Dressrosa

None of the Charlotte Pirates dared to disobey Vegapunk's orders, especially after they learned of Vegapunk's identity.

Although Vegapunk is not known for his strength, he did manage to kill Marine Admiral on Future Island! In everyone's eyes, Vegapunk's power is not much less than that of the Four Emperors.

Especially now that Vegapunk has completely changed his physical body, Charlotte wouldn't think that the current Vegapunk is still the same scientist who couldn't even kill a chicken.

Most of the Charlotte Family members were not considered by Vegapunk. The only ones who caught his eye were special Devil Fruit User like Charlotte Pudding, Charlotte Brulee, and Charlotte Nuohsi, or people with "decent" strength like Charlotte Katakuri and Charlotte Smoothie.

However, although Charlotte Pudding and Charlotte Brulee possess powerful Devil Fruit abilities, their own combat strength is questionable, and they did not participate in this expedition at all.

Fortunately, having subdued the entire Charlotte Pirates, it was easy to transfer the two of them over, and there was no rush to deal with Vegapunk.

"There are two things we really need to deal with now. One is to find Charlotte Linlin, whether she is alive or dead."

"Another matter is to deal with the World Government's probing in the short term, so as to prevent the World Government from discovering my existence and launching an ancient weapon attack to destroy the entire Wano Country."

Of course, Vegapunk estimated that the possibility of Wano Country being attacked by Imu reduction attack was not high—in fact, Vegapunk even suspected that the chaotic Magnetic Field of the New World itself could interfere with such a super weapon falling from the sky.

Otherwise, the Four Emperors wouldn't have been able to roam freely for so many years, rarely staying in one place for too long. Not to mention the Red Hair Pirates, the other three Four Emperors Pirates all have their own bases. It's impossible that the World Government hasn't considered using super weapons to wipe them out.

Since the Pirate Emperor of the New World are still alive and well, it means that the World Government must have certain restrictions on the use of super weapons.

Perhaps the superweapon has an extremely long charging and standby time, making it unusable continuously, or perhaps Imu himself would experience some kind of burden using such a superweapon. But the most likely explanation is that the Magnetic Field of the New World would affect the superweapon's positioning function.

Even if Vegapunk had some estimation of this, he could not ignore the dangers involved based on such speculation.

Maybe Imu is just a lunatic, or too arrogant and looks down on the Four Emperors, which is why he hasn't attacked them?

Or perhaps this Lord Imu possesses some ability to Future Sight, and therefore has no interest in the "minor squabbles" of those Sea Emperors?

Under these circumstances, Vegapunk was still unwilling to take the gamble. Wano Country was now practically his sphere of influence, and although the Sea Stone had been completely mined out, it could still provide a considerable amount of other resources.

Even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that Vegapunk doesn't care about the lives of the people of Wano Country, there's still the Pluton Battleship hidden beneath Wano Country!

Vegapunk didn't want Wano Country to be completely destroyed before he had thoroughly analyzed and studied the entire Pluton Battleship.

However, it was clearly better to leave this matter to professionals, so Vegapunk quickly handed it over to Stussy.

Stussy, this shrewd and cunning spy, is the best person to deal with. With her abilities, and after coordinating with the Charlotte Family, she can completely cover up the existence of Vegapunk and Hancock.

Fortunately, Kozuki Hiyori, who currently rules and governs the country, is a member of the Kozuki Clan. "The orphaned girl of the Kozuki Clan staged a triumphant return, defeating Kaido and Charlotte Linlin one after another, and taking over Wano Country" is more than enough to deal with the World Government.

Kozuki Hiyori's strength is actually quite formidable. She was already close to the level of a Yonko First Mate, and after obtaining the Chakra Seed, her strength improved even more, allowing her to barely maintain the appearance of a top-tier powerhouse.

Moreover, Vegapunk later opened his Ninjutsu library to Kozuki Hiyori. If Kozuki Hiyori could learn some powerful Ninjutsu and combine the Chakra system and Haki system, becoming a top-tier fighter on the sea would be a piece of cake.

Even if the World Government continues to probe, it will take a considerable amount of time, enough for Kozuki Hiyori to undergo a complete transformation.

As for Vegapunk himself, after obtaining Charlotte Linlin's Vivre Card from members of the Charlotte Family, he began using these Vivre Cards to create a detection machine to search for Charlotte Linlin.

Dressrosa is a country close to the entrance to the New World, and for a long time it has been frequently harassed by pirate crews who have just entered the New World and are unaware of their own limitations.

However, such incidents have become much less frequent since Doflamingo took control of the country. After all, while the Shichibukai are not as prestigious as the Four Emperors, they can easily defeat some small-time pirates who have just entered the New World.

As a result, this country has become accustomed to an atmosphere of peace over the years, until today, when a Fire Meteor fell from the sky and directly destroyed a large area of Dressrosa, throwing the entire Dressrosa into chaos.

After the chaos broke out, the Donquixote Family reacted very quickly. Soon, several family executives arrived at the area where the Fire Meteor had fallen. However, when they saw the true nature of the Fire Meteor, their expressions changed drastically.

First, they sealed off the area where the Fire Meteor fell, prohibiting anyone else from entering. Then, they hurriedly contacted Doflamingo, the leader of the Donquixote Family, by phone.

Upon receiving the intelligence, Doflamingo, who was on his pirate ship, was startled and immediately set off through the Sky Path, returning to Dressrosa in almost the shortest possible time.

A pink, bird-like figure descended from the sky. Gladius, dressed in leather and sporting a spiky hairstyle, rushed to meet it.

"Alright, enough of the small talk. Gladius, besides you, does anyone else know this news?"

Doflamingo waved his hand, signaling Gladius to stop talking nonsense, and Gladius, understanding the situation, nodded and said succinctly:

"Some people in Dressrosa saw her appearance at first, but it would be hard to associate her with that of the Four Emperors."

"What I want is absolute confidentiality! Get rid of all those people!"

"Don't worry, Young Master, those people have all been locked up, and Sugar has already taken care of them!"

"That's good! How are the monster's injuries?"

"This is very bad. Most of its internal organs have ruptured, two-thirds of its bones are broken or even shattered, and it has lost more than half of its original blood volume... To be honest, the fact that this monster is still alive is beyond our imagination!"

Upon hearing Gladius's astonishment, Doflamingo's lips twitched:

"Otherwise, why do you think they're called monsters? Because these guys, in every way, are no longer human!"

"I wonder why this monster was so badly injured? Charlotte Linlin shouldn't have Kaido's suicidal tendencies... And even if she did, this Steel Balloon's physical defenses aren't much worse than Kaido's!"

That's right, that Fire Meteor was Charlotte Linlin, who was sent flying from Wano Country all the way to Dressrosa by Hancock's punch!

Only a figure of the Sea Emperor caliber could make Doflamingo so nervous, even when he was unconscious!

Although Doflamingo saw Charlotte Linlin's injuries, he didn't expect that she had been beaten like this—or rather, Doflamingo simply didn't believe that anyone could beat the Sea Emperor like this!

Many believe that this Sea Emperor may have played some suicidal game, or perhaps he was blown away here by some super bomb or something similar.

But regardless, in Doflamingo's eyes, this was an excellent opportunity!

Whether it's rescuing Charlotte Linlin and using that to establish connections with the Charlotte Pirates, finding a way to control this Four Emperors, or simply handing her over to the Navy and the World Government, all of these options would yield enormous benefits!

If all else fails, they could just kill Charlotte Linlin, which would reduce their competitors. The Charlotte Pirates' main business is in the Underworld; otherwise, they wouldn't be known as the most well-informed pirate crew.

This business undoubtedly overlaps with that of the Underworld's "Jackie" Doflamingo. Moreover, given the size of the Charlotte Pirates, they are the absolute leaders of the entire Underworld. Without bringing down the Charlotte Pirates, Doflamingo's dream of truly becoming the leader of the Underworld is nothing but wishful thinking.

If Charlotte Linlin could be secretly killed without being discovered by anyone, the Charlotte Pirates would undoubtedly fall out of the ranks of the Four Emperors Pirates. There might even be a series of internal splits within the Charlotte Pirates, which would give their Donquixote Family a chance to rise to power in the underworld.

However, Doflamingo was well aware that it wouldn't be easy to cover this up. After all, too many people had seen the Fire Meteor that fell from the sky. Even if all the outsiders who saw Charlotte Linlin were dealt with, the Charlotte Pirates would inevitably have some suspicions.

For a pirate crew of that caliber, suspicion is enough. Pirate crews are villains, not judges. They don't need to find any absolute evidence; just a possibility is enough for them to launch a war against Dressrosa.

Tragically, even without Charlotte Linlin, the Donquixote Family would be no match for the Charlotte Pirates!

Doflamingo was certain that he was no match for Katakuri, and he had no chance of winning against Charlotte Cracker, Charlotte Smoothie, or Charlotte Perospero either. Under these circumstances, even a casual act of retaliation from the Charlotte Pirates would be too much for Doflamingo to handle.

As for his backers... the World Government and the Navy are obviously not going to risk their lives for a Shichibukai like him; they are more likely to sit back and watch the two fight it out.

In the original work, Kaido, who was the backer, had long since looked down on the garbage that Caesar created after obtaining Vegapunk's Artificial Devil Fruit. Although there was still some connection between the two, the hope of getting help from Kaido was not high.

Not to mention, during this time, something happened to the Beasts Pirates, and they seem to have all fallen silent, possibly indicating that they have been completely wiped out.

While thinking about it, Doflamingo gave up the idea of killing Charlotte Linlin, but when he thought of the Beasts Pirates again, his heart stirred slightly.

Charlotte Linlin's serious injury and the disappearance of the entire Beasts Pirates... Could there be a connection between these events?

Could it be the World Government? But the World Government's secret trump card wouldn't turn someone into Fire Meteor, nor would it leave Wano Country exposed after wiping out the Beasts Pirates.

Unable to come up with a solution, Doflamingo abandoned any further ideas. Even if things went as he suspected, with two Four Emperors crews already destroyed, he didn't think his Donquixote Family would have any ability to resist such an uncontrollable force.

The most urgent task is to rescue Charlotte Linlin!

Performing first aid on Charlotte Linlin is not so easy. First of all, even though Charlotte Linlin is now riddled with holes, her skin is still indestructible. Even if the paramedics use a chainsaw, they can only wear down the saw teeth.

Fortunately, Doflamingo had mastered the String-String Fruit to a great extent. In the end, he used Armament Haki to wrap the created threads and inserted these tough and sharp threads into Charlotte Linlin's body through the wound. He then used this to suture blood vessels, fix bones, and stitch up internal organs, finally managing to save Charlotte Linlin.

Monsters like Charlotte Linlin, as long as they're still alive and can be saved, are not far from recovery.

With a large amount of Nutrient Solution injected through the wound, Charlotte Linlin's injuries improved rapidly, and her breathing gradually stabilized.

In just one day, all the wounds on the outside of the Steel Balloon had closed up. Now even Doflamingo could no longer use his String-String Fruit to treat her. Fortunately, the previous treatment had already been effective, so Doflamingo didn't need to do anything more.

However, the nutrient injections can no longer be administered... Ordinary steel cannot pierce the skin of this Four Emperors.

Unable to administer intravenous nutrition, Doflamingo simply forced the nutrients down her throat. Charlotte Linlin lived up to her monstrous reputation, absorbing the large amount of Nutrient Solution directly from her mouth without any problems. In fact, it greatly accelerated her recovery.

Around the evening of the following day, Charlotte Linlin opened her eyes and regained some of her senses.