"It's you, Uncle Cody. Have my Devil Fruits been approved?"
Xie Wen smiled like an old farmer looking at a bumper rice harvest.
Cody: "..."
He rolled his eyes, somewhat speechless, before answering, "The higher-ups have indeed approved the Devil Fruits you asked for, but if you want to get them, you'll have to go to Marineford first. We'll hand the fruits over to the Marines for safekeeping. Whether you can get them from the Marines will depend on your own abilities."
"Tch! I knew it wouldn't be that easy..." Xie Wen clicked his tongue.
Clearly, as a "Shichibukai Reserve," he was somewhat important to the World Government, but not all that important.
One or two Devil Fruits really were nothing to the World Government, but they couldn't simply hand them over without hesitation just because Xie Wen had made a demand. This was a matter of face and who called the shots.
But Xie Wen refused to take a loss either, so he promptly said, "Since you've imposed restrictions on your end, I'm raising my price too. After all... you seem confident I won't be able to get them, don't you?"
"..."
The other end fell silent for another moment. Then Xie Wen heard Cody say in a calm but icy voice, "Don't push your luck. You're not our only option."
Somewhat surprised by Uncle Cody's change in attitude, Xie Wen looked toward Link Meow nearby again.
After Hua Mei Meow, who stood beside the little leopard cat, whispered with him for a while, Link Meow conveyed Scarlet Tiger-sama's meaning to Xie Wen through his expressions.
(=ˇˇ=)[Cody's change in attitude...]
(=ω=)[Most likely means someone else is beside him...]
╮(=ΦωΦ=)╭[So he has no choice...]
(=`へ=)[He can't act too close to you...]
(=Φ×Φ=)[Don't act too friendly yourself...]
(=`ω=)σ[Use Moria directly to