Chapter 1308

"It's just a prototype. Do you think developing explosives is simple?"

Su Xiao's understated reply clearly failed to convince Jack.

"The Navy must have dropped a prototype on some island. By the way, I'll tell you some good news: unless the Navy makes a breakthrough in explosives, they have no more than five Apollos in stock."

"Apollo?"

"That's right. I named the special-type bomb Apollo."

"The Navy calls this thing that, too."

Jack put on his bear-fur cloak and sat down in front of the workbench.

"Who do you think manufactured the Apollo in the Navy's hands? Apollo, Hades, and Kronstein are all prototypes. Apollo belongs to the explosive-combustion type, while Hades is for continuous burning. I don't recommend you use Hades; once this thing spreads, it could potentially burn the entire Dressrosa to ashes. As for Kronstein, forget it—its principles and structure are too complex to explain to you in a short time."

Su Xiao could indeed manufacture Apollo and Hades. As for Kronstein, that was a name he had come up with just seconds ago, and as for the corresponding explosive, there was no such thing at all.

Dealing with a villain like Jack, one must never let the other party see through how much ability one truly has. Once Jack knew exactly how many types of bombs Su Xiao could manufacture, the breakdown of their relationship would not be far off.

"Burn an entire island?"

Jack seemed very interested in Hades. Jack's motto was basically: wherever he goes, not a blade of grass grows; otherwise, he wouldn't be called Drought Jack.

Clearly, the characteristics of Hades matched Jack's style of conduct very well.

Su Xiao took a glass test tube the thickness of a pinky finger from his storage space. Inside the tube was a green solution, which gave one the illusion that it was currently burning.

"This is 10 milliliters of Hades solution. If it isn't extinguished in the initial stage of burning, it can spread to cover at least a small half of a city."

Su Xiao took out a portion of the Hades solution. This thing was different from Apollo. Su Xiao designated 140 milliliters of Hades as one unit. Since he was the one who developed it, he was the one who decided how much constituted a unit.

Hades would not explode; it would only burn. As long as there was combustible material, it could rapidly expand its burning range. Rock, steel, and shallow soil were all combustible materials to Hades.

Su Xiao tossed the 10 milliliters of Hades solution to Jack. Jack was full of confusion; he couldn't figure out why Su Xiao, whose heart was blacker than charcoal, was suddenly so generous.

The reason Su Xiao was so generous was to give Jack a taste of the sweetness. If the other party didn't experience how useful Hades was, they wouldn't offer benefits to purchase it.

Just like with Apollo, Jack didn't come this time to question Su Xiao about why the Navy had Apollo; he came to demand Apollo from Su Xiao.

Su Xiao didn't consider himself much of an orator, but he was surprised to find that Jack was even worse at it. Although the guy's glare was very fierce, Su Xiao was not someone to be trifled with either.

"In the near future, I need Apollo, at least 50 of them."

"Fine. Go find the raw materials for fifty of them, and bring 17 Great Grade Swords along the way. Considering you're a big client, 15 Great Grade Swords will do."

Su Xiao yawned and came to the workbench, starting to manufacture alchemy bombs.

"Do you really think we need you to win this war?"

Jack's tone began to turn unpleasant. Clearly, this guy had always wanted to treat Su Xiao as free labor, even if Su Xiao's strength was not weak.

This was Jack—a powerful, yet extremely arrogant and reckless great pirate.

"Of course not, but I don't necessarily have to stay with you guys. Red-Haired and Whitebeard are both good choices."

"You..."

Jack slammed his hand onto the workbench with a bang and stood up.

Su Xiao turned his head to look at Jack with a calm gaze. This was the reason he chose to join the Donquixote Family instead of the Beasts Pirates. Without the strength to face Kaido head-on, joining the Beasts Pirates would only lead to two results: being willingly used, or being sacrificed in some event.

On the side, Amu slowly walked to the door—he was blocking it. Bubu Wang walked to the window. In this indoor terrain, if Su Xiao activated Demon Hunter Moment, he could teach Jack how to behave in minutes.

Or rather, if he didn't have a promotion/main quest on him, Su Xiao would dare to kill Jack right now. The Four Emperors Kaido? Let him find Su Xiao first. He had already killed Cracker; killing one more Jack would be a piece of cake.

Knock, knock, knock...

A knocking sound came. Amu looked at Su Xiao with an inquiring gaze, meaning whether he should open the door.

"I'll give you a friends-and-family price: five Apollos for one Great Grade Sword."

"Hmph."

Jack snorted coldly and got up to walk toward the door. The extortion didn't work, which made him very unhappy. Moreover, he felt that Su Xiao wasn't bluffing; this guy was truly capable of fighting to the death.

Jack pushed the door open and left. Doflamingo walked into the room. The moment he saw Jack, he already guessed the purpose of the other party's visit.

"Joker."

Jack suddenly called out to Doflamingo. Doflamingo paused his steps. His first reaction was that Su Xiao had sold him out.

"Regarding famous swords, you should have channels."

"?"

Doflamingo was stunned for a moment, his eyes behind his sunglasses full of surprise. Listening to Jack, it seemed he was prepared to engage in an "equivalent exchange" with Su Xiao.

"I need a few famous swords recently."

Jack stood with his back to Doflamingo, turning his head slightly.

"This... is somewhat difficult."

"..."

Jack stepped forward, seemingly realizing that Doflamingo wasn't the type of trading partner one could extort, which made him feel quite depressed.

"There's an urgent matter on Kaido-sama's side. I will temporarily take my fleet and leave Dressrosa."

After Jack finished speaking, he walked out of the villa without looking back.

Su Xiao looked through the window at Jack's retreating back, a smile appearing on his face. This troublemaker had finally left.

That's right, in Su Xiao's view, Jack was a troublemaker. The people in the Beasts Pirates seemed to have some kind of problem; even when both sides could benefit, they wouldn't cooperate fairly, but instead try every means to squeeze their partners, unless the situation was critical.

If everyone in the Beasts Pirates was like this, then it would only be a matter of time before the Beasts Pirates had enemies everywhere.

Come to think of it, apart from the ally Doflamingo, the Beasts Pirates basically had no allies. Doflamingo was very afraid of Beasts Kaido, even if the two sides were partners.

Doflamingo knew that Beasts Kaido was a "manic patient." As long as that guy was provoked, that guy who loved to commit suicide would absolutely come to Dressrosa in person and wipe out the Donquixote Family.

Doflamingo vaguely remembered that when artificial Devil Fruits were being mass-produced, Kaido actually sat on the ground and wailed, shouting about the two of them building a Devil Fruit user army together.

But when the cost and sale of Devil Fruits were mentioned, Kaido changed his face immediately.

Among the Four Emperors, Red-Haired had the widest network. He basically wouldn't occupy others' territory, maintaining a "if you don't offend me, I won't offend you" policy. Therefore, most countries in the New World liked to live peacefully under Red-Haired's protection.

Next was Whitebeard. His territory was the most extensive, and the civilians within his territory lived and worked in peace because of Whitebeard's prestige.

Although Big Mom's temper wasn't good, she also had a huge network. The Long-Arm Tribe, Three-Eye Tribe, etc., all tended toward the Big Mom Pirates.

Only Kaido had Doflamingo as his only ally, and as Kaido's ally, Doflamingo was often in a state of trepidation.