"Good, that should still be in time! But it looks like there's not enough time to sail there, so I can only go myself!"
Doflamingo thought this to himself in his heart, but his expression didn't change at all. On the contrary, he continued speaking,
"I'm not some charity worker. The stories you told were fun to listen to, but all that stuff doesn't seem to have anything to do with me. How do you plan to compensate me?"
"Your grea… I, I can serve under you, but on the condition that you figure out a way to rescue my son."
Julian hadn't expected to get carried away and boast too much and was a bit panicked, but his son was the very reason he kept living. Even though he didn't really dare look Doflamingo in the eye, he still braced himself and stated his demand.
A small-fry pirate from the Flying Pirates. If Doflamingo went to the Edd War Sea himself, bringing the kid out would be laughably easy for him.
Besides, Julian's skill was indeed very useful. In a world where you need a Log Pose to reach any island, Julian was basically a walking, talking sea chart of the pirate world. His value was anything but small.
After thinking it over again and again, Doflamingo decided to accept Julian's condition. Julian was simply appointed as the navigator of the Flamingo and temporarily handed over to Vergo for supervision.
After instructing Barrett and the others to steer the Flamingo to wait for him at the Sabaody Archipelago, Doflamingo took Julian's son's Vivre Card, then turned into a flash of lightning and vanished into the sky.
Not long after Doflamingo left, under the expectant gazes of the Evil Angel Pirates members, the brutally beaten, half-dead Scylla finally woke up.
Although her body still couldn't move, the light in Scylla's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
The man she had set her sights on had such an overbearing, handsome face and such overwhelming strength. Of course she was going to march straight into a blissful second half of her life.
The remaining members of the God Guard Unit saw that Scylla had awakened and, afraid they wouldn't be able to keep up with the god's footsteps, hurriedly relayed the message Doflamingo had left for Scylla .
They didn't even stop to listen to Scylla's reaction. Once they finished speaking, they immediately withdrew.
As for how they were supposed to report back to Doflamingo, the God Guard Unit members didn't even think about it, because before leaving, Doflamingo had told them he didn't need Scylla's reply.
After hearing the words Doflamingo had left for her, Scylla became even more excited.
So the man she had taken a fancy to was named Doflamingo of the Donquixote Family. He wanted her to join the Donquixote Family, go to the North Blue to expand the family's influence there, and then wait for him to come and inspect the results.
(That was Scylla's own interpretation.)
Regardless of what Doflamingo's original intent actually was, Scylla had her own understanding.
Heh, man, you've successfully taken hold of this old lady's heart. You still want to test this old lady? This old lady really does like this kind of thing.
This old lady has decided to join the Donquixote Family and wait for you in the North Blue to come find me.
This also led to, in the future, when Doflamingo met Scylla again in the North Blue, his scalp going completely numb.
He really wondered if he had said something wrong back when he gave that message to the God Guard Unit members.
Why did Scylla not only look full of motivation, but also like she was begging for praise, radiating a whole "hurry up and acknowledge this old lady" vibe?
The timeline zooms back in. Edd*War Sea.
The Roger Pirates were surrounded by dozens of massive ships led by Golden Lion Shiki, and as usual, Roger and Shiki were trading trash talk before the battle!
"How many times do I have to say this, Roger?
Sure, we had a lot of grudges and bad blood when we were young, but let's just forget it.
As long as I have that world-destroying weapon whose whereabouts only you know, plus my military strength, and the perfect plan I've spent many long years constructing, ruling this world in an instant would be no problem at all.
So, become my right hand, Roger!"
Golden Lion Shiki opened his arms wide, smiling as he invited him.
However, Roger wasn't interested in Shiki's words at all. He rejected him very directly,
"I'm not interested in ruling the world, Shiki. If a pirate can't do what he wants to do, then what's the point?"
Shiki's eyes went cold. Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki) began to leak out, precisely locked onto Roger.
"So what you mean is that I should just kill you right now, huh, Roger?"
Roger wasn't the type to back down, either. He released his own Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki) to resist and corrected him,
"No, it means I'm going to knock all of you down."
Hearing this, Golden Lion Shiki felt extremely displeased.
You're already surrounded by me and you still think you can turn the heavens upside down?
Looks like the negotiations have fallen through. In that case, I'll just send you all straight to hell!
"Brats, get ready—"
But before Shiki could shout out the battle order, the sky suddenly changed, a mass of dark clouds rapidly sweeping in from the distance, bringing with them an almost world-ending pressure.
At the same time, the sea surface started bouncing up and down like a rubber ball, constantly rising and falling.
The two pirate crews caught in the middle felt it particularly clearly, as if they might be flung right off the deck at any moment.
The timeline shifts back a little earlier. Outside the Edd War Sea, at the Marine warship anchorage.
Sengoku spoke to Dragon, who was wrapped in a black cloak, and a man in a suit who looked to be around fifty,
"The time has come. You two should set out now. Mr. Carola, Dragon, to ensure everything goes perfectly, Sakazuki will be acting together with you."
The man in the suit—Carola—did not object to Sengoku assigning a Rear Admiral to go with them.
Using his Haki beforehand, Carola already knew the strength of this so-called Rear Admiral.
Although he was still only a Rear Admiral in rank, his strength—which did not match his position at all—meant that Carola did not dare underestimate him in the slightest.
As for Dragon, he was even more indifferent.
Aside from knowing and understanding Sakazuki's strength, the main reason he'd come this time was to temporarily cooperate with the Marines or the World Government.
He needed time to develop, and he also needed a period of time to disappear and go to ground.
Even if he was going to become an enemy of the World Government in the future, for now, lulling the enemy into complacency was the necessary condition for development.
Because of his rank, Sakazuki didn't know many of the details, but he didn't want to know too much anyway.
Once he understood that the optimal outcome of this operation would be wiping out two great pirate crews without losing a single soldier, his brain no longer had room for anything else.
Right now, he was fully focused on carrying out the mission Sengoku had given him.
You could say that apart from himself, there really wasn't a second person who could complete this operation better.
The three didn't waste any time.
Carola pressed his palms together in front of him as if opening a door, and created a pitch-black passageway.
After letting Sakazuki and Dragon grab onto him, he stepped into it.
Hundreds of nautical miles away from the area where the Flying Pirates and the Roger Pirates were confronting each other, at the very heart of the Edd War Sea's active volcano cluster, a pair of hands suddenly appeared out of thin air in the sky, then opened up a door-like black hole.
From within, three figures stepped out—Carola, Sakazuki, and Dragon.
The three of them used Geppo (Moon Step) to hover in the air above the largest crater.
As a member of a World Government organization, Carola naturally took the lead among the three. According to the plan, he said,
"We don't have much time. Dragon, use your ability at full power right now.
Sakazuki, you go to the mid-slope of the volcano and do your utmost to activate every undersea volcano you can.
I'm only giving you three minutes.
When three minutes are up, I'll throw the Power Rock into the crater.
Sakazuki, you'll need to immediately get back to my side, and I'll take you out of here."
Sakazuki nodded.
As a Doa Doa no Mi (Door-Door Fruit) user, Carola would naturally be able to dodge in time. On top of that, Carola had brought quite a lot of Power Rock with him.
Once it exploded inside the volcano, he didn't even dare imagine how terrifying the power would be.
He might be very strong, but that didn't mean he was reckless.
If he could complete the mission without getting hurt, why would he go out of his way to make trouble for himself?
Dragon also nodded.
He didn't mind that Carola hadn't made any arrangements to guarantee his safety. In Dragon's eyes, gain and risk always came together.
If there were no risk at all in getting something, he would actually feel uncomfortable.
Besides, he had already developed the power of the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Typhon (Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Typhon Form) to its peak.
If he ran into that bastard who had made him suffer one of his rare humiliating moments on Amazon Lily more than two years ago, Dragon was confident he could kill him in a single move.
Naturally, escaping from a place this dangerous wouldn't be any trouble for him either.
(End of Chapter)
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