Chapter 243: Doflamingo
Gaburu is dead, and for Doflamingo, this is a huge blow. Without the artificial Devil Fruits, Kaido will surely kill him, and without the successful Giantification experiments, Big Mom will also likely kill him. He's just one of the Seven Warlords, and he doesn't have the confidence to face two furious Yonko.
As for this guy Rodney... this guy...
He's here to take my life!
Doflamingo, in extreme anger, laughed, "Hahaha, Rodney, you want to devour everything that belongs to me?"
Rodney shook his finger, denying, "No, no, no, I'm not trying to devour everything of yours. I'm just taking back what you've devoured. Dressrosa doesn't belong to you, even if the previous royal family of this country was the Donquixote family."
As if he had heard some great secret, he asked, "Wasn't the royal family of this country the Riku family before?"
"Several hundred years ago, when the World Government was first established, all twenty founding families entered Mariejois, including the Donquixote family. After the Donquixote family left, the throne remained vacant. At that time, the Riku family should have been the prime minister or something similar and took over the throne, ruling Dressrosa." Rodney patiently explained.
Doflamingo laughed, "Hahaha, I don't know where you got this secret information from, but yes, I'm just taking back what belongs to my family."
"Well, isn't it your turn then? You're not a direct bloodline of the Donquixote family, right? Your father renounced his Celestial Dragon status and doesn't even count as part of the Donquixote family anymore," Rodney needled, provoking Doflamingo.
"True, I should naturally belong to the evil Celestial Dragons with my birthright. I'm very suited to becoming a rotten Celestial Dragon, just as your little brother Corazon said, 'gentle parents gave birth to this natural villain.' Patricide and fratricide, oh, how cold and heartless I am," Doflamingo retorted with a twisted smile.
Rodney's body turned into white smoke, revealing a young man with blond hair, dressed in a black furry overcoat, his face painted with a clown's makeup. He spoke with a mocking smile, "How does it feel to kill me? Big brother, my heart hurts so much, and that island is so cold."
"You bastard!!!"
Doflamingo couldn't hold back anymore, his arms bent like claws, and five thin, colored strings shot out. Rodney blocked them with his knife, laughing, "Oh my, oh my, can't hold back anymore, huh?"
Doflamingo had the charm of a villain, rivaling even that golden-haired vampire, the "Savior of Evil." However, being a villain means you must accept the consequences. When you walk the path of a villain, you'll eventually face the blade.
"Rending Thread!" Doflamingo's long legs kicked out, with eight thin strings at the soles of his feet.
"Wooden Log Strength Windmill!" Rodney's feet were covered in Busoshoku Haki, increasing their hardness.
The collision of their two legs kicked up a large dust cloud, stirring the seawater. Doflamingo decided not to linger; this place was unfavorable to him. The Thirty-Six Stratagems: Discretion is the better part of valor.
Doflamingo used his strings to bind the clouds in the sky and moved rapidly, using Geppo to increase his speed. He hated Rodney deeply, but with Admiral Fujitora and Trebol here, the situation wasn't in his favor.
He needed to get out of here as soon as possible.
"Really, he's running so fast." Rodney watched him go, showing no intention of stopping him. Both Rodney and Trebol jumped out of the water. They were both Devil Fruit users, so encountering seawater would be troublesome.
"So, can you explain, Mr. Rodney?" Even though Fujitora was an Admiral, he understood who should be captured and who shouldn't. Rodney was one of those who shouldn't be captured.
"Explain what? Why I fought Doflamingo? I just wanted to kill him; it's as simple as that," he said. "It's been a while, Admiral Fujitora. I wonder what you went through to make you gouge out your own eyes. It must have been something quite unbearable."
Admiral Fujitora held his sword-cane a bit tighter, fell silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, "The past is no longer worth mentioning, Mr. Rodney. I'm an Admiral of the Marines now, bearing the name of justice, so our previous acquaintance may need to be put aside."
"That's fine too. I can't beat you, so I can run. After all, you can't see," Rodney replied.
Admiral Fujitora chuckled, a rare sight. "Indeed, I'm blind. Not being able to see my target is also a problem."
Rodney said, "...Isn't this just openly letting him escape?"
He thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Rodney, can that favor still be used?"
"Of course, you want to kill Doflamingo, right? No problem, it's just something I did in passing. So, are you going to use it? This is a favor from me, and I will definitely kill Doflamingo. So, would it be a waste if you used it here?"
Rodney shook his head. "No, I think it's just right. But I want you to catch him, and I'll execute him myself!"
"Sure, but Doflamingo is very strong. I'm not sure if I can capture him alive; I might end up killing him," Rodney added, "But that's alright, if possible, I want to kill him!"
"Understood, Mr. Rodney," Admiral Fujitora replied.
By the way, Mr. Rodney, you mentioned earlier that Doflamingo's father was a Celestial Dragon?" Fujitora suddenly asked. He seemed to understand why this guy resigned from the Seven Warlords earlier this morning, only for CP0 to come later and announce it as a false report, causing Fleet Admiral Sakazuki to question the Five Elders in Mariejois.
Rodney glanced at the Marines around him, thought for a moment, used a glance to put them into an illusion, then said, "Doflamingo's father, Donquixote Homing, was a very kind person. He voluntarily gave up his status as a Celestial Dragon to become a commoner. However, the Celestial Dragons, who had lived in a sheltered environment, had no idea how outsiders detested them. When they learned that he had given up his status, they took off their masks of friendliness and revealed their hatred for the Celestial Dragons. So, you should know what happened next."
"They vented all their anger on his family," Rodney said in a low voice.
Celestial Dragons enjoyed the world's greatest privileges, but after Dofl
amingo and his family became commoners, they lost those privileges. The masses, who had been persecuted by the Celestial Dragons in the past, vented their resentment and anger on this family.
Their savings disappeared, and they suffered disdain and interrogation. They lived in poverty. Their mother died of an illness because they couldn't afford treatment. That year, Doflamingo was eight years old.
He believed that all of this was due to his father's foolishness and naivety. Finally, when he was ten years old, he killed his own father in front of his younger brother. He took his father's head to Mariejois, hoping to reclaim his family's privileges. Unfortunately, the Celestial Dragons saw them as traitors and refused to accept them. Enraged, Doflamingo swore to turn the world dominated by the Celestial Dragons upside down.
In the end, he killed his brother too because of the Ope Ope no Mi. He severed the last trace of warmth in his heart. It was these experiences that shaped the Doflamingo we know today.
(End of this chapter)