Doflamingo was so furious right now he genuinely wanted to curse. If the plan had gone smoothly, he could have seized Dressrosa in just one night.
But he had prepared far too many things for this one night. There's an old saying, "Ten years of practice off-stage for ten minutes of performance on-stage," and it was quite fitting for Doflamingo.
Of course, it wasn't an exaggerated ten years, but Doflamingo had set his sights on Dressrosa three years ago. He had planted Vergo, the Heart seat officer, as a spy in the Marines, who was then assigned to the G-5 Branch, one of the only two Marine bases in the New World (G-5 and G-1).
He went to great lengths to bribe one of the Yonko, Alucard, to ignore the matter, and then proceeded to steal the Heavenly Tribute, become a Warlord, and so on.
While not all his actions were solely aimed at Dressrosa, the country was a vital stepping stone in Doflamingo's grand plan.
Did Zephyr coincidentally show up here, or was he lured by Alucard?
Although knowing the answer didn't matter now, Doflamingo still wanted to know. Using the moment he was pulling threads to form a defensive net to briefly stall Zephyr's attack,
Doflamingo sneered. "Zephyr, why are you here? You saw it, didn't you? I've simply come to save this country that was being persecuted by the Riku Family."
Veins bulged on Zephyr's forehead. "Do you take this old man for a blind fool?"
Violently breaking through Doflamingo's defensive net, Zephyr curled his right hand into a tiger claw and lunged at Doflamingo. "Shigan!"
Doflamingo hurriedly tilted his head to dodge Zephyr's attack. A tall building about two hundred meters behind him was struck by the air pressure from Zephyr's Shigan and collapsed instantly.
"Fighting inside the city is against your principle of protecting the civilians, isn't it? Come with me." Doflamingo grasped Zephyr's weakness and flew into the sky, moving toward the outskirts of the town.
This wasn't just a transfer of the battlefield; it was giving his subordinates an opportunity. Before leaving, Doflamingo shot a meaningful glance at Trebol.
Trebol, half his sunglasses shattered by Zephyr's punch and looking very battered, struggled to his feet. King Riku was down, and no one dared to approach him. Although Zephyr's unexpected intervention had completely derailed the Donquixote Pirates' script, King Riku was already a murderous demon in the eyes of many.
"Trebol-sama! Pica-sama!"
At that moment, Buffalo and the other Donquixote officers, all bearing some degree of injury, ran toward Trebol. Trebol's brow severely furrowed; he didn't need to be told what had happened.
One Zephyr, the entire plan collapsed! "Over there, inside..."
"Zephyr told the soldiers what they shouldn't know, but we've taken care of them already." Señor Pink spoke in a lowered voice.
Trebol pondered for a few seconds and then said, "Minimize the broadcasting at least, and retreat first. Report this to Vergo."
The Donquixote Pirates quickly retreated from public view. Now, the situation became even more confusing for everyone.
King Riku and the Royal Army went insane and started killing people, then pirates invaded to stop it. Although they were pirates, the citizens of Dressrosa would have been happy to be saved, but then another strange man intervened and started fighting the pirates.
The sequence of events was baffling. In any case, people knew they had to seek shelter first.
With this thought, the residents of Dressrosa either hid in their homes, too terrified to come out, or concentrated their efforts on fleeing to remote locations like the flower fields and the seaside.
"Hahahahahahahaha! Did you see that? Did you see it? Ahahahahaha!"
Far away, at the ruins of the Arderay Kingdom, the members of the Alucard Pirates burst into laughter after watching the retreat of the Donquixote Pirates via the visual Den Den Mushi.
Stragus, who had hosted Zephyr earlier, laughed the hardest, slapping Dr. Indigo's shoulder.
"That Donquixote Pirates crew ran away like failed clowns performing on a stage! It's too funny, too funny! Hahaha..."
While the others weren't as exaggerated, they all wore mocking smiles. Indeed, the Donquixote Pirates' scheme to usurp the nation was clever enough to earn them the title of "heroes," but only on the condition of success.
Once they failed, they instantly transformed from "heroes" into "clowns." No other word could describe them.
Pere pere pere... pere pere pere...
Suddenly, Stragus's laughter was interrupted by the call from the Den Den Mushi in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and answered it. "Moshi Moshi... Ah, Alucard-sama."
The others, who had been in "movie-watching" mode, instantly grew solemn. The area where over a thousand people were gathered fell silent, with only the chirping of insects remaining.
After Alucard finished giving his orders and the Den Den Mushi was hung up, everyone dared to speak again.
"Firs Island?"
Stragus blinked. The order Alucard had just given was: "Send some personnel skilled in stealth and reconnaissance to Firs Island to monitor the Marine scientist there and gather intelligence on one person."
That person's name was "Vegapunk." Stragus asked, "Who is Vegapunk?"
For most of the people, Vegapunk was an unfamiliar name, but Dr. Indigo, the scientist, fell into a complete silence. A few seconds later, he said, "Vegapunk looks like this."
Saying this, Dr. Indigo pulled out a piece of paper from his lab coat and quickly sketched a face on it. Soon, a face was displayed for everyone to see.
"Surprisingly young."
Stragus and the others commented. It had to be said that Dr. Indigo's drawing was actually quite good.
"That was his appearance twenty years ago. I don't know what he looks like now," Dr. Indigo explained. "Anyone involved in the research field knows the name Vegapunk."
By the end of his sentence, Dr. Indigo was sweating profusely. He then muttered to himself with lingering fear, "What does the Captain want with him..."
Meanwhile, in the castle, Alucard looked at the remaining few special Seastone blast rounds in the chamber of his Casull Jackal pistol and said with dissatisfaction, "Do I really need to go to such extremes?"
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