Dressrosa.
Luffy captured Kong and brought him back to the shore.
As for the Navy's Buster Call fleet, it was completely blocked at sea, waiting for the higher-ups to carry out the hostage exchange.
Hundreds of Sea Kings surrounded the fleet. No one would be able to escape!
Considering that the Navy was still something that could be conquered in the future, Luffy did not kill Kong.
When they returned to the coast, Monet immediately came to greet them.
"Lord Luffy, this is… Commander Kong?"
She was shocked.
"Where is Doflamingo?"
Luffy controlled the vines, tightly bound Kong, tossed him toward Monet, and said:
"Keep an eye on him."
"Yes! Doflamingo is at the Corrida Colosseum."
Monet immediately took custody of Kong.
His hands and feet had been pierced by the vines, while his neck remained restrained and tightly squeezed. At this point, he had already fainted from lack of oxygen.
"Let's go. We're heading into the city first."
Luffy nodded and walked toward the city.
Monet followed behind him while taking out her Den Den Mushi to contact Doflamingo.
As soon as they entered the city, Luffy noticed that the residents showed no signs of tension.
It seemed that no one knew the Navy's Buster Call was approaching.
The atmosphere remained extremely peaceful.
Many people on the streets were surprised to see Luffy appear.
"Your Majesty Luffy!"
"Lord Luffy!"
A crowd quickly gathered around him excitedly, thanking him for freeing the country from the curse of the toys.
Everyone had already read the newspaper and learned about the Void Century.
Luffy was slightly surprised by the people's enthusiasm.
Listening to the citizens speak, he realized that they already treated him as the true king of Dressrosa.
So he greeted everyone with a smile and casually asked about the country's current situation.
It did not take long for Dressrosa to recover from the revolution. After the initial chaos, the country quickly stabilized again.
Luffy had distributed the king's power equally among all adult citizens.
He wanted to observe what kind of outcome would emerge without interference from external forces.
But so far, everyone was merely repeating the wheel of history.
The people had chosen Riku Doldo III as the leader of the country, and the current Dressrosa was not very different from the old one.
The only difference was…
Although Luffy was acknowledged as king, the one truly governing the country was Riku Doldo III.
"How is the palace?"
Luffy looked toward the castle, bid farewell to the crowd, and immediately headed toward the royal grounds.
When he returned to the palace, he noticed there were far fewer servants.
The entire castle felt empty, with only a few maids responsible for daily cleaning.
The moment a servant cleaning the hallway saw Luffy, she was startled and immediately knelt down.
"Your Majesty!!"
"Get up. There's no need to kneel whenever you greet me in the future. It's too troublesome."
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty!"
The maid quickly stood up again, keeping her head lowered and maintaining an extremely respectful posture.
Luffy asked:
"This palace is empty?"
"Yes. Since you are not here, no one considers themselves qualified to live in the castle. Normally, we are only responsible for cleaning and maintenance. Those were Governor Riku's orders."
Hearing that, Luffy nodded in understanding.
In the current Dressrosa, the position governing the country was called "Consul."
According to the system created by the citizens, the consul did not have a fixed term.
As long as the people continued supporting their rule, they would remain in office until death.
In practice, it was merely a change in title.
From king to consul.
In essence, there was no difference at all.
With Riku Doldo III's reputation, he could comfortably remain in office until the day he died.
Considering he was already old, he probably would not stay much longer.
Luffy also needed to start thinking about a successor.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Luffy then entered the main hall and said to Monet:
"Go call Doflamingo. And while you're at it, ask Johnny and Yosaku to come as well."
"Yes, Lord Luffy."
Monet quickly left.
As soon as he was alone, Luffy opened the system.
The Adventure Shop for the day had not been refreshed yet.
Using the temporal refresh function, he refreshed the shop six times and purchased ten Haki Fruits.
[Adventure Storage]: Haki Fruit ×101 Longevity Fruit ×1 Blank Fruit ×1 Healing Fruit ×1
Out of the twenty-four Blank Fruits he had purchased previously, twenty-three had already been used. Only one remained.
On the other hand, the number of Haki Fruits had finally surpassed three digits.
"Enough to raise my Haki to level 7…"
Luffy took out ninety-nine Haki Fruits and began eating them like snacks.
Since he had already consumed one before, upon finishing the ninety-ninth fruit, his Conqueror's Haki finally reached a critical point.
[Conqueror's Haki Lv6 → Lv7!]
Human limit!
Luffy immediately realized that this seemed to be the true limit of human beings.
And level 7 Conqueror's Haki brought a brand-new ability.
Supreme King Domain!
Whenever Conqueror's Haki was released, everyone within its range would completely lose their own Haki!
It was even more terrifying than "Observation Killing."
"Observation Killing" merely nullified the enemy's Observation Haki.
But Supreme King Domain suppressed even the opponent's Conqueror's Haki.
The principle was simple.
Because it was overwhelming!
When Luffy's Conqueror's Haki filled the battlefield, everyone else's Haki was completely suppressed.
His Haki had undergone a qualitative evolution, utterly crushing any user below level 7.
"Let's test it…"
Thinking that, Luffy focused his gaze.
In an instant, Conqueror's Haki covered the entire island.
This time, however, the Haki carried no destructive pressure upon consciousness. No one even noticed its existence.
The difference between dimensions was simply too great.
People who had not yet reached level 7 would not even be capable of sensing the release of Luffy's Conqueror's Haki at that moment.
It silently enveloped the entire island.
At that same instant…
Corrida Colosseum, backstage room.
"Fufufufufufu… so you finally arrived?"
Doflamingo looked extremely pleased when he saw Monet.
"If you hadn't returned, I'm afraid I would've had to use my final trump card."
He was not happy because of Monet. He was simply relieved to realize that Straw Hat had not abandoned him yet.
Very good.
"Young Master, Lord Luffy wants you to go meet him at the palace."
Upon seeing Doflamingo again, Monet unexpectedly noticed that he seemed extremely calm.
"Let's go… hm?"
Doflamingo frowned.
Suddenly, he realized that his perception seemed to have completely failed.
It was as though his Observation Haki had vanished.
He subconsciously looked toward Diamante.
"Did you feel something?"
"What are you talking about?"
"No… it's nothing."
Doflamingo shook his head.
"Stay here. I'll go meet him alone."
Then, under Monet's guidance, he headed toward the palace.
Inside the main hall, Doflamingo saw Luffy calmly sitting on the sofa.
"You're here already?"
Luffy opened his eyes, crossed his legs, and spoke.
"Was it you? My Haki suddenly disappeared…"
Doflamingo looked serious.
"No… it's more like Haki can no longer be released. As though something is completely suppressing that power."
Hearing that, Luffy raised his eyebrows in surprise.
This guy reacted way too quickly.
He immediately noticed the problem.
"That's right."
Luffy answered without hiding anything.
"But I'm not interested in explaining that right now. What happened? The World Government suddenly launched a Buster Call against Dressrosa. I understand the reason involving the country… but why you?"
Initially, Luffy believed that Dressrosa alone had been the target.
But after reading Kong's mind through Observation Haki, he discovered that the Five Elders' true order was to eliminate Doflamingo.
Hearing that, Doflamingo's expression darkened.
He clenched his teeth before answering:
"Ten days ago, after the war at Whole Cake Island, I returned to Mariejois and secretly began investigating the Five Elders… exactly as you requested. I just didn't expect to be discovered so easily."
Even he could not understand how it had happened.
The investigation had been progressing perfectly.
If Imu had not noticed his movements, perhaps the Five Elders would have remained completely unaware.
Luffy asked calmly:
"What did you discover?"
At the same time, his Observation Haki read Doflamingo's mind, confirming that he was not lying.
Doflamingo smiled faintly.
"I discovered the abilities of several of them. And the most shocking thing… is that almost all of them possess Mythical Zoans."
Then he began explaining.
"Saint Topman Warcury, the Warrior God of Justice, that old man with the mustache… possesses a Mythical Zoan: the Dream Tapir Fruit."
"Although it's called the 'Dream Tapir Form,' its ability directly involves the soul…"
Doflamingo spoke solemnly.
"Then there's Saint Marcus Mars, the Warrior God of the Environment, that old man with the goatee… he possesses the Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Garuda."
"The legendary golden bird… a flying ability not even recorded in the Devil Fruit encyclopedia!"
Doflamingo snorted coldly.
"That means it's a sixth unknown flying ability."
The other five known flying types were all recorded in the encyclopedia.
For example, Marco's Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix.
Or Pell, Alabasta's guardian, with the Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Falcon.
There were only five officially recorded Devil Fruits with flight abilities.
But Saint Mars' fruit appeared nowhere in the records.
Just like the Gomu Gomu no Mi… it had been hidden.
"Anything else?"
Luffy continued asking.
"There's also Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, the Warrior God of Science and Defense."
Doflamingo replied quickly:
"His ability is a Mythical Zoan as well… Human-Human Fruit, Model: Gyūki."
"His special abilities involve poison and strange curses…"
"As for the last one, Saint Shepherd Ju Peter… he's relatively young, and I still haven't managed to discover his ability."
Among the Five Elders, all of them were elderly men with white hair or bald heads.
Only Ju Peter appeared to be a blond middle-aged man.
"He only became one of the Five Elders within the last few decades, so there's very little information about him."
Doflamingo continued:
"But there's something even more important… something that will definitely interest you."
About the immortality of the Five Elders.
"First: Ju Peter does not seem to be immortal. He only joined the Five Elders around thirty or forty years ago. But the others… have held their positions for more than seventy years!"
At least according to the records Doflamingo investigated, the same four names already existed among the Five Elders seventy years ago, including the deceased Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro.
"So they're all Mythical Zoan users…"
Luffy chuckled softly.
Dream Tapir.
Gyūki.
Garuda.
And the unknown blond man probably possessed a Mythical Zoan as well.
Considering Ju Peter was the youngest, perhaps he was even the strongest among the five.
"And Imu?"
Doflamingo fell silent for a moment before shaking his head.
"I don't know. There's practically no information about him. It's as though this person never existed. But there is one thing…"
"Speak."
Doflamingo narrowed his eyes.
"The secret of eternal life. Users of the Ope Ope no Mi can perform the immortality surgery at the cost of their own life. But do you know how that surgery actually works?"
"How?"
Not daring to hide anything, Doflamingo answered quickly:
"It's not a normal bodily transformation. It's the awakening of the Ope Ope no Mi."
"The awakened user creates a special surgical space… an 'eternal life space.'"
"That space is permanently applied to the target, causing the person's bodily time to completely stop."
At the same time, the Ope Ope no Mi allows free movement within that space.
"People who received the immortality surgery can also use this type of spatial ability!"
Finally, Doflamingo revealed a strange smile.
"In other words… Imu possesses abilities equivalent to one and a half Devil Fruits!"
"No… perhaps it's more accurate to say…"
"…he's practically a dual ability user!"
(End of Chapter)