Queen spoke each word with deliberate emphasis, then his body—honed over the years through relentless beatings—began to exude a special kind of aura.
He didn’t possess Conqueror’s Haki, yet at that moment, the seemingly simple and rotund man exuded the aura of a beast that made one instinctively feel a sense of danger.
After a series of battles, Queen had regained the courage to venture outside. However, every outing saw him fully armed. With all his equipment, if it came to a fight, even Doflamingo wouldn’t fare well.
Setting aside other considerations, if Queen really went all out here, Doflamingo’s base, meticulously built over the years, would be utterly destroyed.
“So, Joker,” Queen said, “do you agree to this price, or do you have something else to say?”
“I can accept the price, but regarding the rights to sell certain weapons…”
“Oh? That? Handing part of it over to you is fine. Just stick to the usual arrangements; you’re familiar with the rules.”
After all, this was an Underworld deal, where the rules existed for parties of equal strength. When the gap in power was too great, it was the stronger party that set the rules.
Doflamingo had gotten what he wanted. What he didn’t realize, however, was that the portion of the business he had secured was intended to be outsourced to him anyway. His competence in this area was indeed outstanding—far superior to that of other brokers.
“By the way, speaking of which, where’s that ba*tard Caesar?” Queen asked. “I need to catch up with him about old times. Oh, and don’t try those tricks on us? Devil Fruit abilities aren’t absolute.”
Upon arriving here, Queen had already sensed Viola’s presence and realized where that strange feeling he had earlier came from.
An ordinary person’s Observation Haki has limited range. Those who possess an extraordinarily large perception range are either true geniuses or are anomalies that disrupt the balance with their cheats.
When Queen first landed on the island, his Observation Haki did not detect Viola, who was extremely far away. Though he sensed something odd, it was more based on intuition. It’s different since coming here.
“Of course! It’s just habitual for her. Pica, bring Mr. Queen to Caesar, and you can take care of the rest.”
“Understood, Doffy. This way, Mr. Queen.”
When it comes to tolerance, Doflamingo does have some talent. Even though Queen didn’t show him much respect and behaved extremely arrogantly, due to Kaido behind him, Doflamingo chose to ignore it and greet him with a smile.
However, after Queen left, Doflamingo turned to Viola.
“Did you see what he was thinking?”
“Other than him fantasizing about beating up Caesar, there was nothing. It was completely blank.”
Doflamingo valued not only the Glare-Glare Fruit’s telescopic ability but also its other ability—mind reading.
Regardless of whether the target was aware or trying to lie, with a specific gesture, the user could read their current thoughts.
Although they couldn’t read past memories, it was still incredibly practical.
Whenever Tesoro conducted business, he always brought Baccarat along, using her Luck-Luck Fruit’s ability to achieve certain goals. Similarly, Doflamingo relied on Viola’s Devil Fruit ability to test his business partners.
Back then, Caesar’s thoughts were completely laid bare to Doflamingo.
“Haki, huh… Makes sense. After all, he’s a senior officer under Kaido. Being able to do that isn’t surprising.”
Devil Fruit abilities aren’t absolute. When Haki is strong enough, it can nullify certain effects of Devil Fruit abilities. Given Viola’s strength, peeking into the current Queen’s mind would be incredibly difficult.
“Well, let’s look at Caesar next. I’m curious to see what happens.”
“Understood, Doffy.”
There was another reason Doflamingo had dropped any attempts to negotiate the price—the quality of Caesar’s work. If Caesar had managed to create a fruit identical to the original, there was no way Doflamingo would sell it at a dirt-cheap price of two million.
He could have at least raised the price a bit, but now he has no reason to do so. No matter what the cost of something is, as long as it generates value, it can be sold at a high price.
However, the times have changed.
In the original timeline, Kaido had no other choice. Even if Caesar’s creations were subpar, Kaido had to make do because no one else was producing them.
But now, Kaido has a large number of Mythical Zoan users under him, and their numbers continue to grow. In this context, Caesar’s creations had become redundant. Selling them off to strengthen the relationship was good enough.
Ultimately, it all boiled down to Caesar’s lack of competence. If Queen really wanted to teach Caesar a lesson, Doflamingo wouldn’t mind sitting back and enjoying the show.
…..
“Why the hell are you here?!”
In Doflamingo’s so-called venue, Caesar found himself face-to-face with someone he absolutely didn’t want to see.
He had assumed this was just a venue for the party, but he never expected Queen to show up here.
“Why am I here? Trash, don’t you remember who you’re trading with?”
“Who are you calling trash?”
“You, who else? Looks like Joker didn’t tell you. Part of the deal includes me giving you a good beating.”
“You b*stard, did you forget how I taught you a lesson back then? Queen, you may have fooled others, but do you think I don’t know your real capabilities?”
The two had been at odds since their days with MADS. At the beginning, Queen wasn’t a match for Caesar at all and often ended up at a disadvantage. This was primarily because Caesar was a Logia user, and that ability was practically a bug in the early stages. Most people had no way to counter it effectively.
Even though gas wasn’t an element that couldn’t be restrained and Queen could use certain tools to strike Caesar’s real body, the advantages of being a Logia-type still gives Caesar a significant upper hand.
“Muhahaha, you’re bringing up something from over thirty years ago? Do you really think things are still the same as they were back then?”
A mechanical clicking sound came from Queen’s hand. His mechanical arm was equipped with strange features, one of which included producing loud fist-clenching noises.
“Still, there’s something you should see first. Harper, Rory, come here! This man is the original creator of your ‘abilities.’ Let him witness your abilities.”
Queen gestured toward the two normal-looking people beside him. Caesar initially didn’t understand what Queen meant until the two transformed into their Human-Beast forms. Caesar’s face showed a moment of shock, which quickly shifted into delight.
“I…”
“Shurororororo! I did it! I truly am a genius!”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
Caesar didn’t respond to Queen and instead rushed over to Harper and Rory, touching them here and there while asking them to perform some coordinated movements, as if he were recording parameters.
“Isn’t it obvious? I successfully replicated a Devil Fruit! Look at these bodies—absolutely perfect! Even that Vegapunk has never made this many Devil Fruits. Shurororororo! I really am a genius!”
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