A person’s growing environment shapes their character. In this world, being born into royalty already puts one far ahead of ordinary citizens at the starting line.
As long as the country isn’t excessively abnormal, even an unfavored royal doesn’t have to struggle for basic necessities like common people do.
But a life of abundance also brings new problems.
Human desires keep rising. At first, people only pursue physiological needs—water, food, air—and they fight for these essentials of survival.
Once those are secured, the goal shifts from simply eating enough to eating well, to improving the quality of life.
The more one obtains, the more one desires. Like a boulder rolling down a mountain; once it starts, it can never stop.
There is more than one member of the royal family, but there is only one throne. For that single throne, even blood brothers will fight each other mercilessly.
Ramposa often confided his thoughts to Vaiself. With an elder brother above her and a younger brother below, the political forces of the entire kingdom had long since split into two factions. Only she stood isolated, with almost no chance of being involved with the throne.
But that didn’t mean she lacked ambition. She was very skilled at hiding herself. Even though she desired the throne, she never showed the slightest hint of it, because she understood clearly that ambition without ability would only lead to her own destruction.
If no opportunity ever appeared, she would bury that ambition forever. But if a chance came, she would choose to gamble on it.
[The opportunity exists, but there’s no breakthrough point.]
Gathering the kings of various territories together and using methods beyond their understanding to shatter their worldview. The Beasts Pirates were clearly showing their strength once again, as if preparing for some major move.
Under such circumstances, certain forces might be purged.
[My foolish big brother, you’d better stir up some trouble at a time like this. That’s the only way there’s a chance.]
One after another, the group stepped onto the sand bridge and arrived at the plaza of Onigashima. They were the first batch. More and more people followed, arriving through Hakumai’s Mogura Port, and some well-acquainted forces even came directly to Onigashima.
As the last person stepped onto the sand bridge, the huge bridge of yellow sand slowly began to dissipate, seemingly cutting off everyone’s retreat.
Behemoths like Emboar and Tyranitar sat on the beach, gazing across the sea at those who had already set foot on Onigashima.
Queen also appeared on Onigashima at some point, as if he had learned teleportation.
“Muhahaha, very good. The people from the last island have arrived as well. That’s great news. After all, no one dares to not give us face.
If such a sincere invitation had been declined, it would’ve been quite troublesome for us.
We’ve gotten along quite well during this time. Under our banner, you’ve enjoyed peace on the seas of the New World—something money can’t buy.
I hope you won’t make things difficult for us from here on out.
But I’ll let you in on a little information: if you can pass the triple trials of will, wisdom, and emotion, you might just gain something far beyond the purpose of this journey.”
After leaving them with this information, Queen turned and returned to Onigashima, leaving the royal families waiting in the temporarily arranged plaza outside.
“What triple trials? Is he speaking in riddles?”
“No idea… but that’s Neptune from Fishman Island, right? Didn’t they publicly withdraw from the World Government in the newspapers not long ago? So they joined this place?”
“Isn’t that perfectly reasonable? How many forces on the seas can oppose the World Government? Besides, they raised the Beasts Pirates’ flag after the Summit War, so this is just going with the flow.
According to their statement, a Celestial Dragon openly tried to seize the Mermaid Princess as a slave. What country would tolerate that?”
“That’s indeed excessive, but something like that…”
Seeing the Ryugu Kingdom arrive, some people began whispering among themselves, though they still held a certain degree of skepticism toward what Neptune had said in the newspapers.
At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out beside them.
“What King Neptune said is true. If any of you have suffered atrocities from the Celestial Dragons in the past, then I offer my apologies.”
“Who are you?”
The sudden voice puzzled the royals discussing the matter, but they soon realized their bodies were acting against their will, unconsciously parting to make way.
“Fuffuffuffu, of course it’s true. Let me introduce him to you, this here is a former Celestial Dragon. You should call him Saint Mjosgard.”
Doflamingo walked over with slightly restrained arrogance, his gaze beneath his sunglasses filled with amusement as he looked at Mjosgard.
“A former Celestial Dragon?!”
“A Celestial Dragon is here??”
“Well… I was indeed a Celestial Dragon before, but I was stripped of that title not long ago.”
“Fuffuffuffu, back then when you scolded my foolish father, you said only idiots would abandon their status as Celestial Dragons. And now it’s your turn?
How interesting, Uncle…Mjosgard.”
As members of the Donquixote family, Doflamingo and Mjosgard were somewhat acquainted, though that was before Homing left the Holy Land.
Two unusual Celestial Dragons meeting on pirate territory was already a rare occurrence, but before Doflamingo could say anything more, a sudden sense of danger enveloped him.
“I say, could you not do anything strange to our guests? That would be quite inappropriate.”
“Of course, of course. I was just a bit excited to see a relative.”
Looking at the furry arm resting on his shoulder, Doflamingo stopped controlling the two royals with his Parasite Strings. This was the territory of the Beasts Pirates. He could only do what they allowed him to do.
Manipulating others’ bodies to clear a path was nothing to Doflamingo, but the one who ordered him to stop was Zeraora.
At this moment, Zeraora remained in the reception plaza in the capacity of the Duchess of Zou Island’s husband, also acting as the one maintaining order.
This little incident was only the beginning, not the end. After Doflamingo, the long-hidden Jinbe and the highly conspicuous Hancock also drew everyone’s attention one after another.
“Three former Shichibukai…”
“What’s so special about former Shichibukai? Look over there…”
A prince pointed toward the southern corner, his arm trembling slightly.
“Former Marine Admiral Kuzan, Emperor of the Sea Shanks, and Katakuri of the Big Mom Pirates. What exactly are these people trying to do?”
One missing a leg, the other missing an arm—this duo of “disabled” men, Kuzan and Shanks, seemed to be getting along quite well these past few days, still chatting idly even now.
Katakuri, on the other hand, gave off an extremely polite impression; even while drinking tea, he covered his face with one hand.
In this reception ground, every single figure could shake the seas if placed elsewhere, yet here they all behaved obediently as guests.
At this time, Vaiself approached Shirahoshi and greeted her warmly. She needed connections, and this ceremony was one of her few opportunities.
Ramposa, meanwhile, paid no attention to what his daughter was doing. He was discussing the details of cooperation with Tesoro. Being able to push through decisions despite opposition, he himself was a far-sighted king. He simply couldn’t manage everything perfectly.
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