"Is that so? It's all about the same, there's not much difference."
Luffy's main memories of Marco were focused on his pineapple-shaped head and eating pineapples without peeling them, so when he recalled Marco's name, he instinctively associated it with some weird things.
"There's a big difference, so stop talking rubbish. I don't know why someone like Redfield is targeting Doflamingo, but this is an opportunity. If you want to take down Doflamingo, you can only do it now."
At this moment, Yamato was still fighting Redfield, and Doflamingo was not far away.
Doflamingo knew this place was dangerous, but it was also the only safe spot. If he strayed too far from Yamato and Redfield managed to break away, there was no way he could handle it on his own.
So no matter what, he stayed within the range where Yamato could look after him.
Even if Yamato didn't like him, she was still the only one present who could guarantee his safety.
And this also gave others a chance.
"She obviously hates doing this, so why is she fighting a battle she dislikes?"
Luffy could sense her feeling of loathing, especially from that strike earlier; although it hit the ground, it also vented Yamato's own anger.
His ability to hear the Voice of All Things made Luffy's perception especially keen in certain situations, and since emotions weren't the future, of course he could pick up on them.
But this forced effort made their actions less smooth.
"It's because she's the Beasts Pirates' Oni Princess, it's as simple as that. Her being here already meant more trouble for us, but now, it seems this is actually the best situation."
Law, now recovered, came to Luffy's side. He didn't find it strange that the Beasts Pirates were helping Doflamingo, but there were also people within the Beasts Pirates who disliked Doflamingo. Moreover, it was someone who will be the future heir who disliked him. For Law, this was an incredibly lucky break.
His enemy was Doflamingo, and right now he had no intention of going against the Beasts Pirates, but it was difficult to go after Doflamingo without getting involved with the Beasts Pirates.
If Yamato didn't care about Dressrosa's affairs, even if she took Doflamingo away, Doflamingo's value would decrease.
As long as he could completely replace Doflamingo's function, the success rate of his own plan would go up. But now, it looked like he needed to make some adjustments to his original plan.
Law's plan wasn't unworkable; it was just a bit difficult to pull off.
The Beasts Pirates were already the emperor of the current Underworld, and they had the power to introduce a new broker. With Charlotte Linlin's tea parties, making this happen wouldn't be hard.
As for Doflamingo's former Celestial Dragon status, he was just a former Celestial Dragon, not an actual Celestial Dragon.
In the original timeline, after he went to prison, the people in Mariejois wanted to get rid of Doflamingo for good and shut him up forever.
It was only because Magellan personally guarded him that the assassins and agents were kept at bay.
He merely had a few extra privileges, not the ability to act with impunity.
Tesoro also had connections with Mjosgard and the Figarland family's Celestial Dragons. Doflamingo was never someone irreplaceable.
It's just that Law didn't know about these more secret things, so he could only try based on his own speculations. If he failed, there would be no turning back.
Law had come up with a new plan for the future, but his current plan hadn't been stopped or abandoned. For now, Luffy's obsession with defeating Doflamingo even surpassed Law's.
He disliked what Doflamingo did even more and had no reason to side with him. Now that he had more or less recovered, he was already ready to go; it was just that the fight between Yamato and Redfield had temporarily forced him to retreat.
"Straw Hat-ya, if you're still thinking about fighting, I might have to rely on you for a moment. I need to take care of something special, but I'll be back soon."
"Oh, no problem. Go ahead, just leave things here to me."
Luffy had absolutely no doubts and hadn't changed his mind at all.
Originally, Marco also intended to step in, but if it was Luffy and Law, Doflamingo could handle them anyway, in which case Yamato wouldn't care at all; only if Doflamingo encountered a situation he couldn't deal with would she intervene.
And since she was still fighting Redfield, the only chance to take action regarding the Quake-Quake Fruit was if she got distracted during the battle. But just then, a voice stopped Marco.
"Marco, how about just watching from here? This matter doesn't really concern you and me anymore."
Katakuri stopped Marco.
"Katakuri? What do you mean?"
"Don't get me wrong. I won't be helping Doflamingo anymore. From the moment Redfield appeared, I already withdrew from this conflict."
When Redfield showed up, Katakuri chose to protect himself. Now Redfield was Yamato's opponent, but in his mind, he'd already torn up the agreement he had with Doflamingo.
Even if he fought Marco and the others again, he wouldn't go take that so-called reward anymore.
"So what do you want to do?"
"Nothing much. Just don't go making trouble. Let these rookies deal with things themselves."
Katakuri didn't explain what he was really thinking, but in truth, he was considering what to do from here on out.
This wasn't the original timeline where ever since the Rocks Pirates disbanded, Charlotte Linlin and Kaido hadn't had much contact.
The Big Mom Pirates and Beasts Pirates had been on relatively friendly terms recently; at least enough to sit down and talk things through.
Dressrosa could never return to the way it was, and Doflamingo still had the identity of "joker."
After Doflamingo was taken away by Yamato, the Underworld would probably have to reshuffle the deck again.
Originally, the Big Mom Pirates had close ties with various factions in this field, possessing complex channels of connection.
Things had been stable before, so they hadn't done much, but now, everything was starting to change.
With Charlotte Linlin's established channels, plus the ones Kaido controlled, the names of two Emperors of the Sea together would be enough to sweep away all those so-called Underworld emperors and divide up the entire Underworld.
He certainly wouldn't tell Marco any of this. For now, at most, he'd help Yamato with a few problems as a favor.
"You and I are old rivals. If I got involved, it wouldn't be good for that Straw Hat. Neither of us could defeat the other in a short time. Oven is enough to go up against Jozu, and the rest of your guys aren't a match for Daifuku.
And besides, there's an Admiral-led Marine force outside. We should keep our strength to deal with those guys."
As they talked, Katakuri already had his trident in hand. If Marco agreed with his suggestion, they'd each keep to themselves. If not, then it would have to be settled by force.
"Fine then, this island is just getting more and more troublesome."
Marco admitted Katakuri had a point. Both sides staying put was actually a more favorable situation.
****Please support on pat*eon for extra chapters; there is date to date subscription enabled on patreon. [There is a 7-day trial version availabe on patreon.]
https://www.pat*eon.com/dmtranslations
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my pa*reon.
