When it came to scientists, there was one thing Doflamingo had to admit: they were terrifying once you set them on a task.
After Caesar got his orders and Doflamingo arranged a few assistants for him, the man basically moved onto Bouvet Island, the small sky island near Angel Island that Doflamingo had allocated to the research team. He threw himself into work day and night, like he'd forgotten that "anything else in life" existed.
Doflamingo wasn't worried Caesar might betray him either. The pair of seastone shackles on Caesar's ankles weren't just for show, and the key to those shackles was something only Doflamingo could use.
Speaking of those seastone shackles, Doflamingo couldn't help cursing in his heart. Just that one damned pair had cost Trebol several million Berries at an underground auction. Partly because seastone craftsmen were so rare that you basically only found them in Wano, and partly because seastone ore itself was rare.
No wonder Kaido chose Wano as his territory. Just the profits from seastone alone were boundless, and that was before you even mentioned that in the current world, it was "money can't even buy it" level scarce.
Someone might ask, "But then how can the Navy later mass-produce seastone weapons, cuffs, and even line their warships with the stuff?"
Well, that'd just be underestimating the power of an eight-hundred-year rule by the World Government—and underestimating the ambitions of a small portion of people in Wano.
Of course, when it came to Wano, Doflamingo was naturally planning to stick a hand in that pie as well. Just because he didn't intend to become enemies with Kaido didn't mean he had no plans to take a slice of Wano's profits.
Going by his own memories, Oden hadn't even set out to sea yet at this point. Who knew how many years remained before Kaido took Wano? There was more than enough time for Doflamingo to maneuver.
He also hadn't forgotten his core goal: to turn this world upside down.
On the surface, that goal looked difficult. In reality… it wasn't simple either. But Doflamingo had patience. He also knew how to use his advantages to create the right opportunities.
Before that goal was achieved, Doflamingo wasn't going to wander the seas like a normal pirate. The World Government's eight-hundred-year-old secrets, the so-called greatest treasure in the world, "One Piece" itself—none of that mattered much to him.
What he cared about was the fact that he'd once lost everything, that he'd once been pathetically weak. That experience made him value his family far more, and he wanted to give every member of his family a stable territory to stand on. Dressrosa's throne was something he had to take, and having real say in this world was something he had to seize.
Once he'd roughly decided on his next steps, Doflamingo stopped obsessing over training and instead began exploring "God's Island."
With a title like the "City of Gold," there was no way he was going to walk away from it empty-handed.
He took to the sky, following the direction where that golden glow pierced the clouds. With a flash of lightning, Doflamingo appeared at the ruins of Shandora.
Gold.
Gold everywhere.
That was Doflamingo's first impression. No wonder this place had earned the name "City of Gold." The sheer amount of gold here was enough to shatter someone's worldview.
Thinking of the legend of Noland and the City of Gold, then comparing that to the rumors "Marco Polo" had once spread about a great nation in the East in his previous life, Doflamingo couldn't help suspecting that the City of Gold story might have been completely remodeled out of those tales by Marco.
Of course, in his previous life that was called "making stuff up," but in the world of pirates, this was reality.
Houses built of gold. Streets paved with golden tiles. Furniture made of solid gold. Damn, even the toilets were made of gold. You could only call this place a dreamlike city.
And now, it all belonged to him.
"Hssss~"
Just as Doflamingo was about to approach a massive golden bell, a giant serpent with long whiskers suddenly lunged out, opening its bloody maw to swallow him whole.
Doflamingo didn't bother wondering whether the giant snake could understand him. His figure vanished from where he'd been standing, and in the next moment he was already standing atop the serpent's head, one finger pressed to the center of its brow, as if conversing with it.
"Nola, the so-called lord of the sky island?"
"What a boring title. If it weren't for the fact that you've lived over four hundred years and have value as a research subject, you'd have died the instant you stuck your head out."
Whether it was because Doflamingo's words held a strange power or because his fingertip had somehow cast a binding spell, Nola suddenly felt its body completely locked up, unable to move an inch.
The aura this man gave off was even more terrifying than that of the previous human who'd been able to communicate with it.
Nola genuinely interested Doflamingo. As a creature from the Blue Sea, its species hadn't changed at all, and yet by accident it had ended up on a sky island and lived for over four hundred years. If that didn't catch his attention, then that would have been the strange part.
Nola would also become one of Caesar's research subjects in the future. Life, after all—who didn't want eternal life? And beyond that, someone in this world had already practically achieved exactly that.
Doflamingo pulled his finger away and stepped back down in front of the Golden Bell.
Nola felt its body loosen up again and realized it could move, but it didn't dare provoke Doflamingo a second time. It cast a fearful glance at him, then darted back into the depths of the forest with a "whoosh," hiding itself away.
Doflamingo ignored the "little worm" and came to stand directly before the Golden Bell.
For the Shandia people, this bell had deep symbolic meaning. For some people who chased their dreams, it was an object loaded with hope and faith.
Which was exactly why Doflamingo so happily played the role of dream-shatterer and faith-destroyer.
He activated his lightning powers and smelted the Golden Bell down, reshaping it into a massive golden throne. As he watched it form, he thought to himself, "Ring the Golden Bell, huh? Heh. Let all that faith crawl beneath my feet."
He raised the Golden Throne and carried it back to the shrine. After ordering Diamante to have it installed on the massive sky island pirate ship, the "Flamingo," that they were constructing, Doflamingo then instructed Diamante to send people to the ruins and dig up the gold there in batches for the sake of building up the family's foundation.
Not long after Diamante left, an image suddenly flashed in Doflamingo's mind—a small, skinny figure kneeling before him.
Thinking back to the big earlobes and the headscarf on that thin frame, Doflamingo immediately knew who it was. This was the moment in the original timeline when Enel came to see him.
Because Doflamingo had suddenly become the god of the sky island and issued a series of policies, because he had no wings, and because he had slaughtered part of the people on Birka, the Enel who had been oppressed there had recently been living what you might call a "blessed" life.
The native residents of Birka now treated Enel with great respect, even sending him loads of food every day. While Enel was overwhelmed by this sudden favor, he was also deeply confused about what was going on.
It wasn't that he didn't know something big had happened on the day Doflamingo became god.
But that day, thanks to hunger and the crushing pressure of Doflamingo's aura, Enel had fainted early on. He hadn't actually experienced the whole event from start to finish.
Only after a few days of strange changes and kindness did he finally muster up the courage to ask what had really happened.
When he learned that a man from the Blue Sea had killed all the people who bullied him (the people of Birka assumed their new god had some connection to Enel, which was why they'd changed their attitude so drastically), then became the new god and brought fresh life and vigor to the sky island, Enel fell into complete worship of this "new god."
The new god, Doflamingo, became Enel's faith.
Even though he'd never actually met the god and had only seen a picture.
Enel believed that Doflamingo was a god who had descended from the heavens, who had pulled him out of suffering and would lead him into the future.
So after adjusting himself to his best condition, taking a thorough bath, and changing into the cleanest, finest clothes he had, Enel prepared to head to the shrine and pay homage to his new god, Doflamingo.
(End of Chapter)
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