Chapter 764: A Lot of Information
While the Marine Headquarters' meeting room fell into silence due to Akainu's news, not far away in the Holy Land Mary Geoise, the Five Elders were also holding a meeting of their own.
The decision to accept Plague Calamity Queen was largely influenced by the Five Elders, but at this moment, they too wore expressions of deep concern.
"I never thought it would come to this..." sighed the elder with a long sword, known as the Light Talent Elder.
"Yes!" sighed another elder with a birthmark on his head, named Golba. He said solemnly, "I never thought the thing we've been trying so hard to avoid would still happen! The Celestial Dragons have been provoked..."
"There's no helping it. The most vicious criminals in history have all united!" said the elder with golden hair and beard, Georgia, standing to the side with his hands in his pockets. "It's all because of Black Dragon Ian. By replacing Big Mom, he's effectively aligned himself with the Whitebeard Pirates and the Red Hair Pirates. The balance among the Four Emperors has been completely shattered. No wonder Kaido is anxious. Otherwise, with his personality, how could he ever ally with someone like Golden Lion Shiki?"
"Regardless of what they're thinking!" said the elder with three wisps of white beard, Ganes. "Their actions pose an extreme threat. This is why the Celestial Dragons believe the peace agreement has been broken..."
"Since we can't stop it, the only option now is to mediate as much as possible!" said the elder wearing a black flat cap, Castro. "We need to make the Celestial Dragons understand that this is just a special incident. There's no need to go overboard. We should try to keep the war localized."
"Your meaning is, after dealing with the Beast Pirates, we find a way to calm them down?" Georgia asked.
"What else can we do? The world can't withstand a second destruction!" the Light Talent Elder interjected. "Are we supposed to send the Marines into the New World to wipe out those ambitious fools? Can that waste Akainu even do that? It's better to let the Celestial Dragons vent their anger and take out Kaido, this out-of-control bastard... Since he wants war, we'll give him war!"
"...That works too!" Ganes thought for a moment and nodded. "What a pity. Even with Vegapunk's intelligence, he couldn't create a substitute. The losses we suffered when Kaido escaped from Punk Hazard are incalculable! If not for that, we wouldn't have endured for so many years..."
"Hmph! Human hearts are hard to control. Kaido has a mind of his own, so he could never be controlled forever. We should have realized that long ago. That's why mindless Pacifistas are more useful..." Hearing this, Castro snorted coldly. "People say we've become puppets of the Celestial Dragons, but how would they know that if we hadn't spent years appeasing them, even standing firmly by their side and worshipping them, those twisted individuals would have exploded long ago? The ridiculous thing is, there are always people trying to dig up the truth of history. Don't they understand that sometimes, truth doesn't represent justice?"
"There's no choice. Until we find a way to counterbalance the Celestial Dragons, we have to go along with their wishes!" said the Light Talent Elder. "Spandam is also a waste. He led CP to search for the Ancient Weapon Pluton for so long, yet still let the blueprints be destroyed. If we had the blueprints, maybe with Vegapunk's intelligence, we could have replicated it. Then we'd have one more trump card..."
"Now we can only hope to find the original Pluton. That ship is still sleeping somewhere in this world. We'll have to search slowly!" Georgia sighed. "As for Poseidon, we've had no news for so many years..."
"Poseidon only appears once every few centuries. Who knows when that will be?" Castro shook his head. "Until we gather enough trump cards, we can only keep waiting. No one understands the terror of the Celestial Dragons' national treasure, Uranus, better than we do! For that, we must endure worshipping the Celestial Dragons for even a few hundred more years..."
"At least the Celestial Dragons still trust us, so those secret experiments can continue to be hidden from them!" said the Light Talent Elder. "But there's another problem: Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach! That guy is definitely a member of the D. clan. He always makes me feel inexplicably worried..."
"No! On the contrary, what worries me isn't Blackbeard, but Black Dragon Ian!" Georgia shook his head. "He may not be the 'Enemy of the Gods,' but in my view, he might be even worse than that. Have you forgotten the image he took on when he killed Big Mom!?"
"Yes, a demon..." the Light Talent Elder said worriedly. "Although I know it's the power of the Pay-to-Win Fruit, I still don't understand why Ian chose that kind of power when the fruit can exchange for so many abilities. Is it just a coincidence, or does it have some special meaning?"
"Actually, if I weren't afraid that the Celestial Dragons might lose control and cause another disaster, I would have suggested they take out the Dragon Hunter Pirates together..." said the Light Talent Elder. "It's been confirmed now that the capture of Plague Calamity Queen was the work of the Ian Family on Sabaody Archipelago. We originally thought this family was just a scam organization using Ian's name, but it turns out they really are connected to Ian! Queen appearing on Sabaody could only mean Ian captured him. That means Ian was definitely in Wano Country at the time! If Tokugawa Kiki really lied and something fell into Queen's hands, then after the capture, it would have ended up with Ian..."
"The Demon Child Nico Robin is on the Dragon Hunter Pirates. She and Ian are a perfect match, both demons... But it's too dangerous. Once Ian and Nico Robin decipher all the historical truths, he might not be as clever as Pirate King Roger in choosing to temporarily hide them!" Golba said. "He's young, and young people tend to be impulsive. If he decides to reveal the truth to the world, then we'll be in big trouble. The Celestial Dragons will go berserk..."
"Then what should we do about Ian?" Castro asked. "He's not the rookie Pirate Hunter who just set out to sea anymore! He's the youngest Four Emperor in history, and he has deep ties with the Whitebeard Pirates and the Red Hair Pirates. One move affects the whole situation! The Marines and the World Government don't have the strength to fight three Four Emperors at once..."
"For now, we can only closely monitor his actions!" Golba said. "The world can't have a second Pirate King Roger. So once we detect that Ian is getting close to uncovering the historical truth, we'll have to let the Celestial Dragons take military action against him... As for us, being puppets is fine if that's what it takes."
"Before that, we should find a way to send Ian a message!" the Light Talent Elder said after thinking for a moment. "Because we can't deny that Ian probably already knows a lot. If we can make him realize that some things are beyond human power to change, maybe he'll think it over and choose to stay quiet..."
"Who should we send? Among the World Government and Marines, almost everyone who can talk to him is gone... Old Man Garp could, but he probably wouldn't be willing."
"I have someone in mind: Buggy the Clown!"
"That's not a bad choice! But what has Buggy been up to lately?"
"He's still running his Pirate Dispatch Organization, sending mercenaries all over the world to fight wars! But that guy never seems to give up on finding treasure. He's always leading people on digs."
"Then contact him. Have him find a way to deliver a letter to Ian!"
"Ian might be on Sabaody right now. Should we just contact him directly?"
"...No! Since he's chosen not to show himself, we should maintain a certain tacit understanding with him. What we really need to focus on now is the Beast Pirates. If Ian isn't causing trouble, it's best not to drag him out. Otherwise, things might spiral out of control again..."
"Alright..."
..........................
Ian had no idea that the Five Elders in the Holy Land Mary Geoise had spent most of a meeting talking about him.
He was currently in Shakky's bar, leisurely sipping tea while continuously drawing cards, waiting for Hogkin and the others to finish their work and report back.
He knew that as long as he didn't show his face, the Marines would have no choice but to accept the hot potato that was Plague Calamity Queen, so he wasn't worried at all.
Ever since he looted Gran Tesoro, Ian had been flush with diamonds. Whenever he ran low, he just topped up, living the life of a big-spending whale.
Ian's level was now difficult to raise, and to further increase his strength, he could only rely on card sacrifices to unlock the "inner" state of each card. Unfortunately, despite spending all his free time doing ten-pulls, he still hadn't managed to collect a full set of 1-to-4-star cards from any series.
Even the series he thought would be easiest to complete, the Magic Index series, was the same.
He had most of the cards from that series, but the remaining few just wouldn't drop no matter how many times he pulled. If that wasn't superstition, what was?
Over time, Ian had gotten a bit discouraged. Bad luck was sometimes unavoidable. So now, his ten-pulls had become a habitual action. Even as he was drawing cards, his attention wasn't really on his mind but mostly on chatting with Shakky.
But superstition was often the most unpredictable. Ian hadn't expected much from this routine pull, but just as Hogkin burst through the door excitedly to report the results of the operation, Ian suddenly heard a long-missed notification sound in his mind.
"You have obtained a three-star card: Sherry Cromwell!"
"You have obtained a three-star card: Last Order 'Misaka 20001'"
"..."
"Congratulations! You have collected all 1-to-4-star cards from the Magic Index series! You can now perform a card sacrifice!"