"The Donquixote Family?"
Hearing this, Rowan raised his eyebrows, but wasn't too surprised.
This was one of many possibilities.
After all, the Four Seas Alliance's excuse for going to the North Sea was "Lead Poisoning," and Doflamingo himself should know that the only person alive with Lead Poisoning in the world was Law, who was with Rosinante!
The words "Lead Poisoning" and "North Sea" appearing together would inevitably attract Doflamingo's attention.
Especially with the trade of the Op-Op Fruit coming up.
To make sure he could get the Op-Op Fruit, this man who wanted to turn the world upside down would likely take action.
...
The Donquixote Family - the power of Donquixote Doflamingo, "Heavenly Demon."
Rowan's mind held all the intel he needed about them.
Counting the time, Doflamingo shouldn't be a Warlord of the Sea yet, and was currently hiding somewhere in the North Sea.
Before Rosinante left the Donquixote Family, because of his undercover work, Marine Vice Admiral Tsuru had been chasing the Donquixote Family so hard they couldn't breathe.
It wasn't until Rosinante left that Tsuru couldn't track the Donquixote Family's movements right away, so they had a chance to rest.
Because of this, Doflamingo started to suspect his own brother Rosinante.
...
Back to the present.
The pirates who appeared in the Aden Kingdom belonged to the Donquixote Family.
This shouldn't be a coincidence.
In other words, the Crystal Demon Virus outbreak in the Aden Kingdom was very likely related to the Donquixote Family!
"What do we do?"
Crocodile asked casually, and then answered himself: "I think we should ask that flamingo jerk's brother."
That is, Rosinante.
Before becoming a Warlord of the Sea, Crocodile had already met Doflamingo.
Or more precisely, Doflamingo came to Crocodile and invited him to join his Donquixote Family.
Without any hesitation, Crocodile refused, and even got into a fight with Doflamingo.
He wasn't the kind of person who would willingly submit to someone else. Whitebeard wouldn't do, and Doflamingo certainly wouldn't.
The Four Seas Alliance?
It was just a cooperative relationship.
And what annoyed Crocodile the most now was that he seemed to have been tricked by that flamingo jerk.
"Did those villagers say the Crystal Demon Virus broke out about a month ago?"
Crocodile casually killed that pirate, thought for a moment, and said to Rowan:
"So, soon after you announced your plan, that flamingo jerk started moving."
"But..."
"Why would he do this?"
Crocodile was asking about Doflamingo's "purpose" in doing this, not why Doflamingo could predict the Four Seas Alliance's movements.
After all, the Op-Op Fruit's trade location was on Minion Island, so figuring out that the Four Seas Alliance would use the Aden Kingdom and its surroundings as a base wasn't difficult.
The key question was, what was Doflamingo's goal?
Crocodile didn't ask Rowan for his opinion, he just asked casually while analyzing.
Soon, Crocodile had a rough answer in his mind.
"He wants to tie us down here!"
That's right.
The Four Seas Alliance publicly claimed their purpose for coming to the North Sea was to provide medical aid to areas affected by Lead Poisoning.
And to the outside world, Lead Poisoning was undoubtedly a deadly infectious disease.
As for the differences between Lead Poisoning and the Crystal Demon Virus, the stupid common people on the sea wouldn't know.
Now that a "terrible infectious disease" had broken out in the Aden Kingdom, the Four Seas Alliance, claiming to provide medical aid, couldn't just sit by and do nothing.
No matter how they handled it, it would take a lot of time and effort, thus stopping the Four Seas Alliance from participating in the fight for the Op-Op Fruit.
Crocodile tapped his cigarette ash and said with a gloomy smile: "If you ask me, this country is beyond saving, so we should give up on them and find another base."
The sea was too big, and there were many small countries like the Aden Kingdom.
But Rowan shook his head and said slowly, "Remember how we deal with pirates who bother the Four Seas Alliance's regular routes?"
"Of course, we make the name Four Seas Alliance mean the same as the Marines in their hearts."
Crocodile said casually, "Why are you asking that suddenly?"
Suddenly, Crocodile realized he had asked a stupid question.
But Rowan still answered: "Because now, someone has crossed the line..."
...
A sudden sound interrupted Rowan and Crocodile's conversation.
"Buru buru buru... buru buru buru..."
The sound of a broadcast connecting came from all over the Aden Kingdom.
Rowan and Crocodile looked around and found a loudspeaker not far away.
It was a standard loudspeaker Den Den Mushi, like a national broadcast, distributed throughout the Aden Kingdom to deliver information to the people.
"Kacha!"
The Den Den Mushi connected, and a piercing laugh came from the other end.
"Shurororororo!"
Then, the person who laughed seemed to think it was a bit inappropriate, so he cleared his throat and said in a deep voice:
"Ahem, this is the World Government's greatest scientist, now broadcasting an emergency notice to all the patients in the Aden Kingdom!"
Hearing this, Crocodile frowned, not knowing what that so-called "World Government scientist" was doing, and he didn't even know who the speaker was.
But Rowan clearly knew the owner of that laughter -
The Gasu Gasu no Mi user, and a lover of large-scale biological weapons, Caesar Clown.
He was in the Aden Kingdom?
In an instant, many problems lingering in Rowan's mind were solved.
At the same time, Caesar's broadcast continued.
"The World Government knows about your difficulties and has sent a reliable scientist - that's me - to help you!"
"The genius me has already developed a vaccine for this plague!"
"I wanted to distribute the antidote to you right away, but I didn't expect the vaccine to be stolen!"
Hearing this, Rowan turned around and signaled Crocodile to return to the camp.
Crocodile didn't understand.
Caesar continued to say through the broadcast: "The people who stole the vaccine are those guys at the docks who call themselves the Four Seas Alliance!"
"Please wait patiently, the World Government will definitely help you get back that life-saving vaccine!"
"Kacha!"
After the words were spoken, the broadcast ended.
Crocodile frowned and said in a deep voice, "That guy is framing us?"
While saying these words, Crocodile felt a bit weird and very annoyed. After all, he was the one who framed others, so when had he ever been treated like this?
Crocodile could see that in this way, most of the people in the Aden Kingdom would not "wait patiently," but would instead risk their lives to attack the Four Seas Alliance's dock camp to survive!
At that time, the enemies the Four Seas Alliance would face would not only be the pirates under the Donquixote Family, but the entire Aden Kingdom!
But...
"Isn't this claim a bit too outrageous?"
Dalton, who had just returned, was also very confused: "With a little analysis, you can see that this is a complete lie."
Rowan nodded and ordered: "Everyone, prepare for battle."
Dalton didn't understand, "Why?"
Crocodile chuckled a few times. Skilled in planning, he naturally knew the answer: "Because they are just 'people.' They just want a way to survive, not to verify a hopeless lie."
And Rowan went even further.
"Under extreme pressure, people's ability to judge things becomes very low, leading to paranoia and making them see dangers everywhere."
"If you're not careful, that worrying spark will turn into a large, unreasonable fire."
Rowan looked at the sky.
It was almost dawn.
The fire was about to start.
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