Chapter 1277

The sea had completely calmed down, and the large ship that had been bumping around earlier was now stationary on the surface of the sea.

Although the weather had cleared, the pirates on the ship had tense expressions, and the veins on their hands gripping their swords were bulging. Although the Donquixote Family was a famous pirate crew in the New World, their opponent this time was a Four Emperor. If it weren't for the support of another Four Emperor, the Donquixote Family would have been crushed long ago; this was the gap in hard power.

The pirates under the Four Emperors, even the small fry, were elite pirates. Their strength was not weak, their strikes were ruthless, and each one was a desperado of the sea. Without a certain reputation, one simply wasn't qualified to join the Big Mom Pirates.

In this surrounding sea area, there were a total of 15 ships: 7 from the Big Mom Pirates, 4 from the Beasts Pirates, and 4 from the Donquixote Family.

8 against 7; originally, the Donquixote Family side should have had the advantage. However, the Beasts Pirates were only here to assist; it was unlikely they would risk their lives. The Beasts Pirates were only collaborating with the Donquixote Family. They could support their collaborator, but risking their lives for a collaborator was a bit unworthy.

If it were a few months ago, whether the Beasts Pirates would support them was unknown, but in the recent period, a certain technology mastered by the Donquixote Family had matured, and they had conducted several transactions with the Beasts Pirates. The items traded were called "Artificial Zoan Devil Fruits."

Artificial Devil Fruits had actually been developed long ago, but this thing was not in the hands of the Donquixote Family. However, after they funded a certain person, they obtained this technology and invested a large amount of capital, allowing the Artificial Devil Fruit technology to mature. Recently, there had been a trend toward mass production.

The captain of the Beasts Pirates, Kaido, valued Artificial Devil Fruits highly, so he sent his confidants to support the Donquixote Family—that is, to assist Doflamingo.

As for the Big Mom Pirates, were they really here to seize territory? Of course not. Dressrosa could at most be considered a large, rich island; there were many such islands in the New World.

To clash with Kaido + Doflamingo purely for Dressrosa Island was a very unwise move. Although Charlotte Linlin's nerves weren't exactly normal, she was a female pirate—a female pirate who wanted to become the Pirate King. She judged the gains and losses very clearly.

Charlotte Linlin's initial goal was not Dressrosa Island, but the Artificial Devil Fruit technology in Doflamingo's hands. This thing had strategic value for a pirate crew.

Although Doflamingo had the Artificial Devil Fruit technology, manufacturing Artificial Devil Fruits was not simple. First, there was a scientist named M. Caesar Clown; he was the core figure of the Artificial Devil Fruits. Without him, Doflamingo could not obtain Artificial Devil Fruits.

M. Caesar Clown provided the raw materials, which were then cultivated by the Tontatta dwarves living beneath "Dressrosa." The costs were extremely high, and the output was very low.

If Charlotte Linlin wanted to obtain the Artificial Devil Fruit technology, she almost had to grab "Dressrosa Island" + "Punk Hazard" in a package deal. Not only that, but she also had to capture M. Caesar Clown and the Tontatta dwarves.

Charlotte Linlin didn't care about these things; the order she gave was very simple: "I want that thing, grab it."

Therefore, the Battle of Dressrosa officially kicked off. Both sides were competing for territory and also for the Artificial Zoan Devil Fruit technology.

Su Xiao leaned against the railing; he had roughly analyzed the situation. This was not a very difficult deduction. He believed that over 97% of contractors could think of this information.

Although there were three factions to join, the difficulty of joining the Beasts Pirates was the highest. The Donquixote Family and the Big Mom Pirates were relatively easier factions to join.

The Big Mom Pirates were the attacking side; joining this camp was nothing more than seizing the island or the Artificial Devil Fruit technology.

The Donquixote Family was the defending side; after joining, one only needed to defend against the Big Mom Pirates' attack.

As for the Beasts Pirates, they were originally here to assist. Even if they recruited crew members, they wouldn't be as urgent as the other two sides.

The ship Su Xiao was on was named the Spade, the fleet managed by Pica, a top executive of the Donquixote Family.

The power structure of the Donquixote Family was very interesting. The top layer was, of course, Donquixote Doflamingo. Below him were the four departments: Club, Spade, Diamond, and Heart.

The top executive of the Club was Trebol, a user of the Sticky-Sticky Fruit. His strength was upper-middle, but his fighting style was slightly disgusting—not that he was particularly tricky, but genuinely disgusting. This guy liked to fight with snot. The Club department's jurisdiction was public security.

The top executive of the Spade was Pica. His strength in the Donquixote Family could rank in the top three. The ship Su Xiao was riding on was managed by him. The Spade department mostly consisted of Doflamingo's bodyguards; representative members were Gladius, Baby-5, and Buffalo.

The top executive of the Diamond was Diamante. He was one of the oldest members of the Donquixote Family. As for his strength... Su Xiao could solve him in five minutes. This department was responsible for managing the "Dressrosa" Corrida Colosseum.

Heart was a special department of the Donquixote Family. Most of the people in it were not in the light, responsible for intelligence-related matters. Representative figures were Vergo and Monet.

And the sea area Su Xiao was in was where the top executive Pica was fighting Charlotte Perospero.

Doflamingo trusted Pica very much, but Pica's opponent this time was not to be underestimated. His opponent, Charlotte Perospero, was Charlotte Linlin's eldest son, a user of the Paramecia Lick-Lick Fruit. As long as he had enough stamina, he could manufacture candy almost infinitely, comparable to a Logia user.

And Pica was no pushover either. His Stone-Stone Fruit was also a Paramecia type. Coupled with his Armament Haki and swordsmanship cultivation, although he couldn't defeat Perospero, holding him back was no problem. The ship was not suitable for Pica's fruit ability.

With a "whoosh," the sails of the ship Su Xiao was on were lowered. A dozen pirates worked together to operate the ship, and the entire vessel sailed forward.

The squad leader from before not only didn't come to trouble Su Xiao but was actually friendly in his attitude because he recognized who Su Xiao was. That's right, even a pirate leader like this actually recognized Su Xiao.

Su Xiao had once helped the World Government manufacture alchemy bombs. At that time, his strength was far from as strong as it was now, but the bomb technology he mastered made the World Government quite wary, fearing he would join the Four Emperors or the Revolutionary Army. Alchemy bombs had strategic significance; this was something the World Government had long since determined.

After the Enies Lobby incident, Su Xiao completely turned against the World Government, so Su Xiao entered the World Government's "must-kill" list, and a bounty order was issued.

Su Xiao's bounty order was not like those for pirates where it didn't matter if they were dead or alive; his bounty was as high as 200 million Berries, and only by capturing him alive could one obtain this bounty.

Doflamingo had learned through secret channels that Su Xiao was skilled in making high-power bombs, so he had also sent people to search for Su Xiao, but ultimately without success. However, his subordinates had all seen Su Xiao's bounty order.

With the naval battle on the verge of breaking out, the squad leader had no time to report the situation and only sent three pirates to monitor Su Xiao.

Su Xiao glanced at the three pirates not far away. With at most three shots, he could take care of these three pirates.