Starting with helping Zhao Kai ascend the throne in the snow

Inside the meeting room, as the Seven Warlords of the Sea left, Dogman also left the meeting room after receiving a signal from Akainu, leaving only Vice Admiral Tsuru and Akainu in the room.

Not long after, an intelligence officer in a naval uniform strode in, looking at him with admiration, and said, "Chief of Staff Tsuru, just as you predicted, Doflamingo appeared on Hawkeye's ship as soon as the Seven Warlords left the Marine Headquarters."

"Fleet Admiral Akainu, it seems I was right. Doflamingo and Mihawk definitely have other schemes going on. I just don't know what they're planning," Vice Admiral Tsuru said to Akainu with a grave expression after the intelligence personnel left.

Hawkeye is the strongest individual Shichibukai, and Doflamingo is the Shichibukai with the strongest forces under his command. If the two of them were to join forces, the impact they could have would be enormous. Their combined strength would be enough to make them a force comparable to the Four Emperors.

Upon hearing this, Akainu sneered, "Chief of Staff Tsuru, I think you're overthinking it. I'll say it again: a proud guy like Mihawk wouldn't even be worthy of Doflamingo's attention. I suspect it's just that clown Doflamingo trying to curry favor with Mihawk."

Seeing Akainu's disdainful expression, Vice Admiral Tsuru sighed and swallowed back the words he wanted to say.

First impressions are very stubborn. If she hadn't noticed Doflamingo's changes through various sources, she probably would have had a similar opinion to Akainu.

Meanwhile, on Hawkeye's coffin boat.

Hawkeye frowned slightly as he looked at Doflamingo, who had appeared in front of him, and said, "Doflamingo, we just left Marine Headquarters. You shouldn't be showing up here so openly."

"Mihawk, don't worry about it. I know Akainu's personality perfectly well. Even if I showed up here and told him outright that we've formed an alliance, he wouldn't believe me. He's an extremely arrogant and ruthless guy, especially after the Marineford War, he's become even more arrogant than before." Doflamingo laughed heartily upon hearing this.

Everyone else treats him like a clown, but as a middleman in the underworld, Doflamingo's ability to read people is unparalleled. He can see through Akainu at a glance, and he lives up to the image others have of him to lull them into a false sense of security.

Upon hearing Doflamingo's words, Hawkeye gave him his first serious look. Before meeting Shen Qing, he had considered Doflamingo nothing more than a clown. But now, from Doflamingo's words, he could easily discern that Doflamingo had been hiding his true abilities. After all, the hardest thing for a person to understand is themselves. How could someone who has such a clear understanding of themselves be a simple person?

After a brief silence, Doflamingo said with a serious expression, "Hawkeye, you should have noticed it today too, right? Trafalgar Law's request for the Shichibukai position is aimed at me. If I'm not mistaken, this should be the work of Vice Admiral Tsuru, the Chief of Staff of the Navy. It seems that my recent actions have alerted her." "Do you need my help?" Hawkeye asked, frowning.

Doflamingo shook his head. "It's not time for you to make your move yet. If I'm not mistaken, it's the reduction in the slave trade and weapons that has attracted the attention of the naval intelligence department. As long as I'm careful, there shouldn't be any major problems."

Just then, a Den Den Mushi (snail phone) rang out, and Hawkeye pulled it out of his pocket. Perona's image immediately appeared on the screen.

"You old geezer, Shen Qing and the old sword god are here." The haughty Perona hung up the Den Den Mushi as soon as she finished speaking.

"Shen Qing is here." Upon hearing the Den Den Mushi's message, both of them lit up, extremely excited about Shen Qing's appearance.

Although their previous snow journey was short, the feeling of crossing boundaries was something they constantly missed, and they were also looking forward to reaching a world where they could quickly improve their combat power.

Without further delay, the two urged Hawkeye's coffin ship to return to Kraigana Island.

A day and a half later, Shen Qing saw Hawkeye and Doflamingo on the island. From their slightly disheveled clothes, it was easy to tell that the two had rushed back day and night after receiving Perona's call.

"Mr. Mihawk, Mr. Dover, I'm bothering you again." Shen Qing greeted the two men with a fist and palm salute.

"Haha, Brother Shen, there's no need for us to be so formal. I'd love for you to come every day." Dover said, opening his arms as if to give Shen Qing a hug.

But the next second, Doflamingo was stopped by the old swordsman, "You blond kid, don't touch him."

Seeing this, Hawkeye looked at the old swordsman with a puzzled expression. He knew that the old swordsman must have a deeper meaning in doing this, otherwise he would not have been able to stop Doflamingo.

"I've been poisoned by Gu..." Shen Qing immediately gave the two a brief explanation of how he had been poisoned by Gu, and said that the old sword god had stopped Doflamingo because he was afraid that Doflamingo would trigger the sealed sword energy.

Upon learning that Shen Qing had been poisoned by a Gu poison and had come to find an antidote, Doflamingo immediately patted his chest and said it was no big deal. He then took out a Den Den Mushi and asked Buffalo (the user of the Spin-Spin Fruit) to bring Professor Corbid, the best doctor in Dressrosa.

Shen Qing learned from Dover that Professor Kobid was a doctor from the medical kingdom of Drum Kingdom. His medical skills were very reliable. Perhaps he was not the best in the world, but he could handle common illnesses with ease.

Shen Qing expressed his gratitude for Doflamingo's enthusiasm, which was one of the reasons why he chose to ally with Doflamingo. Compared to Hawkeye's top-notch combat power, Doflamingo's vast network of connections spanning the world and connecting both the legitimate and criminal worlds was also extremely important.

With the medical matter settled, Hawkeye held a banquet in the castle to celebrate the alliance formed by the three parties.

During the meal, Shen Qing did not see Zoro. After asking Hawkeye, he learned that Zoro's strength had reached a bottleneck and he had been sent out to fight the baboons on the island in order to break through his own strength. When Zoro can defeat all the baboons on the island, that will be the time for him to graduate from his apprenticeship.

Putting aside the protagonist group's halo, Shen Qing and Zoro didn't have much interaction at all. They only met briefly a few times on Kuraigana Island and didn't even exchange more than a few words. Moreover, as time went on, Shen Qing didn't know if his side would one day face off against Luffy's crew. If he had too much entanglement with Zoro now, he would find it difficult to deal with the situation later.

On the third day after Shen Qing arrived in the pirate world, he was exhausted from not sleeping for three days. Just as Shen Qing was about to return to the snow world to rest, Buffalo finally appeared in the sky.

As a user of the Spin-Spin Fruit, he uses his fruit's power, combined with his unique hairstyle, to act as a propeller, achieving a level of flight capable of carrying people. On his back are a beautiful woman dressed in a maid outfit, wearing goggles and carrying weapons, and an elderly doctor in a white coat and glasses—none other than Professor Corbyd, the best doctor in Dressrosa and Baby-5.