One Piece: The World King Who Emerged from the White Town

"Competitors? What do you do?"

Abel then revealed an enigmatic smile.

"Our Baroque Works provides jobs for many bounty hunters, so naturally we hunt pirates."

"Interesting. Do you have my arrest warrant?"

There was an immediate awkward silence after those words were spoken.

But Mr. 8 immediately replied firmly, "Gustavus Abel, from the North Sea, an officer of the Don Quixote family, with a bounty of fifty million Berries."

"Good, the investigation is very thorough. So when are you planning to arrest me and take me to collect the bounty?"

Although Abel was still laughing, Mr. 8 and Miss Monday felt the room getting colder and colder.

Miss Monday quickly smoothed things over, saying, "It's a misunderstanding. We didn't mean that. We actually came here to discuss a collaboration with you."

"Cooperation? Tell me about it."

“As long as you stop hunting these ‘new’ pirates, all of our Baroque Works’ more than two thousand bounty hunters will keep to themselves and not interfere with your business.”

Upon hearing this condition, Abel immediately scoffed.

Although they never took hunting 'rookie' pirates seriously, that Crocodile was far too arrogant.

He was now certain that the two men's arrival was absolutely on Crocodile's orders; otherwise, they wouldn't have had the qualifications or right to give such a guarantee.

He even guessed that Crocodile only sent these two cannon fodder to test their attitude after he finished his investigation and discovered that the Donquixote Family was not weak and that Doflamingo had a bounty of 340 million Berries.

But what do they take them for?

Are they beggars who can be easily dismissed?

"More than two thousand bounty hunters, that sounds terrifying. Are they all hiding in Whiskey Peak now?"

“Go back and tell your boss that our Don Quixote family does big business and doesn’t care about his petty tricks, let alone steal his leftovers.”

"Let him focus on his own affairs in Alabasta and stop with these pointless probing."

Mr. 8 and Miss Monday were sweating bullets.

Not only did the other side know their hiding place perfectly, but they even knew the secret that their headquarters was in Alabasta!

What's even more frightening is that, judging from what they're saying, they've even figured out who the real boss behind their Baroque Works is...

Ironically, no one within the entire Baroque Works knew who the real director was.

How ironic!

"Okay, we will definitely pass on those words. It's getting late, so we'll take our leave now."

Miss Monday forced a smile and then wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

She now realizes that this mission is not as simple as she imagined; it's like jumping into a deep pit where she has no way out.

"Pass on the message: one person is enough. The other one will have to pay the price for your president's arrogant attitude."

Upon hearing Abel's words, Mr. 8 and Miss Monday's expressions changed drastically!

Chapter 259 Another Surgical Fruit?

Before long, the noise in the manor disappeared, and silence returned.

Then a petite woman, clutching her severed arm, staggered out, gritting her teeth.

After learning that only one person could leave alive, Mr. 8 and Miss Monday hesitated for a moment before launching an attack on Abel.

Although some pirates who fell into their hands did prey worth 50 million Berries, they all succeeded through various dirty and despicable means.

In a direct confrontation, they certainly don't have the capability.

So he suffered a crushing defeat, spitting blood and flying backwards in an instant.

This path was clearly blocked, and the two then began an internal power struggle without prior arrangement.

In the end, Miss Monday managed to turn the tide and survive thanks to the poison needle in her hand.

However, one of her arms was also ripped off by Mr. 8, almost causing her to faint from the pain.

"Are we just going to let this woman go like that? Our Don Quixote family isn't afraid of that Baroque Works. Two thousand people are nothing; we'll go and kill them all."

Baby-5 looked eager to try it out.

Abel first smiled and patted the little girl's head before explaining, "Yes, I know you're capable. But I need someone to relay a message: let her live a couple more days."

"As for that Baroque Works, it's nothing, but its president is not easy to deal with. Even Captain Dover doesn't want to get into a conflict with them over such a small matter."

The little girl nodded as if she understood but not quite.

……

The Kingdom of Alabasta is a superpower located in the first half of the Grand Line.

Within its borders, in the "Dream City" Rainland, there is a casino called "Rain Banquet," with an extremely luxurious interior.

This is where Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, usually resides.

Countless instructions were transmitted from here, remotely controlling the Baroque Works.

Furthermore, no one in the entire Baroque Works knew his true identity.

On the surface, he is still a national hero, loved and admired by the people.

It's rather ironic that a pirate would receive such treatment.

This is why, even knowing that a Shichibukai is in charge of this country, so many pirates like 'Zo' still try to invade it and challenge Crocodile!

They wanted fame and fortune, but also felt he was nothing special and wanted to pull him down from that position and expose his hypocritical mask.

Unfortunately, so far, no one has succeeded.

Even though Crocodile's strength has stagnated for a long time for some reason, and he has started to pursue another kind of ethereal power, the 'King of the Desert' is not someone that just any cat or dog can mess with.

"North Blue, the Donquixote Family, Doflamingo...Vice Admiral Tsuru?"

Crocodile was smoking a cigar and looking at the intelligence report.

Outside, the banana crocodiles he kept were ferociously feeding, among them Miss Monday, who died with her eyes wide open.

After all, to him, there was no need for someone who had lost their usefulness to continue living.

"Do you already know who I am?"

Crocodile suddenly turned fierce, as if he had already decided to kill.

For some forces with strong intelligence capabilities, it is not as difficult as one might imagine to identify who is behind Baroque Works by looking for clues.

After all, many things leave traces when they are done, and these traces will eventually point in one direction.

Even within Baroque Works, some people did guess who the director was; however, those who couldn't keep their mouths shut were all dead.

The rest were naturally all mute people who didn't know.

Moreover, for the arrogant Crocodile, Doflamingo's bounty of over 3 million was nothing to scare him.

He dares to challenge even Whitebeard, so why would he care about the bounty?

Those are just things the navy uses to fool people!

Its only purpose is for him to exchange it for money.

On the contrary, it was Vice Admiral Tsuru, who was mentioned in the intelligence report as having been relentlessly pursuing Doflamingo, that caught Crocodile's attention more.

He had already begun implementing the plan, but he really didn't want to attract the Navy's attention and just wanted to keep a low profile.

Otherwise, given his temperament, he would have committed suicide long ago.

"Do big business people look down on the leftovers in my bowl?"

"Fine, then I'll take it all away once you've built up your big business!"

Crocodile sneered and casually tossed all the intelligence into the brazier.

He planned to hold back for now and wait until the enemy arrived in the Grand Line from the North Blue. As long as Vice Admiral Tsuru stopped watching this group, he would immediately take action and seize everything from them!

……

At the same time, a major event also occurred in Beihai.

Former Navy branch captain, now a fallen pirate, Dias Barreus used up all his luck from ten lifetimes and, while robbing a merchant ship, unexpectedly discovered a strangely shaped fruit.

The well-informed Diaz Barreus immediately recognized it as a Devil Fruit!

And after consulting the Devil Fruit encyclopedia, I was incredibly surprised to discover that this heart-shaped red fruit was actually the legendary Op-Op Fruit?!

His eyes were now filled with boundless greed.

Using his remaining connections, he contacted the World Government through the Navy, wanting to sell this incredibly precious Devil Fruit to the Celestial Dragons!

Thus, you can become rich overnight!

Soon, the news of the reappearance of the surgical fruit alarmed countless important figures.

The final price for this Op-Op Fruit has been set: 50 billion Berries!

After his outrageously high price was actually accepted, Diaz Barrerus became somewhat insecure. He checked it several times before bursting into laughter.

The two parties then agreed on the specific time and place for the transaction, and everything was kept absolutely confidential.

Afterwards, the World Government simply notified Fleet Admiral Sengoku to send a Marine Headquarters warship to the North Blue to complete the transaction and ensure the safety of the Ope Ope no Mi.

However, what Dies Barreus didn't know was that his pirate crew also had Donquixote Family intelligence agents hidden within them.

And this intelligence officer immediately found a way to pass on this intelligence.

Then, like everyone else, his personal freedom was restricted, and he waited for the transaction to be completed.

When this information reached Doflamingo, his first reaction was, "Again?!"

It's not surprising that he reacted this way; he was genuinely a bit scared by He's tricks that time.

But after carefully considering this secret intelligence, he felt that it might not be as he thought...

Could it really be true this time?