Seeing Caesar finally behave himself, Nami retracted her fist.
To deal with this kind of dishonest guy, one had to use their fists!
Law glanced at Caesar, and seeing the man making no further suspicious moves, he retracted his gaze.
"In any case... Nami-ya, your ship-guarding team must also be careful of enemy sneak attacks," Law said. "As I mentioned before, Doflamingo could send people to attack you at any time, so... you must protect the ship well."
This pirate ship was their essential means of leaving this island, so nothing could be allowed to happen to it.
"I understand," Nami nodded seriously and said, "I will protect the ship."
Even if Law hadn't sternly reminded her, she would have done her utmost to protect the ship.
After all... this was the Straw Hat Pirates' pirate ship!
"That's good," Law nodded.
Nami-ya was one of the more reliable members of the Straw Hat Pirates, so there shouldn't be any major problems.
"Will Doflamingo come personally this time?" Brook asked with some concern.
"I'm not sure."
Law shook his head and said, "However, I think the probability of him personally searching for you on the sea isn't high."
Doflamingo couldn't be certain whether they had even come to Dressrosa, nor could he be sure where they were on the vast ocean, so he wouldn't move out lightly.
After all... Doflamingo still had to go to Green Bit to conduct the trade with him!
"The probability isn't high... which means there's still a chance," Chopper's expression changed.
"I am not the enemy, after all, so I cannot be certain of his thoughts," Law said calmly.
Chopper fell silent for a moment, then, as if remembering something, said, "True... but we have Sanji here, so..."
Chopper hadn't even finished his sentence before he froze. He realized that Sanji, who was supposed to be standing right there, was gone!
Not only that, but Luffy and the others had disappeared as well!
Chopper: ??
"?"
"?!!"
"Where did everyone go?!" Chopper exclaimed, dumbfounded.
Why was Sanji, who was supposed to stay here, gone?
"Not just him, Luffy and the others are gone too," Usopp's lip twitched.
They had only been huddled around the map for a short while, and everyone had vanished?
"They are the main force for this plan," Law said with a grim expression. "Where did they run off to?!"
This was no joke!
"They probably headed into town ahead of schedule," Meiser stood up and said. "Don't worry, Law. I already know the details of the plan. I'll get things sorted out."
With that, Meiser turned without hesitation and walked toward the distant town.
Seeing Meiser say this, Law gradually relaxed.
True, this man was very powerful and also very reliable, so... there was nothing to worry about.
"Hey, then who's going to protect us?" Chopper was stunned.
If the main combatants all left, who would protect them?
Thinking of this, Chopper intended to stop Meiser, but he was caught by Nami after only a few steps.
"Hey, Nami, why are you grabbing me?"
"He wasn't part of the ship-guarding team to begin with." Nami pointed at Meiser's departing back and said, "So don't go looking for him."
Meiser's abilities were very suitable for gathering intelligence, so she felt it was better not to have him stay behind.
Seeing Nami say this, Chopper gave up on the idea of keeping Meiser there.
Then, he looked at Nami with teary eyes and said, "Then what do we do?"
"I'm very strong too, Chopper."
Nami smiled and rubbed Chopper's head, clearly confident in her own strength.
While she might not necessarily be a match for Doflamingo, escaping from his pursuit with her companions wouldn't be a problem.
After all... she could create wind!
In that case, Doflamingo could forget about catching them by ship!
"Alright..."
Chopper blinked and then said, "Then you definitely have to protect me."
"Don't worry."
"Then it's settled."
Seeing that the two had reached a conclusion, Law tucked the map away, turned, and left with Nico Robin and Usopp.
In the end, only Nami, Brook, and Chopper remained on the coastline.
"Actually, I feel like we should have kept one or two more people here," Brook said.
"That's true, but..." Nami said, "Their side is much more dangerous than ours."
Once Meiser and the others destroyed the factory, a reacting Doflamingo would send people to hunt them down.
At that point... both sides might end up in a direct confrontation!
Brook understood this logic; he had just been thinking out loud.
He then asked, "So what should we do now?"
"Leave the Dressrosa coastline, of course."
Nami turned to look at the Thousand Sunny and said, "To avoid being cornered here."
With that, Nami activated her Devil Fruit Ability to lift the two of them up, quickly returning them to the pirate ship.
Afterward, Nami directed them to start the ship, quickly leaving the island and drifting into the distance.
However, they didn't go too far; they only moved a few nautical miles to the side before stopping.
"Let's stay here," Nami said. "We'll decide on the next step once we hear from the others."
...
"Those guys sure run fast."
Meiser looked at the distant figures with some exasperation. If he hadn't been fast enough, he might have actually been left behind.
Then, as if recalling something, Meiser muttered, "Doflamingo mentioned that Ace and his crew would be coming here too, right..."
For some reason, Meiser instinctively felt there might be something fishy about this.
Thinking of this, Meiser pulled out his Den Den Mushi from his robes.
One was a White Transponder Snail, and the other was an Ordinary Transponder Snail.
Then, Meiser dialed the call.
"Puru puru puru~"
"Puru puru puru~"
"Puru puru puru~"
"Gacha!"
"Hello?"
"It's me."
"Ah, it's Meiser."
Upon hearing Meiser's voice, a smile immediately appeared on Marco's face. "You guy, you're still alive after all."
"Speak, what's the matter for contacting us?"
"I heard news from Doflamingo earlier that you were coming here, so I wanted to ask about the situation."
The Diamond-Diamond Fruit that Doflamingo had put out was the Devil Fruit of the Whitebeard Pirates' Third Division Commander, Diamond Jozu. It was impossible for Ace and the others not to come and fight for it.
"So your target really is Dressrosa," Marco said with a sigh of realization.
"What do you mean?"
"We already know what you did on Punk Hazard." Ace leaned in and laughed. "So we guessed you were planning to deal with Doflamingo. Now it seems we were right."
Otherwise, there would be no reason for them to contact Doflamingo, right?
Hearing this, Meiser subconsciously stroked his chin. It seemed the others weren't lacking in brains either.
"You're right, our target this time is indeed Doflamingo."
Ace and Marco laughed upon hearing this. It was exactly as they had thought.
"By the way, are you coming to Dressrosa this time?" Meiser asked.
"Of course we are going!"
Ace said without hesitation, "I won't let Jozu's Devil Fruit fall into anyone else's hands!"
This was their brother's Devil Fruit Ability; they naturally couldn't let anyone else have it.
So... this time, they were going to let Doflamingo know the consequences of provoking them like this!
"Haven't you tried contacting that guy?" Meiser asked curiously. "Can't you buy it with money?"
"Of course we tried."
Marco explained somewhat helplessly, "As soon as I got the news, I contacted that guy through various means, but he had no intention of selling that Devil Fruit."
If it could really be bought with money, they wouldn't have to go through all this trouble.
"He won't sell it for money?"
A look of surprise appeared in Meiser's eyes. "Then why did he release the news that he has this Devil Fruit?"
He had originally thought Doflamingo wanted to sell it for a high price, but the man didn't plan to sell at all?
If he's not selling, what is he doing?
Intentionally attracting a bunch of powerful enemies to himself?
"It seems you don't have a channel for special information," Marco said.
"What do you mean?"
"Not long ago, Doflamingo released a message through underground channels," Marco explained. "He wants to hold a special tournament, and that Devil Fruit is the prize for this competition."
As soon as these words were spoken, Meiser immediately understood why Marco and the others knew Doflamingo had the Diamond-Diamond Fruit. So it was because of this.
Then, Meiser frowned and said, "Don't you think this looks like a trap?"
Marco and Ace glanced at each other, then Marco said, "Actually, we've had the same thought, but we have a reason why we must go."
After receiving the news, the two of them had gradually sensed something was wrong.
Why would Doflamingo release this news?
Did he simply want to attract strong people to win that Devil Fruit?
Based on their understanding of Doflamingo, he didn't seem like the type of person who would do such a thing.
So the guy likely had some special purpose.
The question then was, what was his purpose?
After thinking it over, they came to a conclusion.
Doflamingo might be trying to lure the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates... or rather, lure the Spade Pirates over!
That was likely Doflamingo's purpose for releasing that news!
However, to reclaim their brother's Devil Fruit, even knowing this might be a trap, they had to go once.
Otherwise... they wouldn't be themselves.
"In other words, knowing it's a trap, you're still coming?" Meiser said.
"Of course!"
Ace said without hesitation, "There is no way we will leave Jozu's Devil Fruit to anyone else!"
Again, their brother's Devil Fruit had to be taken back!
Marco also said, "Although there is a high probability this is a trap, we must go."
"However, we don't plan to participate in that tournament. Instead, once we find the location of the Devil Fruit, we plan to take it by force!"
With their strength, taking down Doflamingo and seizing that Devil Fruit wouldn't be a problem.
Seeing that both had said so, Meiser gave up on trying to persuade them.
Then, he analyzed, "How do you think Doflamingo plans to deal with us this time?"
"Us?"
Ace was taken aback. Was Doflamingo planning to target Luffy and the others as well?
"That's right, us."
Meiser nodded and said, "Doflamingo must have included us in his plans this time."
Even though they hadn't directly said they were going to attack Doflamingo, the man certainly wouldn't let them off, so Meiser felt that his target this time definitely included them as well.
Listening to Meiser, Ace subconsciously frowned.
If that was the case, then he definitely had to kill Doflamingo this time.
After all... he could not tolerate anyone plotting against his younger brother right under his nose!
Marco naturally understood Ace's thoughts and patted his shoulder to signal him to calm down, waiting to finish the conversation with Meiser first.
Ace took a deep breath and then asked, "What are your thoughts?"
"I think it's possible Doflamingo will join forces with the Marines," Meiser said.
The moment these words were spoken, both Ace and Marco's eyes filled with confusion.
Join forces with the Marines?
"Hey, Meiser, have you forgotten that Doflamingo is no longer one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea?" Ace said.
Under these circumstances, how could he join forces with the Marines?
It would be good enough if the Marines didn't send a Marine Admiral to take him down!
"From today's morning paper, Doflamingo is indeed no longer a Warlord, but..." Meiser narrowed his eyes and said, "What if this is a massive gamble between Doflamingo and the Marines?"
Even though they had schemed against Doflamingo and made him lose his position as a Warlord... who's to say Doflamingo couldn't use certain conditions to regain the title!
"What do you mean?"
Vista, who had leaned over, had a look of confusion in his eyes. What did he mean by a massive gamble with the Marines?
Marco, on the other hand, seemed to have understood something. "I think I see what you mean."
He glanced at Ace, whose expression was gradually darkening, and continued, "You're talking about what Blackbeard did two years ago, right?"
Although that matter was disgraceful, he had to admit Blackbeard's shrewdness.
"Exactly."
Meiser nodded and said, "I have a general understanding of how Blackbeard became a Warlord two years ago. Didn't he trade the capture of Ace for the title of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea?"
Vista also realized, frowning as he said, "You mean... Doflamingo plans to use Ace's head to trade with the World Government for his Warlord title?"
If you thought about it carefully... it wasn't impossible!
After all, Ace was not only the son of the Pirate King but also the captain of the Spade Pirates!
His weight was certainly sufficient!
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