Rubeck Island, Swallow Island, and Minion Island were arranged in a triangular formation in North Blue.
Now, because of the Op-Op Fruit, these three islands had attracted quite a few watchful eyes.
The agreed-upon location for the transaction was Rubeck Island to the northwest, while Barrels and his group, who currently possessed the Op-Op Fruit, were staying on Minion Island to the northeast.
Doflamingo, who wanted to steal the Op-Op Fruit, had planned to stop at Swallow Island to the south.
That was the known information, and it was also the information Rosinante had passed to Sengoku.
Therefore, before Doflamingo had even arrived, the Marines had already sent Tsuru to lead the troops aboard two warships and lie in ambush near Swallow Island.
Snowflakes danced through the sky as enormous masses of clouds brought a rare blizzard to North Blue.
Inside the temporary base on Minion Island, Barrels was displaying the heart-shaped fruit in his hand, covered in strange patterns.
“This fruit is actually worth five billion Berry. Those guys in the government must be insane, willing to pay that much for a piece of fruit like this.”
“Once we get that much money, we won’t have to keep being pirates, right?”
“Exactly! Who’d still want to be a pirate after that?!”
The group was currently immersed in beautiful dreams of getting rich overnight. The group was already immersed in dreams of becoming fabulously wealthy. They did not know much about the Op-Op Fruit. They had only heard that after a doctor ate this fruit, it did not take long for him to become a renowned physician who cured countless incurable and difficult diseases.
Even among doctors, he had become a legendary figure.
But things like that had little to do with pirates like them. Hard cash in the form of Berry was what really mattered.
“Stay sharp! The transaction is in three days!”
At the same time, near Swallow Island, Tsuru’s side had not found any trace of Doflamingo at all.
That was because Doflamingo himself had skipped Swallow Island entirely and was currently heading toward Minion Island, intending to seize the Op-Op Fruit ahead of schedule.
“What is it, Corazon? You seem nervous.”
“Thump… thump…”
“I see. This operation is indeed dangerous, but it’s worth the risk. I’m determined to get that fruit. Our goal isn’t to fight the Marines. The moment we get it, you’ll eat it immediately, and then we can withdraw.”
Doflamingo’s words did not make Rosinante relax. Instead, he became even more nervous. Yet he had no opportunity to contact the Marines and inform them of what was happening here, so he could only silently follow beside Doflamingo while thinking of a countermeasure.
At the same time, above Rubeck Island, Ginny and Kuma were inside a transparent space.
The surroundings were tinged with a faint ghostly green. Through this strangely colored space, they could clearly see the movements in the waters between the three islands below.
“Diez Barrels, former Marine. After betraying the Marines, he formed his own pirate crew. He’s also the party conducting this transaction with the World Government.”
“Donquixote Doflamingo, captain of the Donquixote Pirates. He’s currently planning to steal the Op-Op Fruit.”
“Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral and Great Staff Officer Tsuru. She’s leading the operation to capture Doflamingo, though it looks like she’s waiting in ambush at the wrong place.”
The intelligence she had eavesdropped gave Ginny a rough grasp of the situation here. At the same time, her eyes were glowing red. After becoming a vampire, her vision had also undergone major changes.
The outside environment had grown dim because of the blizzard, yet Ginny could still see everything below with perfect clarity.
She could see a ship approaching Minion Island, apparently intending to make its move ahead of schedule.
“Looks like they’re about to act. Once Doflamingo makes his move, we’ll take advantage of the chaos and snatch the fruit away. That way, the Marines will think Doflamingo got it, and it won’t have anything to do with us.
“Kuma-chi, what do you think of this plan?”
“It seems workable. What about the details?”
“Details? The details are that we adapt as we go. As long as we aren’t discovered, anything works. Let’s go!”
This time, they did not use Kuma’s teleportation ability. Instead, they moved rapidly through the door world opened by the Door-Door Fruit, and before long, they had hidden themselves near the ghost town on Minion Island.
After landing on Minion Island, Doflamingo did not act recklessly. He was afraid of alerting Barrels and the others. If they decided to go down fighting and simply ate the Op-Op Fruit, that would be troublesome.
Rosinante, however, wanted to alert those pirates. Even if he could not contact the Marines, it would still be far better for those pirates to eat the Op-Op Fruit themselves than to let Doflamingo obtain it.
Thud!
With a dull impact, Rosinante walked straight into a nearby tree and fell to the ground. A large amount of accumulated snow cascaded down and buried him immediately.
This was not an act. It was genuinely part of who he was. Rosinante had always been rather absentminded.
Tripping over his own feet while walking, getting caught between a chest while opening it, or setting his own coat on fire while lighting a cigarette were all common occurrences for him.
“Corazon, at a time like this, can’t you be a little more serious?”
“…”
“…”
“You were so serious that you got distracted…?”
Doflamingo also knew that his younger brother was an idiot, which was why he did not immediately suspect him.
After all, sending an idiot out as an undercover agent did not look like a particularly wise decision.
“You stay here and wait to support us… No, you’d better come along. Baby-5, keep an eye on him. Don’t let Corazon do anything stupid.”
Since Doflamingo wanted Rosinante to eat the Op-Op Fruit immediately, he ultimately chose to keep him by his side. If Rosinante had no problems, there was no harm in keeping him close. If there was a problem, then all the more reason to keep him close and prevent any accidents.
Doflamingo did not know exactly where Barrels was staying, so after landing on the island, he sent Buffalo into the air to scout.
As a user of the Spin-Spin Fruit, every part of Buffalo’s body could rotate at high speed. Relying on this ability, Buffalo himself became a human helicopter.
Minion Island was sparsely populated. In this winter season, Buffalo quickly located Barrels and the others by following the smoke rising from a fireplace.
“Young Master, I found them! They’re in the town ahead. That’s the only place on the whole island showing signs of human activity!”
“Fufufu, that’s certainly good news. Prepare to move. The Op-Op Fruit is our first priority. Nothing else matters. Remember that!”
As soon as he finished speaking, countless threads floated from Doflamingo’s hands into the sky, then spread outward like the bars of a cage, enveloping the entire Minion Island.
Birdcage, one of Doflamingo’s restraining techniques. The incredibly tough strings were difficult to sever, imprisoning the entire island like a bird inside a cage.
It could not only restrict movement in and out, but even block Den Den Mushi signals.
To prevent anyone from secretly escaping with the fruit, Doflamingo directly eliminated that possibility.
However, the Birdcage formed by the String-String Fruit ultimately had its limits. Even if it could slice apart a meteorite falling from the sky, it could not stop people in another dimension.
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