Starting with helping Zhao Kai ascend the throne in the snow

Taking all the above into consideration, Shen Qing finally set his sights on Bruno's Door-Door Fruit.

First, compared to other Devil Fruit abilities, the Door-Door Fruit, which allows direct manipulation of subspace, is undoubtedly a legitimate space-based ability. Second, compared to other Devil Fruit users, Bruno, despite being a member of CP9, seems to lack both background and strength.

Although CP9 is an intelligence agency directly under the World Government and seems very prestigious, compared to the blood ties of the Charlotte family, this kind of intelligence agency of the World Government treats its members more as tools. Even if they are killed, there will not be much reaction. At most, only fellow CP9 members will feel sad for them.

Compared to the abilities of the CP9 members, Shen Qing is more wary of the Big Mom Pirates' abilities. Whether it's Katakuri's ability to foresee the future or Big Mom's Soul-Soul Fruit, he is currently helpless against them.

"The Door-Door Fruit, is that a good choice? I'll send someone to kill him right now. Once the Door-Door Fruit reappears on the sea, I'll immediately send someone to retrieve it." Doflamingo nodded in agreement as he looked at Shen Qing's choice, and then prepared to send someone to deal with Bruno.

The current pattern of Devil Fruit appearances in the One Piece world is that after the death of the previous owner, the Devil Fruit will randomly appear somewhere in the sea. For example, the Flame-Flame Fruit that Shen Qing is holding now was obtained by the Donquixote Family after Ace's death.

Upon seeing this, Shen Qing immediately stopped Doflamingo, then shook his head and said, "No need for such trouble, I have a better way."

In Shen Qing's view, Doflamingo's approach was both time-consuming and laborious, and the outcome was still unpredictable. What if the Door-Door Fruit appeared and was eaten by someone else? Would he have to kill someone again? He couldn't keep going on like this indefinitely. This method was far too uncertain.

"What method?" Doflamingo asked in surprise.

"Do you remember how Blackbeard obtained Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit power?" Shen Qing's words reminded Doflamingo of the Marineford War, where Blackbeard defied the rules of Devil Fruit appearance and directly stole the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power.

Seeing that Doflamingo understood, Shen Qing continued, "So we can use Blackbeard to handle this matter. We can bring it up in the subsequent transaction. As long as the price is right, I believe Blackbeard will not refuse."

Another reason why Shen Qing didn't let Doflamingo take action was that he didn't want to cause trouble. Killing Bruno was easy, but it would also bring the wrath of CP9. Others were not a concern, but Lucci was a tough character with hard enough punches, making him a considerable problem.

From the moment Blackbeard openly declared that the Seven Warlords of the Sea wanted to become the Four Emperors, the Blackbeard Pirates were naturally opposed to the World Government and the Navy. Therefore, CP9, an intelligence agency directly under the World Government, was destined to be its enemy. So Shen Qing believed that as long as the price was high enough, Blackbeard would definitely not mind taking on the crime of killing a CP9 member.

With a plan in place for the Devil Fruits, Shen Qing wasn't in a hurry. The best time would be after the Blackbeard Pirates and the Donquixote Family had completed several transactions and collaborations.

"By the way, Mr. Dover, there is one more thing I would like to ask you."

"Brother Shen, please don't be so polite. Just say what you need to say."

"I want to borrow some money from you." Shen Qing changed the subject, shifting the topic to another purpose of his trip.

Besides seeking medical treatment, Shen Qing also wanted to take advantage of Doflamingo during this trip to the pirate world to help Yuezhou overcome its initial economic crisis.

"That's no problem at all, Brother Shen. Just name your price, and I'll have it prepared right away." Doflamingo readily agreed. As a successful businessman, he knew that the more you put in, the more you get out. He wasn't afraid of Shen Qing making demands; in fact, the more demands Shen Qing made, the better, as it would deepen their relationship. He was actually more afraid of Shen Qing not making any demands, as that would be the least beneficial thing for him.

Shen Qing felt a little grateful for Doflamingo's generosity. Friendships are based on actions, not intentions. Regardless of Doflamingo's motives, he had truly solved the problem Shen Qing was facing.

Actually, Shen Qing wanted food more than money, but the black ship was too small and had limited space, so he had to reluctantly give up food and supplies and choose money instead.

Subsequently, considering that the monetary systems of the two worlds were different, Shen Qing had Doflamingo exchange all his money for gold, a hard currency, for easy use later.

Just as Doflamingo was ordering his men to prepare the gold, he suddenly looked at Shen Qing with a hint of anticipation and said, "Brother Shen, do you remember the prediction you made to me about the String-String Fruit?"

Shen Qing was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then recalled that he had promised Doflamingo that he would tell him his guess about the String-String Fruit if he was willing to help save people, but Shen Qing had forgotten about it.

Shen Qing immediately began to think quickly about the characteristics of the String-String Fruit. The String-String Fruit is a type of Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows the user to manipulate various kinds of threads for attack and defense. It has always been considered a rather mediocre fruit, and only Doflamingo has developed it to the point of awakening. However, even the awakened String-String Fruit's combat power is still quite disappointing and has had a very limited impact on Doflamingo's combat strength.

Devil Fruits don't have inherent strengths or weaknesses; it all depends on the user's abilities...

There are three thousand great paths, and every one of them can lead to enlightenment...

All paths lead to the same destination, but the opposite is true: one path evolves into countless others.

Unrelated pieces of information flashed through Shen Qing's mind. After an unknown amount of time, a scene from a novel he had once read suddenly appeared in his mind: "A fishing line with a hook attached emerged from an unknown void, fishing on a great river."

Spatial lines—as the scene shattered, a single word finally appeared in Shen Qing's mind. His eyes gleamed, and his expression grew excited. If there were spatial lines capable of piercing the void, then what about the causal lines that fish through the river of time?...

Shen Qing, unable to contain his excitement, said to Doflamingo, "Mr. Doflamingo, the limit of your String-String Fruit is far more than this. Have you ever heard of spatial threads that can pierce through the void, or causal threads that can fish in the river of time? These are the limits and goals you should pursue."

Upon hearing Shen Qing's words, Dover was completely stunned. He had never heard such a statement before, nor had he ever entertained such a thought. He immediately asked incredulously, "Brother Shen, you're not lying to me, are you?"

Shen Qing took a deep breath and nodded vigorously, saying, "Mr. Doflamingo, based on my bold speculation, the abilities of Devil Fruits are formed based on the rules of imagination. It can also be understood that the abilities of Devil Fruits are the faith and prayers of the intelligent life in this world towards heaven and earth. Therefore, within the wishes of intelligent life, the will of the world gave birth to Devil Fruits representing certain rules and abilities. This means that all the abilities of the fruits are illusory, entirely derived from imagination. But all the abilities are also real; imagination influences reality, which is why various Devil Fruit abilities are displayed. Therefore, the greater the imagination, the greater the power the Devil Fruit can unleash."

This explains why Bonney was able to use the same Gear 5 form as Nika Luffy on Bullet Island. She transformed herself into the Nika form through her imagination. The so-called Nika form is about freely liberating oneself from conventional ideas, breaking through all cognitive barriers, and imagining whatever one wants without restraint.