As it turned out, the Warlord Summit was not for show.
There were serious things discussed there every year, especially things related to the four Emperors of the Seas.
All of them were informed about the growing influence of the Emperors, and it was quite a shock for Bonney when Jinbe dared to defend Whitebeard and point out that it was because of the World's Strongest Man that Fishmen Island was safe now.
And no one bothered to correct him either.
Sin, on the other hand, was amused at the conflicting emotions that welled up in Crocodile's heart when Whitebeard was discussed.
"Kaidou is still in Wano..." Kuzan started informing them about the second Emperor of the Seas, and Sin picked up the file that contained Kaidou and his Crew's information, reading through all of it.
He did the same with the information of the other three Emperors and smiled when he read the information about the Youngest Emperor of the Seas.
There was something on it that caught his attention, and it was that the man was deemed extremely dangerous because of his overbearing Conqueror's Haki.
"He's out of your league, Kid."
He heard the gruff voice and raised his head to meet the eyes of the Hero of the Marines, who was grinning at him.
"Is he really Roger's disciple?" Sin smiled and asked.
"Was seen on his ship as a kid, must have been a Cabin Boy at first. Later, he did take part in some of their battles with the Whitebeard Pirates. He has always been a capable one." Garp answered, and everyone was paying more attention to his words now than they were to Sengoku's. "The guy sitting on your side knows very well how strong the Red-Hair is." He said, and Sin glanced at Mihawk before looking at the file again, going through the information on the rest of the Red-Hair Pirates.
"No Devil Fruit users?"
"No known Devil Fruit users." Garp nodded. "We don't have detailed information on his crew."
Sin nodded his head, having already deduced it from the file, which was much thinner than the other three, quite brief.
As the meeting continued, Sin went through the file of the most wanted Pirates, noting down their names in his mind, and then listened to Sengoku list the names that were to be killed on sight if they ever came across them.
Later, the Fleet Admiral reviewed the performance of each Warlord over the last year.
The worst performance was, of course, by Moria, who had turned in or dealt with the least number of Pirates, only a hundred. On the other hand, the rest of the Warlords had dealt with thousands.
This provided the opportunity to Doflamingo, who called Moria useless, ridiculing him, which the latter was not kind about.
"Enough!" Sengoku angrily stepped in when it became too much. "Take your squabbling elsewhere. You will behave at my base." He warned, and the King of Dressrosa creepily laughed at his words.
Sin took his good time assessing the personality of all the people in the room, and he found it quite funny how different they all were.
Towards the end of the meeting, Sengoku asked if any of them had anything to ask or say, and Sin raised his hand.
"The construction cost..."
"You will get it today!" Sengoku irritatedly cut him off, and he smiled and thanked him for agreeing so readily.
"So, what's the change in Rules?" Tesoro raised the question, and the Fleet Admiral stood up and took a good look at all of them.
"From now on, if you choose to make a base of operations in a World Government Affiliated Nation, you will be assigned a Marine Agent, who will stay with you and monitor your activities. I am sure all of you understand why such a rule has been made. We can't take the risk of you harming these Nations for your gains."
There was a silence around the table, and needless to say, everyone turned to look towards Sin, Doflamingo, and Crocodile.
"And if we refuse?" The Black curiously asked, and the Fleet Admiral smiled at him.
"Then you have to leave those Nations and make your base elsewhere or forfeit your position as the Warlord."
"I see." He smiled back and then shrugged. "Fine by me. But you should know that if the person is found snooping around too much, they will be killed."
His words made Doflamingo smile, and Sengoku frowned.
"What do you mean by that?" He narrowed his eyes.
"They are only responsible for making sure that we are not hurting the people of these Nations, right?" He asked, and the Fleet Admiral nodded his head. "Then if I find them trying to snoop into my rights to privacy, or following me and my crew when we are not on the Drum Island, I will kill them. Unless, of course, I allow them to come with me. You see, I don't appreciate being followed or monitored. There only so much that I can tolerate." He harmlessly smiled.
"I share the same thoughts, Fleet Admiral. And you seem to have forgotten that I am the King of Dressrosa, and every Kingdom and Nation has its secrets. Heheheha..." Doflamingo sinisterly laughed, and silence followed after his words.
"They will only be making sure that you are not harming the people and doing anything that the World Government deems illegal." The Fleet Admiral told them, assuring them, and Sin nodded his head.
"I can agree to that much. So, who is being assigned to me?" He asked.
"Since you have chosen to make a Base of Operations in Arabasta, and have taken over the Drum Kingdom, you will be assigned two Agents. One of them will keep an eye on your activities in Arabasta, and the other will keep an eye on your activities in the Drum Kingdom."
"Is that so?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Come in!" Sengoku loudly said, and the door of the hall opened.
Half a minute later, everyone was looking at four Marine Agents, wearing the coats of Rear-Admirals, standing a little away from the table, and Sin raised his brow when he found a familiar face amongst them.
"Rear-Admiral Simca, you will be responsible for monitoring the activities of the Warlord Black D. Sin in the Kingdom of Arabasta."
"Yes, Sir!" The lemon-haired girl stepped forward and saluted to the Fleet Admiral.
"Rear-Admiral Gunther, you will be responsible for monitoring the activities of the Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo in the Kingdom of Dressrosa."
"Yes, Sir!" The tall dark man with an afro and a horizontal scar along his face stepped forward and saluted to the Fleet Admiral.
"Real-Admiral Mozambia, you will be responsible for monitoring the activities of the Warlord Sir Crocodile in the Kingdom of Arabasta."
"Yes, Sir!" The dark-skinned man with short grey hair, and a scar on the left side of the face, stepped forward and saluted.
"And Rear-Admiral Kalifa, you will be responsible for monitoring the Warlord Black D. Sin in the Drum Kingdom," Sengoku said, narrowing his eyes a little at the young girl who was only 17 years old.
"Yes, Sir!" The tall blonde girl, who was wearing a pair of glasses, stepped forward and saluted to him.
"Looks like someone's being favoured a little here," Doflamingo commented. "Can I swap this guy for one of those girls?" He asked, and Sengoku irritatedly looked at him.
"No." He refused and then turned to look at Jinbe. "You will be assigned one later."
"I am from the Fishmen Island." The Warlord raised his brow and reminded them.
"Does not matter." He shook his head and then looked at all of them. "The meeting is over. You can leave now."
"No lunch?" Sin surprisedly asked, and laughed in his heart when he watched the ugly expression on Fleet Admiral's face.
"No lunch."
"You are not a good host, Fleet Admiral. I am a little disappointed." He sighed. "I guess I will have to head to Sabaody for lunch."
Everyone wondered why he specifically mentioned Saobody, and Sengoku became a little anxious as this was the time when year-end auctions were held there and a lot of Celestial Dragons were present on the Island.
However, he also knew he could not stop this man from going there.
"Want to come along?" Sin turned to look at Mihawk. "We will have a duel after lunch."
"You are not allowed to fight on the Island!" Sengoku immediately said, but Sin just grinned at him.
"Don't worry, we will pick a lawless district and won't bother your Masters."
His words suddenly tensed up a few people in the room, who realised that he was talking about the Celestial Dragons.
"Hehe hahaha ha..." Doflamingo laughed as he stood up and started walking towards the balcony.
"Sir!" Rear-Admiral Gunther immediately saluted and excused himself to get to work, and all the Warlords stood up as well.
"You guys are welcome too if you wish to join us for lunch or watch the duel."
"I will pass." Tesoro simply said and left after saying goodbye to them.
Moria seemed to have other things on his mind and left as well, and Crocodile took his leave too.
"I will join you." Jinbe smiled and said, and Sin nodded to him before he started walking towards the balcony.
He gently squeezed Bonney's hand, who was quite agitated right now, and the girl kept her emotions under control as she silently followed him.
"I will see you there." He said and disappeared into the sky with her, leaving behind a flash and a crackling of electricity.
The lightning cage that was surrounding the Island disappeared as well, and the rain started falling on the base.
"The kid will do it again next year." Garp confidently said and laughed, and Sengoku frowned as he watched Jinbe and Mihawk walking out of the door.
He calculatively looked at Kuma when thr man stood up and followed after them, and he then turned to look at Kizaru.
"Go. Make sure they don't cause trouble there. And keep Sakazuki in check too."
"What a bother-yo..." The Admiral sighed as stood up and walked towards the balcony.
The Rear-Admirals excused themselves too to get to work, and only after Sengoku was left alone with Tsuru and Garp, did he sit back down and sigh.
"I am too old for this..." He said and both Tsuru and Garp started laughing at his plight.
"He's an interesting brat." Garp grinned. "He won't fall for those petty tricks."
Sengoku knew very well that their agents would not be able to gather much on Sin. The boy possessed ridiculous Intent Reading, and he would see right through those girls.
"Well, at least, we can make sure that the people are not harmed," Tsuru said, and her words did relieve some pain from his mind.