The Seven Warlords Plan Begins Early

"Hurry, catch her before she boards the ship! If the Marine Admiral arrives to support them, we'll be in trouble!" Tsuru spoke into the Den Den Mushi with Sengoku. It was said that the Donquixote Family had overheard, but in truth, Tsuru had intentionally let them hear it.

Tsuru knew that with Gion dragging her down, only by reaching a Marine warship could they use the vessel's speed to shake off the Donquixote Family's pursuit.

To prevent the enemy from chasing them relentlessly, she had deliberately let Doflamingo and his crew overhear her call with Sengoku and the news of Kizaru's support.

She did all of this solely to preserve Gion's life.

Doflamingo and his crew pursued them desperately from behind, while Tsuru fled for her life, driven by the need to save Gion.

Just as both sides focused their attention entirely on one another, a charred figure sprinted past the members of the Donquixote Family.

"What?"

"What is that thing?"

A flash of red light crossed Doflamingo's eyes, and he instantly grasped the situation: "Fufufu... to think he's still alive!"

"Then~ let me help you find release!"

"Super Whip!" He swept his right leg horizontally, the sharp threads coated in Armament Haki forming the shape of a whip, striking directly at Tokikake.

At this moment, Tokikake's consciousness was already fading; he had been holding on solely by the conviction that Gion must escape.

Regardless of the circumstances, the body and brain would issue protective signals when life was threatened. Driven by instinct, Tokikake coated his entire body in Armament Haki, not daring to drop his defensive barrier for even a second.

"Bang!"

Although the violent impact injured Tokikake once more, he used the force of the blow to propel himself forward, his speed increasing significantly.

As he was sent flying, he passed by Tsuru and Gion. His only remaining arm instantly wrapped around them, carrying them further away.

"Oh no! This speed...!" Just as Doflamingo had anticipated, Tokikake had utilized his attack to reach the coastline even faster.

"Damn it! We can't catch them!"

"Set sail, quickly!" Even before they reached the warship, Tsuru's orders had already reached the ears of the Marines on board.

After using Moonwalk to quickly board the ship, Tokikake's charred figure finally came to a halt.

It was only then that Tsuru could clearly assess the situation.

She saw that Tokikake's eyes had rolled back, clearly having lost consciousness, his mouth hanging wide open as scorching heat rose from him.

His right arm was gone, and the bones on the right side of his body were exposed, charred black—the result of his Armament Haki being wrapped around him for so long.

Furthermore, his back, already severely wounded by Gray's sneak attack, had been struck again by Doflamingo, adding injury to insult.

The flesh on his body had vanished, and even with the protection of Armament Haki, Tsuru could smell the faint, familiar scent of cooked meat emanating from his exposed internal organs.

"Ship doctor, ship doctor, come and check on Vice Admiral Tokikake!" Unable to even worry about her own injuries, Gion's first thought was to have Tokikake examined.

"The power of willpower, is it?" Even after losing consciousness, Tokikake had managed to help them escape. Tsuru felt a deep sense of worry about whether Tokikake would be able to pull through.

Tokikake's final burst of speed was either a final flicker of life or the result of burning his body's potential. If he survived, Tsuru estimated that Tokikake's career as a Marine would effectively be over.

"Did they get away?" Standing on the shore, Gray watched the rapidly receding Marine warship, feeling deep regret that he hadn't been able to finish them off.

A Marine Grand Staff Officer and two future Admiral candidates—it would have been perfect if he could have kept them all here.

"Fufufu... don't worry, Gray. If they're gone, they're gone. We'll deal with them if we run into them again later."

"If we didn't keep them, we didn't keep them! What I'm worried about is that the Marines have suffered a major loss at our hands, and they won't let us be so reckless anymore."

"The next ones to come might be Admirals!"

Gray's words served as a reminder to Doflamingo and the others. In an instant, the joy of having defeated the Marines vanished, replaced by cold sweat.

The Marine organization was like a hornet's nest; poke one, and a swarm would immediately descend.

Moreover, the Marines had clearly suffered a heavy blow this time. The force they sent next would either be an Admiral or a group of elite Vice Admirals.

And this was happening in the Marines' home turf, the North Blue.

The Marines would never allow such a formidable force to wander around in their backyard.

"Ne, ne, ne! Doffy, let's get out of here quickly! Tsuru called for reinforcements from a Marine Admiral!"

"Right! Let's leave this place first!" Doflamingo nodded, intending to depart from this place of trouble to clear his head and plan for the future.

The group quickly returned to their ship. Once the underlings set sail, the executives gathered in the ship's conference room to discuss their next course of action.

"Doffy! Why don't we head straight to the New World? The Marine presence there is weak, so we won't have to worry about their pursuit."

"Don't be so hasty, Trebol. Let me think this through!" After stopping Trebol, Doflamingo began to contemplate: was there any need for them to remain in the North Blue?

Could their family business remain as profitable in the New World as it was now?

He knew that the arms trade in the New World was already saturated, leaving no room for newcomers to develop.

In the North Blue, not only did the Donquixote Family dominate the local trade, but they also operated across the other four seas, utilizing the transport ships of the Underworld's shipping magnates.

Furthermore, they had already begun to expand into the Paradise stage. If not for this incident, his plan would have required a few more years to open up the remaining routes in Paradise, maximizing and stabilizing the family's business.

"Is it... really time to leave?" Just as this thought crossed his mind, Doflamingo caught sight of a newspaper left on the table.

At the very first glance, Doflamingo's mood instantly surged with excitement.

He quickly picked up the newspaper, his eyes landing on the headline in the center: "Empress of Amazon Lily, World's Most Beautiful Woman, Receives an 80 Million Beli Bounty on Her First Outing, Invited by the World Government to Join the Seven Warlords of the Sea."

"The Seven Warlords!" The World Government's Seven Warlords initiative had been in effect for several years, and Doflamingo was naturally well-versed in the specifics.

It was a plan designed to counter the great pirates of the New World by using pirates to police pirates—those invited by the World Government were granted the legal right to plunder.

The world's greatest swordsman: Mihawk.

The Sand-Sand Fruit user who failed to challenge Whitebeard: Crocodile.

The man who failed to challenge Kaido and retreated from the New World: Moria.

And the latest to accept the invitation, the world's most beautiful woman, Empress of Amazon Lily: Boa Hancock.

"I've got it! We don't need to disrupt our original plans at all. As long as I become one of the Seven Warlords, this problem will solve itself!" Doflamingo slammed the newspaper onto the table, revealing his intentions.

"But... everyone invited so far is a world-renowned pirate. We've only been operating in the North Blue; there's no way the World Government would take the initiative to invite us," Trebol pointed out, hitting the core of the issue.

Currently, their Donquixote Family was merely making a name for themselves in the small pond of the North Blue. Outside of these waters, who even knew who Doflamingo was?

"Fufufu... don't worry, Trebol. I've already thought of a plan!" After much deliberation on how to secure a seat among the Seven Warlords, Doflamingo had settled on one path.

"The North Blue's Heavenly Tribute for this year hasn't set sail yet, has it?"

"Nani! Doffy, don't tell me you intend to..."

"Fufufu... that's exactly what you think!"

"I'll seize the Heavenly Tribute directly and threaten the World Government into making me one of the Seven Warlords." For Doflamingo at this moment, there was no faster way to achieve his goal.

Gray interjected, "But... we just had a clash with the Navy. If we take action again, won't they just call in an Admiral?"

"After all, you said it yourselves: Tsuru seems to have sent Kizaru to provide support."

"If we accidentally let Kizaru track us down, we won't be able to escape!" Without top-tier Observation Haki and immense physical prowess, it was impossible to contend with the speed of Kizaru's Glint-Glint Fruit.

If the current Donquixote Family were to run into Kizaru, the outcome was clear: a single touch meant death, and a brush meant injury.

The result for the entire crew would be the same: total annihilation!

I welcome everyone to discuss any "poison points" you dislike; I have been reading your feedback.

By the time I reached chapter 30, I reconsidered the initial Vergo plotline based on our discussions and decided it was reasonable to remove it.

I went through the entire text from start to finish that day and cut the Vergo arc out.

Regarding the current complaints, one is the protagonist's wheelchair. I've changed that in the later chapters, designing a back-ring for him similar to the ones worn by Enel and Zhen Chan.

The second point is that you don't like the "all-female crew" setup, as it lacks substance without explicit content.

I think that's a fair point, so there won't be an all-female crew moving forward. I've reconsidered: the protagonist won't form a pirate crew. Instead, he will use his predecessor's island-nation as his base, establishing an adventure guild similar to Fairy Tail, combined with a quasi-national organization.

Then there is the issue with this chapter, where you discussed the protagonist failing to kill the canon character Tokikake.

The plot I had written in advance actually had Tokikake dying, but after discussing it with some veteran readers in a high-traffic group, we felt the protagonist's growth is still ongoing, and moving too fast isn't necessarily good.

So, I changed the plot to emphasize the protagonist using a sneak attack to severely wound Tokikake, followed by a decisive Railgun strike to completely cripple him.

However, rest assured, the next time he encounters Tokikake, the protagonist will kill him.

We haven't reached the peak of the excitement yet; the real thrill begins when the protagonist starts acting on his own.

Finally: I ask for your continued readership!

Thank you all for your support! If you have anything you'd like to discuss, please speak up. If I find your suggestions reasonable, I will change things immediately.