Smoker puffed out a cloud of smoke and said, “Don't pretend to be stupid. Look at it yourself. How much trouble does your appearance cause to Loguetown?”

Ian looked around and saw bloodstains and craters all over the square. The execution platform collapsed, the wounded pirates and marines were sitting on the ground groaning and moaning. Everywhere, sweaty doctors ran back and forth to treat the injured. It was a tragic scene after a war.

“You are not blaming me for all of this, aren't you?” Ian stretched out his hands and said, “These are all made by pirates!”

“But you shouldn't kill so many people!” Tas.h.i.+gi came over and spoke loudly to Ian.

Ian gave her a blank look: “It's their fault!”

“You……”

At that moment, Smoker said, “Don't be so naive, Tas.h.i.+gi. Now that you have become a formal marine, you must get used to this kind of thing. If you still have this kind of compa.s.sion, you may be killed by Pirates very soon!”

Tas.h.i.+gi realized the coldness of Smoker's tone and suddenly couldn't speak. Finally, she turned her head, snorted, and left with anger.

Smoker shook his head. That's what young sailors were like. Under the ideological education of the marines, they were full of justice and hot-blooded when they first come out. Only when they have more experiences can they realize the cruelty of the world, whether it's a pirate or a marine. Kill and be killed, this is fate.

He looked back at Ian and said, “I originally wanted to catch you, but since you didn't run away, that's it. As you said, I don't care about pirates. It's their fault, but you destroyed the execution platform. And that would always be true? Now, I'll give you two choices, you either compensate, or be responsible for repairing the Platform! But you can only do it yourself!”

“Do it yourself?” Ian said in surprise, “I can't do woodworking. You want me to do it myself?”

“Oh, so you're going to pay for it?” Smoker said.

As a result, Ian asked carefully first, “That… May I ask you first how much will it cost if compensation is made?”

“At least 50 million Berries!” Smoker reported a number.

Ian suddenly jumped up and said, (LOL! the last chapter, Ian was unable to move a finger XD, and now he jumped up) “Fifty million! For a broken rusty stand, you want 50 million? Why don't you rob a bank?”

“Absolutely worth the price!” Smoker said. “You must know that this is the Execution Platform where Roger, the Pirate King, was executed. It's a real monument. Most of the tourists who came to Loguetown came to see this Platform. Do you know how many tourists will be lost during the period of repairing the Execution Platform?”

What the heck, 50 million Berries, It's really too much even if he adds the bounty of Buggy and Krieg together.

Speaking of the reward, Ian suddenly remembered something, he ran to the corpse of Krieg and took off the glove with diamonds on his fist, wiped off the bloodstains on it, and stuffed it in his pocket. That's money, too.

Smoker watched his actions and did not say anything. After all, he could not deny that Krieg had been killed by Ian. So the reward must be given to Ian, and he also has the right to get of Krieg's property.

Although the Marines have captured many of Krieg's Pirates, many of them have also fled. The marines have sent wars.h.i.+ps to the sea to pursue them. It is believed that under such double attacks, the dissolution of the Krieg Pirates is a foregone conclusion.

Just as Smoker was thinking about how to rehabilitated, when Ian ran back, he said, “I want to remind you that Krieg bounty and property combined won't be enough to pay for it!”

“I know!” Ian nodded and said, “So I'm not going to pay for it. I'd rather do woodworking!”

As he spoke, Ian pulled out the doc.u.mentary evidence when he caught Buggy, handed it to Smoker, and said. “By the way, give me the two bounties together!”

“…” Smoker was speechless for a while. After taking the file and seeing it, he found that the Buggy Pirates were caught by this fellow in front of him. That is to say, the marines had to pay Ian more than 20 million Berries at a time.

How could such a rich man choose to do woodworking in order not to lose money? It really made Smoker wonder what to say.

If Ian knew what Smoker was thinking, he would absolutely go mad and say. 'Are you kidding me, you want me to pay that much for that stand?'

Ian was so poor that he wanted to steal a bank. He was thinking about paying for its repair before, if it was worth only tens of thousands of Berries, he could do it, as long as he can get the bounties for Smoker. But when Smoker opened his mouth, and said it is worth fifty million. So Ian did change his plan!

'Woodworking? Then don't blame me for the crooked repairs.'

It is estimated that Smoker also thought of this point. After dealing with this headache for a long time, he said, “Well, let me give you a third option, you stay at the marine base in Loguetown, work for a year as a Swordsmans.h.i.+p instructor, and the execution platform will be repaired by the marines. What do you think?”

Ian looked puzzled at Smoker and wondered why he had suddenly thrown such a condition.

In fact, he did not understand Smoker's current situation. Although Smoker was in charge of the Loguetown, he was actually transferred from the marine headquarters to the East Blue. This was a disguised derogatory punishment. Smoker was a problem in the marines. He was very opinionated and seldom obeyed the orders of his superiors. It's also an opportunity to keep him away from the marine headquarters, so that he won't bother them again.

Under such circ.u.mstances, Smoker's manpower situation can be imagined. The elite marine soldiers who escorted him on the wars.h.i.+ps will return to the marine headquarters after a short period. The only people that Smoker can rely on are Tas.h.i.+gi and a few others. And when he first came to Loguetown, he saw the performance of the marines in the face of these pirates, so that he even felt that these people were not useful.

When Ian killed Crick with one slash, he realized that the pirate hunter in front of him was a really good swordsman, so he suddenly felt that he needed to make Ian a swordsman instructor for those marines. In this way, a master of the swordsmans.h.i.+p could be a help for him and under his command, and secondly, he could use Ian to train the marine soldiers in Loguetown. So, it's a double win situation.

In fact, this kind of seedling can't help but want to pull into the marine, not only Garp, but also many officers in the marines. The advent of the Pirates era has made many marines feel the shortage of Manpower. As long as the other side is not a pirate, they will try to pull into the marines if they can find a way, so don't say that Ian, who has the ident.i.ty of a pirate hunter, even if he is a real pirate, sometimes it can be changed: like the s.h.i.+chibukai!

Hearing Smoker's words, Ian shook his head desperately: “A year is too long, won't do it! I'd rather do woodworking!”

“How long can you accept?” Smoker asked.

Ian thought about it and found that he really needed to stay in Loguetown for a while. First, he wanted to wait for Garp to come back and give him the letter that Ace wrote. By the way, he wanted to ask Garp if he could help. Second, he had been out for so long, and he didn't know what happened to Master Kos.h.i.+ro, Zoro, and Kuina. Now that he was still in the East Blue, he has to write a letter to tell them that he was fine and safe.

Since he has to stay for a while, it was not a problem to agree to Smoker's conditions. Smoker said that if he accepts to be a swordsman instructor, he did not need to join the marines himself, so he was free and could go anywhere at any time.

Before going to sea, Master Kos.h.i.+ro asked Ian if he wanted to join the marines. At that time, Ian shook his head and denied that the marines were indeed powerful. But to be honest, he and the marines had too few connections. After joining the Marines, he would lose his freedom even though he could win a good rank and position with his strength. By the way, if he gets an order from his superiors to settle down in a marine base of a random island, he may stay for many years!

Because of his card system, Ian has to maintain his freedom. He needs to continually challenge powerful opponents to gain experience and upgrade his level. Meanwhile, he also needs to find ways to make money and draw cards to increase his strength.

Although the road to strength does not have to rely entirely on the system, but the system is a very good auxiliary. Ian's current thinking was that he should learn the Haki as soon as possible, because if there was no mistake when learning the Haki, it should be converted into the corresponding system concept, and it would belong to the basic value concept! In this way, even if it was difficult to increase the card attributes in the later period, Ian's limit on the Nen value can be much smaller.

Since he wants to remain his freedom, then the best choice is to stay a pirate hunter or become a pirate, but Ian also understands that pirates are inevitably going to be pursued by the marines. When his strength is not high enough, provoking such a huge force as the marines is seeking his death, he can't expect to have the luck of escaping them, and he could get away with it every time.

Ian was still confused about his long-term goals. He hasn't thought about becoming the Pirate King and looking for Roger's secret treasures the One Piece and the like… Those things were too far away, but he was very clear about the short-term goals.

If there would be war in the future even with Ian's appearance, it means that the turbulence of the times is imminent. Maybe he has to join the forces of one side, but whether he becomes a pirate, a marine or even join the revolutionary army, all of these have a premise, that is, he must have enough strength to protect himself. He is not qualified to stand in line at all.

To put it bluntly, people living in this world are nothing but survival.

Thinking about it, Ian's mind was more open, and he felt that his relations.h.i.+p with the marines should not be too rigid, so he put up a finger and said, “Well, for a month! In this month I will be your swordsman instructor, so don't mention any compensation for the Execution Platform, will you?”

Smoker thought that a month was too short, but Ian's att.i.tude seemed to have no possibility of compromise, so he nodded his head in recognition.

Ian pointed with his finger at the reward doc.u.ment and said, “Come on, please give me the reward first.”

Smoker did not know what he was thinking, and unconsciously looked at the marine flag fluttering over the base in the distance.

“I think they're going to kick me out? Yeah, the reward for the two pirates, together with the cost of repairing the Execution Platform, I've to say it's really giving me a headache!”