Three Devil Fruits

After leaving the Training Grounds, Doflamingo returned home and pushed open the door.

As soon as he entered, Doflamingo saw Homing and his wife with Rosinante. The family of three was happily discussing something.

Half a year ago, Doflamingo had felt that he was strong enough, so he stopped using his illusion ability to interfere with his adoptive younger brother. Rosinante was now a very healthy child.

In fact, the deep sleep he got every day over the past few years had made his body far healthier and stronger than that of ordinary people.

Homing looked up, saw Doflamingo, and said with a smile, "You're back, son. There's something I wanted to discuss with you."

Doflamingo walked over without revealing anything. Over the past five years, as his strength steadily improved, he had stopped concealing the changes in his personality. At the very least, he had dismissed all the slaves under his command.

However, those slaves bore the Celestial Dragon's mark on their backs, and they had long since become numb and apathetic. Even after he dismissed them, their futures would not be easy. Still, he did not care much.

He wanted revenge against the Celestial Dragons, and he did not mind saving a few slaves along the way. But Heaven helps those who help themselves; he was merely giving them an opportunity.

Homing believed this behavior meant that his education had finally paid off. He had no idea that Doflamingo had long since been replaced from the core outward.

"What is it, Father?" Doflamingo glanced at Homing. He had already guessed the answer and asked directly.

Homing took a deep breath. "Your mother and I have decided that our family will leave Mary Geoise in a few days."

Doflamingo folded his arms, his face expressionless. "Have you truly made up your mind, Father?"

For some reason, Homing felt an indescribable air of authority from his son, one that left him speechless. For a moment, Doflamingo felt utterly unfamiliar to him.

But after a moment, Homing looked again and saw that Doflamingo still appeared the same as before. He dismissed the thought. "Of course. I've already thought it through. Once we leave the Holy Land, we can live on an island not far from here."

In the original story, Doflamingo and Rosinante had been too young, so Homing had not discussed it with them at all. Now that Doflamingo had become a teenager, Homing had still asked for their opinions.

After hearing Homing's naive words, Doflamingo remained expressionless on the outside, but inwardly he was already mocking him. No wonder Doflamingo's family ended up like that. Not far from Mary Geoise? Doesn't that mean they'll constantly run into those idiotic Celestial Dragons?

Under those circumstances, it would be strange if the civilians there didn't resent the Celestial Dragons.

In truth, if Homing had taken his family far away from the Holy Land Mary Geoise and headed directly to some remote country in the Four Seas, they probably would not have met such an end.

In countries in the Four Seas far from the Red Line, Celestial Dragons were a rare sight. Though the heavy Heavenly Tribute was still an enormous burden on ordinary civilians, the royal families of each country were responsible for collecting it, so they bore much of the resentment.

Furthermore, Celestial Dragons themselves had already been deified through propaganda. The farther away a god was, the more awe people felt toward them. Without seeing those idiotic Celestial Dragons for what they truly were, ordinary civilians likely felt more reverence than hatred.

Yet instead of choosing one of those better places, Homing actually wanted to bring them to an island near the Holy Land. Wasn't that simply courting death? Did he have any idea how much those civilians hated the Celestial Dragons?

After all, the islands near the Holy Land were the ones the Celestial Dragons had harmed the most!

Even if Doflamingo had not exposed his identity as a Celestial Dragon, Homing's final fate probably would not have been much better.

Still, after glancing at the somewhat muddleheaded Homing, Doflamingo did not try to persuade him further.

"Fine. You've already made your decision anyway. I agree."

Rather than trying to convince Homing not to be so naive, it would be better to let him learn a lesson.

"That's good. I've long grown tired of this life. Perhaps an ordinary life is what we truly should have lived."

Doflamingo neither agreed nor disagreed. The higher one stood, the harder one fell. After enjoying the privileges of a Celestial Dragon, how could they possibly escape the hatred of ordinary people? His adoptive father had made things far too simple in his mind.

Fortunately, Doflamingo had long since made preparations.

Since his instructor had been seriously injured and hospitalized this time, Doflamingo did not hurry back to training. After lunch at home, he returned to his room and took out three fruits.

"Father, Mother, little brother, try these fruits."

"Oh? Are these new fruits offered as tribute this year?" Homing picked up the crystal-clear apple in his hand. For some reason, he suddenly felt an intense craving for it.

Not only him—his wife and Rosinante also felt drawn to the beautiful fruits. Though they had just finished eating, their appetites abruptly returned.

The moment Homing took a bite, his expression changed.

Not only did his expression change, but so did those of his wife and Rosinante.

In an instant, a foul, bitter stench exploded across their taste buds, like dog shit mixed with smelly socks.

"Blech!" Homing and the other two clawed at their mouths and vomited desperately. "What the hell is this? What kind of taste is that?"

The three apples they had tossed onto the floor rolled twice, then shed their crystal-clear appearance and revealed bizarre patterns.

Clearly, Doflamingo had used illusions to conceal the fruits' true forms.

"These are... Devil Fruits?" Homing's family were Celestial Dragons, not ignorant civilians from the Four Seas. They were quite familiar with such things.

"That's right. These three fruits are the Zoan Tori Tori Fruit, Red-crowned Crane Form; the Ancient Zoan Ape-Ape Fruit; and the Paramecia Hair-Hair Fruit," Doflamingo said.

"Why did you make us eat these things?" Homing wore a helpless expression. With a casual tug, the hair on his body suddenly grew wildly, turning him into a strange furball.

Rosinante also curiously activated his Devil Fruit ability and instantly transformed into a gorilla over a person's height.

His mother wore a smile but did not use her Devil Fruit ability.

"The sea outside is dangerous. I just hope everyone will have the strength to protect themselves," Doflamingo said seriously.