Super Card System - S.C.S Chapter 656: Caesar Gets Played

Ian remained silent, so Reiju also stayed quiet, leaving Caesar in a situation where he wanted to speak but didn’t dare to.

The atmosphere inside the carriage was extremely awkward. Caesar was restless, his mind racing with one overwhelming thought: Did Ian know who I was?

Even though he had never met Ian or clashed with him directly, Caesar was Doflamingo’s partner, and Ian was Doflamingo’s enemy. If Ian knew about his connection to Doflamingo, there was a good chance Caesar would be caught in the crossfire.

It was the classic case of “an enemy’s friend is also an enemy.”

Caesar might have been a Devil Fruit user, and not just any Devil Fruit user, but one with a Logia-type ability. However, his main identity was as a scientist, not a fighter. He didn’t learn Haki or advanced combat techniques. Even when he fought, it was only by relying on the special abilities of his Gasu Gasu no Mi. He knew that in a fight, he wasn’t a match for Ian. If Ian realized his connection to Doflamingo and decided to take action against him, Caesar wouldn’t even have a chance to escape!

But right now, the thing that troubled Caesar the most was uncertainty. On one hand, Ian might know who he was, but on the other, Ian hadn’t called him by name at all. This indicated that, at the very least, Doflamingo had never revealed anything about Caesar to Ian.

On the other hand, if Ian didn’t know who he was, why had he used Armament Haki to grab Caesar’s shoulder and prevent him from escaping? This indicated that Ian might know Caesar was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user.

So now, Caesar sat obediently in the carriage, wearing a harmless, sheepish grin on his face, but deep down, he was extremely nervous. His mind raced with countless thoughts. If he had a flower in his hand right now, he’d probably be pulling off the petals one by one, muttering to himself, “He knows! He doesn’t know! He knows! He doesn’t know…”

As for Ian, he was also pondering how to handle Caesar.

In reality, when Ian had “invited” Caesar into the carriage, he hadn’t thought much about it. Before this encounter, Ian hadn’t expected to run into Caesar here. But as soon as he saw him, his instincts told him that he couldn’t let Caesar just slip away, which was why he’d brought him into the carriage.

Letting Caesar go wasn’t an option, but killing him? That didn’t seem particularly useful either. Without Doflamingo’s base in Dressrosa, the production of artificial Devil Fruits had already stopped. Whether Caesar was alive or not wouldn’t change that. Killing him would at most prevent him from continuing his wicked weapons research, but it wouldn’t deal a significant blow to Doflamingo.

After all, Caesar was merely a partner of Doflamingo, not one of his subordinates. Caesar’s importance to Doflamingo depended on whether their artificial Devil Fruit project could continue. Without it, Caesar’s significance to Doflamingo would be questionable.

Ever since Ian learned that Fujitora had gone to Wano, he had been thinking about ways to help him indirectly. Doflamingo had already aligned with Kaido, so if he could undermine Doflamingo, it would also affect Kaido. However, using Caesar to do so wouldn’t dig very deep.

Ian rubbed his chin, thinking, while glancing at Caesar up and down. His scrutinizing gaze made Caesar increasingly uneasy, causing him to place his hands neatly on his knees, sitting even more obediently.

After a while, Ian suddenly spoke, “You’re Caesar Clown, the former Navy scientist?”

“Y-yes!” Caesar, who had gradually gotten used to the silence in the carriage, was startled when Ian finally broke it. He quickly responded, his entire body jolting in fear.

At the same time, Caesar felt a wave of bitterness and frustration: He knew who I was all along!

With a curious expression, Ian continued, “Three hundred million Berries—your bounty isn’t small. The Navy and the World Government have been after you for a while. I didn’t expect you to still dare to show your face.”

Although Ian had called out Caesar’s name, he didn’t mention anything about Doflamingo, which caught Caesar off guard. His thoughts raced, and with a sycophantic smile, he replied, “Oh, that’s nothing. The Navy and World Government have their eyes on big figures like you. We small fries don’t attract much attention…”

Ian’s bounty had skyrocketed to 1.2 billion Berries—enough to equal four Caesars—so Caesar’s flattery was well-targeted and quite effective.

With the conversation started, the atmosphere in the carriage became a bit more relaxed. Ian deliberately avoided bringing up Doflamingo, which made Caesar feel a bit bolder. Gradually, he convinced himself that Ian only knew about him because of the Navy’s wanted posters, so he started to feel somewhat at ease.

“If you’re here on Cake Island, it must mean you have a pretty good relationship with the Big Mom Pirates,” Ian remarked. “But how is it that you don’t have an invitation to the tea party?”

“Not by choice!” Caesar sighed. “Even though Big Mom has been funding my research, there hasn’t been much progress on the projects she assigned over the years…”

He then began complaining to Ian, “You know, after leaving the Navy and the World Government, I’ve had to conduct my research all by myself. Sure, I have a genius mind, but without assistants or support staff, progress is naturally slow. Scientific research isn’t something that yields results quickly. I think that’s probably why, even though the funding hasn’t stopped, Big Mom must be getting frustrated with me…”

Having loosened up, Caesar continued venting while grabbing one of the drinks reserved for VIPs in the carriage. He poured himself a glass and downed it in one gulp.

Seeing Caesar’s behavior, Ian figured the time was right and casually added, “True, scientific research is like that. My Dragon Hunter Pirates have a scientist too, named Varua. Have you heard of him?”

“No, never!” Caesar shook his head. Of course, he had no idea who Varua was.

“Ah,” Ian sighed dramatically, “that guy is such an idiot. I stole three Pacifistas from the Navy’s science division, but to this day, he still hasn’t fully figured out their production technology. I’ve already invested 10 billion Berries into his work, and I have no idea how much longer it’ll take for him to produce any results!”

Pffft! Caesar spat out his drink, coughing violently. After catching his breath, he shrieked, “Te– Ten billion Berries!?”

His voice cracked from shock, which showed just how stunned he was by the number.

“Yep!” Ian said nonchalantly, “You know, I recently raided the Golden City and got my hands on a huge fortune. Ten billion Berries? That’s nothing!”

Ian’s attitude, as if he were a wealthy tycoon who couldn’t care less about money, made Caesar green with envy.

Big Mom had been funding his research, but every time Caesar came to Cake Island, he couldn’t get more than half a billion Berries at a time. Even after all his trips, the total amount he’d received hadn’t reached ten billion Berries yet. Caesar had always felt his research funds were fairly substantial, but hearing that Ian had casually thrown a ten billion at a scientist Caesar had never even heard of left him feeling utterly crushed!

Without comparison, there’s no heartbreak. In Caesar’s eyes, Ian instantly became a dazzling golden ticket!

Cough cough! Caesar cleared his throat, his eyes darting around, and then he said regretfully to Ian, “You should have mentioned this earlier! Don’t you know, sir, that I used to be Vegapunk’s colleague? Pacifistas are Vegapunk’s creation, and I even gave him some pointers on those weapons. While I lost interest in such crude technology later on, if it’s about cracking it, that would be a piece of cake for me!”

As Caesar spoke, he kept sneaking glances at Ian’s expression, silently hoping to convey: Please, slap me in the face with a hundred billion Berries! I can take it!

Caesar was already daydreaming, imagining what kind of wild fun he could have if he managed to get his hands on that massive research funding.

However, much to his disappointment, Ian didn’t take the bait. Knowing exactly what kind of scoundrel Caesar was, Ian simply replied noncommittally, “Honestly, I think the most reliable option is to just kidnap Vegapunk. It’d be simpler and faster!”

As soon as Caesar heard this, he panicked. If Ian really kidnapped Vegapunk, where would that leave him?

Unwilling to let the opportunity for such enormous funding slip away, Caesar immediately tried to persuade Ian. “No, wait! What’s so great about Vegapunk? Sure, people say he’s the world’s top scientist, but that’s all because the World Government hypes him up! His knowledge is nothing compared to mine! If it weren’t for his underhanded tricks framing me for the Punk Hazard incident, there’s no way I’d be wanted by the Navy! He’s nothing but a despicable scoundrel! Even if you kidnapped him, what if he just took your money and ran? Besides, he’s currently holed up in the research facility at Malakoff, which is heavily guarded. Do you really think it’s easy to kidnap him?”

Malakoff!? Ian’s heart skipped a beat. So it’s true! Caesar really does know Vegapunk’s whereabouts!

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