Dozens of kilometers from Prince's Royal City Island.
The sky was dark, and black clouds were gathering. The sea surface was gently rippling as if a storm was about to occur.
A large three-masted sailing ship, fifty meters long, was calmly sailing on the sea. A flag with a cross that had a ball at its ends and center fluttered at the top of the mast.
This flag indicated the ship's origin.
It was a government ship belonging to the World Government.
Usually, the ships used by World Government officials when traveling to major kingdoms were not very large.
But if such a large three-masted sailing ship was dispatched, it generally had only one purpose.
The Heavenly Tribute.
Onboard, the deck was unusually wide, with dozens of soldiers in navy uniforms and some government employees in black suits working diligently to control the sails and rudder.
A few stern-faced middle-aged men sat on chairs, holding a supply list and reading it.
"Prince Ilia's ambition is not small. To establish his pirate kingdom in the North Sea, he's willing to pay three times the Heavenly Tribute. That's an enormous amount."
A middle-aged man with a small mustache twirled his curled mustache.
"If he really manages to establish his pirate nation, the North Sea might become a haven for pirates and turn into a completely chaotic sea. Should we really give him the government's authorization letter?"
Another official, holding a document, said somewhat uncertainly.
The mustached man glanced coldly at his colleague, slowly took a sip of the coffee beside him.
"You need to understand, the authorization letter isn't from us; it came from above, and it's what Prince Ilia traded for his massive wealth of 150 billion Berries annually. As for the chaos and pirates..."
"Hmph! If the four seas weren't chaotic, how could we extract any benefits? We're only here to collect money; those other messy things are for the bigwigs above to worry about, not us."
The men exchanged glances and nodded silently.
Every kingdom in the world that becomes a member state requires an invitation and authorization from the World Government.
Prince's Kingdom, although previously a member state, needed to obtain a new authorization letter after the coup.
Establishing a pirate nation required a special authorization letter.
The most prominent rule in this letter was the annual payment of three times the Heavenly Tribute.
The men were drinking coffee comfortably, enjoying the sea view.
At that moment, they suddenly heard a strange laugh from above.
"Fu Fu Fu Fu, so I say, the World Government is just a super-large pirate force! Fu Fu Fu Fu."
"Who's there?!"
The officials were shocked and quickly looked up.
When they saw the figure perched on the ship's horizontal spar, their faces changed.
There was a man wearing a pink cloak and pink sunglasses, with an exaggerated evil smile, squatting on the horizontal spar looking down.
He wore an open-patterned shirt, knee-length shorts, and golden pointed shoes.
Cold sweat appeared on the forehead of the mustached official.
"Doflamingo!"
"It's one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!"
The navy soldiers on the deck became tense, holding their spears, not daring to shoot.
The mustached official forced himself to stay calm and asked in a trembling voice while raising his head:
"Doflamingo, what are you doing here?"
"Hmm?"
The man squatting on the spar tilted his head and hooked his right middle finger.
"I go wherever I want, since when do you slaves have a say?"
On the deck below, the mustached official's body suddenly froze, and a look of terror appeared in his eyes.
"Doflamingo, don't mess around. This ship is dispatched by the World Government to collect the Heavenly Tribute from Prince's Kingdom and is under government surveillance."
Another official shouted, trembling.
"Too noisy."
Doflamingo stood up on the spar, then stepped forward, standing directly in the air.
His pink cloak fluttered in the wind as he walked down an invisible staircase toward the government officials.
His height exceeded three meters, making the sturdy government officials look like children standing before him.
Doflamingo landed on the deck with a wicked smile, nonchalantly lying on the chair the mustached official had been sitting on, and took a sip of the iced juice on the table.
As he looked at the government employees around him, his face showed undisguised mockery, making them angry but helpless.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not here to eat you. I'm just here for a ride. Aren't you heading to Prince's Kingdom? Well, I have a show to watch there."
"A show?"
The officials exchanged glances, unsure of what to do.
Doflamingo, on the other hand, acted as if he were the real owner of the ship, picking up the forms and documents on the table to read.
Seeing this, the mustached official's face changed, and he couldn't help but shout again.
"Hey, Doflamingo! Those are World Government secrets; you can't look at them casually. You know the consequences of knowing government secrets better than I do as one of the Seven Warlords."
Doflamingo made a slight movement with his finger, and the mustached official's mouth split open on both sides, leaving bloody cuts, revealing his teeth and tongue.
"Ahhh!"
The intense pain caused the mustached official's body to convulse, and he let out a heart-wrenching scream.
Click, click, click.
In an instant, all the soldiers on the ship pointed their guns at Doflamingo.
"Point your guns at me again, and I'll sink this ship."
Doflamingo said casually, then continued to look at the forms.
"Lower your weapons! Do you want to die? Get back to sailing!"
The officials around shouted as they rushed to stop the soldiers.
After sending the soldiers away, the officials approached Doflamingo with fear, not daring to make any moves, afraid of suffering the same fate as the mustached official.
"Fu Fu Fu Fu, I was wondering why you didn't bring any strong guards to collect the Heavenly Tribute. It turns out you wanted to line your pockets. Let me see."
"A total of 160 billion Berries in Heavenly Tribute collected, 150 billion reported to the treasury, with 20 billion deducted, of which 10 billion was given to Saint Rosward, and 10 billion kept as travel expenses."
"Fu Fu Fu Fu, Fu Fu Fu Fu!"
Doflamingo laughed excessively.
The surrounding officials' faces turned pale, and cold sweat covered their foreheads.
"It's truly rotten, from top to bottom, inside and out, everything emits a disgusting stench!"
"Dofla..."
"Shut up! I don't have the time to deal with your corruption; stay quiet."
"Until we reach Prince's Royal City, I don't want to hear a sound on this ship, or I'll kill you all!"
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