"Hehehe, Hancock, you certainly live up to your reputation as the most beautiful woman in the world.
But you'd better be sure you have information on a Road Poneglyph. Otherwise, beauty won't save you."
"Hmph! Whatever I do will be forgiven! Because I am so beautiful!"
Perospero looked helpless.
Watching Hancock stand proudly with her hands on her hips, he simply could not understand what this woman was thinking.
"What exactly are you planning?"
"I have no time for you filthy men. Only he is different!
He said he'd be here soon. If you want to know anything, wait until he arrives."
Salome coiled into the shape of a chair, letting Hancock sit on her.
But Hancock's cold, haughty gaze changed in an instant as she sank into one fantasy after another about reuniting with Lofan.
Perhaps when Lofan came this time, he would marry her because of her outstanding performance, and then they would go on their honeymoon.
Perospero's long pink tongue licked his enormous lollipop hard.
To think she would disregard him, the Candy Minister, like this.
If the Navy had not been on a war footing, making it likely that exposing his whereabouts would delay Mama's plans,
he would have made this woman pay right here.
"!!!"
He had been using Observation Haki constantly, precisely because he feared Hancock had something else planned.
But now, he could not understand at all.
How had this man slipped past his detection and appeared right before him?
"Lofan?! Hancock, what kind of deal have you made with the Navy?!!"
He knew the man before him all too well. All sorts of recent news had revolved around him.
The tides of the era, calm for so long, had been stirred up by this man alone.
In that instant of terror, Perospero immediately turned the ground beneath the two of them into a swamp of syrup.
He had no desire to face another, even stronger monster capable of capturing a monster like Jack alive.
Especially since the Navy loved ganging up on people and would never play along with a one-on-one fight.
"You've misunderstood. I'm the one working with Big Mom, Perospero."
Lofan used Flash Step to appear directly in front of him. The immense pressure made Perospero instinctively strike again.
An enormous, thick pink candy wall rose between them.
He also covered himself in a suit of armor made from candy before speaking:
"Hehehe, the Navy's celebrated poster boy cooperating with pirates? Do you take us for fools?!!"
"Time is precious. I've staked everything on this gamble."
Lofan's vast, heavy blue Reiatsu enveloped Perospero.
He raised a finger, and a bolt of lightning blasted through the candy wall, revealing the Candy Minister behind it, pinned down and unable to move.
"What is this power?! No, it's similar-so similar to Mama's soul ability that makes people tremble!"
Reiatsu targeted the soul, and almost anyone facing it for the first time was extremely susceptible.
Perospero was powerful, but he had no idea how to deal with a power that targeted the soul.
"Road Poneglyphs. You have one, Wano Country has one, and there's another on Zou.
Kaido has brought out all his forces this time, leaving Wano Country extremely short on fighting strength. If something were stolen right now, I imagine no one would notice?"
Having said that, Lofan withdrew his Reiatsu. Looking at Perospero's stunned eyes, he smiled and extended a hand.
"Take me to see Big Mom. In this era, whether it's justice or dreams, all such ambitions require a broader vision."
Watching Lofan, so commanding and seemingly in control of everything, Hancock shyly covered her face.
This is my husband. What should I do next? Go with him to see Big Mom? Or are we going to hold the wedding?
"Hancock, your country only receives the World Government's protection because of your status as a Shichibukai.
Stay out of what comes next. Your people still need their ruler to lead them."
Seeing Hancock's expression, Lofan knew her thoughts had gone off track again.
But Hancock could not be exposed yet. Momousagi and Tsuru also knew that the two of them had been in contact.
For now, Lofan still needed to use the Navy to achieve his goals.
And he had only one reason for having Hancock contact Big Mom: to give her leverage over him.
Big Mom, one of the Four Emperors who held an entire country, was hardly someone easy to deal with.
Every step required careful planning. By having Hancock contact Big Mom, Lofan was telling her:
I've already become entangled with pirates.
"Ah~ Is this Lofan's love for me?"
Kaido's large hand released the seagull as it struggled into flight.
Ignoring the countless beautiful feathers it had lost, it swiftly disappeared into the sky.
It silently swore never to return to this damned stretch of sea to deliver these damned newspapers!
"What exactly is the Navy doing? What's their purpose in deliberately luring me into attacking this brat?"
Although Kaido was always moody and constantly wanted to make a big move, to start the greatest war in the world,
he was not stupid. A fool would never have survived from Rocks's era to the present, much less become one of the Four Emperors of the New World.
But he still had his own arrogance and conceit. He was Kaido!
He had challenged the Navy and the Four Emperors single-handedly and been captured eighteen times.
He had suffered a thousand brutal tortures and been sentenced to death a full forty times.
Yet he was still alive, still an emperor who ruled over the New World.
"Hmph! The damned Navy loves playing these tricks!
Once I slaughter this brat, I'll go to Marineford and settle the score with that old man Sengoku!"
Kaido took a swig of liquor and fastened the gourd to his waist.
He rested both hands on his Kanabo, his enormous, upright figure facing the sunlight.
Whatever the scheme was did not matter. What mattered was Lofan, a newcomer the Navy was clearly going to great lengths to promote.
As long as he killed him, whatever the Navy was planning would be exposed.
"Caesar, how is the research on Soul-Type Devil Fruits coming along?"
Doflamingo had come to Punk Hazard, merely to prepare on both fronts.
Lofan had kept his promise and left him out of the current situation, so Doflamingo also needed to show that he knew his part until there was an outcome.
"Shurorororo, aren't artificial Zoan Devil Fruits enough? Why do you need any other fruits?"
Caesar floated around the room, monitoring the instruments, not taking the matter to heart.
"Could it be that you can't develop one?"
"Huh?! Impossible! It's just an artificial Soul-Type Devil Fruit!
Shurorororo, once I make it, Vegapunk will be stunned. Just you wait!"
Doflamingo glanced at the easily manipulated Caesar, who had already rushed out of the room and into the laboratory to start tinkering.
The power Lofan had described to him had indeed stirred Doflamingo's greed.
"Hollowfication, was it? A power that acts on the soul.
Fufufu! What a terrifying member of the next generation.
Neither bound by justice nor driven by dreams. But the Celestial Dragons aren't as incompetent as they appear.
Otherwise, they would have vanished into history long ago."
Doflamingo played with the fine threads in his hand. To him, only those who stood at the top could define good and evil.
The victors were always just, like the current World Government.
And he was an outcast not only among the Celestial Dragons, but among pirates as well.
Doflamingo only wanted to destroy the world's old order, just as Lofan had said:
"It's such an eyesore!"
Before you continue