When Ian returned to the Sky Island and recounted his encounter with Drake, along with some details of their conversation, everyone was astonished.

Especially Law, who, upon hearing Ian mention Drake’s father’s deal involving the Ope Ope no Mi, immediately realized that he had been indirectly saved by Drake back then.

Moreover, now that Ian’s crew included Baby-5, who had been part of that incident, things became even more intriguing. She had been tasked with riding on Buffalo in the sky to eavesdrop on the Navy’s communications. At the time, she had no idea that the boy saved by the Navy was Drake; she had always thought it was Law.

“Unbelievable, you were really lucky back then!” Baby-5 said, puffing on a cigarette as she spoke to Law.

Law glared at her with murderous eyes, causing Baby-5 to immediately hide behind Fujitora in fear.

During their childhood, when Law was still part of the Donquixote Pirates, Baby-5 had been quite scared of him. Even though they had both grown up, she still couldn’t help but feel terrified whenever she saw Law’s piercing gaze.

Sugar, standing next to Fujitora and holding a large bowl of grapes, was unaware of their past. She had joined the Donquixote Pirates later and had no knowledge of their childhood stories. Curiously, she glanced at the two before quickly turning her attention back to muttering with the nearby Walnut.

The two girls, both appearing as lolis, had surprisingly become good friends. Seeing them together, they truly looked adorable…

“It’s very strange…” Robin said after Ian finished his story. She adjusted the brim of her cowboy hat and continued, “Based on the information we have so far, it seems likely that the World Government’s experiment on Kaido involved combining the lineage factors of various races. But what is their ultimate goal in doing this?”

“…” Crocodile wore an amused expression, chewing on a cigar as if pondering something. Seeing his expression, Ian asked, “Old Sand bag, have you discovered something?”

“I told you not to call me that!” Crocodile glared at Ian but still replied, “Do you remember Doflamingo and Gecko Moria disappearing from the battlefield?”

“Of course, we analyzed it afterward, didn’t we? Doflamingo probably brought Kaido here,” Ian nodded.

“Doflamingo sneaked away after Kaido appeared instead of joining forces with Kaido to attack us or the Navy,” Crocodile said. “Although he was summoned by the Navy, he never actively attacked us during the battle. Moreover, he left on his own before the Navy had even departed. What does that indicate?”

“Maybe he saw that the Navy was losing and decided to leave early?” Nana suggested.

“No, I think Doflamingo had another purpose for coming to the battlefield,” Crocodile shook his head. “Don’t forget, Gecko Moria was with Doflamingo the entire time, but afterward, we only found a piece of Moria’s tattered clothing and a pool of blood. Moria himself was nowhere to be found. Doesn’t that imply that something happened between Doflamingo and Moria?”

“Haven’t we already analyzed this? It’s likely that Doflamingo and Moria fought each other!” Reiju said, crossing her arms. “Although no one saw it, it’s highly possible!”

Crocodile grinned and said, “But have you considered why Doflamingo would attack Moria? Was it his own decision, or was he acting on someone else’s orders?”

“That’s impossible, boss! Who could order Doflamingo around?” Mr. 1 chimed in.

“Who says it’s impossible? At the very least, the World Government could!” Crocodile sneered. “Doflamingo has a unique relationship with the Celestial Dragons. Even if he lost his Shichibukai status, the World Government might have made some agreements with him, like ordering him to kill Gecko Moria on the battlefield.”

“Moria is a Shichibukai. Doing that would be like cutting off their own limb,” Fujitora said, frowning.

“But what if Moria’s existence posed a threat to the World Government?” Crocodile spread his hands. “I was confused before, but if Kaido’s immortality indeed comes from a World Government experiment, then things become much clearer… Have you considered that Gecko Moria’s Shadow-Shadow Fruit ability might also achieve a similar effect? Although the meanings of these two types of immortality differ somewhat, there are still commonalities.”

Everyone was shocked into silence by Crocodile’s analysis.

Indeed, Crocodile’s theory seemed quite plausible!

Especially Ian. In his memory, Doflamingo had mentioned that the Immortality Surgery of the Ope-Ope Fruit was the key to obtaining the Celestial Dragons’ “National Treasure”…

If the Immortality Surgery is seen as a source of eternal life, then Kaido’s immense vitality and Gecko Moria’s ability to create undead zombies with his Shadow-Shadow Fruit appear to connect.

In Ian’s speculation, he always thought the Celestial Dragons’ National Treasure might be related to the ancient weapon Uranus. If the eternal life granted by the Immortality Surgery could control Uranus, then what exactly is the World Government trying to do by experimenting on Kaido at Punk Hazard?

Could it be that they want to create a “man-made Uranus”?

Here’s the question: if the Celestial Dragons are aware of this experiment, does it mean that there is some issue with the original ancient weapon Uranus, so they had to ask the World Government to conduct research to find a man-made solution?

Alternatively, if the Celestial Dragons are unaware of this experiment, meaning the World Government is conducting it secretly, then things get even more interesting…

Does this imply that the World Government intends to seize the power of the Celestial Dragons quietly? Are they tired of being seen as mere puppets of the Celestial Dragons and want to break free and act independently?

Is there some under-the-table deal between them, or is their fragile alliance on the verge of collapsing? Regardless of the situation, Ian found it intriguing…

Shaking his head, Ian clapped his hands and said, “Alright, there’s no point in overthinking this now. We have too little information. Being able to speculate this much is already pretty good. There’s no need to rack our brains further on this matter. I’ve already left a way to contact Drake. Whatever he finds out and can tell us, he will.”

Everyone nodded, agreeing that Ian was right. With such little information, further wild guessing was meaningless.

Just then, Zeke came running over, shouting, “Captain, we’ve arrived! We can see the giant ship ‘Gran Tesoro’!”

“Really?” Ian smiled, waving his hand. “Alright, everyone get ready for an aerial descent. We’ve worked hard for so long, it’s finally time for us to take a vacation!”

“Woohoo!!!”

The entire Dragon Hunter Pirate Crew couldn’t help but cheer. Even Robin and Reiju clapped their hands with smiles.

Fujitora was especially excited. He had long heard about Tesoro’s golden casino ship. As a gambling enthusiast, he had always wanted to visit the ship, but unfortunately, he was just a poor old man back then and couldn’t afford it.

But now, things were different. The Dragon Hunter Pirate Crew had a large amount of gold to exchange. Once they cashed it in, they would immediately become wealthy. They could then enjoy themselves on the casino ship to their heart’s content.

Soon, the crew had packed up the gold into five large bundles. Raideen carried one, Doroni carried another, and Yardi carried one as well. The remaining two were made weightless by Fujitora and carried by Zeke and the others. Seeing this, Ian thought to himself, it’s a good thing they got rid of that idiot Buggy earlier and let him take the prisoners from Impel Down. If Buggy had come to Sky Island and seen all this gold, his greedy nature would have made it impossible to get rid of him.

Ian wondered if Buggy would still receive an invitation from the World Government to become a Warlord. Regardless, the Buggy Pirates could be considered a small subordinate crew under his command.

Not thinking too much about it, Ian saw that everyone was ready and holding their balloons. He waved his hand and boldly shouted, “Let’s go!”

Then, with his fiery wings spread wide, he jumped off Sky Island. Behind him, the Dragon Hunter Pirate Crew cheered as they jumped one after another, descending towards the massive ship on the sea below…

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