Kaido's silence made the atmosphere unbearably heavy.
Every Donquixote Family executive swallowed nervously.
After all, the person on the other end of the Den Den Mushi was none other than Kaido of the Four Emperors — a tyrannical sea ruler infamous for never listening to reason.
If negotiations failed here, the Beasts Pirates' fleet could descend upon Dressrosa at any moment.
And once that happened, an all-out war would be unavoidable.
Just the thought of going to war against one of the Four Emperors made even Doflamingo break out in cold sweat.
If Doflamingo had known artificial Devil Fruits would bring this much trouble, he never would have touched the project in the first place.
After all, in this world he had never officially partnered with Kaido like in the original story.
His cooperation had only been with people like Jack and the Mammoth Pirates.
While Jack's forces were certainly powerful, they were still nowhere near comparable to Kaido himself.
"…Rosinante," Kaido's voice finally came through after a long silence.
"This time…"
"I'll give you face."
The Donquixote Family executives all let out deep sighs of relief.
At the same time, however, they were utterly stunned.
To them, Kaido's response was simply unbelievable.
In the New World, Kaido was notorious for being unreasonable.
Making him back down was harder than ascending to heaven itself.
Yet not only had Rosinante beaten Kaido's subordinate and humiliated him…
Kaido was still willing to say he'd "give him face."
They simply couldn't imagine how much influence Rosinante truly possessed for Kaido to compromise like this.
What they didn't know was that Kaido's concession wasn't merely because he personally understood Rosinante's strength.
It was also because of Rosinante's record from ten years ago.
Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino aside—
There had also been Sengoku, Garp, Kong, and even one of the Five Elders.
Those were beings who stood at the absolute peak of the world.
If Kaido only had to face one of them, he wouldn't fear anyone.
But if all of them surrounded him together?
Even Kaido would avoid that situation.
Yet ten years ago, Rosinante had fought those monsters on equal footing.
According to rumors, if the World Government hadn't resorted to underhanded schemes at the end, they might not even have been able to take Rosinante down.
That alone proved Rosinante's strength may very well have surpassed even Kaido's.
Of course, Kaido was never someone who feared battle.
But there was also no need to completely fall out with Rosinante over this matter.
"Rosinante," Kaido suddenly said again.
"How about joining forces?"
"Once you reunite the Gray Kingdom…"
"We'll launch the greatest war in history together."
"We'll slaughter our way onto the Red Line itself."
"You must hate the World Government to the bone, don't you?"
"Ten years ago, if they hadn't suddenly attacked you…"
"If they hadn't schemed against you…"
"You wouldn't have disappeared for ten years."
"And the Gray Kingdom would never have fallen apart."
"So come with me."
"Let's overturn this entire world together."
"Hah…" Rosinante laughed softly.
"Are you really Kaido?"
"The Kaido I know isn't the type to cooperate with others."
"But I'll have to decline your kind offer."
"I have no intention of rebuilding the Gray Kingdom."
"And as for the Red Line…"
"I already visited it once."
"Actually, not too long ago."
"I already fought Kong, Sengoku, and Garp there."
"Consider it settling the score from back then."
"But if you truly plan on starting a war…"
"I should still warn you to be careful."
"Besides the World Government's visible and hidden military forces…"
"They also possess some terrifying weapons."
"Even you would likely suffer badly against those things."
"Hehehehe… interesting!" Kaido laughed excitedly.
"So ten years of silence haven't weakened you at all."
"Come fight me, Rosinante!"
"No interest," Rosinante replied immediately.
"I still need to visit old man Whitebeard."
"As for the artificial Devil Fruits…"
"You can negotiate with Doffy directly."
"I already promised him I'd smooth things over with you."
"So don't make things difficult for me."
As he spoke, Rosinante tossed the Den Den Mushi to Doflamingo, waved casually, and left directly.
Rosinante had no interest in how Doflamingo and Kaido negotiated afterward.
Instead, he simply wandered around Dressrosa sightseeing.
Dressrosa was known as the Kingdom of Love, Passion, and Toys.
As he walked through the streets, Rosinante saw several toy people moving about.
Naturally, he knew this was due to Sugar's Devil Fruit ability.
However, Rosinante noticed that the number of toy people wasn't particularly large.
And from many of them, he could sense fierce and battle-hardened auras.
Clearly, most of them had once been pirates or Dressrosa soldiers and warriors.
Doflamingo turning such people into toys in order to maintain control was understandable enough.
Perhaps due to the influence of the Gray Kingdom and Rosinante himself, Doflamingo still hadn't transformed ordinary civilians into toys.
At least not yet.
So Rosinante had no intention of meddling in Dressrosa's internal affairs.
Just as Rosinante was leisurely enjoying his tour through Dressrosa, members of the Donquixote Family finally found him.
Whitebeard's location had been discovered.
Thus, Rosinante returned to the royal palace and had Doflamingo prepare ten barrels of excellent liquor for him.
Then—
Carrying those ten barrels of fine alcohol, Rosinante departed from Dressrosa.