Chapter 208: Verbal Clash
The words Celestial Dragon crashed into Tesoro's heart like a tidal wave.
For a few seconds, his heartbeat seemed to stop.
A suffocating pressure filled his chest, like a stone lodged deep inside him, pressing until his irritation began to boil.
Tesoro's voice rose.
"What did you say?"
"I said Doflamingo used to be a Celestial Dragon."
Axel brought up Doflamingo for two reasons.
The first was simple.
He had no other choice.
At this moment, unless he used force to coerce Tesoro into submission, there was almost no other condition that could move him.
The second reason was also simple.
Axel had already offended Doflamingo once. He was not afraid of adding one more debt to the list.
Causing that man some trouble was a good decision.
Although Doflamingo was not someone who obsessed over minor grudges, given Axel's current strength, if Doflamingo came looking for him, it would most likely be to discuss cooperation rather than start a true war.
Even so, Axel would never place his fate in someone else's hands.
Nor would he rely on another person's generosity.
"How do you know that?" Tesoro asked.
"The same way I know about you."
Tesoro went still.
His palm rubbed against the ring on his finger, as if he wanted to crush it.
"...Fine. Even if that's true, so what?"
His voice sank.
"I know it now. That means this information is already worthless. What else do you have that can make me change my mind?"
"I expected you to say that."
"Expected?"
Tesoro's expression grew hostile.
"How unpleasant."
It felt as if every one of his secrets had been laid bare. His scars were being torn open again and again.
How could he possibly be happy about that?
"But even if you expected it, what can you do?"
Tesoro seemed to find something to stand on, and his laughter became reckless.
"This is power. I have wealth. I made the World Government bow before money. So how exactly will you make me submit?"
"Then why, with all that confidence, are you still using petty tricks?"
Axel activated his ability.
The gold dust that had entered his body was slowly drawn out, gathering in front of him.
Fine golden particles shimmered in the air before settling on the ground.
During their earlier conversation, Tesoro had been controlling gold dust to slowly enter Axel's body.
The reason he dressed so flamboyantly was partly to conceal the drifting gold dust in the air.
But none of that had escaped Axel's notice.
He simply had not exposed it.
He had allowed Tesoro to reveal his intentions step by step, wanting to see what he would do.
Only when Tesoro tried to control his body did Axel finally extract the dust.
Even after his malicious act was exposed, Tesoro showed no embarrassment.
"Of course it was to control you," he said. "It would be a shame to destroy a talent like you."
"Be careful when trying to control someone beyond your limits," Axel said softly. "Otherwise, the backlash might be more than you can bear."
His tone remained calm, but the provocation in his words was obvious.
"And I believe that as a competent merchant, you can judge the pros and cons."
Tesoro laughed.
But that smile was twisted and hard to read.
"I am a first-rate performer, not a merchant. And yet you call me a competent merchant... Hahaha. What a funny joke."
"No," Axel said. "If I say you are, then you are."
His eyes lifted slightly.
"Would an ordinary performer plan to build a ship that carries a city? Could an ordinary performer deal with the World Government and come out ahead?"
"You even know about Gran Tesoro."
Tesoro's smile faded.
"You really are an unpleasant brat. For that alone, I should refuse your request."
Axel suddenly smiled.
Then he jumped down from the deck.
The difference in height between the two became immediately clear.
One was a child around ten years old, just over a meter tall.
The other was a tall adult man wrapped in wealth and ambition.
Yet the child stood before him without the slightest trace of fear.
"What if word gets out," Axel said lightly, "that you were once a slave of the Celestial Dragons?"
"Are you threatening me?"
Tesoro's voice dropped low.
He was Tesoro.
He would never submit again.
That was the decision he made the moment he escaped from the Celestial Dragons.
"Yes."
Axel admitted it calmly.
"But what do you think the Celestial Dragons would do if they learned that one of their slaves had amassed such wealth?"
In this world, anything a slave possessed belonged to their master.
That meant Tesoro's wealth could, in the eyes of the Celestial Dragons, be considered the wealth of the Celestial Dragons.
Such immense riches would tempt anyone.
Even those World Nobles.
Once this was exposed, the situation Tesoro would face would be unimaginably cruel.
Most likely, the entire world would become his enemy.
"Then before that happens," Tesoro said, his voice filled with killing intent, "I'll kill you first."
"If you can."
"We'll see."
The moment Tesoro finished speaking, gold dust surged around him.
The dust scattered on the ground also rose, rushing toward Axel from every direction.
Axel did not dodge.
He simply stood there and let it strike him.
The golden dust flowed toward him like water pouring from a tipped kettle, entering his body the moment it neared him.
"Don't you understand?"
Axel's voice remained steady.
"Your attacks are useless against me."
As his words fell, the gold dust that had entered his body flowed back out from the same place it had gone in.
Tesoro's expression changed.
His once-reliable technique had failed against this child.
Although it had failed once before, he had thought it was only because the amount of dust had been too small.
He had not expected it to fail again.
The gold dust inside Axel's body still had a connection to him. He could indeed control it.
So why could it not produce its usual effect?
"Are you wondering why it failed?"
Axel looked at him.
"Don't bother. I don't know whether your current ability is stronger or weaker than mine, but one thing is certain."
His tone was flat.
"You can't keep me here."
As if to make Tesoro understand, four wings of wind unfolded behind Axel.
The sharp hiss of friction filled the room as air currents gathered and spun.
Tesoro did not focus on the wind wings.
Instead, he glanced back.
Such a loud sound, and yet his subordinates outside had not reacted at all.
Had they already been defeated?
"What did you do?"
"I isolated the sound," Axel replied. "Nothing inside can be heard outside."
Mind-reading.
Sound isolation.
Wind wings.
Immunity to the control of the Gold-Gold Fruit.
What kind of ability was this?
"Hmph."
Even in this situation, Tesoro remained stubborn.
"Do you think this is enough to make me submit?"
Seeing this, Axel changed the subject.
"So, will you cooperate with Doflamingo?"
Cooperate?
With a Celestial Dragon?
What a joke.
That was the answer in Tesoro's heart.
But deeper inside, another answer existed.
"Yes."
Tesoro's lips curled.
"I will cooperate with him."
His eyes darkened.
"Then I'll step on him little by little, just like the Celestial Dragons once trampled on me."
That answer surprised Axel.
If anyone else had been wounded so deeply by the Celestial Dragons, would they still seek cooperation?
The answer was no.
Axel had originally intended to use this topic to slowly guide Tesoro into a verbal trap.
Now, things had become much simpler.
"Then that settles it."
Axel smiled.
"Let's cooperate."
"Cooperate?"
Tesoro could not think of any reason to cooperate with him.
"Don't you want to step on your partner?" Axel asked. "Then this isn't submission."
He looked up at Tesoro.
"Let's see whether you step on me first, or I step on you first. Isn't that interesting?"
Tesoro knew Axel was deliberately steering him into following his plan.
But that challenge was unexpectedly intriguing.
And Tesoro had never shied away from a challenge.
"Interesting."
His smile returned.
"But your proposal will ultimately become a footnote to my victory."
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Axel withdrew the noisy wind wings behind him.
Although those wings allowed him to move with the wind, his control over them was still lacking. That was why they produced such a loud sound.
"Now," Axel said, "let's discuss the details of our cooperation."
.....
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