Queen stated his final conclusion word by word, and the body that had been toughened up through years of beatings released a special kind of aura.
He didn't have Supreme King Haki, but right now this goofy-looking, round fat man was giving off a beastlike pressure that made people instinctively feel danger.
After a series of battles, Queen had regained the courage to go out, but whenever he left his base he would definitely be fully armed. If it really came down to a fight, Doflamingo wouldn't be able to handle it.
Not to mention anything else—if Queen really went all out here, the base Doflamingo had spent years building up would be completely trashed.
"So, Joker, are you agreeing to this price, or do you have some other idea?"
"I can accept this price. It's just that, the sales rights to some of the weapons..."
"Oh? That. Handing part of that to you is fine, just keep everything the same as before. You know the rules in this area."
After all, this was an Underworld deal. Rules are for people of equal strength—when the gap is too big, only the strong get to make the rules.
Doflamingo had gotten what he wanted; he just didn't know that this part of the business was originally meant to be subcontracted to him anyway. In this field he was very capable, far better than other distributors.
"But back to the point—where's that bastard Caesar? I really need to have a nice long 'chat' with him. Oh, and some of your tricks, best not use them on us. Devil Fruit abilities aren't absolute."
After arriving here, Queen immediately sensed Violet's presence, and also figured out where that strange feeling from earlier had come from.
A normal person's Observation Haki range is limited. Those with an extra-wide sensing range are either true prodigies, or game-breaking freaks that exist just to ruin the balance.
Earlier, when he first landed, his Observation Haki range hadn't picked up Violet far off in the distance. He had sensed something odd, but that was more relying on instinct. Once he came here, it was different.
"Of course, she's just used to doing it. Pika, take Mr. Queen to find Caesar. I'll leave the rest to you to arrange."
"Got it, Doffy. Mr. Queen, this way please."
When it came to patience, Doflamingo did have some talent. Even though Queen hadn't really given him any face and was acting extremely arrogant, because of Kaidou standing behind him, Doflamingo chose to ignore it and greeted him with a big smile.
But once Queen left, he turned to Violet at his side.
"Did you see his thoughts?"
"Other than him fantasizing about how he's going to beat up Caesar, I can't see anything else at all—it's completely blank."
What Doflamingo valued wasn't just the Glare-Glare Fruit's telescope-like ability, but its other power—Mind Reading.
Regardless of whether the target was aware of it or whether they were lying, as long as she did a special gesture, the user could read whatever was currently on their mind.
She couldn't read past memories, but it was still extremely useful.
Tesoro always brought Baccarat along for business, using the Luck-Luck Fruit to accomplish certain goals. Doflamingo did the same—he would use Violet's Fruit Ability to vet his business partners.
Back then, Caesar's thoughts had been read clean by Doflamingo.
"Haki, huh... Makes sense. He is one of Kaidou's High-Level Officials after all, it's not surprising he can pull this off."
Devil Fruit abilities aren't absolute. If your Haki is strong enough, some Fruit effects get directly canceled. With Violet's current strength, it was extremely difficult for her to peek into the present Queen's mind.
"Alright, next let's see Caesar. I want to see what's going to happen."
"Understood, Doffy."
There was another reason Doflamingo had given up haggling: the quality of Caesar's "finished product." If the Fruits he'd made were truly identical to the originals, there's no way Doflamingo would have sold them at the cabbage price of two hundred million.
He'd absolutely have raised the price. But right now he had no reason to. No matter what the cost is, as long as something can generate value, it can be sold at a high price.
It's just that the times had changed.
In the original timeline, Kaidou had no choice. Even if Caesar's stuff was trash, Kaidou could only make do with it—no one else was producing this kind of thing at all.
But as everyone knew, under Kaidou there was a whole crowd of Zoan Mythical-type users, and their numbers kept increasing. In that situation, Caesar's work had become pretty tasteless—if he could sell some and strengthen a connection, he was already satisfied.
At the root of it, Caesar just wasn't good enough. If Queen really wanted to teach him a lesson, Doflamingo wouldn't mind watching from the side and eating popcorn.
...
"Why the hell are you here, you bastard?!"
In what Doflamingo called the "conference hall," Caesar ran into someone he really didn't want to see.
He'd always thought this place was a venue for celebrations—he never expected Queen to be here.
"Why am I here? You piece of trash, don't tell me you forgot who you're doing this deal with?"
"Who are you calling trash?"
"I'm calling you trash. Looks like Joker didn't tell you that one of the terms of our deal was that I get to beat you up."
"Did you forget how I taught you a lesson back then, you bastard? Queen, others might not know what you're really worth, but you think I don't?"
The two had had issues ever since the MADS days. At the beginning, Queen really wasn't Caesar's match and suffered quite a few losses, all because Caesar was a Logia-type user. That power in the early stages was basically a bug—most people really had no way to deal with it.
Although gas wasn't some element that couldn't be countered and Queen could use certain gadgets to hit his real body, Logia-types still had a massive advantage.
"Muhahaha, you're really bringing up crap from over thirty years ago? You think it's still back then?"
A series of clacking sounds came from Queen's hand. His mechanical arm had a few odd devices built into it, and one of their functions was to make these loud clenching noises when he made a fist.
"But there's something I should show you first. Harper, Rory, this guy is the original maker of your 'abilities.' Let him have a look at what you two can do."
Looking at the two ordinary-looking people beside Queen, Caesar didn't understand what Queen was getting at—until the two of them entered their Human-Beast Forms. Only then did a trace of shock appear on his face, which in the very next moment turned into joy.
"This great me just needs to slightly—"
"Shurorororo, I really did succeed! I'm the real genius here!"
"What the hell are you babbling about?"
Caesar ignored Queen, instead rushing over to Harper and Rory, touching here and there, even making them do some coordinated movements, as if he were recording data.
"Isn't it obvious? My replicated Devil Fruits worked! Look at these perfect bodies. That guy Vegapunk never created this many Devil Fruits, right? Shurorororo, I really am a genius."