Caesar: Doflamingo, You Set Me Up!

Faced with those crimson Sharingan, all carefully crafted excuses seem utterly worthless.

It's like exhaling a breath of warm air on a freezing winter night, watching it swirl and take shape in the air before being blown away by the wind.

Doflamingo raised his right hand and slowly wiped the wound on his face.

When his fingertips touched the thin line that was still oozing blood, his knuckles stiffened slightly—not because of pain, as this minor cut was nothing to him. He stared at the glaring crimson on his fingertip and remained silent for a full three seconds.

This madman actually dared to make a move.

wrong.

He's more than just daring.

Doflamingo chuckled silently to himself.

The smile didn't reach his lips; it merely passed through his chest with a dull ache, carrying a bitterness known only to him.

A Celestial Dragons who dared to crush even a Celestial Dragon's head in public, a monster with a 4 billion bounty who could still leave the Five Elders helpless—in his eyes, Donquixote Doflamingo's life was probably no different from the stone bricks beneath his feet—crushed, crushed.

"Fufu..." He instinctively wanted to laugh, but the laughter was swallowed back down as soon as it came out of his throat.

He took a deep breath and put on his signature smirk again, but this time, he lowered his head slightly, letting his sunglasses and the blond hair falling across his forehead obscure his entire expression.

"Understood." He heard his own voice come out, steady, even with a touch of his usual slickness, as if something had forcibly pulled him back on track.

"I will personally go to Punk Hazard to 'invite' that guy Caesar Clown over. Natsu only needs to stay in Dressrosa for a few days—I guarantee he will appear before you in perfect condition."

After saying this, he slightly raised his eyes and glanced through the edge of his sunglasses at the toes of the boy in front of the throne.

The pair of greyish-white cloth boots remained firmly planted on the stone bricks, neither moving nor showing any intention of being moved.

Doflamingo's back was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

He dared not activate his Observation Haki —he was afraid that if he did, he would capture something he shouldn't have.

A few days later

"Fufufufufu! Lord Natsu, I've brought Caesar Clown with me!"

As Doflamingo's signature laughter echoed through the drawing room on the high ground of Dressrosa Palace, Caesar Clown floated two steps behind him, wearing the expression that said the whole world owed him money.

This self-proclaimed "genius scientist" clearly hadn't grasped the situation— Doflamingo personally went to Punk Hazard and, without a word, ordered him to put down his experiments and come with him to Dressrosa, claiming that "a distinguished guest wishes to see you."

Caesar Clown's mind raced with various possibilities throughout the journey: a new, major buyer?

Which Underworld tycoon wanted to negotiate an exclusive agency agreement for SAD with him?

Or has the World Government finally recognized Lord Caesar Clown's value and sent the Shichibukai as intermediaries?

The corners of his mouth unconsciously curled up, and he even started plotting how to ask for an exorbitant sum later.

As Caesar Clown walked through the corridors of the Dressrosa Palace, he made a point of adjusting his lab coat and straightening the colorful medals on his chest—half of which he had awarded himself, and the other half which he had paid someone to make—but that didn't matter.

The important thing is that the person who can get Doflamingo to personally run errands must be someone of considerable importance.

Maybe it's the legendary Kaido of the Beasts the Beasts.

Then, he stepped into the reception room.

His gaze fell on the figure standing by the window.

He wore a greyish-white robe, had short black hair, and was not tall. He had his back to the door.

Caesar Clown's first reaction was disappointment—he wasn't some important person, just a teenager.

But the next second, the figure turned around, revealing a pair of scarlet eyes.

Three jet-black Tomoe slowly rotated in his pupils.

Caesar Clown Courant's smile froze on his face.

That name exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.

Uchiha Natsu.

Void Demon Tamer.

Bounty: 4 billion Beli.

He killed Celestial Dragons and beat Kizaru senseless—of course he knew that name; it was all over the world's newspapers.

His body, which was floating in mid-air, suddenly stiffened, and his toes involuntarily retreated half an inch, then half an inch. In just three seconds, his originally smug face underwent a complete transition from confusion to fear, his features contorted so much that they almost shifted out of place.

"Doflamingo... you tricked me!!"

Before his scream could even echo in the air, his body had already given its most honest response.

He whirled around, his entire body transforming into a plume of gas as he hurtled toward the door. His fingers almost touched the doorframe.

Then, everything changed.

His vision suddenly went black.

It wasn't the kind of blackness accompanied by Kakkō during a gas explosion, nor the kind of ethereal blackness during a power outage in a laboratory; rather, it was a deeper, more absolute darkness, as if it had been stripped away from the entire world.

He could no longer see the door, he couldn't see Doflamingo, and he couldn't see his own hands that had turned into gas.

All he could see was the cross. A huge cross stood before him, and he was firmly nailed to it.

pain.

The pain didn't originate from a single location, but rather exploded simultaneously throughout the entire body.

He looked down and saw huge nails piercing through his wrists, ankles, shoulders, and ribs.

Each nail was driven in firmly, fixing him securely to the cross, leaving him no room to struggle.

He wanted to scream, but his throat was filled with something thicker than fear, and he couldn't squeeze out a single breath.

No, that's not right.

He is Devil Fruit User.

He can be elementalized.

His body can turn into gas, and physical attacks have no effect on him at all—how is that possible?

"Magic Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique"

In the last instant before his consciousness was completely swallowed by darkness, he heard an extremely faint whisper.

The sound was very soft, as soft as a fallen leaf brushing against the surface of water, yet as cold as the chill seeping up from the depths of hell.

Natsu didn't even move a finger; she simply stood there, staring at him with her scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and nailed him to the void cross.