After all, Doflamingo was extremely cunning. But since he had already given so much intel, there shouldn't be a problem.
Since the decision was made, Ian stopped thinking about it. Following the instructions Zephyr wrote down, he walked into the cave.
There wasn't anything dangerous inside. Aside from a creepy atmosphere, everything was normal.
After arriving at a stone monument and following Zephyr's instructions, they successfully opened the stone chamber.
A beam of golden light burst out from inside. Both of them froze, stunned as they stared ahead.
Inside... Countless piles of gold and treasure were piled up, lying there silently, sparkling under the strong light.
Even Ain was a bit surprised. She didn't expect that, aside from the Devil Fruit, there would be so much treasure.
"Let's go. It's only the two of us now; we can't take all this treasure away."
Ian sighed and shook his head. "Forget it, we'll ask instructor Zephyr to come here later. Next, the Devil Fruit..."
He scanned the surroundings and soon spotted a purple Devil Fruit resting quietly on a stone pedestal deep in the stone chamber.
This was their target, Bat-Bat Fruit, Model: Vampire!
"Found it!"
At the same time, Ain also saw it. She didn't expect it to be so smooth... Or rather, so fast?
There really wasn't any danger at all!
"What are you standing there, stunned for?"
Ian waved his hand at Ain and smiled. "Go take it."
"You..."
After coming back to her senses, Ain took a deep breath.
Under Ian's gaze, she stopped hesitating and walked toward the stone pedestal.
After making a brief pause, she reached out with her hand toward the Devil Fruit.
But after taking the fruit, she didn't eat it immediately. Instead, she silently stared at it.
"What are you doing?"
Ian walked up to her side, curious. "Why aren't you eating it?"
Was she going to be like Gini and hold a banquet before eating it?
"Oh, right. Are you worried about what kind of Devil Fruit it is?"
Before Ain could speak, Ian suddenly remembered and laughed. "Don't worry, this Devil Fruit is pretty good. It's a Mythical Zoan Fruit, the Bat-Bat Fruit, Model: Vampire."
"Mythical Zoan?!"
As a Captain from the Marines Headquarters, Ain had, of course, heard of Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits.
Shocked, she looked at the fruit in her hand. She didn't expect it to be such a rare Devil Fruit.
It was incredibly precious.
But before she could say anything, Ian stroked his chin and muttered, "Though this fruit has a drawback. After eating it, you would become a vampire. You might not be able to expose yourself to sunlight. But of course, we don't know if that's really true!"
Ian raised his head with a smile, but upon seeing Ain frozen stiff for some unknown reason, he asked in confusion: "What's wrong with you..."
Before he finished speaking, Ain directly held the fruit out toward Ian and said seriously: "This Devil Fruit..."
"What about it?"
"It's not suitable for me!"
Not suitable? This is a top-tier Devil Fruit; how could it not be suitable?
Could it be that Devil Fruits really choose their own hosts?
Although Ian didn't know why Ain said that, he still decided to take another look after returning.
Otherwise, what could he do? Force the Devil Fruit into Ain's mouth?
This wasn't like Gini's situation. He received a suitable Devil Fruit, but didn't want to eat it immediately and insisted on some sense of ceremony before eating it.
Also, the Vampire Fruit was different from the Clear-Clear Fruit. The chosen host of the Vampire Fruit was still locked up in Impel Down.
He didn't believe... that just because he obtained the Devil Fruit, that old guy could immediately escape from prison!
Therefore, he wasn't worried about that old guy eating it.
Thinking of this, since they had gotten the Devil Fruit, it was time to return. He didn't know how Kuma's situation was.
After roughly covering up the ruins, they walked toward the exit.
When they emerged from the ruins, dawn was breaking. Ian hadn't expected to spend the entire night inside.
Bathing in the morning light, Ian instantly returned to peak condition.
Looking at Ain beside him, although her face showed slight fatigue, she was still in peak condition.
After a moment of thought, Ian said, "Do you need to rest?"
"No, thank you."
Ain shook her head and said, "I don't know what the situation is like in the kingdom of Dressrosa. Let's hurry back!"
Ian looked calmly at Ain and said, "Then let's leave directly!"
With that said, Ian didn't hesitate. He skillfully picked Ain up and prepared to check the island they had come from.
If Kuma manages to arrive there, they just need to find a boat to return here.
With a swoosh sound, Ian leapt into the air, rushing toward the direction they came from.
Normally, Moonwalk couldn't keep someone in the air for long. As for why he could stay in the sky for so long, it was simple: brute force miraculously doing the job.
But there was a way around it; no one expected that there would be no danger at that ruin, and that such an unexpected thing would happen.
Time passed slowly, and the cool embrace seemed to envelop her, causing Ain, who was still quite energetic, to unconsciously close her eyes, and even her breathing became slightly calmer.
Ian, seemingly noticing something, looked up in surprise at Ain, who was sleeping in his arms, but just as he was about to quicken his pace...
"Wa-ha-ha-ha."
A unique laugh rang out, accompanied by a voice.
"I didn't expect to see you here, Ain-chan. Why are you being carried by that big kid again? Don't tell me you got injured again?"
Ian: "...?!"
Ian froze and looked in the direction of the voice.
At that moment, a small marine warship came into his view.
It was sailing rapidly toward them.
...
When Ain woke up, she stared at the unfamiliar scenery and the blanket covering her. She was stunned for a moment, but quickly calmed down.
Did Ian find a ship?
Then she remembered something else, and a light blush appeared on her face.
Seriously... she fell asleep in Ian's arms!
She slapped her cheeks lightly to calm herself down before examining the clean, tidy room in confusion.
[Where is Ian now?]
But then, as if noticing something, her eyes widened in surprise as she murmured: "Marine warship rest cabin?"