Meanwhile.
On an island somewhere in the New World, deep within the royal palace.
Heavy curtains completely blocked out the sunlight, leaving only a few dim wall lamps lit in the vast hall.
The light fell across the floor, casting distorted shadows.
Doflamingo lounged in a high-backed chair, his legs casually propped against the edge of the long table, his pink feathered coat draping down on either side.
No emotion could be seen behind his crimson sunglasses.
Spread before him was an underground route map that covered the entire long table.
Arms ports, slave transfer stations, smuggling routes, intelligence outposts, black-market auction houses, and the names of hundreds of underground merchants were linked by lines of different colors.
Red lines represented weapons.
Black lines represented slaves.
Blue lines represented intelligence.
And the names circled in gold meant that their owners had already taken the initiative to bow to the Donquixote Family.
Stacks of ledgers and transaction records were piled along both sides of the table.
They involved more than just pirates.
There were also kingdom nobles, local officials, corrupt Marines, and powerful figures who looked respectable on the surface but amassed their fortunes through slaves and smuggling in secret.
Any one of those records getting out would be enough to keep countless people awake all night.
Over the years, Rock had never rushed to purge the Underworld.
It was not because he could not see it.
It was because he knew perfectly well that the Underworld could never be wiped out completely through a single war.
As long as profit remained, old rats would die and new ones would immediately crawl out of their holes.
Rather than alert the enemy, it was better to first map out every hole.
Therefore, he needed a pair of eyes hidden in the darkness.