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Aria peeked at him with teary puppy eyes... What could he do?
It wasn't that he feared a beating; Zephyr wasn't his match anymore.
It was simply for the sake of... marital harmony later tonight.
Ian sighed and nodded.
"Alright, alright. Your grandpa Zephyr and I will definitely help you get it back."
Upon hearing this, Aria instantly brightened and smiled through her tears.
Then she kissed Zephyr's cheek again.
"Thank you, Grandpa Zephyr!"
Zephyr burst out laughing again.
Then he turned to Ian, face suddenly stern.
"War. Declare war on the Big Mom Pirates right now. Tell them to hand over that Book-Book Fruit user. Otherwise, I'll destroy them!"
Ian: "..."
There was one thing he really wanted to say, but didn't know if he should.
You've gone too far.
Way too far.
You old bastard.
…
The next morning.
Bathed in sunlight, Ian wiped away last night's exhaustion and also began today's training.
Although such simple training no longer had much effect on him now, it seemed to have become a habit. Unless he had something to do or needed to accompany the children, whenever he had free time, he would come to the training ground to move around a bit.
As for that old guy, Zephyr... Although he had come back specifically for Aria's graduation ceremony yesterday, since he was back, he would still rest on the island for a while.
Ever since the Umbrella Corporation's fleet was completed, that old guy would take the fleet out from time to time to uphold the justice in his heart.
One could say that after leaving Marine Headquarters, he was like a wild horse freed from its leash, bouncing around everywhere.
Sometimes in the West Blue, sometimes heading to the North Blue, sometimes entering the Paradise, and sometimes... Like this time, he went straight to the New World.
And not only was he running around, but without the restrictions of the World Government and Marine Headquarters, Zephyr now did whatever he wanted.
He upheld justice however he wished, no longer needing to be like he was in the Marines before, unable to intervene in conflicts in non-affiliated nations of the World Government, or unable to touch slave-hunting groups with legally obtained licenses…
As long as he encountered them, that old guy would have his ship pull up and directly arrest people.
He was practically a troublemaker!
It was said that recently, many private slave-hunting groups, who had been granted legal slave-trading rights in non-affiliated nations, had filed complaints with Marine Headquarters, expressing dissatisfaction and even openly questioning whether the World Government could properly protect the interests that they had paid such a high price to obtain through the licenses.
Because of this, Marine Headquarters was furious. According to the reports from Zephyr's informants within Marine Headquarters, he had been so active lately that the current Fleet Admiral had been scowling every single day.
But although Marine Headquarters was extremely dissatisfied, what could they do?
They couldn't declare war on an Emperor crew just because of a few slave-hunting groups.
If they did start a war, without help from the World Government, with Marine Headquarters, it would practically be a full-scale war!
So in the end, Marine Headquarters simply raised the bounty of the former Chief Instructor, Zephyr.
Of course, the reborn Zephyr was no longer as muddleheaded as before.
What he was doing now was just small-scale meddling and never actually touched the World Government's bottom line, so it never caused serious trouble.
Otherwise, if it were too dangerous, Zephyr wouldn't be taking Ain and Binz all over the seas for fun from time to time.
For example, previously, Ain had taken the children out to sea with Zephyr, and this time they returned with him as well.
It was just that after Zephyr disembarked, he didn't do anything and ran straight over here, so Ain had to handle some matters first before bringing the children.
But because they missed Aria's graduation ceremony, Ain and Binz felt extremely regretful.
Because of that, last night Ian specially held a family celebration banquet so the whole family could celebrate Aria properly.
The banquet went on very late. When the two children went to sleep, the three adults were still celebrating for them.
After messing around all night, both Robin and Ain still hadn't gotten up this morning.
It was thanks to today's beautiful sunshine that Ian probably wouldn't have gotten up to train either.
Raising his head and looking at the sun that had already reached noon, the bare-chested Ian finally stopped. Then he sat down cross-legged, placed the divine axe, Rhitta, on his knee, and closed his eyes.
Ever since the battle with the Big Mom Pirates last time, two years had already passed. During these two years, he hadn't had a single exhilarating fight.
Of course, that battle with the captain of the Big Mom Pirates wasn't actually that exhilarating either.
In the end, if Charlotte Linlin hadn't fallen into her berserk state and taken a full hit of his attack, the battle wouldn't have ended so easily.
With his eyes closed, Ian radiated blazing sunlight. It seemed as though a thin membrane wrapped around the light, twisting it into different shapes around his body.
During this period, he had focused his training mainly on Haki.
Even though he now had a wife and children and had established his own force, he never slacked off and always remembered that strength was everything.
And since he didn't have any cheats, he could only rely on himself.
All the strength he had now was earned through his own training!
Although he was no longer the young man who had just crossed over, who dared defy the heavens, looked down on everything, and dreamed of ruling the seas, if he wanted to survive freely on these seas, strength was still indispensable.
That's right, Ian had no intention of dominating the seas, unifying the seas, or even liberating the seas.
He was now the father of two children, not the hot-blooded youth he used to be.
All those messy things, what did they have to do with him, a father?
Besides, without cheats, what would he use to unify or liberate the seas?
Even the mighty Elbaph, known as the world's strongest nation, bowed its head to the World Government after Rocks died.
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