[Land of Wano, Kuri]
["Fufufufufufu, the plan is going very smoothly. Vergo has already become a Vice Admiral of NEO. If they find out Vergo is our man, their expressions will definitely be interesting, right?"], Doflamingo's wild laughter came out from the Den Den Mushi.
Rosse listened quietly, only the corner of his mouth holding a faint smile.
Leaking Vergo's information would indeed give Sengoku and the others quite the shock.
But if Doflamingo were to find out that his little brother was Sengoku's godson, and returned to his side as an undercover agent, that expression would be even better.
"From today on, Vergo's matter will be top secret. You're not allowed to tell anyone on your side. If any of your high-ranking officers learn about it, I'll help you clean them up," Rosse said calmly.
Whether Vergo succeeded or not was just a casual move.
Even if Doflamingo leaked it himself, Rosse would just treat it as a joke. Still, necessary precautions had to be taken.
Especially with someone like Doflamingo. If you didn't knock him around a little, this baboon would dare fly straight into the heavens.
There was an obvious silence from Doflamingo's side, but in the end, another burst of laughter came.
["Fufufufu, relax. I'm not the type to talk nonsense."]
Unable to provoke Rosse, he might as well behave. In fact, because of Rosse backing him, he was thriving now more than ever.
["Saint Rosse, do you still remember Tesoro?"]
Doflamingo's mocking voice suddenly came through.
"Tesoro? That naive thug back in Sabaody?", Rosse said flatly.
He usually didn't bother remembering the names of such small fry, but his memory was too good. As long as he'd met someone once, he could recall everything about them.
["Yeah, he's now become the user of the Gold-Gold Fruit, calls himself the God of Gold, and wants to talk about cooperation with me,"] Doflamingo sneered.
What damn God of Gold, before, he was just another punk on the roadside. And he thought he had the qualifications to discuss cooperation?
If not for his slight connection to Rosse, Doflamingo wouldn't even bother acknowledging him.
But with Rosse, everyone knew by now. Rosse was a devil who loved to mess with people's minds.
For something like this, it was safest to ask. Just in case.
"Then cooperate with him. Our energy is limited, we can't cover everything. We'll always need capable people to provide convenience for us. The Gold-Gold Fruit, that fruit is quite suitable for opening a casino," Rosse said with a smile.
["Fufufufu. You're so generous. Even with someone who once opposed you, you'd still give him such a good opportunity."]
Doflamingo laughed madly in reply, but in his heart, Tesoro's death sentence was already passed.
Provide convenience? He didn't believe such crap.
Most likely, they'd raise Tesoro up high, wait until his business succeeded, then take him out and snatch everything.
That kind of thing happened all over the world every single day.
The only difference was, Rosse was probably the cruelest of them all.
Tesoro was probably still thinking about how he'd get revenge in the future.
After hanging up the call, Rosse's expression didn't change at all.
Just a Tesoro. Until the day he truly opened the world's largest gambling ship, only then would he have the qualifications to be taken seriously, and conveniently harvested.
"Purururu!"
The Den Den Mushi rang again. When Rosse picked up, it shifted into Sora's likeness.
["Your Highness, forgive me for disturbing you, there are a few things I need to report."]
"You've worked hard these days. Any new progress on the research side?"
Instead of talking about business first, Rosse diverted to ask about research.
He really had too few people right now.
Recently, at Mary Geoise, Sora had been in charge of overall coordination, sometimes even handling naval communications.
As for others, at best they could serve as mouthpieces, far from meeting Rosse's standards.
If things were only passed along like a message tube, in the end, errors and blunders would almost certainly happen.
It was only because Sora managed things in the Holy Land that Rosse could feel at ease coming to Wano.
Ever since the Holy Land incident, and with Sengoku and the others defecting one after another, both the World Government and the Navy had been overwhelmed with matters.
["The experiments are progressing normally. As per your instructions, our priority is researching technologies that can boost civilian productivity. With the ideas you've provided, the research goes quickly,"] Sora replied with a smile.
Although she preferred studying lineage factors, as long as it was the process of learning knowledge, researching, and producing results, what she studied wasn't that important.
Besides, Rosse had already given the overall direction, so researching was relatively easy.
But Rosse's proposals on fully automated industry and fully automated agriculture, these new ideas truly impressed her.
While other rulers thought about how to maximize manpower, Rosse was already thinking about how to replace manpower with machines.
If he succeeded, it would free up more productivity for other pursuits.
The two of them chatted for quite a while before Sora finally brought up the main issue.
["Your Highness, the World Government Conference will be held in one month. The kings of the four seas are already heading toward the Holy Land."]
"What did Figarland and the others say?", Rosse asked calmly.
["Their opinion is that this time, the World Conference should be hosted by you and Saint Saturn, to provide sufficient deterrence,"] Sora replied.
Though the Five Elders always attended the World Conference, generally one of them took the lead.
But this time was different. With the Holy Land incident just behind them, the allied nations' hearts were inevitably unsettled.
By using this World Conference, the powerful allied nations would surely want to test the World Government's true strength.
Although the God's Knights had killed many and wiped out quite a few nations recently, what if the World Government was just a paper tiger?
There would always be those who thought themselves stronger than others. If another country had been destroyed, it didn't mean they would be destroyed too.
At the very least, Sora knew many allied nations might not dare openly rebel, but they were definitely considering reducing the Heavenly Tribute.
Especially lately, with the Employment Association opening branches across the allied nations, and with Rosse's backing, it had become harder for the elites to oppress commoners.
The guild usually set a minimum wage standard based on local prices and salaries.
If that standard wasn't met, people could appeal to the guild, which would try to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.
Whether commoner or slave, anyone could apply for help from the guild, as long as they were willing to register their information and declare membership.
This move undoubtedly touched the bottom line of the allied nations. But with the world in constant upheaval, countries were being destroyed daily, and rumors of self-proclaimed gods spread everywhere, leaving nations uneasy.
The key point was this: Pirates could always sail away and escape. But the elites of allied nations had nowhere to run.
The guild's existence only made them bleed a little, at worst earning less.
But to oppose Rosse directly? None of them were willing to give up their wealth and privilege for that.
If they left their spheres of influence, they were nothing.
Rosse might not have the strength to chase them across the seas, but ripping out their power by the roots? That was all too easy.
So, most nobles endured, waiting for the upcoming World Conference.
They wanted to see what stance Rosse would take when facing the united protests of nearly two hundred allied nations.
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