“This guy seems pretty capable. But come to think of it, Kuma-chi, don’t you think the surname Donquixote sounds… kind of familiar?”
“You mean that Celestial Dragon family…? A Celestial Dragon shouldn’t be doing something like this, right?”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. With the temperament of those guys, if they discovered ordinary people sharing their surname, wouldn’t they just send someone to start massacring them?
“I need to keep an eye on this guy. Maybe we’ll discover something.”
Ginny did not dare claim she fully understood the nature of the Celestial Dragons, but the worldview of ordinary people made it difficult to imagine just how vile those people could truly be.
A person’s living environment limited their imagination. Someone who thought being locked inside a cupboard was already the ultimate form of abuse could never understand just how evil the Celestial Dragons were, people who regarded atrocities as a perfectly reasonable form of entertainment.
“Mm. You have a point.”
“I think you’re just agreeing with whatever I say. Let’s go. If we wait too long, these people might actually eat the fruit. My intuition tells me that even if the World Government doesn’t get this fruit, letting Doflamingo have it wouldn’t be a good thing either.”
Barrels, who was sheltering from the cold inside the ghost town, had not noticed Buffalo in the sky, but Ginny had spotted him long ago and was likewise heading toward the ghost town.
Doflamingo did not reveal himself immediately. Instead, he used Parasite String to control every pirate within sight while having the other members quickly kill several pirates who had not been controlled.
After that, he made the pirates controlled by Parasite String slaughter one another like puppets, while he himself approached Barrels as though he were merely watching a show.
“The Op-Op Fruit is in your hands, isn’t it? Hand it over, and I can still spare your life.”
“Q-Quick… get out of the way!”
“I can’t control myself! Stop it!”
There was no torture to force out information, nor excessive words. He simply controlled the other pirates and made them slaughter one another, using this method to put pressure on Barrels.
Even if they did not share the bond of true companions, after spending so much time aboard the same ship, some degree of attachment was inevitable.
“Stop! Make them stop!!”
“Oh?”
Doflamingo stopped moving his fingers and looked at Barrels with a faintly amused expression.
By now, Barrels understood that the man before him would not stop. If he did not get the Op-Op Fruit, he would simply kill everyone.
The control displayed by Parasite String also crushed what remained of Barrels’s will to resist. After weighing his options, he ultimately chose to compromise.
“Swear that once you get the fruit, you’ll leave immediately and won’t attack us again!”
“Fine.”
Doflamingo did not hesitate. He swore an oath that sounded vicious enough, but he did not believe in such things at all, so naturally, he did not care about oaths.
If he had been certain the Op-Op Fruit was inside this building, he would have killed everyone long ago and searched for it at his leisure.
It was only after the heart-shaped fruit was finally in his hands that Doflamingo revealed a triumphant smile.
“Fuffuffuffu, the Op-Op Fruit! I finally have it! Corazon! We shouldn’t delay. Eat it quickly!”
Rosinante, who had been unable to find an opportunity until now, accepted the Op-Op Fruit.
[Should I pretend to take a bite? Would that fool him…?]
[Or should I eat the fruit and ruin his plan…?]
Rosinante’s hesitation lasted only a short while, because the instant he took the fruit, an incredibly violent explosion suddenly erupted beside him.
BOOM!!!
It was as though the very air had exploded. The powerful shockwave sent Rosinante flying, directly collapsing the building and blasting everyone else inside off their feet.
“Enemy attack!!”
“Protect the Young Master!”
“I’m fine! Go check on Corazon! Where’s the Op-Op Fruit?!”
After the dust settled, Doflamingo rushed ahead of everyone else and dug Rosinante out of the rubble.
“Corazon, did you… eat it?”
There was no trace of the Devil Fruit in Rosinante’s hands. When Rosinante shook his head, Doflamingo’s last hope was shattered.
He clenched one hand, and razor-sharp strings whipped wildly through the area, shredding all the other pirates present to death.
“Search! Search everywhere! They can’t escape the Birdcage! Whoever did this has to still be nearby!!”
For some reason, Doflamingo felt as though that person was right in front of him, yet he could not find them at all. He could only swing his strings around wildly, venting the fury in his heart.
Losing something after already obtaining it was far more infuriating than never having gotten it in the first place.
What Doflamingo did not know was that, in another space directly in front of him, Ginny was studying him.
“Kuma-chi, this should be what they call impotent rage, right?”
“Let’s go, Ginny. It’ll be troublesome if we’re discovered.”
“You don’t have to be so nervous. If he had the ability to invade my Door World, he would’ve come in long ago. Why would he wait until now?
“…”
From the beginning, while Doflamingo had been holding the Devil Fruit, Ginny and Kuma had already been there. They simply had not made a move.
After all, Doflamingo had already displayed a Devil Fruit ability, so there was no way he could eat a second fruit.
It was only when the fruit was handed over that Ginny opened a door. For a user of the Door-Door Fruit, after eating the fruit, it was actually very difficult to improve one’s overall mastery of the ability.
Aside from reaching the level of Awakening, most of the training involved opening doors on various things. What could really be practiced was the types of doors and the speed at which they were opened.
The moment the door opened, Kuma unleashed a compressed air cannon in one burst, then directly snatched the fruit away amid the chaos.
“But you’re right. It is time to go. This thing that guy made can even stop Den Den Mushi signals from getting through. He really does have some skill. Before we leave, let’s cause them a little more trouble.”
Ginny and Kuma left Minion Island with the ease of people as if they were on an outing. Once they reached an area where signals worked again, they took out a Den Den Mushi system and sent a message out.
“R-Reporting to Vice Admiral Tsuru!! We received a signal from an unknown source! Doflamingo and the others are currently on Minion Island!!”
“Vice Admiral Tsuru! A patrol ship near Minion Island has reported signs of fighting on the island!”
Tsuru, who had been complaining about how Sengoku had somehow gotten such unreliable information, immediately made a decision and led her main force toward Minion Island.
After Doflamingo’s side noticed that something was wrong, they could only flee in frustration and panic. It took considerable effort before they finally managed to shake Tsuru off their trail.
The Marines who later searched Minion Island found nothing, aside from an unconscious child inside a treasure chest.
Meanwhile, Ginny was fiddling with a note.
“What’s that?”
“I picked it off that person while we were stealing the fruit. Kuma-chi, this guy… seems to be an undercover agent.”
Looking at the contents written on the information note, Ginny rubbed her eyes. She suddenly felt that compared to the Op-Op Fruit, this intelligence they had seized might be even more valuable.
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