"Fufufufufu! Leviathan Jerry? What you just said sounds rather ominous." Doflamingo suddenly interjected, taking over the conversation with his characteristic laugh.
Jerry casually walked to the nearest available seat, raised his hand to pat Kuma's arm in greeting, then settled down while motioning for Kotatsu to jump onto the table.
He adjusted the fishing rod that had been poking him in the back and responded nonchalantly, "Nothing ominous about it. Doesn't everyone technically eat fewer meals each day since the moment they're born?"
Hearing this philosophical response, Doflamingo's mind seemed to short-circuit momentarily, and a metaphorical question mark appeared to hover over his head. "What?"
"Hey, Doffy, I told you to study more instead of just playing around!" Jerry glanced at Doflamingo with mock disappointment.
Doflamingo fell speechless for a moment before suddenly shouting angrily, "What did you just call me, you little brat?!"
"What's the problem? Don't you know that when you go out into the world, your identity is what you make it, but your reputation is what others give you." Jerry completely ignored Doflamingo's furious glare and turned to address the massive figure beside him. "Isn't that right, Kuma?"
On the surface, Kuma appeared to be listening to their conversation, but in reality, his attention had been completely captured by a small piece of paper Jerry had discretely slipped into his hand during their earlier contact.
At this moment, he suddenly heard Jerry addressing him and looked up with a slightly confused expression behind his dark lenses.
However, he showed no signs of panic and simply nodded calmly. "That's correct."
"See! Case closed, right? Even our resident scholar supports my position." Jerry pointed at the book Kuma perpetually carried and turned back toward Doflamingo with a triumphant grin.
Doflamingo narrowed his eyes and stared at Jerry for a long moment before finally twisting his mouth into a sneer. "Hmph! It seems like that mouth of yours needs to be sewn shut!"
As he spoke, his fingers began moving rapidly, instantly activating his String-String Fruit powers.
"Why the hostility?" Jerry asked casually as he raised his hand to catch several nearly invisible threads.
His eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had discovered something wonderful, and he said with genuine enthusiasm, "Hey Doffy, the quality of your strings isn't bad at all! Want to be my exclusive supplier and provide me with fishing line?"
Doflamingo's expression changed dramatically. He was about to increase the intensity of his attack when a stern voice suddenly interrupted.
"That's enough. Are you here for a meeting or a brawl?"
Fleet Admiral Sengoku, with his distinctive long braided beard, walked calmly into the conference hall, followed by a group of high-ranking Marine officers.
"Fufufu! A fight would be fine by me, but since you're here, let's get started immediately. If we wait any longer, I'm afraid I'll end up in a real battle with this brat..."
As Doflamingo spoke, he glanced sideways to see Jerry casually examining the fishing line in his hands while grinning directly at him.
This sight sent an inexplicable chill running up Doflamingo's spine.
He shook his head slightly, and when he looked at Jerry again, nothing seemed particularly unusual. Still, he chose not to say anything more, instead narrowing his eyes and watching the younger Warlord with concealed wariness.
Soon, the Marines had taken their positions around the room.
Sengoku looked around with satisfaction and was about to begin speaking when there was a sudden crash as the conference hall door burst open dramatically.
"Wow! Is that the Pirate Empress?"
"She's incredible..."
Everyone present turned their attention toward the entrance, and many couldn't help but voice their admiration.
"Foolish summons! What do you mean by 'mandatory attendance'? I am as beautiful as a goddess—even if I chose not to come, wouldn't I still remain one of the Seven Warlords?" The stunningly beautiful but imperious Empress muttered with obvious irritation.
Originally, she had been unwilling to accept the summons, but she couldn't withstand the incessant nagging of Elder Nyon, whose persistence had reached levels that would make even the most determined person surrender.
Although she appeared arrogant and willful on the surface, deep in her heart, Hancock genuinely didn't want to bring trouble to her people because of her own actions.
After considerable internal debate, she had come reluctantly, deciding to participate with minimal effort just to get through the proceedings.
"Stop staring at me, you fools!" Hancock declared with disgust as she walked toward the nearest available seat, her pet snake Salome slithering alongside her.
"Move your fishing rod."
Jerry was gently petting Kotatsu when he suddenly heard Hancock's commanding voice from beside him.
Looking up to assess the situation, he realized that indeed, only the seat next to him—originally reserved for the seventh Warlord—remained empty, and his fishing rod was angled behind him in a way that blocked access to the chair.
Seeing the issue, Jerry reached back and carefully adjusted the fishing rod's position. "There we go. The fishing rod didn't mean any offense, so please forgive its poor manners."
"Hmph! You think you can capture my attention with such obvious tricks? Impossible—you have no chance whatsoever!" Hancock responded without thinking, then gracefully took her seat.
Under everyone's watchful gaze, Jerry scratched his head in genuine confusion, looked down at Kotatsu, and said helplessly, "Then you're really overthinking things. Women would only slow down my fishing."
"Oh, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about! I know exactly what you did to curry favor with those so-called 'gods'... You cowardly bootlicker!"
Jerry was initially startled by Hancock's accusation, but quickly understood she was referring to how he had secured his Warlord position.
Apparently, countless versions of the story had already spread about how Princess Sabrina, a Celestial Dragon, had inexplicably forgiven Jerry and recommended him for the position.
The official version was that Jerry had successfully arranged a meeting with Princess Sabrina by offering substantial gold tribute and a formal apology.
But the truth was far more complex. During that meeting, Jerry had employed a special ability he had been secretly developing.
He had discovered that when his Observation Haki reached advanced levels, he could not only perceive the thoughts of weaker individuals more clearly, but this capability could also be applied in reverse.
Specifically, he could forcibly inject his own thoughts or suggestions into another person's mind to achieve a hypnotic effect.
However, this ability had limitations similar to memory reading and was extremely restrictive in practice.
On one hand, Jerry's mental attributes had to significantly exceed his target's. While thought perception required his mental power to be roughly twice that of his opponent, reverse "hypnosis" required at least ten times the mental superiority.
On the other hand, the target's willpower was a crucial factor. If the subject possessed extremely strong will, even successful "hypnosis" would only last minutes or even seconds.
These limitations meant Jerry's hidden ability was ineffective against opponents of similar strength, and even most ordinary people with strong willpower could resist the ideal effects.
However, this world contained a special group of individuals who lacked both strength and willpower, yet held positions of tremendous authority and power.
At that crucial moment, Jerry had discretely "hypnotized" Princess Sabrina with a brief application of his Observation Haki.
Moreover, Jerry had discovered that this particular Celestial Dragon was so mentally weak that his "hypnosis" was expected to last two to three months under normal circumstances.
In truth, Jerry had always kept this special Observation Haki ability buried in the deepest corners of his memory.
After all, he had no interest in manipulating people's hearts, let alone interfering with others' memories. The technique felt fundamentally wrong to him, but desperate times had called for desperate measures.
After briefly recalling these events, Jerry simply shrugged and had no intention of arguing with Hancock about the details.
The next moment, Jerry noticed that Teach's eyes had become glazed and unfocused as he stared at something in complete fascination, his hands unconsciously making strange gestures.
Jerry blinked and addressed Teach, who was obviously lost in his own fantasy world, with a distinctly disturbed expression:
"Good lord! What's with that look on your face? Are you imagining yourself under the effects of Mero Mero?"
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