Chapter 39 - I have something to ask

Ian was unable to talk for a while. He was excited to be meeting someone this legendary. After a bit though he started walking straight to the counter and sat beside Rayleigh.

Robin who didn't understand anything just followed behind him shortly, and sat too.

"The dark king Rayleigh, the right hand man of the late pirate king Roger. It's an honor to meet someone like you" Ian turned to Rayleigh and said. His voice had a hint of admiration in it.

"I assume from the bar's name that your name is Shakky?" he then ignored the surprised look on their faces including Robin and proceeded to ask Shakky, even if he already knew her. She gave an affirmative nod towards his question but otherwise just stayed silent.

'This guy is the Dark king Rayleigh?' Robin though to herself shocked.

Once again Rayleigh and Shakky shared a look. Such an occurrence was not something rare. Many times when people come here they tend to recognize Rayleigh. After all he was that famous.

"I prefer to be called the old coating, Ray now, young man. Please don't call me by that name. I'm just an old man now. I'd like to live peacefully." Ray said after a few seconds of silence. He gave a smile and spoke simply without the arrogance contributed to someone of his status usually. He was just like Garp.

"Haha, true. However even so, you are still dangerous Old man Ray." Ian laughed. as if he would believe that Rayleigh is weak because of age. He may be a bit rusty, but it's nothing that a bit of workout wouldn't fix.

Old man Ray laughed too. But his eyes held a hint of admiration in them. Not many were able to tell such things in this world. No one not as strong as an admiral.

He shared a look with Shakky once again. She nodded her head. And finally Ray could relax his tense muscles.

'Shakky is able to tell the general feeling about a person, if she said this young man is okay then he is fine' Ray thought.

"You yourself gained a bit of fame recently, Ian Louis. With this young lady right here. Something about destroying the world I think…" Ray finally said after a bit.

Shakky who had been silent all this time just watching joined the chat.

"I'm pretty sure that the bounty that have been issued for you is your first one ever too, unlike what they were bullshitting about." She said with a cigarette in her hands already lit.

"Well, true. However it was just that I stayed hidden most of the time, from the world government. But the events at the time, forced me to appear." He said nonchalantly, not caring the least that he had a bounty now.

Robin smiled gently. From interacting with Ian for a while, she started to see how he is usually. He didn't care about most of the stuff generally and dealt with everything casually. And for such a guy to resolutely make an enemy of the world government for her… she started to think that maybe he had some special feelings for her, but she thought she'll wait and see for a while.

"We are a bit hungry, can you cook us something, and don't worry I have plenty of money." Ian said to Shakky as he pointed to Robin with his thumb.

She went inside after she nodded.

Ian then turned back towards the old man.

Rayleigh when he saw his eyes, knew that whatever Ian said right now would be serious.

"I have something to ask you Old man ray." Ian said. His eyes were resolute.

Robin just stayed silent on the side.

Rayleigh gave a nod. His eyes contained curiosity.

"You journeyed with the pirate king Gol. D Roger." Ian said, and once Ray nodded he added, "You were his right hand man. As such you must know everything the old man Roger does." Once again Ray nodded. But internally he thought that Ian was going to ask him about Raftel or The one piece.

"You reached the last Island of this world with him, you found the one piece. You found out the truth of this world. The truth of the void century." Ian said.

Robin held her breath, as she looked at Ray shocked. Her whole island has been looking for this exact answer…

And this time, Ray stayed a bit silent. He was thinking things through. Such information was highly dangerous. Roger especially warned him and the crew to never speak about it to anyone unless deemed worthy.

Finally Ray nodded a yes.

"We did." He said.

Once he did so, Robin wanted to ask him a question. She has been patiently waiting at the side. But she was interrupted by Ray.

"Wait young lady. Don't be hasty. It's better to take it one step at a time. Perhaps we, as well as the Ohara people had been too impatient. Even If I tell you everything here and now, you still wouldn't be able to change anything. After you have taken your time to see the world, the conclusion you may reach might be different from what we found. However if you still want to hear it, I'll tell you everything about the world right now." Ray said. He was looking at his glass of wine as he spoke, reminiscing about the past.

Robin thought about it, before she turned towards Ian. He was only smiling gently at her. She finally made her mind.

"I'll wait, until I find it on our journey" She said after a while.

Ian gave her a nod before he turned to look at ray again.

"Then my question is…?" Ian was still speaking when Ray said.

"It was none of the things mentioned before?" he thought Ian would be asking about them.

"It's not that. Have you ever known in the span of your journey, about somethings called the Diávoloi?" Ian finally dropped the bomb on him.

The entity had said at the time that what it wanted to talk about was not related to the one piece. Which is why Ian had said if he knew about it along their whole journey. He found it almost impossible that someone as strong as Roger would have nothing to do with them.

Ray thought about the name, but it didn't ring a bell. So after a while he just shook his head no.

"However, as strong as Roger is, I don't believe he wouldn't have heard of it… I know for a fact that whitebeard did, then how?" Ian started muttering to himself racking his brain for an answer.

Ray who heard him had a memory return to him. It was at a time, that whitebeard came to ask for Roger's help. Which was unprecedented as the both were rivals. Roger had come back bloodied and spoke to no one about what happened. He only said that it was taken care of.

"There was this one time, when Whitebeard asked roger for his help. And when roger came back he was injured all over. Later we found out from the newspaper that Whitebeard was too. The marines said it was a regular duel between them, but we knew it was not. But roger refused to say anything about it. Only that it was taken care of. So you may have to visit Whitebeard, for more answers" Ray said.

Ian who heard that, found out that it may have been a fight with the two of them partnering up against the diávoloi. If it was true then Ian might have to reevaluate the level of threat they posed.

"I was planning on it." He said. And robin by the side finally knew why Ian wanted to meet Whitebeard.

Shakky finally came back with two steaming plates of food and placed each one in front of Ian and Robin.

"Enjoy your food." She said.

Of course since the kitchen was near them, she was able to hear everything they talked about, but still she just stayed silent as she had nothing to add.