Chapter 64: Koshiro’s latter

Ian didn’t know that Smoker was planning to take advantage of the incident and ask his superiors for money. He just settled down at the marine base after he reached an agreement with Smoker.

He found that the provisional agreement was not bad for him. Living in a marine base, he avoided spending on hotels and meals. The marine canteen in Loguetown was large, and the chef’s skills were good.

After the news of the marines’ victory came out, the people who had fled from Loguetown came back gradually. This mainly refers to some local residents who had just settled in their families when they came back. They ran to the square and talked pointedly about the traces left by the battle.

They have heard that this time the Krieg and Buggy pirates came together, but the final result was the destruction of the East Blue hegemony Krieg and the escape of the Buggy Pirates.

More than that, members of the Krieg Pirates Regiment were killed in this battle more than 200 people. More than half of the dead were killed by one pirate hunter. The rest were killed during the fight with the marines, and their leader, Krieg, was killed on the spot by that pirate hunter!

When the residents of Loguetown heard the news, they could not help but cheer loudly. The reputation of the Krieg Pirates has spread all over the East Blue. It is pleasant good news that a pirate hunter has defeated him now.

People inquired about the name of that pirate hunter, and the marines did not hide it, telling them that it was (The Smirking Devil) Ian.

When people heard that this pirate hunter named Ian not only killed Krieg, but he was also the one how arrested Buggy, they were so shocked: this pirate hunter, he actually caught two large pirates who were worth more ten of million Berries in a row? (By this time, Buggy’s reward had been raised to 15 million.)

Ian’s name has been preached in the streets and alleys of Loguetown, and he was almost regarded as the strongest pirate hunter in the East Blue.

Especially when they heard that Ian had become a swordsman instructor for the marines in Loguetown, everyone was relieved. In their opinion, with such a powerful pirate hunter to teach swordsmanship to the marine soldiers, the strength of the Loguetown marines would surely improve a lot, which would make the residents of the town feel a lot more secure.

This may be another purpose of Smoker. After all, the disturbance in Loguetown had made a great impact. The news that Ian joined the marines could play a stabilizing role.

Of course, it was not known at this time that Ian, the “swordsman instructor” would only stay in the marine base for a month, which Smoker would not say.

It was because of the gratitude that no one in Loguetown blamed Ian for destroying the execution platform when they heard that he was the one who killed Krieg. On the contrary, they talked enthusiastically about the execution platform under repair.

“You know what? That pirate Hunter Ian is a powerful swordsman! The execution platform was destroyed by a flying slash he shot to kill Krieg!!”

“Really? That’s amazing!”

“And, look at the house in the back? The final trace of his projectile is there. Even the stone of that house has been cut, showing how powerful that blow was at that time!”

Ian became famous this time. Not only did people in Loguetown talk about him, but the members of the fleeing Krieg Pirate Regiment were disbanded because of the loss of their leader. When the members of the Krieg Pirates fled to all parts of the East Blue, they also brought the news of Ian’s killing Krieg to all directions. The Pirate hunter Ian has become a source of fear for all pirates in the East Blue.

Nobody dares to seek revenge from Ian. Many pirates saw Ian’s killing Krieg with one blow. Although this aroused their hatred for him, they weighed their strength and suppressed their idea of seeking revenge.

Krieg “The strongest” that mane has been spreading for so many years, but it has not really become true. Now even the Tyrant Krieg has died in the hands of Ian. How will the other little pirates dare to think about revenge?

So for a while, many pirates in the East Blue kept a low profile for fear that Ian, the pirate hunter, would come to their door.

When Ian first started sailing, he didn’t expect this kind of influence. It was only when he went to the hotel where he stayed to get the letter that Ace felt there. The hotel owner, knowing that he was the one who killed Krieg, didn’t even look into the matter of him and Ace Dining and Dashing. Instead, he gratefully invited Ian to have a big meal, which made Ian very embarrassed. (I’m really shocked 😮 ! This Devil can get embarrassed!?!?)

The letter left by Ace was received. It seems that this fellow was afraid that he would have made up his mind to leave after the matter was resolved. Otherwise, he could give it to Ian in person instead of letting him pick it up by himself.

Ian knows that Ace has embarked on his adventure journey. He does not know whether he will join the White Beard Pirates in the future. It might be a huge matter to think about. But because of Ian’s involvement, he learned about Sabo’s news. Maybe there will be more things in his adventure journey, such as looking for the Revolutionary Army.

Ian did not know if he could find them, because in his memory, members of the Revolutionary Army were almost scattered all over the world and latent, although secretly carrying out activities, they won’t be easily found by Ace, a pirate.

As for what Ace said in his letter to Garp, Ian didn’t know. He didn’t want to look at the contents and read it. He just wanted to wait for Garp to come back and give it to him.

For the next two days, Ian stayed at the marine base. The Seastone handcuff on his wrist was opened by the marines’ locksmith. Smoker took it away after he was released. He said that he intended to polish it and insert the Kairōseki in his weapon (The Nanashaku Jitte) so that he could deal with the Devil Fruit users in the future. (FFS what an author!!! I’m in love with him! He made Ian the main reason of many unexplained things in the Manga :o)

However, under Ian’s strong protest, Smoker finally took the remaining part of the chain, but the handcuff was returned to Ian, which made Ian despise Smoker very much. When he was in the marine headquarters, did he think of getting some Kairōseki? Instead, he waited until he got to the East Blue to come to realize that he needs to make a weapon with Kairōseki.

While waiting for Garp to return, Ian also began his own work, training the marine soldiers in Loguetown for Smoker.

When he was in Frost Moon Village, as a master, he had already urged those young brothers and disciples to practice sword, so this work was quite suitable for him, and he was familiar with the ways to do it.

More importantly, the soldiers of Loguetown witnessed Ian’s battle in the square. They were awed by him. When Ian became their swordsman instructor, they practiced very hard, making Ian’s teaching very easy.

In fact, this kind of teaching is actually nothing, just to correct some basic actions, but also to explain some of the parts that need attention when fighting.

What made Ian unexpected was that Tashigi actually followed Ian’s lead. Although she was somewhat concerned about Ian’s killing so many pirates, she practiced more seriously than everyone else and often asked Ian some swordsmanship questions.

At this time, Ian could not help but see the shadow of Kuina in her, so although he knew that Tashigi and Kuina were two different people, Ian still tried his best to answer her questions.

This has slightly eased the relationship between them.

Half a month passed quickly, but Garp had never returned. He thought that Garp had taken the opportunity to go to Windmill Village to see his grandson Luffy. But Ian was impatient, and when he asked Smoker, he was surprised to learn that Vice Admiral Garp had received an order from the marine headquarters. After finishing his work on Shells Town, he went straight back through the Calm Belt! He was not planning to return to Loguetown for the time being! At this moment, Ian didn’t know how to hand over Ace’s latter!

Smoker was quite surprised that Ian knew Garp, but he didn’t ask much. When the funds were finally approved, he directly gave the reward to Ian, a total of 24 million Berries.

Ian also sold the diamonds he took from Krieg’s gloves to the jeweler in the town, but only in exchange for three million Berries, so Ian had twenty-seven million Berries in his hands!

This was the biggest batch of money that Ian has ever received.

Just as he was wondering how to spend this money, a newly arrived cruise ship brought a letter to Ian.

As soon as Ian looked at the handwriting, he knew that this was a letter from Master Koshiro. He had just sent a letter to Koshiro the other day, but he had no idea that the reply would arrive so soon.

Opening the letter, Ian looked at it slowly.

“To my disciple Ian: Ian, I hope you are doing well! I have received the letter you sent me, everyone in the Dojo is fine, I am doing good, Zoro and Kuina are the same. We all know what happened recently. The news that you killed Krieg is spreading in Frost Moon Village these days, which makes me very happy. It seems that after going to sea, you have gone farther along with the Ittoryu path. Zoro, after hearing your news, that child wants to go to sea in a hurry, but like you at that time, he was stopped by me. He is in a bad mood now. He probably wants to make a time jump to 18 years old. Hahaha!!”

“You said in your letter that you intend to go to the Grand Line. I am not going to stop you, but you must take care of your safety. I have another thing to tell you!”

The letter was so long that when Ian saw the front, he could not help smiling, and then turned over the page to read on.

“I have never mentioned your story with you. I just told you that you are an adopted child and nothing else. When you went to sea, I hesitated to tell you the truth, but by the time, you had already left.”

“I don’t know whether it’s appropriate to tell you, but now it seems that your strength has grown a lot, so I still intend to tell you the truth.”

“Your hometown is not in the East Blue, but in the West Blue. Kuina’s mother and I found you near an island in the West Blue…”

Seeing this, Ian’s eyebrows narrowed. He was not from East Blue? Or, the original owner of this body, is not from the East Blue? (Eeehh What!?)