After hanging up the phone, Rosse didn't rush to find Kaido in person.
Kaido wasn't in his prime right now. Letting the people below play around was fine, but if he personally stepped in, the nature of things would change.
As far as Rosse knew, Kaido had recently reached a cooperation agreement with the World Government, selling seastone to them in exchange for Berries, supplies, Zoan-type Devil Fruits, and the like.
But pirates, in the end, weren't obedient to the Marine. When necessary, some pressure still had to be applied.
"Zannie."
"Your Highness!", Zannie slightly bowed; she had also heard the contents of the call just now.
"Go get Kaido's transponder snail, tell him I have two Zoan-type Ancient Devil Fruits in my hand, and want to exchange them for two people," Rosse said indifferently.
"No need for specific details?", Zannie asked.
If there were specific details, it would mean Rosse really planned to exchange people.
If not, then it was just a temporary measure, and preparations for a fallout would surely follow.
"One is the Cat-Cat Fruit, Saber-Toothed Model, another is the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Plesiosaur Model. Ask Kaido for two people, one named King, the other named Kozuki Toki," Rosse said.
"Understood!", Zannie nodded and didn't ask who Kozuki Toki was.
Since Rosse had asked her to handle it, she'd simply do it. If she couldn't get them, they'd deal with it then.
"Get this done in the next couple of days. For now, follow me off the ship," Rosse looked toward the increasingly close port in the distance, his eyes quietly narrowing.
At this point in time, Kozuki Oden hadn't died yet. He could still plan and scheme in Wano Country.
What Kaido could do, he could certainly do as well.
But the top priority was still to take down the first base of operations.
The port had clearly been cleared in advance; a large area had been made available for Rosse's ship to dock.
The shore was crowded with people, all seemingly craning their necks in anticipation of the Celestial Dragon's arrival.
"The welcome ceremony's quite grand," Rosse quipped.
Jaygarcia Island was the ancestral land of their family, and this visit had been notified in advance.
He wasn't interested in private visits in disguise; rather than acting in front of some idiots, it was better to go straight to the ones in power.
"I've been through such welcome ceremonies a few times myself. Those standing over there, rather than calling them civilians, they're more like actors hired by the kingdom," Zephyr said, standing beside Rosse and looking indifferently at the distant port.
As a Marine admiral, he'd visited many allied nations and had enjoyed welcome receptions not much different than this.
Over the years, the allied countries had already formed a fairly uniform reception process.
"After all, we're only staying temporarily. It's not bad they're even putting on a show. Still, we could make use of this," Rosse chuckled.
The Lanka family had to be wiped out, just a matter of finding the right excuse.
If the excuse was beneficial to later rule, that would be best.
If not, even something like "the king knelt with his left leg first, and I found it displeasing" would do. Not a big deal.
They're Celestial Dragons. Not killing people would be the weird part.
As the ship approached the port, a melodious welcome tune suddenly started to play.
"LANKA HUMPHREY, TOGETHER WITH ALL THE NOBLES OF THE LANKA KINGDOM, RESPECTFULLY WELCOME THE NOBLE CELESTIAL DRAGON'S ARRIVAL!", As this loud proclamation rang across the port, the once noisy dock instantly fell into dead silence. Even the sea breeze seemed to stop blowing, and the sound of waves crashing against the shore became barely audible.
Under Humphrey's lead, thousands of civilians fell to their knees like a wheat field being harvested, their foreheads pressed tightly to the ground, not daring to lift their heads to look at the massive warship slowly entering the port.
"Humphrey, that's the name, right?", Rosse's voice suddenly sounded beside Humphrey. He and Zannie appeared right in front of him.
Humphrey was a 2.5-meter-tall, slightly obese man, entirely wrapped in luxurious royal attire, making him appear unusually bloated.
"Call me whatever you wish, noble Highness!", Humphrey quickly crawled in front of Rosse and kissed the tip of his shoe.
Not long ago, Rosse had just done a global broadcast. That overly handsome face had long been etched into his memory.
The island beneath their feet was named after Jaygarcia.
And this Celestial Dragon who had just been recognized by the world bore the surname Jaygarcia.
This was practically a golden thigh delivered straight to his door.
"Let them get up. I don't like crowds. Just you, follow."
Only after Humphrey had polished his shoes to a shine with his tongue did Rosse take another step forward.
"As you command! Your Highness!", Humphrey quickly got up and waved off the nobles on the left and right, leaving only a few attendants to clear the way.
He had warned the entire capital in advance today: behave properly during the Celestial Dragon's visit, or there would be no need to wait until they left. He'd wipe out their families that very day.
Rosse walked along the path left open by the crowd. His gaze lingered only briefly on the surrounding civilians before quickly pulling back.
The surrounding civilians were all wearing brightly colored new clothes and looked well-fed and glossy. No wonder Zephyr had said they were actors.
Given the current state of the pirate world, civilians couldn't possibly live to this standard.
As for civilians deliberately coming to the port to greet someone? That was just fantasy. Believing it would make one a fool.
Even when a Marine admiral came, civilians wouldn't necessarily be moved to greet him. He's not their savior, why would they care about a big shot unrelated to them?
Not to mention, Celestial Dragons' reputation was what it was. Even regular folks knew to avoid them. Who would go out of their way to get close?
After Humphrey dispersed the crowd, he ran behind Rosse like an attendant, respectfully introducing, "Your Highness, this way please. Your palace has already been prepared, along with twenty of the kingdom's most beautiful maidens, for your pleasure as you wish."
As he spoke, he led Rosse to a luxurious carriage that had long been prepared.
"Let's tour the city first," Rosse glanced at the luxurious carriage. The steps weren't too high, he could easily leap onto it, but he didn't move.
Humphrey was a clever man, with quite a few of his own little schemes, something Rosse could easily see.
Little schemes didn't matter. Even if a person was greedy, that was fine, what mattered was having strength.
This massive Jaygarcia Island, he wouldn't leave it in the hands of a bunch of fools. This was going to be his future rear base.
"As you command," Seeing Rosse unmoved, Humphrey immediately moved in front of him and crouched low to the ground.
The surrounding civilians were all children of nobles, they understood what Celestial Dragons were. No matter how humble he acted, it wouldn't affect the Lanka Kingdom's rule.
As long as he didn't make a fool of himself in front of the lowly masses, Rosse could do as he pleased.
"Zannie, you get on first," Rosse had a smile on his lips. As Zannie stepped on Humphrey to board the carriage, he noticed Humphrey's expression darken slightly.
Though the emotion vanished in a flash, with Rosse's strength, he could easily catch it.
"Humphrey, not bad," Rosse praised casually before stepping on Humphrey's back and getting onto the carriage.
As the carriage began to move forward, it marked the beginning of Rosse's journey on Jaygarcia.
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