Spandine: How Can You Get Ahead Without Giving Gifts?
In the First Half of Grand Line, there is the Island of Never-Night, Enies Lobby, one of the Three Strongholds of Justice.
The top floor of CP-9's headquarters building, the office of Commander Spandine.
Outside the door stood a tall but not bulky, rather slender man in a black suit with long pink hair. He was none other than Foz-Follow, Spandine's top henchman.
Foz-Follow gently knocked on the door, and then Spandine's voice came from inside. He then pushed the door open and went in.
"Sir, you wanted to see me?" Foz asked with a smile as he entered the room.
Then he saw Spandine bustling among a pile of gifts, which made Foz Foz say somewhat helplessly, "What are you doing?"
"The New Year is coming soon. How can you get promoted if you don't prepare something for the leaders?" Spandine said, picking up a gift bag with the words 'Vice Admiral Bane Bann' on it.
Spandine opened his safe, which contained many gold bars, Belly cash, and other valuables. He initially intended to take out two gold bars and put them in a gift bag, but hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "No, that's too crude..."
After thinking for a moment, Spandine busied himself opening another safe, inside which was a Devil Fruit. Spandine took out the Devil Fruit with a slightly reluctant expression, but in the end he gritted his teeth and stuffed it into the gift bag for 'Vice Admiral Bane'.
Upon seeing this from a distance, Foz exclaimed in surprise, "Sir, wasn't that thing supposed to be for me?"
That's right, the Devil Fruit that Spandine inserted was the Zoan type Cat-Cat Fruit, Ancient type, Saber-toothed Tiger form!
"Look at you, getting impatient again!" Spandine glared at Who's Who. "It's just a Devil Fruit, right? I'll find you a better one later!"
Who's-Who rolled his eyes at this, thinking to himself, "Are you kidding me? While Devil Fruit aren't exactly rare for the CP Agency, powerful abilities are still quite rare, okay?"
All these years, and I haven't seen you manage to create another Ancient type!
However, Spandine was his superior, Foz-Foe, though somewhat helpless, couldn't stop anything.
After working for half a day, Spandine finished his work. He sat down in his office chair, panting, and took a couple of gulps of tea before calming himself down and asking, "How's it going with the matter of Flevance that I asked you to inquire about?"
"The intelligence is correct. The Donquixote Family has indeed started making moves there. By the way, the profits from Lead-Platinum and lead are quite substantial. Doesn't Mary Geoise have any intention of taking over?" Foz asked curiously.
"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask. How would I know what Mary Geoise is thinking? But I haven't heard any news that they want to take over this place. I guess they think it's too much trouble. After all, if they want to mine there, once the Flevance incident really comes to light, they won't be able to recruit normal miners. They'll have to resort to slaves or something. But you know that the slaves, criminals, and prisoners that Mary Geoise recruits are often sent to the East Blue to build bridges. That's the Celestial Dragons' grand plan for a thousand years. It's politically correct, and no one dares to mess with it. I think this Lead-Platinum will really fall into the hands of the Donquixote Family and the Big Mom Pirates..." Spandine sighed.
"So how should we arrange it?" Foz asked again.
"Vice Admiral Bane has already spoken to them and even had discussions with Queen Stussy of CP-0, reaching an agreement. So, we should add to the good news and give them a handy gift. When I go to Mary Geoise to deliver the gift after the World Conference, I'll just casually mention it to the higher-ups. That's all we need to do," Spandine said calmly, waving his hand.
After finishing his explanation, Spandine waved his hand and said, "Let's not talk about that now. We just received a mission from above, and you'll be in charge of it..."
"What is it?" Foz Fur walked up to Spandine, raising an eyebrow.
"The trouble in Alabasta..." Spandine some annoyance, "The Nefertari family really has nothing better to do. Every time there's a World Conference, they bring up the Celestial Gold, which makes the gentlemen on Mary Geoise very unhappy. They're preparing to teach them a lesson, but due to the Nefertari family's special circumstances, many methods are not suitable for them. In the past, there weren't many good solutions, but now, isn't that Shichibukai Crocodile in Alabasta?"
"What do you mean?" Foz asked hesitantly.
"The message from above is that we should talk to Crocodile and tell him to cause some trouble for Alabasta, and to stop the Nefertari family from having nothing better to do than cause trouble for Mary Geoise. They should mind their own business..." Spandine displeasure.
Who's-Who nodded first, then asked curiously, "That guy is one of the Shichibukai. In the past, you always went personally to these opportunities to build connections. Why did you send me this time?"
"Crocodile has no future. Getting acquainted with him will only offend people. I don't want to know him. When you go, just convey the message and our intentions. Tell him that to some extent, we can even cooperate with his little tricks to teach Alabasta a lesson. But whatever you do, don't get too involved with him, understand?" Spandine instructed.
Still not quite understanding, Foz asked, "Who did he offend?"
"How can someone as uninformed as you be a high-ranking agent?" Spandine slammed his fist on the table. "Don't you know? Of the three Shichibukai, only Crocodile hasn't paid the bail fee to Vice Admiral Bane of G-5!"
"Huh? What guarantee fee!?" Who's-Who asked in surprise. He had never heard of the Shichibukai having to pay a guarantee fee!
"I think you're destined to be nothing more than a thug for life, you're not clever at all!" Spandine exasperation, then whispered, "Anyway, Crocodile offended Vice Admiral Bane, so he's stuck in Alabasta and not doing anything. If he ever tries to get into the New World, just you wait and see, he'll get what's coming to him... In short, this guy is a dead end, why bother with him? It's a waste of my time... You don't need to know anything else, just do as I say."
Seeing that Spandine didn't seem inclined to explain further, Foz-Followed up and nodded, saying, "Understood, I'll head to Alabasta now."
Just as Foz was about to leave, Spandine's Den Den Den Mushi rang. Spandine jumped in surprise and quickly Den Den Mushi, saying, "It's me, what's up?"
Although he spoke quickly, his tone suggested that the other person was likely his subordinate.
"Sir, an urgent report from Mary Geoise headquarters says that Donquixote Doflamingo hijacked six ships carrying the North Blue Affiliated Nation' next year's Celestial Gold in the North Blue. The news has been blocked, but Mary Geoise is furious and demands that headquarters resolve this issue as quickly as possible. The Commander-in-Chief is planning to select someone to do it, and I feel this is a good opportunity to make a name for himself, so I'm informing..." the subordinate on the other end reported.
Before he could finish speaking, Spandine, upon hearing the name 'Doflamingo,' burst out cursing, 'Don't meddle in my business! Let's just pretend we don't know anything about this!'
Doflamingo is a man, and you don't know his identity, but do you think I don't know? He's True Celestial Dragon of the Yellow Banner who descended to earth and robbed the Celestial Gold. This is clearly an internal struggle between him and those bigwigs in the mortal realm. You're getting involved? You want to die even faster?
But just as Spandine about to hang up the Den Den Mushi, pretending he knew nothing about it, he suddenly realized something, frowned slightly, and said, "Wait a minute, don't show your face at headquarters for now. I'll find someone to ask around and then give you a definite answer..."
After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Spandine looked at Fortz Foz, then asked somewhat strangely, "What are you still doing here? Go find Crocodile, shall we?!"
"Ah... alright, I'll be going then, sir." Foz-Foe finally snapped out of his daze, turned around, and left the office.
After Foz-Follow left, Spandine cursed and said, "If it weren't for your fighting skills, I would have fired you long ago. You can't even use your brain!"
Muttering curses under his breath, Spandine quickly dialed a number. The moment the other end answered, his expression changed instantly. Even though the other person couldn't see him, he wore a fawning smile and greeted him respectfully, "Vice Admiral Bane, wishing you a Happy New Year in advance! This is Spandine... Yes, yes, I'm so sorry, I'm here to ask you some questions. I heard you seem to have a pretty good relationship with Donquixote Doflamingo of the North Blue..."