"Stop! Please! It hurts—don't hit me anymore!"
Wapol clutched his stubby little arms as his head flailed wildly, like he was mashing garlic. His blood-smeared face was drenched in tears and snot, full of pitiful pleading.
All the arrogance and pampered cruelty he once flaunted as a spoiled king had completely vanished.
Now, he tasted a pain more intense than anything he'd ever experienced… and a terror beyond words.
He understood—there was only one thing he could do now: beg for mercy.
Wapol's trembling fear stood in stark contrast to the excitement on Doflamingo's face. Mushiru, watching from the side, felt a chill rise in his heart.
Good thing it wasn't me, he thought. If I'd failed, I'd be the one groveling right now.
Enel, clearly bored, pulled out an apple and started chomping away.
"The boss sure has weird tastes. Wouldn't it be easier just to fry him with a bolt of lightning?"
"Fufufufufufu… Wapol."
Doflamingo chuckled, clearly satisfied as he soaked in Wapol's broken state. This hippo was finally responding well to the initial modifications.
With a flick of his fingers, the threads pulled Wapol closer.
In Wapol's blurred vision, Doflamingo's face loomed larger and larger. Instinctively, he tilted his head back, trying to lean away, to get just a bit of distance.
But it was a pathetic, meaningless gesture.
Doflamingo reached out and yanked Wapol's scalp, his voice unusually calm.
"Remember my name—Doflamingo. I'm your guardian now."
"If I tell you to eat shit, you'll eat piss with it. Got that?"
Wapol's features twisted grotesquely, his scalp nearly separating from his skull.
The agony engulfed every nerve in his body.
"Uuuugh… I—I understand!"
Wapol forced a sniveling, servile smile onto his contorted face.
As long as he said yes… the pain would stop. Right?
"Good. Burn it into your memory."
Doflamingo released his grip.
THUD!
Wapol slammed into the floor, propping himself up with both hands and gasping for air. Relief flooded his chest.
Finally. No more beatings.
"Doflamingo-sama!"
Seeing the ordeal was over, Mushiru stepped forward at just the right moment and bowed.
"Please allow me to escort you to dinner. I have many thoughts I'd like to share with you, Doflamingo-sama."
"Oh?"
Doflamingo gave a sly smile.
His arms shook slightly, transforming into threads that shed all traces of Wapol's filth, reconstituting moments later.
He stared at Mushiru with amused curiosity.
"Shouldn't you be preparing for your coronation? My dear King Mushiru?"
"You flatter me! Everything I have—I owe it to you."
Feeling that piercing gaze settle on him, Mushiru bowed even lower, a sheen of sweat forming on his brow. His voice was sincere to the point of desperation.
Please tell me this isn't about the soldiers earlier, he thought. Surely he's not that petty, right?
"Fufufufufufu~ Then I won't hold back."
Doflamingo, having satisfied his twisted sense of humor, graciously accepted.
Why not? He might as well try some of Drum Island's local delicacies before leaving.
"Let's go, Enel!"
...
Jaya Island.
In the pitch-black forest…
A strange rustling filled the air—unnerving and constant.
Swarms of insects crawled and fluttered, converging in one dense cluster.
Trapped in the middle… was a man-bird hybrid.
Under the relentless assault of the bugs, he was clearly struggling to fend them off.
Up in the tree canopy nearby…
A bizarre-looking red bird with a jagged, fleshy crest on its head laughed gleefully, its head turned south.
A small South Bird.
"Xiaxiaxia!"
(Idiot! You think you can catch me?)
"How clever you are, Mr. South Bird."
A smooth voice rang out beside the bird.
As a user of the Bird-Bird Fruit, Lafitte could understand it perfectly. His lips curled in a smile.
What an amusing creature.
The South Bird hadn't even realized it was caught before it found itself shoved into a cage. It let out a startled squawk.
But before anything could react, Lafitte vanished with the cage in hand.
Moments later...
Lafitte and Daz Bonez returned to the ship at the same time.
One carried a birdcage, the other an oxygen tank for diving.
Upon seeing each other's loot, they both turned away in awkward silence.
"Crocodile-sama! I'm back!" x2
Crocodile turned his gaze away from the sky, eyeing their haul with a frown.
"Lafitte, what's the point of that bird?"
Could this really be all they got out of the trip to Sky Island?
Adjusting his hat and holding the cage, Lafitte lowered his head.
"Crocodile-sama, we've confirmed that the missing half of Jaya is located in the sky."
"And this South Bird has lived in this sea area forever. Once we reach ten thousand meters above sea level, we can use it to pinpoint Doflamingo's hiding place—on the other half of the island."
"Not bad. And you?"
Crocodile shifted his gaze to Bonez, who held up the oxygen tank.
They were heading up, not down.
Bonez handed it over.
"Crocodile-sama, based on my thorough investigation—and a memoir supposedly written by the descendant of the liar Mont Blanc Noland—oxygen levels at that altitude are very different from sea level."
"It can cause nausea, dizziness, vomiting… We'll need a bit of time to acclimate."
"This will help us avoid sudden complications if we end up fighting right after we land."
"Well done. And what about the enemy forces on Sky Island?"
That was the real issue. The rest was fluff. What Crocodile wanted to know was: Is Doflamingo actually up there?
Daz Bonez: "…"
You're asking me? Who the hell do I ask? I've never even been to Sky Island.
Lafitte hesitated, then gave all the information he'd gathered.
"Crocodile-sama, few pirates who go to Sky Island ever return."
"I suspect they've all fallen into Doflamingo's hands. Should we wait a bit longer?"
He was uneasy launching an assault with so little intel.
"No need. We're going now."
Crocodile cut him off with a wave of his hand, staring out at the rolling waves under the night sky.
"Make preparations. At dawn, we ascend to Sky Island—Doflamingo's head is our prize!"
He clenched his fist. Haki flowed across his skin like black lightning.
Right now, he was stronger than he'd ever been.
This time… he would erase every last trace of shame.
This Crocodile—who had reclaimed his original ambition—was brimming with confidence.
-----------
Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg