After the lightning subsided, Ian, who was shielding the child in his arms from view, glanced at the charred remains on the deck.
Finally, his gaze fell on the marine who remained seated cross-legged, not even raising his head when the lightning struck. He shook his head and ignored him.
After lowering the ship next to the warship, Ian waved his hand, signaling the people behind him to hurry down and unload the spoils.
As for him and Zephyr... They were still standing on the deck with the children.
Just as the ship landed, Zephyr sighed, causing Ian to raise an eyebrow and say calmly, "I thought you were going to stop me."
"... I did want to stop you, but it was his own choice!"
Zephyr paused for a moment, shook his head, and looked at the figure sitting cross-legged. "He has lost his sense of justice, just like I... Back then."
Back then, someone gave him a helping hand, but this guy... It's too late!
After speaking, Zephyr fell silent again, gazing at the figure with a look of confusion and sorrow in his eyes.
After a moment, he looked at Ian, his tone pleading, "Could I help collect the bodies of these children?"
Faced with Zephyr's pleading words, Ian paused for a moment, but did not refuse his request.
Actually, if Zephyr had spoken up, he wouldn't have minded giving him face and letting them go. But in the end, Zephyr didn't say anything, only letting out a long sigh when Enel called for them to get lost.
"Go ahead! Do you need any help?"
"No."
Upon hearing Ian's question, Zephyr shook his head and said nothing more before heading to the marine warship.
He gazed at the deck full of black charcoal with a complicated expression.
Then, he silently squatted down and slowly moved all the marines from the other ships onto one ship.
Upon seeing this, Binz and Ain remained silent for a moment before quietly picking up the marines' corpse.
And it wasn't just Binz and Ain; even Enel hesitated for a moment, then impatiently scratched his head, snorted, and casually tossed the corpse at his feet.
This sudden change startled even Zephyr, who was busy. Then, he seemed to feel a little better, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
He squatted down and tidied up the figure who was sitting cross-legged on the deck, still keeping his head down. Even though the marine uniform he was wearing had long been tattered by the lightning, Zephyr still carefully tidied it up as neatly and cleanly as possible.
As he tidied up, he muttered to himself, "We told you to leave, but you wouldn't. You've always been so indecisive since you were little. Honestly, since you've chosen to obey orders, just be like Sakazuki and don't worry about anything! If you can't make a decision, why don't you learn from that old bastard, Garp? You do something and then regret it, you don't do anything and then hesitate. You're really giving me a headache!"
He tidied up the marine captain again, looked at the marine personnel being moved over, paused for a moment, then looked back at the captain and said softly, "Sorry I'm late, Kaz."
A name involuntarily slipped out of his mouth.
On the other hand, Ian didn't care about what Zephyr and the others had done.
Just as Zephyr had said, once you've done something, don't regret it; if you regret it, then you should not have done it in the first place.
Did they really think that choosing death would make them feel better?
Of course, on this vast ocean, let alone a mere marine captain, even Hero of the Marines and admirals may regret some of the things they have done in the past.
But some people either continue to pursue their ideals with unwavering determination, hoping to change everything once they reach a higher position; others simply give up and do whatever they can to get the tasks assigned by their superiors, hoping to pass the work on to the next person!
Of course, compared to these boring things, he was now much more interested in the Devil Fruit that Ace had just brought him.
Surprisingly, these guys were quite lucky; they actually managed to get a Devil Fruit!
You should know that he had been looking for this Devil Fruit for a long time.
That's right, this Devil Fruit is…
"Isn't this the Stone-Stone Fruit?"
Just then, Instructor Zephyr's voice came from the side.
"It is indeed the Stone-Stone Fruit."
Ian nodded while glancing at the blazing warship. "What about those hyenas? Throw them in and burn them too?"
"No, I threw it into the sea to feed the fish!"
Ian: "..."
Ian looked at Zephyr with a strange expression, but didn't say anything about his double standards, and turned his gaze back to the Devil Fruit in his hand.
The Stone-Stone Fruit, a paramecia-type Devil Fruit, was previously consumed by Pica, a top executive of the Donquixote Family. It allows the user to assimilate any rock they come into contact with, incorporating its appearance, hardness, and other properties into their own power.
Therefore, the devil fruit user can transform into enormous stone giants to attack. The size of the stone giant can expand to the size of an island as the user's strength increases.
When they were modifying Ohara, he thought about using this Devil Fruit, but at that time, they couldn't find the Devil Fruit or its user.
As a result, when it came time to rebuild Ohara, this Devil Fruit unexpectedly appeared.
Speaking of which, there is another Devil Fruit whose ability is very similar to that of the Stone-Stone Fruit.
The Isle-Isle Fruit allows one to assimilate an entire island, controlling everything on it, sensing events happening on the island, and even moving the island.
If these two Devil Fruits were to join forces... Ian couldn't help but think of the island he had wrecked, and a brilliant idea suddenly came to him!
"Stone-Stone Fruit..."
Seeing Ian narrow his eyes, Zephyr frowned and asked in confusion, "What's so special about this Devil Fruit? Why are you staring at it?"
"No, it's just an idea."
Hearing Instructor Zephyr's words, Ian also came back to his senses, put away the Stone-Stone Fruit, and looked at Instructor Zephyr. "By the way, if you go out in a while, help me find someone."
"Who?"
"Avalo Pizarro!"
"Is he not a prisoner from Impel Down?"
"He should have escaped by now."