Chapter 84 - New bounties

Elene And co agreed with Ian. After this, they all started heading to the inside of the castle. And planning to explore it.

Earlier on the way to the castle they didn't find any library at all. Most likely it was one of the destroyed buildings they encountered, while the books turned to dust from the age so they were not able to guess if it was a library.

Robin was disappointed about that, but she was kind of hoping to find some books in the castle… Since it should be the most important place in the city. And also the most likely place for the books to still be intact.

Meanwhile with Ian.

He was alert the whole time they ventured into the castle. He did not want to be ambushed again. Or worse… one of his crew would die due to his carelessness. So even as he appeared to the rest as if normal and nonchalant, he was in fact on high alert the whole time.

Soon Ian and co stood against a golden door, the only one in fact still appearing to be in good shape… They had explored the whole three floors of the castle and only found broken doors and empty rooms, and then finally reaching this intact door. That from the looks of it hid a treasure room behind.

Ian used his energy to pry the door open and set it aside leaning on a wall, simply for the fact that it was in fact made of gold and that they would be taking it later.

Then as he and the rest stepped inside, they found many things that made their eyes including Ian go round…

"Holy shit…" Ian muttered.

"So much…" This was heard from Stella. While the rest all just stayed silent.

Ranging from golden Swords and shields to vases and jewelry. All of that made of gold. There were also mountains of golden coins mixed with normal ones all around…

Another thing present in the room was paintings and some books. The paintings were fragile as just as Ian tried touching one it dissolved to dust. But for the books they were inside glass containers, so Ian guessed they must still be good.

But he left that for Robin.

He turned to the rest and saw their gobsmacked expression… he laughed, "Hahaha" before he started walking around the room, and checking the paintings without touching them. Some of the paintings were about people staying around a table and preparing to eat. He guessed they must be the owners of this castle. Though he was not able to see their faces as the painting had deteriorated.

He himself even as he had a lot of money, was still shocked, as he estimated the things here would even go for as three times what he had on him.

This room was not overly big, but its content was rather high priced…

After a while, Ian saw Robin carrying some books.

"So? Anything on them?" He said. He sure wanted to know who this castle belonged to.

"Well, I have never seen such a language before…" Robin replied as she was looking at the books. She would first need to understand the language before she can tell what the books were about. She had seven books with her. While the rest even inside the glass was not able to escape the effects of time.

Ian Then started storing everything still intact in the room into his ring. Before he asked his crew if they should head back.

"Should we go back? Or should we explore more?" Ian asked. He knew that they wouldn't be able to find anything more even if they continued exploring.

"Yes, captain." Bert agreed, he too saw no point in going any further.

Even Robin nodded and understood that if even books in the castle were destroyed there was no hope for the buildings outside.

Elene and Stella nodded too.

Stella had Berries for eyes. She was still out of it, thinking of what she can buy with all that money.

"Haha" All the crew shared a look at her expression, making her snap out of it and glare at them with reddened cheeks.

"Hmph" She snorted in annoyance.

****

The odyssey has been sailing for another three days as Ian neared his home island. The island he grew up in, and the one he still hadn't figured out.

Bert was making everybody a juice to drink, while Robin was trying to understand one of the books she had gotten… she had a small table in front of her chair, with many books in relation to language on it.

Elene and Stella though were playing a game with guns. Elene had her sniper rifle out and was competing with Stella to see who would be able to shoot the most amount of a flying fish they had encountered in the sea the past days.

It was similar to a normal fish but it had small wings that allowed it to move at a fast speed and jump high as if flying.

The fishes they shot were seen floating on the surface of the sea dead. After which they would bring them to the ship. After all, they tasted good, so they wanted even more.

For the gold and other valuables they had gotten from that castle they had explored, Ian would leave that to Stella to sell them in the future as she was good at things like this. Of course, that would only be once she finished her training.

Ian had already called his father before and informed him of what was happening, and that he would be coming back.

Then as Ian was laid back on the deck enjoying the sea breeze on his face, a news coo moved above and Ian signaled it to come down. He took a newspaper and paid the bird.

After the war, he had still not seen his bounty. Nor if his crew had gotten any.

He searched and found them soon after.

Starting with Robin.

She used to have a bounty of 165,000,000 berries. But now it had increased to 500,000,000 berries.

He was a bit surprised at that. But after a few seconds of thinking, he knew it was because she was under the protection of a person as strong as an emperor. The bounty would be high so that bounty hunters would dare stand against him.

"Haha," He laughed at any poor bounty hunter that would cross his path in the future.

Next was Stella. She did not have a bounty before, as she was a bounty hunter. But now she had one as high as 400,000,000 berries.

Ian gave a nod. He felt that was appropriate.

As for how they knew she became a pirate, the marines were always monitoring the emperors, and his visit to Whitebeard would be noticed, and at that time they would have seen his crew, and after searching for who they are they would know about their past as bounty hunters.

Next was Bert, Who had the same bounty as Stella. Ian once again agreed. Bert was as good as Stella, but she had eaten a devil fruit while he didn't.

Ian finally laid eyes on his lover's bounty.

750,000,000 berries.

All his crew until now had a simple description of them being in Ian's crew. But Elene had a different description. It mentioned her as being the hidden sniper at the war. Her feats were widely known for being able to even avoid the eyes of admirals…

He gave a nod. He knew they would find out about Elene sooner or later as she was well known as a bounty hunter.

Then Ian grabbed the last bounty, the one belonging to him.

3,000,000,000 berries.

He grinned. He had exactly guessed this. Anyone who reached 2 billion berries would be considered as strong as an emperor. And even though he was actually worth more, the marines would start at this for every new emperor and would increase it as he would do more in the future.

"You guys, you have gotten bounties just like you wanted. And for Robin's case, it's an increase.in her bounty. A big one too." Ian said.

And they all came near him to see.