The situation had grown increasingly murky.
More and more people were getting involved.
At first, they had thought the one who'd stirred up Wapol was just an ordinary arms dealer, simply looking to make a fortune from the war.
But with Dalton's arrival, Lindsey and Crocodile discovered that the so-called "war profiteer" was actually a member of the Donquixote Family!
What was the Donquixote Family?
At this stage, the Donquixote Family was a pirate crew active in the North Blue.
Their young master, who was also the captain of the crew, was none other than the future-famous Heavenly Yaksha—Donquixote Doflamingo!
Across the vast sea, there were countless extraordinary people, yet it was hard to find anyone as much of an "oddity" as Doflamingo.
His family had once been part of the Celestial Dragons. But after his father willingly gave up their status as Celestial Dragons, the family was ultimately destroyed.
Furious, Doflamingo shot his father dead and returned to Mary Geoise carrying his head, yet the Celestial Dragons still rejected him.
In the end, surrounded by Trebol and several other officers, Doflamingo chose the dark path and founded the Donquixote Family.
In the not-too-distant future, Doflamingo would orchestrate a raid on the Heavenly Gold and use it as an opportunity to secure a legitimate seat among the Shichibukai!
After that came the coup that stole Dressrosa.
For now, though, the Donquixote Family had only two major identities—
On one hand, they were pirates being chased all over by Chief Officer Tsuru;
On the other, Doflamingo had a second identity in the underworld: JOKER!
Doflamingo was an oddity, but also a ruthless mastermind.
While running his pirate crew, he had also entered the underworld as JOKER, building up his own power.
By the time he became one of the Shichibukai, JOKER had already become an "emperor" of the underworld, holding a position of great influence.
And now, although JOKER had yet to rule the underworld, he was still a well-known arms dealer and war profiteer.
JOKER could be found behind many of the conflicts raging in the New World!
It was also worth mentioning that Doflamingo had great faith in Crocodile's power and had tried to recruit him several times, but Crocodile had never responded.
"JOKER, that guy..."
Crocodile's expression darkened as he muttered,
"He deliberately let me see who he was!"
"He must have had his eye on me for a while. The moment I left Alabasta, he started making his move."
That made sense.
But what concerned Crocodile was whether Doflamingo knew where the Poneglyph was.
He had probably already heard the rumors.
Still, nothing Crocodile had done up to this point had been in vain.
He had spent years carefully building his position in Alabasta and had a close relationship with the royal family, including Cobra. That was why he could openly say the words "Poneglyph" in front of them!
Alabasta was, after all, an affiliate nation of the World Government.
If Doflamingo had come instead, the World Government and the Navy would likely have joined forces to surround and crush him!
"What's his goal?"
Crocodile paced back and forth in the hospital room.
Too many questions were circling in his mind for him to pay any attention to the people around him.
If that bastard Doflamingo leaked the news about the Poneglyph, then everything Crocodile had worked to build would vanish like a bubble.
Crocodile would never allow anyone to stand in his way!
"Does he want the Poneglyph? But how could he possibly pull that off with a tiny place like the Drum Kingdom?"
"Waiting for an opportunity? Possible, but unlikely. It's too uncertain..."
"Tch!"
Crocodile had thought it over for a long time without finding an answer, and was starting to get irritated.
If it were an ordinary arms dealer, he might be able to scare them off with sheer strength.
But if it was that lunatic JOKER, things would only get worse!
Report it to the World Government?
That was even less of an option!
If word got out about the Poneglyph, Alabasta might not be destroyed, but the Poneglyph couldn't possibly stay there. It would inevitably end up in the World Government's hands...
"..."
"Hm?"
At that thought, Crocodile suddenly froze.
That was it—the World Government!
"Doflamingo wants to use the Drum Kingdom to verify the information about the Poneglyph, then use it to open a channel to the World Government."
"The Poneglyph is his bargaining chip. What he wants is a seat among the Shichibukai!"
Crocodile's pupils contracted as he grasped the key to the situation. Beside him, Lindsey clapped repeatedly.
As expected of Crocodile, the Sand Crocodile.
Doflamingo had indeed coveted a seat among the Shichibukai for a long time. Only then could he gain legal status and go to Dressrosa to begin his coup.
The fact that Crocodile could infer all this without any additional information showed just how keen his strategic insight was.
"Hehehehe, how nice. He actually has the nerve to try that?"
Crocodile gave a series of cold laughs, already devising a plan to strike back.
"..."
At the same time, Lindsey took a map marked with locations from Dalton.
She looked it over, then asked, "Are you sure?"
Dalton nodded.
Lindsey then combined that map with the one in her hands and passed both to Crocodile.
"What's this?"
"The locations at sea where the attacks took place."
Lindsey answered, "One map shows the locations the Drum Island side believes were attacked, and the other shows the locations we believe were attacked."
"..."
Crocodile took the two maps and examined them, noticing something strange.
The locations marked on the two maps differed greatly.
Aside from a few overlapping points, both the Drum Kingdom and Alabasta had several other locations that had nothing to do with each other!
"What's going on?"
Crocodile was stunned.
Even if the Donquixote Family had stirred up trouble between them, that couldn't explain why the locations differed on both sides!
So the more likely explanation was...
"There's a third... no, a fourth party involved?!"
Drum Island, Vergo's room.
As one of the Donquixote Family's top officers, Vergo had quite a few people at his disposal.
To prepare for the mysterious "fourth party," Vergo had sent men in secret to investigate the locations of the unknown attacks.
At last, a report had come in.
His men had found several pieces of wreckage in the waters where the unknown attack had occurred.
The wreckage had been soaked in seawater, but the marks on it were still quite clear.
Vergo examined one of the pieces.
It was a palm-sized chunk of wood, covered in scorch marks. But the cut along its edge was perfectly clean, as if some kind of sharp object had sliced through it.
Slashes and burns?
The attacker clearly wasn't Crocodile, and Evan Lindsey hadn't shown any signs of having "flame" abilities in battle.
"Hmm. First, as the young master instructed, we'll test Alabasta."
"..."
Vergo destroyed the wreckage, then went to see Wapol and made a proposal to the foolish king:
"Your Majesty, we've done enough to intimidate Alabasta. It's time to consider our next move."
Wapol asked while chewing on a piece of wood, "Oh? Spit it out. What is it?"
"..."
Vergo paused, then slowly uttered two words:
"Peace talks."
Before you continue