*****

Ian's ears perked up and thought that he had an auditory hallucination. He was reluctant to ask again: "Wha ... What did you just say?"

Garp raised his cup and took a sip of tea. He said, "You heard me. The pirate I want you to catch is my grandson, a little devil named Ace!"

Ian looked around at the marine soldiers. 'Old man, Is it really appropriate for you to say that in public?'

"Don't worry! This is no big deal!" Garp saw Ian's worries, and laughed: "They are my men, and so what if they knew?"

That's indeed what Ian was thinking, and Garp's character is always like this. He's not afraid of saying that his grandson is going out to the sea as a pirate. Even in front of the Fleet Admiral Sengoku, he dares to say it, but Garp has been hiding his true identity.

Seeing that Bogard and the soldiers next to him still have their regular expressions, Ian didn't care that much and just asked curiously, "You're the Marines, why don't you catch him yourself? But asking me, an outsider, to catch him?"

As soon as he mentioned that, Garp became angry. He shouted, "Do you think I don't want to take him as a marine? But that stinky boy is so stubborn. Not long ago I heard that he just went out of the sea and set up a pirate crew with a name 'Spade Pirates.' What's that name?"

Ian was speechless. 'So the crew's name was bothering you?' However, listening to Garp's words, Ace just went out to sea. So Ian secretly began to calculate 'If Zoro is 16 years old now, and he's older than Luffy by two years, then Luffy is now 14 years old, and Ace is three Years older, then he's 17 years old, This is the right time!'

But even Ian himself didn't expect that he would go to the sea at about the same time as Ace...

Ace, Luffy's elder brother, went out to the sea this year, and Ian, Zoro's elder brother, also went to the sea this year. This is really a good year. Should it be renamed, "Elder Brothers going out to sea?" year!

At this time, Garp looked at Ian and continued, "If I take him back as a marine, he will definitely not be convinced, but you are different! You are about the same age as him, so long as you defeat him, catch him, and let him see how difficult it is to be a pirate, maybe he will change his mind at that time!"

Ian gazed at Garp with his mouth wide open, and said, 'Well, your reason, old man, is really good, very strong, very... It's illogical. You know what?'

"Are you sure that if I catch him, he will change his mind?" Ian asked in reply, "If I caught him. I can't give him to any other marine. I can only hand him over to you. When he sees you, I'm afraid he'll know it's your idea right away. Won't that be a problem?"

Garp carelessly picked his nostrils: "If you can catch him once, you can catch him dozens of times! If you keep capturing him, he will get tired of being a pirate!"

Ian snorted and said again while looking at him foolishly: "What are saying!? Catching him dozens of times!? You are planning to let him go if he doesn't give in?"

Garp laughed. "I can't do anything about it, after all, I'm his grandfather!? It's really hard for me to throw him into prison!?"

Sure enough, although he said that he wanted to catch Ace, but Garp was equally caring for him, his grandson who had no blood relationship with him, but he did everything he could to reverse his fate, even resorting to this outsider's hand. This feeling made Ian look envious.

However, this deal can't be done. Ian shook his head and said: "Dozens of times? Old man, are you teasing me!? This is a hard job with no reward, just a small boat, that's a low payment, It's not worth it!"

"Ah, if you say so, it seems that a small boat is not enough!" Garp snorted, touched his chin, and said, "What do you want then?"

"Money!" Ian was very concise and authentic.

"But I have no money!" Garp put his hands together: "Well, since you are a pirate hunter, how about I give you a pair of Kairōseki (Seastone) handcuffs? When you encounter Devil Fruit Users, you can easily capture them and not be afraid of their escape!"

Ian's eyes became bright, 'huh! Kairōseki handcuffs? That's a good thing!'

Kairōseki is a kind of very peculiar stone, or mineral, which only exists in some sea area on a Grand Line. The Kairōseki can be said to be the solid form of the sea. It can emit a wave of energy similar to the sea, which makes the ability of the devil fruit user unusable. Due to the special nature of the sea stone, the marines strictly supervise this kind of stone. It's used to make jail cells or handcuffs to deal with pirates who have the power of Devil Fruit.

In fact, it can't be supervised, because the sea stone is not a directly finished mineral. It exists in various volcanic rock layers on the seabed. The refining method is only controlled by the Marines' science department, so basically only the marines can use it.

The sea stone refined into the finished product is extremely hard and can't be destroyed by ordinary means of attack. So in general, these Kairōseki handcuffs can only be opened by their key.

Ian knew that this kind of thing existed, so when he caught Buggy, he asked Morgan if he had any Kairōseki handcuffs. As a result, the 153rd Branch was too small, and it was in the East Blue, a sea area where few people had the power of the Devil Fruit. So, there were no Kairōseki handcuffs in the base. Otherwise, they won't be able to escape so easily.

Without waiting for Ian to speak, Colonel Bogard next to him spoke first. He said to Garp with some concern, "Vice Admiral Garp, how can you give away the Kairōseki handcuffs? The supervision is so strict, how will you explain this to the department?"

Garp glared at him and said, "What's wrong with this? Don't listen to their nonsense. Strict supervision? That Crocodile guy asked the government for it, and in the end, they gave him some!"

Another familiar name, Crocodile? The Desert King Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai, Right? That fellow asked the world government for some Seastone, presumably to build a prison with Kairōseki. If he remembers correctly, the Shichibukai has the imprisonment permission given by the world government. That is to say, they can catch other pirates and lock them up! Almost like a private prison...

Ian remained silent and did not show any expression. Shaking his head, he said to Garp, "But it's not enough. How much does a ship and handcuffs worth?"

"Kid, Don't push your luck!" Garp stared at Ian this time.

"That's it!" Ian curled his lips and said, "Your request is to catch Ace dozens of times. Without mentioning his strength, how can I know if ever I can beat him or not! Secondly, if he runs to the Grand Line, then I'll have to follow him and spend time and energy. You can say for yourself, that's not enough?"

It's great to do business with an old man like Garp! When Ian said that, he felt as if it was true. He said in embarrassment, "But I don't have anything else, ah, right! How about I introduce you to someone?"

"Ha!?" Ian was confused. 'What are you talking about, old man?'

"A beautiful woman!" Garp patted Ian on the shoulder and raised his eyebrows to him with a grim look: "It's also a colonel in our marine headquarters!"

When Colonel Bogard heard this, he suddenly felt that it was not a good idea, and quickly asked, "Vice Admiral Garp, you can't say that..."

Garp looked up at him and said, "It's the little girl Hina! What's wrong with that?"

"Aaah!!??"

Colonel Bogard and the other marine soldiers all shouted at Garp, "Please don't make such a joke!"

At this point, all the soldiers on board were angry. 'Vice Admiral Garp, you've gone too far in this joke! Want to introduce our goddess to this kid as a girlfriend, he's really muddleheaded!?'

Ian also looked at Garp with a cold sweat. The old man's name sounded like a homophonic sound of "reliable." How could he talk and do things so unreliable?

Ian naturally knows that when he mentioned this name, it immediately appeared in his mind a tall and slim woman with straight, waist-length pink long hair, sunglasses, and a cigarette on her mouth. But if he remembers correctly, This proud temperament and imposing figure of the imperial girl can be said that all men of the same age in the marine headquarters have a crush on her and admire her. 'In order to catch Ace, you throw away the marine goddess!?'

'Aren't you afraid that all the soldiers in the marines will revolt!?'

Seeing Garp's expression, Ian knew that the old man didn't know what mistake he had made. Looking at the marines on the ship, they were very angry and about to burst, Ian hastened to cut off the topic, "Forget it, let's talk about it later. I have a proposal. What do you think of it?"

"Okay, say it!" Garp closed his arms and said, "As long as you don't want money, you can ask for anything."

"Cough!" Ian was choking with this sentence, and after a while, he began to say, "It's impossible to catch Ace dozens of times, and I don't know where he is now, but I can promise you that if I ever meet him, I'll catch him as much as possible. This time, the boat and the sea stone handcuffs will be the first commissioned remuneration. If I catch him again in the future, I'll send him to you. Then let's go on with the issue of remuneration. What do you think?"

"That is to say, pay once, right?" Garp touched his chin and thought, "Yes, but first of all, the reward is only what I can get!"

"Deal!" Ian stretched out his right hand to Garp. He laughed and grasped Ian's hand...