A gift

"Doflamingo, let's talk calmly. Only the weak are ruled by fear of the unknown. The strong use it."

Watching Doflamingo struggle to rise from the floor, Lofan reined in his Reiatsu.

He did not mind following Doflamingo's example and making him submit through strength, but given the kind of man Doflamingo was, that would not produce the result he wanted.

Because, at his core, Doflamingo was a businessman. Trading benefits for benefits was what he sought.

Besides, Lofan did not want to cause too much of a stir. He had only just begun to act and did not want to reveal too much.

"I can give you a new power. A power that doesn't belong to humans, that differs from Devil Fruits-a power belonging only to Soul Reapers."

Lofan was still smiling, but in Doflamingo's eyes, that gentle smile was no different from a demon tempting humans from the abyss.

"What's your name?"

With a somewhat savage expression, Doflamingo stared at the young man who had made no unnecessary moves since entering, but he did not attack either.

He understood that the other party had no intention of fighting.

Although he did not believe himself weaker than this very young-looking brat, what concerned him was the force that might be backing Lofan.

He needed to gather some information first.

"Lofan."

"Never heard of you... whose side are you on, exactly?"

"I stand only on my own side. I hope you do the same."

"Fufufu! I admit I'm a little interested. Shall we have a proper talk?"

Doflamingo picked up the red wine beside the table, poured a glass, and raised it before him.

He gestured for Lofan, standing a short distance in front of him, to sit down and talk.

"Of course. That's how it should be."

Yet Lofan did not approach after speaking. Instead, he said, "Shatter, Illusion."

The voice came from behind Doflamingo, and the Lofan before his eyes dissolved like a bubble.

The real Lofan was sitting on the lounge chair Doflamingo had occupied earlier, having already poured himself a glass of red wine.

"I'm glad we didn't come to blows. Otherwise, things really would have been a little difficult for me to wrap up."

Doflamingo nearly lost his grip on his wineglass. With a dark expression, he lay back on a nearby sun lounger, then burst into hearty laughter:

"Fufufu! What a reassuring partner you are."

Only then did Doflamingo notice something wrong. Despite the clash of their auras, not a single guard had appeared.

What had seemed perfectly normal at the time now seemed strangely devoid of ordinary logic.

"The sky is actually colorless. It hasn't deceived you. Your own eyes have merely deceived you."

As he listened to Lofan, veins abruptly bulged on Doflamingo's forehead, but he continued conversing warmly with him.

"Lord Jack, we're almost at Dressrosa."

A Gifter lowered his telescope and spoke to Jack the Drought, one of the All-Stars.

"Yeah. We'll have to give Doflamingo a proper warning this time.

Does he think we don't know about his little tricks? Hmph! Contact him once you've found a good spot.

Tell the men to behave. If anyone causes trouble, I'll cut him down!"

Jack the Drought, one of the Beasts Pirates' All-Stars, had a bounty of one billion Beli.

His first reason for coming was that they needed a relatively large number of Artificial Devil Fruits this time.

His second was that Kaido had learned of some dealings between Doflamingo and the World Government behind their backs.

They might have been partners, but there was still a hierarchy.

Sometimes, a warning was necessary, lest the other party start getting ideas and think he could act without restraint.

Lofan had already struck a deal with Doflamingo.

First, Doflamingo would search the black market for soul-related Devil Fruits, with Lofan covering all purchase costs.

Second, Caesar would research whether soul-related Devil Fruits could be manufactured artificially.

As for payment, Lofan had merely dangled an empty promise before Doflamingo.

The first thing that had convinced Doflamingo to place his bet was Lofan's own strength.

The second was that unknown intelligence-gathering capability that knew far too much about him.

In Doflamingo's view, Lofan undoubtedly had a vast, secretive force behind him.

For now, he needed to keep the other party placated and investigate the truth.

After concluding their deal, Lofan left the harbor. He had originally intended to turn onto the route reserved for the Marines, but unexpectedly spotted Jack the Drought's ship: the Mammoth.

Perhaps neither of them wanted to attract attention, and they had tacitly chosen the same route.

Lofan smiled happily. The sea breeze lifted the hem of his white clothes, and he adjusted his glasses, already forming a plan.

"What a coincidence. Since I've run into him, I imagine Sengoku and the others will like this gift.

I might as well hasten the arrival of the tide of this era, too."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lofan vanished from the wooden boat.

"Lord Jack, there's a wooden boat ahead."

"Run it straight over! Can't they see my flag?!"

The operation needed to remain secret, so if everyone died, that would keep it secret, wouldn't it?

"I saw it. And the elephant on the bow is pretty ugly."

Jack instantly detected the intruder on his deck and, without another word, drove a fist straight at Lofan.

"You've got guts! Daring to board my ship!"

Jack's rough voice followed the tremendous rush of his punch. The other pirates had already scrambled away to avoid getting caught in his attack.

"What can I do? I haven't seen those old fellows in three years. I have to bring them a decent gift."

Jack's eyes widened as he stared at the gently smiling brat before him.

Because Lofan had stopped Jack's charging attack simply by raising one hand.

"Lord Jack, your weapons!"

A crewman immediately tossed Jack his two sickle-shaped weapons.

The other Gifters transformed directly into their beast forms and charged at Lofan.

"Fighting you should take some effort. Besides, I'd like to know exactly where I stand now."

Lofan had long since become proficient in all Three Types of Haki, and his Aizen template had reached 31% unlocked.

Although the Hōgyoku remained locked, he had never truly fought anyone in a life-or-death battle.

Despite regularly sparring with Kong, both of them instinctively avoided lethal blows, so it lacked the sense of actually being in battle.

And Jack the Drought was a good choice: a billion Beli, eight hundred million of it in ivory.

In the original storyline, Jack's displays of strength had indeed failed to live up to his reputation, and he was not particularly bright either.

His title of Jack the Boarding King was known to practically everyone.

At that moment, Jack leaped backward and caught his twin blades in midair.

But before he could strike, an immense aura swept over everything.

Every pirate aboard except Jack collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

This time, Lofan had used Conqueror's Haki.

He had not used Reiatsu because it struck the soul directly and could easily kill people.

He still needed laborers to sail him to Marineford and walk themselves into prison.

"You actually have Conqueror's Haki?!"

Jack was slightly surprised, but that degree of force was not enough to affect him.

Still, it made him take this suddenly appearing enemy seriously.

"Brat, you're interesting! But your life ends here!"

Jack's immense strength swept toward Lofan with the sea breeze, intending to test Lofan's capabilities with a single blow.

Although Jack had a violent temper, he was not stupid in battle. They were still at sea, and their battlefield was the deck.

He could not unleash his full strength because he dared not casually use his Devil Fruit power. Destroying the ship would put him in the most difficult position.

Lofan drew Illusion from his waist and blocked Jack's twin blades with a horizontal slash.

The tremendous shock spread across the sea beneath the ship, raising waves.

The two exchanged repeated blows, neither gaining the upper hand.

But cracking sounds came from the hull, and a huge fissure appeared in the mast.

By then, however, Jack was so worked up by the battle that he had abandoned all restraint. All he could see was Lofan, calmly meeting his attacks with a smile.

"Aah!!!"

With a roar, Jack brought down one final slash, using the force to pull away, preparing to transform into a mammoth and knock Lofan to the bottom of the sea with a full-powered blow.

Although Lofan did not want Jack to destroy the ship, their exchange had already given him a rough understanding of Jack's strength.

Powerful defense and endurance.

But in terms of destructive power, he was clearly lacking at the level of a Yonko Commander.

That was probably because most of Jack's offensive capabilities came from his Devil Fruit. His attacks in his normal form were indeed insufficient.

Yet Lofan did not currently possess the strength to overwhelm him outright. If he wanted to capture Jack alive, he could only give up on this ship.

"One Drought will be enough. Looks like I underestimated this world."

As Jack transformed, Lofan used his Soul Reaper abilities to step through the air and put distance between them.

Then, in midair, he formed a gesture with his right hand and began chanting.

Below him, Jack raged helplessly, swinging his trunk wildly as he tried to find something else to strike the airborne enemy with.

"The crest of turbidity seeps forth, insolent and frenzied talent;

surge, negation, paralysis, an instant, disrupting eternal slumber.

Crawling princess of iron, endlessly self-mutilating doll of mud.

Unite, repel, extend to the ground, and know your own powerlessness!

Hadō #90: Black Coffin!"

As the full incantation was recited, a black, wall-like rectangular prism enclosed Jack. The giant elephant struggled desperately inside it.

His actions could not shatter the rectangular prism, but they did hasten the ship's destruction.

Then the hull collapsed, and the enormous whirlpool it created dragged the Black Coffin beneath the sea.