War of the best (3/?)

Island of Marinford. In Paradise.

Ian knew that Luffy and the Impel Down escapees were trapped atop one of the frozen tsunami waves created by Whitebeard and Aokiji's powers.

He also knew that Luffy will try to talk the others into pushing the boat so that it will slide down the back of the wave. Before they do, though, the Den Den Mushi on board intercepts the order, which is to just ignore the schedule and execute Ace then and there. Whilst panicking, Luffy tells the others that they need to hurry. Ivankov performs Hell Wink in hopes of shoving the battleship off of the wave, but instead of sliding down, it is knocked forward, flipping upside down and sending all of the inmates plummeting towards the sea.

Which led to this moment as the war momentarily stopped in order to see the falling object, which turned out to be the ship with escapees from impel down on it.

Through an act of pure fortune, that once again perplexed Ian even if he had seen it before in the anime, the battleship lands in one of the few spots of ocean that remains unfrozen. Although the impact does split the boat in two, those on board fall into the ocean unharmed. Jinbe then hurriedly dives underwater to rescue the fruit users, as the others make their way up onto the wreckage.

Knight of the Sea, Jinbe. It was Ian's first time seeing him in real life.

He saw the he was a large blue whale shark fish-man. He has a stocky build similar to that of a sumo wrestler and a face that is commonly associated with various Japanese demons such as the oni. His yellow eyebrows and sideburns are distinctly shaped like those found on such demons, in addition to a bulb-like nose and an angular lower lip pointing upwards. He has a lightning-shaped scar that can be seen from his left sideburn and reaching over his left eye which he obtained sometime between Otohime's assassinations and meeting Ace. He also possesses two tusk-like conical lower fangs associated with Oni as well; the rest of his teeth from the upper and lower rows are pretty much the same, albeit much smaller. He also has a severe under bite, which makes room for his huge fangs.

Then Ian watched on in amazement as the events kept unfolding. With Ace and Luffy greeting each other loudly, And how everybody reacted to this sudden change of events, and Ian noted especially how Akainu had a weird glint in his eyes when he saw Luffy. Like he was determined to kill him today.

Then Jinbe announced his resigning from the marines' seven warlords.

Then Crocodile made the first move finally and approached Whitebeard to attack him from behind.

But as suddenly as he appeared, he was in a second held from his neck in Ian's hands. Meanwhile Luffy who tried helping the old man ended up just jumping for nothing.

"Oi, Luffy, do you think the old man needs help with this weakling or something?" Ian said as he addressed Luffy who looked back at him.

"Ah it's you Ian. Did you join the same crew as Ace?" Luffy turned off his gear second and laughed as he spoke. Forgetting about croco boy already.

"Guh… cough" Crocodile tried to talk but Ian tightened his hands around his neck. He couldn't even move his fingers as Ian was holding him.

"Hahaha, what are you doing here Luffy, it's been a while since we met right? Where are the guys?" Ian played dumb as he redirected the talk elsewhere.

"They, they were sent but that bear guy, once I save Ace I'll go save them." Luffy spoke as he remembered them. But now Ace was in danger.

"Alright." Ian gave a nod, he could see that Luffy was conflicted a bit.

It was at this time that the old man turned to see Luffy behind him wearing a familiar hat on his head.

"So you came to save your brother?" Whitebeard Asked.

"That's right." Luffy replied. And the old man gave a sidelong glance at Ian.

Ian had informed him before about this. As such he knew what to do right now.

"Do you know who you are against in here?" He asked him again in the hope of him understanding the situation. Being dumb and charging ahead, would not do any good. One should know their place. "A squirt like you will be dead meat" He then added as he strikes the ground with the bottom of his weapon.

"UHh, Shut up. That's not for you to decide." Luffy yelled.

"I know what you are trying to do." He said. "You are trying to become the pirate king right? But I'm the one who'll become the king of the pirates" He ended up with a yell that was heard all around.

Which showed the old man that the short guy understood nothing about the situation right now. Still he admired his courage even if he felt he was quite stupid too.

"How cheeky you are" He muttered.

But he then just stopped talking, and left the responsibility of convincing him to be more aware of who he fights, to Ian.

"Oi, Luffy, come here." Ian motioned for him to come close.

When he did Ian started talking.

"Luffy… you understand your strength right? That bear guy you talked about earlier? He is one of the seven warlords. They are the same in strength as vice admirals you know, now look around and see how many vice admirals you see? Just one made you feel powerless and now you want to charge in between them and save Ace?" Ian said each word slowly.

Luffy wanted to say something but then he saw the people fighting down there and just shut his mouth. He understood exactly what Ian was saying.

"I'm not saying you are weak Luffy. It's just you that you have just begun your journey after all, you still have time to grow even stronger. And also I'm not saying you should just sit here and watch. What I'm saying is for you to use your head for once. When you go down there, don't run for Ace, as he is protected by the admirals, and if you just charge blindly someone will have to save you then it would disrupts our plans to save Ace. Those are extremely stronger than that Bear guy okay? When you fight just follow some commander from our side and try to help where you can. That's all I'm saying." Ian then spoke after.

Ian then gave him time to think.

And after a few minutes he finally nodded after giving one last look at Ace.

"Good Luffy, I'm glad you understand. I was even prepared to knock you unconscious. Don't look at me like that. We have a plan and we should adhere to it by the minute detail, and if you end up wasting our sole chance to save Ace then what will we do?" Ian said. Then when he saw Luffy glare at him he explained.

"He is right, brat. Always charging in blindly would not do you any good." Whitebeard added from the side.

"I understand." Luffy nodded. Unlike in the anime, he appeared to be quite understanding.

In truth the fight with Kuma had left a bit of trauma on him. When he saw his crew vanish one by one in front of him… he knew that at a war with this scale he would just end up messing things up.

"However, I think there's something you should know." Luffy then said.