On the turbulent seas of the Grand Line.
The waves roared like savage beasts, their frothy crests boiling and churning as fierce winds swept across the water, whipping up blinding sprays of seawater.
Through the chaos, a single ship sailed steadily onward, cleaving through the waves and leaving a shimmering trail in its wake.
Suddenly, a loud, strangled voice shattered the relative quiet aboard the vessel.
"Mihawk!!!"
Doflamingo was panting slightly, his voice brimming with a shock so profound it bordered on disbelief.
And no one could blame him.
After all, "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk had always been the ultimate lone wolf among the Seven Warlords.
He looked down on the rest of them, dedicating himself solely to the way of the sword, completely indifferent to their power games and petty struggles.
But now… Mihawk was with Crocodile?
And from the sound of it, he also had some kind of connection to Captain Mike.
What in the world was going on?!
A wild, exhilarating thought sparked in Doflamingo's mind.
'Could it be… that even the great Mihawk… has boarded Captain Mike's so-called 'pirate ship'?'
Suspicion and excitement warred in his mind.
If his guess was correct, then counting himself, Captain Mike's new faction already included three of the Seven Warlords.
Three!
There were only seven in total!
And when you added in Admiral like Kuzan… what was this?
Were they trying to destroy the World Government from the inside?
'Fufufufufu!'
It seemed he hadn't just joined some measly little crew.
He had stumbled onto a colossal, unstoppable juggernaut.
A ship destined to stir up waves so massive they would reshape the entire ocean!
"Doflamingo, how exactly did you get involved with that kid Mike?" Mihawk's cool, cutting voice came through the Den Den Mushi again, interrupting Doflamingo's manic thoughts.
Mihawk was genuinely curious.
Knowing Mike's lazy temperament, he couldn't imagine him actively picking a fight with a troublemaker like Doflamingo.
"..."
Doflamingo fell silent, staring at the snail-phone in his hand.
He knew that if he wanted a seat on this new towering ship, he had to come clean.
He had to explain exactly how he knew Captain Mike.
But the memory of his utter and complete defeat… it was humiliating.
"Sigh… here's what happened…" Doflamingo let out a soft sigh, resigning himself to tell the truth.
He began to recount the entire story of what happened in Mock Town, holding nothing back.
He told them about the frozen town, about Kuzan, and even the most shameful part—the moment his proud Conqueror's Haki had been effortlessly crushed by a single glance from Mike.
"..."
"Guhahahaha!" Crocodile's mocking laughter suddenly burst from the Den Den Mushi, dripping with absolute glee.
"How pathetic, Doflamingo!" he crowed, conveniently forgetting how he himself had been "persuaded" by Mike and Kuzan just a short time ago.
Doflamingo's face instantly darkened.
"Crocodile!" he snarled.
"Enough," Mihawk's calm voice cut in. "Neither of you has any right to boast."
A hint of amusement appear in his tone.
'These two,' he thought, 'both thoroughly beaten into submission by Mike, are now pointing fingers at each other?'
'How laughable.'
"Let's set this matter aside," Mihawk continued, his voice turning more serious.
"We should discuss how the three of us are going to cooperate. An alliance between three Warlords is something that should be discussed face-to-face."
"Fine," Doflamingo said, his voice calm once more.
"Then… I'll see you in Alabasta."
"See you in Alabasta," Crocodile echoed.
The mockery was over.
It was time to get serious and carry out Captain Mike's orders.
*****
Inside the Ryugu Palace.
The opulent hall was unusually quiet.
The eyes of both Whitebeard and King Neptune were glued to the two chests of glittering gold, as if the very air had frozen at the sight of them.
"This gold…" Neptune spoke slowly, his voice tinged with puzzlement.
"Some of these coins are quite old." As a king, he knew his treasure.
He bent down and ran his fingers over the gold.
"It's definitely high-quality… but…"
"Kid, Trillions of Belly?" Whitebeard finished the thought, his deep voice rumbling.
"That seems a bit excessive."
Having sailed the seas for decades, he could size up a treasure hoard at a glance.
"These two chests are worth a few dozen billion, at most."
"Hah—"
Upon hearing this, Mike let out a light chuckle with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
He didn't answer directly.
Instead, he turned and pointed a thumb toward the docks, where the colossal, dark shape of the Nautilus was anchored.
His tone was calm, yet the words he spoke were anything but.
"Gold like this..." he paused, a faint, confident smile on his lips.
"I have…"
"A whole submarine full of it."
"???"
"!!!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the air seemed to turn solid.
Neptune was stunned speechless, his mouth hanging slightly open.
Whitebeard's brows furrowed, an uncharacteristically surprised expression on his face.
His gaze followed Mike's finger to the behemoth floating at the pier.
A whole submarine's worth of gold.
And not just any submarine, but a deep-sea leviathan.
No wonder the estimate was in the trillions.
'A trillion Belly…'
The number was so vast it was hard to even comprehend.
As one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard's own bounty was a staggering 5 billion.
The Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, was worth a little more.
Combined, their bounties didn't even come close to a 15 billion.
A trillion was a fortune that could fund entire nations, build unstoppable armies, and completely shatter the world's balance of power.
'So this is why Kuzan was so confident', Whitebeard thought, a sense of unprecedented awe washing over him.
'With this kind of money, the World Government's control over the Navy means nothing.'
"Kid…" he murmured, the name feeling heavier than ever before.
"This money…"
"Whitebeard," Mike said with a faint smile, "a trillion Belly is nothing worth mentioning."
His tone suddenly shifted, his gaze becoming sharp and intense as he looked at the two kings before him.
"Now, let's talk about the greatest treasure on these seas."
"Let's talk about the 'Deep-Sea Gold Rush Project'!"
----------------------------
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