99 Information
[A/N: What do you think about the amount of money Ian got after selling the gold. is it a lot or is it the opposite? as well as what do you think about the fee paid to Yu for his help?]
Ian and co had spent the last week since they started sailing, going around some islands Stella directed them towards, with Ian steering the ship as fast as he could to reach the island faster. And now according to her, this is the last island they would have to visit before they have the information they needed.
They had already sold the gold they had on them for a rather sizable fortune. Since the volume of the gold was quite large they couldn't sell it to just one person… so they had to go through multiple places, but in the end, it had been worth it, as right now Ian had close to 15 billion berries if you add what he had on him before.
For a small crew like Ian's, that was a fortune, many would be happy to kill to get. Not that they would succeed at that…
After that, they had been visiting some information brokers she used to know to ask about the escapees, but the information they got was incomplete. There were four guys Ian knew had gotten out of impel down's sixth level. But from Stella's past contacts they only managed to gather rumors about two of them. Rumors and not evidence… Ian was not pleased much and neither was Stella.
Still, Ian trusted her on this and left her to do as she liked for now. But she still assured him that the next guy is the very best at this sort of job which is why she left him to be the last.
Now they were on an island named Roova. The contact she had in here was named Yu according to Stella.
An odd name Ian thought as he heard her.
"Aww, don't look at me like that" Stella pouted. "It has been so long how am I supposed to know those guys had gotten rusty and become so bad? But this Yu guy, he was and most probably still is the best at this. If 'he' doesn't have anything then our targets are more troublesome then we thought."
"Indeed." Ian gave a nod. "But relax I'm not going to blame you for something like this." He added with a small snort and a laugh to make her relax. He knew that she was a bit nervous about failing this mission.
She gave a nod and a small smile.
While walking on the streets, the island appeared to be quite bustling and filled with all types of people. He marked this particular point for later. For his ever-evolving body he needed various bloodlines, and he had already met some people like that, and he found some here too, so later he will sneak out and do his things.
Generally, each island on the new world was known for something special. And this particular one was known for its seafood. They fished various types of marine life, and that gave birth to many seafood dishes.
"We should get back later with the rest, and have a taste her, don't you think?" Ian asked Stella. His eyes shining at the thought of tasting new food. He knew one other that would enjoy it as much as him. Their own ship's cook, Bert.
"Yes, I think so too." Stella giggled at him, before making a stop in front of a rather big building. The building looked normal not anything shady or half-broken like the rest of the guys they went to see.
Ian read the sign that said, 'Library'. He had already prepared a suitcase filled with money to avoid showing his ring.
They went inside after opening the door and were met by the view of a very quiet library. With the occasional person sitting on a table enjoying reading.
Stella motioned him to follow as they made a beeline for the counter where a person was sitting and reading a book.
This person was ordinary in everything apart from a couple of tattoos he had on his body.
"Yu." Stella greeted, "It has been a while since we met. How have you been?" She said with a smile.
The person put the book down and looked at Stella carefully.
"Ella? Is that really you?" He asked cautiously. Ian raised a brow at the nickname for Stella but otherwise stayed silent.
Stella leaned closer to the counter and brought her palm forward to which suddenly a chain sprouted from. The person's cautious look changed in a second to a happy smile.
"It really is you. You know we haven't talked in like three years you know?" Yu said. Before his eyes drifted to Ian and prominently made him freeze in his place.
Well, Ian was a sort of a celebrity. As while he had vanished for two years, the world didn't forget about the fifth emperor. And right now few idiots would not recognize him.
"You… you're Ian Louis, the fifth emperor…" Yu muttered shocked out of his pants.
Ian snorted in amusement but gave a nod. He didn't care for the fame or anything of the sort. But it was still amusing how people would change how they spoke or acted when they knew who he was.
Yu turned to look at Stella.
"You are part of the nightmare crew?" Yu had seen the bounties for the crew in passing but he didn't focus much on it and it was not like anyone commissioned him to gather info about the crew. But now that Stella was in front of him he did manage to recall her nickname. The crazy-eyed nightmare.
"Yes. I am." She confirmed with a small laugh.
"But, let's get down to business, Yu. We have something we need to ask of you." Stella then added.
"Sure, sure." He nodded back. He was professional at this and he was not about to freeze up on such a high esteemed customer.
"What do you know about the escaped prisoner of the sixth level of impel down? Speak everything you know, as for the price, you already know who my captain is so I won't say anything about that…" Stella asked.
Ian was a bit surprised. When they asked the other brokers, Stella had said their names and didn't say they escaped from the 6 level. Not many knew such a level even existed. Coupled with how the government had hidden the fact that such escapees had broken out of prison, it was quite hard for one to know. The fact that the government hid that was why Garp and Sengoku had retired completely and were now just instructors.
But the fact that Stella spoke directly to him meant this person was the real deal.
Yu suddenly turned serious.
"Follow me." He motioned with his hands as he went and climbed some stairs. Ian and Stella shared a look before they followed to the second floor.
Then into a room that had two couches opposite the other between a table. When they all sat, Yu started talking.
"Catarina Devon 'Crescent Moon Hunter' known as the most dangerous woman imprisoned in impel down in the age of pirates. The keyword being imprisoned.
Avalo Pizarro 'Corrupt King' who was once a king of a North Blue kingdom that overthrew him for his despotic ways.
Vasco Shot 'Heavy Drinker' Not much is known about his crimes aside from that even his inmates considered his crimes brutal.
Sanjuan Wolf 'Colossal Battleship' the biggest giant known, suspected to be in part due to his devil fruit.
These are the escapees of impel down." Yu said.
To which Ian and Stella gave nods. Ian already knew this.
"We don't want to know about their abilities and the like. We want to know what they have done in the last two years, and where they are right now." Ian spoke interrupting whatever Yu was going to say.
Yu gave a nod.
"Alright. What I know so far is that after the war of the best, the supposed Blackbeard crew were disbanded. During the two years the revolutionary army tried to hunt all of the crew and succeeded to an extent. The only ones who were safe from that were the four prisoners. Two of them made a pirate crew. Namely being Vasco Shot and Avalo Pizarro. For these two, I have solid evidence about their whereabouts." Yu said what he knew.
Ian managed to catch the glimpse of pride at the mention of the revolutionary army. He immediately knew this guy was either with them or helping them. But since Ian had nothing against them he didn't mind much if this conversation was made known to Dragon.
Yu then got up and went to the side and started rummaging through a bookshelf before he brought some pics.
"This is Alder Island. And as you can see the crew is there." Yu said. True to his words the pics depicted the crew on a deserted island. Ian gave a nod. They would have to go for these two first as this island was quite close to them. Unless of course, the others were even closer. Stella too gave a nod to Yu.
"The rest of the two, they are a bit troublesome. They had managed to become part of the Big Mom pirates. Sigh." Yu said as he sighed. By now he knew why Ian was asking about these questions. Which is clearly to hunt them. But the rest of the tow who are in big mom's crew they would just have to give up on…
Ian was surprised a bit. He didn't expect that honestly. But he didn't care either way. They all were going to die. This Ian had promised.
Usually, information brokers were not paid much. But if the type of info was harder to get the fees were higher too.
So even as Ian knew this information was not priced very high he still gave a generous amount to Yu. 15 million berries. He turned the opened suitcase towards Yu.
"Thank you, Yu. I'll make sure to ask for your help if need it in the future." Ian said as he got up and went through the door.
Stella followed after him.
"It was nice meeting you again Yu. I'm glad you are still the best at this." Stella grinned at him before she too got out of the room.
Leaving a shocked Yu just sitting there. He didn't even think they would give him one mil, not to mention fifteen… he stayed there for a few minutes just surprised before he finally got up closed the suitcase and got back to work.
