At King's Plateau, by the side of a luxurious swimming pool.
The air seemed to solidify into tangible concrete.
It was so heavy it made it hard to breathe.
Doflamingo maintained his humble, bowing posture.
Cold sweat slid from his forehead down the frame of his sunglasses.
Drip.
It dripped onto the expensive marble floor.
He didn't dare move.
He didn't even dare to take a deep breath.
Because the man calling himself Indra was scrutinizing him with a gaze reserved for ants.
In that gaze, there was no killing intent.
There was only a kind of... indifference that spanned vast stretches of time.
It was as if, in his eyes, the Shichibukai before him was no different from a weed by the roadside.
"An opportunity..."
Indra stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his voice ethereal and ancient.
It sounded as if it were coming from the depths of an eternal glacier.
"Junior."
"What do you think is most important for existences like us?"
Doflamingo's Adam's apple bobbed.
Suppressing his internal trembling, he asked tentatively in a raspy voice.
"Is it... power?"
"Heh."
Indra let out a contemptuous sneer.
He slowly raised his hand.
In his palm, a crystal-clear ice lotus bloomed out of thin air.
It was bone-chillingly cold and breathtakingly beautiful.
"Power?"
"That is something only a beast would care about."
"For the Foundation, power is merely a basic tool to achieve our goals."
"We contain gods, control anomalies, and protect the sparks of human civilization."
"In this process..."
"The most precious resource is time."
Crack.
The ice lotus in his palm shattered instantly, turning into countless tiny ice crystals that dissipated into the air.
"In this low-dimensional universe..."
"You fight tooth and nail for a mere few decades of life."
"For so-called power and wealth, you exhibit all sorts of ugly behavior."
"Truly pathetic."
Indra turned around, his back to Doflamingo.
He looked up at the azure sky.
His tone carried a sense of loneliness borne of witnessing the World's transformations.
"It has been a thousand years since I joined the Foundation."
Boom!
These words exploded in Doflamingo's mind like a million tons of TNT!
A thousand years?!
Doflamingo jerked his head up, his face full of horror.
Even Trebol, who had been playing dead, was so startled that mucus sprayed out.
One thousand years!
What kind of concept was that?
The World Government has only been established for eight hundred years!
Before that period of history known as the 'Void Century'...
This man already existed?
And... he had joined an organization called the 'SCP Foundation'?
An indescribable sense of insignificance instantly pierced through Doflamingo's psychological defenses.
If what this person said was true...
Then the historical depth of this 'Foundation' was terrifying to the extreme!
They might have been monitoring this World even before the birth of the World Government!
"A... a thousand years..."
Doflamingo's voice was trembling.
It was an instinctive awe of the unknown and the ancient.
"Are you surprised?"
Indra turned his head slightly, the gaze beneath his ice-sculpted mask remaining indifferent.
"Within the Foundation..."
"I am merely a middle-level manager responsible for field operations."
"There are many others like me."
"As for those members of the O5 Council at the top..."
"The time scale in their eyes is measured in 'Eras'."
Doflamingo felt his worldview collapsing.
And then rapidly reorganizing.
So... is this the truth of the World?
The Celestial Dragon bloodline he was previously so proud of was, in front of these ancient existences...
Simply as laughable as a nouveau riche upstart!
"Whew..."
Doflamingo took a deep breath.
The ambition in his eyes, instead of being extinguished, burned even more vigorously!
If it's true.
If all of this is true!
Then as long as he clings to this colossal power, what does a mere Pirate King matter?
What does a mere World Government matter?!
"My... My Lord."
Doflamingo's voice became incredibly respectful, even carrying a hint of fawning.
"The opportunity you mentioned just now..."
"What were you referring to?"
Indra turned around.
Those deep eyes seemed to see through all the greed in Doflamingo's heart.
"My descent into this plane this time..."
"Besides assisting Captain Abel in dealing with that traitor..."
"Is also for a private matter."
Speaking of which.
The surrounding temperature seemed to drop a few more degrees.
An inexplicable chill enveloped the entire pool area.
"I have an unworthy junior."
"Who has also ended up on this sea."
A junior?
Doflamingo's eyes narrowed, and he immediately pricked up his ears.
This was definitely key information!
"That fool."
In Indra's voice, there was an extra hint of coldness, like disappointment in someone who failed to live up to expectations.
"He thought that by learning a few superficial medical skills..."
"He could dream of defying the family's destiny."
"Dream of breaking the curse flowing through his bloodline."
"Truly... he doesn't know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth."
Doflamingo's heart stirred.
Medical skills?
A curse?
He keenly seized upon these two keywords.
"My Lord means..."
Doflamingo asked cautiously.
"You need me to help you find him?"
"Correct."
Indra nodded.
He waved his hand casually.
The moisture in the air condensed instantly.
It transformed into a lifelike ice crystal portrait in front of him.
It was a young man carrying a huge medicine box, wearing a scarf, with eyes that looked somewhat melancholy.
Especially that signature hairstyle and clothing.
The characteristics were very obvious.
"His current alias is Bian Que."
"A self-righteous wandering physician."
Indra looked at the portrait, his tone cold.
"He stole some forbidden potions from the family."
"And is currently scurrying around this sea like a headless fly."
"Bian Que..."
Doflamingo repeated the name through gritted teeth.
As if he wanted to carve it into his marrow.
Although it was a name he had never heard before.
Since it came from the mouth of this 'God' who had lived for a thousand years...
That wandering physician definitely hid a shocking secret!
"That brat named Bian Que."
Indra stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his tone as indifferent as if he were discussing the weather.
"What he took is not just forbidden potions."
"But also..."
"The fragmented formula for the 'Elixir of Immortality' that the First Emperor exhausted the entire nation's resources to refine back then."
Boom—!
Doflamingo's pupils instantly contracted to the size of pinpricks!
His heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible giant hand.
Even his breathing stopped at this moment.
Eternal life... The Elixir of Immortality?!
These words, for anyone on this sea...
Held a fatal allure!
Especially for Doflamingo.
He had always coveted the ultimate ability of the Ope-Ope no Mi—the Perpetual Youth Surgery.
For that legendary eternal life.
He had even been willing to sacrifice the life of his younger brother, Corazon!
And now.
Right in front of him.
This mysterious powerhouse from a high-dimensional civilization had actually revealed another clue about 'eternal life'!