"Yes, that's right. What about it?"
"The son of Rocks, the son of the King of the Pirates, the grandson of the Hero of the Marines..."
Marco no longer paid attention to Ace. He fell into a daze while murmuring to himself: "Former rivals, and now their sons and grandsons have coincidentally become brothers. Is this an accident, or fate?"
"Hey, hey, hey."
Seeing that Marco was ignoring him, Ace waved his hand in confusion. "Marco, what's wrong with you?"
"It's nothing."
Brought back to his senses by Ace's waving hand, Marco shook his head. He then looked at Ace, fell silent for a moment, and said in a serious tone: "Ace, remember this: in the future, don't tell others that you have the blood of Roger. Otherwise, the incident at Enies Lobby will definitely happen again. No, next time, the Marine Headquarters will absolutely dispatch even stronger forces."
Especially with the son of the King of the Pirates and the son of Rocks appearing at the same time, and given that they already had a close relationship, even he could feel it... the chaos of this era was destined to be stirred up.
And it would be even crazier than the previous era!
Therefore, the Marine Headquarters and the World Government would absolutely not let them go.
"I know."
Facing Marco's reminder, Ace did not take it seriously at all. He still nodded with a grin. "Of course I won't casually tell it to others!"
Marco: "..."
You just told me.
But hearing Ace's words and feeling Ace's trust, Marco still felt somewhat moved inside. He then smiled faintly and once again quietly enjoyed the night breeze of Ohara.
At this moment, Ace, who was leaning on the wall, seemed to remember something. He raised his head and looked at Marco. "By the way, Marco, I heard others say that your old man, Whitebeard, had a pretty good relationship with Roger?"
"Indeed, they had a good relationship, both enemies and friends."
Marco said with a smile, without hiding anything. "Back when your father turned himself in, he even went to the Whitebeard Pirates and talked with our pops for quite a long time."
"Oh, oh, oh, they talked for a long time? That's great. I just happen to have something I want to ask Whitebeard."
Marco: "...?"
Marco was stunned. Then it seemed like he guessed something. His brows furrowed, and he looked at Ace seriously. "If you want to ask about the One Piece, then sorry..."
"Who wants to ask about that!"
Marco: "...?"
Before Marco could react to being interrupted, Ace suddenly leaned in, his face full of gossip, and asked in a low voice: "I heard that back then, Whitebeard also tried to snatch Roger's woman. Is that really true?"
Marco: "...?"
What?
...
The next day, Marco, who had accompanied Ace in conversation all night long, still got up full of energy.
He was preparing to leave.
Although the wine here was delicious and Ace was also here, the Whitebeard Pirates were his home, and his old man was probably still waiting for his news.
What had happened over the past few days was truly too shocking, far beyond what he could bear alone. He had to return as soon as possible and have a proper discussion with his pops.
Marco packed up his luggage. In fact, there wasn't much, just some wine that Mr. Ian and Ace had given him.
He carried a large box.
It was just noon now. Last night, he had deliberately asked Ace, and Mr. Ian was basically always at home at this time.
When he arrived at the place where Mr. Ian lived, he indeed saw that Mr. Ian was already up and was playing with his children in the courtyard.
Marco glanced at Mr. Ian's two children. When he saw the black-haired girl who somewhat resembled Madam Robin, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
The blood of Ohara had finally been passed on.
But he quickly composed himself and did not do anything impolite. Instead, he bowed to Mr. Ian. "Mr. Ian, thank you very much for your hospitality during my stay."
Marco's departure did not make Ian care too much. He merely gave him some wine and provided him with a small boat.
After letting Ace see him off, Ian paid no further attention to the matter.
After spending some time playing with the two children, Ian stood up and walked toward the research institute.
A few days earlier, the first batch of goods for the Beasts Pirates had already been shipped out.
Because they did not need to be delivered to Wano Country and only needed to be sent into the New World, where the Beast Pirates would send people to collect the goods themselves, Ian did not go personally.
He merely had Instructor Zephyr's fleet escort the shipment.
This batch of goods was also exchanged with the Beasts Pirates for some Sea Prism Stone, to be used for research at the institute.
The research institute was as lively as ever. When the institute director, Wolf, saw Ian arrive, he immediately stopped his work to greet him and once again led Ian to see the progress of the Sea Prism Stone research.
The situation was not particularly good, though Ian did not mind. After all, the Sea Prism Stone had only just been delivered.
During the visit, they even deliberately detoured to Caesar Clown's area to take a look.
Ever since he had been warned last time, that guy had been relatively well-behaved during this period.
As such, after giving him another brief warning, Ian did not pay him any further attention.
This visit was mainly to get a general understanding of the research progress on artificial Devil Fruits, but the progress was similarly unimpressive.
Of course, it was not because Caesar Clown was slacking off. It was simply that his ability was only at this level; how could there be major progress in such a short amount of time?
After all, not every researcher is Vegapunk.
In the end, Ian proposed that future shipments be standardized as ten percent high-quality artificial Devil Fruits and ninety percent inferior artificial Devil Fruits.
After further motivating Caesar Clown with the honorific title of, the Father of Artificial Devil Fruit, Ian left the research institute.
Within the entire Umbrella Corporation, aside from the fleet formed by Zephyr, the research institute had the highest annual expenditures. Fortunately, the wine on this sea sold well.