Unfortunately, after seeing Enel's talent, Zephyr developed an appreciation for his potential.
Therefore, in the end, they did not take Enel's Devil Fruit. Instead, they directly recruited Enel himself into the team, which is how the current Enel came to be.
Of course, there is another method, the one Teach used in the original storyline. After killing the Devil Fruit user, he used the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit to forcibly take away the user's Devil Fruit ability.
"Ian, what are you thinking about?"
A voice pulled Ian back from his thoughts.
He turned his head to look at Robin beside him and said with a smile, "Nothing."
However, facing Ian's answer, Robin continued to look at him. "Are you troubled about that Book-Book Fruit user?"
"You saw through it?"
Hearing Robin's words, Ian revealed a helpless expression.
He had indeed been worrying about how to obtain the Book-Book Fruit.
No, more precisely, how to deal with that Book-Book Fruit user. There were many ways to obtain a Devil Fruit, but none of them could avoid directly killing the Devil Fruit user.
But now that they had brought the person back, Zephyr… that old man actually told him that he didn't want to give his granddaughter a gift stained with blood.
That nearly made Ian curse in disbelief. In this world, which Devil Fruit isn't stained with blood?
Every single one of them had already been eaten by someone before. If they wanted it to respawn, it would inevitably be stained with blood.
Not to mention this sea… how could it possibly be without bloodshed?
Yet Zephyr still said that even though the world is terrible, Aria is still a child. He even suggested that Ian, as the father, should do the deed himself, and after obtaining the Devil Fruit, he, the grandfather, would happily present it to Aria.
Good grief. He would do the dirty work, and the gift… Zephyr would be the one to give it?
Truly worthy of the title of the Admiral who doesn't kill, no, now he has evolved from the Admiral who doesn't kill into the Admiral who lets others kill.
Of course, Ian didn't really care about such things, and Zephyr didn't truly care either.
As a marine who had lived in this chaotic world for so long, he had already abandoned his former naivety.
Moreover, among those who could make a name for themselves across this sea, not a single one was clean. He and even Luffy, the same applied to both of them.
It was just that Zephyr thought that when giving a gift to a child, it should at least be a little cleaner, even if only on the surface.
After all, it wouldn't do if one day Aria asked about it, and they had to tell the child that her grandfather and father killed someone to seize the Devil Fruit she wanted.
Although there would technically be nothing wrong with that, as a grandfather, Zephyr still wanted to give the child a clean childhood.
Of course, there were other methods. They could find a time to throw the Book-Book Fruit user outside and let him die accidentally.
That's right, just pass it through another hand slightly!
"Hahaha, is that so?"
After hearing Ian's explanation, Robin could no longer hold it in and burst into laughter. She even laughed so hard that tears nearly came out of the corners of her eyes, apparently finding it very amusing that two grown men were troubled over such matters.
Even Ian looked helpless and quickly tried to calm Robin down.
Keep in mind that Robin is currently pregnant!
Before Ian could say anything, Robin seemed to have calmed down a lot. She touched Ian's face with a smile on his lips, and said, "A clean, happy, and carefree childhood, you ask?"
"You should know that's impossible; even going around in circles would result in the same bloodshed."
"But it's also very heartwarming!"
Robin said with a smile upon seeing the helplessness on Ian's face. "Because someone is protecting that child's childhood!"
Ian: "..."
These words made Ian understand what Robin meant.
Because of her childhood experiences, Robin always hoped that Aria would have a happy childhood.
After Aria was born, she worked hard toward this goal, and even her dream of searching for history faded significantly over the past few years.
It's not that she has forgotten it, but rather that she has shifted some of her focus in life towards her family and children.
A smile appeared on Ian's face as well. The two looked at each other, and an intimate atmosphere enveloped them.
Just as Ian was about to take the next step…
Just then, the Den Den Mushi on his body suddenly rang out.
He raised an eyelid and, without any hesitation, hung up the Den Den Mushi, but the Den Den Mushi rang again.
Meanwhile, Robin had already let go of her hand while secretly smiling.
Left with no other option, Ian answered the Den Den Mushi, her voice cold, "Who is it! What is it? If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up!"
As soon as the words were spoken, an anxious voice came through the Den Den Mushi: "Wait!"
Upon hearing this voice, Ian raised an eyebrow, looked down at the Den Den Mushi in his hand, and his expression became slightly more serious.
He said in a sarcastic tone, "Oh, what a rare guest! Mr. Vegapunk, you actually called me?"
That's right, the call was from Mr. Vegapunk, whom he hadn't heard from in a long time.
"Oh dear, Ian… alright! I apologize for what happened last time."
Although Ian didn't say it directly, Vegapunk, possessing the world's greatest intellect, certainly understood what Ian meant. He then added seriously, "But Marshall D. Teach… No, he should now be called Rocks D. Teach. I didn't expect that he would also inherit the so-called D. However, it wasn't me who leaked the information about Rocks' blood to the World Government, no…"
He paused slightly, then added with a hint of helplessness, "It seems like there's a mole on my end, but I haven't found out who it is yet!"
Ian: "..."
Upon hearing Vegapunk's words, Ian understood what had happened; it was an inside agent who had leaked the information to the World Government.
He already knew who it was.
Of course, Ian didn't care about these things. They weren't his people, so whether this secret was leaked or not was none of his business.
Check my Patreon for more chapters and novels, Patreon.com/SweetestDeath