"Alright then. In that case… Thank you. To be honest, I also don't want to die so soon. I was even preparing to find some pirate crew to take me away."
Vegapunk revealed a smile and stopped there without continuing further.
Since the decision had already been made, he did not dwell on it any longer and spoke in a serious tone, "It will still take some time. If I'm going to the Umbrella Corporation, I can prepare properly and bring more things with me. I'll contact you when the time comes. Also, I still haven't investigated who the traitor is, so I can't formulate a plan in advance!"
"The traitor is York!"
"York? My clone? Greed? How do you know?"
"You don't need to worry about how I know. Your clone wants to become a Celestial Dragon, and she doesn't want to remain just someone else's clone!"
"A Celestial Dragon, huh? No wonder. It seems my greed turned York into a selfish Vegapunk."
Vegapunk let out a long sigh. "Although I don't know how you know this, I'll pay attention. I'll delete this part of the memory as well. But don't worry, I'll leave myself a reminder in advance. When the time comes, I'll contact you. That's it, I'm hanging up."
"Although I don't know whether it really is York, I can't stay away for too long. In order to deceive the World Government, I must maintain things as they are. That's all. Let's meet next time. Ian."
"Click… Gacha!"
After saying that, Vegapunk did not hesitate at all this time and directly hung up the Den Den Mushi.
But Ian did not put away the Den Den Mushi that had already been hung up. Instead, he quietly looked at it and fell into thought.
He understood what Vegapunk was worried about. If what they had said today were to be discovered by the World Government, then all of their plans would inevitably become extremely troublesome and extremely difficult.
Ian comforted Robin beside him, who seemed hesitant to speak.
"Don't worry. I'll make arrangements."
As he spoke, he suddenly turned his head and shouted loudly toward the air, "Enel, gather all the cadres on the island. Come over immediately, we're holding a meeting!"
The Egghead incident had advanced ahead of schedule. He had to make preparations as soon as possible!
Speaking of which, where were Luffy and the others?
How long has it been since the last incident? Why hadn't they shown up yet?
…
Meanwhile, in Wano Country.
At this moment, the very Luffy whom Ian had just been thinking about looked at the short old man kneeling on the ground before him, who was speaking solemnly.
Luffy spoke in a serious tone.
"I see. Then who caused it? Don't worry, no matter who it is, I'll definitely send them flying with a punch!"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Luffy."
After hearing Luffy's words, the short old man showed a moved expression on his face. Then he took a deep breath, and his expression turned serious.
"The one who brought chaos to Wano Country and seeks to wipe out the Kouzuki Family is the owner of the Umbrella Corporation, Ian, the merchant of Artificial Devil Fruits. That demon is destroying this country!"
The Straw Hat Pirates: "...?"
"Ian?"
"The merchant of Artificial Devil Fruits? Mr. Ian?"
Hearing the short old man's words, the Straw Hat Pirates were all stunned.
Even Marshall D. Teach was the same.
It seemed none of them had expected that the famous king of the West Blue would actually be the culprit behind the chaos in Wano Country.
"That's not right!"
At this moment, the princess of the Kingdom of Alabasta, Vivi, seemed to think of something and frowned. "According to what I investigated, the chaos in Wano Country began 20 years ago. At that time, Mr. Ian was still serving in the Marines in the West Blue!"
After Ian became famous, his life history had also been dug up.
At the age of 12, he joined the West Blue Marines, and he retired at the age of 25.
During that time, although Ian had some reputation within the West Blue branch, he appeared rather ordinary across the entire sea.
There were rumors that when he was 20 years old, he began applying to go to Marine Headquarters for further training, but for some reason, he was continuously rejected.
Because of that incident, it was said that in recent years, the former Fleet Admiral of Marine Headquarters would often wake up in the middle of the night for no reason and slap himself hard twice.
Until the age of 27, when Ian married the sole survivor of Ohara, from then on, he began his journey to fame across the seas.
And within the past two years, he had become the uncrowned king of the West Blue, whom no one dared to underestimate.
That simply didn't match the chaos in Wano Country!
"That's right, I've heard about it too."
Nami, beside her, also frowned and said with a serious expression, "Wasn't it said that the chaos in Wano was caused by the Beast Pirates and that guy called Kurozumi Orochi?"
"I've also gathered some information."
Franky looked at the short old man and pondered for a moment. "Could there be some misunderstanding? Mr. Ian isn't that kind of person!"
"Old man!"
Sanji spoke far more directly.
Although he was somewhat jealous that Ian had married two beautiful wives, he wasn't someone who couldn't distinguish right from wrong.
Flicking the cigarette in his hand, he calmly looked at the old man in front of him. "Explain it. Why are you putting the blame on that guy? Don't tell me you have some grudge against him!"
"Why bother with all that?"
Zoro was even more straightforward, looking calmly at the old man. "Don't get us involved in such boring matters."
Kouzuki Sukiyaki: "…"
As everyone finished speaking, Kouzuki Sukiyaki's entire face stiffened.
He hadn't expected that these pirates from outside would also know the merchant of Artificial Devil Fruit!
And it even seemed their relationship wasn't simple.
If Ian were here, he would probably mock the old man for randomly shifting blame.
After all, because of the help from Zephyr and Garp in the early days, Ian had always held the idea of helping these kids whenever he could.
Although Ian was just an ordinary person, he wasn't the kind of person who would repay kindness with enmity!
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