
Ian realized his mistake and scratched his head apologetically.
"But if you want to see it, I'll send it to you later!" Scopper Gaban said with a smile.
"Really?" Ian's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected Scopper Gaban to be so understanding.
"Think of it as a meeting gift!" Scopper Gaban laughed heartily. "You're Rayleigh's disciple, so that makes me your senior uncle!"
Ian was amused. After Hawk-Eye, his junior uncle, he now had a senior uncle! And Scopper Gaban himself acknowledged it!
"Alright!" Scopper Gaban stood up and said, "In a while, I'll go to Whole Cake Island and bring that thing to you!"
Then, he added meaningfully, "There are some things that you all should know a little about..."
But before anyone could react, he walked away leisurely, his dusty clothes quickly disappearing into the moonlight.
"What did he mean by that last sentence?" Ace nudged Ian with his elbow and asked in a low voice.
"How should I know?" Ian said gloomily. "Maybe he plans to tell us something about Laugh Tale? After all, he said that tooth was brought out from Laugh Tale..."
Ace put his hands on his hips and said, "Heh, I'm interested too. How about this: after we go back, I'll stay in your territory for a while. When this 'Pirate King's Left Hand' sends that tooth over, I really want to see what kind of creature's tooth could hurt Kaido so badly!"
Scopper Gaban had left, and Ian's business in Wano was basically finished. Now, all that was left was to take Queen the Plague away.
"Are you awake?" Ian crouched down and looked at Queen, asking.
Queen was indeed awake, but she had been pretending to be unconscious on the ground. She probably really didn't want to see Scopper Gaban. So when Ian spoke, she struggled to her feet.
"You heard what he said, didn't you?" Ian said to her. "Now, come with us. Since you're an acquaintance of Uncle Gaban, I won't tie you up. But you'd better not try anything funny!"
"Are you really going to hand me over to the Marines?" Queen looked up at Ian, her eyes flickering. "Do you know what the consequences of that will be?"
"Of course I do!" Ian nodded. "The worst-case scenario is that the Beast Pirates and the Marines go to war. But come to think of it, this time Kaido went to steal the Soul Fruit, and the Marines also got involved. Maybe even without you, they'd still be fighting like dogs and cats. I know what you want to say, but if you don't let some things happen, how can you know for sure whether they'll turn out good or bad?"