In the same room.
Caesar didn't hear Doflamingo's last mutter.
Right now, his mind was full of that "exaggerated" sand city in the distance.
Caesar hadn't seen the real lost city of Shandora, but as a scientist, he knew a little about architecture.
That building in the distance looked like a city, but all the buildings were connected as a whole. There were no defensive weak spots on the outside, and the internal structure must be extremely complex.
It was basically an unbreakable fort!
Looking at its material...
Is it sand?
Probably.
After all, according to the information provided by the World Government, that Ryan Rowan and Crocodile were both Sand-Sand Fruit users.
The same fruit power appearing on the sea at the same time?
This kind of event was a first in the World Government's records, so there was no definite answer.
But Caesar wasn't curious about this right now, because an even bigger threat was right in front of him!
Such a complex and complete structure, combined with a Logia-type Devil Fruit ability...
That sand city, even ten Marine ships probably wouldn't be able to break through its walls!
"Hey, Joker, what do we do!"
Caesar seemed very panicked.
After all, in Caesar's mind, the core of Doflamingo's plan was to use the Crystal virus to weaken the Four Seas Alliance's fighting power.
Then, cooperate with the World Government to wipe them out in one fell swoop, or at least seriously hurt them.
But now that sand city stood tall in the Kingdom of Aden, even right on the coast. The people inside were in a position to attack or defend.
Because of time and planning, the Donquixote Family hadn't deployed fleet-level heavy firepower in the Kingdom of Aden.
This meant that they had no normal way to attack that city, and could only rely on the Donquixote Family's officers!
... Wait!
Right, there were still the Donquixote Family's officers!
They were all first-rate fighters.
Thinking of this, Caesar suddenly relaxed a little.
"Shurorororororo! Joker, have your people start moving as soon as possible!"
Caesar said excitedly, "I heard that there are experts in your family who can turn into stone giants. With their help, and combined with my Crystal virus, no city can withstand our attack!"
At the same time, Pica was ready.
As soon as the Donquixote Family gave the order, he would merge with the soil and rocks under his feet, turn into a giant stone man, and go to destroy that sand city.
Land was his home field.
But after waiting and waiting, Doflamingo's attack order never came.
Pica couldn't help but look back at the palace, wondering, "What is Young Master waiting for?"
Caesar in the room couldn't hold back either.
Because he saw that countless grains of sand were still coming out of the ground, and then merging into that sand city, making the city walls more and more precise and thick.
That city wasn't even completely finished yet!
Caesar couldn't help but say anxiously, "Joker, what are you waiting for? If you wait any longer, their defensive lines will be complete!"
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a thin but sharp string cut across Caesar's neck.
The string wasn't carrying any Armament Haki, so it couldn't hurt the Logia-type Devil Fruit user Caesar, but it could shut him up.
And that's what Doflamingo wanted.
He hooked his fingers and pulled back that deadly string.
"I want to wait for their defensive lines to be completed, that's beneficial to us."
Doflamingo stared at the terrified Caesar and slowly clenched his fist, "Because the best situation is for them to hold that sand city."
"Huh?"
Caesar was stunned when he heard this, "What's the worst situation?"
"The worst situation? Have you forgotten that the 'monster' who created a city in an instant seems to have another choice—"
Doflamingo thought for a moment, the corners of his mouth turning up wide:
"To attack us directly."
...
Outside the sand city.
More and more people infected with the Crystal virus gathered.
Some were completely berserk Crystal zombies, and some were patients who risked coming for a vaccine or cure.
But they were all stopped by the sand city walls in front of them.
These people were constantly launching attacks, but without ladders or heavy firepower, they couldn't break through the city walls at all!
...
Rowan sat cross-legged on top of the city walls, looking down at the Kingdom of Aden.
Crocodile turned into a sandstorm and appeared next to Rowan, muttering, "Waste of effort."
"Huh?"
Rowan turned his head and asked with a smile, "What do you mean?"
"Does anyone in the camp need you to take care of them?"
Crocodile smoked a cigar and said in a deep voice, "Instead of wasting effort here to build such an exaggerated city, you might as well just go and kill that flamingo jerk!"
Hearing this, Rowan thought for a moment, then suddenly nodded and said, "That makes sense, I'm going."
"Huh...huh?"
Crocodile's voice changed several times, from confirmation to doubt, "What did you say?"
"Your suggestion makes a lot of sense, so I'm going to do that."
Rowan got up, grabbed the staff next to him, and smiled, "Is there a problem?"
"No...no, there are all kinds of problems!"
Crocodile became even more confused, "Listening to your tone, it sounds like you've never thought about how to deal with that flamingo jerk?"
"Things you can figure out with a little thought, it's a waste of effort to think about them again."
Rowan moved his shoulders, his eyes locked on a certain place in the distance.
He turned his head, looked at Crocodile, and raised an eyebrow, "You didn't think this city was built for Doflamingo, did you?"
"Not for him?"
Crocodile was stunned.
Wasn't this city built to defend against the Crystal virus that the flamingo jerk created?
Rowan smiled and replied, "It's for 'the person behind him'."
Crocodile paused, and suddenly realized who Rowan was talking about.
The one who helped Doflamingo cause the Crystal virus incident was a scientist from the Marine Science Unit, and behind the Marine Science Unit was the World Government!
"You're saying the World Government might also be involved in this mess in the Kingdom of Aden?"
Crocodile touched his chin, thinking about Rowan's words, "But the trade of the Operation Fruit is coming up, and they've already commissioned that flamingo jerk, there's no reason to send anyone else, right?"
"There will be a reason."
Rowan said slowly, "As long as the World Government wants to, then the reason will be put in front of them, because they are the 'reason' on the sea."
He patted Crocodile on the shoulder and told him, "Have people pay more attention to the movements on the sea."
Then, he turned around and slowly squatted down.
Crocodile could clearly feel that the sand in Rowan's body was compressed to the extreme, carrying amazing explosive power.
Bang!
Suddenly, Rowan jumped off the city wall, like a golden shooting star, swooping down to the distance!
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Rowan's figure had disappeared without a trace.
Crocodile looked at this scene, shook his head helplessly, took a deep breath of his cigar, and then went to arrange manpower.
Doflamingo was only a client of the World Government after all. If the World Government really wanted to intervene in the Kingdom of Aden, then things would become much more complicated.
Coming to the North Sea was indeed an interesting decision.
...
"He's coming!"
Doflamingo also saw that golden shooting star.
The worst-case scenario had indeed happened.
But just as Doflamingo was about to order the Donquixote Family's officers to meet the enemy, he found that the direction of that shooting star was a little off.
It seemed...a little off?
It wasn't just a little off, but a lot off.
Boom!
The shooting star fell, landing far away from the palace.
That place was...
Doflamingo suddenly remembered.
That location was exactly where that inexplicable cherry tree had bloomed before!
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