On the way to Zou

Three days later!

Somewhere in the new world.

A ship can be seen cutting right through the rather calm sea as if it didn't even exist. The ship remained calm and steady in its path as if it was rather flying than sailing.

The crimson sun peeked from above on the ship and basked it in its warmth.

The ship was not anything special as it appeared that it was built to be normal.

A distinguishing part of this ship is the figurehead at its front. It was of a dragon roaring forward. It was as if the dragon was itself the one cutting the waves of the sea as it charged furiously to a place only it knew.

Atop this figurehead of a western dragon sat a person cross-legged.

This person was shirtless and only wearing simple brown shorts. Nothing was worn on his feet too. His physique was obviously a treat to a female's eyes, what with his lean figure boasting an 8 pack and well-toned muscles.

A towel can be seen draped over his neck. If one would look closely they would notice the color red on the light blue towel. By his side, a short bucket filled with water was seen.

The person took a deep breath, sucking in the salty air, and relishing the open sea. His hand moved to his hair as he brushed a couple of strands from his sweaty forehead.

This person was Ian. And he was sitting on the figurehead of his ship, the odyssey.

Three days ago he had met Dragon and shared a talk with him before he finally asked him a question. He questioned him about how much he knew of the diávoloi.

And just like Ian had guessed, Dragon was not left in the unknown. He knew about them. But his knowledge was limited. He had told Ian that Roger told him he had killed them along with Whitebeard. But then in the war, he had finally seen one with his own eyes.

And so Ian took it upon himself to give an adequate explanation to everything they knew. After all, they were considered allies.

He explained all that was new to Dragon.

Starting with The hidden leader of the world being one of the Diávoloi. He didn't forget to warn Dragon of its almost godly ability.

He told him that the five elders were strong themselves. And then he said that Garp was able to escape.

From then on Ian told him his theories. About the 'D' being the natural enemies of the diávoloi. Of how Im's ability made her appear as if a god. And how that would fit since the 'D' were supposedly natural enemies of God.

Suffice to say, Dragon left his ship with a new outlook of the world.

Ian secretly enjoyed seeing the shock on the rather usually stoic man.

And then after that meeting was done, it was finally time to address an issue Ian had been avoiding.

Whether to hunt the rest of the escapees like they had planned beforehand or head out to zou just as he promised Bert.

If they continued on their journey, they were going to clash with big mom. Which if it happened would delay their visit to zou.

In the end, their choice was obvious.

They all agreed to visit zou.

Even if Ian didn't want to let those blights survive another second, he still agreed with the rest.

So they started their journey to zou following Bert's vivre card.

Usually, such a journey can take between a week and a month. As the island was moving too. Or rather the elephant carrying the island was moving.

But… with Ian steering the ship it won't take that long.

Ian took another deep breath. He used observation to see where each of his crew were at.

On the first floor, Bert was moving in between the storage room and the bathroom. Probably changing supplies in the bath.

And then on the second floor, in the shared room, all three of the girls were sitting together. Ian deduced that they were chatting with each other.

Feeling that it was safe, Ian resumed what he was doing before, but not before taking another deep breath and closing his eyes.

When he opened them next, a multitude of voices assaulted him at the same time.

It was so much that his nose started bleeding.

He was using the voice of all things once again. It was the reason why he checked where the crew was. He didn't want them to needlessly worry about him.

Still, he persisted and tried to focus his ability to listen only to one voice at a time.

With minutes going by, he managed to reduce the voices talking at the same time. They were still cluttered and he couldn't make sense of what they were saying, but he still recognized that the initial number of voices talking at the same time was reduced.

Which to him meant that the effort he spent was worth it. When he had just started, the number of voices he heard at the same time made him almost pass out with all seven orifices bleeding.

But right now he managed to reduce them until only his nose would start bleeding. And soon he was going to be able to freely use this ability.

Taking the towel from his neck, he used it and the small bucket of water to clean the blood from his face.

When he was done he used observation to check on the crew. Seeing as he was in the clear he resumed his training.

'Again' he thought to himself.

One might wonder what Ian's reason for doing this brutal training is.

Well, there were many actually.

The first being the need for the ability he was training. The voice of all things. Or simply as Ian came to call it, the voice.

Roger used this to be able to find the Poneglyphs. And Ian was planning to do the same. He knew where three of them were. But the last one, he merely had guesses. As such he was going to master this ability and use it to find the last Poneglyph.

The second reason was simple. His ship had a Klabautermann. Or more aptly named by him, a spirit. And he wanted to be able to converse with it with ease.

Usually, the spirit would only show to a crew that treated the ship well. But Ian's ability allowed him to converse with it normally bypassing that limit.

He was dead set on doing this for his ship. After all the last time when he had acquired his ability among the multitude of voices, he was clearly able to hear one that said: If only they knew I'm alive.

For that alone, he was willing to go through this pain and master his ability.

His third reason was simple too. He had an ability he acquired, and he was going to master it. He was not about to quit just because it is painful.

So, taking a deep breath, Ian once again started his training.

His ship continuing to sail towards Zou.

If Ian had mastered his ability, he would have seen that by his side a young child perhaps 6 or 7 years old was sitting next to him and looking at him worriedly. The child was wearing a blue raincoat and brown boots. And besides its light blue eyes filled with worry, its features were obscured by fog.