Chapter 44: The End of the Battle

  "I'm King!" Hobodi exclaimed his codename in the underground forces.

  "King? The guy Monai just mentioned, you're still alive... So that means... everything Monai said was a lie?"

  "Not all of them, but Drake, Hawkins and Roma are almost awake."

  The veins on the forehead of Telephone Bug bulged out, and it was clear that the other side's Duofulangmiao was not lightly angry. After a few breaths, Duofulangmiao's emotions quickly stabilized, and he asked: "King, right? You challenged my auction house, what is your purpose?"

  "Make a name for yourself! By the way, Joker, that Bellemere you just mentioned was killed by me in an instant."

  "Hmph, hmph, hmph... What a presumptuous bastard. Although I don't know who you are, since you've taken the name 'King', it's clear that you're intentionally trying to rival me, right?" In poker, both the King and Joker have names derived from cards - what a coincidence?

  "I'm still no match for you now, let's talk about it again in two years!"

  "...The other end of the phone was silent for a while, and it wasn't clear what they were thinking. After a good while, Hobodi's voice came back on: "King, are you interested in making a deal."

  "Come on, let's hear it!"

  "Hand over Monet and Luo, as the price of exchange, I can let bygones be bygones regarding the North Sea Auction House incident, and all the Devil Fruits and weapons, all the wealth will be yours."

  "Possible, but won't Monet not retaliate? She just almost killed me, and I'd like to return the favor." Hoboldi revealed a wicked smile as he looked over at Monet lying beside him.

  The phone bug on the other side of the door was silent for a moment, then replied: "Monet, are you listening?"

  "Yes, young master." A smile appeared on Mona's face.

  "If it were you, you should be able to understand the importance of Luo to me, right? You're being held captive now, sorry about that... I'll take care of Sugar."

  "Is that...?" Monet's expression was wooden. She knew the man's request was intentionally teasing her young master, but because of what the man had said earlier, she also wanted to hear how much she weighed in her young master's heart and didn't stop him.

  But the result was as expected, and there were no other emotions besides disappointment. Looking up at the ceiling of the sky, she remembered the day nine years ago when her 17-year-old self and her 9-year-old sister Sugar were saved by Young Master on this island (mentioned in One Piece SBS Volume 77 by Eiichiro Oda).

  Monet had no discontent, no mistress; he should have died long ago or lived a life without seeing any color.

  "So, King, I hope you can keep your promise." The voice of Telephone Bug Xiao Zhu interrupted Monet's memories.

  "Why?" Hopody sneered, and with just that, he shattered Monet's pillar of faith. Seeing Monet's wretched expression, Hopody felt a thrill in his heart, and he couldn't help but wonder if he had become somewhat twisted since coming to this world. Of course, Hopody was even more inclined to obtain his secretary through other means.

  "Hey, you little brat, were you just messing with me?" In the midst of the new world, in the palace of Dress Rosa Kingdom, which was filled with 'love and passion', Doflamingo's face couldn't help but show his anxiety.

  He was well aware that his previous words would bring distrust to Monet, but a single word from Monet wasn't worth his anxiety. Although the cadres were like family to him, in order to achieve his own goals, before those cadres joined, they had all sworn to die for him willingly.

  If he can just reach the top of that peak, then his family's death will have been worthwhile!

  He was Trafalgar Law, the crazy kid from twelve years ago who had eaten the "Soul-Soul Fruit" that he had coveted for so long. The little brat who could use his "Immortality" ability on him!

  That kid alone, he must get it.

  "You're just messing with me. People like you who use family ties to subdue others, including Monet, are truly disappointing. A single joke and you reveal your true nature, which is even worse than those cunning merchants in my original world who know how to turn their underlings into profit-making machines. It seems that all you're capable of is playing mind games."

  "Bastard..."

  "Sorry, I still have to kill your family Monet, but you won't feel any pain anyway. Luo's words will definitely come true one day and we'll meet again on the battlefield, farewell! Bye——"

  The phone slammed shut, and Don Francisco Mendoza could no longer contain his anger, smashing the phone to pieces on the floor with one hand.

  "What's wrong, young master?" A yellow-robed man with a large gap between his front teeth, who had just entered the door, looked surprised.

  "Barbaro? You're just in time. The auction house in Bei Hai has been turned upside down, and Monet is probably dead too. The ones who did it are King, Hawkins, Drake, and Luo. Go tell the people in the underworld to investigate and put out a reward - one billion Bellis for Luo and the man called King, they must be brought before me alive. Five hundred million for the others..."

  "Monet has been killed?" Buffalo exclaimed in shock.

  "Go away, Buffalo. I want some peace..."

  Don't ask me who Jingjing is~)

  ……

  North Sea, Rubi-Ka Kingdom, Mhoire Castle, Human Settlement (Underground Auction House)

  After Hobodi hung up the phone bug, he walked slowly in front of Monet with a white glove on his hand and held a seashell handcuff, putting it on her.

  "In short, you're already dead in your young master's heart, now work for me! Not speaking? Never mind, after two days when you understand my methods, you'll naturally speak up."

  The latter remained silent, and Hobodi didn't bother to make a fool of himself. They walked separately to Drake, who was still unconscious, and put the Shanghai stone handcuffs on him. Drake had already woken up and struggled for a moment before he couldn't escape Hobodi's restraints.

  Then Hobody came up to Lo and Hawkins, just as he was about to crouch down, his face changed color in surprise.

  "Don't point that thing at me, Haraldsdottir!" Ro said, turning around, with an air circle floating under his palm.

  "Ruo, this is for Hawkins, you are my ally."

  Luo Zai wouldn't believe such nonsense. Looking at the three layers of white gloves on his opponent's hands, his face suddenly turned black: "You scoundrel, you must have anticipated that the Navy would have Hailou stones, which is why you asked me for gloves in the first place!"

  "Just in case, but I didn't think Drake was that weak, and he actually got killed twice. A guy like him is also a major general!"

  In the distance, Drake heard this and suddenly burst out in anger: "If you hadn't intentionally said some inexplicable things to distract me, how could I have lost to you?" He said, looking at Hopper and Mona with great dissatisfaction.

  "This can only be said of you being slow-witted! It doesn't represent anything."

  Luo looked at Monet and Drake in the distance, who were handcuffed, and snorted: "Hawkins' words are unnecessary. Hey, get up!"

  The golden-haired man beside Luo suddenly opened his eyes, the bleeding holes on his body had stopped, and he sat up pale-faced and said to the side: "Thank you, Trafalgar."

  Then he looked at Hobody: "It's not that my prediction was wrong, if the winning rate of my Tarot exceeds one hundred, it will become inaccurate."

  "At a time like this, you're still pretending to be cool. If it weren't for the fact that you helped me consume Monet's combat strength, I would have killed you now." Hoboldi threw away the Sea Lou Stone handcuffs in his hand.

  "I'm not going to die today!"

  Hawkins still has a paralyzed face.