Chapter Text
It didn’t take long for the strawhats to set sail again after their adventure on Punk Hazard.
As soon as they boarded Usopp and Franky had made him stand as straight as possible on his good foot while they took his measurements. Unnecessary if they had asked him first, but sweet, nonetheless. He now had a brand new, state of the art walking cane, sturdy wood with a metal grip cushioned in leather. Apparently, he could get run over by the Franky tank and if nothing else the damn stick would survive.
The News Coo flew overhead and landed by the Marimo, who just crawled out of whatever hole he had napped in. Sanji was usually the only one awake at that time, but all the people around probably made the Mosshead nervous. A smile spread across his face before he could catch it.
“What are you smirking about this early? Thought you were still pissy about the brats sleeping in the girl’s bed.”
And immediately his good mood spoiled. He had been so worried with Goji out of his sight he barely slept. “Don’t be such a crass Idiot. We didn’t really have another place for the two anyway. Did you want to stag them on Top of your giant chest like Chopper?”
Said chest was currently half hidden behind the lapels of his Haori.
For a moment Zoro blinked confused, then he grinned, leaning in: “At least I don’t have a giant head like yours!”
Pissed of Sanji shifted his weight, screw him! He didn’t need the epitome of unwashed savage to appreciate his beauty! Just before making contact with the Marimo, he stopped.
He nearly forgot.
Zoro had stopped his blade just shy of his cast as well. His former excited look soured. “Broken Leg. Ahhh fuck!” The brute sheathed his sword again and moodily stomped off. What was that about?
The others had slowly started to trickle out of their shared quarters as well. He shared a confused look with Usopp, as they watched the stupid swordsman climb up into the crow’s nest.
Sanji blushed. There was no need for Zoro to treat him like he was delicate or something, it was just a minor inconvenience. Fucking weirdo.
Two boys ran past the cook, nearly making him stumble on his cast in leg. “Careful!”, the cook shouted after the pair. A curly browed child with a head of shortly cropped green tufts of hair skidded to a halt looking back worriedly. With a smile, steadying himself on his cane, he waved Goji off. It was good that he had someone to play with.
Speaking of the devil, Momonosuke had quickly snatched the other boy’s hand and tugged him along.
The kids were quite happy to be away from the freezing Island as well, skipping around the ship like it was their new playground.
Kin’emon’s little boy was headstrong and rather rambunctious now that he had thawed out a bit and kept ordering his new playmate around. Goji seemed content to follow him and explore the ship.
He looked much more comfortable now as well.
The first thing the cook had made sure of, as they boarded yesterday, was to get some better clothes for the kid. It had ticked Sanji off for a while, that he had to see his brother in the same uniform tunic he had to wear as a child himself. He hated that blocky, black number staring up at him with a burning passion.
So he used having a devil fruit user, with the power to conjure outfits, to his advantage. It might be a while before they could actually buy more clothes for both of the children and Chopper’s things certainly wouldn’t fit.
Now Goji wore a clean new T-shirt with a brightly laughing Sunny figure head on the front and some trousers made to run around and play in.
Kin’ himself was watching the two kids as well, they had found Nami’s Mikan groove - nothing too dangerous yet. The samurai looked as wrong footed as Sanji felt in his new role.
Come to think of it, the cook hadn’t asked how long ago his new friend had taken Momonosuke under his wing. Well, that meant the Samurai was probably out, as far as parenting advice was concerned.
A deep sigh left Kin'emons mouth, a faraway look entering his eyes as his gaze wandered over the sea towards the horizon.
"Something wrong?", Sanji had slowly scooched his way along the side of the boat towards the other man, "You seem worried... if that isn't too forward of me to say." He still wasn't too sure what was Wano custom and what was just Kin’emon being awkward around new people.
The slight smile on his friend’s face was a good sign at least. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Your hospitality is more than enough. I merely fear what we will find at our destination." He frowned again.
"I didn’t want to say anything in front of Momonosuke, but I left behind one of my comrades when I went after him. There is a strong possibility that he is being held at Dressrosa, but ..."
Sanji took out a fresh smoke from his pack. A lot can happen in a few days and if Doflamingo got the other Samurai...
"I am trying not to lose hope yet. Still, it won't do for a warrior not to prepare for the worst as well."
The cook clasped a strong hand around Kin’emon's shoulder, their crew was extremely lucky in these types of situations. "We'll get your friend back.", he said with hopefully enough confidence to persuade the other man as well. "What is his name?"
"Kanjuro. We were… We ARE headed to Zou after.", their conversation was cut short by shouting in the background. Usopp was desperately trying to wrestle the Transponder Snail’s Mouthpiece from Luffy, who predictably had monopolized the conversation. “So, You’re the Boss of this Ding-Dong Caesar?!”
Apparently while the two of them were distracted, a call from Donquixote Doflamingo had come through, the warlord Law had blackmailed only yesterday. The man in question just sat there stunned, as their Captain continued to shout into the Transponder: “We’re giving him back since that was the deal, but if you ever do something like that again, I’m coming for you!”
Not even a week back on the seas and Luffy had already threatened an emperor and a warlord. Sanji had really missed this crew. His last smoke had already burned out by now and he flicked the stub into the waves.
Doflamingo didn’t react angry or anything, he seemed completely in control as he vaguely baited Luffy: “As it happens, I’ve got something that I highly suspect you’ll be… desperate to get your hands on.”
Finally Law sprang into action. It was easy to get lost in their rubber brained Captains shenanigans, especially if you aren’t used to the widely swinging moods. Currently Luffy was lying on the floor dreaming of meat, even though their opponent hadn’t even suggested anything closely to edible, while Usopp was shaking the other boy.
Rubbing his head the cook focused back on the important stuff.
“Stick to the topic at hand, Joker! We’ll hand over Caesar as agreed.”, Law’s tone was strained and clipped.
An answering hum came out of the snail’s mouth: “That’s a smart move. For your own sake. You know the consequences if you try and vanish on me now.”
Sanji couldn’t really see the expression the other was making, with his head bowed and most of his face hidden behind his hat. The surgeon’s hand was clenched around the transmitter. The cook moved closer to hear better, trying not to put too much weight on his broken leg.
“First, show me that my valuable business partner is unharmed.”, Doflamingo asked.
With a jerk of his arm Law brought the microphone over to their captive.
Caesar looking barely worse for wear, in Sanji’s opinion, started to wail: “Joker, I can’t believe you quit for little, old…”
“Eight hours from now on Greenbit,” Law interrupted, “We’ll leave Caesar there at 3 in the afternoon. Collect him at your leisure. There will be no other contact.”
There was barely any time for the warlord to answer before Law hung up unceremoniously.
“Wait a second! We couldn’t even specify the number of people he can bring!”, Sanji’s chin nearly fell to the floor in shock, he thought Law was one of the smart ones. “What if…”
A glare was thrown his way. A curt answer from the surgeon following: “It doesn’t matter. He’s only a decoy.” The rude bastard turned back towards the rest of the crew. “Our goal is the destruction of the smile factory.”
It was now Kin’emon’s turn to cut into the conversation, the worry over his friend still evident in his voice. “We are still headed for Dressrosa then? Because the place you spoke of, Greenbit…”
“Greenbit is part of it. Don’t worry, well land the ship at Dressrosa.”, Law’s shoulders had dropped their tenseness, it seemed he had finally calmed down a bit.
Luffy skipped over: “Have you been to this place before then, Traffy?”
“No. It is… It was his Kingdom.”, there was definitely some history there, in the way Law had to grit the words out through his teeth.
Their captain nodded smartly: “In that case we can think it over when we get there!” Or not so smartly. Luffy grinned from ear to ear now. “I smell an adventure! I can’t wait to see Dressrosa! And Wano too!”
Up went the other man’s shoulders again in stress: “Wait Strawhat! This isn’t the kind of thing you can do without a plan!” His pleas fell on deaf ears, the sound of Sandals slapping on wood already retreating up the deck.
“A word to the wise… Luffy’s definition of an alliance is probably different from yours. Making him do anything isn’t a piece of cake.”
The other man just glared at Sanji again. What fly had bitten him? Had the blonde done or said anything wrong? He was already unreasonably short with the cook yesterday. Let Law try to persuade Luffy into following a plan then. Sanji was going to enjoy another cigarette in the meantime.
Out of nowhere a sniggering Lawn-carpet appeared next to the cook: "Looks like not only women are immune to your charm, huh curly?"
It took everything in Sanji to ignore the dumb idiot standing there expectantly, without retaliating. How dare he come over, having already let his coat slide to his hips and flaunt his well-defined muscled arms glistening with sweat?
He inhaled a lungful of fresh smoke, letting it slowly curl out of his mouth as he narrowed his eye at the mosshead. It was obvious his fond feelings the day before had been a fluke, the swordsman was still as annoying as always.
Abruptly he turned his head: “Hey, Goji! Zoro wants to come play with you guys! Be nice, yeah?”
Exited shouting drew closer as two pairs of little feet bustled over and threw themselves at the protesting man. That was one nuisance taken care of, sunlight was good for houseplants anyway, right?
"You shouldn't smoke so much.", muttered the little reindeer walking past him with his first aid bag in hand. Chopper looked up at him, his little blue nose twitching. "Especially with the kids around."
Guiltily Sanji took a last long drag and snuffed out his cigarette, pocketing the bud, even though they were far away from the two little demons currently clinging to both ends of Zoro’s weights as he lifted them in the air. The corners of his mouth threatened to rise all on their own, no! The blond refused to smile about anything the training obsessed green did! Hadn’t he trained enough for one day anyway?
Instead, he turned to follow Chopper checking up on their captive again. "You know, the smoke just disperses into the air or something?", he only got an unimpressed blank stare back, "I mean, we are outside, right?"
Seemingly not in the mood to rehash this old topic again, the doctor just hummed noncommittally, pouting. Sanji’s heart broke a little. "Sholololo, you should listen to your little Doctor, you know? All those particles in the air, clinging to your lungs..." That cockroach Caesar put on his fake benevolent smile, as if that would fool anyone here. "You know that's all Gas as well, if you lose my chains I could..."
Sanji accidentally stepped on the assholes foot with his cane. Not as satisfying as kicking him in the face would have been, but good enough.
"Sanji!", Chopper admonished him, "Again? No fighting my patients! Honestly..."
"You fucker!", screeched the pale man getting his bandages changed, "Fine! Not like you or that brat for the matter have to worry about these things... We normal humans can't just shrug off years of tar buildup in our respiratory system... How's your broken leg by the way?"
It got quiet. It wasn't bothering him as much as it should have... Gritting his teeth he hobbled away, he had to prepare breakfast anyway.
"What are you looking at you little monster?" He stopped again.
He heard heavy steps coming over and Choppers calm voice quietly saying: "I'm done."
Then, the sound of three sword sheaths hitting someone's skull one after the other. The cook continued on into the kitchen, as Zoro corralled Chopper into playing with the two kids (and the Marimo himself).
He could feel eyes following him into the galley, the hairs of his neck standing on end.
He smoothed a hand over the back of his head, calming down and already mentally preparing a list of tasks in his head. Sanji fished a worn-out little book out of one of the cabinets, there was an old Omelet recipe he felt like preparing, breaking eggs and whisking might give his antsy hands something better to do...
A stern old chef looked up at him from a newspaper clipping he had saved recently. Patty and Carne were happily pointing at the new addition to the Baratie, a giant monstrosity designed after Sanji’s old wanted poster. Those fuckers. He smiled at the constipated look of his mentor, never smiling for pictures, not even for the papers.
For a moment Sanji stopped what he was doing, laying the freshly washed tomatoes on the cutting board. It had been a while since he had last written the geezer, longer even than he heard his voice. He eyed the picture again. It wasn't like they would have changed their Transponder Snails signature or anything. He just didn't have much to brag about.
Well in the past he didn’t... Zeff would surely like to know about Goji. You couldn’t just spring a small child on the man who raised you. Sanji imagined the old grumps face if he showed up in a few years or so, after their adventure, a preteen in tow. He'd have a heart attack. The blond grinned, already reaching for the phone.
He knew the contact for the front desk by heart, the stupid geezer wouldn't answer his personal snail during dinner preparations. It rang for a few minutes, the transponder repeating the prepared waiting message.
'Thank you for your patience. Please hold, the Baratie prides itself on its customer service and a member of our staff will be with you shortly.'
Sanji wondered who it was that had to run the entrance today. Carne did like to play host if the kitchen was adequately staffed, but there was a stronger possibility it would be usual attendant.
"Baratie, Dai speaking. How can I help you today?"
"Hey," the cook awkwardly cleared his throat, the familiar, well-mannered voice already getting to him, "Uhm it's me, Sanji... is the Boss in?" It had been a while since he had to clarify who was speaking to any of the long-term staff in the Baratie, but he figured it had also been a while since any of them heard his voice.
"Oh shit! Kid, how have you been?", came the exited answer from the Maître’d. Sanji groaned he hadn’t been a kid in a long time. He had also grown taller than Dai a long time ago as well, the man barely reached his knee now.
"I’m fine the sea has been good to me. You'll get in trouble for cursing on the phone though..."
A dull thumb was heard over the line. The sound of a pegleg hitting the bony head of the small Nile-Tilapia fishman. Too late then.
He heard Zeff’s familiar voice berating Dai. "Are we taking personal calls during work hours now? What's our policy for that?"
"I did not go against the rules, sir! You know me, I am a stickler for rules!", the blond imagined the man straightening his jacket, falling back into his role easily. Dai wouldn’t get out of this one, a personal was a personal, no exceptions!
He felt kind of bad to have gotten the man in trouble, after all he was one of Sanji’s more tolerable pseudo-Uncles. Mildly miffed Dai said: "It’s our boy calling. I was just about to get you."
"Hello...", Sanji croaked out again. The shouting stopped, then: "Little Eggplant? Took you long enough to call."
The blond rolled his eyes: "I wrote Letters. I just sent one last week!"
"I'm taking lunch.", was faintly shouted into the kitchen of the Baratie. The rhythmic thumping of Zeff making his way across the restaurant was nostalgic. He didn't think he would get that pang of homesickness in his chest hearing it.
He heard a door close while Zeff grumbled into the Transponder. "You know that's not the same. I thought Strawhat might have run you so ragged you could barely speak!"
Sanji laughed; it wasn't that far from the truth with Luffy’s appetite. "Nothing I can't handle; I had a great teacher when it came to cooking."
"Is everything alright Eggplant? You're getting sentimental on me.", a suspicious pause, "Next you tell me you miss me."
"As if, you old geezer! Don't worry, I'm fine, everyone is healthy and alright. I just need some advice...", Sanji could hear the raised eyebrow, "on raising a child?"
Zeff sighed into the phone: "Oh Sanji, who did you knock up?"
"What?! „No one!", stressed the blond cook grabbed one of the larger bowls from under the sink and began to whisk the eggs for the Omelet into shape. Not that his interest lay with the fairer sex right now anyway, damit.
"Unfortunately, you won't have to worry about that at the moment. No, I kind of took a kid in? He's about 9 years old."
Zeff started laughing hysterically, tears gathering in the Snails eyes, mirroring his mentor. "Well," He panted out, "seems like a cat doesn’t give birth to dogs."
A cold shudder ran down Sanji's back. He was used to the strange Idioms only the old man ever seemed to use, hailing from the chef’s hometown. He had only ever told Zeff the barest of information about his birth father. Enough to keep him from trying to find any living relatives to send him to, so how would he know anything about the cat that had produced Sanji?
"What's that supposed to mean?", he whispered. As he diced some Onions, the next hit of the knife on the cutting board packed a bit more strength than was strictly necessary. Good thing he didn't do that to the bell peppers.
Zeff snorted: "Just that you copied more from me than your fighting style! So, where did that Tyke come from?" A brief warmth bloomed in Sanji’s chest, before the question registered and a nervous hand crept into the blond’s hair, "Well, technically you could say he is my brother..."
"Technically?"
"Biologically."
"Hmm.", Zeff sighed out a weary breath. "You rescued him then?"
They had found some mushrooms thriving at the humid hot/cold border of Punk Hazard. The blond made even slices as he thought about the answer to that.
"Maybe.", the Mushroom slices went into the pan with the chopped onions and bell peppers, "Listen, you should keep a low profile for a bit. I never told you this, but my father is a dangerous man. I ... I am worried Zeff."
"I am not scared of any man and whoever he might be now, he isn't your father anymore.", the restauranteur sounded like he was barely holding back from screaming, "I can take care of myself little Eggplant, so don't go bald worrying over an old man. I'd rather have you tell me what you're cooking."
With tears in his eyes Sanji began to tell him the recipe step by step, getting some critical advice.
There was still a lot he wanted to tell the man who raised him, but there was time. He hadn't even started on the sandwiches yet.
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Law was glad that Vinsmoke had disappeared into the kitchen for now, he could concentrate on getting Strawhat to listen instead of watching his own back all the time. The surgeon still kept an eye out for the other North Blue resident. It didn’t seem that any of the Strawhat Crew knew about the third prince of the Germa kingdom, they still behaved the same way he expected them to before the big revelation from Caesar. The archeologist at the very least had to know though and it set Law on edge again, he couldn’t allow himself any mistakes now that he was so close to his goal!
So close to avenging Cora-sans death…
He stalked after Strawhat, who was playing with the two children and his doctor on the lawn.
“Strawhat, it is important that you understand the plan. If we want to take down Kaido, we have to get rid of Doflamingo first!”
“Why’s that?”, asked not the captain, but the first mate leaning against the mast nearby. Better than nothing, Law guessed.
“Kaido of the Beasts is one of the Donquixote Families largest underground clients.”, he began, “With the chemicals from the S.A.D. production facility I destroyed on Punk Hazard, Doflamingo can produce his own man-made Zoan Type Devil Fruits, that he sells to Kaido in great quantities.”
The nose suddenly joined their conversation, shouting over from the other side of the deck, where he was tinkering on some weaponry or other: “Man-made? If you could just create Devil Fruits, people with powers would pop up all over the place!”
“Exactly.” That at least got the Straw hat’s attention as well. “There are some risks to the Smile Fruits, as they call them, but there are at least 500 Devil-Fruit users in Kaido’s Crew already. That is why I asked you to kidnap Caesar. Without the S.A.D. there is no Smile.”
Even though he broke it down to the simplest terms possible, he could see that Straw hat was already losing his focus, dammit.
“So, that guy,” the little Reindeer, Doctor Tony-Tony, was pointing at Caesar sitting at the swordsman’s feet, “That despicable guy made the foundation for those Devil Fruits? Incredible...”
There was no need to admire the guy overly, after all: “It’s just an application of the bloodline elements first discovered by Vegapunk.”
Tony-Tony got a contemplative look on his face again, muttering: “Bloodline elements, I just read that term before, but I didn’t really think about it. Do you have some more information about that? It’s really important!”
“I’ve got a book about that somewhere, Chopper.”, the Archeologist Ms. Nico said serenely.
They were getting of topic again…
Caesar, after being ignored for 2 Minutes pouted and grumbled under his breath: “As if the little Critter could decipher what took a Genius like me years to uncover.”
A hand grew out of the Tree and slapped the supposed Genius as he got kicked in the side by Roronoa’s heavy boot. “I just treated his wounds!”
Law felt his left eye twitch.
“Focus! We already got Doflamingo to step down from the throne he held for 10 years and agree to meet us in greenbit!”, the surgeon shouted over the loud laughter of the other crew’s captain.
“Relax bro, you said Caesar is a decoy, right?”, Law nodded at the Robo carpenter leaning against the railing, “So we destroy that Smile Factory on Dressrosa while you’re busy. Easy-Peasy. It must be a super big building, can’t be that hard to miss. One Franky laser beam should do it!” The blue haired man winked at him. He heard Ms. Nico chuckling happily next to him. That was it, Law was out.
He saw Vinsmoke disappear into the galley earlier. Perhaps he could snatch a cup of Chamomile Tea while he was there.
Faint snippets of conversation reached Law from the other side of the door.
“No, you’re right. You raised me. You should be the only family that matters to me. It’s just hard…”
What? Was Vinsmoke talking to the Dictator that was terrorizing the Blue Law was born in?
He knew that the blond was hiding something! It couldn’t be that he was planted here to foil Law’s plans, the surgeon himself hadn’t known he was going to ally with Straw hat until it happened, so what could a war monger want with a upstart crew from the East Blue?
Trapped in his own head, he missed some chunks of conversation.
“When do I get to see little Goji then?”, the voice wasn’t what he expected. Grimm and rough sounding, but not with the authoritarian dignity he thought it would hold. Comics could only tell you so much, huh?
“I’ll bring him over when I come home.”, Vinsmoke sounded happy, not like he was being coerced or threatened, was he only pretending to be Straw hat’s friend?
Vinsmoke’s father answered: “Bring your swordsman too, when you stop hiding in the kitchen.”
“He’s NOT my swordsman!”, the cook sputtered, “And I am not hiding either. I just don’t want to see that guy right now.”
Who? It wouldn’t make sense to hide from his crew if Vinsmoke thought that they suspected anything. That would only make him more suspicious.
“I don’t really know what to do with him, I mean why do I even…”, Vinsmoke groaned in despair.
So, he was probably hiding from Law himself. Well, though Luck. Law pushed the door open.
“Oh!”, Vinsmoke quickly recovered from the shock of seeing the surgeon stand in his kitchen with narrowed eyes. “I’m so sorry, I might have forgotten the time. Bye Zeff, I’ll get back to you about that Sole Meunière…” He hung up. They were probably speaking in codes.
The blond hung up his apron and started putting several plates with sandwiches on the table. Ugh bread. “Dinner got kind of away from me. Are you hungry?”
Not for whatever traitorous dish Vinsmoke was planning. Just as a plate with delicious smelling Omelete’s made its way to the table as well, the door burst open and Luffy came in:
“I am hungry!”
The rest of dinner was spent trying to defend his plate and listen to the Samurai of Wano tell them about the friend he wanted to rescue on Dressrosa.
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He had brought Buffalo and Baby 5 home, safe and sound. Even though it must have been humiliating to have been beaten by their little runaway and his new friends. Doflamingo chuckled. Let him think he had won the first round in their struggle for power, the game wasn’t over yet.
The tall blond man stood in what must have been a private dinning hall in the Riku familie's time. Now it was the meeting place for his most inner circle, the heads of his little family.
Through the tall rows of windows, he could hear his subjects cry out in alarm, the fake story about his abdication had just been printed. Doflamingo was a little miffed that he had to pull some strings in the world government to make that happen, but oh well, at least his family name was good for something for once.
Behind him stood a row of 4 Seats, the Spade seat was already occupied by Pica, with Diamante settling in next to him on his own throne.
They were still waiting on Trebol then to fill the seat of club. He had sent Baby 5 to get him with their little prize for the tournament. She wouldn’t disappoint him.
In the meantime: “The Coliseum is booming as always, thanks to you Diamante.”
Always one to refuse a compliment Diamante turned away. "Nonsense, it’s a result of your charismatic royal lead, Dofy.”, he kept hemming and hawing even when Doflamingo insisted, he just couldn't stop fishing for more positive words, even after Doflamingo called him the hero of the Coliseum.
Keeping a straight face the warlord backed off: “Fine, I take it back.”
It was entertaining to see Diamante do a 180 in a second. It certainly kept his mind from wandering to the disappointingly dusty Heart seat, remaining empty still.
If he had his way, he would put someone on there, but oh other people could be so selfish and stubborn. Law running around and hiding until now and his brother…
Trebol dropped from the ceiling in a disgusting display of his powers and pushed right into Doflamingo’s personal space. “You’re too close.”
At least he had brought what he asked for, the little treasure chest being passed over to the warlord.
Another clucking laugh rose in his chest.
“If Straw hat learns I have this, he will be desperate to get his hands on it and this little alliance will turn into a set of shackles holding him back.”
The Flame-Flame Fruit of Portgas D Ace. Oh, how he knew the stupid mistakes one might make because of family connections. He had saved this fruit for just such an occasion, the perfect bait.
“I will entrust this to you Diamante, only a genius like you can take it.”, after another back and forth, he took the chest.
“If you insist, I admit it! I am a genius and when Straw hat comes for the Fruit, he’ll get a nasty surprise!”
“I knew I could leave this to you. The Flame-Flame Fruit won’t just attract that little brat though. The strongest fighters from all over the New World got an invitation to a friendly little competition for this thing.”, and he wouldn’t let any of them walk away with his price, “Get ready, I want you and your Top 4 men in the ring. Señor Pink, Dellinger, Lao G and Machvise. A strong fighter like you surely won’t lose, right?”
While Diamante was trying to get some more attention, he turned to his quiet, loyal guard dog. “Get the Pica Army together and be ready. Don’t let Baby 5 or Buffalo Patrol, they’ve already seen their faces, sent someone else.”
Speaking of: “Trebol, why don’t you send Violet off as well? She will probably be the first to know if any of the Strawhats set foot on this Island.”
With a disgustingly wet snort, the Mucus-Mucus fruit user asked: “And after that? Do I get to collect them personally?”
He weighed his options, on the one hand he could trust Trebol to complete his mission perfectly, on the other hand the Straw Hats were a tiny crew, that was going to be split into even tinier groups. Hardly a task worthy of one of his top gunners.
“Send Giolla to take their ship. Any strays will be easily disposed of. No, I have a much more important task for you and Sugar in the Toyhouse. After all, we don’t want our guests to have made the long journey all for nothing.” Seeing the glint in Trebol’s eyes, he definitely understood what Doflamingo was getting at.
That should tie up all his lose ends nicely. He would take care of Law himself.
“Oh, before I forget, that rookie from Mock Town, that came crawling back here, put him in the ring too. Might be entertaining, no?”
With that he turned to leave. Law thought he was smarter than him? Let us see that little bug escape his net.
“Where are you going?”, Trebol called after him.
Doflamingo paused: “Into the dungeons. Sent Pica if there is any unexpected News.”
Time for a little visit.
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