Super Card System

an was someone to be trusted, he relayed the events as reported by Kuina.
As Ian listened, his eyes flicked over to Kuina, a hint of surprise in his gaze.

A headache so severe that it felt as though it would split her skull open? And yet, she was fine once she woke up? It sounded like the typical case of Haki awakening.
Could it be that Kuina had awakened her Haki by sheer luck? 

Ian couldn’t question her about it here, so he simply shook his head and said, “Smoker, we’re old friends, right!? Let me give you one piece of advice: stay away from the Blackbeard Pirates.
The Marines have underestimated Teach.
To be honest, even with me and Ace working together, our chances of capturing him are no more than 60%.
In plain terms, you can’t beat him.”

Smoker was stunned, what?! The Blackbeard Pirates were that powerful?

He wanted to believe that Ian was joking, but the serious expression on Ian’s face left no room for doubt.
Smoker’s heart began to race as the realization hit him: could it be that the Marines’ intelligence was wrong? 

He didn’t want to believe it, but as he thought back on Ian’s opponents over the years, he knew that Ian was not one to exaggerate.
All of them were formidable figures, marine admirals, Shichibukai, and top-ranked officers under the Four Emperors.
None of them were pushovers.
It was impossible for Ian to be making this up…

Smoker thought long and hard before making a decision.
He looked at Ian and said, “Alright, Ian, I won’t interfere with your pursuit of the Blackbeard Pirates.
As a member of the marine department, I am obligated to capture pirates of the Whitebeard group when I see them, but I’ll let this one slide and pretend not to have seen him.
But in return, you cannot interfere with our actions on this island.” 

Ian was just about to agree when a figure suddenly rushed in from the distance, pushing aside Ian and Smoker and charging into the restaurant.

“Food!!! I’M STARVING!!! I want to eat!!!”, the person shouted as he sat down at a table, frantically pounding on it and urging the restaurant owner to hurry up with his meal.

Smoker’s cigar fell to the ground with a thud.
Ace recognized the figure and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Luffy?!”. 

That’s right, the person who had rushed into the restaurant was none other than Luffy of the Straw Hat Pirates, but he was so hungry that he didn’t pay attention to Ian and Smoker blocking the entrance, nor did he notice Ace. 

Ace called out to him, but Luffy didn’t hear him.
Just as Ace was happily about to walk over to Luffy, he heard Smoker shout, “Straw Hat brat!!!”.

The volume of Smoker’s voice was loud enough for Luffy to finally hear, so he turned around and saw Smoker.

“Ah! it’s you, Smoker!” Luffy looked at Smoker with a troubled expression, sensing that it was going to be a hassle.

“Straw Hat kid, I’ve finally caught you!” Smoker pulled out his Jitte and was ready to rush forward and capture Luffy, while Tashigi and Kuina also put their hands on the handles of their swords, ready to move with Smoker. 

However, at this moment, Ace suddenly opened his arms and blocked Smoker’s path.

“Ace!?”, Luffy finally noticed Ace’s figure, and couldn’t help but call out in surprise.

“Luffy, long time no see!” Ace faced Smoker, but turned his head and looked at Luffy from under his hat with a warm smile in his eyes.

“Haaa, haha Ace! What are you doing here!?” Luffy also laughed heartily, patting his straw hat.

But the conversation between the two, made Smoker angry, he frowned and said to Ace: “Fire Fist Ace, what do you mean by this?”

“I’m sorry, but Luffy is my brother, I can’t let you take him away like this!” Ace smiled and said to Smoker.

Smoker heard this and couldn’t help but turn around and glared at Ian, meaning that Ace is your man, you better come and control him!

Ian quickly waved his hand, indicating that he would not take the blame for this!

At the same time, Ian gestured with his hand and looked at Luffy with a strange expression.

Although this was Ian’s first real meeting with Luffy, he was still no different from the Luffy Ian had imagined.
The reason Ian looked at Luffy with this strange gaze was because he felt that, for some inexplicable reason, he had gained another little brother, and it was really strange.

Don’t forget, he had drunk the brotherhood oath with Ace, calling Luffy “little brother” was not a problem…

But, Ian glanced at the expressionless Robin next to him.
Robin was now following him, and it was impossible for her to become Luffy’s partner again.
In this way, Ian had betrayed his own little brother.

Just like when he had betrayed Zoro, this was a very uneasy feeling…