Chapter 767: If I Want to Leave, Who Dares to Stop Me?
The civilians on the street stared blankly at Auntie Xia, while Auntie Xia herself stared blankly at her now-empty arms.
Little Ian had vanished, disappearing right from her embrace. Auntie Xia was a bit flustered at first, but quickly came to her senses, remembering that Little Ian was actually a clone of Ian.
Her plan to take the child shopping had fallen through, which made Auntie Xia extremely angry. And to make matters worse, a few black-clad men who hadn't been caught in the Black Void Flash nearby, realizing that the Charlos they were protecting had been killed, lunged at Auntie Xia in panic.
But unfortunately for them, they had picked the wrong target. A somewhat irritated Auntie Xia grabbed one black-clad man A, drove a knee strike into his groin, and he immediately collapsed while clutching his crotch.
Then, with a spinning roundhouse kick, she sent the gun flying from the hand of another black-clad man B who had drawn it. She grabbed a third one, black-clad man C, who had rushed at her, and threw him over her shoulder in a suplex, sending both of them tumbling into a heap.
Although Auntie Xia hadn't been in a fight for a long time, she still had her foundation. These black-clad bodyguards were usually just bullies who relied on their master's power—how could they possibly be a match for her?
After taking down this group in a few moves, Auntie Xia turned and left.
She needed to go back and confirm whether Little Ian had returned to Ian. Besides... a Celestial Dragon had died, and that was quite a troublesome matter.
The black-clad bodyguards she had beaten down took a good long while to get back up, then immediately used a Den Den Mushi to call for reinforcements.
Meanwhile, the surrounding civilians realized the severity of the situation. As soon as they snapped out of their shock, they scattered like a swarm of bees. Now the entire street was deserted, leaving only a straight scar carved into the ground, proving that the earlier incident had not been an illusion...
As Auntie Xia was making her way back, in the bar, Hogkin was looking curiously at Ian, who had suddenly stood up. He couldn't help but ask, "Boss, what's wrong?"
"It seems something has happened!" Ian said, frowning.
Just now, in the mental connection between himself and Little Ian, Ian had felt a ripple of contact. What reached him was only a vague awareness, letting him know that Little Ian had encountered an "enemy" and had taken action.
But the feeling was very blurry. Ian had no idea what kind of enemy Little Ian and Auntie Xia had run into, nor did he know how things had turned out after the fight.
However, he could sense that Little Ian had "returned"... It seemed that was the case. Once Little Ian used a skill, he would enter a "cooldown" state.
Now he could only wait for Auntie Xia to return to find out exactly what had happened.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before Auntie Xia came back to the bar. But the first thing she did was ask Ian where Little Ian had gone.
It seemed Auntie Xia really did like Ian's little clone...
After Ian explained things to her, Auntie Xia breathed a sigh of relief and then recounted what had happened earlier.
"Another Celestial Dragon got killed!?" Hearing this news, Ian was also a bit stunned. He thought to himself, Are you Celestial Dragons cursed lately? Every time I come to Sabaody Archipelago, one of your clan has to die?
In the past, it was me who did the deed, so there's nothing more to say. But this time, even running into a clone resulted in a death!?
For a moment, even Ian felt that he really was at odds with the Celestial Dragons... Could it be that these guys were getting their comeuppance for all the evil they'd done?
But on second thought, how had Little Ian taken action on his own without permission?
Recalling how Little Ian hadn't resisted Auntie Xia at all, Ian figured it came from his own cognition. People familiar to him, the original body, wouldn't trigger hostility in Little Ian. But those Ian hated or despised, Little Ian would identify as enemies!
In other words, Little Ian came with built-in IFF friend-or-foe identification... Huh, interesting!
"A Celestial Dragon is dead, so a Marine Admiral will be getting involved soon!" Auntie Xia said, patting Ian on the shoulder with a laugh. "Looks like you'll have to step up and take the blame for this! Auntie Xia still wants to keep living in seclusion here on Sabaody!"
Ian gave her a helpless look and said, "You weren't already planning to make me take the fall for this, were you?"
Auntie Xia chuckled. "Who else but you is the one the Celestial Dragons fear most? If you show up, the Celestial Dragons probably wouldn't even dare to fart, right?"
It was true. Although Blackbeard Teach had also broken into Mary Geoise before and killed two Celestial Dragons, he had ended up being chased out by a Marine Admiral. The Celestial Dragons didn't think the Marines couldn't handle Teach. In fact, they believed Teach was just imitating Ian's earlier actions.
Only Ian had not only killed their clansmen but had also become a new Emperor. Even the Marines and the World Government couldn't do anything about him. This had only deepened the Celestial Dragons' fear of Ian.
What Auntie Xia said was correct. If Ian stepped forward and admitted that he had killed the Celestial Dragon Charlos, then even a Marine Admiral would have to consider the consequences of fighting Ian.
And in fact, it was technically Ian's doing, since it was his clone who had acted...
So Ian didn't see any problem with it and simply accepted the situation. Besides, when they had sent Plague Calamity Queen to the Marines, they had probably already guessed that he was on Sabaody.
Yeah, if he didn't like the look of someone and casually killed another Celestial Dragon, that was perfectly fine in Ian's book...
However, after this unexpected incident, Ian knew he couldn't stay on Sabaody. The Marines might not send a large force to fight him on the island, but they would definitely try to drive him away, since the Marines had their pride to uphold.
And with the current Fleet Admiral being Akainu, who knew what that guy was thinking? If he was eager for revenge and brought the entire Marine Headquarters to fight to the death, wouldn't Ian have to take on the whole Marines by himself?
Not that Ian was afraid. With his current abilities, he could fight or leave whenever he wanted. But with the Beast Pirates' big show against the Marines and the World Government about to begin, he had already prepared to sit back and watch the spectacle. There was no reason to help Kaido weaken the Marines' strength now!
"Gather all the family members. We're leaving Sabaody!" Ian said to Hogkin. "Tell them we're heading back to the Dragon Hunter Pirates' territory!"
"I'll go right away!" Hogkin was overjoyed and immediately jumped up, rushing out the door.
After Hogkin left, Ian said regretfully to Auntie Xia, "I wanted to stay a couple more days and wait for Uncle Rayleigh to come back, but this had to happen..."
"It's fine! I hear you can fly pretty fast now. Just come back whenever you want!" Auntie Xia was more easygoing about it. She waved her hand and said, "There will always be chances to see Rayleigh!"
"But how do you plan to leave?" she asked. "You have quite a few family members. You'll need a ship. In such a short time, even if you find a ship, you won't have time to coat it and go through Fish-Man Island!"
"If we can't go through Fish-Man Island, then we'll just go straight through Mary Geoise!" Ian said, unconcerned. "So what if I killed a Celestial Dragon? If I want to leave, I'll leave. Let's see who dares to stop me!"
Auntie Xia didn't say anything. She just gave him a thumbs up...
Meanwhile, at Mary Geoise, the World Government officials were in chaos. The Roswald family, upon hearing the news of their daughter's death, immediately went to the Five Elders, demanding that a Marine Admiral be dispatched to severely punish the culprit!
However, the World Government and Marine Headquarters had only just taken custody of Plague Calamity Queen and were planning how to teach the Beast Pirates a lesson. When they heard the news, their minds went blank!
Damn! Who the hell had targeted a Celestial Dragon this time!?
The investigation hadn't yielded results yet, but the Five Elders still ordered Akainu to send a Marine Admiral to Sabaody to investigate. And so, as Marine and World Government intelligence officers arrived, Sabaody once again descended into chaos.
Whenever something like this happened, the pirates on Sabaody were the ones who suffered. Hearing that a Marine Admiral was on his way, they scrambled to escape and set sail.
Having learned from past experience, they knew that once a Marine Admiral landed on the island, a massive battle was sure to break out. To avoid being caught in the crossfire, people fled in all directions, including the civilians.
In this situation, a group of people gathering together on the island seemed rather unusual.
Under Hogkin's orders, all members of the Ian Family had assembled. Their Emperor boss had returned, and this time he planned to take them all to the New World. Upon hearing this news, the family members were as excited as if they'd been injected with adrenaline. They didn't even bother with their luggage. They just grabbed their weapons and started forming up.
When Ian arrived, what he saw was a bunch of roaring beasts.
Ian scanned the group. Every family member he looked at puffed out their chests, trying to show off their spirit. They had already learned from Hogkin what had happened, so they shouted fiercely to Ian, "Boss, should we take down Marine Headquarters first before we leave?"
"Yeah! So what if a Celestial Dragon scumbag died? Being killed by the young master is their honor!"
"By the way, boss, where's our young master?"
Ian was a bit speechless. When had his clone, the little one, become so popular among the family members?
"Enough talk. Let's move out!" Ian waved his hand.
"Boss, how are we getting out of here?" Hogkin asked.
"We'll cross over from Mary Geoise!" Ian said. "There are plenty of ships at the port there. We'll just grab a few."
Hogkin didn't find this surprising, but the rest of the family members gasped, and their adrenaline surged!
Was their boss planning to lead them in a direct assault on the holy land of the Celestial Dragons and the World Government!?
Damn! That was epic!