"I'm back."
Rosinante's expression turned solemn, like a man walking to the gallows.
Ace and Zoffy stared wide-eyed, glancing between their father and the unfamiliar man.
Wait… this is their father's younger brother?
"Long time no see, Rosinante. I thought you'd be like some people and leave me behind. Fufufufufu~"
Doflamingo's lips curled into a dangerous grin.
He patted his two silly sons on their round heads, then looked at Rosinante.
"Zoffy, Ace—what are you waiting for? Call him 'Rosinante-san.'"
The two boys instantly complied with booming voices.
"Rosinante-san!"
"Rosinante-san!"
"No way?! Zoffy and Ace? Rosinante-san?!"
Still lost in his thoughts just moments ago, Rosinante was jolted back to reality.
His eyes went wide with disbelief.
He'd assumed these two kids—who looked about ten—were new trainees raised by the family.
How could they be his brother's sons?
Zoffy and Ace were supposed to be only four years old!
Four?
Wait—no, Zoffy looked like a miniature version of his brother.
Damn it. He hadn't even noticed before.
Before Rosinante could make sense of the situation, Doflamingo's playful voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Rosinante, what kind of gifts did you prepare for your nephews?"
Zoffy and Ace's eyes lit up. They immediately zeroed in on their bargain of an uncle.
"Gifts?!"
Caught under the hopeful gaze of the two boys, Rosinante broke into a cold sweat and frantically patted down his body.
Eventually, he pulled out two finely crafted lead-platinum lighters. With a soft smile, he handed them over.
"Zoffy, Ace—these are for you."
"Go on, take them."
Reclining back on his throne, Doflamingo closed his eyes, thinking that it was time to give his sons something to do.
"After that, go find Nora. Your target today is Raban in the Second Ring of the Winter District. Papa wants to eat."
Zoffy and Ace had barely gotten over their excitement before their faces fell in sync.
They just wanted to go to school and beat up some classmates.
Dragging their feet in disappointment, they shuffled toward the door, casting pitiful glances at their new uncle.
Rosinante, soft-hearted and fond of children, couldn't stand it.
He raised his palm, trying to stop them.
"Hmm?"
Doflamingo opened his eyes slightly.
The weight of his gaze hit them like a mountain, pressing down on all three of them.
Zoffy and Ace, who knew firsthand how crushing their father's affection could be, shuddered.
They threw one last sympathetic look at their poor uncle—then immediately bolted.
"Bang!"
The heavy door slammed shut, and silence fell over the room.
Resting his chin on one hand, Doflamingo stared at Rosinante.
"Go ahead, Rosinante. Ask what's been weighing on your mind."
"… What exactly are you planning to do?"
Rosinante couldn't shake the sense of contradiction between Doflamingo's actions on the sea and those in Skypiea.
"Fufufufu~ What else? Revenge."
Doflamingo let out a low chuckle. Countless threads shot from his fingers, weaving an intricate image in the air—one etched deep in both their memories.
A house that couldn't shield them from the wind or rain. Their mother, gravely ill, lying under a blanket that reeked of decay, her breath barely audible.
Their useless father sobbing into a Den Den Mushi, begging for help from the Holy Land.
Two boys—gripping their mother's skeletal, ice-cold hand in desperation.
Thanks to Doflamingo's razor-sharp memory, every face was rendered in vivid, haunting detail.
The longer Rosinante stared, the harder it was to breathe.
His clear vision blurred.
He stared at the recreated image of their mother, tears falling without restraint.
"So that's what she looked like… Mama…"
Over the years, his memories had become hazy.
"Rosinante… Father has already paid the price for Mother's death."
At some point, Doflamingo had appeared behind him, leaning in close, whispering into his ear.
"But what about the Celestial Dragons?"
Flashes of Sabaody suddenly pierced through Rosinante's mind.
At the same time, Doflamingo's voice rang like a thunderclap in his skull.
"The Celestial Dragons still strut around the Holy Land like gods, don't they, Rosinante?!"
"Mama is watching us. Do you understand?"
"Everything I'm doing… is to overthrow those arrogant bastards!!!"
...
Moments later—
Rosinante stumbled down the cloud stairs, his thoughts in a daze.
In his ears still echoed Doflamingo's final, gentle words.
"Rosinante, I know you inherited Mother's kindness. You're not like me."
"There's another path… a group that resists the Celestial Dragons."
"They unite the weak. They help those with nowhere to turn. Find them. Maybe… that's your path."
...
High above, in the Divine Palace—
Doflamingo watched his younger brother's shrinking silhouette with a malicious grin.
"Fufufufufu~"
Is it all for revenge?
Of course.
But is that all?
Of course not.
If this world doesn't get a few new strokes of his paintbrush, then it's not worth him being here at all.
Sending Rosinante to join the Revolutionary Army and using him to locate their stronghold—that was a plan long in the making.
Other than Yamato the airhead and the brilliant archaeologist Nico Robin, no one else in his crew could realistically get close to the Revolutionaries.
And handing either of those two over? He'd have to be insane.
But Rosinante, his soft-hearted brother with a bleeding heart and no public presence outside of the North Blue?
He was perfect.
"Once this is done… should I get rid of Rosinante?"
...
A few days later—
"Where the hell are we, Kuro?!"
Still in chains, Lucci looked around at the clouds with the same stunned expression as his pigeon.
"This is His Majesty Doflamingo's territory—the Donquixote Empire," Kuro said, adjusting his glasses and eyeing the laboring prisoners in the distance.
They'd been gone too long. Upper Yard and the Island of God had vanished.
This new Sky Domain—what did it even look like now?
"What the hell is that?!"
Lucci cried out in shock.
Kuro turned to look—and froze, his breath catching as his jaw dropped.
"His Majesty Doflamingo…"
Towering above the cloud island stood two massive columns, each easily over a hundred meters tall.
But they weren't pillars.
They were legs.
A colossal statue loomed over them, stretching into the sky—a thousand meters high, at least.
Soft chanting filled the air around them.
"Merciful Father… You are the weaver of fate,
Your light is the gaze cast upon the world,
Time flows with the current of your will.
You are the Saint who walks among us.
We thank You for choosing us—
those who once suffered in the dirt and shadows.
You delivered us. You gave us sanctuary in Your land.
All things shall shine under Your divine guidance…"
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg