Night fell.
Bang!
Bang bang!!!
Aaahhh!!!
"..."
Arinland was still Arinland, yet it wasn't. The splendor faded, the prosperity silenced, conquered by gunshots, screams, and bloodshed. That city, with its dense buildings, wasn't a city at all; it was clearly a crouching, man-eating beast!
A peculiar scent permeating the air made Doflamingo's nose twitch. He uncomfortably wanted to rub it, but his blood-stained hands forced him to stop.
Bending down, he wiped the blood from his black gloves onto the clothes of a dead man in front of him. Doflamingo's browless eyes twitched. "Truly the City of Sin."
Within half an hour of entering Arinland, walking just two streets, Doflamingo and his two companions had been caught in a gang shootout, experienced three armed robberies, and witnessed several incidents like theft and illicit goods trading. As a result, they had killed nearly twenty people along the way, and the dead man before him was one of them.
"Nyeh, nyehh~ A bunch of low-class thugs, as annoying as flies," Trebol said with a smirk, seemingly enjoying the environment.
Diamante noticed Doflamingo's displeasure and chuckled. "Doffy? Should we just blow this place flat?"
"Don't look at your feet, look up," Doflamingo continued forward.
Diamante thought for a moment, then turned back to pick up the two leaders of the gang whose shootout had affected them earlier. He used them as a deterrent to clear their path.
Diamante's quick thinking worked well, reducing the number of troublesome, ignorant individuals they encountered.
Soon.
Near the city center, in an area filled with restaurants, coffee shops, and clothing boutiques, a funeral parlor incongruously stood, its bright sign reading "Drug Funeral Parlor." Seeing the busy people going in and out, business was thriving.
"Nyeh, nyehh~ This is the place, Doffy," Trebol sniffled, saying playfully, "I say, I say, this guy is really pathetic, isn't he? Hundreds of subordinates, and this is what he chooses to do? Dealing with corpses."
Doflamingo said with amusement, "Where there's profit, there's someone to do the job. He's willing to deal with corpses, even actively collecting the bodies of those who died unnaturally. Why would he do it if there was no profit? Didn't you gather intelligence and learn that he sells human organs harvested from corpses to organ traffickers? Fufufufu~ But he can be the strongest 'chicken' in Arinland because he also accepts living corpses, as long as someone can pay the price."
"What should we do, Doffy?" Diamante asked for instructions.
Doflamingo looked up at the funeral parlor's second floor and smiled. "I'm going up to have a drink with him."
Whoosh~
Strings secreted from his fingertips adhered to the wall. Doflamingo leveraged himself up, lightly landing on the second-story windowsill of the funeral parlor, and knocked.
Tap, tap.
The sudden knocking on the window made the person inside turn his head.
The person in the room's age was indiscernible. He wore a clown-like mask with stars painted around the eyes, covering all of his face except for his exaggerated, almost ear-to-ear grin. His fluffy hair resembled a lion's mane, but with the mask, it looked more aptly like a comical sunflower. He wasn't tall but was well-built, his military-style clothing bulging, though it didn't make him appear any more imposing due to his short legs.
Overall, Doflamingo thought the most striking things about this person were the "Death" armbands printed on his sleeves and the scythe weapon leaning against his desk.
Creak~
The window opened.
"Drug Peclo?" Doflamingo asked with a smile.
Peclo put down his pen, closed his ledger, and also smiled. "Gugigigugi~" A very peculiar, high-pitched voice, almost as strange as Pica's. "That pirate crew docked on the east coast?"
"Oh? It seems I investigated you, and you investigated me too," Doflamingo's smile grew wider.
Peclo said, "A pirate crew, yet more well-behaved than law-abiding citizens. Anyone would be curious."
"Then... did you find out everything?" Doflamingo crooked his finger.
Peclo pondered for a moment. "Yes, I did. A pirate crew with no bounties, but two of your members do have bounties: Trebol, the captain of the former Sticky Pirates, with a bounty of 48 million Berries, and his first mate Diamante, with a bounty of 36 million Berries. Your pirate crew's flag isn't the Sticky Pirates' flag, which means they aren't the leaders of this crew. So, who are you?"
"Fufufufu~ You've got a brain, I'll give you that," Doflamingo chuckled lowly. "I didn't come to Arinland for sightseeing, I..."
Peclo stood up, raising both hands. "I surrender."
"..." Doflamingo.
Peclo stated matter-of-factly, "Even Captain Trebol, with his 48 million Berry bounty, and First Mate Diamante, with his 36 million Berry bounty, bow to you as their leader. Your strength is obvious, Gugigigugi~ I'm not an ignorant man! The result of spending too much time with the dead is that I've learned to fear death. I kept praying for you to leave... but since you're here, I know what to do."
"I was planning to kill you to establish dominance and take over Arinland's other underground organizations. Tsk~ Ah, what a bother," Doflamingo clicked his tongue, speechless at how cowardly Peclo was.
Peclo bowed, waiting silently.
Doflamingo considered for a moment. "I'll have Trebol and Diamante help you unite Arinland's underground organizations. The cost is that starting today, half of the money you earn from every business transaction must be submitted to me. If you are obedient and shrewd enough, I'm even willing to help you expand your business globally in the future, not just within Arinland, fufufufu~ Shall we start our partnership??"
"Happy to cooperate!" Peclo agreed without hesitation.