Chapter 197 - I would like to follow you!

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

At this Ian looked at the guy once again. He had a bit of respect for the guy now.

He sacrificed himself for more than twenty years just to protect his homeland.

He understood that at the time Whitebeard had still not made the island under him. So big mom could have acted on her threat. In fact, he guessed from her to do as she said even if the guy surrendered himself. That was just how she was.

But something must have happened to stop her.

"Why was he caught by her though? I don't think he would have caught her interest enough to be put in this library if he was normal right?" Ian asked Katakuri.

He would have asked the person himself, but it appeared he would

Meanwhile, Katakuri continued on.

"He would not have attracted mama if not for his special circ.u.mstances. He was the last of his species. The Megalodon. They are the largest known type of shark species. This was the reason for his high strength and stamina. This strength allowed him to easily move through the sea without a ship. Mama was even considering making him one of us, but since his species was almost extinct she reconsidered. He was also known for evading the world's most dangerous bounty hunter multiple times…" Katakuri finished saying all he knew about the guy.

Ian once again looked at the guy. Ian did hear about this famous bounty hunter… who supposedly fought against many great names including Mihawk, Whitebeard… and so on. But even though he couldn't catch them, this feat of fighting them and escaping put him among the strongest people in the world.

Don now had a small smile on his face. He already noticed the respect Ian had in his eyes. As such Ian moved through his list of people he could become friends with.

Generally, humans would always act disgusted with him at first glance. Those that didn't, became friends of his.

He didn't hate humans, but he certainly looked down on any one of them that treated his race as any less.

In his time, which was 24 years ago, humans had been coming in droves to his hometown and started to wreak havoc and kidnap them to sell as slaves.

He fought this hard. It was the reason he got famous quickly. Because on his journey, he would challenge pirate crews that he found, and if he found them to be sc.u.m he would dispose of them.

All on his own.

But there were a few rare instances when he befriended some humans. They were the ones that taught him not to judge the whole race based on a select few.

He was the type of guy that fought first and talked later. So when he found those humans, it was not until they had fought enough that he understood their points.

But from then on, he became better at judging people.

And right now his guts were saying that Ian was a good guy.

Ian started to speak.

"I admire people like you, sacrificing yourself like that… not many would do it. Eat for now, and later I'll make sure you all will be taken to a secure place. But if you want to leave on your own, you can also do so. I'm sure you remember where your homeland is." Ian praised him first before he continued.

But the guy cut him off.

"No. I would like to follow you. Until I repay my debt." Don said resolutely.

This was the least he could do. Ian had saved him after twenty-four years of captivity. So the least he could do for him was to serve under him since he heard earlier that Ian was an emperor.

This served as another point for why he wanted to serve under Ian.

He was caught by an emperor who could destroy his homeland what better choice to protect his land than to serve under another emperor? Plus he knew Ian was a good guy.

"Not even five minutes since you were out, and you start to think about your hometown? Haha don't worry, your hometown is protected by Whitebeard. He is known as the strongest person in the world. And he values family over anything else. So don't mind about that." Ian informed him.

He wouldn't refuse the guy if he still wanted to join his crew. But it would leave a bad taste in his mouth if the guy joined him when he didn't need to.

"Are you sure? When did he start to protect Fishmen Island if you don't mind me asking? And did they get into any wars since then?" Don asked questions in succession.

Ian chucked at his enthusiasm. But he still answered him.

"I think it was about the same time when you were caught. It is known that the old man had gone to put the territory under him since a lot of pirates were going there to wreak havoc." Ian answered him.

To which Don nodded with a relieved look on his face.

Ian continued.

"Since then Fishmen Island had always been under the old man, so you can rest easy that there was no war." Ian finished his explanation.

Now Ian waited for what the guy was going to choose. Would he go to his hometown on his own, or would he leave it to Ian to help them?

For the rest of the captured, Ian already had a plan in mind.

He would call Dragon to give him some sh.i.p.s and workers to man them. And then the sh.i.p.s would deliver the people and the animals that were still in the books, into a certain point, before Ian's father meet them and take over from there.

What better place to put the almost extinct species than on Kurma?

Don was finally relieved. But he still looked at Ian resolutely.

"I would still like to serve under you. It is the only thing I can do to repay you." He said.

Ian sighed.

"You don't need to repay me. I did not do this for you. You were robbed of your freedom and I gave it back to you." Ian replied back.

He wanted everyone to be free. But freedom was only when it does not encroach on the freedom of another.

The more Ian spoke the more Don felt more convinced about his choice.

"Please!" He repeated with a small bow.

Sigh.

"Alright but don't talk about serving under me. You'll be my crewmate and friend, is that okay with you?" Ian finally relented. He had already said that he would accept him if the guy wanted to join him.

Don, was a lone pirate. But he always came upon crews with a captain and members.

But he didn't understand why they gathered around in huge numbers when they could just go on their own like he was doing.

He had been thinking that crews were for the weak people. But then he met some strong crews that had members even stronger than him.

So he understood that they did it for friendship and comradeship.

So he started to search for crews to join. But he did not find the right one.

That was back then, but it was still the same for him even now.

So he looked at Ian.

"I agree." He agreed.

He would just have to see if Ian's crew was the one for him now, wouldn't he?