Chapter 35: Truly Fragrant
Su Xiao and Doflamingo stood by the window, watching Jack walk further away.
"If I were you, I wouldn't choose long-term cooperation with the Beasts Pirates at all. How do you manage to secure your own interests from these guys?"
Su Xiao shook his head, indicating he couldn't understand.
"Forced by circumstances."
Doflamingo's simple four words revealed countless hardships.
On the surface, it seemed Doflamingo was being squeezed by Kaido, but was that really the case? Of course not. Through his cooperation with Kaido, Doflamingo actually gained substantial funds and channels.
If one only looked at the artificial Devil Fruit transactions, Doflamingo couldn't even recover his costs. However, through Caesar, underground channels, and other operations, he could actually extract large sums of money from Kaido.
More importantly, Doflamingo often used Kaido's reputation to do shady things. Since Kaido gained so many benefits from Doflamingo, he could only turn a blind eye to this.
"I've contacted the Sabaody Archipelago auction house. A famous sword will be delivered to Dressrosa soon."
Doflamingo was cutting his own flesh here; the price of acquiring famous swords in a short time was very high.
"Provide the materials yourself. One Great Grade Sword, five Apollos."
"Deal."
Clearly, Doflamingo was a good partner. He was accustomed to cooperating with various forces—the Four Emperors, the World Government, and even other Warlords.
That night, Jack left Dressrosa. He didn't leave because the deal fell through, but because something went wrong on Kaido's side. An unknown force attacked Kaido's territory. Among the Three Calamities, one was severely injured, and the other was searching everywhere for that unknown force.
Just when everyone thought Jack had left, early the next morning, his fleet returned to Dressrosa.
On a cool morning, the rising sun slowly ascended.
Jack walked down the street with a grim face, and pedestrians within five meters of him all gave way.
Half an hour later, Jack arrived at the villa district. He went straight to the fourth floor of the villa. This time, he didn't even knock; he kicked open the large iron door.
Bang!
As the loud noise echoed, Sugar on the first floor of the villa woke with a start. Wearing only her underwear, she dove under the bed, probably thinking a bomb had exploded upstairs.
Sugar had originally moved to the underground port, but it was too damp there. With her easily toppled small frame, she returned to the villa after just two days.
In the fourth-floor room, with a clang, the iron door slammed onto the floor. Jack entered the room with three subordinates.
Su Xiao was making alchemical bombs when Jack suddenly kicked the door in. This puzzled him, but judging by the other's expression, he didn't seem to be looking for trouble.
Jack strode to the workbench, slammed a long cloth bag onto it with a bang, and then stood there, silent.
Su Xiao picked up the cloth bag from the workbench and opened it. Inside was a long sword in its sheath—a Great Grade Sword.
This Great Grade Sword was called [Thunder Eye]. It wasn't ranked among the top 21 Great Grade Swords, but it was indeed a Great Grade Sword.
Su Xiao checked the attributes of [Thunder Eye]. It was a Gold-quality weapon with a high rating of 384 points.
Given the quality of [Thunder Eye], if it were a top-ranked Great Grade Sword, it could even reach Legendary quality.
Famous swords in the One Piece world had a characteristic: their usage requirements were very low, but to unleash their true power, a certain level of swordsmanship was needed.
For example, with this [Thunder Eye] in Su Xiao's hand, to bring out its power, one needed at least a sword-based basic skill at Mastery Lv.30 or above.
However, [Thunder Eye]'s equipment requirements were astonishingly low—just 20 points in Strength, 15 points in Agility, 13 points in Stamina, and a sword skill of Lv.5 or above.
Jack brought this sword, and his intention was clear: he wanted Su Xiao to make alchemical bombs for him. This was how cooperation between villains worked—no eternal friends, only eternal interests.
Jack produced the famous sword before Doflamingo did. This was something Su Xiao hadn't expected. The seemingly unreasonable Jack could sometimes be surprisingly "straightforward."
"Five."
Jack opened his large hand.
"For our first cooperation, I'll make six for you. But... where are the materials?"
"..."
Jack didn't speak. He had tried to find the materials needed for Apollo before, but with no success.
Doflamingo could provide these materials because of his status as an underground world leader. In the New World, Doflamingo's procurement channels even surpassed the World Government.
Doflamingo could get substitutes for Sun Remnants and Fire Gold, but that didn't mean Jack could. Last night, this guy had chopped up two underground world bosses and fed them to dogs, yet he still couldn't get even one gram of Sun Remnants.
"So, you didn't find any materials for making Apollo?"
Su Xiao realized that Jack had come to trade with just a famous sword in hand.
"That's right."
Jack no longer threatened; he had learned that approach didn't work on Su Xiao.
"It seems Doflamingo... has already gathered many sets of materials for making Apollo."
Upon hearing this, Jack stood up directly and led his men out of the room, acting like a complete brute.
"This guy... he won't say I told him this, will he?"
Ten minutes later, Doflamingo tossed six sets of Apollo-making materials to Jack, veins bulging on his forehead.
When Jack went back upstairs, Doflamingo cursed under his breath, faintly audible words like "White Night" and "sooner or later." Brother Jack... was really straightforward.
To outsiders, villains always wore stern faces, full of presence. But was that really the case in daily life? The answer was no.
In Su Xiao's view, Doflamingo was a schemer or warlord with a smile on his face but unknown intentions in his heart, while Jack was a brute. As long as he wanted to do something, he would try it regardless of success, even if it cost him his life.
If Kaido wanted to take Jack to attack Marine Headquarters, this guy wouldn't even blink. At most, he'd nod and follow Kaido to "solo the Marine Headquarters as a duo," only to get beaten to a pulp by the marine elites.
Four hours later, a "fireball" in Su Xiao's hand was compressed to the size of an apple. The blazing red on its surface gradually faded, and its internal structure stabilized.
"Hoo~"
Su Xiao let out a long breath. The sixth Apollo was successfully made.
"Activate it 30 seconds before use. Once activated, Apollo will definitely explode after 30 seconds."
Although Su Xiao could stop Apollo's activation process, outsiders couldn't. This required a deep understanding of Apollo's internal structure.
After making six Apollos in a row, Su Xiao's mana was down to just over 2,000 points. Spending 3,000 mana points, he gained a famous sword. This seemed like a very profitable deal.
Jack put away the six Apollos, and his gloomy expression eased a lot.