Free Web NovelChapter 1303: Chapter 14: The Smile Grows Rigid
As Doflamingo’s laughter abruptly stopped, Pika pressed his hand against the ground, ready at any moment to activate the surrounding rock; on land, his combat effectiveness increased by at least one third.
"Gulu～"
Sugar, who was swallowing grapes, choked and rolled her eyes; A Mu had somehow already appeared behind Sugar, and as soon as the situation changed even a little, it would instantly crush Sugar into powder—it didn’t care in the slightest whether Sugar was cute or not.
Doflamingo raised his palm toward Pika, signaling him not to act rashly. This reaction from the three of them was perfectly normal. If having a Sharp Blade at your throat was like the prick of a needle, then observing Apollo at close range was like a branding iron approaching your brow—scorching, stinging.
"This is a weapon you made?"
Doflamingo quickly calmed himself, but his five fingers twitched, and invisible threads appeared around Su Xiao.
Zi～
The Boundary Line snapped out, coiling above Su Xiao and tightening around several transparent threads in midair.
"Of course, otherwise the World Government wouldn’t be hunting me all over the world."
Su Xiao’s expression was as usual; he didn’t even look up at the Boundary Line above him.
Doflamingo hooked his Index Finger, withdrawing the threads above Su Xiao. This was his Devil Fruit Ability, the String-String Fruit that he had developed to the Awakening stage.
"I want to know the detailed specs of this thing. Can it be mass-produced? Its power, its cost..."
Doflamingo only had a sense that Apollo was extremely dangerous; as for detailed information, he knew almost nothing.
"You can call it Apollo. It’s a large-area explosive. As for how it kills, you can imagine it as a small artificial Sun falling to the ground.
In fact, Apollo’s blast force itself isn’t that strong. It relies on the high temperature at the instant of detonation to Incinerate enemies into vapor. It has a radius of half a kilometer, and it needs 30 seconds of Activation before use. After activation, even an Ordinary person can Perceive the danger..."
Su Xiao introduced part of Apollo’s information to Doflamingo. Apollo’s strengths were its huge blast radius and terrifying power; its weaknesses were the long Activation Time and relatively high cost.
"If used in large-scale War, you can activate Apollo from half a kilometer away, then use a throwing tool to lob it at the enemy. That can achieve a very strong killing Effect."
Su Xiao wasn’t worried that Doflamingo would turn down Apollo. The man was currently locked in a bitter fight with the Big Mom Pirate Group; although the Beast Pirates were assisting, the Beast Pirates were anything but benevolent.
Even though the Beast Pirates had come to help, they would never completely shield Doflamingo from Big Mom’s forces. What the Beast Pirates most wanted to see was Doflamingo’s power being crippled by Big Mom, leaving him no choice but to cling to the Beast Pirates, or even be swallowed up and turned into a puppet.
Doflamingo understood this all too well, which only increased his pressure. He not only had to hold back the Big Mom Pirate Group, but also guard against his "allies."
As for distributing Artificial Devil Fruits to the Big Mom Pirate Group, that was impossible. First, the Beast Pirates would never agree and might even turn on him outright; second, the production volume of Artificial Devil Fruits was too low—nowhere near enough to supply two of the Four Emperors.
Only if Doflamingo’s forces survived this calamity could he cooperate with the Beast Pirates on relatively equal terms.
Right now, the only good news was that the power structure of the New World was in turmoil. Rumor had it that the Whitebeard Pirates’ Second Division Captain, Fire Fist Ace, had been captured by the Navy.
Recently, the Whitebeard Pirates had suffered a flood of major incidents. The Fourth Division Captain Thatch had been killed by a crewmate, and the Murderer had defected from the Whitebeard Pirates and vanished without a trace.
Not only that, Sea Hero Jinbe, who had countless ties to the Whitebeard Pirates, had also been captured. You had to know, Jinbe was one of the Seven Warlords of the Underworld—why the Navy would arrest Jinbe was something nobody could figure out.
There were internal problems within the Whitebeard Pirates, and the other three Four Emperors all sharply sensed it. Kaido and Big Mom had long coveted Whitebeard’s territory. Three days ago, Big Mom’s subordinates arrived at Fishman Island and even met with Fishman Island King Neptune; in the end, they parted on bad terms.
Just when everyone thought Whitebeard would turn his spear toward Big Mom, Whitebeard remained eerily silent. The silence of this sea Overlord had turned the New World into a roiling cauldron.
If the danger level of the New World when protagonist Luffy entered it was a 10, then the current danger index of the New World was at least 200.
In this overarching environment, Doflamingo only wanted to preserve his own Strength. Unfortunately, Big Mom had set her sights on the Artificial Devil Fruits.
Doflamingo was much smarter than most Pirates. He knew it was not the right time to seize territory. The current situation had only two possible outcomes: one, the Whitebeard Pirates successfully weather the crisis and continue as sea Overlords; two, the Giant named Whitebeard collapses with a crash—and only then would it be time to grab territory.
"How astronomical... is the cost of this thing?"
Doflamingo had already grasped Apollo’s strategic value. Using this to completely crush the Big Mom Pirate Group was unlikely, but driving back Big Mom’s forces was very possible. If he had a chance to drop a few of these on Big Mom’s Cake Island...
"Let’s not talk about cost first. If you can detonate a few Apollos on Big Mom’s turf, she won’t come mess with you again for years, and Kaido’s attitude in your cooperation will become much more sincere."
Su Xiao tossed Apollo in his hand. Seeing this, Doflamingo’s heart skipped half a beat. He could clearly Perceive that if this thing went off, only two people in the villa would survive.
"I’m more concerned about the cost issue."
The smile faded from Doflamingo’s face. He leaned back on the sofa in a relaxed posture, crossing one leg over the other. This was his usual manner when negotiating cooperation.
Su Xiao furrowed his brows. Doflamingo’s persistent focus on cost was giving him something of a headache. In truth, Apollo wasn’t that expensive to make, but the materials it required were very hard to find. Even the World Government could only find two sets in a short period.
"Sun Remains, Fire Gold, Soul..."
Su Xiao was about to say Soul Crystals when he suddenly realized that people in the Pirate World didn’t know what Soul Crystals were, so he simply took out a Soul Crystal (Medium).
"Plus this kind of Crystal."
Not only did Su Xiao take out a Soul Crystal, he also pulled a small piece of Sun Remains and Fire Gold from his Storage Space.
Doflamingo fell silent, for a simple reason. Aside from Soul Crystals, he had never seen the other two materials—in fact, he had never even heard of them.
"Give me ten minutes."
Doflamingo took out a Telephone Worm and got up to walk out of the room. In less than ten minutes, he returned.
"There’s no problem with the raw materials. I want this technology. In return, I’ll help you deal with the World Government and CP Department trouble."
Doflamingo’s demand was quite "blunt." He wanted the technology outright—it seemed he didn’t want to suffer the pain of being under a tech monopoly.
"Fine."
Su Xiao’s answer was very straightforward, and Doflamingo immediately sensed something was off.
Doflamingo wanted the technology to manufacture Apollo? Su Xiao certainly wouldn’t be stingy. He had already modified Apollo several times; as for Apollo’s original design blueprint, no one but him could understand it at all.
