Shakky let out a soft chuckle, her eyes curving like crescent moons.
"So, you're admitting they're part of the 'Four Emperors' now…? Since I've been secretly working with them, I might end up being seen as one of their allies too. You'd better protect me, you know~."
"With your strength, ordinary Marines or bounty hunters couldn't even touch you," Rayleigh said as he stood up, tossing a wanted poster onto the table. "I'm off to work."
He turned and walked out of the bar, his steps light and unhurried.
Shakky watched his departing back and murmured with a small smile,
"Someone's in a pretty good mood today."
Rayleigh made his way toward the coated harbor. Images of Davy Jones flashed through his mind—followed by Buggy and Hachi.
"Let me see then... You who scoff at 'Joy Boy' and the treasure Roger left behind—can you truly reach the pinnacle of this sea?"
A convoy of enormous, strangely shaped snails was slowly but steadily crawling up the sheer cliffs of the Red Line.
Upon the backs of these giant snails stood a towering castle, lifted high by their combined effort—the inhabitants resided within its walls.
Such an amphibious snail fleet could belong only to one group obsessed with "technology"—the assassin army known as Germa 66.
When these snail ships gathered, they formed an entire nation—the Kingdom of Germa.
Most people who spotted them from afar would flee in terror, not daring to provoke disaster.
But now, inside the main fortress of the snail fleet, the once high-spirited Vinsmoke family had fallen into an uneasy silence.
They were afraid.
At last, the three brothers—Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji—broke the stillness, whispering nervously among themselves.
"Silence!"
The family's patriarch and commander, Vinsmoke Judge, roared the word, silencing his sons at once.
After berating his three foolish boys, Judge himself looked uneasy. His gaze drifted toward his daughter, Reiju.
Reiju's expression shifted several times as she looked over the newspaper and bounty posters detailing the Davy Jones Pirates. Finally, she sighed and sank into a nearby chair.
"Father," she said, brushing aside her pink bangs, "I recommend we turn back immediately."
"Turn back?" Judge frowned. "We of Germa are a kingdom that roams the seas. Where exactly do we 'return' to?"
Reiju leaned forward, agitated.
"But we can't be Big Mom's spear, striking at a sea monster like the 'Deep Sea King '!"
Judge was still reluctant to retreat.
"Big Mom promised me—if we kill a member of Davy Jones' crew, we'll receive double the bounty. If we kill Crocodile or Jinbe, the two top officers, triple."
Reiju shook her head.
"The price of that blood money is far too high for Germa 66 to bear."
If they really went through with this assassination, one of her siblings—or all of them—would surely die. And the chances of success were slim.
When they agreed to this job, they hadn't known the Davy Jones Pirates were monsters—the kind who could even bring down Admiral Akainu.
Reiju now realized they had been deceived by Big Mom.
Judge still refused to let go of his ambition.
"If we can kill Davy Jones himself, Big Mom promised to help me restore the Kingdom of Germa in the North Blue—to return us to glory."
"Father, Davy Jones is not someone we can afford to provoke!" Reiju pleaded.
"He's already showing signs of becoming one of the new Four Emperors! Even harming one of his officers would bring endless vengeance upon us."
Judge twirled his pointed mustache thoughtfully.
"And yet—can we afford to defy Big Mom? Breaking our word would humiliate her."
Reiju blinked, then lowered her gaze, thinking for a moment before speaking.
"Father… I believe Big Mom and Davy Jones are destined to clash. There's no need for us to rush our choice."
Judge's eyes gleamed.
"You mean… to wait and see?"
As he thought it through, the idea grew more appealing. He nodded repeatedly.
"Yes… we'll act like we're preparing to assassinate them, but won't actually do it."
Reiju smiled faintly.
"Exactly. Whoever looks close to winning—we side with them. Whoever's losing—we stab in the back."
Judge slammed a hand on the table and stood up.
"Excellent! We'll proceed with my plan then. Reiju, Ichiji, Niji, Yonji—listen well! No one is to act without orders!"
"Yes, Father!"
Reiju didn't mind that her father was taking all the credit. She simply nodded along with her three brothers.
New World — Dressrosa.
Click.
Doflamingo closed the transponder snail and tossed it aside. Sitting in the darkened room with the curtains drawn, his face twisted in fury as he stared up at the ceiling.
Davy Jones' seizure of Punk Hazard was disastrous news.
From the very moment Monet had called to say they would use the island's poison gas to wipe out both the Marines and the Davy Jones Pirates in one stroke, Doflamingo had felt uneasy.
It was never a solid plan—but there had been no other choice. Exposure would have doomed the operation anyway.
And now, Vergo and the others had gone silent—almost certainly dead.
The deaths of Vergo, Monet, and Caesar meant the collapse of his artificial Devil Fruit factory—barely completed and already lost.
Vergo's death was especially problematic; as a Marine, his exposure would lead Headquarters straight to Doflamingo's network.
But none of that compared to the true disaster—the furious phone call he had just received from Kaido of the Beasts.
Doflamingo, former Celestial Dragon, current Warlord of the Sea, and the "Joker" of the underworld—yet he couldn't talk back at all.
Kaido had already paid a massive deposit for those artificial fruits, and Doflamingo could no longer deliver the goods.
To placate Kaido, he was forced to make huge concessions, bleeding profits to avoid immediate destruction.
When the call finally ended, Doflamingo's rage only grew.
He regretted it bitterly—back at Marineford, he should have done more than simply watch like Mihawk.
He should have struck down Davy Jones then.
If all the Warlords and the three Admirals had joined forces, they could have killed him easily.
But now, it was too late. Davy Jones had gathered strength. Even Akainu had fallen to him.
The Donquixote Family was nothing in comparison now—barely an afterthought to such a power.
And Doflamingo knew it might only be a matter of time before he himself was targeted.
"A new Emperor…" he muttered, eyes tracing the patterns on the ceiling.
"Something I've built toward for over twenty years… and he takes it so easily."
He clenched his teeth, unwilling to accept it.
"If the reports are true, Big Mom's son Snack was killed by one of Davy Jones' men… That's something I can use."
"Big Mom won't let that go."
Doflamingo sat up straight. With a twist of his fingers, a Den Den Mushi floated into his hand.
"If I can fan the flames of this war… and sell my weapons to Big Mom… I'll have my chance to rise again."
New World — The land that was once Whitebeard's home, and his resting place.
The eighth division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Namur the fish-man, hurried into the base, shoulders hunched.
"Ace! Marco!" he called out, excitement in his voice—so different from the grim expressions of the two men inside.
Ace composed himself and gestured for Namur to sit.
"You said you found it? You found where Father's soul went?"
Namur nodded.
"After the Marineford War, the seas around Beehive Island have been haunted by countless spirits."
"Any human who sails there is dragged into the depths and drowned instantly. The area has become known as the Sea of the Dead."
He looked up at them both.
"I believe… that after the war, Father's soul must have gone there."