Chapter 8 - Next stop determined:

Now Ian was thinking hard whether to just go ahead and enter the Grand line, or wait and meet Luffy, save him from the execution platform then enter with them.

Since he wanted to at least be considered a friend to them, he wanted to save their captain now, but he also thought it to be a pain in the ass. Since he could just enter from the Grand line directly.

There are many ways he could do so.

Either through Reverse Mountain. Or using the snakes the Kuja pirates had used to cross the calm belt. They are named Yuda, which literally means "Traveling Snake" they are a ferocious and poisonous type of sea serpent. They live in the Calm Belt and are so dangerous that they are one of the few creatures that Sea Kings will not attack, though the Kuja people apparently were able to domesticate them. The Kuja Pirates ship, the Perfume Yuda, is drawn by these creatures, a newly added method of navigating through the Calm Belt. They resemble 'Snake Weapons' but are much larger and have hair on their head that also runs along their backs and around their necks, as well as having slit eyes while snake weapons have dotted eyes.

Ian could very easily search for one or two and have them pull his ship. Or he could just hide himself using his telekinesis energy and observation Haki. Effectively hiding his presence then he would fly through it straight. Admittedly he was not so stupid as to not guess that there might be a strong sea king capable of detecting him. But this was what adventure was about.

Ian was cut of his train of thought as he saw he was nearing Loguetown. He slowed down and looked around if there is anyone nearby, once he saw it was clear he landed on the docks, and went to his hotel room.

Once inside he cooked himself some food as he was very hungry after that whole ordeal. Then he took his plate and relaxed on a sofa and started to think about what to do.

'In a way, Dragon had come here to witness the start of his son's journey. Therefore I should not step in his way… since he will be saved anyways, I should just go ahead of them and if we met in the future then I'll help them somehow, it is not that important anyways… but it would be awesome if I could meet people who are considered only fictional in real life, especially the straw hats…' Ian mused to himself while eating the stonefish slices he cooked. He had already seen smoker on the streets patrolling.

He is a muscular, white-haired and brown-eyed man, with a distinct trait of always being seen smoking two cigars at once. He wears a large thick white and blue specialist marine jacket which he keeps open, with greenish fur lining the neck, wrists, and hem. The jacket bears the word for "justice" written on the back of it as far as he could remember. Many cigars are strapped to this jacket. He carries a Seastone-tipped jitte as his weapon. Ian even if stronger by miles than him, admits that Smoker has a cool air about him.

He finally made his mind about this problem, and decided to leave first come morning as it was already late today. His next stop would be little garden, so that he can get the blood of giants and any fearsome beast there. However he would need a log pose for that and then he would go to whiskey peak and wait for it to reset and point to the next island.

Due to his father, he had several eternal log poses and normal ones in his ring. It happened that he had one for an island named Nanimonai, and one for Alabasta. But if he went to Nanimonai his log pose would point to Alabasta after charging. But he needed the blood of the giants.

So he decided to just go from Reverse Mountain and abandoned the thought of crossing the calm belt and using an eternal log pose. He would just go to whiskey peak and then wait for the log to reset before going to little garden and from there he would directly go to Alabasta using the eternal pose.

Since Luffy got his bounty when he defeated Arlong on Cocoyashi Island, which is just before logue town, he guessed they would reach it in two or three days.

So with this thought, he went to the bedroom and decided to sleep early. After all he will be leaving very early the next day. However he will not be meeting the straw hats, as he would be reaching Whiskey peak very fast since he would be flying, and it took the log pose as far as he could remember from the manga, less than 24 hours. As they partied until night, with zoro fighting the bounty hunters, and when the morning came they went on their way to little garden. Then from whiskey peak to little garden he would be flying too. And only once he is done there would he start sailing using a ship to enjoy the journey.

As for flying being impossible he didn't think so, as it was stated that Mihawk or Kuzan, usually cross the grand line easily. One with a small boat and the other with a bicycle on frozen water. All he needed is the log pose.

Once he reached Alabasta, he would once again have to think deeply whether to interfere or directly continue his journey. As he wanted to be part of the operation of rescuing Robin. He had his reasons of why...

...…

Once the morning came, Ian woke up. And went to the dock to start his next journey.

His next stop was to acquire the blood of giants.