Chapter Ninety-Three: A Mini-Game

What a pity. At the very least, I should have kept one as a specimen...

Whatever Qiu Bai regretted, and whatever lofty purpose he imagined for keeping a mermaid, once such a thing was done there was no taking it back.

The moment that cage was opened, once the mermaids’ tails touched water, trying to catch them again would have been nothing short of a fantasy.

Who is the fastest swimmer in this world, after all?

Only a mermaid can defeat another mermaid.

What was even more unfortunate was that, under the pressure of certain gazes, Qiu Bai did not even get the chance to properly admire the mermaids’ anatomy. The cage was taken back, the courier left, the box was opened, and in the blink of an eye he had set them free.

So the question was, why would he do such a thing for strangers?

His actions carried considerable risk... Surely he was not actually trying to become a good person, was he?

That would be a joke.

The reason was actually very, very simple. First, he wanted to do it. Faced with a question like this, the answer was either yes or no; as a pirate, of course one did as one pleased. If he could not act as he wished, then what was the point of being a pirate at all?

Second, for rather practical reasons, if he ever had the chance to become involved with merfolk or mermaids, Qiu Bai absolutely did not want it to be in such a negative way now, because he had some excellent plans and less-than-innocent ambitions.

The mermaid race, though pressed down into the deep sea by humanity, was by no means powerless. In fact, they possessed a weapon of mass destruction: Poseidon, one of the three ancient weapons of the world.

And regarding this Poseidon, Qiu Bai seemed to have a few thoughts of his own.

But what Qiu Bai was thinking had no real bearing on those mermaids anymore. They had merely been unimaginably and exceedingly fortunate to be released before they were subjected to auction, display, exhibition, lewd handling, and the like. So even though they still did not know who Qiu Bai was or why he had done this, they were nevertheless grateful for his kindness and his warning.

They also intended to contact the Sun Pirates according to Qiu Bai’s instructions.

Thus, filled with gratitude, they plunged into the sea, and then... never surfaced again.

Well, tearful farewells? Those did not exist. Gratitude was gratitude, but for them, escape came first.

On another front, the Navy of the North Blue had suffered a major incident: a warship had encountered a storm and sunk.

A Navy ship sinking was not unusual, of course, but this one had become a serious matter because every sailor and officer aboard had perished, including the ship’s commander, a powerful elite vice admiral from Naval Headquarters.

A vice admiral dying in a storm was truly a major event.

A vice admiral drowning in the mild waters of the North Blue? That was too absurd to accept. In truth, that was not what happened at all.

The fact was that the warship had not sunk because of the storm. It had been sent to the bottom by a powerful enemy. And in the North Blue, the number of pirate crews capable of wiping out an entire warship carrying a Navy vice admiral could be counted on one hand.

One could even say there was only one.

Or rather, for that pirate crew, the real issue was not how to fight, but how to disguise an attacked warship as one that had simply been lost at sea.

...

Vice Admiral Spune, I will say this again. To put it simply, I only wanted information on certain Navy routes.

You had escorted the Heavenly Tribute for the Celestial Dragons three times in a row. You should know that shipping route by heart. I hope you will honestly tell me everything.

By the Navy’s own reckoning, and in the eyes of the outside world, you are already dead. What meaning is there in protecting and hiding these things now? Surely you cannot have any fondness for the Celestial Dragons, can you?

Inside a dark, damp ship cabin, Donquixote Doflamingo was apparently trying to reason with someone patiently. But anyone who knew him even slightly would understand that the pirate famed for his cruelty was already on the verge of exploding.

One more push, and he would erupt completely.

Doflamingo sat in a chair, a table in front of him piled high with delicacies. Opposite him was a figure fixed to the hull in the shape of a spread-eagled human, a mass of blood. In that condition, it was already difficult to tell that this had once been a vigorous Navy vice admiral in his forties, full of the energy of a man in his prime.

The entire Donquixote Family had been mobilized for one purpose: to obtain intelligence on the Heavenly Tribute. They were preparing for future operations.

Although Doflamingo had planted spies within the Navy, the original Heart was only a junior officer of lieutenant rank at this point, and there were many pieces of information he could not possibly access.

And those intelligence reports had to be obtained as soon as possible. Doflamingo did not have the luxury of waiting, so he could only take the risk of moving against a major Navy figure. Fortunately, he knew where the line was. He had targeted only a vice admiral, not an admiral or the fleet admiral; with the latter two, he would simply be walking to his death.

The top-secret route used for the Heavenly Tribute was known in detail only to Naval Headquarters, the people actually responsible for carrying it out. Many of the specifics were unknown even to the World Government officials in charge of overall coordination. Otherwise, Doflamingo could have used a much simpler bribery strategy.

As for a Navy vice admiral, that was not someone easily bought.

So compared to this major operation, the trafficking of people and the seizing of Devil Fruits were less important. The former was a strategic undertaking; the latter was merely tactical. That was why he had sent Qiu Bai out alone. On the one hand, to prevent word from leaking, Doflamingo needed to concentrate all his forces and annihilate a warship in one stroke. On the other hand, he did have a certain degree of trust in Qiu Bai.

A clever pirate could accomplish things beyond the range of brute force, because intelligence itself was a kind of power that was the hardest to measure. And in Doflamingo’s eyes, Qiu Bai was precisely that sort of clever pirate.

But the man he was facing now was the dumbest vice admiral in the Navy.

Doflamingo, what do you want this intelligence for? Are you arrogant enough to lay a hand on the Heavenly Tribute? Hah. Whatever. No matter what you intend to do, you will never hear a single word of it from me.

The vice admiral had considerable backbone; otherwise, he would not have been assigned such a task in the first place. So it was hardly realistic to expect that torture alone would make him talk.

The vice admiral’s words drew a deep frown from Doflamingo, but before he could continue his “persuasion,” Trebol came down the gangway.

Hey, Doflamingo. Qiu Bai sent an urgent message. Seems like it is something important.

Qiu Bai? Urgent? Important?

Those words strung together seemed to say enough. Doflamingo could only swallow the words he was about to speak and take the Den Den Mushi Trebol handed him.

It was him.

Doflamingo?

Sorry. The mermaid mission... failed.

From the other end of the transponder snail, Qiu Bai’s faint tone carried a hint of weakness and disappointment.

Failed? What do you mean? How badly failed?

Doflamingo’s voice did not seem to change at all.

Completely.

But Qiu Bai’s words seemed calculated to provoke him step by step.

What exactly happened? What went wrong?

To put it simply, the courier who was transporting the mermaids was followed by the Sun Pirates. After the handoff was completed, we were confronted by Fisher Tiger.

The mermaids were taken by the Sun Pirates.

I can only say the mermaid traffickers made too much of a scene, moving against more than a dozen mermaids at once... the backlash from Fish-Man Island naturally followed.

Qiu Bai’s account made it sound as though the fault lay with the traffickers and the merfolk, and that he himself had simply been outmatched by the Sun Pirates.

After that apparently reasonable explanation, Doflamingo fell into a long silence.

I see. Then you worked hard. It is not your fault.

Return to the Family as soon as possible. We will have a new and significant operation next.

With that, Doflamingo ended the call very directly, leaving Qiu Bai rather stunned. That was it? Ten hundred million berries, gone just like that?

Could it be that Doflamingo was actually some refined gentleman who regarded money as dirt?

How could that be? Things could not possibly be as beautiful as Qiu Bai imagined.

By then, Doflamingo’s expression had already darkened into the gathering storm before a downpour... He was Doflamingo, after all. If anyone thought they could toy with him, they were making a grave mistake.

Qiu Bai did not exactly think that way, but he still did not understand this man well enough.

What was that pirate crew that always seemed eager to make trouble for us called again?

Doflamingo swirled the red wine in his glass, staring first at the spiral in silence, then suddenly speaking.

The Komodo Pirates? Trebol said.

Yes, that was the one. Find a way to accurately inform them of my dear subordinate’s route and sailing schedule, and leak the fact that he is carrying an exceptionally rare Devil Fruit as well... An enemy of the Donquixote Family, only two young apprentice combatants and a polar bear pet in terms of strength, carrying extraordinarily valuable treasure. Trebol, do you think they will make a move?

Doflamingo, that pirate crew’s captain has a bounty of over two hundred million, and... we will lose the Youth Fruit, Trebol said.

As for whether they would attack, he did not answer, because the answer was far too obvious.

If it were Doflamingo himself, the Komodo Pirates would certainly have to think twice. But if it were apprentice combatants with no bounty and no strength... why would they not attack?

Fufufufu. Of course, I hope my excellent subordinate survives, but after a failure... one should always be made to endure some trial. It is only a little game, after all. Besides... only by surviving can he prove his excellence once again, cannot he?

Either complete success, or outright failure.

What Qiu Bai was doing now was a half-baked mess, and that was not what Doflamingo wanted. So he would not accept it. Since the failure was only half done, he would personally smash the other half to pieces.

Along with the one who failed.

Doflamingo was still Doflamingo, just as he had been years ago when he pointed a firearm at the forehead of his own father.

Well, struggle and trials, is it... That is indeed rather interesting.

Trebol thought it over and did not feel there was anything wrong with Doflamingo’s decision. It was only the loss of one fruit, which was a little regrettable.

Besides, he did not think a weakling like Qiu Bai could survive an attack from that pirate crew.

Still, Trebol would carry out Doflamingo’s orders.

After he left, Doflamingo began to savor the red wine in his glass in detail. Now that he had settled down, it seemed he could even taste the faint, sweet tang of blood lingering in the damp cabin.

Doflamingo licked his lips. This scent... fascinated him.

At that moment, he adopted the calmest possible tone, but in truth his emotions were already a volcano about to erupt:

As you can see, I am a man who places great importance on family. Unless absolutely necessary, I do not punish my relatives. Subordinates are family members too, but if someone makes a mistake...

Vice Admiral Spune, to be honest, I do not want to do this... I hope you are also a man who values family.

Do you have family, Vice Admiral?

A wife and children...

Or a mother and brothers?

The clatter of chains striking one another rang out, and at last the vice admiral began to tremble.

Doflamingo admired that change in him. It was only a pity that, no matter how slowly one savored it, the wine in the glass was already gone.