Chapter 344: Black Mist

“What!?” When Ian heard Crocodile’s last words, his eyes almost popped out!

Travolta? My own territory? Someone dares to issue such a thing!?

Suddenly, Ian’s anger sprang up, then instantly his right leg turned black with Busoshoku Kōka, and kicked Crocodile’s face in a flash.

Crocodile, who was near Ian, was caught off guard, received a harsh kick, and got thrown away.

But after climbing up, he spat out the blood in his mouth, still sneered, and said to Ian. “Even if you vent all your anger on me, it won’t help… This information is true!”

Ian took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and asked Crocodile: “What the hell is going on?”

Crocodile didn’t answer Ian, but instead, he wiped the blood at the corner of his mouth and asked Ian: “Is this news worth returning that part of my soul?”

“If you keep delaying, you will be the first to taste such loss!” Ian said back and clenched the light mass in his hand.

Now, after seeing Ian’s anger signs, Crocodile didn’t dare to irritate him anymore, so he had to tell the matter as it was.

Although the Baroque Works controlled by Crocodile currently operates only in the country of Alabasta, it is undeniable that this organization is still part of the underground world. Therefore, Crocodile has always maintained contact with other forces… Apart from that, the dance powder is a product that the world government explicitly prohibits manufacturing and using. So how can Crocodile get such supplies without the help of forces from the underground World?

Through these channels, Crocodile discovered the news a few days ago…

The Underground World is a general term for illegal organizations on the dark side. It does not specifically refer to a specific subject or objective. It isn’t formed only by pirates, thieves, and killers, but even some arms dealers, national power figures, plus the marines were most likely to be also involved in this organization, which is a fairly huge network of relationships and interests.

In the Underground World, the most active characters are probably the brokers. These people are active in the dark, responsible for matching the people in need, and facilitating transactions, selling mercenaries, selling arms, igniting wars, etc. Behind every illegal trade, a good broker should be responsible.

After receiving the news, Crocodile learned that someone wants to get some business on the island of Travolta. The agent even asked Crocodile’s Baroque Works if they are interested in picking up the business. After all, the Baroque Works is a group of bounty hunters who can do anything for money.

At that time, Crocodile refused. First, he could not get involved in the affairs of the new world from where he was at the moment. Secondly, his operation at Alabasta was at a critical stage and it was impossible to get out.

“What’s the name of the broker who contacted you?” Ian heard this and asked Crocodile.

Most of the brokers who are responsible for the contact are referred to by a codename, and when they contact the customers, they use Den Den Mushis and usually don’t show up in person.

“His codename is ‘bug’!” Crocodile didn’t intend to hide any information because he knew very well that Ian was raging at the moment, and there was no need to provoke anymore.

“Bug?” Ian pondered the name and confirmed that he had never heard of it. The only thing he remembered was Doflamingo’s code name, “joker”.

At the thought of Doflamingo, he suddenly wondered: “Could it be that Doflamingo is behind this?”

Ian now has two enemies, one is the Celestial Dragons, but he has already returned their identity chip, plus they have no reason to contact people of the underground World, so it can be ruled out, and the other enemy is Doflamingo. However, Ian keeps cooperating with him openly, Doflamingo won’t forget that Ian killed his secret agent, Vergo…

Especially, Doflamingo himself is one of the brokers in the underground world, so his suspicion was bigger.

Although Ian has never heard of this so-called broker named bug, it could be that he was entrusted by Doffy to carry out this task in the underground World…

However, he still didn’t forget the Blackbeard, because Teach has now fled from Whitebeard Pirates. It could be a coincidence that at the same time he escaped, he wanted to seek revenge from the failed attempt of assassination, but how could he get such an amount of 10 billion Berries in a short period of time, so he was ruled out by Ian.

The more he thinks about it, the more Ian feels that is more likely to be Doflamingo!

“Someone took this delegation?” Ian asked Crocodile.

“Maybe, or maybe not!” Crocodile shook his head, and said: “I have no idea. The people in the underground World are no fools. It’s impossible not to know that this island is a Shichibukai site, so generally speaking, it’s very unlikely that someone wise would take this kind of commission, but this amount is huge, so I think large organizations may be willing to take action…”

“For example?” Ian asked.

“A group like the Germa 66!” Crocodile replied: “It’s a military branch of mercenary forces, they are driven by the highest buyer and are considered war experts. Ten billion berries are enough to please this group, not only them, but also the rest of the Yonkos, such as the Beasts Pirates or Bigmom pirates, ten billion business is also a huge temptation for them, they may not arrive at your home in person, but they have some terrifying warriors to complete this mission!”

“Damn it!” Ian felt a little annoyed when he heard the names of these famous organizations coming out of Crocodile’s mouth. He didn’t think that someone from the underground world would send such a commission just when he left the new world.

As Crocodile said, the amount of 10 billion is enough for many organizations to ignore the title of a Shichibukai…

Ian suddenly thought of the divination that Hawkins had predicted for him. ‘The divination of this guy, Fiddlesticks, has all been fulfilled so far…’ Ian went looking for Robin to interpret his Poneglyph, but he didn’t get the truth from Robin so far. And during his stay in Alabasta, danger was looming over him.

At first, he thought that this danger might refer to Crocodile. After all, he’s also a Shichibukai, and he should be the only person here who can pose a threat to Ian. As a result, after discovering this news, Ian found that the danger wasn’t referring to Crocodile, but about something happening behind his back.

Someone planning an attack on his own site, Travolta! This was absolutely the case here… Crocodile is not sure whether someone took the commission, but from the perspective of Hawkins’ divination, someone definitely did.

All of a sudden, all the things were connected, which made Ian more anxious. He not only thought of Hawkins’ divination, but also remembered the abnormality of Ace’s Vivre Card.

He is now 100% sure that after Teach defected and fled the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace went out tailing him as in the original story, but because Ian’s territory was also in New World, Ace should’ve stopped on Travolta and taken the opportunity to meet Ian. As a result, Ian was sailing in a different part of the world.

It doesn’t matter if Ian wasn’t there. When Ace gets to Travolta, he could encounter the people trying to attack Ian’s site…

Ace and Fujitora are familiar with each other, so in this case, he will certainly stay to help the Dragon Hunters resist the attack, but it is still possible that the attacker’s strength could be overwhelming, so that Ace gets injured, which led to the abnormal situation of his Vivre Card.

Ian couldn’t help but feel annoyed. He first thought that the damage on Ace’s Vivre Card was indicating that he might chase and fought Teach, as it should’ve happened. But now he realized that it wasn’t the case…

The time period in which the Vivre Card predicts the owner’s situation should be relatively close. Now, it is still several months away from Luffy’s journey. It shouldn’t be the right time for his life paper to indicate that Ace will be in danger. Such a situation can only tell that Ace was passing by a hard time.

Ian’s mind gears were rotating fast, it seems that the current situation may be more serious than he thought. On the island of Travolta, there are only Ace and Fujitora with high combat power, if neither of them can resist the attacker, then how powerful are the people attacking Ian’s territory?

Of course, there may be some situations that Ian doesn’t know. For example, it is possible that Fujitora couldn’t go all out because he’s concerned about the safety of the residents on the island.

But anyway, Ian must now go back!