One Piece Gunslinger

“Hehe, Dover, be patient,” Torrepol laughed. “It’s alright, that toy soldier will definitely come back to rescue us, and we’ve already laid a trap in the arena. Diamanti is guarding the arena with the Diamond Army. As soon as he dares to show up, he’ll be surrounded by several Diamond Army officers.”

Although Trebol said these words with a smile, his lewd appearance was absolutely disgusting. It's admirable that Doflamingo and the others who spend so much time with him can tolerate it.

That's not all. Torrepol continued, "Furthermore, we have also deployed a large number of ordinary soldiers to guard key locations such as the underground port. Pica's Spade Army cadres have also been dispersed to guard these places. As soon as that so-called revolutionary army shows up, we can wipe them out."

Doflamingo was still somewhat uneasy upon hearing this. According to Trebol's plan, it should have been foolproof. In his eyes, the so-called Revolutionary Army was nothing more than a rat, only good at hiding and always able to hide in some dark corner that was hard to catch. Now there was a bait to lure them out.

With the Donquixote Family's strength, they could easily eliminate him. However, Doflamingo always felt that something was wrong; his sixth sense kept telling him that this matter was not so simple. But he couldn't find anything wrong with Trebol's plan, which made Doflamingo very uneasy.

"Then tell me, what in Dressrosa could threaten us?" Doflamingo asked.

This question stumped Torrebol and Sugar, who were standing nearby. After thinking for a while, Torrebol finally said, "If we have to say what can threaten us, then the only thing that comes to mind is Sugar."

Sugar held a basket of grapes, saying nothing, but her expression was one of confusion.

Doflamingo nodded in agreement: "Indeed, if the enemy targets Sugar and reveals the truth about the toy, then perhaps we will have to return to our previous pirate life. Now, during the World Conference, the World Government will never allow such a stain to appear, the title of Shichibukai will be taken back, and the terrifying Vice Admiral Tsuru will be coming again."

"Don't worry, Dover. I know that Sugar absolutely cannot be harmed, which is why I sent everyone else out but left the rest of me to protect Sugar. There will definitely be no problem."

At this point, Torrepol smugly wiped his nose. "As long as I'm alive, Sugar will be fine."

I don't know how big Sugar's heart is, being followed by such a snotty guy every day, and still being able to eat.

Jack agreed with Torrepol's words.

Although Jack couldn't hear Trebol and Doflamingo's conversation from a distance, he could guess half of it from their expressions and demeanor.

"Wow, looking at you like this, although I don't know what you're talking about, I feel like you've set up an amazing trap, and I really want to help you take it down in a second. It's a pity the time isn't right yet."

Jack muttered to himself as he aimed his sniper scope at Valepol's head.

After some analysis and deployment by Jack and the toy soldiers, Jack decided to infiltrate King's Heights before the plan was implemented to see how many people the Don Quixote family had sent.

As a result, there were only these three people in front of the throne in the palace, and even the ordinary Don Quixote family soldiers were few and far between. It was obvious that they had been sent to various places to stake out.

Jack had no choice but to put away his sniper rifle and jump off King's Heights.

There was no other way but to endure it. The Revolutionary Army's reinforcements hadn't arrived yet, and Jack wasn't confident he could defeat Doflamingo on his own. Shooting now might kill Trebol, but Doflamingo would immediately notice.

Jack tells the toy soldiers that he will try to stall Rebecca's situation. He then uses a Den Den Mushi to relay the intelligence he has gathered to the toy soldiers, instructing them to postpone their actions until the Revolutionary Army's reinforcements arrive.

Jack had initially thought it would take a lot of persuasion to convince the toy soldiers to postpone their operation. After all, his beloved daughter was more important to him than anything else.

However, Jack had only said a few words, and before he could even unleash his full power, he had already convinced the toy soldier. The soldier only gave Jack a couple of instructions before entrusting Rebecca's safety to him with peace of mind.

After Jack ended the call, he exclaimed that it was unscientific and that these must be fake toy soldiers.

Actually, the toy soldier was thinking about the first time he met Jack in person in the square. Jack's actions had moved him, and the toy soldier believed that with such a person protecting her, Rebecca would definitely be safe.

Meanwhile, they were urging Fujitora and Sabo to hurry up, but no matter what, Jack himself knew that it was too much of a stretch to force the two of them to arrive in Dressrosa within two hours. They had to delay as much as possible before the two of them arrived.

Even after Jack jumped off the King's Hill, Doflamingo and Trebol's conversation was still going on.

"Regarding Vergo's matter, the Navy released an investigation report yesterday. Have they found anything new?" Doflamingo still asked about Vergo's situation, seemingly uneasy.

Although the Navy has found Vergo's body and investigated some things, the results are unacceptable to Doflamingo.

The Navy was unaware of Vergo's true strength, regarding him merely as an ordinary vice admiral leading a motley crew. However, Doflamingo knew in his heart that Vergo was a master of Armament Haki and wouldn't easily die from firearms. Even the extremely powerful "Walker" couldn't leave such a wound on Vergo.

Torrepol shook his head and said, "Later, after some indirect investigation and research, we could only learn that Vergo's death scene was meticulously disguised in order to deceive the navy that came to investigate later. This shows that the person who killed Vergo did not want to have a conflict with the navy."

Trebol's words were meaningless to Doflamingo. There were plenty of people in the world who didn't want to clash with the Navy, and even among the Four Emperors, apart from that madman Kaido, no one wanted to go against the Navy.

But after a moment's thought, Doflamingo noticed something amiss: "Wait, if they don't want a conflict with the Navy, why kill a Vice Admiral? And then they have to set up a battleground. This clearly defies logic. Even if there's a minor conflict, there's no need to kill a Vice Admiral, unless..."

“Unless Vergo seriously infringes on his interests, or there is some grudge between him and Vergo?” Torrepol continued, “Thinking about it this way, I also found something illogical.”

"The Navy doesn't know Vergo's exact strength, but the person who killed Vergo and staged that scene must have known Vergo's strength. So why would they stage such an unbelievable scene to mislead the Navy? It can only mean that they not only knew Vergo's strength, but also knew that the Navy didn't know Vergo's strength."

Torrepol, after all, was the strategist of the Don Quixote family, and eventually he figured out the problem.

This staged crime scene was impossible to stage without the killer's understanding of the relationship between Vergo and the Navy. In other words, the killer clearly knew that Vergo and the Navy were not on the same side, but that Vergo was a spy planted within them, which is why they could use such methods to mislead the Navy.

Now that they know that the two are spies in the navy, they also likely know about Vergo's relationship with the Don Quixote family.

Knowing Vergo's strength clearly, and also knowing that the Navy was unaware of Vergo's strength, and even knowing the Navy's relationship with the Donquixote Family, and ultimately possibly having a grudge against Vergo, they would take action to kill him.

However, Vergo was once a top executive of the Donquixote Family and one of Doflamingo's most trusted subordinates. Besides Doflamingo himself, only a few other family executives knew his true identity, and even among these executives, not all were aware. Those who did know were utterly loyal to the family and would never betray them.

After this logical process is straightened out, the identity of the murderer is already obvious, and there is only one person who can do this.

Chapter 250 Participation

“It can only be Law, this person can only be Law,” Doflamingo said with certainty. “Even if Law didn’t do it himself, it’s still closely related to him.”

Well, it's quite remarkable that Doflamingo finally figured out the key to this arrangement and thought of the Op-Op Fruit user he had always longed for.

Jack's plan to shift blame was now truly revealed, successfully deflecting all responsibility from the Revolutionary Army. Neither the Navy nor Doflamingo would, for the time being, attribute the incident to the Revolutionary Army.

Unlike the misleading messages sent to the Navy, the misleading information sent to Doflamingo was clearly on a deeper level, and such a conclusion could not be reached without some logical reasoning.

This tactic only works on smart people; it's useless against fools. Jack deliberately set up this setup because he believed the Doflamingo family's intelligence was enough to solve the puzzle he left behind.

The first principle behind misleading the navy is the same: information asymmetry. In short: I know what you don't know, but I do.

Unfortunately, this ingenious misleading trap could only be effective for a short while. Originally, this scheme, which avoided the unexpected incident involving Rebecca, was supposed to be effective for more than two days, until the planned outbreak.

"So that's how it is. I was worried about what the problem was, but it turns out Law is back." Doflamingo finally understood the problem that had been bothering him for the past few days and burst into laughter.

"Even if he's hooked up with some powerful figure now, so what? This world is all about interests. What he can offer, we can offer several times more of. As long as we make a few promises and clearly state in the underworld that we'll be richly rewarded for bringing him here, then the forces behind him might just deliver him to our doorstep on their own."

Doflamingo seemed to have found a solution, but little did he know that it was all part of Jack's scheme.

Meanwhile, Jack had already considered the possibility that Fujitora and Sabo wouldn't arrive within two hours, and had devised a way to stall for time and prepared a contingency plan.

Otherwise, if you put all your eggs in their basket and end up losing everything, Jack will be filled with regret. Not placing all your hopes on something with a high probability of failure is a fundamental quality of a strategist.

Actually, this remedy is simple and requires no skill. The first step is to sneak into the contestants' rest area and wait for the free-for-all to begin.

This first step was easily accomplished. With the help of his Observation Haki, Jack made his way through without any incidents, avoiding various staff members and even a hidden officer of the Square Army.

When Jack emerged from around the corner, blending seamlessly into the crowd of over two hundred criminals, no one could spot him.

"Hehe, that's perfect, no one will notice me. Next, all I need to do is..."

Jack plunged into the crowd, but before he could even feel smug for two seconds, a light voice rang out from behind him: "Uncle, what are you doing here?"

Startled, Jack quickly turned around and bent down, then bravely covered the man's mouth with one hand and put his index finger in front of his mouth with the other hand, making a "don't make a sound" gesture.

Well, the only one who could recognize that Jack had sneaked in was Rebecca, who was not even fourteen years old.

Jack was able to sneak in entirely because the people lurking in the shadows weren't paying attention to him or the other insignificant criminals; they were mostly focused on Rebecca.

Therefore, it's clearly impossible to simply replicate the process of entering the game and bring Rebecca out with you.

Moreover, Jack didn't plan to go out like this. It was too unpleasant to sneak out with Rebecca like this, completely positioning himself as a punching bag, only able to take the beatings without being able to fight back.

Jack didn't want that. He wanted to thwart the Don Quixote family's scheme head-on, to slap them across the face. That would be the only way to vent his anger.

"Shh," Jack quickly explained, "Don't reveal my identity. I'm here to help you."

“But…” Rebecca wanted to say something, but she was stopped by Jack’s gaze.

She couldn't understand why Jack had come to participate in this life-or-death battle; they had only met once. There was no need for this. She thought that as long as she revealed that Jack wasn't a criminal, he could avoid a dangerous battle.

Seeing that Rebecca was still hesitant, Jack quickly pointed to the statue standing in the middle of the area and said, "Do you know who he is?"

Rebecca turned her head and saw that Jack was pointing to the statue of the legendary figure. She said in confusion, "His name is Cyrus. He won a thousand consecutive victories in the arena, so these statues were erected. However, no one has ever seen what he really looked like. They all think it's just a legend."

Jack shook his head and said, "This is not a legend, it really happened. His thousand-game winning streak is a testament to the spirit of the arena, and I only came here because of him. So, for the sake of this great warrior and this fighting spirit, could you please keep this a secret for me?"

Hearing Jack speak so solemnly and make the matter sound so serious, Rebecca hesitated for a moment before agreeing to Jack's request.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed this child was too kind and difficult to deal with; she was even trying to keep Jack away from here. Didn't she realize that even if she said Jack wasn't a criminal, someone else needed to believe her? And whether he was a criminal or not, they didn't mind having one more person in the fight.

However, Jack's words were not unfounded; he genuinely wanted to revive the spirit of the arena.

Ever since the Donquixote Family seized the country and Cyrus was turned into a toy soldier, the nature of this arena has changed. Under the rule of Diamanti, one of the highest-ranking officials, it has become bloodthirsty and cruel.

In the original arena, life-or-death struggles were not encouraged; the focus was on competition rather than duels.

But this particular battle clearly shows that it uses bloodshed and slaughter as its selling point. In the end, only one person can escape alive.

This actually caused Rebecca a lot of trouble in her battles. She learned her swordsmanship from the toy soldiers, but she only learned the competitive part, which is to not kill people, but only knock them into the water or incapacitate them.

This also shows that the previous arena was really just an arena.

However, the other criminals this time were all intent on murder, and several ferocious fighting fish were also put into the water, so even if they fell in, they still wouldn't survive.

It can be said that this has completely cut off the lifeline of these mortals and Rebecca. In the past, even if they couldn't win, they could simply jump out of the ring and admit defeat. Now, it's clear that they're not being given that chance.

Jack came here with the idea of ​​changing this situation; the arena shouldn't be like this.

Therefore, Jack's purpose is clear: to personally participate in this duel and show these long-numbed spectators what the spirit of the arena truly is. This also solves Rebecca's safety issue; as long as Jack doesn't fall, no one can harm her.

"So you want to participate in this free-for-all? And you haven't prepared anything?" Rebecca, knowing Jack's purpose, asked doubtfully, "But you don't need to at all. There are no prizes for you in this duel."

As for prizes, of course there are some! You are the prize this time.

However, Jack didn't say this aloud, not wanting to cause any misunderstanding. He didn't explain anything, but simply asked Rebecca to take him to choose a weapon.

Of course, as Jack and Rebecca got to know each other, the Don Quixote family members, who were lurking nearby, also took notice.

"Who is he? He seems to know Rebecca. Was there such a criminal as him before? Could he be someone who came to rescue Rebecca?"

"I don't know, maybe we just didn't notice before, but he only said two sentences before going to the weapon rack next to him and taking a scimitar. He didn't do anything else. He doesn't seem like a suspicious person."

"That's true. The higher-ups said the most important things to watch out for are the dwarves and toys. It seems he's just an ordinary human. As long as he doesn't make any unusual moves, we don't need to worry about him. Let's continue to lie low."

Unfortunately, these ordinary soldiers still couldn't recognize Jack. Jack was right; his appearance was like that of an internet celebrity—it came and went quickly, and the hype died down just as fast. Now, except for special reasons, almost no one remembers him.

He actually managed to sneak into the prisoner's quarters so brazenly.

"You're only using this one scimitar? Why don't you pick out some more protective gear?" Rebecca kindly suggested when she saw that Jack had only chosen one scimitar.

"It's okay, this is enough. You weren't wearing any protective gear either, were you?" As he spoke, Jack looked Rebecca up and down. She wasn't wearing any protective gear; she looked like she was just sunbathing at the beach.

Rebecca blushed when she saw Jack's gaze. She explained, "I'm doing this to perform the Backwater Sword Dance; those bulky protective gear aren't suitable for me."

“Yes, yes, yes.” Jack patted Rebecca’s head. “But you probably won’t be able to perform your backwater sword dance in a while, so just watch me perform.”

It feels a bit rough to the touch, especially since Rebecca is still wearing a helmet.

Jack infiltrated the arena's contestant zone, and it took him a while to get there with Rebecca. Soon it was time for the life-or-death melee to begin.

"Alright, you can all go in together."