Chapter 171: Doflamingo and Enel (4k)

Brrr, brrr, brrr~

The Den Den Mushi rang incessantly. Inside the Navy base, the messenger soldier responsible for intelligence transmission put down the newspaper in his hand unhurriedly and answered with a frown.

"Hello, is this G51 Branch? I am Major Rushido. I am currently trapped on the former Skuld Island. There are tens of thousands of people trapped here. Requesting support from the branch, requesting support from headquarters!"

The messenger soldier clicked his tongue in secret, thinking to himself that the guys on that island were truly unreliable, to actually let Major Rushido still be alive at this point.

He did not reply, merely preparing to put the receiver back silently, but the Den Den Mushi's eyes shifted and its expression crinkled, faithfully reproducing the appearance of the target seen by the other Den Den Mushi.

"Corporal John, I know you are listening!"

"I order you, you are not allowed to hang up!"

Rushido's voice from the Den Den Mushi shifted from calm to a roar, startling John into a shiver. But he quickly reacted, feeling immensely annoyed; clearly, the base was no longer run by Rushido's word. That idiot, in the reports, had long since been buried in some sea area alongside that branch star Marine, Kori.

After Rushido loudly warned the other party, he seemed to have understood everything, and he spoke in a mocking tone.

"You all listen to that woman's orders now, right? But I'm sure she didn't tell you exactly how much gold is on Skuld Island..."

"It's not one hundred kilograms, nor is it one thousand kilograms. It doesn't even matter if you measure it in tons..."

"Here, there exists a Golden Town!"

John's angry gaze seemed to be crushed in an instant by the mention of the Golden Town in the other party's words, and it was dyed gold.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva and spoke for the first time.

"What you said... is it true?"

"Rushido... sir?"

The Den Den Mushi's eyes narrowed instantly, revealing a smile identical to the Rushido on the other side.

"Of course. Do you really think that woman would risk sacrificing me and Kori just for the position of a base commander!"

"What she wants is that treasure worth a nation, while you, John, would only receive a negligible reward, and wouldn't even be able to get your hands on a single broken gold brick..."

John's breathing grew heavier. He looked up outside the office; not many people were passing by.

"Sir Rushido, tell me... what should I do?"

Rushido sneered in his heart. This group could sacrifice him and Kori for profit, so naturally, they could sacrifice that woman for a greater profit; this was not strange.

It was only his own stupidity that had treated the Justice behind him as shackles...

"John, you should be clear that you cannot swallow the entire Golden Town by yourself."

Rushido's words made John nod involuntarily. His ambition wasn't that great; he was just a corporal. If he could get a few gold bricks, that would be enough for him to retire and return to his hometown in the North Sea to live a good life.

"You must reveal the existence of the Golden Town... spread it as far as possible..."

"Attract all those most vicious Pirates, the most greedy Marines..."

"Only then will you have a chance to fish in troubled waters!"

"John, listen... uh, ah!"

A scream rang out. John only heard a muffled "chi-la" sound at the end, and then the Den Den Mushi had no further reaction, as if the bio-electric waves emitted by the other Den Den Mushi had completely vanished.

Beads of sweat appeared on John's forehead. He thought that perhaps Major Rushido had truly met with disaster this time.

He felt no sadness; on the contrary, because of Rushido's words just now, his mind was burning with fervor.

Tap, tap...

Footwork sounded. A woman wearing the white cloak unique to high-ranking Navy officers suddenly walked over with a group of people. The woman had long purple hair draped over her back, and under the cloak, she wore a low-cut white shirt, displaying her hot figure to the fullest.

Seeing Colonel Brina appear, John panicked and instinctively gave a salute.

This made the corners of Brina's mouth hook up. For the first time, she paid attention to this minor messenger with no power, patted the other party's shoulder, and said,

"Corporal John, I admire you."

She then led a group of Navy officers into the conference room further back in the base.

Vaguely, John heard Brina order these Marines that they must block the news leaking out of Mock Town, and something about gold or the like; he couldn't hear clearly, and he didn't dare to get too close.

As a high-ranking officer, Brina was very sharp.

But hearing this was enough. John immediately returned to his office, thought for a moment, and secretly took out another Den Den Mushi he was personally responsible for using to contact certain Pirates and bandit gangs.

"Hey, there is a piece of news now, I think you will be interested..."

——

Bai Cangshu sat in the tavern, eating meat in large mouthfuls.

【You have consumed simply prepared Sea Beast meat, gaining a temporary buff: Stamina recovery speed slightly increased】

Bai Cangshu's appetite was quite terrifying, and the digestive ability of this body was also exceptionally high. Nearly 10 jin of meat was quickly consumed, and he only felt a slight sense of satiety.

"Hey, boss, don't you have any hidden recipes here?"

"You wouldn't be intentionally not serving them to me just because I'm an outsider, would you?"

Bai Cangshu was somewhat dissatisfied. He had originally thought that on this vast sea, wanting to eat a bit of dark cuisine would be the simplest thing in the world; he hadn't expected the other party to only know how to roast meat.

Hearing Bai Cangshu's words, the boss, who still had bruises on his face, hurriedly shook his head. Looking at the Pirates in the shop whose arms and legs were broken into several sections, how could he not understand that the fierce-looking, capable man in front of him was the terrifying guy who had caused quite a stir on the island last night.

It was said that last night, several Bounty Criminals were beaten to death on the spot, after which this person directly threw out a gold brick to dismiss the gathered Pirates.

And he had declared that he had already discovered the Golden Town, and from then on, gold was not a precious thing to him at all.

Such words naturally attracted the attention of many people. The most vicious guys on the island had all gathered in the middle of the night, but by morning, one could only hear those Pirate crews in Mock Town spreading the news everywhere.

As a gathering place for Pirates and evildoers, Mock Town was already connected to the information of the underground world. Legend has it that even the 【Heavenly Yaksha】 【Doflamingo】 of the Seven Warlords of the Sea had appeared here many times.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that this place was the gateway to the underground world of the Grand Line.

Almost within half a day, the news of the Golden Town's appearance had spread to every corner of the Grand Line, and through the hands of a certain Intelligence king of the underground world, it was made known to ambitious people everywhere.

Bai Cangshu naturally would not let this grand event become a one-man show for the Pirates. He very thoughtfully contacted over a dozen Navy bases, including Marine Headquarters.

He claimed that over tens of thousands of people were trapped on Skuld Island and had been dominated by a madman calling himself 【Heaven】 for over two years, that at least nearly a hundred Marines had died in this sea area, and that even now, there were still G51 Branch Marines resisting on the island.

Bai Cangshu mixed truth with lies, both hinting at the incompetence and corruption of certain Navy branches and praising the valor of those grassroots soldiers.

In this way, even the most reluctant Navy branches had to send personnel for the sake of their reputation.

……

In a certain sea area of the Grand Line, Doflamingo looked at the intelligence specially delivered by a News Bird and let out a "Fuffuffuffu" laugh.

"Hey, baby-5, didn't we recruit a pirate crew over in Mock Town?"

Baby-5, wearing a maid outfit, was not very bright; she frowned as she tried to recall, but the snot-nosed Trebol had already confirmed it first.

"【Hehehe】, Young Master, we did indeed recruit a Hyena over there."

"Moreover, that guy's subordinate seemed to have tried to initiate a call for help last night, but the communication was cut off before they could say much."

The Donquixote Family had many Devil Fruit ability users, and as a Seven Warlords of the Sea force occupying the current Dressrosa Kingdom, they actually didn't care much about those emerging pirate crews.

Being a pirate—how much money can you really make, and how much influence can you really have? Heh...

Doflamingo had long ago seen clearly the gap between himself and those top-tier monsters; he was very certain that as long as a guy like Kaido was still galloping across the sea, his own group couldn't stir up any waves at all.

Conversely, the things he wanted didn't need to be seized through sailing.

Doflamingo took a puff of his cigar and said to the others:

"Then it seems it's only reasonable for us to set sail for Skuld Island now?"

"Of course, Young Master, we do have someone trapped there after all... 【Hehehe】..."

As the high-ranking executive who first saw Doflamingo's potential and revered him as Young Master, Trebol understood Doflamingo's thoughts very well.

That Golden Town, if it truly existed, would surely be a massive fortune capable of shaking everything.

In this world, besides the Golden Emperor and the Celestial Dragons, it was impossible for anyone to possess that much wealth; in other words, obtaining that kind of wealth would surely lead to unimaginable power!

"Then let me go and see just how much weight that guy who luckily obtained a Natural Devil Fruit really has... Fuffuffuffuffu..."

Doflamingo dropped his cigar and danced his hands, flying directly into the air; he used the ability of the String-String Fruit to connect invisible threads to the floating clouds in the sky, allowing himself to maneuver at high speed over a large area in the air, like a flying yaksha.

That flamingo-like attire also appeared extremely dazzling in the clouds.

On the Donquixote Family's ship, baby-5 was still a bit worried.

"Won't it be dangerous for Young Master to go alone..."

"After all, intelligence says there's a suspected new Natural Devil Fruit ability user there."

Trebol sneered.

"baby-5, who do you think Young Master is?"

"Young Master is the Heavenly Yaksha!"

"He is not comparable to those guys who luckily obtained a Devil Fruit; this sea is far from being a place where one Natural Devil Fruit can act recklessly!"

Trebol was very certain that the Young Master, who had mastered all three types of Haki, was not someone a common Natural Devil Fruit ability user could handle, and besides, the Young Master wouldn't be alone.

He dialed a secret Den Den Mushi and informed the high-ranking family executive hidden within the Navy—Vergo—of the operation.

——

On Skuld Island, outside the town where the islanders lived, the mountains had been hollowed out to create a huge space, and a massive Shendian complex covering over several hundred mu had been gradually completed over these past two years.

The outer buildings were constructed of brick and stone, but the interior was all large-scale gold construction; even the ground was paved with gold bricks.

Enel sat in this Shendian of earth that was not at all empty, tilting his head; he lifted his finger slightly, and the Spring Man Bellamy groaned in pain as he was lifted from the ground, attracted by a powerful electric current.

Enel's eyes were cold, his earlobes were extremely long, and a careless smile played on the corners of his mouth.

"So, in your heart, that Heavenly Yaksha is actually more powerful than me, a god?"

"Just because of that so-called... Haki?!"

Enel's smile was mocking, and Bellamy's expression was pained; this guy could read his thoughts and use the stimulation of lightning to make people lose their Spirit.

Bellamy felt the surface of his body begin to turn charred inch by inch, and amidst the immense pain, resentment and fear were intertwined.

Enel's expression was mocking; after coming to this Qinghai, he found that most people here were arrogant, and even when facing him, they refused to kneel and acknowledge that he was the God.

Enel was not stupid; on the contrary, he himself would absorb Intelligence. When he was on Sky Island, he had already learned through the pirates who ascended to Sky Island that his own ability was a Natural Devil Fruit, and he also knew that Paramecia Devil Fruit and Zoan Devil Fruit ability users existed.

After coming to this island, in these two years, he had killed a great many people, but even more people had been interrogated by him before they died.

Ultimately, Enel knew that in the eyes of these pirates in Qinghai, even people who possessed natural disaster-like abilities similar to his own were not the strongest in this world.

Most of them believed the world's strongest was the aged pirate named Whitebeard, or the madman named Kaido; some also believed that the one who controlled magma in the Navy, Akainu, was the world's strongest, or that the world's greatest Great Swordsman among the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

After his initial rage and slaughter, Enel began to realize the vastness of the world; he began to continue developing his ability and consciously started preparing against his own weaknesses.

This was so that one day, if those so-called Haki powerhouses appeared before him and blocked his great cause of becoming a god, he would still be able to completely destroy them.

Enel's fingers flicked continuously, and Bellamy, with a bounty of over fifty million, was thrown back and forth in pain within the Shendian.

Enel's control over his own fruit was far superior to before.

At this moment, in a Shendian room on the other side, a man wearing a Navy uniform walked out; he lowered his head and said:

"Colonel Brina has sent word that multiple Navy branches are about to dispatch intelligence units to this island and are ready to provide artillery coverage at any time; she asks you to... relocate the Golden Town as soon as possible..."

He lowered his head, but the fear in his heart was easily read by Enel.

Zzz~

A flash of lightning streaked by, and Enel appeared behind the man.

"That Brina, she really is a Mortal without faith."

"She does not understand the greatness of a god."

"【Hahaha】..."

Enel's laughter was like muffled thunder, rolling in waves; above the island, thunderclouds gathered rapidly, as if an unprecedented thunder disaster was about to descend.

(End of chapter)