When Lucky Roux followed the sound of gunfire to the shore, he saw Beckman and Yasopp wrestling with each other again.
Beckman tugged on Yasopp's dreadlocks and shouted, "Calm down, Yasopp! Think about it—this rifle can only unleash its full potential in my hands. Imagine my Haki Infusion bullets! Maybe I can even surpass Shanks and become the captain of the Red Hair Pirates. When that happens, I'll make you the vice-captain. How about that?"
Yasopp twisted Beckman's ear and gritted his teeth.
"You already blew up my sniper rifle! This one is mine, no matter what. You didn't even test it—what if it can't handle the power of Haki Infusion bullets and explodes?"
The two rolled around in the sand for over a dozen rounds before finally stopping, panting heavily.
Beckman clutched the sniper rifle, while Yasopp held onto the long-range scope.
"Yasopp! Give me that scope! How am I supposed to take down Doflamingo without it?" Beckman fumed.
"Cut the crap! If you blow this gun up too, at least I'll still have the scope to recoup some losses. This scope is crystal clear—compared to this, the one on my old sniper rifle was absolute garbage."
Lucky Roux blinked and muttered, "Yasopp, didn't you say that sniper rifle was like your wife?"
Yasopp scoffed, his eyes burning with desire as he stared at the rifle in Beckman's hands.
"The first wife's dead, and the mistress is taking over. Don't you get it, kid? Go eat your chicken leg and stay out of grown-up business."
"Yeah! Grown-up business—no meddling from brats."
Beckman grinned and slung an arm around Yasopp's neck as the two of them laughed and headed toward the plaza.
Lucky Roux looked utterly bewildered.
"What the hell are these two idiots up to?"
Beckman and Yasopp arrived at the plaza and found Pica, an executive of the Donquixote Family.
They told him to inform Doflamingo that they were ready for a fight—quickly, since the Red Hair Pirates were about to set sail and leave Totto Land.
Pica had now become the highest-ranking member of the Donquixote Family within the Beast God Pirates, second only to Doflamingo himself.
He spent most of his time on Whole Cake Island, the heart of Totto Land, tirelessly repairing buildings damaged for various reasons.
Thanks to his exceptional talents, Doflamingo had been appointed by Caesar as the Minister of Finance and Economy for the Beast God Pirates, wielding authority second only to the God-level Members.
Even King had to yield to Doflamingo now—though their responsibilities were different, so there was no strict hierarchy between them.
As for Pica, his silent diligence had greatly pleased Caesar.
Not only did Caesar occasionally guide Pica in his Haki training, but he also gifted him a small vial of his own blood and appointed Pica as the Chief Architect of the Beast God Pirates.
The other members of the Donquixote Family now looked at Pica with envy and jealousy—especially Diamante and Trebol, who were practically green with resentment.
Without a word, Pica simply nodded and walked straight into a nearby building.
When he entered, he saw Caesar and Doflamingo deep in conversation.
Pica paused, then stopped at the doorway without stepping inside.
"Doffy, things have been piling up one after another lately, and some matters haven't been dealt with in time. Now that the meeting is over, it's time for our Beast God Pirates to go full throttle and begin comprehensive planning and development."
Caesar sat imposingly in the main seat while Doflamingo lounged on the sofa to his right.
"You're absolutely right, fufufufu. To my shame, I haven't even started on building that ship I promised you, boss. The Adam wood is too scarce. I plan to send my family executives personally to the Calm Belt of the Grand Line to bring back enough timber."
Doflamingo now spoke to Caesar without any tension, completely at ease, sipping red wine between sentences.
Caesar waved his hand dismissively.
"Ah, no need to rush about that. Its just a pirate ship—let's put it aside for now. I'm not the type to obsess over ships. With our vast resources, we're not like Newgate or Roger's crews, living aboard their vessels day and night, treating ships as homes."
Doflamingo nodded in agreement, thinking this made sense.
Most pirate crews on the seas had iconic flagship vessels—like the Oro Jackson for Roger's crew, the Red Force for Red Hair's, or the Moby Dick for Whitebeard's—because these pirates spent most of their time drifting across the oceans, wandering without fixed abodes.
They developed deep attachments to their ships precisely because they treated them as homes.
But the Beast God Pirates were different, somewhat like Big Mom's and the Beasts Pirates of old. Though they had their own ships, none were particularly famous.
Because they held fixed territories, staying put for decades with rare voyages—especially now, with the Beast God Pirates controlling nearly 30% of the New World's waters.
Even Buggy's 37 islands in the Karai Bari territory had been incorporated into Totto Land.
"After some thought, I believe we should prioritize these matters first," Caesar said after consideration.
Doflamingo immediately straightened his posture.
"First, Doflamingo—pick an island. Actually, never mind, just take Candy Island near Sweet Island. Relocate the residents. That island will implement the strictest controls and be converted into a research facility."
"Find time to contact the Marines again—tell them to hurry up with delivering those Germa assets. Otherwise, we'll dispose of that captured warship. Those Marine bastards show zero sincerity—it's been days, do they not care about their subordinates' lives?"
Doflamingo nodded: "Understood, I'll reach out tonight. Captain, if you're establishing a research base, I know a promising scientist you might find interesting."
"Oh? Did you capture Vegapunk?" Caesar asked, puzzled.
Doflamingo nearly spat out his drink.
Vegapunk's in the World Government's innermost sanctum—guarded more closely than Celestial Dragons.
"No... it's the guy who developed artificial Devil Fruits—Caesar Clown. He apparently did research with Judge and Queen before."
Caesar suddenly remembered that he had heard Linlin mention this person when he first woke up.
"A few people aren't enough, Doflamingo. For research, the more technical talents the better. Do you have a way to acquire such talents? Queen, Judge, and this Caesar Clown you mentioned—we'll use these three as the core to quickly launch various technical research projects."