Heading to Dressrosa

Dressrosa.

The land of love, passion, and toys.

This was the territory of Donquixote Doflamingo—one of the Shichibukai, the "Heavenly Yaksha," and a broker of the Dark World known by the codename "Joker." Five years ago, this man, formerly a Great Pirate with a bounty of 340 million berries, had transformed himself into the new king of Dressrosa.

When that news broke, it must have knocked countless pairs of glasses askew. Who the hell could have imagined that this guy, chased around like a rabbit by Vice Admiral Tsuru of the Navy, would waltz straight into Navy Headquarters and claim the title of Shichibukai?

One could only wonder what feelings that renowned Vice Admiral Tsuru held when she abandoned the pursuit of the Donquixote Family.

In any case, from five years ago onward, the Joker, who had come from the North Blue, wandered homeless through the New World, and scurried about like a wild dog, had ascended to the throne of a New World giant. Not only had he secured the official white-road identity of a Shichibukai, but he had also earned the moniker "Joker" in the Dark World.

Looking at the Joker's rise from the North Blue to the New World, one had to admit this was a man of exceptional cunning and boldness.

Compared to Big Mom and the Beast—two mad emperors whose brains often seized up—a man like Donquixote Doflamingo, a true warlord, had more of the makings of an emperor. Unfortunately, his combat strength was a bit lacking, and the New World was a chaotic place where the strong ruled. In such a damned place, overwhelming force trumping all skill was an unshakable truth.

King's Plateau.

Here lay the Royal Palace of Dressrosa.

By the open-air swimming pool, a man in sunglasses, a pink feathered coat, purple-red cropped pants, and pointed shoes sat on an ultra-luxurious sofa, a glass of red wine in hand, a wild and arrogant grin on his face.

That evil smile marked him as a man who was clearly no good bird—Donquixote Doflamingo.

"Young Master, I say, I say... about Umit... shouldn't we do something?" A man holding a cane with a spade emblem, draped in a cloak like a quilt, wearing small sunglasses, with a dangling snot bubble beneath his nose, voiced his question.

This was—

Trebol.

One of the four top executives of the Donquixote Family, commander of the Spade Army, and a user of the Paramecia Dile Dile no Mi.

"No need to bother with him! That old bastard has no good intentions. He's dreaming of dragging me in to take the bullet for him—he underestimates me... Fufufufufu!!" Doflamingo sneered twice, his sharp gaze piercing through his sunglasses at the blazing, dazzling fireball in the sky.

"Of course, if he's willing to pay a sufficient price, it wouldn't be impossible to help him test the mettle of this recently famous 'Black Prince'!"

Hearing the Young Master's contradictory words, Trebol felt a bit dizzy.

"I say, this, this... Young Master, do we help or not?"

"Not for now, Trebol. Just keep an eye on Sugar and the Underground Factory. As for that old bastard Umit's matter... Pica, you go tail him. Don't interfere with whatever he does, just watch him. If anything comes up, contact me via Den Den Mushi."

Doflamingo clearly had no intention of explaining things in detail to Trebol.

There was no need to explain too much to Trebol; saying more was useless. Trebol... well, though he was a top executive of the family, he was essentially Sugar's personal bodyguard. It seemed like a heavy responsibility, but when you got down to it, he was just a bodyguard.

His brain wasn't suited for other tasks.

"Leave it to me, Young Master!"

A sharp, piercing voice came from the floor beneath their feet.

Hearing that unique voice, the fashionable women standing around the pool barely suppressed the urge to burst out laughing. They didn't even dare to twitch their shoulders, terrified of being seen as mocking Pica's voice. Once deemed to be laughing at that big man's voice, dying a clean death would be a luxury.

No one dared to mock his voice, and satisfied with that, Pica, hidden underground, left King's Plateau for Lovers' Avenue, searching for Umit, who was leading his subordinates on a shopping spree.

"Umit, that old bastard!"

Doflamingo narrowed his eyes, his words light.

But he didn't dare underestimate this messy business that had landed on his doorstep.

He was extremely displeased with Umit's foul behavior of dragging trouble to his front door, but that shameless old bastard Umit had gone and done it anyway—without even a greeting, he'd led a massive crowd of underlings straight in as guests.

This move cornered Doflamingo, leaving him no other choice: either tear the skin and start a full-on fight with Umit, or hold his nose and accept this rotten affair.

The former option was naturally unwise.

Not to mention anything else, just the ten Great Pirates with bounties over 100 million that Umit had brought this time, plus Umit himself—Doflamingo wasn't entirely confident he could wipe them out in a fight. And if he did, it would only benefit others, with no gain for himself.

Weighing the options, this man, not lacking in forbearance, chose to hold his nose and accept it.

But, not everyone could make the Joker swallow his anger and grit his teeth like the Beast could.

"Brr brr."

A fashionable woman brought over a ringing Den Den Mushi.

"Doffy!"

As Doflamingo picked up the receiver, a steady yet affectionate voice came through from the other end.

"Vergo, any results?"

"I've found something. The Navy... no, I should say the World Government provided this information. Doffy, the Ekmondo Kingdom's ties to the World Government run deeper than we estimated. The moment I started investigating, the Sokachio Family from the Red Line Continent sent over Sokachio Aleus's file."

"Sokachio, huh? Interesting. To have that kind of pull in the World Government... but that's even better, makes for a higher-value partnership... Vergo, any issues on your end? Stirring up the World Government—anything happening in the Navy's upper ranks?"

"Nothing to worry about. As the Base Commander of the New World G5 Branch, familiarizing myself with New World intelligence is part of my job. Not long ago, Headquarters sent down a commendation for diligence. As for the Navy's upper ranks... no changes for now. The Three Admirals are each at their posts, Vice Admiral Garp is still in the East Blue and hasn't returned, and Vice Admiral Tsuru hasn't left Headquarters in nearly a year..."

From the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Vergo reported the Navy's various recent developments in detail.

About half an hour passed.

This long-distance exchange finally came to an end.

The receiver clicked back onto the Den Den Mushi's shell. Doflamingo's smile faded as he stared at the phone number recorded in his notebook, carefully re-examining his plan for any flaws, given that old bastard Umit had shown him no respect.

He wasn't about to show Umit any respect either, so he prepared to contact Sokachio Aleus.

He didn't necessarily have to stand on the same side as this young Black Prince—after all, whether that cunning old dog Umit could be taken down was still up in the air! But that didn't stop him from selling out Umit's intel, and if by chance this Black Prince actually did overthrow Umit...

Getting in good with him beforehand wouldn't hurt.

And so, His finger landed back on the dial button behind the Den Den Mushi.

At sea.

A warship flying the Golden Coffee Tree Flag cut through the waves, charging forward at full speed.

Inside the ship's main hall.

Aleus was interrogating the prisoner Dick had captured earlier—the Strangling Ghost, Farug. This lucky bastard had been locked up ever since Dick brought him in, forgotten until Dick reminded them to bring him along on this trip to Dressrosa. Now, during the voyage, Aleus was slowly grilling him.

"A pirate with a bounty of 114 million Berries... You came from the South Blue to the New World?"

"Yes, I'm from a small war-torn country in the South Blue. I was a child soldier when I was young. Later, the faction I belonged to was crushed, the child soldiers disbanded, and I wandered alone for months. I was about to starve to death when I met my teacher. He taught me the strangling technique, and I promised him I would spread the name of the Sallier Strangling Technique across the entire world.

So, I don't want to die! Your Highness Aleus, please give me a chance to live. I'll do anything—anything at all—just to survive!"

Farug dropped to his knees without hesitation, his forehead pressing into the soft wool carpet, offering his submission to Aleus.

"...Well, whatever. Dick, this guy you brought back is your responsibility. He's your subordinate now." Having heard the rather uninteresting story, Aleus lost all interest in the man who only wore a swimsuit and promptly handed him off to Dick.

"Huh? Your Highness, are you joking? Shouldn't this kind of hassle be dumped on Dillon or Eschbach?"

Dick, who had been playing cards with Dillon and Eschbach, immediately started complaining at being saddled with a nuisance. His personality was flighty, and he hated dealing with trivial chores—training a newbie was the kind of headache that made him scratch his head.

"You caught this prisoner, so he's your problem. And if you find it troublesome, isn't training an assistant to handle your work just the right solution?" Aleus explained.

"Uh... Well, when you put it that way..."

Dick was swayed by the logic.

If he could train an assistant to handle all his chores, wouldn't he never have to worry about the annoying tasks His Highness assigned again? Besides, he had saved Farug back then because the guy seemed decent enough...

"Farug, you're with me from now on."

Farug lifted his head, staring blankly at Dick standing before him, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

"Um... What kind of pledge of loyalty do I need to give?" Farug asked cautiously.

"Pledge of loyalty? What the hell is that?"

Dick's eyes went wide.

As the most illiterate of Aleus's four Aides, this guy's only redeeming quality was his combat prowess—his academic performance was an absolute disaster.

"Dick, it's your turn to play."

Dillon cut off Dick's further embarrassment.

He glanced at Farug, and under that blade-sharp gaze, Farug shivered. Then he heard Dillon say, "We're not pirates. His Highness doesn't need heads to decorate his sofa. Just offer your loyalty sincerely... That's enough.

Loyalty is the only thing of value you have. If you lose even that... I don't want to see that happen."

The cold words clung to him like ice.

Farug, wearing only his swimsuit, felt as if his bones were freezing solid.

"Brruu brruu!!"

Just then, the Den Den Mushi rang.

"Your Highness, it's Lord Worlek." Fran carried the Den Den Mushi over.

"Grandfather?"

Aleus picked up the receiver.

Before he could even greet him, the Den Den Mushi boomed with a thunderous voice.

"Yo! Ale, it's your grandpa!"

"...Grandfather, please save that kind of greeting for Sal and Adela! I'm twenty years old, not a child anymore!" Aleus wearily reiterated, though he knew full well this complaint would do nothing—next time would be exactly the same.

"Hahaha!!"

The hearty laughter shook Aleus so much he instinctively stuck his pinky in his ear.

"Ale, when are you bringing Sal and Adela to visit the Red Line Continent? It's been two years since I last held Adela. She's four now! If it weren't for all this nonsense at the World Government keeping me tied up, I'd have quit ages ago. How nice it would be to stay home and hold my granddaughter..."

A torrent of complaints poured out endlessly, mixed with deep regret over missing his little granddaughter's growth.

"...Alright, enough family talk. Ale, there's something serious I need to discuss."

"Serious? What is it?"

Aleus, who had been dozing off in a daze, wiped his face with the cold towel Fran handed him and perked up to ask.

"Someone in the Navy is investigating your intel."

"...Since when is that considered serious business?" Aleus was speechless. Hell, it wasn't unusual for the Navy big shots to look into someone's background, was it?

"It's Vergo, the Demon Bamboo, Base Commander of the New World G5 Branch. You said before that guy wasn't clean, so I kept an eye on him. Turns out Vergo's investigation into you is a personal move—Navy Headquarters is just running routine intel collection on you. So I went ahead and sent your info straight to Vergo, just to spook him."

"..."

Spook?

Aleus had a headache.

Ever since his grandfather abdicated, the old man had been letting loose, pulling stunts like marrying a new wife younger than Aleus himself.

But Vergo... was Joker investigating him?

"Grandfather, you didn't spill everything about me, did you?"

"Your photo, Den Den Mushi number, and your height and weight from two years ago—all sent over. Speaking of which, have you grown again lately? Looking at the pictures Bertha sent, you seem taller. Ah, no, I'm off track—what was I saying... Right, if you're heading to Dressrosa, it's best not to provoke Doflamingo. That guy used to be a Celestial Dragon."

By the end, the old man's booming voice dropped so low Aleus had to strain his ears to catch it.

"Anyway, that's it. Take care! Oh, and do you want to say a word to your grandmother..."

"Bam!"

Aleus slammed the receiver down with lightning speed.

He wasn't ready to face the terrifying reality of a 'grandmother' two years younger than him.

"Brubrubble!"

Not even two seconds after the call ended, the Den Den Mushi rang again.