Chapter 776: Chance Encounter
It was a rare beautiful day in the New World, with sunlight shining down and the sea surface calm and windless. Flocks of seagulls soared through the air, occasionally diving toward the water to catch fish.
Over a dozen ships of varying sizes were sailing across this sea area. Among this fleet were merchant ships, cruise liners, and even Marine warships, creating a rather peculiar mix.
However, the pirate ships that occasionally appeared nearby, taking advantage of the good weather to try and make a quick score, immediately fled in panic like startled birds upon spotting the flags on this fleet from afar, not even daring to approach!
Because the flags flying on this fleet belonged to the Dragon Hunter Pirates...
The flagship of the fleet was an armed merchant ship, and on its deck, Ian was accompanying Old Man Garp, sunbathing while enjoying afternoon tea and pancakes.
But this afternoon tea was giving Ian a headache, because Old Man Garp was... feeding pancakes to Little Ian...
Ian hadn't originally planned to summon his clone, but Hogkin and the other family members, probably bored out of their minds, kept clamoring all day to see the Little Young Master. If Ian didn't bring Little Ian out, they would wander back and forth in front of him, staring at their boss with resentful eyes.
Once or twice, Ian could pretend not to notice, but after repeated occurrences, veins bulged on his forehead. Since when did his clone become more popular than his original body!?
Left with no choice, to escape the commotion, Ian had to let Little Ian come out...
However, just as the family members were cheering for the Little Young Master's appearance and were about to bring out their treasured toys and snacks to entertain him, Old Man Garp appeared, his eyes lighting up at the sight of Little Ian.
And then... then Little Ian was taken away by Garp, leaving the family members fuming but too afraid to speak up...
Garp hadn't expected Ian to possess such an amazing ability to create a clone like this, but undoubtedly, Little Ian's appearance gave Old Man Garp a source of amusement during the boring sea voyage.
The older one gets, the more one likes children, and Garp was no exception. He had never treated Ian as an outsider, and now he regarded Little Ian like his own little grandson.
Although Garp had raised Roger's son Ace from childhood and later his own grandson Luffy, making him no novice grandfather, to be honest, the actual time Garp spent with Ace and Luffy could be counted on one hand. Both Ace and Luffy had sensitive identities, and Garp himself was a Marine, so he had to leave them with the mountain bandit Dadan to raise. Moreover, Ace and Luffy were bratty kids back then, always shouting about becoming pirates, so even when Garp occasionally saw them, his attitude toward these two grandsons mostly involved beating them up...
But now it was different. Little Ian wasn't a bratty kid. Innocent and naive, he was very obedient and well-behaved. As long as someone wasn't hostile to Ian's original body, Little Ian wouldn't resist them.
This finally allowed Garp to experience what it felt like to be a grandfather. He carried Little Ian everywhere he went...
That wouldn't have been a problem normally, but... although he didn't hit him or pinch his cheeks anymore, Garp still had that rough-and-tumble personality. When dealing with children, he was simple and crude. Just like now, while feeding Little Ian pancakes, he didn't care whether Little Ian could actually eat them, just kept stuffing them into his mouth!
Ian watched as Little Ian's cheeks puffed up, his face showing pain, while Garp laughed heartily, "That's right, eat more, eat more so you can grow taller!"
Ian said with a headache, "Old man, I told you, he's my clone. He can't grow taller..."
But Garp glared with bull-like eyes, "Isn't he eating right now?"
"He is eating, but..." Ian couldn't finish his sentence. Damn it, the old man didn't seem to realize what he was doing.
Forget it, Little Ian, you're on your own... Ian turned his face away and sold out his mini version...
Only after Garp finished feeding all the pancakes did he finally put Little Ian down, letting him go play on his own. Little Ian immediately fled as fast as he could.
Not far away, the family members who had been waiting opened their arms with blissful expressions, welcoming the Little Young Master's return...
Watching this scene, Ian's face twitched. He couldn't understand why so many people liked his mini clone...
Once Little Ian had left, Garp finally got serious. He took a sip of tea and asked Ian, "Finished with the slave marks?"
Ian nodded, "Yeah, all done."
The rescued slaves all bore the marks of the Celestial Dragons on their bodies, representing memories of shame. So shortly after setting sail, Ian began removing the marks from the slaves on each ship one by one. It took several days of hard work to finally finish.
Garp looked back at the ships behind them and sighed, "Among these people, there are really many talented individuals..."
His sigh wasn't without reason. Among the thousands of slaves Ian had rescued, many were experienced old sailors. With them around, Ian didn't have to worry about navigation issues in the New World. Two days ago, they had encountered a storm, but under the control of these sailors, all the ships had safely weathered it.
With these people, Ian was confident he could lead everyone back to Whole Cake Island.
Originally, because Garp was with them, Ian planned to first take him to Whitebeard Old Man's territory to reunite him with Ace. But when they approached an island within the Whitebeard Pirates' sphere of influence and contacted them, they learned that Whitebeard Old Man had already taken most of his crew and headed to Whole Cake Island.
Not only that, the Red Hair Pirates were also on their way to Whole Cake Island. Upon receiving this news, Ian had the fleet head directly back to Whole Cake Island.
The Whitebeard Pirates and Red Hair Pirates gathering at Whole Cake Island surprised Ian, but he could roughly guess the reason. Because of Ian's role as a connecting link, the three Emperor pirate crews had long been in contact. Still, Ian hadn't expected the gathering of three Emperors to happen so soon.
Garp had naturally thought of this situation too, so he suddenly asked Ian, "Ian, do you think there's a possibility of reconciliation between the Four Emperors and the Marines?"
This question caught Ian off guard, and he asked, "Why do you say that?"
"All along, the Four Emperors have each acted independently!" Garp explained. "Competing and opposing each other, but because they're pirates, they all share a unified hostile attitude toward the Marines. To counter the Four Emperors, the Marines have continuously courted major pirates, offering them Warlord positions to balance the Emperors' power. It seems no one has ever considered the possibility of reconciliation between the Marines and the Emperors... but your appearance gives me a vague feeling that through you, this might be achievable..."
"You're overestimating me!" Ian shook his head. "Don't forget, among all the Four Emperors, I'm the youngest in seniority. So even though I have a good relationship with the Whitebeard Pirates and the Red Hair Pirates, it doesn't mean they'll listen to my opinions. As Emperors, they have their own pride and ideas..."
"Yeah, when you put it that way, it does seem difficult!" Garp rubbed his head and sighed.
Garp used the word 'difficult' to describe this matter, not words like 'impossible,' which meant that in his heart, this matter still had some possibility.
Ian caught the implication in his words but didn't say anything.
Just then, the lookout on the flagship suddenly shouted loudly, "Ian Boss, there's a pirate ship approaching us on the sea!"
Hmm? During this time, the fleet had been sailing with such an intimidating presence that no one dared to come near. Now, a pirate ship suddenly appeared?
Ian stood up in confusion, walked to the bow, and picked up a telescope to look at the sea ahead.
The pirate ship was still far away, appearing as just a small image in the telescope. But upon looking, Ian froze.
Because he saw someone on that pirate ship frantically waving in their direction!
Looking again at the flag on that ship, Ian almost blurted out a curse. That pirate ship was the Sunny! And the person standing on the ship frantically waving was that guy Luffy!
How did they end up here!? Ian was puzzled and turned to ask Hogkin, "Is there any island near this sea area?"
"Ah, yes, Boss!" Hogkin replied after a moment's thought. "About four hundred nautical miles in our three o'clock direction is Dressrosa!"
"I see!" Ian suddenly understood. Unknowingly, the fleet had reached the sea area near Dressrosa. Had the Straw Hat Pirates already been to Dressrosa?
With this doubt, Ian raised his telescope again.
It seemed they had spotted the Dragon Hunter Pirates' fleet. The Straw Hat Pirates' members had all come to the deck to look. Ian could clearly see each person on the Straw Hat Pirates' ship.
Well... Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Brook, Franky, and Mr. 2 Bon Clay. Besides them, Ian also saw two figures, one big and one small. The big one was Sea Knight Jinbe, and the little one jumping frantically on the railing was actually Leo from the Tontatta Tribe!?
How strange. Leo had ended up on the Straw Hat Pirates' ship?
This made Ian scratch his head. He found that the original Straw Hat Pirates' members had been completely scrambled beyond recognition...
Just as Ian was still marveling, several more figures suddenly appeared in the telescope's view...
Several people wearing samurai clothing from Wano Country...
"Damn it!" Ian finally couldn't help but shout out loud, because he immediately recognized several people on Luffy's ship. They were retainers of the Kozuki Family—Kin'emon and the others!
Foxfire Kin'emon, Shower Kanjuro, and... Kozuki Momonosuke!