Heavenly Yaksha, Doflamingo

She bent down to pick up the spilled ingredients and put them back in the basket, then headed straight for the bar.

She pushed open the door to find the place as quiet and deserted as ever, without a single customer.

"Rayleigh? Honestly, that guy's gone out fooling around again, hasn't he?"

Elsewhere.

After dealing with the corpse as best he could, Dimon carried it to area 69 and collected Bururuku's bounty at the Marine Base under the name of a bounty hunter.

A dead pirate was only worth seventy percent of the bounty.

The bounty of 113 million Beli came to 79.1 million in the end. Added to his own stash, his cash savings once again exceeded 100 million.

"Why do dead pirates only get seventy percent?" Dimon asked curiously as he was leaving.

"Those are the orders from above. It's always been that way," the Marine captain in charge of paying the bounty replied. "But if I had to guess, it probably has something to do with Devil Fruit powers."

Was it because a dead Devil Fruit user's power would be reborn?

Then someone else in the world would eat it and eventually set sail to become a new pirate.

Dimon pondered this. From the standpoint of controlling the number of Devil Fruit users, it didn't seem very effective.

After all, even if they were locked up, prisoners would die of old age sooner or later, and their fruits would be reborn in the end anyway.

Perhaps it was simply to save money, since capturing someone alive was harder than killing them.

He had only killed Bururuku because he didn't want to expose his abilities. He had even used the Six Powers, and if the Marines interrogated Bururuku, it might cause a little trouble.

After collecting the bounty, Dimon didn't look for another place to train his Haki. He went straight back to the inn.

He had an inn attendant prepare hot water, then went into the bathroom to take a bath.

"Given the time, Samael and the others should be arriving in Dressrosa soon, right, Ain?"

"Yes, Master. They're almost there."

"Seeing Shakky just now made me realize something. Aren't there a few too many males and too few females in our Seven Deadly Sins?"

It was more than just an imbalance. They were all men—or, more accurately, male demons—and most of them didn't even have human forms.

"Master, we don't have the human concept of gender. Even Mammon only looks like a human male."

"Hm?"

Dimon's expression turned complicated. Had that little fellow Ain been peeking at Mammon in the bath? How else would he know so much?

"Stop looking at things you shouldn't, or you'll get a stye."

Dimon adopted the tone of an old father and gave him a thorough scolding, then changed the subject. "When you were animated, you all took shape according to your instincts. If I ordered you to take a specific form before that happened, could you do it?"

"Do you have a particular preference, Master?"

"No, I'm just asking."

"It should be possible, I think. You could provide a detailed picture, Master."

Ain wasn't very certain of his answer either. When he had taken shape, he hadn't thought about anything and had naturally become a Den Den Mushi.

If Master had given him an instruction at the time, he might have been able to develop into a particular form.

Dimon rubbed his chin, having already decided to give it a try.

For the sake of balancing the males and females in the Seven Deadly Sins, he had to try creating a few female humanoid beings.

He would try as soon as Samael and the others received the ransom. But that raised a question: what should they look like?

That would put his drawing skills to the test!

"Show me how Samael and the others are doing."

The Dressrosa Kingdom.

It was a small island surrounded by mushroom-shaped rocks, also known as the Land of Love, Passion and Toys.

When the Wave-Breaking Warrior arrived, it did not land on the coast.

With the help of their new member Sigma's ability, they used Flame Clouds to keep the entire ship afloat high in the sky, hidden behind the clouds.

"Zuizui, this is the right place, isn't it?"

On the deck, Big Eye perched on the rail and gazed down at the scenery below.

"Yes, the Eternal Pose is pointing to the island down there." Ship Zuizui emerged, sounding uneasy. "Say, do we really need to float up in the sky? What if we fall? I'll break!"

"Jie jie jie, look, all of us can fly except you. Have you been studying properly?" Samael mocked.

Sigma was a dragon and could fly.

He himself was Logia fire and could float in the sky.

Big Eye inhabited a paper airplane and could fly for a while by flapping his wings.

Only Ship Zuizui couldn't.

Ship Zuizui turned into a shark's mouth and snapped, "You stupid fire, I'm just a ship!"

"Stop arguing."

Big Eye stepped forward helplessly to break up the fight.

A bunch of bugs. Can't they just carry out Master's mission properly? Without me, this family would fall apart sooner or later!

"Ain, where are Big Mom's people?"

A gentle breeze blew past, carrying a voice. "Wait a moment. I'll check the island."

The wind departed and circled the island.

Soon, Ain's voice sounded again. "The Big Mom Pirates aren't here. It looks like they haven't arrived yet."

"How long do we have to wait?"

"I don't know. Should I contact them?"

At that, Samael chuckled. "You go ahead and contact them. Waiting here is a waste of time anyway, so I'm going down to have a look. I heard the king here is a Shichibukai. I'll go have a chat with him."

With that, he looked up at the crow's nest on the mast. "Sigma, want to come?"

There was no answer. The little pink dragon was sprawled out there, fast asleep.

Samael didn't mind. He immediately turned into a streak of fire and plunged toward the Royal Palace Plateau in the center of the town below.

He was like a shooting star!

Chapter 61: Heavenly Yaksha, Doflamingo

Samael left ahead of the others. Big Eye didn't stop him, nor could he have.

Ship Zuizui snorted. "That guy does whatever he wants just because he's a Logia. He's too much! Once the mission's over, we have to report him!"

Big Eye didn't think complaining would do any good. Master spoiled Samael too much.

"Let's contact the Big Mom Pirates first. We should at least find out when they'll arrive. Ain, please."

"All right."

After that single reply, several minutes passed before a somewhat high-pitched, chilling male voice sounded, its tone deliberately affected.

"Good morning. This is the Big Mom Pirates. I'm the Candy Minister, Charlotte Perospero."

"I'm Big Eye of the Seven Deadly Sins." Big Eye got straight to the point. "When will you arrive in Dressrosa?"

The man on the other end seemed a little surprised. After a long pause, he answered sinisterly:

"So it's you. In that case, you've already arrived, have you? Totto Land is quite a long way from there. We'll need at least another two days, perorin."

"Two days. I hope you show up on time! Have you prepared everything we asked for?"

"Of course. Our family member's life is at stake. We wouldn't joke about that."

"Good. I'll be waiting."

After the brief conversation, Big Eye had Ain cut off the Thought Waves.

They could afford to wait two days.

Meanwhile.

Somewhere in the waters of the New World, one of the Big Mom Pirates' main warships was sailing slowly toward Dressrosa.

Inside the ship, in the salon.

A tall woman sat on a sofa with her legs crossed. When she saw Perospero's Den Den Mushi close its eyes, she immediately asked:

"Why didn't you probe him? We both saw those wanted posters the night before last. They must have done something."

"They hung up. Besides..."

Perospero placed the receiver back on the Den Den Mushi and sneered. "Smoothie, do you think we'll lose?"

"It's just necessary intelligence gathering."

Charlotte Smoothie was one of the Sweet Commanders, a user of the Paramecia-type Squeeze-Squeeze Fruit, and a pirate with a bounty of 932 million Beli.

A woman who rarely smiled, she spoke with a stern face and a cool tone. "It would be best not to underestimate those people. We didn't anticipate the current situation before we left. We may find ourselves short on fighting strength."

Leaving Big Eye aside for the moment,

Samael and Sigma, the two Seven Deadly Sins officers who had received bounties last night, were each worth one billion.

And before they set out, they hadn't even known Sigma existed.

Hearing this, Perospero clicked his tongue. He wasn't displeased with Smoothie; rather, the situation had taken him somewhat by surprise, leaving him irritated.

"In that case, let's call him over too. He happens to be carrying out a mission on a nearby island."

With that, Perospero dialed a number. A moment later, the Thought Waves connected.

"What is it?"

"Katakuri, I need your help over here!"

Dressrosa, the palace, by the outdoor pool.

Doflamingo received a mysterious call.

"We've finished the investigation. The night before last, several members of the Seven Deadly Sins attacked Punk Hazard, the government's secret research base, and destroyed the entire island, including three research facilities. It's an island of fire now."

"An island of fire? Like Raijin Island, one of the three islands at the entrance to the New World?"

Doflamingo was startled.

After passing through Fish-Man Island beneath the sea and entering the waters of the New World, anyone's three-needle Log Pose would point to the coordinates of three islands.

They were Risky Red, Mysteria, and Raijin Island.

As its name suggested, Raijin Island was shrouded in constant thunderstorms year-round. It produced approximately 280 lightning strikes per hour and could have as many as 160 days of lightning a year.

An academic journal had once published a research report by a Weatheria meteorologist, noting that the island's climate system differed from that of naturally formed thunderclouds.

There were no longer any historical records showing exactly when Raijin Island had become that way, but Doflamingo was certain that a lightning-related Logia user from some past generation had done it.

Someone who could shroud an entire island in thunderstorms year-round had definitely awakened their Logia power!

And now, something similar seemed to have happened to Punk Hazard.

The deep voice on the other end of the call answered:

"Yes, it's similar to Raijin Island. The G-5 Branch is relatively close to Punk Hazard, so the higher-ups sent me to investigate."

"Fufufu... Those Seven Deadly Sins are truly terrifying."

Cold sweat ran down Doflamingo's forehead. An awakened Logia user-how was that any different from an Admiral of Marine Headquarters?

And someone that powerful was only an officer.

What sort of monster was their "Master" above them?