"Bartholomew Kuma…"
Caesar looked at the newcomer, smiled slightly, and waved his hand: "It normally takes over three months to get here from the West Sea. You arrived quite quickly."
"Doflamingo's ship can cross the Calm Belt. A kind friend brought me here."
Kuma nodded slightly, feeling inexplicably nervous. His tall figure seemed somewhat uneasy: "Of course, I must also thank you, Mr. Caesar, for your assistance regarding the message you conveyed to me through Doflamingo…"
"Follow me."
Caesar waved his hand, interrupting Kuma, and turned to walk toward the Flower Capital. Seeing this, Kuma hurriedly followed.
"Greetings, Lord Caesar. I've just made some pastries. Would you like to try them?"
"No, I still have some matters to attend to."
"Then I won't disturb you, my lord…"
"Mom, look! It's Lord Caesar! Good evening, Lord Caesar!"
"Good evening, little one~"
Along the way, passersby greeted Caesar with respect and courtesy. Caesar responded to each with a gentle smile.
Kuma watched silently from the side, feeling slightly surprised.
In his original expectations, Caesar, who could trade with Doflamingo and was a member of the Beasts Pirates, shouldn't have been such a kind and approachable person.
The two arrived at the General's residence. As soon as they entered the gate, a white figure descended from the sky and pounced onto Caesar.
"Caesar! You're back!"
Yamato threw herself onto Caesar, giving him her usual "face wash," then turned to look at Kuma: "Huh? Who's this guy?"
"His name is Kuma. I still have some things to attend to. Go play by yourself for a while."
"Got it~"
Yamato nodded obediently, then skipped away with her hands behind her back.
"This is Yamato, my girlfriend."
"She's a lovely girl."
Hearing Caesar's introduction, Kuma smiled warmly, his impression of Caesar improving even more.
With such a simple and adorable girlfriend, Caesar probably wasn't a malicious person.
"Darling, you're back~"
As soon as Yamato left, Baby 5 hurried over: "What would you like for dinner? I'll prepare it right away!"
"Anything is fine. I like whatever you make. Go ahead~"
After sending Baby 5 away, Caesar introduced her: "Baby 5, she's also my woman."
"…"
Kuma began to doubt his earlier judgment.
They arrived at a windowless tatami room, and Caesar finally looked at the tightly sealed small cage in Kuma's arms: "Alright, let me take a look."
Kuma nodded slightly and carefully placed the cage on the ground, opening the small door.
Inside the cage, a little girl with pink hair cautiously peeked out, carefully observing her surroundings.
Caesar examined the little girl before him. Her long pink hair was soft and glossy, and she looked very sweet and adorable. Her large, lively eyes were cunning, and the faint green scales at the corners of her eyes didn't diminish her youthful vitality.
The girl's gaze swept around the room and finally landed on Caesar's face. Suddenly, she grinned.
"Hello! Are you the guy Kuma said could help cure me?"
"Bonney, you should call him 'sir.'"
Kuma looked apologetically at Caesar: "I'm truly sorry, Mr. Caesar. This child can be a bit mischievous."
"It's fine."
Caesar pulled out a giant syringe as tall as a person from behind him, its sharp needle glinting coldly.
"Let's start with a blood test!"
"Eh?! That needle is huge! You're definitely getting back at me, aren't you?"
Bonney widened her eyes, her face pale, clearly frightened.
"Haha, just kidding~"
Caesar put away the syringe, smiling as he examined Bonney. His eyes had turned a deep red, and his pointed ears twitched slightly.
At this moment, in his vision, the life force of the two people before him manifested in two entirely different ways.
Kuma's body was a fiery red, his vigorous life force like a blazing furnace.
Bonney, on the other hand, was the opposite. Her orange life force was interwoven with streaks of gray and white, extending from her spine and bones like a spider's web, spreading across her body.
Kuma looked at Caesar nervously, "Mr. Caesar, what do you think…"
"It's not a big issue. Even if I can't fix it, I have a backup plan, so don't worry."
As Caesar spoke, he lightly flicked his finger, cutting a small slit in the fabric of Bonney's shoulder.
"Don't worry, it won't hurt much."
Caesar leaned down, his fangs easily piercing the skin of Bonney's shoulder. Bonney felt a numbness in her shoulder, and her body stiffened uncontrollably.
Caesar narrowed his eyes slightly. The situation was just as he had anticipated—Bonney's condition was indeed due to a mutation in her hematopoietic stem cells.
And because it was related to the blood system, treating it was even simpler than healing injuries!
How fortunate…
Under Kuma's anxious gaze, the jade scales at the corner of Bonney's eyes suddenly fell off silently.
Seeing this, Kuma's tears immediately poured out!
"Hah—ptui!"
Caesar retracted his fangs and turned his head to spit out a mouthful of tainted blood.
"Mr. Caesar, Bonney, she…"
Kuma looked at Caesar hesitantly, afraid to hear any bad news.
"It's done, she's fine now."
Caesar smiled, gently patting Bonney's pink hair before casually handing her a gold coin. "Your father and I have some things to discuss. Go out and play for now. If anyone bullies you, show them this."
Bonney turned to look at Kuma, who gave her a warm smile, wiping away his tears of joy and ruffling his daughter's hair.
"Go on, Bonney."
"Okay—"
Bonney skipped out of the room, and only then did Kuma turn to Caesar.
He silently knelt down, placing his hands on the ground and bowing his head deeply in a formal gesture of gratitude.
"Mr. Caesar, I am truly… eternally grateful!"
"There's no need to be so serious."
Caesar helped Kuma up. "Although Jade Scale is indeed difficult to treat, as you can see, I am a Vampire Fruit user. It's just a matter of expertise. And to be honest, the main reason I did this was to recruit you."
"Alright."
Kuma gave a gentle smile and agreed without hesitation.
"That straightforward, huh?"
Caesar was surprised. "To be honest, I had prepared a big offer to recruit you. I didn't expect you to agree so readily."
"I just… I trust you."
Hearing this, Kuma's tears flowed uncontrollably again. "To be honest, I was prepared to give up my life, but to have Bonney cured…"
"You really are a crybaby."
Caesar twitched the corner of his mouth: "But I'm not asking you to join the Beasts. I'm asking you to join me. You… understand, right?"
Kuma nodded silently, wiping away his tears: "I just don't quite understand. You could have made this demand before curing Bonney…"
"Yeah, something like, 'You wouldn't want your daughter to lose her life, would you?'"
Caesar chuckled: "But I thought about it. Threatening a father with his daughter seems like a scumbag move. Besides, I'm someone who aims to conquer the world, walking the righteous path of enlightening all. Such actions would really tarnish my image…"
Kuma immediately smiled: "Then you're sure to become a great leader."
"Hard to say…"
Caesar clicked his tongue: "But I definitely won't be worse than the Celestial Dragons. This world is rotten to the core, so I plan to scrape the bone to cure the poison, reshaping it into what I envision."
Hearing this, Kuma's eyes lit up: "Then why don't you join the Revolutionary Army?"
"You—"
Caesar raised his index finger, hesitating to speak, then hesitating again, before finally sighing in frustration: "You really don't learn, do you? Didn't Ginny's experience teach you anything?"
"It's not like that, Mr. Caesar…"
Kuma sighed deeply: "The Revolutionary Army… faces many difficulties. Our strength isn't enough to launch an effective counterattack against the Celestial Dragons."
"If I recall correctly—"
Caesar counted on his fingers: "The Logia Type Coal Coal Fruit, Hormone Fruit, Scissors Fruit, and Push Push Fruit should all be in the hands of the Revolutionary Army. With the conditions for infiltration and rescue in place, is it really that hard to save one woman?"
"Kuma, I admire your strength, and I also admire the self-sacrificing love you have for your daughter as a father. But I can also see your weakness."
Caesar spoke indifferently: "The Revolutionary Army? What is your ideology? Your definition? Your goal? Your purpose? Your principles? Your discipline? Let me tell you, Kuma, revolution can involve bloodshed, death, and tragedy, but it must never endure the kind of humiliation Ginny suffered."
Kuma pursed his lips, his large hands resting on his knees unconsciously clenching into fists.
To be honest, Caesar didn't know much about so-called revolution.
But at the very least, he had seen the blood and sweat his predecessors had poured into it.
At the very least, his vision was far more long-term than that of the so-called Revolutionary Army.
"Helping people overthrow the tyranny of their royal families—does that count as revolution?"
Caesar's tone was dismissive: "Without a unified ideology, strict discipline, sound laws, or a healthy system… In my eyes, that so-called Revolutionary Army is nothing more than a bunch of rebels."
Caesar had looked into the so-called Revolutionary Army. These people were interesting, or rather, amusingly foolish.
They followed Dragon around the world, helping oppressed people overthrow their royal families.
And then they left!
That's exactly what they did in the Sorbet Kingdom. King Beckley merely revoked the decree to massacre the southern populace, and they just packed up and left.
Their carefree attitude was as if they were playing house…
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