The enormous iron door slid to the right, revealing two young figures inside.
"Hey! Are all these people here to welcome us?"
Kuta stepped out of the elevator first, with Kuina right behind him.
"Silver Hair, Blue Hair!"
Doflamingo swept his gaze over them before settling on Kuta. No one could see the look in his eyes behind his sunglasses, but the strain he was under came through in his grave tone.
"Fuffuffuffuffuffu!!"
The abrupt laughter dispelled the almost tangible tension. Doflamingo opened his mouth and laughed aloud. "Welcome, both of you! I've admired you from afar for a long time!"
"Fuffuffuffuffuffu!!"
He didn't ask why Kuta had come. He wasn't an idiot. His most important task now was to stall Kuta until Kaido arrived.
If he clashed with these two brats now, he might not last long enough for Kaido to get here.
"Oh..."
Kuta tilted his head and stared at Doflamingo. His lips curled into a faint smile. "Admired us from afar?"
"That's right!"
Doflamingo spread his arms and laughed. "Who doesn't know you dared
to defy the whole world? You even dared to kill those stupid pigs, the Celestial Dragons."
Admiration appeared on his face as he finished speaking.
It wasn't feigned. He genuinely admired Kuta's courage in treating the Celestial Dragons as nothing and killing them without hesitation.
The Four Emperors were powerful, weren't they?
They ruled over the New World. In these waters, they were true emperors.
Yet even they wouldn't kill Celestial Dragons. They wouldn't take a detour to avoid them like ordinary pirates did, but neither would they go out of their way to approach them.
At their level, they weren't as ignorant as ordinary pirates. Only people like them knew how powerful the World Government truly was.
They also knew who truly