Chapter 162: You Ask Me How Deep My Love Is For You

"Qiubai, what have you done? Exactly what is your purpose in kidnapping a Celestial Dragon? I'll say this only once—release Her Ladyship Charlos immediately!"

Due to various circumstances, Qiubai had been unable to replace the Den Den Mushi he always carried with him, which meant Doflamingo could still reach him if he wanted to.

Or rather, not contacting him was no longer an option.

"What did you say? The signal isn't very good, I couldn't quite catch that?" Qiubai's voice indeed sounded somewhat indistinct, drowned out by the roaring sound of ocean currents on the other end... Such limited audio clues might suggest they were still beneath the sea, but attempting to trace his coordinates via a phone call was entirely out of the question.

"I said release the Celestial Dragon, right now, immediately! You must!"

"Oh, didn't you say you'd only say that once? How come you repeated it?"

"............"

Damn it to hell! You heard every single word crystal clear just a second ago, didn't you?

Doflamingo's voice grew harsh and trembled with rage. Although being flippant was Qiubai's usual style, this was hardly the time to be trading sarcastic remarks with him!

Hatred and regret were the most profound emotions gripping Doflamingo at that moment. His hatred for Qiubai soared higher than Mount Everest, while his regret for agreeing to let Qiubai join his pirate crew ran deeper than the Mariana Trench... As expected, someone with Qiubai's personality was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off at any moment, and now that bomb had detonated right inside Doflamingo's own stomach.

That Qiubai was merely a "minor character" whom Doflamingo believed he could control was beyond doubt, but reality kept overturning his perceptions time and time again. The consequence of boarding the wrong ship was that... struggling to see tomorrow's sunrise had become a monumental chore.

Yes, a truly monumental, back-breaking chore.

"Right now, the three Marine Admirals are stationed just outside the waters of Dressrosa, and the Fleet Admiral is personally pursuing you. Do you even know what 'kidnapping a Celestial Dragon' entails? It means you will bear the absolute, unbridled wrath of the Celestial Dragons. If they don't grind you into dust, the deterrence of the Celestial Dragons will vanish into thin air, and you won't be the only one targeted for abduction by then."

"You have no idea how terrifying the Celestial Dragons truly are. They have already activated a special weapon. If Lady Charlos isn't returned, the end of the world is coming."

Oh? Doflamingo had just dropped an interesting piece of information. The three Admirals? So the Fleet Admiral had already been replaced by the "Strategist"?

Qiubai smiled nonchalantly, then spoke in an utterly harmless tone, "Surely you mean *we* will bear the full wrath of the Celestial Dragons, don't you?"

Even if Doflamingo were to explain to the World Government right now that Qiubai was a traitor completely unaffiliated with the Donquixote Family, would the World Government ever believe him?

Naturally, their response would undoubtedly be along the lines of: *My foot!*

"Besides, that kind of weapon... So, what are you planning to do when the apocalypse hits? Got any free time? Do you need me to come save you?"

Heh, if the one surrounded by a massive army was Ctholly instead of Doflamingo, Qiubai might actually have turned his ship around right then and there.

"Destroying the world" was used here as a relative hyperbole, because a weapon that was overly powerful possessed zero practical threat. If the minimum destructive capacity of the weapon controlled by the Celestial Dragons was like Lord Frieza being able to blow up a planet with a single finger, would they still possess such cohesive authority?

Of course not. In reality, the threat of such a weapon was practically negated because, given the nature of the Celestial Dragons, having finally become the rulers of the world, would they ever dare to commit mutual suicide?

Take Whitebeard, for instance, the man rumored to be able to "destroy the world." Could his Tremor-Tremor Fruit truly shatter the world with a single quake?

Pluton, one of the three Ancient Weapons, was a battleship whose single cannon blast was said to be capable of obliterating an island... rather than eradicating the world in one shot.

Therefore, power capable of destroying the world was actually something akin to a nuclear bomb—the theoretical potential for destruction existed, but in reality, it required plowing through the entire globe inch by inch.

Thus, destroying the world was a systematic engineering project that required time.

Yet, it was precisely for this reason that the Celestial Dragons appeared so terrifying. In Qiubai's mind, this world was akin to a denuclearized zone, with only the Celestial Dragons clutching the nuclear codes... At least, that was roughly what it felt like.

It was precisely because of these kinds of wild speculations that Qiubai remained unconcerned. After all, the first bomb wouldn't land on his head anyway.

"You—"

"However, isn't this a fantastic opportunity?" Qiubai interrupted Doflamingo bluntly, knowing full well it wouldn't be a compliment anyway. "After an incident like this, the Donquixote Family and I will completely sever all ties."

With that, Qiubai clicked the receiver and abruptly hung up the call. Although he fully intended to let the Celestial Dragon off the ship—and would do so almost immediately—was there any need to inform Doflamingo of that?

He might as well let him sweat a little longer.

............

On the other side, after wandering around the ocean floor for quite some time, Fleet Admiral Sengoku finally had a flash of realization!

"No, turn the ship around, head back immediately!"

From the very beginning, he had felt that something was amiss. Coupled with his prior understanding of a certain pirate named "Qiubai," he finally grasped where the discrepancy lay:

The entire thing was a trap and a decoy. The Celestial Dragons had never been transported to the New World; far more likely, in order to conceal their movements, they had boarded a coated ship and submerged westward.

The target of the Marines' pursuit wasn't in the New World; he was right in the first half of the Grand Line.

Why hadn't he believed Doflamingo's words sooner? He was a Warlord of the Sea, one of their own—Doflamingo had been terribly wronged!

Unfortunately, due to other assignments, Rosinante was not by Sengoku's side at the moment; otherwise, it would have been much easier to comprehend Qiubai's mindset.

"Fleet Admiral! A new message from Doflamingo—he says the Celestial Dragon is still under the sea!"

This only served to solidify Sengoku's judgment!

"Pass down the order! Immediately head back to the first half of the Grand Line!" Sengoku repeated his command.

"We are already turning the helm, Fleet Admiral, but... wasn't our mission to track them along the ocean floor toward Dressrosa?"

"Still don't understand? The Celestial Dragon is still in the first half of the Grand Line. We've been played!"

A pirate who caused this much chaos practically filled everyone who laid eyes on him with the irresistible urge to put him out of his misery. Could he please display some professional ethics and stick to regular plundering? Was kidnapping even within his job description? He was crossing boundaries! Besides, what possible benefit was there in kidnapping a Celestial Dragon? Was he courting death?

Though he had ascended to the position of Fleet Admiral during a time of crisis, Sengoku felt no awkwardness regarding his subordinates' newly upgraded titles. After all, he had long been the sole candidate for the Fleet Admiral position; anyone else who might have competed with him was fundamentally unsuited for the role in terms of temperament. Besides, that fellow was still squatting comfortably in his Vice Admiral's seat.

His current maneuvers were the only meaningful actions being taken by the entire Marine forces at the moment. At the very least, Fleet Admiral Sengoku had finally located the correct direction.

At the same time, he genuinely began to suspect that the mastermind behind the entire affair was this pirate named Qiubai, rather than the "audacious" Doflamingo.