"Trickster Mage... I never thought he was still alive! Fufufufu!"
On the rooftop,
Doflamingo, watching the show, let out a delighted laugh. It looked like that old geezer Umit was really digging into his reserves. Someone who'd never appeared in any intelligence reports had even shown up—Sokachio Aleus... It seemed the Black Prince had truly made Umit feel threatened and pressured.
"And not just the Trickster Mage, but Deep Sea, Grey Knight, Flying Rabbit, Red Hat..."
Every one of them had once been a prominent figure, a top-tier powerhouse in their respective eras. They had all once dreamed of finding the One Piece left behind by the Pirate King and thrown themselves into this bloody battlefield, only to have their ideals crushed by the cruel reality of the New World.
Then, for various reasons, they had all ended up working for the King of Maritime Transport.
They had gone from pirates chasing their dreams to mere wage earners.
This was
the hellish battlefield known as "reality."
"Still, an Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit... We can't underestimate our Black Prince, either!" Doflamingo's gaze shifted to the Earthquake Dragon, so immense it loomed like a hill and couldn't be ignored. His eyes flickered. As an intermediary in the Dark World, he'd been ordered by Beast to collect as many Zoan Devil Fruits as possible.
If he couldn't deliver a certain number of Devil Fruits regularly, Beast wouldn't show him any leniency or forgiveness.
Remembering that he still had nothing to show for this year's quota of Devil Fruits, Doflamingo's mood soured. As he watched Eschbach transformed into an Earthquake Dragon, he couldn't help wishing the man hadn't eaten that Devil Fruit.
An Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit was worth at least ten ordinary Zoan Devil Fruits, maybe even more, if he turned it in.
Unfortunately, it had already been eaten.
"The Ekmondo Kingdom... It should have quite a few in storage."
Doflamingo's eyes flickered behind his sunglasses. He'd set his sights on the Ekmondo Kingdom, a kingdom with a long history, and not just that one. His thoughts turned to the many kingdoms, large and small, in the New World.
Surely the treasuries of these kingdoms held a few Devil Fruits?
He'd been too narrow-minded, focusing only on the Dark World. Compared to the Underworld, with its astonishing ability to absorb goods, perhaps the royal families of the various nations, who loved hoarding treasures, were the biggest collectors of Devil Fruits.
"Hm? Has that old geezer Umit made his move?"
His wandering thoughts snapped back at once. Doflamingo picked up the binoculars from the stool beside him and looked toward the distant beach. He also focused his Observation Haki completely, locking onto Umit and Aleus as they fought.
And the result—
Aleus was being beaten down by Umit?
It seemed like the obvious outcome, after all. As the King of Maritime Transport in the New World and one of the Underworld's major powers, Umit was undeniably a major figure in the New World. By comparison, Aleus was merely a rising star who'd only recently gained some renown.
Most people could easily judge which of the two was stronger.
But
Doflamingo wasn't most people.
"Sokachio Aleus... Something feels off." He furrowed his brow slightly. A deep confusion flashed in his eyes behind his sunglasses. Somehow, what he was "seeing" with his Observation Haki didn't feel right.
"Doffy, what did you say?"
Beside him, Diamante looked over.
"Nothing. Just talking to myself. Enjoy the show."
Doflamingo waved a hand and continued to watch the battle on the beach with all his attention, following it with his Observation Haki.
"Bang—!!!"
Another heavy punch.
Umit's powerful muscles, as if cast from steel, radiated heat like a furnace. He wasn't a Devil Fruit user, but a pure brawler like Navy Hero Vice Admiral Garp. His fists were his greatest weapon.
That very simplicity and purity gave his punches such astonishing destructive power.
The mushroom-shaped rocks that had towered over the beach for who knew how many years were all pulverized by the sweep of his punches. His momentum was so fierce that even Eschbach, transformed into an Earthquake Dragon and fighting Marcus, couldn't compare. Despite his enormous size, he could no longer hold everyone's attention.
There were more than just these two battlefields.
Dillon, Dick, Kappas, and Farug were all tied up by two or more opponents. None of them were useless fillers. Even the three chamberlains couldn't defeat these enemies in a short time, and the attendant serving Farug, the weakest of them, was in even graver danger. The situation looked quite dire.
Besides,
Umit's troops bypassed these human weapons, each with their outrageous individual combat strength, and marched toward the ship belonging to Aleus that was moored in the harbor.
"Hey, Eschbach! Your master doesn't look like he's doing too well!"
Marcus shouted.
"If you're trying to shake my resolve with that kind of trick, I can only say you're wasting your effort. You simply don't understand what His Highness is capable of." Eschbach was completely unmoved by Marcus's attempt to undermine him. He kept to his established pace, probing bit by bit and uncovering Marcus's strange abilities.
"Whoosh!!!"
His tail lashed down like an iron whip.
It crushed the blast wave.
"Such confidence... You really believe in him." As he dodged Eschbach's attacks, which never grew impatient or changed their rhythm, Marcus couldn't help worrying about his boss, who had the upper hand in his fight against Aleus.
After struggling against Eschbach for a while, Marcus had gained some sense of his temperament.
He wasn't a man who would lie.
If he had so much confidence in that Black Prince, then the other man must really have grounds for it. Marcus's heart tightened.
"Are you worried about the King of Maritime Transport?"
Eschbach's immense, mountain-like frame couldn't stop him from sensing subtle emotions. He noticed Marcus was distracted and, with a little thought, understood what was troubling him.
"Relax! Your boss's defeat is inevitable! No one can stop His Highness from moving forward."
In a matter-of-fact tone, Eschbach stated the truth that each new generation surpassed the last, and each wave rose higher than the one before.
"That... Black Prince. Is he really that powerful?" Marcus pressed.
"His Highness's strength is beyond your imagination. And... getting distracted in battle is a grave mistake." Eschbach let out a roar that shook the earth and sea, then lashed his long tail and sent the distracted Marcus flying.
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