"Quick, catch up to her before she gets aboard! Otherwise, once a Marine Admiral arrives to support them, we'll be in trouble!" Tsuru's Den Den Mushi conversation with Sengoku had been overheard by the Donquixote Family—or, more accurately, Tsuru had deliberately let them hear it.
Tsuru knew that with Gion slowing her down, the only way to escape the Donquixote Family's pursuit was to get aboard a Marine warship and use its speed.
To keep the enemy from chasing them relentlessly, she had deliberately let Doflamingo and the others hear her conversation with Sengoku, as well as the news that Kizaru was coming to support them.
She'd done all this simply to save Gion's life.
Doflamingo and the others pursued them with all their might, while Tsuru risked everything to escape with Gion.
As both sides focused all their attention on each other, a charred figure ran past several members of the Donquixote Family.
"What?"
"What is that thing?"
A red glint flashed in Doflamingo's eyes, and he immediately understood what was happening. "Fufufu... You're still alive!"
"Then let me put you out of your misery!"
"Super Whip!" He swept his right leg sideways, adding Haki-coated, razor-sharp strings that combined into a whip and struck directly at Tokikake.
By then, Tokikake's consciousness had already grown hazy. He was holding on through sheer determination, his last thought being to help Gion escape.
But no matter what, when a life was threatened, the body and brain sent out signals to protect themselves. Driven by instinct, Tokikake coated his entire body in Haki and didn't dare let his defenses down for even a moment.
"Bang!"
The violent impact injured Tokikake again, but the force sent his speed soaring.
As he was hurled past Tsuru and Gion, he wrapped his one remaining arm around them and carried them flying even farther away.
"Not good! That speed...!" Just as Doflamingo had expected, Tokikake had used his attack to propel himself faster toward the coast.
"Damn it! We can't catch up!"
"Get the ship moving!" Before they even reached the warship, Tsuru's order had already reached the Marines aboard it.
After using Geppo to get aboard, Tokikake's charred figure finally came to a stop.
Only then did Tsuru get a proper look at his condition.
Tokikake's eyes had rolled back, and he was clearly unconscious. His mouth hung wide open, hot steam rising from it.
His right arm was gone, and the right side of his body exposed blackened bones—the result of keeping Armament Haki wrapped around himself the entire time.
On top of that, the spot on his back that Gray had already gravely injured with a sneak attack had been struck again by Doflamingo, making an already dire situation even worse.
The flesh had disappeared from his body. Though his organs were still encased in bone and protected by Armament Haki, Tsuru could smell a faint, familiar scent of cooked meat.
"Doctor! Doctor, come check on Vice Admiral Tokikake!" Gion didn't even stop to tend to her own injuries. Her first thought was to get someone to examine Tokikake.
"The power of will, huh?" Even after losing consciousness, Tokikake had managed to get them out of there. Tsuru couldn't help worrying whether he would survive.
Tokikake's final burst of speed had either been a last-ditch surge before death or the result of pushing his body beyond its limits. If he survived, Tsuru estimated that his Navy career would be over.
"He got away?" When he reached the coast, Gray watched the Marine warship speeding into the distance, regretting that he hadn't managed to keep them there.
A Marine Grand Staff Officer and two future Marine Admiral candidates—if only they'd captured all three.
"Fufufu... Don't worry, Gray. They got away, so they got away. If we run into them again, we can deal with them then."
"Losing them isn't the problem. What worries me is that the Marines took a heavy loss at our hands this time. They won't let us run wild for much longer."
"Next time, they might send an Admiral!"
Gray's words reminded Doflamingo and the others of the danger. The joy they'd felt at defeating the Marines vanished in an instant, replaced by a cold sweat.
The Marines were a violent organization, like a hornet's nest: poke one, and a whole swarm came after you.
What's more, the Marines had clearly suffered a serious loss this time. Next time, they'd send either an Admiral or a group of several elite Vice Admirals.
And this was in the North Blue, one of the Four Blues and the Marines' own backyard.
The Marines would never allow such powerful enemies to roam around their territory.
"Hey, hey, hey! Doffy, we'd better get out of here! Tsuru called for a Marine Admiral, after all."
"Right! Let's leave first!" Doflamingo nodded, deciding to get away from this place and clear his head before making plans for what came next.
They quickly returned to their ship. Once their subordinates had set sail, the officers gathered in the meeting room to discuss their next move.
"Doffy! Why don't we head straight for the New World? The Marines are weaker there, so we won't have to worry about them coming after us."
"Don't rush me, Trebol. Let me think!" After stopping Trebol, Doflamingo began to consider whether there was any reason for them to stay in the North Blue.
Would the family's business still make as much money once they reached the New World?
The arms trade there was already saturated, leaving no room for newcomers to grow.
In the North Blue, the Donquixote Family handled not only local business but also business in the other Four Blues, carried by the Underworld's shipping king.
They'd also begun expanding into Paradise. If this incident hadn't happened, his plan had been to spend a few more years opening up the remaining routes there and expanding the family business as much as possible while keeping it stable.
"Could we really have to leave?" Just as the thought crossed his mind, Doflamingo noticed a newspaper someone had forgotten to clear from the table.
One look was enough to lift his spirits.
He quickly picked up the paper. The headline in the middle read: "Empress of Amazon Lily, World's Most Beautiful Woman, Offered 80 Million Beli Bounty on Her First Outing, Invited by the World Government to Join the Shichibukai."
"The Shichibukai!" The World Government's Shichibukai program had been in operation for several years, so Doflamingo naturally knew all about it.
It was a plan to use pirates to control pirates, aimed at preventing the great pirates of the New World from running rampant. The World Government invited pirates to join and granted them the legal right to plunder.
The World's Greatest Swordsman: Mihawk.
The Sand-Sand Fruit user who had failed to challenge Whitebeard: Crocodile.
The one who had failed to challenge Kaido and left the New World: Gecko Moria.
And the latest to accept the invitation—the world's most beautiful woman, the empress of Amazon Lily, Boa Hancock.
"I've got it! We don't have to change our original plans at all. If I become a Shichibukai, I can naturally solve this problem!" Doflamingo slapped the newspaper down on the table and explained his plan.
"But everyone who's been invited is a notorious pirate. We've only been active in the North Blue, so there's no way to get the World Government to invite us," Trebol pointed out, getting to the heart of the matter.
The Donquixote Family was still just a small-time outfit in the North Blue. Their reputation only reached as far as the North Blue. Outside it, who had even heard of Doflamingo?
"Fufufu... Don't worry, Trebol. I've already thought of a plan!" After turning over how he could become a Shichibukai in his mind, Doflamingo had come up with one idea.
"Has this year's North Blue Heavenly Tribute not set sail yet?"
"What? Doffy, are you planning to—"
"Fufufu... That's right. Exactly what you're thinking!"
"We'll seize the Heavenly Tribute and force the World Government to make me a Shichibukai." At that moment, Doflamingo couldn't think of a faster way.
Gray: "But we just fought the Marines. If we make another move now, won't that bring an Admiral down on us?"
"After all, you said Tsuru seemed to have called Kizaru over for support."
"If Kizaru finds us, we won't be able to get away!" Without top-tier Observation Haki and a powerful body, there was no way to contend with the speed of Kizaru's Glint-Glint Fruit.
If the Donquixote Family ran into Kizaru with their current strength, they'd be done for the moment he touched them and injured if he merely brushed against them.
The only outcome for the whole crew would be total annihilation!
Feel free to discuss any plot points you don't like. I've been keeping an eye on the feedback.
When I published Chapter 30, I initially had a Vergo plotline. After discussing it, I decided it made sense, so I removed it.
That day, I went through the story from beginning to end and cut the Vergo plotline.
One thing people didn't like was the protagonist's wheelchair. I've changed that later on and designed a ring-shaped accessory for him, like the ones worn by Enel and Zhen Chan.
The second point people disliked was the all-female crew, because the story isn't explicit and they felt there wasn't much to read.
I think that's a fair point, so there won't be an all-female crew going forward. I thought it over: the protagonist won't form a pirate crew. Instead, he'll use his former country's island as a base and establish an Adventure Guild like the one in Fairy Tail, along with an organization that has a bit of a national character.
As for the issue people discussed in this chapter, it was that the protagonist didn't kill Tokikake, a character from the original story.
In the plot I wrote earlier, Tokikake was already dead. Later, I took the story to a group chat full of top authors with ten thousand subscribers, and discussed it with readers who liked One Piece. We felt that the protagonist had already grown strong enough, and having him advance too quickly wouldn't be good.
So I changed the plot to emphasize that the protagonist had gravely injured Tokikake with a sneak attack, then finished the job with an electromagnetic cannon that left him utterly incapacitated.
But don't worry. The next time the protagonist runs into Tokikake, he'll kill him.
And we haven't reached the most satisfying part yet. The real payoff will begin when the protagonist starts acting on his own.
Finally, please add the book to your follow list!
And thank you all for your support! Feel free to share your thoughts. If I think a suggestion makes sense, I'll make the change right away.
Before you continue