Chapter 149: Dressrosa
Soon, under Road's guidance, the high-flying Avant Heim changed its course, heading for the Land of Love and Passion, Dressrosa.
It turned out that Louis's previous view was not entirely correct. Even though he could fly in the sky with Avant Heim, at certain special times, he still needed a navigator's guidance. For example, this time, without Road's guidance, it would have probably taken Louis and the others a very long time to find Dressrosa.
Inside the cloud cave, in the giant dining hall.
Louis informed everyone of his decision to take Dressrosa, which was occupied by a Warlord of the Sea, and use it as a temporary base. In other words, the Archangel Pirates' voyage would be paused there.
Hearing this, everyone had a thoughtful look on their faces, but no one voiced a different opinion. Because in many cases, the captain's word was not to be defied. Mentioning it to his partners and subordinates was merely a form of notification, not a consultation.
Then, at Louis's signal, Daz Bonez spoke up, explaining to everyone the intelligence on the Warlord who occupied the island—Doflamingo—and the Donquixote Family he had founded. As a famous assassin from the West Blue, Daz Bonez's intelligence-gathering abilities were quite outstanding. After learning that Louis wanted to take Dressrosa, he had used his intelligence network in the underworld to gather detailed information on Dressrosa, as well as the publicly known information on Doflamingo and each of his subordinates.
Soon, everyone knew the basic situation there and the Devil Fruit abilities of the various members of the Donquixote Family.
Just then, Hajrudin's gaze fell on Louis, and he spoke in a rather excited tone. "Captain, leave that Warlord to me! I will use the ability you gave me to crush him!"
Hajrudin's words made everyone subconsciously focus their attention on him.
"Hajrudin, are you sure you can defeat a Warlord?" Road had a look of seeing a ghost, his tone peculiar. Gerd and Goldberg had similar expressions. Then, they looked at Daz Bonez. They felt that if Daz Bonez and Hajrudin teamed up, there was a possibility of defeating Doflamingo. Surely one Warlord couldn't be like that old Marine, able to beat all five of them to the ground, right?
While the others were thinking, Yelena looked up and met Hajrudin's eyes. "I will kill Doflamingo as quickly as possible. You all will be responsible for dealing with his pirates."
As Yelena's words fell, Hajrudin looked like a frost-bitten eggplant, his entire being appearing gray and hollow. Seeing this, Yelena cast an apologetic glance at him. Then, she looked around at the several giants and said in a solemn tone, "Listen up. We will be stationed there for a period of time. So, while ensuring your own safety, control your destructive power as much as possible."
Hearing this, Uta, who hadn't been listening to the details because she didn't plan on participating in this battle, was taken aback. She gave Yelena a rather surprised look, a strange thought appearing in her mind. "Shouldn't we just tear everything down and then use Louis's ability to rebuild something that fits his aesthetic? Why avoid destroying the place?"
Gerd and the others were stunned, then nodded with understanding. "Understood. We will try our best to draw the battlefield outside the town."
Seeing this, a gentle smile appeared on Yelena's face.
In fact, there was another purpose for having them control their destructive power: to avoid casualties among the citizens from the aftershocks of the battle. This was a helpless measure. Originally, Yelena had thought that Dressrosa was purely a pirate nation, with pirates from top to bottom and no innocent people. At first, Yelena had planned to go in alone, turn Dressrosa into a frozen wasteland, kill Doflamingo and his men, and be done with it. Afterward, she would have Louis use his ability to quickly construct a base, and that would be that.
But a short while later, when Yelena saw the intelligence collected by Daz Bonez, she realized that was not the case at all. Dressrosa was not only home to pirates; there were also tens of thousands of ordinary citizens living there. Therefore, Yelena's plan was aborted. She had no choice but to call on her other partners to quickly destroy the Donquixote Family and take over Dressrosa.
"..."
Louis, seeing that the arrangements regarding Dressrosa were finished, then informed the group about the Golden Lion Shiki. "After we've taken Dressrosa, I will meet with the Golden Lion Shiki there."
This news left the group stunned for a moment. Then, they belatedly realized what Louis was saying, and strange lights flashed in their eyes one after another.
Golden Lion Shiki. A famous name. In the previous era, he was a monster on par with Roger and Whitebeard. However, their expressions did not change much, perhaps because they were quite confident in Louis's strength, or perhaps because, by his side, they had already seen many famous figures of the sea and had even fought with some of them. And now, the long-missing Golden Lion was going to meet with Louis. Besides making them a little surprised, it was no longer enough to shock them.
"..."
Meanwhile, in Dressrosa.
On the King's Plateau, in the solemn and magnificent royal palace.
A man about five meters tall, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, with two red facial markings, and dressed like a primitive man, walked slowly. Under the respectful gazes of the guards and maids, he walked slowly toward the depths of the palace, where Doflamingo was.
Soon, he arrived in front of Doflamingo's room and knocked gently on the door.
Knock knock—
"Come in, Diamante," Doflamingo's emotionless voice sounded from within the room.
Diamante heard him, pushed open the door, and walked straight into the room. His eyes fell on the window, and he immediately found the figure of this country's master—Donquixote Doflamingo. At this moment, he was wearing his pink feather coat, his signature sunglasses on his face. His eyes, through the glass, quietly looked down at the bustling town below.
Doflamingo felt the footsteps from behind and asked with a blank expression, "Diamante, what is it you've come to see me about?"
Diamante, dressed like a tribal chief, slowly stepped forward and handed a piece of intelligence to Doflamingo. "Doffy, something very interesting just happened."
"Something interesting?" Hearing this, Doflamingo looked away from the window, turned, and took the report.
Seeing Doflamingo take the report, Diamante showed an exaggerated smile. "A contact in the underworld said that a small, unknown organization was recently gathering intelligence on the Donquixote Family!"
This sensitive topic made Doflamingo raise an eyebrow. He slowly put down the report he was holding about the shipping king, Umit. "Gathering intelligence on us?" Doflamingo's voice gradually became cold, and his entire body radiated a bone-chilling killing intent. "Where are they active?"
Doflamingo felt that even though information about his family members had long been widely circulated, in his view, gathering intelligence on the Donquixote Family was undoubtedly a suicidal act.
Seeing this, Diamante gave a dry laugh and quickly replied, "Don't worry, Doffy! They're just a small organization active in the West Blue. There's no need to pay them so much attention! Besides, I've already had people look into their headquarters. In a few days, I'll hire some assassins to kill them!"
Doflamingo heard this and once again picked up the report in his hand. "In that case, make it clean and quick. Let the other blind fools see their fate."
Diamante heard him, and the corners of his mouth split open in a strange arc. "Don't worry, Doffy! At most, in four days, I'll hire some assassins from the West Blue to take care of them!"
Three days later, at high noon.
A giant white cloud, which looked no different from any other, hung high above Dressrosa, shielding it from the increasingly scorching sun.
Louis walked out from the interior of Avant Heim to its edge, quietly looking down at the island below, his eyes calm and unwavering.
"..."
On the bustling streets, one after another, young women in cool, hot outfits looked up as the sun was covered and walked out of the shops. They all looked up at the white cloud that was blocking the scorching sun and let out similar sighs. "If only that white cloud would stay here a little longer—"
But the next moment, they all shook their heads, shaking the unrealistic thought from their minds, and continued to enjoy this rare cool moment.
At this moment, Doflamingo was in the depths of the royal palace, developing his Devil Fruit ability. The other executives of the Donquixote Family were scattered around the island, either diligently contributing to the family, enjoying the thrill of victory in the colosseum, or indulging themselves in the swimming pool with scantily clad young women.
No one noticed that, ten thousand meters in the sky, one dark figure after another was descending from the heavens, their speed so fast that they almost became streaks of black light as they fell toward the island.
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