章 21: -Encounter

Paradise. On the sea.

Ian was seen in his ship, eating in the kitchen.

He was thinking about things.

Days ago, he had reached water seven. Once he made his way in, he directly went to the shipwrights company. Galley-La. He had rented the bulls that were used to move around in water seven.

Galley-La was probably the most prestigious firm of shipwrights in water seven. Being led by iceberg. Who himself is one of the legendary shipwright Tom apprentices.

He had made a deal with them to make him a ship. He left them a simple sketch of how he wanted it to be.

As its size is not overly large, it was said by the men there that it will take them only three days to make it.

He couldn't wait to see how it will turn out. Since he could use his energy to both protect and steer it, he did not see any reason to make it using treasure tree Adam even if he had some. After all it would only bring him troubles. Nor did he see any reasons to load it with different weapons. Considering he can both attack and defend all on his own.

Also since he did not understand much about ships, he made it to be a Carrack just like the straw hats sunny go. With some differences of course. He did not know if he will be getting any companions any soon, however, so he just designed it simply.

But the reason why he was now on the sea, with his ship sailing at an almost monstrous speed, is that he planned to get his business done in this part of the sea. Soon.

Which will be by getting to the Florian triangle.

He had thought things through. Getting Oars DNA will not be overly important to him as exploring the mysterious ever dark Florian triangle. However he will not waste the chance if he met the island-ship coincidentally.

He had sailed for a whole day, and when he got out of kitchen and went to the deck he found out that there was no light in the surroundings. He knew he was now in the Florian triangle.

.....

Ian was flying through the dark fog that surrounded the place. It was a fog so thick it covered the sunlight.

It was said that many pirate and commercial ships mysteriously went missing every year and, sometimes, a ship will be found sailing without any people onboard. It has also been said that there are many haunted ships with dead bodies sailing across the sea… but he knew the later to be due to Brook.

In the manga it was said that many ships went missing, but some of them were due to Gecko Moria schemes. But the rest it had later been said that they were gone missing even before the warlord had made this place his base…

Which was the reason why Ian was here now. Especially since there were many theories of mysterious monsters in this place.

But this fog unlike what he thought before, prevented his observation Haki from spreading far.

He was finding it hard to look around…

Suddenly while he was flying he heard a voice speak to him, directly in his mind. But as it sounded he felt a splitting headache along with it as he clutched at his head. Fortunately he was still able to listen.

"Come… meet me… down..."

Ian could tell that the entity behind that voice was extremely strong, if not only from the fact that its voice caused him headaches, then from the feeling of power that suddenly descended on him.

He knew that he had no choice in the matter. He would have to dive in the water. Otherwise he would die.

His instincts screamed at him that if he only made a move to run he will die as quickly as the thought made itself known.

He stood there for a while thinking of what to do, before sighing. in a weird way he felt this was part of the adventures he was seeking...

He nodded while feeling resigned and dived down. Though a part of him was excited to see something new.

He did not want to die so soon. He could only hope for it to not kill him.

Perhaps it was the entity that made his second life possible. If so he would at least have to thank it, and if it had any requests for him, if it is not against his ideals and morals he will have to fulfill them.

After a while of swimming down he finally reached the place where the voice wanted him to meet it. It was absolutely dark in there that he could not see anything. He could easily breath in the water as if he was born in it.

But soon a giant figure was seen in his eyes. It easily dwarfed him. So much that even its eyes were bigger than him.

It was a in the shape of an alligator covered in full with scales, meanwhile all along its body there were lines glowing in a faint yellow light. But he could not tell the specific details about it as even with faint light it was too dark to spot anything.

It opened its eyes and spoke in his mind again.

"I'm not… an enemy… "The huge monster said.

For some reason the headache hurt more when the voice talked. He could discern no emotions nor tone from the voice. So after recovering from the shock of seeing the entity's yellow eyes, he said in his mind.

"Who are you? And why can't I hear you well?" Ian.

"Hmm… not the time for… it then… no matter... child… I have been… waiting… for you… the child not from… this world… but it is… not… time yet… there is… a great… danger… reaching… for… this world… and this time... none seems… to notice it yet…" the mysterious monster said.

Ian was shocked. He wondered how this entity knew he was not from this world.

"A great danger you said, then is it related to the one-piece treasure? And how do you know I'm not from this world?" Ian asked.

"… No, it… is not… this however… is related to the destruction… of the world… I can… tell… you are… not from… this world… because… I can… see your… soul is different… than this… world's people… 'we' have been… waiting… for you for… a long time" the monster said as it closed its eyes as if in contemplation. although his soul had become part of the world reincarnation cycle, it remains unique due to what it went through.

"Seek… That… brat… Whitebeard… he will… explain… to you… my time… is running… tell him… the… diávoloi… are awakening…" it said.

"I'm sorry… I could not… meet you yet… when the… time comes… I'll contact you… it was fortunate… you met… one of 'ours'… enabling… us to link…"

"It… will give… you something… to help you… do not be… afraid… just… seek… that brat… Farewell… until… we meet… again…"

After this there was no more words coming to his mind. He stopped clutching his head and looked at the beast in front of him.

Its eyes turned red from yellow and the faint lines around its body disappeared.

It appeared that this was not the entity that was talking to him. But it said that it was one of theirs whoever they were. It had used it to link the both of them.

He suddenly saw a light condense in front of it, leaving a beautiful blue shining crystal. It was then guided in front of him. And he noticed how the moment it came near him it tried merging with him but he stored it inside his ring. He then turned to the monster and bowed his head a bit.

He understood that this is the thing helpful for him that the entity said the monster will leave him. The monster gave a low roar and went swimming ahead leaving a very powerful current in its way. Ian knew instinctively that he was no match for it...