Stella’s not so mysterious lover!

Three days later.

After Ian started to learn from Shanks, they had gotten as close as friends. They finally shared their drink…

They would train the whole day and rested only when they had gotten tired, which took a while for them. Then they would enjoy the night and party among themselves, only to repeat the same thing the next day.

Right now the crew was watching ahead of them the fruits of Ian's training. Elene and the girls were on a side while the red-haired pirates and the males from Ian's crew took another side.

It was only natural the girls wouldn't sit with them, but Bert, Don, and Aokiji enjoyed their time with them so they had become close to them.

Ian and Shanks were having another spar. But things were different this time.

Both of them seemed similar to the ones watching. There was no Haki shown being used, not any type. But they knew they were both using it in fact.

Stella who had a glass of juice in her hands was enjoying her time. But then she had a question to ask so she turned her eyes to Elene.

"Big sis Elene, could it be possible for you to learn this technique like big bro Ian?" She asked her with a curious tone.

Elene brought a hand to her chin.

"Although it would be hard, it shouldn't be impossible yeah." Elene nodded her head after a few seconds.

The technique was extremely hard, but the requirement for it was just to be a master of all types of Haki. Which she was. So all she needed was to train it. But even then, she knew Ian managed to learn it in three days only because he was a talented monster.

But for her, she estimated she would have to train a lot more…

Ian was having the time of his life.

"Then is it possible for anyone who has all three types of Haki to train it?" Stella pressed with her question.

To anyone else, her question might sound just casual and curious.

But to Elene and Robin… it was nothing but.

They gave her a meaningful look and she started to get uncomfortable.

"W-What?" She questioned them.

"You little brat, you think we don't know why you are asking this?" Robin gave her a pointed look, while Elene just smirked at her.

Everybody on the crew knew about this mysterious lover of hers. Well, he was not mysterious at all, except in the head of Stella who still thought it was a secret.

"W-What do you mean?" She asked while unconsciously she started to panic.

"Look at you trying to play all innocent, tsk-tsk. Aren't you asking this for that swordsman guy you like from the straw-hats?" Elene teased her.

Back when Ian fought with Kaido he had noticed that Zoro also had Conquerors Haki. So he had told it to him, and then he told his crew.

This was how they knew.

Stella's ears turned red and she started to blush.

"W-W-Who likes him?! Don't speak n-nonsense!" She stuttered and managed a reply after a second.

"Hoh? Didn't you enjoy a very hot night with him back-" Robin was still talking when Stella jumped at her and covered her mouth.

"Stop, stop, please. Fine, I like him, okay?" Stella was brought close to tears.

She and Zoro had gotten drank once and ended up enjoying a hot night with each other… since then they had started to develop feelings for each other and decided to keep it a secret for a while. But she didn't expect them to know about this already.

All she wanted was to ask if Zoro could also learn this technique…

Elene seeing her like that patted her head to comfort her.

"Why are you so panicked and embarrassed about this? We don't mind about you two!" She couldn't understand.

Stella who enjoyed Elene's touch started to explain after a bit.

"I-I didn't know if you would accept him…" She quietly whispered.

Robin seeing this pinched her cheeks.

"You brat. Although we are your family, as long as it is not someone taking advantage of you, we won't interfere at all. Plus that swordsman guy appears to be a good guy, so go for it!" She gave her a thumbs up.

Elene shook her head with a small smile on her face.

"To answer your earlier question. It is possible for him to learn this technique! But only after he master all types of Haki!" Elene answered her.

This brought a smile to Stella's face.

****

Ian was having the time of his life.

He and Shanks were engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

This was for Ian to get a feel for the technique.

He was dodging Shanks's attacks easily, but the same couldn't be said for Shanks.

Ian dodged a palm attack made by Shanks's left hand towards his stomach easily and spun on his heel delivering a kick towards Shanks's midsection. And it hit true.

Shanks was thrown backward before he stabilized himself.

He brought his right hand towards the area he was hit. It was painful.

His gaze looking at Ian was not bitter or anything rather he was happy. He and Ian had gotten quite close. Shanks even started to consider Ian as close as family. So it was natural he would be happy for him to get stronger.

But why had they gotten closer?

Because in return for Shanks training him, Ian healed shanks. This is why Shanks right now appeared somewhat more youthful, strong, and had one more arm he didn't have originally. That's right Ian regenerated his missing limb.

Shanks would forever be thankful for that.

There was also something else Shanks knew that had him like Ian more.

He had seen in one of his visions, a very satisfying future… That's right, although Shanks didn't have future sight like Ian, he had something similar. Except his only turned on occasionally and made him see visions of possible futures…

This was how he knew things before they happened. Like how Blackbeard was going to kill Whitebeard and that being the reason he had gone to the war to stop it. It was also how he saw that Kaido was going to the war too, and intercepted him.

And now he had seen, Ian on top of a huge Dragonoid beast flying in the sky, by his side, allies also flying on similar but smaller in size beasts and they cheered and yelled before charging at their opponents, the diávoloi that filled the sea in front of them.

Among those allies, there were people he knew, but most importantly, 'he' himself was there.

This vision was enough for him. He now knew that Ian was the chosen one that Roger was waiting for.

There was a reason for why Ian was landing more strikes against Shanks, and dodging all of his strikes.

Originally Ian couldn't use his future sight against Shanks, but now that he learned to enter the spiritual resonance state, he was able to again.

Thus Shanks couldn't land an attack on Ian. Nor could he catch him by surprise.

Plus Ian was faster than Shanks, and shanks only matched Ian due to using this state. But now that Ian could also use it… the scale tipped back in his favor.

"Alright, I think this is enough. You have already surpassed me, Ian!" Shanks announced before both of them got out of the state. After all, it consumed mad amounts of Haki…

Ian grinned. He had done it once again.