On the sea ten kilometers away from Delta Island, a sailboat with a pink flamingo figurehead slowly docked near a sailboat that looked like a giant raft.
"Fufufufufufu! Teach, long time no see! You're already one of the Four Emperors, why are you still riding such a cheap ship?"
Doflamingo, wearing a pink feather coat and cropped pants, stood on the edge of the ship with his hands in his pockets, looking down condescendingly at the big, fat Blackbeard sitting on the raft-like sailboat, and his crew.
Hearing this, Blackbeard Teach immediately laughed heartily and said, "Thief ha ha! My life isn't rich, brother! Why don't you give me a hundred or eight hundred billion to improve my quality of life."
"Tch! I don't have time to talk nonsense with you now! Give me the bottom line, how confident are you in ambushing the Marine this time, and what trump cards do you have to deal with Sephiroth?" Doflamingo said with a displeased expression.
He hadn't originally planned to participate in this Pirate Expo. After all, it was a bit undignified and cheap for him, one of the Four Emperors, to condescend to participate in this small celebration. Even though rumors had been circulating recently throughout the sea that this Pirate Expo might be related to Pirate King Roger's one piece.
If there were really any relevant clues, he could just wait until the celebration was over and then make a move to snatch it. There was no need for him to personally attend the competition.
"Thief ha ha! Besides the two of us, an extremely powerful force has also come to participate. However, even if our three forces join hands to deal with Sephiroth, I only have a 50% chance of keeping him...
After all, this guy is a monster whose true identity is unknown!"
As he finished speaking, a trace of solemnity flashed in Blackbeard Teach's eyes. According to the intelligence he had gathered, Sephiroth was likely a multiple Devil Fruit user like him, which was why he could display abilities such as object control, cloning, black mist, and spatial manipulation.
After all, even if Blackbeard Teach could use his Dark-Dark Fruit ability to prevent Sephiroth from activating his Devil Fruit abilities, the opponent's swordsmanship and Haki were still not to be underestimated, and it would be very tricky to fight him.
Hearing Blackbeard Teach say that there was another force, various thoughts quickly surfaced in Doflamingo's mind. He frowned and asked,
"Who is that force? Since you call them extremely powerful, they should be well-known on this sea. So... is that force the Big Mom Pirates, or the Red Hair Pirates?
No! Although there have been rumors recently that Red-Haired Shanks lost all his territory in a battle with Sephiroth, they didn't have a large-scale conflict from beginning to end...
In other words, is that force the Big Mom Pirates?"
"Thief ha ha! Unfortunately, it's neither of them. You'll know when the time comes..." Hearing this, Blackbeard smiled and shook his head, directly denying his answer.
......
Delta Island. Inside a tall building, Buena Festa, with a cigar in his mouth, a black afro on his head, and wearing a purple robe, stood in front of a blond giant.
He pointed his right finger at the projection screen of a Den Den Mushi and laughed heartily,
"Hahaha! Bullet, according to your plan, I specifically held this Pirate Expo for you, as a stage to showcase your strength to the world. You must not disappoint me! You must turn the whole world upside down and start a magnificent great war."
Hearing this, Bullet's mouth curved slightly upwards, revealing a wild laugh. He said confidently,
"I've been waiting for this day for a long time. Whether it's the Four Emperors or the Marine, those who dare to stop me from reaching the peak, I will kill them all!"
......
Delta Island South Port.
After the Straw Hat Pirates and others docked the Thousand Sunny at the pier, they disembarked one after another, preparing to attend this celebration, including Ace and Marco. Now there were only two people left on the entire ship, one was Zoro, who was leaning against the ship's railing and sleeping soundly, and the other was Sephiroth, who was still lying on a beach chair basking in the sun.
Blurp! Blurp! Blurp~!...
The military Den Den Mushi in his suit jacket pocket suddenly rang. Sephiroth sat up, took out the Den Den Mushi, and picked up the receiver.
Immediately, Gion's voice came from the Den Den Mushi's mouth:
"Sephiroth, we've detected the presence of the Blackbeard Pirates and the Donquixote Pirates in a reconnaissance submarine west of Delta Island."
"Oh!? How many people did they bring?"
"According to the intelligence reported by the fleet, these two Pirate crews seem to have only brought one ship each. We haven't seen any signs of a large fleet."
"Is that so? Analyzing the intelligence from Drake, they are probably planning to use their Pirate crew officers as the main fighting force this time, and they don't intend to gather useless cannon fodder to fight a war of attrition..."
"If a war really breaks out, the Pirates on Delta Island right now are their best cannon fodder, so they don't need to bring so many people at all. We are at a disadvantage in terms of numbers in this war..." Gion said cautiously.
"Hmm! That's true. We only have about ten thousand Marines in total, which seems a bit stretched compared to the tens of thousands of Pirates attending the Pirate Expo. At that time, we'll just have to take no prisoners and wipe them all out..."
As he finished speaking, a cruel and bloodthirsty smile appeared on Sephiroth's face, and his eyes were filled with malice.
"How are our Marine preparations going?"
"Kizaru's unit has arrived at the eastern deployment point, Aokiji's unit has arrived at the southern deployment point, and my unit has arrived at the western deployment point."
"Okay! Be careful, don't alert them and be discovered by those two cunning fellows. If your unit's whereabouts are exposed, contact me immediately. Don't force a fight."
"I understand! Do you have any other instructions? If not, I'll hang up now."
Hearing this, Sephiroth thought for a moment before continuing,
"Have you found any trace of the Big Mom Pirates? If so, remember to notify me immediately."
"Okay, no problem!"
After putting away the Den Den Mushi after hanging up the call, Sephiroth put his hands behind his head and lay back on the beach chair. He looked at the white clouds drifting across the sky and muttered to himself,
"Big Mom, oh! Big Mom... I've given you a way out, don't be ungrateful! If you dare to come here and meddle, I'll just have to say 'sorry' to Pudding at that time..."
After taking Red-Haired Shanks's territory into his hands, Sephiroth, with a mindset of trying it out, sent a secret letter to Big Mom. In that letter, in addition to stating directly that he held three ancient weapons, he also elaborated on a plan for Big Mom to apply to join the World Government.
As long as Big Mom was willing to incorporate her territory under the direct jurisdiction of the World Government, he could allow the Charlotte Family to become a hereditary royal family. However, the royal family he promised was a constitutional monarchy type, with no real power and not many privileges.
Sephiroth knew very well how impolite his suggestion was to Big Mom Charlotte Linlin. But...
The tide was with him, so he had the confidence to be decisive. If Big Mom Charlotte Linlin didn't agree to his proposal, then Sephiroth, for Pudding's sake, could at most not kill her, but she would have to spend the rest of her life in prison.