Gini: "...?"
Gini froze for a moment.
That name sounded very familiar!
Wasn't this the name that Ian had just mentioned?
It seemed his real name was Kouzuki Sukiyaki.
"Tell that old guy that we have a batch of artificial Devil Fruits for sale."
Ian narrowed his eyes slightly. "Ask him whether he needs them."
Gini: "..."
If he remembered correctly, judging from what was said earlier... That Kurozumi Orochi should be enemies with the Kouzuki Family.
And the boss had just sold artificial Devil Fruits to Kurozumi Orochi, and now he was planning to sell them to Kouzuki Sukiyaki as well.
Was this preparing to make the two sides beat each other's brains out?
And with the addition of the Beasts Pirates... Was this because Wano Country was too quiet?
Gini looked at Ian with a strange expression, but before he could say anything…
"I wonder whether that guy, as the former shogun of Wano Country, has some treasure vault hidden away or something? Otherwise, given his current situation, he probably won't be able to cough up that much money."
Ian stroked his chin and pondered for a moment, but shortly afterward stopped thinking about it and said in a casual tone: "Forget it, let that guy trade with famous swords as well! Remember to control the strength of both sides. The Kurozumi family can be stronger, but not too strong. You have to give the Kouzuki family a bit of hope."
"Yes, I understand, boss."
Gini nodded, then could not help letting out a sigh of emotion. "Those guys really have some terrible luck to have provoked you."
However, these words made Ian glance sideways at him and say calmly: "What do you mean by that?"
"No, no, no, they deserved it, deserved it. Who told them to provoke you, boss, and even dare to set their sights on the princess of our Umbrella Corporation? The fact that you, boss, didn't personally make a move and burn them all to ashes already shows your magnanimity."
Seeing Ian's unfriendly gaze, Gini immediately snapped back to his senses, hurriedly changed his words, and after rambling on for a while, quickly added: "Boss, I'll go arrange a ship for that guy now and won't disturb your rest."
As he spoke, he immediately turned around without lingering, his feet spinning like they had motors installed, and in the blink of an eye, he ran off.
Ian did not say anything either. He simply smiled and shook his head, murmuring to himself: "The Kouzuki Family probably won't have the mood to wait for the so-called Nine Red Scabbards anymore, right?"
And who knows whether, when Luffy and the others arrive in Wano Country, the Kouzuki Family will still... No, whether there will even be many people left alive in the entirety of Wano Country?
Hopefully, Kurozumi Orochi won't disappoint him!
After saying this, Ian also stood up, stretched lazily, and prepared to go out to find his wife and children.
Robin, Ain, and the children... After Princess Violet came over this morning, they followed Princess Violet out to go shopping.
As for the others, they also went out together to have some fun.
And because he needed to stay behind to wait for Gini's news, he did not go out.
Just as Ian finished stretching and was about to head out, he suddenly seemed to sense something, stopped in his tracks, raised his head, and looked toward the sky over the distant sea.
When he saw the enormous object floating in the sky, a helpless expression immediately appeared on Ian's face, and he sighed. "Looks like I won't be able to accompany my family today."
...
Time moves slightly back.
Near the dock of the Kingdom of Dressrosa, the Beasts Pirates' fleet also noticed the Umbrella Corporation fleet's unusual movements this morning.
Of course, it was not exactly a small movement. The sudden mobilization of the Umbrella Corporation fleet... such an obvious action, if the Beasts Pirates' side didn't notice it, that would be impossible.
Only…
"Have you found out what the Umbrella Corporation is doing over there?"
The fleet commander, Jack, frowned while looking at the subordinate in front of him. "Why did they suddenly surround that sea area and even drive so many fish over there?"
"We haven't investigated that yet, but according to our speculation..."
Faced with his superior's questioning, the subordinate scratched his head, lowered his voice, and said: "The Umbrella Corporation fleet might be destroying corpses to eliminate evidence—"
Before he could finish speaking, Jack, his face darkened, kicked his subordinate, flying.
"Destroying corpses to eliminate evidence? I'll let you destroy corpses to eliminate evidence! Stop joking around. Is there some big shot here who needs the Umbrella Corporation to go to such lengths just to destroy corpses and eliminate evidence?"
"Even if someone really offended the Umbrella Corporation's boss, killing them directly would be nothing to the Umbrella Corporation. Even if they wanted to destroy evidence, would they really need to drive away fish? Wouldn't it be better to just burn everything to ashes?"
"T-this... We don't know either, Jack-sama."
The subordinate hurriedly climbed back up.
Although being suddenly kicked made his whole body ache, he did not dare show any sign of pain in front of Jack. He quickly forced an awkward smile and said, "We were just guessing. And after the Umbrella Corporation fleet left, we secretly sent people to that area and found traces of bullets and clothes with bloodstains."
"So everyone guessed that the Umbrella Corporation killed someone and didn't want others to know, and that's why they drove the fish over to eat it. And afterward, large numbers of fish in that sea area also died, we suspect poisoning! As for who it was, we don't know."
Jack: "..."
Hearing his subordinate's words, Jack's brow furrowed as well. This time, he did not kick his subordinate again.
After all, if that was really the case... Then it was indeed possible that the Umbrella Corporation killed someone and then did this in order to dispose of the body?
But exactly who would require the Umbrella Corporation to be so cautious?
Of course, if you said cautiously... the movement was so large, and gunshots were even heard before dawn. If anyone was nearby, who wouldn't notice?
But if you said not cautious... such a powerful organization as the Umbrella Corporation actually handling a corpse so carefully?
And even poisoning the area?
What exactly were they trying to do?
Could it be that there was some secret they didn't want others to discover, or were they simply harboring some deep hatred and deliberately desecrating a corpse?
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