Chapter 363: Framing
"Doflamingo might make a move to kill that cockroach broker!"
As soon as he put down the Den Den Mushi, this thought flashed through Ian's mind. It had occurred to him during his conversation with Doflamingo, when he noticed the man's silence.
It was a gut feeling, but Ian felt it was probably accurate.
Doflamingo was inherently ruthless. If he were the true client, the broker Cockroach would surely learn about Doflamingo's involvement through various channels. Ian himself only knew of this broker through Crocodile. Doflamingo wasn't aware of that, but he would certainly take precautions.
Now that Ian's side had overwhelming combat power, Doflamingo definitely wouldn't want to bring trouble upon himself. To ensure someone stayed completely silent, the best way was to kill them.
But that was fine. Ian carefully considered his plan and decided this broker Cockroach was insignificant. He was originally meant to stir things up, so this actually worked in Ian's favor. If the broker died, Doflamingo would feel secure and would definitely inform Ian about the Germa Group's movements. After all, Doflamingo surely wanted to use Ian's hands to deal with Germa.
He might think that with the broker Cockroach dead, Ian would never trace the mastermind behind the scenes. But he would never guess that Ian had already locked onto him from the start and never intended to actually find this broker.
What came next was simply waiting!
Thinking this, Ian found Waldo and asked him, "Has the Thunder Roar Cannon been improved?"
………………
Two days later, on the New World island of Rollers.
This was a chaotic country where pirates and bandits ran rampant. The people here were extremely fierce, often coming to blows over the slightest disagreement.
Such a country was a favorite of many underworld organizations. You could see many big shots moving about here.
However, on this very day, the island welcomed a special group of guests: the ships of Germa 66 had landed in this country.
The fleet consisted of dozens of unique snail ships. These snails were enormous in size, each bearing the number "66" on its head, with gear-like machinery on both sides of their shells.
On top of the snail shells was a flat, square platform. On this platform stood several buildings and a large black mast with sails.
Every snail was like this. When this peculiar fleet arrived at the coast of Rollers Island, the snails slowly gathered together, connecting the gears on the left and right sides of their shells. At the same time, the platforms on top were pieced together.
And then, a city on the sea appeared!
The people of Rollers saw this city materialize out of thin air. Many came to the shore in amazement, but few could recognize it as the fleet of the Germa Group.
However, those who moved in the underworld knew their origins.
The Germa people had landed on Rollers! This news quickly spread through Rollers' underworld.
After the fleet stopped, four people came down.
Leading them was a man with red hair. He wore a pair of black sunglasses, a red scarf around his neck, and his clothes were all red, with only a white cape draped over his shoulders. He was the eldest son of the Vinsmoke family, Ichiji.
Behind him followed two men. One had blue hair and blue attire, with a pompadour hairstyle—the second son, Niji. On both sides of his ears were sharp, antenna-like headphones.
The other had green hair, the youngest son of the Vinsmoke family, Yonji. His outfit was all green, also wearing headphones, with his hair combed back.
Besides these three men, there was a beautiful woman standing nearby with her hands on her hips, striking a graceful pose.
She had pink hair, wore a sexy short skirt, revealing two fair and slender legs. On these legs were printed two "6" numbers, and behind her was a purple cape shaped like butterfly wings.
This was the eldest daughter of the Vinsmoke family, the sister of Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji—Vinsmoke Reiju.
The Vinsmoke family was the royal family of the Germa Kingdom. They all shared a common feature: curly eyebrows, and Reiju was no exception.
The outfits of the three men, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji, looked quite strange, especially with the curly eyebrows. Only Reiju's attire made her appear even more enchanting. This woman had fuller lips, which made her look very sexy.
For this mission, their father Gaji was actually present as well. The Germa Kingdom had no fixed territory; their kingdom was essentially these snail ships. Wherever the fleet went, that was their country. Gaji simply didn't come out this time, only sending his four children. What they hadn't expected was that after attacking Travira Island, the Dragon Hunter Pirates had flown into the sky and disappeared.
At that time, when Fujitora used his Gravity Fruit ability to float everyone up, the Sky Island wasn't directly above Travira Island. They had taken a detour before returning to the Sky Island, so the Germa people hadn't seen it and mistakenly thought they had flown up and vanished.
Even so, the base of the Dragon Hunter Pirates on the island had been destroyed. Germa had essentially completed the mission. After leaving, they contacted the broker Cockroach, who told them to come to Rollers Island to collect their payment.
"What a boring island!"
As Ichiji walked along, he saw the people here watching them with wary and greedy eyes. This annoyed him greatly, and he couldn't help but snort coldly.
"I don't think so!" Yonji said, drooling as he occasionally spotted beautiful women on the street. "At least there are plenty of beauties here!"
"Where did that cockroach arrange to meet us?" Niji ignored Yonji's lecherous behavior and asked.
"The Mank Bar in the southern part of town!" Reiju replied casually, walking behind them with one hand on her hip.
"Let's get the money and leave quickly!" Ichiji said. "Father is worried because he heard that the Warlord seems to have returned."
"He's just a Warlord. Isn't Father overreacting?" Yonji asked in confusion. "Since we decided to make a move back then, why is he starting to worry now?"
"Can't be helped. Father says the other side seems to have brought back helpers!" Niji shrugged.
Reiju walked behind the three, listening to their conversation without interrupting. She quietly watched her three younger brothers' indifferent expressions. She knew well that their father Gaji's concerns had no effect on them. Her three brothers had no emotions; they didn't know fear or dread.
When Gaji first accepted this commission, Reiju had opposed it internally. She felt they shouldn't provoke a Warlord member. But her opposition had no effect. Even in the underworld, a commission of ten billion was extremely rare. Gaji needed more research funds, so seeing such a huge sum had clouded his judgment.
After attacking Travira Island, although they had successfully completed the mission, Reiju had a lingering sense of unease. She now only hoped to quickly get the money from the broker and persuade her father to leave the New World and return to the North Blue.
Soon, they reached the southern part of town and found the location of the Mank Bar.
However, just as the four were about to push open the door and enter, a tremendous force suddenly erupted. With a loud boom, the bar exploded!
Sensing the danger, Ichiji and the others leaped backward. The blast wave sent them flying, but it didn't harm them.
They were all wearing Germa combat suits. To put it simply, these suits consisted of a pair of peculiar gloves and a pair of peculiar shoes.
Leaving the gloves aside for now, the key was their shoes. The soles were made of two soft bubbles, with a circular jet nozzle at the heel. Somehow, these shoes allowed the four to float in midair.
The sudden explosion angered the four, thinking it was an attack on them. But then they realized something was wrong!
Wasn't Cockroach waiting for them inside the bar? Now that the bar had exploded, he...
Realizing the danger, they rushed over. Sure enough, among the rubble of the explosion, they found the shattered remains of the broker Cockroach.
"Damn! Quick, we need to get out of here!" Reiju reacted first and shouted urgently.
But at that moment, many armed men suddenly emerged from nowhere, aiming guns at the four. These armed men all looked ferocious. As soon as they appeared, they opened fire on the four, shouting angrily, "Boss Cockroach is dead! It was the Germa people who did it! Kill them! Avenge Boss Cockroach!"
Bullets rained down on the four, hitting them with a clatter, but they couldn't harm Reiju and the others. Their skin was like steel; the bullets flattened into small discs and fell to the ground.
Ichiji and the others angrily wanted to take out these attackers, but Reiju grabbed them and said, "Let's go! We need to report this to Father!"
So the four immediately fled the scene at top speed. They knew that this time, the Germa Group was in big trouble...