Chapter 134: The Three Small Islands (Part Two)

Swallow Island, Rubeck, and Minion Island are three small islands located close to each other in the North Blue, forming a small archipelago. Arranged in a triangular pattern, they are separated by water, yet a round trip between any of them takes only half a day.

Rubeck is the designated site for the trade between the Barrels Pirates and the Navy. The Barrels Pirates are the group of fools Doflamingo spoke of—the ones who acquired the "Ope Ope no Mi." Swallow Island is where Doflamingo agreed to rendezvous with Rosinante. According to reliable intelligence, the Barrels Pirates have been hiding in an abandoned town called "Ghost Town" on Minion Island prior to the exchange.

After sinking the Navy's surveillance ship, the Donquixote Pirates became even more covert, increasing their speed to reach the three islands before the trade commenced.

Doflamingo’s plan was to initiate his move three days early. Once he linked up with Rosinante, he had no intention of going to Rubeck; instead, he planned to head straight for Minion Island to seize the Ope Ope no Mi from the Barrels Pirates. If carried out as planned, stealing the fruit would not be difficult. The Barrels Pirates were of limited strength; their acquisition of the fruit was purely a matter of chance.

Once all this was done, it would be too late for the Navy to react.

However, as brilliant as the plan seemed, Doflamingo was unaware that his intentions had already been leaked to Admiral Sengoku by Rosinante. Upon grasping Doflamingo’s plan, the Navy shifted their objective from cooperation to using the opportunity to wipe out the Donquixote Pirates entirely. Once the scheme to claim the Ope Ope no Mi for himself was exposed, Doflamingo’s status as a former Celestial Dragon would offer no protection, as the fruit was likely intended to be used on a "current" Celestial Dragon in the future.

As for Rosinante... at least until now, Doflamingo still hoped to see his younger brother at Swallow Island as scheduled. Unfortunately, in reality, things rarely go as one wishes. The rendezvous time was set for three days before the trade, but when the Donquixote Pirates arrived at Swallow Island, there was no sign of Rosinante. All they found were warships and other naval surveillance vessels.

Fortunately, the lookout had sharp eyes and spotted them from a distance; otherwise, they would have sailed straight into a bay crawling with the Navy.

"Doffy, this is Rubeck. Guess what I found?" After such a development, certain unfavorable outcomes were already certain. However, just to be safe, Doflamingo had dispatched Qiubai to the trading site of Rubeck to confirm the situation.

"It’s the Navy, isn't it?" Doflamingo said. The question was trivial; he couldn't imagine any other answer.

"To be precise... it's Vice Admiral Tsuru." Hiding behind a reef, Qiubai leaned out slightly. Through his telescope, the largest sail of the warship clearly displayed the character for "Tsuru."

Vice Admiral Tsuru could be considered the Donquixote family’s signature adversary. Given her strength, a head-on collision would lead to an uncertain outcome, which was exactly why Doflamingo had been trying to avoid such a confrontation.

"What now, Doffy?" Qiubai asked.

There was a brief silence on the other end of the transmission before Doflamingo’s low voice returned. "It seems the disappointment I feared has come to pass. I don't expect to wait for Rosinante here anymore... The family will shift course to Minion Island. You head there directly as well."

"Understood..."

It seemed no one had rewritten the script of the story. While any normal person would certainly want to escape from such a brother, if one were to be a bit arrogant, Qiubai almost felt like sympathizing with Doflamingo at this moment.

When it came down to it, Doflamingo had always treated Rosinante as he would a brother, yet Rosinante had always viewed him as a devil—even if he truly was one.

Qiubai carefully retreated, then, ignoring the fact that "Devil Fruit users are all landlubbers," he openly swam a distance before returning to a small boat—there was no one left to hide from here anyway.

"So cold!" Once back on the boat, he immediately changed out of his frozen clothes. Fortunately, he had prepared ahead of time, so he didn't have to remain naked.

Soaking in the freezing seawater in the middle of winter was agonizing, but to avoid detection by the highly vigilant Navy, the small boat had to stay at a certain distance.

"Is it? I think the temperature is just right." The only one waiting on the boat was Bepo, and coming from him, the statement was unusually persuasive.

With fur, blubber, fat, and layers of insulation, he certainly wouldn't be cold. If a polar bear said it was cold, Qiubai would likely have already frozen to death.

Qiubai was about to retort at the beast, but then he reconsidered. This guy was practically dying in the summer, and remembering the tragic fate of Bepo's kin due to the melting Arctic ice caps... through this dialectical thinking, Qiubai decided to forgive Bepo; after all, he was a kind-hearted person.

"Head to Minion Island, Navigator..." After a moment's thought, Qiubai added, "As fast as you can."

"In this weather, with the wind at our backs, it’s impossible to go slow even if I wanted to," Bepo muttered while adjusting the course.

The winter continental high pressure dominated, and the cold air mass blowing from the Red Line swept across the North Blue. The sea winds and currents pushed the small sailboat to its absolute limit—to put it simply, the wind was quite howling today.

In such winds and waves, combined with the gloomy weather, if Qiubai were the one steering the boat, he was certain that within ten minutes, his path would be fixed—he would surely have steered the ship to the bottom of the sea, no matter how far the destination was.

Just as the small boat picked up speed, snow began to fall from the sky.

But no matter what, Minion Island was not far off.

Qiubai began to hum a little tune, feeling slightly cheerful... It was a stirring melody from a famous tale of seven:

"Countryman, countryman, why are you so busy? So it was you, so it was you, with your pants on your head. Countryman, countryman, why are you so busy? So it was you, so it was you, rushing into the women's bathhouse..."

"You seem a bit happy?" His demeanor was too much even for the bear to ignore.

"Do I?" Qiubai asked back.

He certainly was.

"If I said I was a refined young man who loves snow, would you believe me?"

No one would believe it, not even he himself.

"...Alright, the reason is simple: because it is almost here."

"What is almost here?"

"Freedom."