Sorry, I'm not interested

The Den Den Mushi was ringing.

It was a number he had never seen before.

"An unfamiliar number... How rare!" Prince Aleus blinked. Den Den Mushi used bioelectric waves as their transmission medium, and each individual snail had its own unique electrical signature—meaning every Den Den Mushi was a one-of-a-kind existence.

Nor did this world have a developed network that could leak and sell personal information. Without access to accurate intelligence through proper channels, it was basically impossible for a stranger to suddenly call in. As for someone bored out of their mind—or some other part of their anatomy—randomly dialing numbers and coincidentally hitting Aleus's Den Den Mushi number, such a low-probability event was better off ignored outright.

So, this was someone trying to establish contact with him.

"Could it be..."

Aleus recalled what his grandfather had just told him. Vergo... or rather, Joker, was investigating his information, and his grandfather had obligingly fed him some irrelevant details, including one of his many Den Den Mushi numbers.

He reached out and picked up the receiver.

"This is Sokachio Aleus. Who might you be?" Aleus leaned back on the sofa, the receiver close to his lips, asking in a very light, casual tone.

"Fufufufufu!!"

A distinctive laugh was transmitted perfectly by the Den Den Mushi.

As expected!

Aleus rolled his eyes. It really was Joker.

The laughter stopped, and finally a more normal voice came through. "Prince Aleus, I am Joker!" Doflamingo, sitting by the Royal Palace pool, introduced himself bluntly. It was a very interesting self-introduction.

Doflamingo had many titles. He was the King of Dressrosa, and also a Shichibukai. But he mentioned neither of these official identities. Instead, he greeted Aleus using his alias as a broker of the Dark World.

That was worth pondering.

"Joker?"

Aleus savored the name.

"What business does a broker of the Dark World have with a mere prince like me?" He spoke with a straight face, feigning ignorance. Though he didn't know why Doflamingo was contacting him, he guessed it had to be related to his conflict with Umit.

"Fufufu!"

Doflamingo, sitting by the pool, laughed cheerfully.

"Prince Aleus, I don't intend to waste time on boring probing. The reason I'm contacting you is simple. Umit has arrived in Dressrosa. I have information on Umit and his subordinates here. If you're interested, we can make a deal."

Doflamingo didn't drag things out at all. Though he was used to being a broker, he himself was also a dark-world tycoon controlling the weapons trade in the New World, and he hadn't lost his ability to do business directly with people.

"Information on Umit? Joker, are you planning to break with Umit?"

"I'm just planning to sell some information. I have no intention of meddling in extra matters."

"Just selling information? If Umit finds out, he might not see it that way."

"What he thinks doesn't matter. What he does is what's worth paying attention to, isn't it? Besides, Umit and I have never been friends. The word 'break' doesn't even apply. I'm just doing the job a qualified broker should do. So, this information—interested?"

Doflamingo asked again.

"Sorry, I'm not interested."

Aleus refused very decisively, leaving no room for haggling or bargaining.

"Not interested... Fufufu... Looks like my sales pitch failed!" By the pool, Doflamingo, sitting on the sofa, tightened his grip on the receiver. His laughter didn't stop, but the smile on his face faded by three degrees.

The chatter of the Modern Girls around him quietly dropped a few notches. They all focused intently on their young master's changing expression. Even Trebol unconsciously reduced the noise of his sniffles.

The only one unaffected was the little girl 'Sugar' sitting beside Doflamingo, completely absorbed in eating grapes.

"Anything else, Mr. Joker?"

Aleus asked.

"If there's nothing else, then I'm afraid I don't have the time to keep you company. The card game is about to start. It's my turn to play."

After waiting two seconds with no response from Doflamingo, Aleus directly hung the receiver back up, stood up from the sofa, walked over to the card table, replaced Eschbach who had lost and been taken out of the game, and continued playing cards with his subordinate officers.

He acted as if the call had never happened.

Dressrosa, Royal Palace.

By the pool, "Sokachio Aleus..." Looking at the hung-up Den Den Mushi, Doflamingo's smile grew thinner and thinner. His cold gaze was palpable even through his sunglasses. The air seemed to slowly congeal, and the poor Modern Girls pressed their breathing down to a whisper.

"Young master, young master, what's wrong?"

It was Trebol, the highest-ranking officer with no sense of the situation, who broke the suffocating, oppressive atmosphere.

"Trebol, quiet down!"

Doflamingo glared at this not-so-bright 'family member.' Couldn't this guy's brain work just a little better? He was one of the four top officers of the family, and yet he was still just Sugar's personal bodyguard. He couldn't compare at all to the other three top officers, each bearing heavy responsibilities.

"Alright! I get it, Doffy."

Trebol flicked his long snot, replied, and obediently stood by Sugar's side.

"...Black Prince. A man with character. Even more interesting than I expected... He actually turned me down. Is he that confident he can take Umit? Or..." Doflamingo sank into thought.

Aleus's reaction caught him somewhat off guard.

Before contacting Aleus, he had already anticipated the outcome—the possibility of rejection had crossed his mind. But the attitude Aleus showed when refusing was something he had never imagined: so casual, so indifferent... truly strange.

Was it arrogance, or confidence?

If the former, then Umit would surely teach this Black Prince the rules of the New World.

If the latter, then it meant someone new in the New World had climbed to power over the bones of their predecessors.

"Fufufu!!!"

Doflamingo laughed again.

He gazed at the clear, rippling water of the pool, as if glimpsing the blood and storms to come, and murmured to himself: "Black Prince, King of Maritime Transport... let me act as the referee and see just what you're both made of." His laughter grew louder.

Soon, there would be new excitement to watch.