A Few More Men

Lovers' Avenue.

As a famous attraction in Dressrosa, the avenue was very well maintained. Couples were everywhere, filling the air with a rosy glow. Seeing all those couples paired off, any single person who wandered in here... tsk, tsk!

Tragic!

Truly tragic!

This was nothing less than a slaughterhouse for the single.

"Dressrosa, the Land of Love, Passion, and Toys... Love and passion aside, I didn't expect there to be so many toys. How strange. Are these toys alive?" The tall man wore a little vest and a baseball cap that hid his bald head. He looked around curiously, fixing an intensely eager gaze on every toy that passed by.

His aggressively hungry stare frightened the toys into hurrying past the open-air café on the corner.

The corner.

There was a small open-air café there.

A few square tables sat outside the entrance. Passing couples usually claimed this perfect place to rest, savoring the rich aroma of coffee as they admired the lively atmosphere of the avenue.

But,

a group of burly men who clearly looked like trouble drove the couples away with their terrifying presence, then took over the spot.

"Probably... a Devil Fruit?"

Umit, wearing a tall hat, wasn't drinking coffee. He didn't like the dark beverage at all. He preferred the pure taste of a cup of tea. He took a sip of the tea he'd brought himself and watched a toy person pass by in the distance, offering his guess.

There were giants, Fish-Men, the Mink Tribe, the Snake-Neck Tribe, Skypieans with wings, and all sorts of other strange humans in this world... Yet no matter how strange they were, they were still human, and thus within the realm of understanding.

But,

living toys and such...

Anyone who wasn't too stupid or too literal would know that such things couldn't exist naturally.

Toys were toys. How could they live just like humans? And yet the scene in the Dressrosa Kingdom wasn't fake. The toys lived in the country just like people, and the only thing Umit could think of to explain it was a Devil Fruit.

After all,

the title of Land of Toys had only come about after Doflamingo arrived.

Before that, the kingdom had been dirt poor. It had nothing but its flower fields. The commoners had less in their pockets than a dog could lick clean, and even the royal family lived in poverty. To cut down on military expenses, the royals had often led the charge whenever they fought pirates.

It was only after Doflamingo seized control of the country five years ago that this desperately poor kingdom became wealthy. Around the same time, toys began appearing on the streets without anyone noticing. The people accepted them, and they all lived together in harmony, giving rise to the title of the 'Land of Love, Passion, and Toys.'

"Devil Fruit..."

The bald man in the baseball cap nodded thoughtfully. "Are they Joker's men?"

"Probably," Umit replied casually.

He wasn't interested in Joker's men, and he couldn't care less about the toys on the street. This wasn't his territory, and he couldn't be bothered to worry about Joker. Rather than Joker's men, he was more interested in information about Aleus and the attendant by his side.

The information 'Ghost Sword' Venkura had brought back was woefully inadequate.

Though Umit had gathered some information during his investigation, it was still too sparse, too vague, too fragmented. It was difficult to piece together anything truly useful, such as Aleus's abilities or weaknesses.

"Lord Umit, someone's watching us from underground."

Suddenly,

the bald man in the baseball cap spoke up.

"...Ignore it. It's one of Joker's subordinates, probably sent to keep an eye on us." Umit had sensed the presence underground long ago, but he had no intention of starting a war with Doflamingo, so he chose to ignore it.

"Should we leave it alone?"

The bald man in the baseball cap glanced at the paving stones beneath his feet and grinned. "Understood."

As Umit's top enforcer, the bald man himself was one of Umit's trump cards. This time, to prepare for the 'Black Prince's' challenge, Umit had brought him along to Dressrosa to await Sokachio Aleus's arrival.

And it wasn't just the bald man. The other eight burly men seated nearby were also Umit's subordinates.

Every one of them was a capable fighter.

Five of them were former pirates, each with a bounty of at least one hundred million. Those bounties were from a long time ago, and their strength and ferocity had only grown since then. If Venkura hadn't repeatedly stressed how formidable Aleus was, Umit wouldn't have gathered so many skilled men from their posts across various seas.

But it never hurt to be prepared.

Caution was the key to staying afloat.

Even a lion gave its all when hunting a rabbit, and Aleus was no easy rabbit to catch...

"Sokachio Aleus... Stussy, I don't believe you don't have more detailed information." At some point, Umit had picked up a Den Den Mushi and was speaking to someone. "Money's no object. I just want information. Give me the most complete, most detailed information you have."

"Sorry, Umit! It's not that I don't want to do business with you, but I really don't have what you're looking for." Stussy was one of the Dark World's major players, the Queen of the Pleasure District, and the best information broker in the New World.

After all,

there was no place better than the Pleasure District for gathering all kinds of information quickly.

The women of the Pleasure District could always drain a man's body, wallet, and mind of every last bit of information.

"How is that possible? You're the Queen of the Pleasure District... Could the Ekmondo Kingdom have paid you off?" Umit frowned, thinking of a possibility.

"The Queen of the Pleasure District isn't all-powerful. And I have no ties whatsoever to the Ekmondo Kingdom."

Stussy replied promptly.

"...Even you can't find anything useful... Black Prince, are you really preparing to make a sensational debut?" Umit's face grew stern as he felt the pressure. His mind couldn't help but return to the things Ghost Sword Venkura had said before he was locked up.

What if,

what if Venkura hadn't been so scared that he'd lost his nerve, and the enemy really was that powerful? Wouldn't Umit's attempt to put an end to Aleus once and for all amount to walking into a trap?

"...A few more men, then."

Umit lifted his teacup, took a sip, and decided to bolster his side's strength a little more.