My return to the North Blue began with a secure line to Rear Admiral Stainless.
As the veteran officer now serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Command, he confirmed my suspicions: the Numancia Flamingo had vanished from the Navy's radar two months ago.
Before the trail went cold, Doflamingo was seen hopping between islands, trending toward Reverse Mountain. He's planning to enter the Grand Line.
A bold move, Doflamingo, I thought, but your journey ends in these freezing waters.
I whistled, calling forth Kafu, my Gatling gun that ate the Eagle-Eagle Fruit. At his screech, the "Weathercock Unit"—a swarm of seagulls and sea birds under Kafu's alpha leadership—descended.
I fed them choice scraps and sent them skyward. Within days, the birds spotted the pink-feathered hull of the Flamingo.
Stage One: The Invisible Tether
We approached under the shroud of a moonless night. I slipped into the freezing water alone, swimming silently toward the anchored pirate ship.
With a serrated combat knife, I drove the "Master" sheet of my Vivre Card deep into the wooden hull beneath the waterline.
This "Life Paper," crafted from my own fingernails in the New World, is nearly indestructible. The "Child" scrap I held would now perpetually strain toward the ship.
I didn't need a Log Pose; I had a homing beacon. I could have bored a hole and sunk them then and there, but Doflamingo still had a part to play in my script—and I wasn't about to murder the children on his crew just yet.
Stage Two: The Vermin Vanguard
The following night, I returned to the shadows of their stern. This time, I released Ishizumi II and a hundred specially trained rats into the hold.
Their job was simple: hide, listen, and wait for the signal to sabotage the food stores or gnaw through the rigging. It went off without a hitch.
The Donquixote Family, for all their bravado, lacked anyone with Observation Haki capable of sensing a few rodents and a swimming Marine.
Stage Three: The Long-Range Terror
The next day, the Charlotte Angel appeared on the horizon, flying the defiant Red Navy flag. We opened fire from maximum range. As the pirates scrambled to flee, I didn't give chase.
"Boss, why let them run?" Gin asked, his hand on his tonfas.
"Because I can find them whenever I want," I replied. "If I wanted to stop them, I'd swim over and rip their rudder off myself. But Doflamingo is more useful to me mobile... for now."
A day later, we closed the gap again. Standing on the bow, I drew a new weapon delivered from Headquarters: Kijinaki (The Pheasant's Cry).
This wasn't a standard bow. It was a massive composite longbow made of the same heavy alloys as my battle-staff, with a string woven from multiple high-tensile metallic fibers.
It was so stiff that it took several ordinary Marines just to string it. I drew it back with a groan of shifting metal, using Observation Haki to lock onto the target 500 meters away.
Twang—BOOM!
The arrow—a heavy bolt of compressed iron—didn't arc. It tore through the air in a flat, supersonic trajectory.
It didn't just stick; it punched a clean "wind hole" straight through the pirate ship's bulwark. I fired a dozen more, each shot a deliberate, bone-shaking exertion of my trained physique.
"That's enough for today," I said, reaching into an empty quiver. These specialized bolts were prototypes and expensive to mass-produce.
I'd punched about six holes in his ship, carefully avoiding the mast or the rudder. I wanted him terrified, not stationary.
On the Numancia Flamingo...
"DAMN THAT RED GULL!!"
Donquixote Doflamingo kicked the shattered railing of his ship, his veins bulging behind his sunglasses. He was beyond livid.
It had been two months since Corazon disappeared with the brat Law, claiming he was seeking a cure.
During that time, the Navy's pursuit had strangely vanished, leading Doflamingo to believe his brother might have been the leak. But just as he started to breathe easy, the Independent Task Force—the dreaded Red Gulls—had appeared.
He knew the commander: Krieg, the "Blunt Bear." A man who had climbed the ranks from a teenaged recruit to a Rear Admiral.
The man who had defeated Shiki the Golden Lion—twice. Krieg was a tactical monster who used everything from heavy ordnance to psychological warfare.
How does he keep finding us? Doflamingo fumed. Did Corazon flip? Or is there a traitor still on board?
He realized his current path to the Grand Line was compromised. He needed eyes inside the enemy's camp. Taking a risk, he initiated a coded transmission to Vergo, his most trusted kite currently embedded deep within the Marines.
His new order was simple and suicidal: "Infiltrate the Red Gulls. Find out how Krieg is tracking me, and eliminate him if the chance arises."
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