Kapitel 77: A friendly match

Then a while passed just like this. And Elene had at some point teleported all of Ian's crew to the party.

(A/N: did you think I would forget about his crew? hehe)

Elene and Stella chatted with Hancock who was surprisingly drinking and chatting happily with them, not what would one expect from a cold woman like her.

Robin had found the festive mood extremely good and was right now chatting with a library enthusiast woman like her from whitebeard's ship. They were close to musicians and enjoyed the tunes while speaking. Though she was not very far from Elene and co. Occasionally she would steal looks at Ian, only to be found out by Elene and she would blush a bit and avert her gaze from her.

Bert however was enjoying himself talking with the mink people from Whitebeard's crew. He was very happy to meet them, as he had left his home at a young age. And at some point in time, his fellow kinsmen had roped him in to join the brawl of drunken men, to which he reluctantly joined at first but as he started winning he started to enjoy it.

Meanwhile their captain, Ian was talking with the old man as the rest of the guys and gals continued to get rowdy.

Occasionally someone would be seen flying in front of them, maybe the result of someone having kicked his butt flying.

"Ian. I'm thankful to you. For what you've done." Whitebeard said as he had a huge bottle of Sake in his hand he was drinking from.

And he truly meant it. But who was Ian? He was a fan of this guy, there was no way he would keep the guy feeling this thankful to him.

Ian took a few seconds to think while looking at his glass of Wine. Though he liked Sake too, he was at the moment drinking Wine which was his favorite. And he would later try other types. After all, at this party every type of drink was present. Rum, Sake, Wine, Beer…

"Old man, don't mention this anymore. I have simply helped where I can. That's all." Ian then spoke after a bit as he had simply healed him. And made some few contributions in the war. But the MVP should be Whitebeard who dominated all his fights at his old age. He truly made the marines lose all face.

"Nonsense. If it wasn't for you, I would be dead, and quite possibly Ace. Just shut up and listen brat. I knew my condition, and if I fought against the admirals at that state even one or two of them would have taken me down. Not to mention I was on guard of betrayal thanks to you, otherwise in that weakened state of mine, perhaps only that magma brat would have been a challenge to me, not to mention Teach who came at the end... So don't tell me it was nothing. It was everything to me. Now look at me, I feel alive and healthy and I am still among my children instead of dying in that cold-blooded battlefield…" Whitebeard started saying to Ian. At one point Ian was going to object but Whitebeard told him to shut up and listen which promptly had him close his mouth.

Ian could feel the emotions of the old man. Perhaps the alcohol started getting to him. Or perhaps he was just that emotional right now. Still, Ian was not any better. Getting repeatedly thanked by the person he enjoyed watching the most in the anime, was starting to make him embarrassed.

His cheeks were a bit red. And he had an embarrassed smile on his face. He never dealt with something like this before. Plus the alcohol was making him more emotional too. He could of course just flush it out of his system but on this day he wanted to party like the rest.

"So someone like you can still make that expression Hahahaha" Whitebeard laughed as he saw Ian and his condition.

"Shut up old man." Ian snorted at him as he was annoyed.

Suddenly someone was calling for them. As they were in the Moby dick the Activity that they were doing while drinking was fighting and arm wrestling.

Ace and Marco came up happily to them and started dragging them into one of the rings.

"Pops, the guys want to see you arm wrestle," Marco said with a helpless smile. Though he couldn't fool Ian and Whitebeard's eyes. They knew he was excited about that too.

Jozy was already drunk and sitting there waiting.

Whitebeard sat too as he put the Sake down at the side.

As Whitebeard's arm was much bigger than his, Jozu just made his best to hold it.

Then as Marco announced the start. Everybody started cheering and encouraging Jozu who starting to get red from the effort he was trying. Meanwhile, the old man did not budge an inch as he finally took action and brought down his arm defeating him instantly.

"As expected of you pops" Jozu was not mad as he started laughing.

Then soon others wrestled with old man, and he started gaining a winning streak.

Suddenly people started calling for Ian to step up.

"Ian, Ian, Ian, Ian" Even the girls that were far away started coming to see what was happening.

Ian gave a nod to the cheering as he smiled and sat on a barrel in front of the table they were using.

As his hands were even smaller than Jozu, it appeared to the onlookers as if Ian's arm was trapped into Whitebeard's.

But Ian was holding his hand tightly. And as Marco gave the signal for the start. The old man started pushing him back bit by bit. But it was apparent to the rest that he was making a huge effort.

Ian then used his scaly mode suddenly and got a boost to his strength which helped him push the old man's arm back for a bit until the old man was able to bring his hand to the middle once again.

The crowd was cheering at this match, while Ian was shaking his head at them internally.

'You all are way too drunk' He thought to himself.

After a minute or so, it appeared the table they were wrestling on could no longer hold to their strength as it was destroyed in a small explosion. In truth, Ian knew that whitebeard could have won, as he was stronger physically.

The onlookers yelled at the top of their voices for a rematch, to which Both Ian and Whitebeard just refused as they got back to their place and continued to drink.

"Old man, I have to discuss something with you," Ian said a bit seriously. Then Whitebeard gave a nod.

"I am not so arrogant as to say to fight those devils on my own. As such I would need your help. But I'm afraid even that is not enough. So I want to include as many strong people on this. I have a feeling that in the future we would need all the help we could need." Ian added.

He already hinted at this to Garp and Sengoku.

And after this party, he was going to train his crew to a point where they can protect each other, as he knew that his future journey would become harder and harder.

If things went as in the anime. Then Aokiji would be quitting the marines. At that time Ian would address this with him too. He would even offer him to join him.

"Then when one of us finds out about the devils, he would call the others. With Elene's powers, we would be able to gather at one place and then take care of it." Ian then said to the old man.

Though Ian knew that he will be getting stronger even more. As such if he knew he could beat the devils with just his crew then there would be no need to gather the rest. But there was a need for them to know about the devils and their plans as they were the top most powerful people of this world.

The old man gave a nod. He too knew that the future was unknown and anything could happen. And Ian had already told him about Garp and Sengoku. So he agreed with Ian.

[A/N: Much thanks to 'Siddarth Ravi' for being my first Patron and to 'Kyle von Hollen' for being my second patron and now 'Joao Silva' for being the third. I do not care for how much you helped with. I only care that you found my work is worth spending money on. So once again thank you, guys!! Was not going to write this chapter as I am a bit tired but since you made my day I felt the need to write another chapter.]