This was something Doflamingo had planned long ago. Since the World Government wanted to silence him, he was going to tell this matter to the person on the seas who posed the greatest threat to the World Government.
Even if he gained nothing, he was determined to drag the World Government into the water with him.
"Interesting. Then go ahead and tell me. I really want to know what kind of secrets trash like the Celestial Dragons could possibly have."
The drunkenness on Kaido's face quickly faded. Doflamingo's news had successfully piqued his interest.
"Are we really going to talk about it here?"
"Of course. All of these are my trusted subordinates. There's nothing to hide from them."
At this moment, there was no one in the banquet hall who had joined halfway. They were either founding members of the crew like King, or those raised from childhood like Maria. Kaido had absolutely no intention of making them withdraw.
Seeing Kaido's firm attitude, Doflamingo said nothing more and directly spoke of what he knew.
Doflamingo: "***********"
As a string of words that sounded like an encrypted transmission flowed out, Maria's expression turned utterly shocked, and King's eyes turned sharp. On the contrary, Kaido, after a brief silence, burst into even louder laughter.
"Worororo, these guys are truly surprising. King, Maria, don't speak of this matter to anyone. I'll personally inform the people who need to know. For now… let's continue our banquet!
You lot, bring me the wine!"
Ever since the God Valley Incident, Kaido had witnessed top-tier fighters - Rocks, Roger, and Figarland Garling were all exceptionally rare characters.
By now, Kaido was a seasoned veteran. While Doflamingo's secret was truly unknown to outsiders, it wasn't enough to shock Kaido for long.
"As for you, Joker, just stay in Wano Country for now. We'll talk about other matters later."
Kaido brought Doflamingo into his private banquet, while Yamato, after tidying up, went to find Arceus.
"Dad, as for this time's reward, Whitebeard's Quake-Quake Fruit, I brought it back."
"Just keep it with you for now. We'll bring it out when the right opportunity arises."
"Okay, understood."
The Quake-Quake Fruit, which drove people outside mad, was for the Beasts Pirates simply a very nice collectible. For now, they had no suitable candidate to use it.
Yamato likewise had no intention of using the fruit to claim achievement. She'd just taken the chance to go out and temporarily escape danger.
"Next time, remember not to cause earthquakes on Onigashima for no reason."
Just as Yamato thought everything was settled, Arceus glanced at her. Her little scheme had long since been noticed; it's just that no one cared.
As for demolishing things that were already planned to be demolished, whether that counted as destroying property had its answer now; at least for the moment, it didn't.
Questions with such high flexibility could have different answers depending on the situation.
"Ahem, Dad, that was just an accident. If someone hadn't been repairing right then, it wouldn't have broken. The magnitude of the earthquake didn't even surpass Onigashima's earthquake-resistance standards."
"You don't need to dwell on small things like this. You really did well this time.
Personal preferences are your own business, but sometimes, you need to rein in your temper. You can dislike Doflamingo, but you can't kill him yourself at a time like this.
Compared to a few years ago, you've grown a lot."
A few years back, facing Golden Lion, Yamato's battle was still somewhat risky. If it weren't for Golden Lion's lack of stamina after removing the ship's rudder back then, Yamato wouldn't have found it so easy to win.
But she'd already talked about her experiences in Dressrosa, and the feedback from Reshiram and Zekrom had shown Arceus how composed Yamato was when dealing with Redfield.
Not to mention the growth in her state of mind.
"Then what should be done with Doflamingo? Are we just going to let him stay in Wano Country forever?"
"These kinds of things, you should discuss with your father yourself. The seas are still rather chaotic. Only after they completely calm down will you be able to put some of your ideas into practice."
To Arceus, Doflamingo was an insignificant character. If there was anything particularly memorable about him, it was that the half-finished products he sold ended up giving Arceus more work to do.
Obviously, Doflamingo wasn't worth Arceus's effort to make any special arrangements for him, so Arceus had no opinion and simply tossed the question back.
"If there's nothing urgent, just think things over before you act, it'll be good for you. I'm heading out now. There's been a small discovery on Darkrai's side. See you in a while."
With that, Arceus left, preparing for a new round of voyage. There was nothing especially busy going on inside Onigashima for now, but outside Onigashima, on Gran Tesoro, Tesoro had been rather busy lately.
Now that Doflamingo was gone, Tesoro naturally took over that part of the business, beginning to consolidate the arms trade and shifting it from consignment sales to direct operation.
Although it added some extra workload, it greatly increased control over the operation.
Whole Cake Island. After some time sailing, Judge brought Caesar here.
Caesar's words had shaken Judge a little, but he did not choose to conceal Caesar's presence. He still handed Caesar over to Charlotte Linlin.
If all hope of an alliance by marriage with the Charlotte family was completely lost, Judge would have considered teaming up with Caesar directly, but in the current situation, Caesar's appeal was clearly no match for Big Mom's.
After settling Judge and his group, Charlotte Linlin had Caesar brought before her.
"The funding I provided should be enough, right? Caesar Clown?"
Inside the castle on Whole Cake Island, Charlotte Linlin sat on her special throne, staring at Caesar. At this moment, Caesar's handcuffs had already been removed, and the castle doors weren't closed, as if hinting that he could escape by turning into gas at any time.
But Caesar had no such thoughts at all. He stood obediently before Charlotte Linlin, not daring to run.
Previously, his heart had been in Sanji's hands. Because he talked too much, Judge overheard this, and promptly handed his heart over to Big Mom as well. Now, if Charlotte Linlin wanted to kill him, it was as easy as moving a finger.
Even without doing anything, the aura Charlotte Linlin gave off filled Caesar with dread.
"Y-yes, the funding is very sufficient. I haven't slacked off at all. I've been working on what you asked for the whole time… The research hasn't stopped at all."
"Is that so? Good."
Charlotte Linlin grabbed a handful of food filled with Homies and stuffed it into her mouth.
Not all food Homies dreamed of being eaten. These snacks happened to be the kind that feared being eaten. Before Charlotte Linlin crunched them up, they let out screams of terror.
It was precisely these screams that made Caesar even more terrified, and he lowered his head deeply, not daring to look at Charlotte Linlin again.
"Mamamama Mamamama I should have told you before, my dream is for people of all races to be able to live with me, but for certain reasons, I have a huge conflict with the Giants.
For my dream, I need your technology to make some of my family members giant, to fill the gap left by the Giants. But every time, you say you're almost done, just a little more funding and you'll finish."
At this point, Charlotte Linlin's expression suddenly became rather frightening.
"I was very pleased. I thought you were telling the truth, so I kept investing more and more. The more money I put in, the bigger the investment became. So now, where are my results, Caesar?"
Charlotte Linlin's face drew right up to Caesar's, immediately sending his life flashing before his eyes.
He had indeed done experiments, but there were no real results at all, and the money had all gone to his debauched life.
Back when he was living it up, he was as happy as could be. Now, Caesar was just as terrified, his face shifting from green to yellow and back again, like a face-changing performer.
"Answer my question, Caesar. Where are my results? I didn't come here to watch you change faces."
"Uh... uh... It was all the Beasts Pirates. They let my successful test subjects go..."
"What did you say?! Are you saying Kaido's people ruined your gigantification experiments?"
Charlotte Linlin's voice grew louder. In her mind, she knew Kaido had ways of gigantifying creatures, but those were all 'beasts.'
Given her past with Kaido, especially that big favor Kaido owed her, she didn't believe Kaido would send people to sabotage her deal.
She even suspected Caesar was just trying to sow discord and sneak away while they were fighting.
Charlotte Linlin's reaction, along with what he'd seen in Dressrosa, made Caesar regret saying this. He hadn't thought it through; he was just looking for someone to blame.
"Many years ago, there was another guy who managed to offend me, Kaido, and that old geezer Whitebeard all at once. Do you know what happened to him?"
"?!"
Caesar's face twisted with terror, and he barely managed to compose himself.
"No, no, no, you misunderstood! What I meant was, it was all Law and Straw Hat Luffy's fault! They wrecked my lab. I was this close to success, really! You have to believe me, Big Mom!
At that time, I was working myself to the bone for you, and just as I was about to succeed, those two showed up and snatched away my one ray of hope!"
"So what you mean is, if no one interferes, you'll be able to succeed?"
"Yes. If it weren't for someone causing trouble, the Gigantification Drug would have already been created by my genius hands. You know that b*stard Queen, right? My skills have always been way ahead of his!"
Amid Caesar's teary and emotional performance, Charlotte Linlin regained a bit of confidence in him. Then he added, "It's a pity, though. Only in the World Government's top-tier laboratories could I complete this experiment.
Only a perfect lab can produce a perfect drug. But now, all that's gone, and there's nothing I can do!"
"No problem. I've gotten the blueprints for that lab before. My son can quickly build you an identical one out of candy.
But the question is: how long will it take you to get results?"
Trying to keep fooling Big Mom was impossible. Caesar had just said he was about to succeed, so naturally Charlotte Linlin wouldn't give him much more time.
"Uh... there might be some differences in a lab made of candy..."
"Is that so? Well, that's fine too. Kaido also has a top-tier lab. I could have you go there and do your research. Even Queen, whom you look down on, was able to achieve results there. You shouldn't have any trouble either, right?"
Caesar had nearly had a heart attack for who knows how many times by now. Judge hadn't exposed him, but if he landed in Queen's hands, who knew how much worse things would get.
"So, which lab do you want to go to, Caesar Clown?"
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