The Radio Snail that joined the Hundred Beasts, known as Omanyte, worked diligently, but its hard work made Queen somewhat unhappy.
The matter went like this: after memorizing the number of that Radio Snail, to repay a life-saving favor, it additionally noted down two or three numbers based on the contact signals of that Radio Snail.
Radio Snails are essentially a massive snail community, so it's not surprising that they are related. After all, the same batch of Radio Snails might be made from the same brood of snails.
It truly didn't know which number was particularly important, but it could understand human language and thus knew what respectful language was.
To obtain information from its companions, it had to speak nicely, so the numbers it could remember were limited.
To gain more crucial information, it specifically remembered the companions frequently using respectful language.
The life of Radio Snails is quite leisurely; except for those on rotational duty as surveillance snails, ordinary Radio Snails rest most of the time when no calls come in.
So whenever the phone rings, be it day or night, they can immediately convey the message. Radio Snails don't write, and most of the time, they just relay companions' words, not record them in their minds.
Thus, when it receives information, it will remind the person next to them to quickly come and record it. During the day, it's fine; it just needs to make its usual call. But at night, it's different.
Because of this, Queen would often be woken up by Omanyte's Water Gun while sleeping.
On this calm night, he experienced the same thing again, a stream of water sprayed onto his face, waking him from sleep.
"These bastards... Can't they call during the day!"
Actually, it was daytime, just daytime in Mary Geoise. The officials naturally contacted the outside according to their own time, and even CP0 couldn't ensure tasks only during the day, let alone such eavesdropping.
"No, I have to ask Big Brother Kaidou to switch someone else for night shifts; otherwise, my hair won't survive."
Recording the information eavesdropped by Omanyte in a small notebook, and looking at the moon in the night sky, Queen realized he needed an assistant.
"You're already bald, don't pay attention to details."
"I shaved it myself! You're just a mere snail; do you understand human beauty? Speaking of which, can't you write down the information yourself?"
"I can't write, and I'm just repaying my benefactor." Saying so, it retracted into its shell, a basic skill for Radio Snails: sleep with eyes closed to ensure they are always energetic.
And although the eavesdropped information contained much irrelevant to the Hundred Beasts, it did have some concerning them.
[Contacting the Hundred Beasts Pirate Crew to obtain trade prices.]
However, since that CP0 died mysteriously, those afterward dared not rashly enter Wano Kuni, mainly trying to communicate by phone.
Although Kaidou always answered the calls, each time he refused, giving the World Government the feeling that a transaction was possible, but their psychological needs weren't met.
Even using a few Zoan Devil Fruits as equivalents failed to strike a deal, leaving that CP0 team troubled, three of them sitting together discussing the matters of the Hundred Beasts.
"What exactly does that guy want?"
"Forget it, the items flowing from the Black Market are enough; contacting Kaidou isn't as good as reaching out to a few more merchants from the Underworld."
"Their goods still come from Kaidou, and they're not guaranteed; if Kaidou cuts off the supply, it's the same problem. Do we have to resort to using that?"
The Black Market frequently featured news about the Hundred Beasts Pirate Crew collecting plates, and the World Government indeed had some, but they weren't convenient to use directly as trade items.
"It's tricky; although we're clueless, Vegapunk hasn't given up. As for the Heavenly Celestial Dragons' collectibles..."
"We'll see; considering that guy does so much business, he won't let go of the profits at hand. It's probably just that the price isn't right, but I feel something is off.
Why do I feel like we have no secrets during every conversation, like he knows our bottom line?"
Every negotiation failed to produce results; what they could offer never matched Kaidou's psychological price. If it weren't for the fact that the information was directly transmitted from headquarters, he would suspect there was an undercover agent.
As for the anti-eavesdropping White Phone Worm, that type of Radio Snail is too rare, not everyone can be equipped with them, only truly confidential missions are equipped with such Radio Snails.
Their mission hadn't reached that level yet.
"How about those failures from Punk Hazard? That guy Kaidou is recruiting manpower, and maybe he's interested in those giants."
"Are you referring to those creations aimed at resurrecting the Ancient Giant Race, but ended up neither human nor ghost, only good for scaring people with their eating ability?"
"Anyway, they're failures, if they can be used for trade, it would be value realized."
Those were experimental plans from Punk Hazard, aiming to create warriors of the Ancient Giant Race. However, they weren't fully successful, and the creatures they made had low intelligence, unable to meet their expectations.
In this world, having a huge size alone isn't enough; many strong individuals have ways to deal with those giants. If they lack intelligence, they're just moving targets on the battlefield.
Although the created giants were somewhat larger than usual Giant Race members, their intelligence was far too low, and their food consumption was massive. Using them was far less efficient than cultivating several Vice Admirals of the Giant Race.
Recognizing them as failures, they were frozen, but now they were mentioned again, planning to find a use for them.
Truly useful war machines they wouldn't trade away.
These were essentially the Numbers of the Hundred Beasts Pirate Crew in the original timeline; besides cleaning up foot soldiers and scaring people, they were practically useless.
"We can't make decisions about those things; we need to report to the higher-ups. Besides, Kaidou's tastes are too peculiar. Is there any news from the scouts who were sent?"
"They should be soon; it seems they've already infiltrated Kaidou's territory not long ago."
This territory didn't refer to Wano Kuni; the Hundred Beasts Pirate Crew also possessed territories outside, which weren't as naturally defensible as Wano Kuni, so infiltrating wasn't that difficult.
They wanted to probe for information through indirect approaches, and they also had previous tasks, which involved gathering intelligence on the Hundred Beasts Pirate Crew.
The World Government's intelligence organizations weren't limited to just CP0; these smaller tasks were often handled by other departments, such as a pirate ship that had just arrived in the New World was heading toward the territories outside of the Hundred Beasts Pirate Crew's reach.
According to the route, they would soon reach the island guarded by Scotch...