Bert’s request

Kin'emon proceeded to apologize for a second time for keeping this from the straw-hats, who had been a massive help to them.

But they just told him that it was fine.

Then Momonosuke came up himself and started to apologize before he got into a brawl with Luffy and then took comfort in Nami's bosom… much to the ire of every male there…

The two rulers agreed on some pact between them so that they won't bother their lord.

And then under the stares of their whole people, they linked their arms, making them cheer.

What happened after that was something that Ian was quite surprised about.

Zunesha, the giant elephant had sprayed water on the sky, which resulted in rainbow forming.

Ian filed that for later.

Because right now, the two mink leaders were leading everyone towards the road Poneglyph.

Truthfully Ian didn't think that it would be so easy.

Ian had originally only two goals for coming to Zou. The first was of course for Bert. But the second was for the Poneglyph and the friendship of the minks. But now that he saw that rainbow, a third goal appeared in his mind.

Still, he would leave that to later. Right now his second goal was about to be fulfilled.

At the side, Sanji was filling the straw-hats about all that had happened so far in Zou. Meanwhile, Ian had officially met Law, and they shared a few words.

****

As such, they left the place and headed towards the Poneglyph.

Ian was a bit surprised when Bert had brought with him a cat mink woman towards their group.

Bert for the last while had not been sleeping with them in the house. Only Stella still did.

Bert had been sleeping in his girlfriend's house.

This particular cat girl was quite fun to be around apparently as Bert had been spending a lot of time with her.

Her name was Akemi. And Ian had been waiting for Bert to come forward and introduce her to them.

As even though he knew that they all knew about her. He had still not decided to formally introduce her.

Which was hard for the girls since they had met her multiple times and had to act as if they don't know her beforehand.

But now they were finally about to be introduced.

Bert finally spoke up.

"Captain Ian, I want to discuss something with you? It's quite serious." Bert started.

His eyes closed as he took a deep breath.

Obviously what he wanted to say was quite hard.

They had been quite near the groups so Ian told him to follow.

And after going a bit to the side, just far enough for the rest to not hear them, they all stopped.

But then after waiting for Bert to speak for a bit, Ian noticed that he was struggling to say what was on his mind.

This made Ian sigh as he jumped to a conclusion and started speaking for him.

"You have gotten too attached to her right?" Ian stated as he looked between the two of them.

He knew that this could as well be a possibility.

Ever since Bert started going out with her, this thought had been on his mind.

And now it had turned out to be true.

Bert might be leaving the crew! Since he might want to spend his time with his girl peacefully.

Ian watched as Bert nodded his head. Although on the inside Bert didn't know what it had to do with what he was going to say.

"I feel like she is the one for me!" he told Ian passionately. As he grabbed her hands. Minks were not as embarrassed about their mates as humans. So the cat mink replicated the gesture.

The girls cooed at that. Never did they imagine Bert to have it in him.

Ian was happy for him but was still somewhat sad about letting him go. However, a stable life was better than the dangerous journey Ian was going on.

"Then I will not make this hard for you Bert!" Ian stated again.

Leaving not only Bert perplexed but Even Elene, Stella, and Robin.

Ian then took a deep breath before he spoke up again.

"If you want to leave the crew, then you don't have to worry about us! I can never restrict you! You are free to do as you want from now on Bert! You don't need my permission for this! Go and enjoy your time with your girl, my friend!" Ian told him with a tired voice.

Bert for his part was shocked.

Never did he expect Ian to say that. He didn't know whether to be moved or what to do.

"What?" Stella asked shocked. "Bert is leaving the crew?" She couldn't imagine that. He was with her since way back.

Even Elene and Robin were somewhat put off with this. They looked at Bert in questioning.

But he was so overwhelmed that he forgot to speak.

Still, as she saw him keeping silent, Akemi was the one who spoke up to Ian.

"Wait, wait! It's not that! You got it all wrong!" She said.

And when Ian turned to her perplexed. Bert finally got his bearings back.

"Do you really want to get rid of me that easily?" Bert spoke up somewhat annoyed.

Again his answer was Ian staring at him in confusion.

"You didn't want to leave the crew to be with her?" Ian questioned him.

This was what he had believed after all.

"NO!" Bert yelled at him.

Which surprised Ian somewhat. He didn't expect that his assumption was wrong.

"Although I appreciate that you didn't restrict my freedom… I really do, but it's not why I wanted to talk to you today!" Bert said.

"Of course I would not restrict you guys. You are my family!" Ian stated in a matter-of-fact manner.

Bert smiled at Ian for his words. Those words were worth more than even gold.

Elene and co too shared a small smile. That was so like Ian.

"But then what did you want to talk about?" Ian then asked perplexed.

"Well, as you know Akemi is quite strong since she is a Mink, and if you had not helped me, she would be even faster than me, plus she had mastered her sulong form which is something that makes her quite dangerous to her enemies, and the Moon's limitation is not a problem anymore… however she is not as strong as us… well what I'm trying to say, is that I want her to… well not just me she too wants that… but anyway I want her to join our crew! That is what I wanted to talk to you about! Goddamn it this was so hard to say, sigh!" Bert started speaking and explaining about the strength of Akemi his girlfriend and he kept getting around the subject until finally, he managed to spit it out. And then cursed at the difficulty of saying it.

Akemi by the side giggled at him.

At this Ian started to think for a bit!

But after a while, he gave him a nod.

"Sure! Why not?" He said with a smile with Bert soon sharing a smile himself.

Ian then added.

"Do you guys have any problem with that?" He asked the rest. But they all shook their heads.

"And you are sure you want to join us?" Ian asked Akemi.

In truth, he did not think that he would be getting another family member so soon.

There were some in mind that he was planning to let join, but this was a positive surprise.

"Yes!" this was her reply. But inside she was quite happy. She was quite the adventurous type, and she couldn't imagine a better crew to be with, than this one. All the while being with the man she likes.

"Well then, welcome aboard!" Ian then gave her a grin as they shook hands.

"Also don't worry about her not being as strong as us… as she soon will be!" Ian told Bert. Who immediately understood what Ian meant and couldn't help but be happy.

After that, they jogged to follow the groups that had gotten ahead of them.