Pirates: Your emperor has returned!

On the outskirts of an ordinary port town, there stands a villa far removed from the crowds.

Don Quixote Family, Provisional Headquarters!

At this moment, all the Donquixote Family executives, except for those who were unable to leave due to force majeure, have gathered here at the command of their leader, Donquixote Doflamingo.

Excluding Doflamingo himself, there are twelve in total.

They sat together in a meeting room, with today's newspaper on the table.

They already knew what was in the newspaper.

Doflamingo sat at the head of the conference table, his back to everyone, gazing at the sky outside the window, and raised a glass of red wine.

As the drink went down his throat, Doflamingo's calm voice echoed in the conference room.

"Have you all seen today's news?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Fufufufufu…”

The man's signature low chuckle echoed in the room. "Tell me your thoughts."

Platinum lead poisoning patients have appeared on Alabasta, in the Grand Line.

Meanwhile, Classon, a member of the Don Quixote family, was taking Luo, who was suffering from platinum lead poisoning, all over the world seeking medical treatment.

Is it possible for such a coincidence to happen in the world?

Diamanti, a swordsman codenamed "Square," one of the four top executives of the family, was the first to speak.

"Hahaha, it's just a coincidence, isn't it?"

He was a flag bearer who had eaten the Fluttering Fruit, and he was quite casual with his family members. "Don't worry too much, Doflamingo, maybe it wasn't Corazon and Law at all!"

"Hehehehehehe, I'll talk, I'll talk..."

A sticky laugh came from inside; the speaker was a middle-aged man who looked very slovenly.

That person was also one of the Donquixote Family's top executives, a family elder, and a user of the Sticky Sticky Fruit—Trebol.

“I said, that’s unlikely. There’s no one left alive in ‘White Town’ Flevance. Luo is the last surviving platinum lead poisoning patient, hehehehe!”

Upon hearing this, a little girl dressed in a maid outfit nearby immediately panicked.

She is also one of the family's executives, and Baby-5 is a Weapon-Devil Fruit user who joined the Donquixote Family as a child.

Although Corazon bullies Baby-5 terribly in an effort to drive her away, Baby-5 still cares about Corazon quite a bit.

Or rather, Baby-5 imprisons every member of the Don Quixote family.

"Oh no! Could it be that Mr. Corazon and Luo have been captured by that Alabasta?"

"Hey, that can't be right!"

Buffalo, who was also a child, said in surprise, "Putting aside Law, Mr. Corazon is very strong, there's no way he could be caught!"

The burly Machblad, a user of the Ton-Pack Fruit, scratched his head. "If it's Platinum Lead Disease, there can't be anyone else besides Law. Corazon probably abandoned that brat and ran away, eh!"

"No, given Corazon's personality, it's impossible for him to run away on his own without contacting us."

Doflamingo denied Machbais's speculation, saying, "There are only two possibilities: he has been captured, or he is already dead."

Torrepol pondered, "I'll talk, I'll talk, is it possible that Alabasta lied?"

Doflamingo shook his head. "No, there are too many clever lies. There's no need to look for one that's so easy to expose. So they must have platinum-lead patients in their possession."

A ridiculously shrill voice came from the other side.

The speaker was a large, burly man named Pica, a user of the Stone-Stone Fruit. As a top executive, he hated it most when people talked about his voice.

"Could it be that Corazon betrayed us?"

"Don't forget, in the six months since he left the family, the number of times the Navy has discovered our whereabouts has decreased significantly, and even Vice Admiral Tsuru has had a hard time finding us."

"I bet that guy has been leaking our intelligence to the Navy all along!"

Upon hearing this, Diamanti burst into laughter, "Hahaha, perhaps it's just a coincidence!"

Doflamingo nodded slightly, but a sinister sneer appeared on his face.

"—That's what I hope for too, and I don't want to doubt...my own younger brother!"

After all, that surgical fruit still needs to be eaten by Classon.

……Um?

and many more!

Doflamingo suddenly remembered something and crushed the glass in his hand with a snap.

"Bring the map over!"

Doflamingo spread out the map, his face growing increasingly grim.

Torrepol leaned closer, puzzled, and asked, "Hey, Dover, what's wrong?"

boom!

Doflamingo slammed his fist on the table, a sinister smile spreading across his face.

"Fufufufufu, I knew it! What 'sending medical aid to the North Sea'? There's no such good person in the world. They just wanted to find a 'reason' to cross the Red Earth Continent!"

"What do you mean?"

Everyone expressed their confusion.

Doflamingo shared his guess with everyone.

Its content is almost identical to He's analysis, with only minor differences in details.

The two are old rivals who have clashed many times. Although Doflamingo always falls short against Tsuru, the matter itself is not too complicated and is easy to understand.

"Clason received my message around the time he and Luo were returning to the North Sea, passing through Alabasta, when they were intercepted."

"That guy who died eight hundred years ago knew that Platinum Lead Disease was a lie by the World Government, but he used Law's Platinum Lead Disease to create a world-renowned reason for him to cross the Red Line and come to the North Blue in a reasonable way."

Upon hearing this, Torrepol expressed some confusion, "I say, I say, Dover, what is his purpose?"

Doflamingo sneered, "Furfurfur, who knows? Maybe it's the same as our goal, the Op-Op Fruit?"

That's a worst-case scenario guess.

Trebol clearly didn't believe it. "I said, that's impossible! Law doesn't know about this, and Corazon can't talk, so there's no way he could have leaked the information about the Op-Op Fruit!"

“Fufufufufu, you’re absolutely right, Torrebol.”

Doflamingo grinned, then added quietly:

"The prerequisite is that my younger brother did not betray me."

The tone of the statement was casual, yet it sent a chill down the spines of the family officials present.

In short, we have guests coming to Beihai.

Doflamingo grinned and said slowly, "And he's a 'guest' who doesn't want to sneak around and let the world know his whereabouts."

He waved his hand, signaling everyone to leave.

"Everyone, get ready to go. I don't want anything to go wrong with the results of this surgery."

After everyone left, Doflamingo took out a purple Den Den Mushi.

Bulu, Bulu, Bulu... Bulu, Bulu, Bulu...

Click!

The Den Den Mushi connected, and a sharp laugh came from the other end.

"Whoosh! [JOKER], why are you contacting me all of a sudden?"

【JOKER】—Doflamingo's nickname in the underworld.

If Rowan were present, he would immediately recognize that the person on the other end of the Den Den Mushi was none other than Caesar Clown, one of the current naval scientists obsessed with weapons of mass destruction!

Doflamingo grinned and said:

"Hey, Caesar, didn't you say you'd developed a really interesting new weapon?"

Caesar laughed, "Yes! And the World Government has already agreed to the experiment. I guarantee it will be a hundred times better than the boring machines Vegapunk invented!"

"That's good."

Doflamingo sneered, "Tell the World Government that I've found a testing site for them, and that I can conduct the tests under the name of [JOKER]—of course, there are conditions."

Caesar understood Doflamingo's ruthlessness, so he cautiously inquired, "What are the conditions?"

"After all, I'm risking exposing my true identity, so I need a 'favor' from the World Government."

Doflamingo grinned and sneered:

"A favor that would allow me to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea."

[Chapter 86. Reasonable and Logical]

Red Earth, the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.

This is the "center" of world power.

Within this "center," five men representing the pinnacle of world power gathered together.

Five old stars!

—These five human male elders are the highest leaders of the World Government. Their very existence represents the backbone of the World Government, and their status is higher than that of the Commander-in-Chief of the World Government's entire army.

In front of them lay today's newspaper.

It features a photograph of Ryan Rowan.

"【Golden Dawn】..."

One of the Five Elders muttered this nickname, which should only exist in ancient books.

Why would history from eight hundred years ago choose to reappear in this era?

The other four members of the Five Elders each shared their own opinions.

"He should have been one of our compatriots."