Successful Coup and Arrival of the Charlotte Pirates

In the end, King Riku still gave in to Doflamingo's blackmail, only asking for some time to collect the nation's money.

Little did they know, this was exactly what Doflamingo wanted, and he readily agreed.

"Fufufufu, foolish fellow, every move is exactly as planned, completely played like a fiddle."

The next morning, watching King Riku going door-to-door begging his citizens for money, Doflamingo smiled.

"Is it really that good to be protected by the World Government? You don't seem like someone who grew up in the cruel New World at all. Without the protection of the Marines and the World Government, this country would probably be swallowed whole, bones and all, by those Great Pirates in an instant."

"Hehehehe, so it's only natural for Master to become the King of Dressrosa. Only someone like Master can truly protect Dressrosa, can't he?"

An uncle, who gave off a sticky, gooey vibe, spoke up, then sniffled.

He was Trebol, the earliest executive of the Donquixote Family and a user of the Sticker-Sticker Fruit.

"Don't flatter me," Doflamingo said coldly, swirling a glass of red wine. "Protecting Dressrosa... what does that have to do with me? I just want to conquer this country... no matter what it becomes!"

"Anything that belongs to our Donquixote Family, I will take it back!"

As he said this, even though his eyes were hidden by sunglasses, the expression on the Heavenly Yaksha's face was ferocious, veins bulging like a demon's.

Doflamingo's subordinates lowered their heads, no longer speaking. They knew very well that Doflamingo's words weren't just referring to the country of Dressrosa.

However, while Doflamingo, as a discarded Celestial Dragon, could say these things, his subordinates could not discuss them.

Doflamingo's plan proceeded smoothly. That evening, King Riku, having sacrificed his royal dignity and extorted hundreds of billions of Beli, along with his guards, was controlled by Doflamingo using the String-String Fruit and began a massacre of the capital's residents.

Subsequently, the Doflamingo Pirates appeared as saviors, "defeating" King Riku and his guards. This achieved two goals at once: winning the people's hearts and eliminating the influence of King Riku and his subordinates.

At this point, Katakuri's fleet was only a few hours away from Dressrosa.

"What? You're saying Doflamingo stole the throne of Dressrosa?"

Katakuri frowned.

"Yes, although I couldn't hear anything, this is what I saw through Clairvoyance," Minos told Katakuri.

"Hahaha, what a brainless pirate. These Supernovas are all like this," Charlotte Oven, whose hair resembled fiery red flames, burst into laughter.

"Does he think that idiotic scheme can fool the Marines, or the World Government? In a few days, we'll probably be visiting this King in Impel Down."

Katakuri frowned and shook his head. "I've studied Doflamingo. He's already made a name for himself in the underground dark world, known for his ruthlessness, extensive connections, and cunning. He's definitely not the type of person to launch a coup d'état without any investigation or on a whim."

"There must be something we're overlooking. Something that makes Doflamingo believe the World Government and the Marines will tolerate his audacious act!"

"Why think so much?" Charlotte Daifuku took a bite of dessert, chewing as he spoke.

"We're the Charlotte Pirates, not the Marines or the World Government!"

Hearing this, Katakuri nodded slightly. "You're right, but our main target this time might be difficult to acquire."

As he spoke, Katakuri glanced at Minos, who shrugged dismissively.

Katakuri believed that with the Charlotte Pirates' current status, if they went to Doflamingo to ask for the Gaze-Gaze Fruit, Doflamingo would definitely give them face.

However, a powerful support Devil Fruit like the Gaze-Gaze Fruit, which doesn't require a specific user, would likely be given to one of Doflamingo's subordinates once he obtained it. At that point, even the Charlotte Pirates' influence would be useless.

Meanwhile, Violet, the user of the Gaze-Gaze Fruit, was begging Doflamingo to spare her father's life.

It was precisely because of the chaos during this period that neither Doflamingo nor Violet noticed Katakuri's fleet, allowing them to approach Dressrosa silently.

"We're here. Is this Dressrosa? It doesn't look like much."

Talon, now four meters tall, jumped onto the port and looked around, but he didn't even see any guards on the port, let alone ordinary citizens.

The port was small and dilapidated, mostly consisting of ordinary wooden houses and a few dirty, messy taverns. Compared to the prosperity of Whole Cake Island, Dressrosa was far inferior.

After all, Whole Cake Island only required soul taxes and tribute of special delicacies; other demands were not excessive, much easier than the Heavenly Gold required of World Government allies.

Although Charlotte Linlin was capricious and suffered from food cravings, she wasn't a truly wise leader. However, she wasn't an ambitious tyrant who would ruthlessly exploit her subordinate nations like the Beast Pirates.

If anything, among the Emperors, the countries ruled by the others, except for Kaido, were generally much more prosperous than those of the World Government's allies.

Dressrosa was one of the original 20 allied nations of the World Government, but they still had to pay Heavenly Gold. Moreover, they were located at the entrance to the New World. Even if other Emperor-level forces didn't bother them, pirates just entering the New World wouldn't miss an opportunity to extort them.

Under such circumstances, Dressrosa naturally couldn't develop. It was no wonder that under King Riku's rule, it was known as a country of poverty.

"What should we do now?" Talon asked, looking around somewhat bewildered. "This country seems completely undefended!"

"It's not undefended," Minos narrowed his eyes, his Clairvoyance scanning the distance. "It's just that the Doflamingo Pirates overthrew the Riku royal family, and now the country is in chaos. Almost everyone is at the royal castle, so naturally, no one is guarding the port."

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