After sending Reiju away, Nicholas had no intention of feeling guilty about lying to a little girl. After all, can a well-intentioned lie really be called deceit?
One thing Nicholas was honest about was that Sora's condition wasn't a terminal illness. It was caused by taking large amounts of medication during her pregnancy with Sanji, which her body couldn't handle. If caught early, this condition could be treated.
Lying casually on his bed, Nicholas began to ponder his next steps. From the current situation, it was clear that Kaido had no intention of missing the chance to annex Germa 66 to expand the Beasts Pirates. Meanwhile, the Navy also wouldn't stand by and watch the Beasts Pirates grow stronger. In fact, the Navy might prefer to destroy Germa 66 rather than let Kaido take it over.
A cooperation between Germa 66 and the Navy to fight the Beasts Pirates was also unrealistic. Judge knew well that if Kaido was a hungry wolf, then the Navy and the World Government were undoubtedly fierce tigers. Once Kaido was dealt with, the Navy and the World Government would certainly turn their attention to Germa 66. Germa's cloned soldiers were too advantageous: they could produce a well-trained 20-year-old soldier with minimal resources in just five years. In times of peace, these clones only needed basic nutrients to survive, and they could be activated to form a powerful army during wartime. This was very tempting for the World Government, which had abundant resources. With this, they could use sheer numbers to continuously squeeze the pirates' survival space.
As Nicholas pondered how to solve this problem, his door was knocked again.
When he opened it, it was no longer a kid but an expressionless Germa soldier. The soldier held a stack of intelligence reports, standing straight as if Nicholas, the Thunder God who shook the seas, was just an ordinary person.
"Lord Nicholas, here is the information you requested," the Germa soldier said, handing over the reports before leaving and closing the door behind him.
Ignoring the departing soldier, Nicholas sat down and began to read the intelligence Germa 66 had gathered about the North Blue recently. The content was largely similar to what Nicholas already knew, but two pieces of information caught his attention.
One was about the summoning of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Although the Navy had tried to conceal their arrival, it was impossible to completely hide the movements of such notable figures. The news of the Warlords appearing in the Kingdom of Sistad was easy for Germa 66 to obtain given their infiltration of the North Blue.
"Sengoku wouldn't be planning to kill Kaido in the North Blue, would he?" Nicholas thought, surprised by his own speculation. But given the Navy's current setup, it was clear they aimed for more than just driving Kaido out of the North Blue. If the four Warlords — Mihawk, Kuma, Crocodile, and Doflamingo — weren't half-hearted, combined with the Navy's forces, they could potentially trap and eliminate Kaido and the entire Beasts Pirates in the North Blue.
The second piece of information that caught Nicholas' attention was that leading the Navy at the Sistad Kingdom's port was not Garp, as Dragon had informed him, but Admiral Sengoku.
This made Nicholas frown. If Sengoku, along with Kizaru and Akainu, was in the North Blue to deal with Kaido, then where was Garp? Nicholas sensed that the Navy might be planning something significant.
Taking a deep breath, Nicholas got up from his chair and took out his transponder snail. After a moment's thought, he dialed a number.
After a few seconds, the transponder snail connected. Because it was an anti-eavesdropping model, the appearance of the person on the other end did not show.
"Moshi moshi, Mingo?" Nicholas was the first to speak, looking at the connected transponder snail.
"..." The person on the other end was silent for a moment before responding, "What's the matter, Nicholas?"
"Nothing major," Nicholas paused, then asked, "I heard you guys from the Seven Warlords of the Sea are having a meeting. Is that true?"
Doflamingo paused briefly upon hearing Nicholas' question, then his characteristic laugh echoed through the transponder snail, "Fufufufufu, hey, Nicholas... you wouldn't happen to be in the North Blue right now, would you?"
"... Yes, I'm in the North Blue," Nicholas replied, not particularly surprised that Doflamingo could guess his location.
"Fufufufufu, no wonder the Navy is making such a big move. If you and Kaido are both in the North Blue, the Navy would indeed find it troublesome. This is going to be interesting."
On the other end, Doflamingo, with his legs crossed, sat on the balcony of his room, watching the busy port in the distance. Nicholas' call had helped him connect many dots. The Navy's ambitions were clearly significant this time.
Just as Doflamingo was about to ask more questions, he suddenly turned his head towards the door.
"Mr. Doflamingo, Admiral Sengoku has summoned you to the conference room."
A voice came from outside the door.
"Got it," Doflamingo responded in a deep voice, and after a moment, the footsteps outside receded.
"Sengoku is summoning us. I'll hang up now," he said, putting away the transponder snail and heading towards the conference room.
...
Doflamingo slid open the conference room door and walked in first. The layout was similar to the reception room but larger, with a bigger round table at the center. The simple furnishings made the already large room seem even emptier.
Doflamingo glanced at Kuma, who was sitting against the wall silently reading a book. His gaze then shifted to Mihawk, who had his feet up on the table, hands crossed over his abdomen. Lastly, Doflamingo's eyes landed on a Marine seated at the other end of the room.
"Fufufufu..."
Doflamingo let out a sinister laugh, his eyes fixed on the Marine. He made no effort to conceal his killing intent, which filled the entire conference room. Noticing the intense killing intent, Kuma slowly looked up from his book, curiously glancing at Doflamingo. Mihawk, too, was somewhat surprised at Doflamingo's reaction towards the Marine.
"Rosinante! My dear brother, long time no see..." Doflamingo said through gritted teeth, his eyes cold as he glared at Rosinante. With a flick of his right index finger, an almost invisible thin thread descended towards Rosinante's neck.
"Doffy, save your tricks. This isn't your family's turf. And my name is Corazon," Rosinante, using a hand covered in Armament Haki, caught the thin thread descending towards his neck. He spoke coldly to Doflamingo.
"..."
Hearing Rosinante's words, Doflamingo grinned, his killing intent growing even stronger.