“Heh heh heh, so your nightmare is actually fire? What an unbelievably fragile guy…
Perhaps there were true powerhouses among your ancestors, but you are not one of them.
You’re the one who can only bask in the glory of your ancestors… a homeless cur!”
Fear of fire was an instinct engraved into the bones of countless living creatures. From the moment they were born, the genes inherited from their ancestors warned them that fire was an exceedingly dangerous thing.
Although it could bring new life and hope, it also represented pain and death.
But Lunarians were an exception. Fire was their natural companion, and flames far hotter than magma often accompanied a Lunarian throughout their entire life.
For a Lunarian, fearing fire was as impossible as fearing breathing.
And the term Celestial Dragon was fundamentally different from names such as Minks, Fish-Men, and Lunarians, which referred to races distinguished by their bloodlines.
Celestial Dragon did not represent a race, only a status. Before the World Government was established, they had merely been ordinary humans.
Even now, those chosen by Imu could likewise be granted the status of Celestial Dragon.
In Alber’s eyes, someone like Doflamingo, who remained obsessed with his status, was not worth mentioning at all.
“King Riku, my apologies. I might damage your Royal Palace, but afterward… we’ll take responsibility for repairing it.”
Alber then raised a finger, and the twisted creature formed from flames charged toward Doflamingo, its enormous blazing maw looking as though it intended to swallow him whole.
“Penta-Chromatic String!”
At this moment, veins bulged across Doflamingo’s forehead, while the tendons in his arms stood taut from the force he was exerting.
A string shot out from each of his fingertips, seemingly whipping about chaotically in front of him.
But as Doflamingo swung his arms, those strings sliced through everything before him.
A flash of light swept across the beams of the Royal Palace. The razor-sharp strings embedded themselves directly into them, slicing the massive blocks of heavy bluestone apart.
The flame monster summoned by Alber was likewise cut to pieces by Doflamingo’s string blades.
In terms of temperature, these flames were inferior to the flames Alber himself could generate. By imbuing his strings with Haki, Doflamingo was fully capable of using them to deal with these bizarre flames.
“You b*stard… You’ve reminded me of some very unpleasant things…”
Time in dreams did not flow at the same rate as time in reality. To those outside, the nightmare Alber had created lasted only the blink of an eye, yet Doflamingo had relived that nightmare all over again.
Back then, because Homing opposed the behavior of the Celestial Dragons, he voluntarily relinquished his status as a Celestial Dragon and left Mariejois with his entire family.
There was nothing inherently wrong with his beliefs. It was simply that Homing, having lived in Mariejois, was far too naive, believing that once he voluntarily gave up that status, he would be able to integrate smoothly into ordinary society.
But Homing had overlooked the persecution that the Celestial Dragons had inflicted upon ordinary people over the years, as well as the hatred and disgust ordinary people harbored toward the Celestial Dragons.
Celestial Dragons were protected by the Marines and guarded by Cipher Pol agents. No matter the reason, striking a Celestial Dragon would bring a Marine Admiral down upon you.
All these protective measures surrounding the Celestial Dragons made people afraid to attack them.
But Homing was different. He was a Celestial Dragon who had renounced his status and lost that protection.
Many of the people living in the place the World Government had chosen for Homing to settle had suffered persecution at the hands of Celestial Dragons. Once they learned Homing’s identity, they had no intention of distinguishing whether he was different from the other Celestial Dragons.
That was the day Doflamingo awakened his Conqueror’s Haki. Yet the flames that burned down the castle and the pain left upon his body remained buried within Doflamingo even now, frequently jolting him awake from nightmares.
And today, Alber had directly manifested it before him.
Watching the flame monster being torn apart, the corners of Doflamingo’s mouth began to rise before he burst into laughter, as though celebrating the fact that he had finally overcome the fear of those days.
“Fuffuffuffu, is that all?! Cheap tricks like this are useless. You b*stards who only know how to play with fire were left homeless back then, and now… it’s no different!”
Doflamingo stepped forward, and beneath his sunglasses, those eyes whose true appearance no one knew seemed to narrow at that moment.
A violent gale suddenly appeared out of nowhere within the Royal Palace, spreading outward in every direction with Doflamingo at its center.
Scattered rubble struck the nearby walls with a clatter, while King Riku’s cloak whipped loudly in the wind. Doflamingo seemed to be using this method to proclaim his own power.
“Originally, I wanted to use gentler methods and take my time playing with you. But now… I’ve changed my mind.
It seems your so-called love for peace is nothing but a facade. In that case, let a bloody war decide who this country belongs to once again!”
Doflamingo’s original plan had been to force King Riku to raise money from the citizens, then control King Riku into slaughtering civilians before appearing as a hero himself, defeating King Riku and naturally ascending to the throne as the new king.
Doflamingo did not care about the casualties among the locals. Those who obeyed could stay; those who refused to obey or doubted him would be killed.
Or, just as in the original timeline, they could be turned into toys and forced to work without end.
Among Dressrosa’s toys were not only supporters of King Riku and losers from the Colosseum, but also a large number of ordinary citizens.
After Sugar’s ability was undone, the chaos in interpersonal relationships that erupted among the populace had been quite a troublesome matter.
Of course, many things were different now. Although the Hobby-Hobby Fruit was still in Doflamingo’s possession, he had yet to find a suitable person to eat it.
Most of his subordinates already had Devil Fruits, while Rosinante was a special case.
Before tonight, Rosinante had still been the most ideal backup candidate in Doflamingo’s mind for the Op-Op Fruit.
“Fuffuffuffu, Riku Doldo III, you still have one final chance. Hand over that hateful b*stard and produce the money to buy back your country.
Otherwise, everything will become irreversible.”
Doflamingo did not care about the locals, but he cared very much about himself. If threats could make his opponent surrender without resistance, that was obviously better than going through the effort of fighting.
At this moment, Doflamingo still believed Alber was someone who, for some reason, obeyed King Riku’s orders.
Given King Riku’s personality, it was not impossible to imagine that he had inadvertently helped a Lunarian.
Yet Doflamingo’s threat instead made King Riku breathe a sigh of relief.
At least in King Riku’s eyes, Doflamingo clearly did not understand the truth of the situation here. In that case, Doflamingo’s threats and arrogance suddenly seemed far less frightening.
“I can’t command him. The only reason he’s here is because I have an old friend.”
“Hmm?”
Before Doflamingo could understand the exact meaning behind King Riku’s words, Alber had already calmly stepped forward, showing not the slightest concern for Doflamingo’s Haki.
“So just about anyone can possess Conqueror’s Haki now, huh? But in your hands… is Conqueror’s Haki nothing more than a little toy for frightening people?”
Not long after Doflamingo awakened Conqueror’s Haki, he encountered Trebol and the others. They had heard of the so-called qualities of a king and believed Doflamingo had the potential to become one.
But Trebol and the others had no idea what Conqueror’s Haki Infusion was. For Doflamingo, Conqueror’s Haki was merely a means of intimidation.
And Conqueror’s Haki at this level felt no different from a breeze to Alber.
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