Chapter 196 - The Great’ Don

Before Ian was lead to the Poneglyphs he remembered something.

If he was not wrong, big mom had a library where she was collecting races using the devil fruit of one of her children.

He had actually forgotten about that completely.

It was good that he remembered now.

'I should help them get their freedom back.' He thought to himself. He didn't like the idea of robbing people of their freedom. And since they dealt with big mom, then they might as well just help them.

He turned to look at Katakuri who was near him.

"If I'm not wrong, you have a library where big mom is keeping all the races she collected as slaves' right?" Ian asked him.

Katakuri felt bad for some reason at hearing Ian, but he still replied to him.

"Yes. Do you need someone from there?" He asked him. if Ian knew someone there… the god help them all…

"I think that they should be released from their confines." Ian was blunt as he spoke. "Big mom who was collecting them is no more. So there is no need to keep them right? Unless you all share the same ideals with her." He added.

Katakuri agreed with Ian and nodded his head.

This felt natural to him. He was never a fan of enslaving someone so he didn't disagree with it.

Though he might feel that way, others didn't.

His future sight triggered all of a sudden. And then he turned to glare at one of his brothers.

The one who is responsible for the library. Montd'Or.

Katakuri saw him object to Ian and say that they had wasted so much time and effort to collect them and that it was collected over the course of many years.

And when Ian would say they are to be freed once again, the idiot refuses and tries to attack Ian along with some other children.

This was what Katakuri had seen in the vision.

Katakuri's glare had the guy in question rethink what he was about to say. But the keyword was to rethink. Not to stop.

And just as he was about to speak, the pressure being released on him increased.

"There is no objection right?" Katakuri calmly intoned.

"B-But-" The guy tried to say something when Katakuri repeated.

"NO OBJECTION RIGHT?" this time his voice was raised.

"Yes!" He replied.

The guy thankfully shut up right after.

"Follow me!" Katakuri then started to lead the way for Ian.

"Let's first deal with the Poneglyphs. As that wouldn't take much time." Ian said to Katakuri. Releasing all of those people was going to take time after all. While he would just store the stones away in a second.

Again Katakuri just nodded his head in response.

Soon they had reached the room of treasure. Which was located on the fourth floor of the whole cake chateau.

Ian didn't waste time and just after stepping inside, he stored the Poneglyphs away under the shocked starts of Katakuri and then motioned to him to lead the way to their next stop.

Katakuri soon recovered and started walking.

'It's none of my business anyway.' He thought to himself.

Montd'Or was also following them but he didn't step inside the treasure room. So he didn't see what Ian had done.

Once again it didn't take them long to reach there.

Ian was thinking that it would take quite a while to release them all and he wanted to go back to his crewmates.

But he would have to stay and watch everything go on as otherwise, they might not release everyone caught.

But then Katakuri spoke.

"Now released them." He said.

And just like that, the books started to open on their own.

But before he could continue any more Ian spoke up.

"Wait. You could release them at the same time?" Ian asked. If so then this would be quite easy then.

The guy nodded his head.

"Then could you choose who to release?" Ian asked again.

Montd'Or replied with a yes.

"Alright. Then make sure to only release the sentient beings. And leave the animals until last. But before you start let me have a word with them." Ian spoke up before he stepped forward a bit.

All the books were opened so it was easy for them all to hear him.

"Listen up well. My name is Ian D. Louis. My crew and I had just beaten big mom. And we came to rescue you. In a few seconds, you will be free. Food will be given, so make sure to stay calm when you are released." Ian spoke up and they all heard him.

Since some of them had been here for ages, they agreed easily.

Everyone just wanted to be out.

Ian looked at Katakuri who understood what Ian wanted. He stepped out of the room and called one of the people nearby to tell him to go make food for the people there.

The place was huge so it could house them all.

Soon everyone was released and they just laid there on the ground looking at their surroundings as if they didn't believe they were released.

Some were crying. Some were happy. And some were just relieved.

One guy though stood up and walked to Ian.

When he came close he suddenly bowed down to him. And Ian moved and helped him up.

Though the guy was huge and almost twice his size so it was quite comical.

He stood at 340cm.

And Ian noticed that he was some sort of shark Fishman with a light-grey skin tone. Various scars were visible through his body, with the most notable one coming down from his neck to his abdominal muscles but not reaching all the way to his waist.

His mouth was full of sharp triangular teeth, and he had long black curly hair.

And unlike most of the regular fishmen, this guy was very muscled, having a bulky build. Since he was wearing just a white open shirt along with short black trousers. This left all his muscles showing to anyone looking.

Like all fishmen, he had gills near his neck, along with webbed feet and hands.

"What are you doing?" Ian asked him with confusion on his face. He was also able to notice that the guy was a bit guarded against him, from his body posture.

"It is only right to pay respect to one who has done you a favor. Not to mention when it's a favor of this magnitude. I would remember this for the rest of my life. Thank you for saving me and my homeland." The guy once again proceeded to bow.

'Homeland? How did I do that?' Ian wondered.

And Ian stepped up aside as he looked at Katakuri with a questioning look.

Katakuri sighed. He still remembered this person.

"This guy was caught by mama more than twenty years ago. He had come on his own, fearing that mama would act on her threat and attack his homeland, Fishmen Island." Katakuri said.

Even he had a bit of admiration for this guy. He was quite strong as could be felt when Katakuri looked at him.

He ignored the stunned look on both Ian and Fishman.

"Before that, he was a lone pirate known for his vast strength and being once a candidate for the warlord system. He has various feats from taking down a fleet of pirate sh.i.p.s to defeating a warlord of the time. His bounty reached 400 million Berries. And then he was caught by us."

"His name is Don. And he was nicknamed the Great' Don." Katakuri finished speaking.

There were a handful of people among those caught he remembered about and this guy was head of that list.