A throne was a symbol, and symbols possessed value only because people believed in them. A king could command armies, collect taxes, and decide the fate of thousands, but his authority ultimately depended on the people and institutions that supported him. Remove those foundations, and even the most magnificent throne became little more than an expensive chair.
Doflamingo had learned that lesson long before attending the Conference of Kings. His experiences in the underworld had taught him that fear could secure obedience, wealth could purchase loyalty, and secrets could turn an enemy into an unwilling ally. Yet the gathering had given him an opportunity to observe individuals whose understanding of power differed from his own. Their conversations had not changed his fundamental nature, but they had given him several matters worth considering.
Doflamingo leaned back in his chair, allowing the afternoon sunlight to fall across the room. The familiar surroundings of his residence should have brought him comfort, but his thoughts remained occupied with the people he had met beyond his world. He remembered their arguments, their disagreements, and the different assumptions each had brought to the discussion. Some believed strength was the ultimate foundation of authority, while others considered information, ideology, or the ability to shape human behavior far more valuable.
Frieza's arrogance had been particularly amusing. The tyrant regarded most beings as inferior and seemed to consider the existence of a gathering between rulers beneath his dignity. Yet his attitude had revealed something important. Frieza possessed enough power to make ordinary political calculations seem unnecessary, at least until he encountered someone capable of threatening him. His approach worked because very few people could challenge him directly, not because it represented a universal solution to every problem.
Madara offered a different perspective. He possessed overwhelming strength and a vision that extended far beyond ordinary political ambition, but his certainty in his own understanding of the world left little room for alternatives. Doflamingo could appreciate the usefulness of such conviction without sharing it. A man who believed himself capable of determining the future could become dangerously predictable when confronted with someone who understood his expectations.
Then there was Aizen.
Doflamingo's smile widened slightly as he recalled their brief conversation after the Conference had concluded. Aizen had not needed to boast about his intelligence or explain the full extent of his ambitions. His manner alone suggested a man who preferred to understand the board before moving a piece. Even after betraying Soul Society and departing with Gin and Tosen, he had remained composed, as though the consequences of his actions were merely another set of circumstances to be managed.
Doflamingo recognized something familiar in that attitude. He had spent much of his own life manipulating people who believed themselves to be acting according to their own desires. The most satisfying victories were not always those in which he crushed an opponent. Sometimes, the greater achievement was persuading an enemy to take the very action that would destroy him, all while believing that the decision had been his own.
Aizen understood the appeal of such victories. Their brief exchange had not made them allies, nor had it established any reason for Doflamingo to trust him. It had simply revealed a mind worth watching, and Doflamingo had always been interested in people who could make him reconsider an assumption.
He rose from his chair and walked toward the window overlooking the city. Below him, people moved through the streets, each occupied with private concerns and immediate ambitions. Merchants pursued profit, criminals searched for opportunities, and officials attempted to maintain the appearance of order. Most of them had little idea how many of their choices were influenced by people they would never meet.
Doflamingo understood that world well. He had built his identity as Joker around the exchange of weapons, information, and opportunities. His business connected individuals who might otherwise have remained separated, and those connections allowed him to profit from conflicts without personally participating in every battle. Powerful people needed weapons, desperate people needed money, and ambitious people needed someone willing to help them cross boundaries they could not cross alone.
His relationships with figures such as Kaido made those arrangements even more valuable. He could provide resources to powerful individuals while using the resulting relationships to strengthen his own position. Yet the more he considered the scope of his ambitions, the more clearly he saw the limits of his existing structure.
Joker could provide the tools for a conflict, but that did not mean he would always know when the conflict was about to begin. He could arrange a profitable transaction, but he could not guarantee that every important secret would reach him before it became public. His network was extensive, yet much of it depended on business relationships that could change when the interests of the people involved changed.
He had influence, but he wanted something more dependable.
The thought brought his attention to a particular establishment.
The Blood Tavern.
Doflamingo had known of Peclo's establishment for some time. The man operated within the underworld, where information and assassination contracts could be worth considerably more than ordinary merchandise. His organization had established itself as a place where people could obtain information about influential figures, criminal groups, Marine movements, shipping routes, and the shifting balance of power between competing interests.
The Tavern also connected clients with those willing to carry out assassinations. Its usefulness came not merely from the existence of killers, but from the intermediaries who connected them to clients without exposing either side unnecessarily. A successful organization of that kind required years of accumulated contacts and a reputation for maintaining the arrangements entrusted to it.
Peclo had built precisely that.
Doflamingo turned away from the window and returned to his desk. He pulled a sheet of paper toward himself, though he did not immediately begin writing. Instead, he considered what the Blood Tavern could offer him that Joker could not.
The answer was not simply more money. He already possessed profitable enterprises and knew how to turn the ambitions of others into opportunities. Nor was he interested in taking control of Peclo's entire business empire merely for the sake of expanding his possessions. Owning another collection of commercial interests would add responsibilities without necessarily giving him a meaningful advantage.
The Blood Tavern itself was what interested him.
An intelligence network could warn him when a Marine operation was being prepared, reveal which criminal organization was secretly negotiating with a rival, or identify the weakness of a person whose influence threatened his plans. Its assassination brokerage could remove obstacles before they became serious problems, provided the circumstances justified such a decision. More importantly, the two functions could support each other. Information revealed which individuals mattered, while carefully arranged removals could change the circumstances in which everyone else operated.
With such a network under his control, Doflamingo would not need to respond to every development after it occurred. He could learn about important events while they were still taking shape, then decide whether to encourage them, redirect them, or ensure that they never came to pass.
He could become the man who influenced kings without needing to become one himself.
The idea pleased him enough that his grin widened, revealing the sharp teeth beneath his sunglasses. There was something satisfying about the thought of powerful individuals making decisions while remaining unaware that the information guiding them had passed through his hands. They might believe they were pursuing their own interests, unaware that someone had quietly altered the choices available to them.
However, Doflamingo was not foolish enough to mistake desire for possession. The Blood Tavern had value precisely because Peclo had spent years building it. Its agents had their own loyalties, its intermediaries maintained relationships that could not be reproduced by simply reading a list of names, and its clients trusted the organization because of the arrangements it had preserved. Killing Peclo would not automatically make those people loyal to a replacement.
He needed more than the man's position. He needed to understand the organization well enough to inherit it.
Doflamingo tapped a finger against the desk as he considered the problem. Approaching Peclo openly would reveal his interest, and an attempt to purchase the Tavern outright would likely invite suspicion. Peclo was an experienced underworld broker, not an ordinary merchant who could be persuaded to surrender a profitable business because another man offered enough money. Any proposal would need to give him a reason to engage with Joker while concealing the true purpose of the meeting.
The first step was information.
He needed to know how Peclo operated, where he traveled, whom he trusted, and what precautions he took when dealing with dangerous clients. He needed to understand which parts of the Tavern depended directly on Peclo and which could continue functioning without him. Most importantly, he needed to identify a way to remove the man without destroying the very network he intended to acquire.
A careless operation could leave him with a corpse and a collection of useless records. A successful one would leave the world believing that Drug Peclo still controlled the Blood Tavern, while Doflamingo quietly took possession of its accumulated secrets.
He picked up the paper and began writing down the questions that needed answers. The list grew steadily as he considered the different layers of Peclo's organization, each question leading to another. He did not expect to solve everything immediately, but the process had already clarified his objective.
The Blood Tavern would become his.
Once he had decided that, the remaining problem was determining how to accomplish it without exposing himself.
A soft knock came from the doorway, interrupting his thoughts. One of his subordinates entered after receiving permission and approached the desk with a report concerning Joker's ongoing business. Doflamingo listened without much interest, occasionally asking a question when a particular detail caught his attention. The report concerned an ordinary transaction, one that would have occupied much more of his attention a few days earlier.
He still considered the business important. Weapons, money, and reliable connections would remain necessary to his ambitions, and he had no intention of abandoning the enterprises that had brought him this far. Yet the report also reminded him of the difference between providing an opportunity and controlling the information that determined who would benefit from it.
When the subordinate finished, Doflamingo dismissed him and returned to his notes.
He would continue running Joker as before. There was no reason to change a successful business simply because he had identified a more valuable objective. In fact, Joker's existing reputation could become an advantage. Peclo already operated within the same world of criminal dealings, and a business proposal from an established broker would not be inherently suspicious.
The challenge was to ensure that Peclo saw the opportunity Doflamingo wanted him to see, rather than the intention hidden behind it.
Outside the window, the afternoon light began to fade. Doflamingo gathered the papers on his desk and placed them in a drawer, keeping the first set of notes separate from the ordinary records of Joker's operations. The plan was still incomplete, but he had no need to rush. He had learned long ago that the most valuable opportunities often belonged to the people willing to wait until the circumstances favored them.
The Conference of Kings had given him a chance to observe different forms of power, and he had returned with a clearer understanding of the one he wanted to pursue. He did not intend to imitate Frieza's overwhelming domination or adopt another man's vision of how the world should be governed. His ambitions remained his own, shaped by the experiences that had brought him to his current position.
He wanted the freedom to influence events without constantly placing himself at risk, to make decisions that would alter the course of conflicts long before their participants understood what was happening. The Blood Tavern could provide the means to begin building that kind of influence.
Doflamingo slipped his hands into his pockets and looked toward the city once more, his grin settling into the familiar expression that had unsettled so many of his enemies.
"Fufufufufu."
He had no intention of abandoning the throne. He simply no longer believed that he needed to sit on one to rule.