"Alright, that's enough idle chatter."
Ian clapped his hands, drawing the attention of the four of them, and said, "If you want to understand Ohara's history, you can talk about it yourselves later."
"It's getting late, it's time to rest. And didn't you come here to get stronger? Don't forget, you only have three months. Your brother, Teach, is still waiting for you."
The three: "..."
As soon as those words fell, the three of them came back to their senses.
They had almost forgotten about that. Now was not the time to listen to stories.
After cutting off the small talk, Ian turned his head to look at Law and his subordinates beside him. "I'll leave this pervert to you. You're heading that way anyway, take him over to the research institute."
"Mr. Ian, if possible, I hope you would address me as a gentleman."
"As for this lecher."
Ignoring Franky's dissatisfaction, Ian pointed at Sanji, who was smoking beside him. "Instructor Zephyr, I'll leave him to you. This guy specializes in using his legs, and among the Six Styles, there's just the right one for him!"
"Mr. Ian, the lecher cannot be used as a knightly title. I am not lecherous. I simply wish to protect every beautiful lady."
"And this straw hat kid."
Once again ignoring Sanji's darkened expression, Ian turned his head to look at Rayleigh.
"I thought you, Ian, would personally take action. Looks like I'll need to step in myself, hahaha. Very well, if it's only this child..."
Rayleigh said, smiling freely.
However, before Rayleigh, who wore a carefree smile, could nod.
Ian's gaze paused for a moment, then directly skipped over him, landing instead on Ace. "You teach him first."
Ace and Rayleigh: "...?"
Ace and Rayleigh both froze on the spot.
Especially Rayleigh... He had already decided to personally take action. Although at first he had indeed hoped that the boss of the Umbrella Corporation would teach Luffy, even if this guy didn't teach, it didn't matter.
As the King of the Pirates's right-hand man, when it came to teaching Haki, he was confident that he was not inferior to anyone.
And yet this guy actually skipped over him?
And what was with that look just now?
As for Ace, he felt a bit embarrassed. He scratched his head and said with a smile, "Mr. Ian, is it really okay for me to teach him? I've only just learned Haki not long ago myself."
"There's nothing much to teach about Haki anyway. Just beat him half to death."
Ian waved his hand. "The more miserable the beating and the more painful it is, the easier it'll be for your little brother to learn Haki. If you really can't bring yourself to do it, you can also find Enel to help."
Ace: "...?"
"Alright, that's settled."
Seeing Ace's bewildered expression, as if he still wanted to say something, Ian waved his hand.
"I'll leave him to you. I'm going back to rest."
With that, without waiting for the three of them to say anything else, he directly turned around and walked toward his own residence.
"Just this?"
watching the direction in which the boss of the Umbrella Corporation departed, the three of them were still somewhat confused. Originally, they had planned to have Ian personally instruct them.
But now, judging by the situation, it seemed that the boss of the Umbrella Corporation had no such intention at all!
Just as the three were looking at one another.
"Luffy…"
"Yes, Ace!"
Hearing Ace's voice, Luffy immediately snapped back to his senses, trotting over to Ace with quick little steps, grinning as he looked at him with eyes full of anticipation.
"Let me see how strong you are now!"
"Then you'll definitely be in for a big surprise, hahaha."
Ace didn't seem to mind at all. As if recalling something, a smile appeared on his face as well.
"Let's go, let's have a good fight like we did when we were kids!"
With that, the two of them left just like that, leaving Sanji and Franky staring after them with speechless expressions.
"You come over here too! You lecherous kid!"
At this moment, Instructor Zephyr chuckled. "Those eyebrows of yours look kind of familiar. Forget it, you shouldn't be one of those cold-blooded guys. Next, I will teach you. As for whether you learn anything or not, that has nothing to do with me."
"You're right. Those guys really are a bunch of cold-blooded and disgusting fellows."
Sanji seemed to understand what Instructor Zephyr meant. He flicked the cigarette in his hand and didn't dwell on it any further, directly walking over to Zephyr's side. "Let's go! I've heard you used to be the Chief Instructor of Marine Headquarters. I hope you won't disappoint me! Mr. Zephyr!"
As for the last person, Franky…
Law held his sword in his arms while looking at Franky with a blank expression. "Let's go! Pervert!"
"Gentleman, gentleman, I already said I'm a gentleman! Oh, super!"
After striking that familiar pose, Franky followed behind Law and asked with a curious tone: "The Umbrella Corporation's research institute, can you tell me what's inside?"
"You'll see for yourself later. I don't really know either. Anyway, there's quite a lot of messy stuff."
Before long, the three were taken away by their respective guides, and the crowd quickly dispersed as well, leaving only Rayleigh standing there, silently watching everyone depart.
Immediately afterward, he smiled helplessly. "It seems I haven't been assigned anything yet!"
As he said that, he smiled and shook his head, then turned and walked in the direction Ace and the others had left.
"Forget it. I'll go take a look at how Luffy will be trained! I really wonder what kind of expression Roger would have if he knew that his son had become that old guy's grandson?"
...
On the other side, Franky, who had been taken away by Law, kept chattering nonstop along the way.
To be honest, he was extremely curious about what the research institute inside this force, one that even Marine Headquarters was wary of, was actually like!
He also wondered whether it contained the technology he needed.
If not... That was fine too. He, Franky, was a genius. Even researching on his own, he could still create inventions that would make him stronger.