Chapter 656: Caesar Being Played
Ian didn’t speak, so Reiju didn’t speak either, leaving Caesar wanting to talk but not daring to. The atmosphere inside the carriage was incredibly awkward, and under these circumstances, Caesar was practically squirming in his seat. The one thought occupying his mind the most was whether Ian knew who he was.
Although he had never met Ian or clashed with him, he was still Doflamingo’s partner, and Ian was Doflamingo’s enemy. If Ian knew about his relationship with Doflamingo, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
This was the so-called meaning of “the enemy’s friend is also the enemy”…
Although Caesar was a Devil Fruit user, and a Logia at that, he was more of a scientific researcher. He wasn’t skilled in combat, didn’t know Haki, and had no advanced physical techniques. Even when he occasionally fought, he relied entirely on the special abilities of his Gas-Gas Fruit. He figured he was no match for Ian at all. If Ian discovered his partnership with Doflamingo and attacked him, he wouldn’t even be able to escape!
But right now, the thing Caesar was most uncertain about was this very point. If you said Ian knew his identity, then why hadn’t Ian called out his name from start to finish? This at least meant that Doflamingo had never leaked anything about Caesar.
But if you said Ian didn’t know his identity, then why had Ian, when stopping him earlier, directly used Armament Haki to grab his shoulder and prevent him from leaving? This suggested Ian might know he was a Logia Devil Fruit user…
So at this moment, Caesar sat properly in the carriage, wearing a harmless, honest smile, but his heart was full of anxiety, and his mind was racing with wild thoughts. If he had a flower in his hand, he’d probably be plucking petals one by one, counting: “Knows! Doesn’t know! Knows! Doesn’t know…”
As for Ian, he was also thinking about how to handle Caesar.
Actually, when Ian had “invited” him into the carriage earlier, he hadn’t thought much about it. Before this, Ian had never expected to see Caesar here. It was only upon seeing Caesar that his first instinct told him he couldn’t let this guy slip away, so he had brought him into the carriage.
Letting him go was out of the question, but killing him? That didn’t seem to serve much purpose either. Without Dressrosa as a base, Doflamingo couldn’t produce Artificial Devil Fruits anymore, whether Caesar was around or not. Killing Caesar would at most stop his malicious weapon research, but it wouldn’t deal much of a blow to Doflamingo.
Caesar was, after all, just Doflamingo’s partner, not his subordinate. Caesar’s value to Doflamingo depended on whether their Artificial Devil Fruit plan could continue. Otherwise, it was hard to say how important Caesar really was to Doflamingo.
Ever since learning that Fujitora had gone to Wano Country, Ian had been thinking about whether he could help Fujitora from the sidelines. Doflamingo had already allied with Kaido. If he could set a trap for Doflamingo, it would also be like trapping Kaido. But starting with Caesar, the pit he could dig wouldn’t be deep enough…
Ian rubbed his chin in thought, sizing Caesar up and down. That scrutinizing gaze made Caesar’s skin crawl, and he sat even more obediently, hands on his knees.
After a long while, Ian suddenly spoke up and asked, “Are you Caesar Clown? The former Marine scientist?”
“Y-Yes!” Caesar, who had gradually gotten used to the silence in the carriage, was startled by Ian’s sudden voice. He quickly answered.
At the same time, he felt a surge of indignation inside: So he does know who I am!
Ian then put on a curious expression and asked, “Three hundred million Berries? That’s quite a bounty. The Marines and the World Government have been hunting you all this time. How dare you show your face?”
Although Ian had called out Caesar’s name, he hadn’t mentioned a word about Doflamingo. This caught Caesar off guard, and he paused for a moment. His mind raced, and he put on a flattering smile, replying, “It’s fine. The Marines and the World Government have their eyes on big shots like you. Little fry like me don’t get much attention…”
Ian’s bounty had now skyrocketed to 1.2 billion Berries, enough to cover four of Caesar’s bounties. So Caesar’s flattery was somewhat clever, hitting the right note.
Since they had started chatting, the atmosphere in the carriage naturally improved. Ian didn’t bring up Doflamingo to provoke Caesar, which made Caesar bolder. He gradually began to think that Ian only knew who he was because he had seen the Marine wanted poster, and so he started to relax.
“Since you can come to Whole Cake Island, you must have a pretty good relationship with the Big Mom Pirates,” Ian asked him. “But how come you don’t have an invitation to the tea party?”
“No choice,” Caesar sighed. “Although Big Mom is the sponsor of my research, there hasn’t been much progress on the projects she’s assigned over the years.”
Then he began to complain to Ian, “You know, after leaving the Marines and the World Government, I’ve had to conduct my research alone. Even though I have a genius mind, I lack assistants and support staff, so progress is slow. Scientific research isn’t something that produces results in a short time. Probably because of this, even though the funding hasn’t been cut off, Big Mom must have some thoughts about me…”
Caesar had loosened up by now. As he complained, he even picked up the drinks provided for VIPs in the carriage, poured himself a glass, and downed it in one gulp.
Seeing him like this, Ian knew the time was right, so he chimed in, “Indeed, that’s how scientific research is. My Dragon Hunter Pirates also have a scientist named Waldo. Have you heard of him?”
“No,” Caesar shook his head. There was no way he would know someone like Waldo.
“Sigh!” Ian pretended to sigh, saying, “That guy’s an idiot. I stole three Pacifistas from the Marine Science Unit, but he still hasn’t figured out the production technology for them. I’ve thrown a hundred billion Berries at him, and who knows how long it’ll take to see results?”
Pfft! Caesar spat out his drink, coughing violently. When he finally recovered, he shrieked, “A-A hundred billion Berries!?”
His voice cracked, showing just how shocked he was by the number.
“Yeah!” Ian said nonchalantly. “You know, I just robbed Gran Tesoro not long ago and got a huge sum of money. A hundred billion Berries? No big deal!”
Ian acted like a rich tycoon who didn’t care about money, which made Caesar incredibly envious.
Big Mom had been funding his research, but every time Caesar came to Whole Cake Island, he could never get more than a billion Berries in funding. After so many times, the total still hadn’t broken ten billion Berries. Even so, Caesar thought his research funds were pretty sufficient. But now, hearing that Ian had thrown a hundred billion Berries at some scientist he’d never heard of, Caesar felt like he’d been critically hit!
Without comparison, there’s no harm. Ian instantly became a gleaming golden thigh in Caesar’s eyes.
“Ahem!” Caesar coughed a few times, his eyes darting around rapidly. Then he said regretfully to Ian, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? Sir, don’t you know that I was once a colleague of Vegapunk? The Pacifista weapon was created by Vegapunk, and I even gave him pointers on that technology back then. Although I later looked down on such crude tech, cracking it would be a piece of cake for me!”
As he spoke, he sneaked a glance at Ian’s expression, implying: Please use that hundred billion Berries to slap me in the face! I can take it…
Caesar was already daydreaming, thinking about where he could go to have fun if he got his hands on a hundred billion Berries in research funding.
Unfortunately, Ian didn’t take the bait at all, because Ian knew exactly what kind of person this guy was. So he just said noncommittally, “Actually, I think the most reliable thing would be to kidnap Vegapunk, the creator himself. It’d be simpler and save money.”
Hearing this, Caesar immediately panicked. If Ian kidnapped Vegapunk, what would he have left to play with?
Unwilling to let Ian, this big moneybag, let such a huge research fund slip through his fingers, Caesar was now focused on one thing: how to convince Ian. So he said to Ian, “No way! What’s so good about Vegapunk? Although the world calls him the greatest scientist, that’s just hype from the World Government. How can his knowledge compare to mine? Back then, if he hadn’t used dirty tricks to frame me and pin the Punk Hazard incident on me, how could I have been wanted by the Marines? That guy is nothing but a despicable scumbag! Even if you kidnap him, what’s to stop him from taking your money and running? Besides, he’s currently at his lab in Marakafu, which is heavily guarded. Kidnapping him is no easy task!”
Marakafu!? Ian’s heart shook. So! This guy Caesar really knows where Vegapunk is!