On their next visit to the Royal Plateau, Yami found Doflamingo waiting at the door.
"Something delayed me on the way. Sorry to keep you waiting, Joker!"
Yami handed the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia back to Doflamingo and smiled. "Thanks for the book. I brought all the gold."
As he spoke, a great heap of gold ornaments and fused gold spheres drifted down from the air like feathers.
"Fufufufu… let Diamante handle those. I didn't get to play host last time. Let me do it properly today."
Diamante's eyes were already wide, mentally tallying the total value of the mountain of gold.
Doflamingo only spared the pile a glance before withdrawing his gaze and warmly inviting Yami's party into the villa.
It was as if entertaining Yami's group mattered more than the value of the gold.
Behind the courtesy was his real thinking.
That unbelievable hunch needed confirmation.
News that Catarina Devon had been seized by a Door-Door Fruit user reached the Marines and the World Government, causing quite a stir among Marine HQ and CP brass.
Even the Five Elders felt a chill and a sense of helplessness.
Like the Push-Push Fruit, the Door-Door Fruit is another ability Impel Down can't truly counter.
Even with an in-house user of pocket dimensions, you can't post them at Infinite Hell twenty-four hours a day.
So that iron fortress is meaningless against certain unsolvable abilities.
Fortunately, that Door-Door Fruit user took only Catarina Devon.
If they had removed every inmate on Level Six, the seas would plunge into unprecedented chaos.
Having received the news from Vergo, Doflamingo not only instantly concluded that Yami possessed a method to seize Devil Fruits, he also sensed that behind this strongest rookie in history stood an unknown power.
The Door-Door Fruit user was a member of that power.
Think it through. If they have a way to take Devil Fruits, they must already be hunting in secret, cultivating a unit of ability users in the shadows.
Doflamingo immediately moved Yami to the highest threat tier, no less than Kaidō.
Hence the enthusiasm now.
Seeing Doflamingo's clear change in attitude, Yami paused.
Then he recalled that chat with Carina the other day and understood why Doflamingo had shifted so much.
Yami smiled and nodded. "Alright, I'll trouble you then."
Leaving the gold out front of the Royal Plateau gates, Yami didn't have Carina and the others stay behind to watch Diamante. He followed Doflamingo into the villa.
Even if Diamante had ten thousand times the nerve, he wouldn't dare skim a thing.
No one knew whether Yami's party had already weighed it.
Everything was coated in Float-Float force. Unless the user blacked out, any little tricks would be pointless.
So both sides were perfectly content to let Diamante handle it.
Because Yami's arrival was sudden, the banquet was still being prepared.
Doflamingo took them to the receiving room.
"The New World map and power-distribution chart you asked for, and the Haki Handbook."
No sooner had they sat down than Doflamingo produced a prepared diary and a roll of parchment and handed them to Yami.
"Thanks. These are very important to me."
Yami took them and, without inspecting them, passed them back to Carina and the others.
That show of trust pleased Doflamingo.
Not only did he value Yami, Yami clearly valued him.
All the better for clinging to a thick thigh.
Yami seemed easy to get along with, not moody like Kaidō.
If Doflamingo could latch on, perhaps he wouldn't have to fear the Beasts Pirates in the future.
Doflamingo's familiar wicked grin returned. "Fufufufu… mere trifles. I've got a bit of a name in the New World and the underworld, a decent broker. If you need anything and can't find it on the black market, you can always come to Dressrosa for me."
"In that case, I won't be shy in the future."
That was exactly what Yami wanted to hear.
He rolled up his sleeve to reveal the Den-Den Mushi on his wrist and smiled. "Let's exchange numbers. Left in a rush last time and forgot."
"No problem. My pleasure."
Doflamingo used the String-String Fruit to curl up a Den-Den Mushi, and the two exchanged contacts.
With a line of contact, it would be easier to warm things up.
In high spirits, Doflamingo quickly sent over a generous gift.
Diamante came in from outside and handed Doflamingo a document. "Doffy, the gold's weighed. Total mass is 8,820,000 grams."
"Fufufufu… round it off. Call it nine tons."
Doflamingo took the sheet, didn't even look at it, and passed it to Yami. Then he asked with a smile, "Diamante, what's today's price of gold?"
"8,335 beli per gram," Diamante replied.
"Round that too. Make it 9,000 beli a gram."
The atmosphere he exuded stunned even without Conqueror's Haki; to Carina and Nami it felt more imposing than when Master raised his Conqueror's.
To them, Doflamingo was glowing gold head to toe—handsome just shy of Master.
"Understood."
Diamante felt a jolt as well, not sure why Doflamingo was being so generous.
But on the surface he kept calm. "Nine million grams at 9,000 beli per gram comes to eighty-one billion beli."
Carina and Nami, tough as they were, still drew sharp breaths, doing their bit for global warming.
Never in their lives had they seen so much money.
If they weren't afraid of embarrassing Yami, they'd have jumped for joy on the spot.
Yami, however, frowned slightly. "Joker, what do you mean? Didn't we say last time you'd help me with a few things and I'd sell the gold to you at a discount? Why raise the price on me?"
"Fufufufu… don't misunderstand, my friend. I'm not raising it. That's the discounted price."
Doflamingo wagged a finger and smiled. "Since you're my friend, I won't hide it."
"I know a man with absurd wealth who's buying gold in unlimited quantities. The price just jumped a bracket because of him."
"The more you sell, the higher he'll pay."
"I'm just the broker. I take shipments by the batch and flip them to him. Then I pocket not only the difference from volume pricing, but also a huge broker's fee and a favor."
"So this isn't me hiking it; it's a super discount. I'm making a killing."
Carina and the others all suddenly understood.
Yami looked at Doflamingo with clear appreciation.
As expected of the greatest dealmaker among pirates—effortlessly eating three birds with one stone.
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