Chapter 1206: The Employer and Performance

The transparent strings connect to the clouds in the sky, the String-String Fruit’s power allows Doflamingo to entangle with Smoker in the sky as if flying. Rather than a fight, it’s more like a play.

Since the start of the battle, Smoker hasn’t been able to land any effective attacks on Doflamingo, yet every attack from Doflamingo brings forth a large cloud of smoke, and Smoker’s body gets sliced by the strings, leaving two bloody wounds.

Under Smoker’s usage, the Smoke-Smoke Fruit is merely used for evading attacks, it can also enable flying and adding more impact to punches, but it hasn’t brought out the true characteristics of smoke.

When dealing with Devil Fruit users, he heavily relies on his Seastone jutte, but during the earlier battle with Vergo, Smoker’s jutte was already broken.

Being a Devil Fruit user himself, Smoker can’t touch the Seastone section directly, further weakening his attack strength.

The G5 Navy wanted to help, but under Doflamingo’s command, their numbers were nothing more than toys, and as the Parasitic Strings rained down from the sky, the G5 Navy started fighting amongst themselves.

The G5 Navy tried to help but appeared powerless, and the Navy near the coastline noticed a strange figure on the sea.

Amidst the fierce sea breeze, the sound of gears turning seemed to mix in, with faint sounds of metal chains nearing their limits.

Before this marine could react, a bicycle suddenly appeared beside him.

“Look after it for me, make sure it doesn’t get damaged.”

Looking at the girl-pink painted bicycle, the G5 Navy seemed puzzled. This tone, the habit of cycling across the sea, in his memory, only one person does this.

At the same time, Doflamingo’s body stiffened.

“Ah la la, excuse me, little fellow, could you move aside? That guy is my friend, you know.”

Kuzan sighed, the heat from his body instantly turned into white fog in the cold environment of Punk Hazard, adding a layer of frost to Kuzan’s face.

As long as Doflamingo dared to act, he could stop Doflamingo directly before his attack was launched.

“I… it’s the former… former Admiral, Aokiji!”

“Didn’t he disappear after fighting with Marshal Akainu? How could he be here…”

To this day, the Navy and the World Government still haven’t announced through official channels that Kuzan has become a pirate.

They recently conducted a global recruitment campaign, supplementing a large number of troops.

If they turn around and tell others that our former Admiral has become a pirate, it would be very humiliating.

However, lack of an official channel doesn’t mean there aren’t unofficial rumors, especially at this moment, when the marine tasked by Kuzan to watch the bicycle approached.

As the Navy stationed in the New World, the emblem on the bike’s front was too conspicuous.

“It seems… the rumor is true, Admiral Aokiji really… became a pirate…”

Under the gaze of a group of G5 Navy marines, Doflamingo’s hand preparing for an attack didn’t lower, his attention shifted to Kuzan, and Doflamingo didn’t know what Kuzan intended to do.

“Ku ku ku ku ku, former Admiral Kuzan, if I recall correctly, haven’t you already found a new employer?”

Ordinary soldiers weren’t clear about what Kuzan was doing, but the Navy’s higher-ups, and people like Doflamingo who are originally intelligence peddlers, clearly understood Kuzan’s current allegiance.

Strictly speaking, Doflamingo and Kuzan are almost in the same camp, so this time Doflamingo didn’t try to act in front of Kuzan.

“So you can still stand here and continue talking to me. I said, that guy is my friend, you can try touching him and see.”

Hearing Kuzan’s threatening words, Doflamingo’s heart was unperturbed, continuing his unapproachable stride behind Kuzan, elegantly demonstrating what it means to admit defeat.

“I don’t want to fight with you, but if I can’t shut that man’s mouth, my action plans will also change.”

To sum up, your fists are bigger, you have the final say, I can’t afford to mess with you.

“Plan? So causing such a big mess with the Quake-Quake Fruit, is it also part of your plan?”

“Chaos breeds opportunity, only a turbulent sea offers more choices, doesn’t it?”

“Then you better be prepared, that young lady has come to join the fun.”

Upon hearing this, Doflamingo’s steps paused. The person Kuzan could call a young lady in this situation can only be her.

“Ku ku ku ku ku, I didn’t expect it, truly an incredible figure… baby-5, Buffalo, let’s go!”

Doflamingo initially thought the Hundred Beasts would just casually send a few officers, but unexpectedly a major one showed up, it seems not only plans here, even the plans for Dressrosa need rearrangement.

Buffalo’s hair started spinning like a propeller, taking Doflamingo off the island, while Kuzan spoke to the G5 Navy marines.

“Hey, don’t just stand there like idiots, where’s the medic? Hurry and treat him!”

“Ah… yes!”

“Also, who’s responsible for maintaining the battleships? Give me a quick fix on that bicycle!”

“Yes!”

Kuzan’s original destination was G5, intending to check on his old friend Smoker. After discovering no one there and hearing that Smoker had once again violated orders to act on his own, Kuzan headed this way.

The journey was a mystery as well, but the bicycle was running at full capacity, and the gears and chain needed minor repairs at this point.

Though Kuzan was no longer with the Navy, the soldiers instinctively followed his arrangements in the situation where Smoker had fallen.

There were many rumors about Kuzan’s allegiance, but judging from his recent actions, he seemed to still be one of them.

…

“Admiral Aokiji? Are those rumors really…”

The medic was treating Smoker’s wounds, and at this moment, Smoker addressed Kuzan with a rather formal title.

“Aokiji… quite an old title. I never viewed the World Government as my everything. Even as a civilian, there are things I can do. In fact, some things become clearer when you’re not with the Navy. With your character, you won’t keep this hidden, but let me give you a piece of advice—without an Admiral, don’t expect to meddle in the upcoming affairs.”

In the end, he’s a rebel of the Navy, spending too much time with the active Vice Admiral Smoker was bound to stir criticism; once certain Smoker was out of danger, Kuzan prepared to leave.

Before leaving, he praised the maintenance level of the G5 Navy. Then, he sailed toward the other side of the Sea, not towards Dressrosa, but another island.

…

The next day, at the World Economic News Agency, it was unknown who had the worst headache now, but Morgans was certainly the most excited person, as today’s news would again shake the world.

“Let’s see, Doflamingo quits the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Death Surgeon Trafalgar Law and Straw Hat Luffy form an alliance, plenty of news today.”

Doflamingo used his secrets to strike an additional deal with the Five Elders, releasing the fake news of his withdrawal from the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

But the Seven Warlords of the Sea is an organization appointed by the World Government, which can bypass the Navy and arrange the Warlords directly, so only the Five Elders know the specifics.

As someone who’s responsible only for reporting and loves making things big, Morgans doesn’t care about the truth, as long as it’s a big event, it’s enough.

“By the way, haven’t you contacted Absa yet? It’s a pity someone like him isn’t under my wing as a reporter. He has a talent for journalism; only the news industry can let him shine!”

“No, President, he still declined our invitation, stating that he only wants to be a freelance writer.”

Absa, a freelance writer making a small name for himself in the news world these past two years, is actually Absalom next to Moriah, who is still faithfully supporting the fallen Moriah.

Using his Clear-Clear Fruit ability, he frequently sneaks into various places to steal secrets, accumulating a wealth of news and gossip, even gaining Morgans’ admiration.

“It’s too bad, his talent for digging intel is top-notch… The young from the Worst Generation aren’t behaving either, making alliances one after another.”

Looking at the documents in his hands, Morgans started working on the layout for the follow-up newspaper.

As a newsman, Morgans has a fondness for Absalom the paparazzo, but those who’ve had their secrets exposed feel differently.

“Why? We just formed an alliance a few days ago, how did this news get out!”

On an island in the New World, Kid, missing an arm, looked at the newspaper report in confusion.

Recently, his Kid Pirates, along with the Broadcast Pirates and the Hawkins Pirates, formed an alliance. None of the three pirate crews had left, yet the news still got published.

Of course, there was much he didn’t know, like how both Apoo and Hawkins were valued recruits under Queen due to their special talents.

Since they spent most of their time DJing and fortune-telling, the outside world had no clue these two pirate crews had become subordinates of the Hundred Beasts.

The reason they appeared here together is that Queen now spent all his time nesting in the Reversed World building a safe house. With Queen absent, their importance dramatically decreased, and due to lackluster performance, they were overlooked.

To salvage the situation, as newcomers who joined simultaneously, they instinctively began warming up to each other to boost their performance, choosing Kid as their target.

High bounty, reckless, doesn’t seem too bright—these sort of people are excellent miners.

“Are you sure this guy can boost our performance?”

“That’s the fortune’s result, Lord Queen believes it, why are you unsatisfied?”

Unable to refute Hawkins’ reason, Apoo chose to believe, and as they planned how to set up Kid, at the Navy Headquarters, Brannew was already preparing for a meeting…