Farewells and Plans

Once again the time for goodbyes had come.

Ian was never good at that. So it might come at times as if he was being inconsiderate or something of the like when he just didn't know how to express himself. But this time unlike the past he resolved to bid his father and the woman he fell in love with Arie and came with him to say farewell, properly.

The long two years of training had finished and Ian and the rest were ready to start sailing, this time nothing on the sea would be able to threaten them.

Right now Ian was standing on the deck of his ship along with his crew who were busily moving around each doing their own things.

A couple of the villagers had again brought many types of food and vegetables in crates and were unloading them on the ship with the help of Bert who was providing physical force, and Elene being responsible for where to store the crates.

Standing across from him were his father Geo and Arie. They were holding hands and smiling at Ian. Though Ian was able to detect a hint of regret on Arie's face. He could understand why. She wanted to spend more time with him but since he was going she couldn't.

Arie was a good-looking woman standing at 178cm. She has a round face with a round chin, a small nose, hollow cheeks, and thin lips. Her eyes were a lovely light green color.

She has long, curly, black hair which is worn in a top knot.

Her overall look would imply her being weak, what with her thin arms and legs, but Ian felt her strength and knew that she was a woman well trained.

The feeling he got from her was that of a gentle and kind woman. As such he knew that his father was in good hands.

He had already congratulated them about their relationship already but he thought he'll do it again.

"Once again, congratulation. And I'm sorry I couldn't spend more time with you." Ian said as he spoke with a tone full of sincerity.

"It's fine Ian. No need to be sorry, this is your adventure, not mine. And you did spend two years here after all." Geo said as he shook his head with a smile.

Arie was the same as she too said.

"Please don't be sorry about that. It's not your fault. Every young man has his own adventure to live" She said as she gave him a smile too.

Ian nodded.

He walked closer and grabbed his father's hand and shook it.

But after a bit of thinking, Ian resolved to do this properly so he pulled his father into a hug.

"I'm gonna miss you." He said to his father, letting him know that he really would.

"Me too Ian me too." His father was the same as Ian in this regard, but he still replied emotionally.

"Next time, I'll make sure to do something so that you can travel these seas if you like too," Ian promised.

And Geo understood what he meant. Since he was the guardian of this island he can't travel as he wished. But if Ian did something about it there would many places he would want to visit.

"Then thank you in advance." He replied.

"It's my duty as your son," Ian said, before finally breaking the hug.

He gave Arie a short hug too, and then turned to his ship and headed inside.

"Then farewell until we meet again." He spoke as he waved his hands without turning around.

Geo and Arie shared a smile before they hopped off the ship. the crew waved goodbye too.

Soon the villagers were done too and the ship was finally ready to sail.

One of them addressed Ian after they hopped off the ship. He was a close neighbor of Ian's father. Named Rob.

"Oi, Ian, you really made us proud with the actions you did during the war." He grinned as the rest gave a chorus of 'yeah' soon after.

"Thank you guys for always doing this." Ian gestured at the crates of food.

They just waved him off.

"It's fine, it's fine. Now go on your way and make us proud once again." Rob replied. And it was apparent that the rest agreed with him as they all smiled.

Ian nodded before he used his telekinesis to make the ship move.

Not even a few minutes later the fog came up and hid the figures that were waving goodbye by the shore.

Ian turned to his crew and saw that they each had finished their things and were waiting for him to announce their destination.

"Alright. First of all, we have to sell all the gold we have. This process would be left to Stella as she is the expert on this." Ian said.

Said Stella blushed but raised her chest high proudly.

Ian gently smiled at her.

"Then using her contacts, we'll try to pinpoint the places the Impel down escapees are at." Ian then continued on and spoke with a bit of steel in his voice.

Said Escapees are the ones that their crimes were vanished from history due to how heinous they were. And since they saw what one of them had done in the past, they agreed that they would hunt them all.

Stella had worked as an assassin in the past and then as a bounty hunter, so she was the best among them in gathering information.

"There is someone I would like to recruit if he agrees of course, but that would depend on what Stella gathers about him, so this will not be prioritized highly. Next would be to hunt the escapees, then I would have a meeting with Garp and Sengoku to discuss things up with them, and then after we'll head to Bert's home island." Ian added.

"On our journey this time we'll keep looking for any clues about the Poneglyphs. As they are what will allow us to reach the last island which will contain all the answers to the mysteries of this world." Ian said.

Robin perked at this and heavily nodded along with the rest.

"I already know of the place of two of the Poneglyphs and Bert had said the third is on his home island. So this leaves us just one last Poneglyph to search for, along with the regular ones." Ian said. He had already explained this to the crew back when they were training.

But apart from Elene, the rest didn't know where they were located except the one Bert provided.

"And that's all for now. So we'll be leaving the first destination we head for, to Stella's choosing." Ian said as he finished explaining.

Stella gave a grin as she thought of their destination.