After agreeing to work at Gran Tesoro's casino, Issho and Sphinx immediately prepared to head there to report. Finn and the others quickly evacuated the gambling house.
Sphinx let out a sigh of relief and slumped in her chair with a complicated expression.
"You should change your bad temper, Sphinx." Issho said, looking at her.
Sphinx glanced up at Issho, then whispered, "When I saw him, I couldn't help but get angry..."
"If I weren't here today, you might really have died. Is that the result you want?" Issho frowned.
"I'm not afraid of death!" Sphinx said without hesitation.
"But your death would be meaningless. If Shiki really treated you like his daughter as you said, do you think he'd want you to die in such a way?" Issho asked.
"I..." Sphinx wanted to say something but didn't know how to express it.
"Forget it. Just be more careful next time and don't be so irritable." Issho said again.
"Ugh..." Sphinx sighed helplessly.
"This is good, isn't it? Gran Tesoro... Although I haven't heard of it, a Marine Admiral shouldn't lie to us." Issho stroked his chin with some anticipation.
"Is a gambler really trustworthy?" Sphinx asked doubtfully.
"Why would he lie to us? There's no point." Issho said.
After a brief pause, Issho continued, "If we really join this Gran Tesoro, at least we won't have to worry about the Marines anymore."
People's personalities and ideas were actually the result of accumulated life experiences evolving over time.
In the original story, Issho didn't know what he'd experienced, but he'd definitely developed a different view of the world. To some extent, he'd even thought the world had polluted his eyes. He hadn't wanted to see this filthy world anymore, so he'd blinded himself.
At the same time, after Marine Headquarters launched the world conscription campaign, he'd probably had the idea of changing the world, so he'd joined the Marines and directly become a Marine Admiral based on his strength.
Using his status and power as Admiral, he'd launched an action to abolish the Seven Warlords of the Sea at the World Conference and ultimately succeeded.
It could be considered realizing one's ambition and changing the world.
But there was no doubt that in this world's timeline, not only was Issho not blind, he'd also met Sphinx. It sounded like they'd been together for many years.
He'd been more or less influenced by Sphinx's thoughts, will, and even living habits, which had subtly changed his own thinking and decisions.
At the same time, he'd inherited Shiki's Float-Float Fruit. Although he felt he had nothing to do with Shiki, there would always be some changes.
This led to Issho in this world not having any harsh thoughts about the world in his heart, nor had he gone blind because of it. Since he was accompanied by former pirate Sphinx, he'd never considered or planned to join the Marines.
Even if a world conscription campaign were to begin right now, Issho would still continue being a gambler and look down on the Marines.
And now, at this turning point, Issho had met Finn and gained a new choice: joining Gran Tesoro.
"I'm inexplicably looking forward to Gran Tesoro..." Issho murmured.
After he finished speaking, he seemed to remember something and looked back at the gambling table. Seeing the dice cup still firmly attached to the table, his expression brightened with joy. He went up and pulled open the cup, counted the dots, and it showed "big."
"Sphinx, I won! Come on, give me my money!" Issho said with a hearty laugh.
Sphinx was stunned for a moment, then cursed, "Impossible! And this bet is invalid. I won't give you a single berry!"
"Is this how you talk to your savior? Bastard!" Issho said angrily.
Soon, the two walked out of the messy gambling house cursing at each other.
At the same time, on the other side of the street, the gunfight that had just occurred in the gambling house seemed to have no impact whatsoever. The Great Pirate Era had been ongoing for more than ten years, and it was indeed making the people of this era more hardened.
"Admiral, are we just letting them go like this? Will they really go to Gran Tesoro as agreed?" Hina asked as she walked beside Finn.
Finn admired the bustling street scene while saying nonchalantly, "This is just a casual arrangement. In fact, even if they don't go to Gran Tesoro, I won't lose anything. And it's obvious that Issho is a smart man. This kind of thing doesn't harm their interests, so why wouldn't they go? Besides, if Sphinx doesn't go to Gran Tesoro, she won't be able to visit Shiki's grave either."
Vergo followed on the other side. "If it were me, I'd definitely go."
Hina glared at Vergo with some dissatisfaction. Seeing this, Vergo didn't dare say anything more. After all, he'd been beaten by Hina before.
Even though Hina had used a sneak attack, Vergo still remembered clearly that he'd been subdued by Hina in an instant.
He knew very well that this seemingly delicate Rear Admiral beside Admiral Finn, who only handled clerical work, was actually quite capable in combat.
Hina glared at Vergo, making him afraid to bother her again. Then she hugged Finn's arm. "Admiral, the amusement park in Carnival City is said to be very famous. Let's go ride the roller coaster together..."
At the same time, in the New World, Dressrosa.
After a busy day, Riku Dold III was about to make himself a cup of tea and take a break.
"An assassin?" King Riku frowned, then raised his head and looked carefully.
Then his expression showed some surprise.
"Heavenly Yaksha?" King Riku asked with surprise.
"Fufufufufu..." Doflamingo's distinctive laugh echoed.
In fact, at this moment, King Riku didn't have much fear of Doflamingo. Because Doflamingo's current identity was one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and theoretically, the Warlords were allies. At the same time, due to Finn's influence, the current Seven Warlords didn't have a particularly fearsome reputation.
So King Riku wasn't truly afraid at this first moment. He was just somewhat surprised. Why had Doflamingo come?
"Lord Heavenly Yaksha, do you have some business with me?" King Riku asked respectfully.
Dressrosa wasn't large. In the entire New World, it was at most a small kingdom, and the population wasn't very substantial. Doflamingo remembered it was only about two million people.
The entire nation was located on this island.
And this island looked quite impoverished.
Yes, Dressrosa, ruled by the Riku royal family, was extremely poor.
Perhaps in some aspects, Riku Dold III had done well, but when it came to the two critical issues of economy and people's livelihood, the Riku royal family had been negligent for hundreds of years.
"A poor country is the king's failure, isn't it?" Doflamingo suddenly turned his head and looked at King Riku.
King Riku frowned slightly, not quite understanding what Doflamingo meant. You're just a pirate. What are you going on about? Why don't you discuss One Piece instead?
"I don't quite understand what you mean, Lord Heavenly Yaksha." King Riku said after a moment of silence.
"Ten billion. Ten billion berries in cash. You must prepare this amount of ransom for me within three days." Doflamingo said abruptly.
King Riku was completely confused. What was going on?
But soon, his expression changed. "Ransom? Who did you kidnap?"
"Don't think so lowly of me, King Riku. If I really kidnapped someone, just consider it the entire nation of Dressrosa. If I don't see 10 billion berries in cash within three days, the Donquixote Family will destroy all of Dressrosa. You don't have to doubt whether I have this capability, because you can bet on it. Fufufufufu..." Doflamingo said with his evil laugh.
As he finished speaking, Doflamingo flicked his fingers several times.
King Riku suddenly felt his body was out of his control. Under Doflamingo's manipulation, he made a cup of tea.
"Consider it my treat. For the sake of my reputation, please don't tell anyone about our 'deal,' or I'll be forced to kill them. For example, kill everyone in Dressrosa?" Doflamingo's tone was malicious.
"Ten billion?" King Riku seemed to come to his senses at this moment.
To be honest, for any normal royal family, 10 billion berries wasn't a major problem. It could even be said it wasn't a problem at all.
Even if you weren't royalty but just a noble, this amount wasn't too much of a burden.
In the past, at the Sabaody Archipelago, nobles would spend two or three hundred million berries to buy slaves to satisfy their selfish desires, not to mention buying luxury goods daily to maintain their lavish lifestyles.
Perhaps in a single year, they could spend far more than 10 billion berries.
If it were Neptune of Ryugu Palace, he could produce ten billion berries without blinking, even throw it in Doflamingo's face and arrogantly ask, "Is that enough?"
But for King Riku, ten billion berries would literally kill him.
He was extremely poor and was definitely a failure as a king.
But if it were any other time, he could still produce the 10 billion berries by gritting his teeth.
However, right now, not long ago, this year's Heavenly Tribute had just been transported away, and Riku Dold III no longer had any financial reserves. He was penniless.
Doflamingo had perfectly timed this and discovered through investigation that the Riku royal family was simply unable to produce 10 billion berries in cash, so he'd taken action.
After all, did he need 10 billion? No, 10 billion berries meant nothing to Doflamingo.
This number, however, was perfectly calculated for Riku Dold III.
If it were less, maybe he could really raise it.
If it were too much, he'd become desperate and might even fight Doflamingo to the death.
Ten billion, neither more nor less, was exactly the amount he could accept, but he'd still have to use some special means to raise the money.
King Riku didn't dare bet on whether Doflamingo was cruel enough, nor did he dare bet on whether Doflamingo would plunder and destroy Dressrosa. Therefore, he didn't tell anyone about this matter and planned to find a way to collect the 10 billion berries within three days.
"If all else fails, I'll just have to borrow money from the people first." King Riku murmured after thinking it over.
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