Doflamingo stared fixedly at Gern, his hands clenched into fists against the cold ground in utter humiliation and fury, his nails nearly digging into his palms.
Humiliated?
Of course he was humiliated! When had he, Donquixote Doflamingo, ever suffered such disgrace?! Forced to his knees by someone's Haki, made to look up at him like an ant!
But what did that matter?
He was no longer that naive, foolish young Celestial Dragon in Mary Geoise.
The laws of this sea-the strong devoured the weak, the victors ruled and the defeated fell-were something he understood more deeply than anyone!
Before an absolute disparity in strength, so-called dignity and pride were too fragile to withstand a single blow.
The only thing he could do now, the only thing he could rely on, was a gamble!
He had to gamble that his status as a "former Celestial Dragon" still offered him protection, that the World Government's private interest in recruiting him would give this lawless Marine Admiral pause and keep him from actually killing him!
At that thought, Doflamingo forcibly suppressed his surging blood and killing intent and raised his head slightly, the bulging veins on his forehead revealing the immense pressure he was under.
Yet he forced a twisted smile onto his face and spoke as evenly as he could. "Fufufu... to think
"a 'nobody' like me, whose bounty hasn't even reached three hundred million Beli,
"could trouble the renowned Admiral 'Heavenquake' to come all the way from the New World to somewhere like the North Blue just to 'look after' me? I'm truly... flattered."
His words sounded self-deprecating, but he was actually probing Gern and reminding him:
I'm not important enough to warrant this much effort. Is there something else you have to consider?
But Gern's reaction was completely beyond his