Chapter 161: Encountering the Marines

Ian didn’t leave his name on the note, but this was his way of talking, and Zoro could naturally guess who it was.

“Oh…Huuuh!” Zoro’s face turned red. He almost bit it off just now. When he read the note, he felt embarrassed because his deeds were estimated by Ian.

He angrily threw the note to the ground and sat down with crossed arms, but after a while he picked up the note, took the box with the Devil Fruit, and ran into the Dojo, looking for Koshiro.

In a room in the Dojo, only Koshiro and Zoro were there. They sat on their knees face to face, with the three items in front of them.

These three items were the note and the box with the fruit in it, and the last thing was Ian’s wanted poster…

In fact, when Koshiro first saw this wanted poster, he was not sure whether it was Ian. But after the sudden arrival of this Devil Fruit, Koshiro confirmed that the masked man on the bounty was definitely Ian.

Especially when Zoro told him about the paw-like mark on the ground, Koshiro was sure of this.

“Sensei, do you mean that Brother Ian sneaked into Marijoa just for this Devil Fruit?” Zoro asked curiously.

“Yes, since he was a child, he has been thinking of getting one for Kuina!” Koshiro squinted at the fruit in the box and said, “But, is it worth taking such a big risk just for this thing?”

“Huh! Aniki now has a 500 million Berries bounty!” Zoro took up the wanted poster with some disbelief: “So big brother Ian did really escape the siege of the Admiral?”

“Haha, he has become a lot stronger!” Koshiro smiled and said, “Thank God he’s fine. I’ve been worried about him.”

“No, now I have to go out to the sea, too!” Zoro pressed the sheet on the ground and said to Koshiro, “Otherwise, I would feel like he has passed me with so many levels!”

“Haha!” Koshiro smiled happily: “Yeah, he may really be able to beat you so easily now!”

Zoro was probably the most depressed he has even been. It has been only a year since Ian went out to the sea. However, in this short period, he found that Ian has changed a lot. When Ian was a pirate hunter in the East Blue, he had caught the three most famous pirates in the area. Although he was no longer a pirate hunter, he just made a chaotic event in Marijoa, the Holy Land, with that alone, he has become a Great Pirate with a 500 million bounty. All of this made Zoro, who can’t leave the frost moon village, feel it’s really incredible.

He can’t wait to go out to the sea now.

Facing Zoro’s request, Koshiro didn’t speak, but just meditated silently, then finally answered: “Zoro you have to wait a little longer! As I told you before, at least you have to be an adult before I set you free.”

Although Koshiro usually smiles and looks harmless to all creatures, he actually has his dogmatic side. Whether it was Ian or Zoro, he treated them as his own children, so he insisted that they will not be allowed to sail the sea until they became adults.

Moreover, Koshiro has already received some reports from the Revolutionary Army, so he wanted to see them…

In fact, Zoro has made such a request more than a dozen times, but he was rejected every time, which made him envy Ian for his age…

So this time after hearing Koshiro’s answer, he was not too surprised, he just kept holding his hands together and sulking.

When Koshiro got up and left, Zoro couldn’t sit still. He ran to Kuina’s room and sat in front of her, then said. “Hey, Kuina, come on, wake up quickly, Big Brother Ian has become very strong by this time, and we won’t be able to catch up with him if we stay like this. You have to wake up, eat that fruit, and then we will go to the sea together! Kuina!!…”

Zoro, the fool, said a lot of things to Kuina, but in all his words, he was envious of Ian. He thought that they would become stronger after going to the sea…

It was just that this idiot didn’t notice that whenever he mentioned Ian’s business, like his 500 million Berries bounty, and the topic of getting much much stronger, Kuina’s fingers under the quilt were gently trembling…

……………………………….

Two days later, in the New World.

Ian was on the ship, holding the Mink, Doroni, and doing squats. His only role on the boat at this time was to act as Ian’s fitness equipment.

Every day he was held pitifully by Ian for two hours. (FFS)

When Ian finally finished his workout, the first thing he does was to rush to the kitchen to find comfort…

Last time, after getting fainted by Doroni’s slap, Matthew finally had a good sleep. So he was very grateful to Doroni, and they became best friends. So, every time Doroni enters the kitchen, he will find some honey cakes made especially for him by Matthew.

Only at this time, when Doroni was eating the cake peacefully, would he listen to Matthew talking to him in that slow and melodious tone, but he started getting used to it…

During the time of going to their destination, the people on the ship were all getting to know each other, gradually getting along with each other and becoming friends…

Ian couldn’t help looking and laughing at the scene of Doroni running towards the kitchen.

He sat down in the deck chair, took the drink prepared by Matthew, and started to cool down.

At this moment, the sailor on the mast lookout suddenly shouted: “Captain Ian! There is a ship ahead!”

“Huh!?” Ian stood up straight and asked, “What kind of boat is it?”

“It has white sails with the symbol of Marines!” The sailor said loudly: “It is the patrol warship of Marines!”

‘Has it finally appeared?’ Ian thought so, and immediately started summoning the crew.

In fact, there was no need for his call, the sailors who could fight on the ship had heard the watchman’s cry and came to the deck from the cabin.

“Captain, did they discover us!”

They all gathered around the ship’s side, and looked at the Marine patrol ship in the distance. It was a standard headquarters warship. Both the bow and the sides of the ship had a large number of solid cannons. From their side, they could see clearly that the Marine patrol ship had turned direction, and it was heading for their ship.

As a newly established Pirate Group, this patrol ship doesn’t seem to recognize their flag, but it’s impossible to ignore them as Marines because they were hanging a Pirate flag.

“Prepare for the battle!” Ian commanded: “Take out all the cannons and load the shells. If they attacked us, we will fight back!”

“Haiii!!”

The crowd shouted and immediately dispersed to get ready.

Ian’s crew wasn’t prepared with many weapons, all of them were taken from the marines’ soldiers who chased them on Marijoa. Raideen, the Giant, has not found his own weapon yet. He was just holding a huge iron plate as a shield.

In addition, the cannons and shells on their ship weren’t that many, they were a gift from Jinbe.

However, this didn’t hinder the determination of everyone to fight.

At the moment, on the top of the Marine patrol ship, a Rear Admiral was holding a telescope, looking at Ian’s ship.

This Rear Admiral was an office from the Marine Headquarters named Murney, he looked at their flag strangely and asked the soldiers nearby: “Are you sure you haven’t seen this pirate flag before?” (T/N: Wouldn’t it be a great disguise if they put one of the Yonko’s flag… No one would dare to disturb them)

“Yes! Rear Admiral!” The nearby Marine stood up and saluted: “It should be a newly established pirate group!”

Murney nodded. In fact, in this world, a large number of pirate groups were formed every day, and a lot of others were dying everywhere in the middle of their journey. So, it’s not surprising to encounter a new pirate group.

Looking forward as they have gradually approached the attack distance, Murney ordered: “Deterrent shelling, stop them for an inspection!”

“Yes, Sir!”

With his command, the muzzle of the marine warship began to adjust slowly, aiming at the area near Ian’s ships.

Murney was the one sent by the HQ to search for Ian and the escaped slaves. The Vice-Admiral Momonga was his Superior Officer and he ordered him to take charge of this patrol ship and carry on this mission.

They have been out for nearly a week, but they have not found the trace of the escaped slaves. They have to go onboard and check every ship they see.

So the weak pirates, who had no resistance against the Marines, could only stop their ship obediently after being warned with these shells.

But the stronger Pirate Group was the kind that directly opposes them, fighting back while fleeing, which gives Murney a quite headache.

It’s well known that in the New World, most of the pirates who can survive here for a long time were powerful, so there were very few situations of cooperation, and more were battles.

In such a time, it was hard to see a newly Pirate group emerging. Murney thought that this newly formed Pirate regiment should have no combat power, so he issued such an order.

However, what he didn’t expect was that after the deterrent bombardment of the Marines, the pirate group on the opposite side also fired back at them!

‘Are these pirates a bunch of fools!?’

Murney looked incredulously at the two shells that appeared on the side of his ship. ‘This newly formed pirate group doesn’t know what a Marines’ HQ Battleship capable of…? They aren’t willing to cooperate with us!?’

“Direct fire! Sink them!” Murney got angry and ordered directly.

The standard warship of the Marine Headquarters has terrifying firepower. All the artillery that can attack at once will immediately pour out a large number of shells at their ship!

On the sea, cannons were usually difficult to hit accurately, but they can also be easily sunk through dense shells coverage, which was the usual means of the Marines.

However, when Murney held up his telescope to observe, he saw a situation that made them dumbfounded.

Their cannonballs that should have hit the opponent’s ship were stopped by a giant with an iron shield!