Chapter 760: Filling the Gap
Hearing the knock on the door, Ian thought to himself, *It can’t be that coincidental, right?*
He recalled the time he had come here before and knocked out a group of people. Now, hearing Auntie Xia talk about it, he realized that the people he had encountered were likely the remnants of the Ian Family members.
Could this misunderstanding turn into some cliché drama of family fighting family?
Guessing that those family members might have gone back to gather reinforcements to settle the score, Ian sighed and stood up to open the door.
However, when he pulled the door open, the first person he saw was someone he still remembered.
Hogkin! Back when Ian was building his family’s influence on Sabaody Archipelago, Hogkin had been his most loyal subordinate.
And behind him, outside the Knock-Up Bar, was a dense crowd of people, completely surrounding the place. At first glance, it was hard to tell exactly how many there were.
But despite the large number, there was no scene of them pointing fingers at him in excitement, shouting, “That’s the guy!” and then charging at him as he had imagined.
Hogkin was also stunned to see Ian opening the door. After a moment of hesitation, he snapped out of it and trembled with excitement, blurting out, “Ian Boss! You... you’re finally back!?”
Hearing his excited shout, the dense crowd outside buzzed with noise.
“Is... is it really our boss!?”
“No doubt about it! Didn’t you hear what Brother Hogkin called him?”
“Our... our family was really founded by Emperor Ian!?”
“No kidding! Didn’t you see that hat? It’s really the Black Dragon Ian, one of the Four Emperors!”
“Then... then we’re really under one of the Four Emperors!?”
Looking at their faces, Ian saw nothing but disbelief and... ecstatic joy. These expressions quickly turned into overwhelming excitement. All these diverse people stared at him with identical looks of awe and reverence.
“What... what’s going on here?” Ian couldn’t help but turn to Hogkin and ask.
Hogkin still hadn’t recovered from his excitement. Rubbing his hands together, he said, “Ian Boss, these are our family members! And this is only a third of them.”
Then he turned to the dense crowd behind him and roared, “What are you all standing around for!? Hurry up and come pay respects to the boss!”
The next second, a deafening wave of sound erupted. The crowd outside bowed in perfect unison to Ian and shouted at the top of their lungs, “Hello, Boss!”
Ian’s ears rang from the massive roar of so many people. He grabbed Hogkin and whispered, “Damn! How many people are here!?”
“Over a thousand!” Hogkin said with pride. “There are more than two thousand who didn’t come. Mainly because there’s not enough open space around Auntie Xia’s bar...”
Over a thousand people—more than the entire crew of the Dragon Hunter Pirates—and this was only a third! Ian was utterly astonished.
“What’s going on? When I left, didn’t I disband the family? I even gave you all severance pay. How did the family end up even bigger?” Ian whispered to Hogkin.
“Boss, can we talk inside?” Hogkin whispered back.
Ian nodded and let Hogkin in. The family members outside obediently stayed where they were, watching Ian close the door.
After entering the bar, Hogkin first bowed respectfully to Auntie Xia and said, “Hello, Big Sister Auntie Xia!”
Auntie Xia smiled and waved at him, saying, “Make yourself at home!”
Ian noticed how familiar they were with each other and asked in surprise, “Huh, Auntie Xia? You two...”
Auntie Xia chuckled and said, “After you left, this little guy Hogkin often came here. Over time, we got to know each other.”
Ian looked at Hogkin, waiting for an explanation. Hogkin scratched his head and said, “Boss, it’s a long story. Let me tell you slowly.”
Once Ian sat down, Hogkin began to recount what had happened after Ian left.
Back then, Ian had disbanded the family because the World Government had sent Kuma to find him. At that time, Ian was still weak and, facing the potential threat of a Marine Admiral, he had to disband the family—not only to avoid dragging them into trouble but also to reduce his own worries.
After Kuma’s attack, Hogkin and the others woke up to find the place in shambles and Ian, their boss, gone.
They had worried about Ian’s safety and even searched the island for traces of him.
But not long after, news broke that Ian had set fire to the Holy Land Mary Geoise!
That was when Hogkin and the others realized Ian was safe. Relieved, they also became aware of their own danger and hid more carefully. After all, Ian was a major criminal at the time, and as former members of the Ian Family, Hogkin and his group feared the World Government and Marines might come after them.
They had planned to follow Ian’s orders and stop running the family. But then a dramatic turn of events occurred: the Celestial Dragons couldn’t catch Ian to retrieve the Identity Chip, so they agreed to let him become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Because Ian had purged hostile families in the area when he first established his own, the local powers on Sabaody Archipelago knew that Hogkin and his group had once been Ian Family members. During Ian’s wanted period, these malicious individuals even tried to capture Hogkin and the others for the bounty, making their lives miserable. But when news broke that Ian had become a Warlord, their fortunes reversed completely.
At first, people who knew the inside story came to join Hogkin and his group. The prestige of a Warlord made them realize that Hogkin and the others, who once flew the Ian Family flag, now had a powerful backer.
So Hogkin and his group went from being hunted rats to hot commodities.
Kicking those who are down and flattering those who are up—that’s human nature. Hogkin and the disbanded members realized that the mark of Ian on them couldn’t be erased. Even though they had no intention of running the family, they couldn’t stop waves of people from coming to join them out of admiration.
When some famous bounty hunters and pirates began to appear among these newcomers, Hogkin and the others realized things were getting out of hand. If they told these hopeful people that the family had been disbanded, they might end up being killed by the disappointed crowd.
Reluctantly, they had to grit their teeth and start accepting these people.
At first, they just tacitly allowed these people to follow them, never mentioning the Ian Family. But those who were accepted assumed they were now part of Ian the Warlord’s crew and started bragging to everyone they met.
In the end, the whole of Sabaody Archipelago knew that the Black Dragon Ian, one of the Seven Warlords, had a “recruitment office” here.
At that time, Ian’s relationship with the Marines was at its best, so the Marines on the island tacitly accepted this and deliberately avoided the Ian Family’s area of activity.
This behavior only further legitimized the Ian Family in people’s eyes, leading even more people—out of awe or admiration—to interact with Hogkin and join the family.
Heaven knows, when Hogkin talked about this period, he looked pitifully at Ian and said, “Boss, I really didn’t mean for this to happen. I thought that since you were gone, those guys would eventually get suspicious and expose the whole thing. Then we could just cut and run...”
“But you couldn’t run, could you?” Ian scratched his head and stated the obvious.
“Yeah! Even though you never showed up and some people had doubts, there was nothing we could do because you just kept getting more awesome!” Hogkin’s eyes lit up as he said, “First you took on Doflamingo, then you stormed Impel Down, then at the Battle of New Edd War, you helped the Whitebeard Pirates fight the Marines and drove off Kaido of the Beasts. Each event made these guys worship you even more. And when you came back to Sabaody Archipelago that time, we heard you were on the island and wanted to mobilize everyone to help you. But then you fought Kizaru and Aokiji and sank a huge chunk of Sabaody, so we couldn’t get close. Before we could contact you, you were already gone. A lot of family members were really down about that...”
“So...” Hogkin spread his hands and said, “Don’t blame me. I couldn’t drive them away anymore...”
“Tch!” Ian said with a headache. “Even though I haven’t shown up for over a year, these guys still believe in it without a doubt? What exactly did you tell them?”
“That’s what baffles me the most!” Hogkin said with a constipated expression. “Because I never said anything. Every time they asked when you’d come back, I just shook my head and said I didn’t know. Then they stopped asking. I don’t know what they imagined, but they started spreading rumors within the family, saying you were probably planning to keep the family in hiding for some big scheme...”
“...” Ian didn’t know what to say. *They imagined it? Just how powerful is your imagination? Hiding for a big scheme? Why don’t you just fly to the moon!?*
*Are you guys planning to pull off some “one signal flare, and thousands of troops gather” routine or what?*
“Alright, if the family’s name has been preserved, then let it be,” Ian finally said helplessly. “Honestly, I’m really surprised. I never expected this to happen. But since it’s already developed like this, I can’t force another disbandment. Still, with such a large force, how come the Marines still turn a blind eye to you?”
“I don’t know what the Marines are thinking, but we’ve never been attacked by them,” Hogkin shook his head. “I think they probably suspect whether this Ian Family is real. Since you haven’t shown up for so long and never contacted us, the Marines probably think I’m just a con artist running this family...”
“So that’s how it works!” Ian was at a loss. He hadn’t returned or contacted Hogkin because he had completely forgotten about this. But ironically, this made the Marines suspicious and kept them from rashly moving against Hogkin.
Was this a happy accident?
“How do you make a living on Sabaody Archipelago?” Ian asked.
“Still the same old trade—bounty hunting!” Hogkin laughed. “We follow the rules you set back then. Now we control most of the lawless zone. Since human trafficking, robbery, and murder are banned there, it’s actually become a legal area. With improved public order, many merchants now come to do business. We rarely even do bounty hunting anymore. The ‘management fees’ the merchants pay are enough for us to live on...”
“This is really...” Auntie Xia chimed in, “Quite surprising, isn’t it? Even the Marines couldn’t manage the lawless zone, but a bunch of gray-area characters managed to do it.”
Yeah, gray-area characters. Though they operated under the family name, Hogkin and his group still couldn’t shake off the label of a “vibrant social organization.” The only difference was that this organization was now very powerful.
“So how did you find out I was back?” Ian asked Hogkin.
“The guys you knocked out earlier came back and reported it,” Hogkin said. “You know, since you weren’t around, we didn’t dare provoke any big shots. So I carefully asked them to describe what you looked like. Those idiots had never seen you, so they couldn’t recognize you. Plus, your clothes were probably different. But when they mentioned that one of the two swords you were carrying was pink, I immediately realized it might be you. I had carefully studied your weapons during the live broadcast of the Battle of New Edd War. I was wondering why your sword had changed...”
Right, back then on Sabaody, Ian was still using the Enma Sword.
“So you brought people here?”
Hogkin nodded and said, “Because I knew that if you really came back, you’d definitely come to Auntie Xia’s place first.”
Auntie Xia smiled and said, “This kid is pretty clever.”
Hogkin smiled too and looked at Ian with hopeful eyes, asking, “Boss, now that you’re back, you won’t disband the family again, will you?”
“If I disband it again, you’d probably get beaten to death,” Ian said with a roll of his eyes. “Forget it. Since that’s the case, you’ll come with me when the time comes. My pirate crew is short on manpower right now.”
That was the truth. The family members Hogkin had gathered might not be strong in combat, but they made up for it in numbers. The Dragon Hunter Pirates now had top-tier combatants, secondary-level executives, and mid-level elite fighters. The only thing missing was the bottom-tier grunts. Adding these Ian Family members would perfectly fill that gap.
The clone soldiers from the Germa Group still felt a bit off. This was the most unexpected gain from Ian’s return.
When Hogkin heard Ian’s agreement, he couldn’t help but pump his fist in excitement and ran outside. Whatever he said to the family members, the next second, another earth-shaking wave of sound erupted.
This time, it was a roar of ecstatic cheers...