The reply

Galmar Island.

The next day since Ian met Kuzan.

Kuzan was sitting on the edge of a cliff and looking at the sea, lost in his thoughts.

He had many things to think about.

First of all, was him considering what had happened to his supposed targets yesterday?

Secondly was his offer to join with the Nightmare pirates.

And lastly, what secrets could Ian know about the world government that he didn't?

The first thing he guessed that it was related to Ian and his crew. Even for him, an operation like that would take a week as he would need to gain their trust before he would finally strike at them eliminating them.

How he does so, is by making himself sound evil and giving the opposite party some strong weapons that he made. On the premise that he wants to wreak havoc on the world.

Right now Kuzan was playing with such a weapon in his hand.

It appeared to be crystal made in a circular shape and mainly from Ice. It had a very light blue color.

Kuzan threw the ice orb out of his hand towards the sea. And low and behold the moment it made contact it exploded and started to freeze everything surrounding it, mainly the sea.

By the end of that, the damaged area was in a diameter of 5m with the orb at the center.

Kuzan continued to look at the sea and thinking.

If he used his full power from the start, it would be easy to destroy them all. However he would risk letting some of them escape and his identity would most likely spread, and operations like this would start to fail.

Since he had information about the boss only he was sure his underlings could escape and start the whole thing again on another island.

But here he was now, looking at a paper in his hand.

On it were the names of all the members of this underground cell. Including the boss, he was pursuing.

Where did he find this paper?

It was yesterday as he was preparing to start his job. He had gone to the know hideout of his target that he got from his contacts.

But upon reaching there, he found everybody dead. Leaving just that paper in place.

Following the directions on the paper, he visited all of their hideouts. And the result was similar.

'The island at first appeared to be peaceful… but now I guess that it would stay that way!' Kuzan thought to himself.

He knew this must be the work of Ian. Which brought him to the next point.

He had thought hard about this since yesterday. And he found nothing bad to have him refuse Ian's offer.

He was more inclined to believe Ian about what he had said.

Ian at that time in the war had said about that devil being, that it was the true threat that lurks in the shadows…

And now he had allied with Whitebeard, Garp, Sengoku of all people, and Dragon.

That very fact is very disturbing.

He knew Garp personally and though he had left the Marines he knew that Garp was not one to just up and quit the marines. He must have a reason, and that reason is connected to Ian.

One would say that he shouldn't count on Ian's word when he said that he was allied with all of those guys, however, this was something easy to confirm.

And he had done so the very first thing in this morning.

And Garp had explained that they witnessed the truth of the world government and as such, they were ordered to die as they shouldn't have known about that secret. This was all Garp was willing to say on the subject.

When asked of Ian, Garp had nothing but praise.

Kuzan trusted Garp, as such he told him about Ian's offer. And Garp had told him to take it. Stating that whatever goals he had would be much easier with Ian on his side.

He knew that Garp would not tell him that if Ian was someone not worth following.

So Kuzan was more or less made up, on his choice. What more could he ask? He would get help with basically no restriction?

Plus he was always not comfortable with following orders from the world government.

Pirates were free. Freer than when he was an admiral. Basically, his current lifestyle was like a lone pirate.

As such he decided that the next time he sees Ian he would join him. And if he doesn't like it he would leave. But if he likes it he would help the crew in any way that he can.

As to what secrets could Ian have? Just from Garp's words, he knew that what Ian said was the truth. He really did have secrets he knew and he was willing to share them with him.

And just as he had finished that thought, Ian appeared in front of him.

Earlier Ian had been with his crew on the ship near the docks. But then he had heard an explosion and came to investigate.

And what he came to witness was Kuzan sitting on the cliffside.

"Was it you?" Ian asked as he turned and surveyed the surroundings. And then he saw the part of the sea that was still frozen.

Kuzan gave him a nod.

"Emperor Ian… did you and your crew take care of my targets?" Kuzan asked.

After all, what he had was just a guess about that.

"Yes!" Ian replied to him.

"How did you get that much detailed information about them?" Kuzan genuinely asked Ian.

"Well, I told you I'm allied with Dragon… if anyone knows anything about people it would be that guy!" Ian honestly told him.

And indeed Dragon had a spy network unlike any other force in this world.

Kuzan nodded.

"Well, I'll leave for now! I hope by the evening you would have made your mind! I can't stay anymore beyond that!" Ian told him.

And Kuzan was able to detect the hint of apology in Ian's tone.

Probably for not giving him much time to decide.

"No need! I have already decided!" Kuzan replied to Ian.

At this Ian turned around as he was leaving, and looked at Kuzan.

"Oh, Already?" he questioned a bit surprised.

When Kuzan nodded.

Ian waited for his reply.

"I decided that I would join your crew!" Kuzan told him and saw how a smile spread on Ian's face.

"However! If I at one point don't like your crew and wish to leave it, I hope you won't mind!" Kuzan said and was expecting Ian to frown, be displeased, or anything of the like, but what he got was nothing.

Ian stayed smiling and replied.

"Sure, I don't mind! A pirate is all about freedom after all!" Ian said.

"Now since you agreed, let's go meet the crew!" Ian intoned with a smile on his face!