"The Pirates Expo?" Ren looked at the invitation card that Yukiko had brought him, feeling a bit surprised.
He certainly knew of the Pirates Expo's existence. This event had appeared twice in the original story's movies, and the second time even involved clues to the location of Laugh Tale.
However, Ren had no interest whatsoever in this kind of gathering among pirates. He was only wanted by the World Government as a pirate — it wasn't as if he actually planned to become one.
He was simply surprised that this event's history went back this far.
"I heard the total bounties of the pirates attending the Expo add up to over ten billion already," Yukiko said.
Ten billion Beri was no small sum — even a large pirate crew could spend that for a very long time.
But this also reflected the fact that this pirate extravaganza didn't really have many truly top-tier pirates. In this current era, the New World was in chaos, and the bounties of those great pirates were rising wildly.
Inazuma's bounty growth had been relatively slow due to keeping a low profile. But someone like Shiki's bounty increased substantially every so often.
Shiki's current bounty had already surpassed three billion Beri. His alone accounted for a third of the Expo's total bounty pool.
Ten billion really just sounded intimidating — the ones actually attending were mostly small fry.
At most, the big pirates might send their subordinates to take a look, barely counting as experience.
"Should we attend?" Yukiko asked.
"No need. We have more important things to do."
But after some thought, Ren figured sending some people might not be a bad idea. Perhaps they'd find something interesting at the Expo.
"Why don't you take Moli along to see it — she might be interested," Ren said.
In terms of strength alone, Moli was more than enough to handle any unexpected incidents at the Expo. But having lived at the Daimyo's estate for so long, she might be a bit too naive.
Yukiko had been through far more. She had been running all over Wano Country back when Kuri was first being built, and now she'd spent many years overseas — she was well-traveled and experienced.
Yukiko nodded. "If there are any decent Devil Fruits, I'll find a way to bring them back."
After all, it was an Expo, not a pirate war, so transactions between pirates were quite likely. While competition was unavoidable, most pirates wouldn't dare make a move the moment they saw Inazuma's flag.
As for Yukiko's "way" — as a businesswoman, she naturally meant paying with Beri. Of course, if she ran into someone who wouldn't listen to reason, she wouldn't mind using force to take what she wanted.
Everyone there was a pirate anyway.
Ren didn't involve himself in this matter. He had more important things to do.
Through his deep research into Pluton, Ren had discovered just how terrifying ancient technology could be. This gave him some interest in the Poneglyphs as well.
The red Poneglyphs were road signs to Laugh Tale, which he didn't care much about. But the ordinary Poneglyphs — beyond the portions recording history — likely also contained the power of technology.
When he first started reading One Piece, Ren couldn't understand why Crocodile pursued the power of Pluton. Now it seemed that guy actually had good judgment — he went straight for the correct answer that came after several versions.
Because of this, Ren had also developed the idea of deciphering ancient technology. To do that, he first needed to learn the ancient language.
However, he had no intention of relocating the Tree of Omniscience. Doing so would be far too conspicuous, and Ren wasn't ready to become a direct enemy of the government. He simply had Loska infiltrate the Tree of Omniscience and used the power of the Paper-Paper Fruit to copy all the documents inside.
Obtaining this knowledge was one part of his plan. Beyond that, he also needed to add a few new members to the Kuri daycare.
Currently, the little brats he had there were Iris, Buggy, Enel, and Felicia, who had only recently been sent over. This time, Ren's target was the future Heavenly Yaksha — Donquixote Doflamingo.
In Ren's view, Doflamingo's strength was nothing special. What he valued more was his business acumen. The fact that he could occupy such a high position in the underworld meant that Doflamingo would at least be quite useful.
It would also work out perfectly to have him serve as the puppet among the eleven Executives later on.
"Damn it, damn it! How dare they refuse my request!" A ten-year-old Doflamingo furiously kicked a head aside, his entire face twisted with violent rage.
And that head he kicked away was none other than his own biological father's!
Several months ago, after Doflamingo's Supreme King's Haki awakened and he was discovered by Trebol, he received the Ito Ito no Mi from him.
After gaining this power, Doflamingo — in order to return to his formerly exalted life — shot his own father, the man responsible for all the tragedy, and attempted to trade his head for the Celestial Dragon status he had lost.
But obviously, he was refused.
"Damn it, it's all your fault! All because of you! Who told you to foolishly give up those privileges!"
He vented all his pent-up rage on his already-dead father, frantically stomping on the nearly rotting head.
At this moment, he didn't look like a child — he looked more like a demon!
But this was completely futile. Doflamingo glared at the world with hatred, and a thought suddenly took root in his heart — to overthrow this entire world.
Since those people couldn't make him a Celestial Dragon again, then he would simply destroy them all!
Having never been truly beaten down by a real powerhouse, Doflamingo believed himself to be the chosen one. He planned to return to the North Blue right now, find his younger brother Rosinante, and form a pirate crew to oppose the World Government!
If he couldn't become the noblest of people, then he would become the most evil of villains!
He pressed his lips together tightly and left Mary Geoise, carrying his hatred for the world on his back.
This place had once been his home, but now it had become the place he despised most.
However, it was quite clear that his plan was already doomed to fail.
At this moment, Doflamingo still had no idea that Ren had already arrived in the North Blue ahead of him, waiting.
"It took some time to track down his whereabouts. Has Corazon already left?" Ren knew that Corazon wasn't the person's real name, but he honestly couldn't remember what Doflamingo's younger brother was called.
'I think it was... Fernando?'
'Isn't that a poet's name?'
'Whatever, this person isn't important anyway.'
Rosinante was of little consequence to Ren. The only thing that slightly interested him was his Devil Fruit ability. But the Calm-Calm Fruit had been given to him by the Marines.
[
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