Pirates: Your emperor has returned!

If that were true, the facts would be far too unbelievable!

Crocodile swallowed hard.

He was certain that what he held in his hand was just an ordinary notebook, not some high-tech device that could display real-time information or some random Devil Fruit ability.

This is just a notebook.

A notebook that was written in two days and then handed over to Weiwei.

Most of it is written by Rowan, with a few annotations by Vivi herself to prevent her from forgetting certain important parts.

"That old monster...foresaw everything?"

Crocodile could only try to dispel his inner shock with a dry laugh.

With trembling fingers, he turned to the next page, hoping things weren't as he thought.

The next page contains only one sentence.

A very simple sentence—

"It's very impolite to flip through a little girl's private notebook, little crocodile."

[Chapter 40. Possible Things]

Snapped!

Crocodile felt a chill run down his spine, shivered, and slammed the notebook shut.

He covered his mouth, pretending to smoke, but actually trying to hide the twitching corner of his mouth.

Heh, heh heh...

There's definitely something fishy going on!

Perhaps it's some kind of trick I'm unaware of?

Yes, that must be it!

Crocodile took a deep breath, reopened the notebook, and turned to the last page he had just read.

It was written clearly in black and white on the paper:

"It's very impolite to flip through a little girl's private notebook, little crocodile."

impossible!

Absolutely impossible!

Crocodile's eyes widened, and he immediately turned to the next page.

The next page also has very few words—

"That's possible."

"..."

Crocodile remained silent, his expression completely calm, his face indifferent.

He laid the notebook flat on his lap, leaned back against the sofa, smoked a cigar, and looked up at the ceiling.

"call……"

He gradually came to understand everything.

Rowan was not an educator, and he could not possibly train a naive little princess into an outstanding diplomat in just two days.

However, he was able to predict "all possibilities" of the negotiation in about two days!

Luo Wen compiled a list of all possible scenarios and had Weiwei write them down in her notebook.

In this way, the little princess only needs to follow the strategy in her notes and proceed with the negotiations step by step.

Is it simple?

It's so easy!

For Vivi, this negotiation was essentially a test with a fixed set of questions, and given the little princess's own outstanding performance, getting a "perfect score" was not difficult.

is it hard?

Hard!

For Rowan, he had to calculate all possibilities before coming up with a corresponding solution.

Even though Wapol is a blatant idiot, he is still a living, breathing human being!

Interpersonal communication is fundamentally different from a game of chess.

Because of the existence of the chessboard and rules, the placement of the pieces is always fixed. Even if a game of chess has countless variations, these variations will eventually come to an end.

However, the behavior of "human beings" is impossible to predict accurately...

……?

The reality unfolding before him made Crocodile question that statement.

Indeed, Wapol was an obvious idiot, and if Crocodile wanted to, he could even set a trap to make this foolish king lose the entire country unintentionally.

However, that was ultimately just one kind of "conspiracy".

Crocodile could calculate "human nature" itself, but he could not, like predicting the course of a game of chess, exhaust all possibilities and then concretize them into words!

That's just too outrageous...

Crocodile took another deep breath, feeling he needed some quiet time.

So he got up from the sofa and went to a corner of the open-air balcony outside the meeting room.

You can't see this place from inside the house, but you can hear the sounds coming from inside.

If Vivi calls for help, Crocodile will rush into the house immediately and hack Wapol to pieces to vent his inexplicable frustration.

Now, he plans to lean against the railing, let the cold wind blow on him, and reorganize his thoughts.

But not long after, another person came to the balcony and stood next to Crocodile.

It's Dalton.

The captain of the Drum Kingdom's loyal guard was now extremely disappointed with his king's performance.

The current situation in these negotiations can be described as one-sided.

Vivi presented Alabasta's proposal, and Wapol could only nod in agreement, unable to utter a single word of rebuttal.

In fact, if it were according to Wapol's original personality, he would have already flipped the table and refused to talk about it.

But now he simply can't find an "opportunity" to overturn the table.

Every proposal Vivi put forward fell right before Wapol's bottom line, giving him a sense of "reasonableness".

This is what is known as "war at the negotiating table".

Once you're completely caught in the other party's rhythm, you'll lose even the right to terminate the negotiations and be left with no choice but to passively comply!

Wapol is now mired in such a "quagmire" and has suffered a crushing defeat.

Dalton couldn't help but sigh.

If the old king were still alive, he would surely be utterly disappointed in this incompetent son!

Dalton looked up at Crocodile and couldn't help but exclaim, "No wonder she's the princess of a superpower."

Crocodile: "..."

Normally, he wouldn't bother wasting his breath on such an irrelevant idiot.

But now, because of that notebook, Crocodile's feelings were complicated, so he talked more.

"Dalton?"

“Yes.” Dalton nodded and reintroduced himself: “Captain of the Drum Kingdom Guard, Dalton.”

Crocodile took a puff of his cigar and said slowly, "Actually, many things are not that complicated, but many things are also very complicated."

This inexplicable remark left Dalton quite puzzled.

He is straightforward and honest, and has difficulty understanding the implied meaning in words.

Crocodile frowned and pointed inside the room. "For example, that negotiation wasn't actually that complicated; it was quite simple."

Dalton was even more puzzled. He scratched his head and asked earnestly, "So, what kind of things are complicated?"

"A complicated matter..."

Crocodile was starting to get annoyed and was about to find some excuse to end the conversation when he suddenly remembered something.

"Didn't those idiot ministers say before that the World Government people came to borrow a piece of land to conduct some kind of military exercise?"

Dalton paused for a moment, but nodded nonetheless. “That’s right. Jess said that a group of people from the World Government borrowed a snowfield that is rarely visited by people from us.”

"Yes, yes, that's it."

Crocodile took a puff of his cigar and said with a gloomy smile, "That's a very complicated matter."

Dalton frowned slightly, not quite understanding Crocdale's words.

He explained, “Winter Island has a very special climate. The Navy once temporarily borrowed a piece of land from us to train new recruits. Although the World Government’s actions were sudden, there are precedents for this, so it’s quite reasonable.”

Upon hearing this, Crocodile sneered, "Dalton—yes, that's the name. You may be a loyal guard, but as a minister, you are unqualified."

Dalton was well aware of his shortcomings and was about to ask questions seriously when suddenly his ears twitched.

He heard a strange noise.

Users of Zoan-type Devil Fruits often possess sensory abilities far superior to those of ordinary people.

Following Dalton, Crookdal also noticed the commotion in the distance.

He and Dalton looked in the direction of the sound and their gaze fell on the distant snowfield.

There, an unusual blizzard appeared, completely engulfing the once peaceful snowfield foothills.

The turbulent air currents resembled a storm, whipping up snowflakes from the ground and turning them into swirling "snow tornadoes"!

Even from the top of the castle, it was still impossible to see what was inside.

Dalton was stunned by what he saw. He had lived in the Drum Kingdom his whole life, but he had never seen such a strange phenomenon.