Doflamingo didn't know why exactly Enel had come to see him, but judging from the image in his mind—Enel kneeling devoutly at his feet—he could more or less guess that Enel was here to offer his submission.
As for Enel himself, putting aside the weird personality he had in the original timeline, just his growth potential in terms of combat power alone was enough to make Doflamingo look at him differently. Now that Enel had, by sheer coincidence, taken the initiative to submit to him, Doflamingo could only call it an unexpected pleasant surprise.
But without the Goro Goro no Mi (Rumble-Rumble Fruit), how was Enel supposed to become strong?
After pondering for a bit, Doflamingo soon had his answer.
He didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, a member of the God's Guard came running up to him to report that a Blue Sea human without wings wished to see "God."
Doflamingo didn't put on any airs. Since he had decided to meet Enel, he told the guard to bring him in.
But the moment Enel stepped into the shrine and saw Doflamingo, something happened that even Doflamingo hadn't expected.
When he was still a good twenty meters away from Doflamingo, Enel suddenly dropped to his knees facing him and started kowtowing, then continued to shuffle forward on his knees until he was about one meter in front of Doflamingo. He did not dare come any closer, nor did he dare raise his head to look at him.
Only his muttered words filled the air.
"Lord God, please accept my loyalty, I shall live for You. Lord God, please accept my loyalty, I shall…"
"Damn, this over the top?" Doflamingo complained inwardly.
He hadn't even done much, and he'd already captured himself an ultimate fanboy, a die-hard little worshipper? Faith really was a terrifying thing.
He wondered if there was a Devil Fruit that could alter a person's faith. If he remembered right, the Revolutionary Army later had someone with a similar ability. If he could get his hands on a Fruit like that, what betrayers or spies would he ever need to worry about?
No, he'd have to tell Trebol to pay attention to any rumors of such a Fruit in the future.
吐槽 aside, Doflamingo wasn't about to let Enel keep kneeling forever. And to add another layer of insurance on top of Enel's faith, he took out the Ito Ito no Mi (String-String Fruit) that originally belonged to him and displayed a miraculous "divine sign," making the Devil Fruit float in front of Enel's eyes.
Then he said,
"Eat it. You will gain divine power and earn the right to serve as a divine attendant."
"Yes, Lord God."
Enel was completely overwhelmed with excitement. That little display from Doflamingo had absolutely shocked him.
As expected of Lord God—he could make objects float and even grant others power.
Without the slightest hesitation, and without caring in the least what a Devil Fruit might taste like, Enel, sustained by the power of his faith, carefully chewed and swallowed the Ito Ito no Mi, bite by bite.
Once he finished, he even said, "It tastes amazing!"
"He's a savage," Doflamingo evaluated silently.
He knew perfectly well what Devil Fruits tasted like, so Enel's line really did catch him off guard.
Apparently, the people who whined about Devil Fruits tasting awful were just too obsessed with appearances.
Look at Enel—this was the perfect embodiment of "in the face of divine power, taste is just a trivial illusion."
Soon after eating the Fruit, Enel sensed the changes in his body and quickly realized what he had eaten. His gratitude and worship for Doflamingo deepened even further.
He immediately renewed his oath.
"Enel's life shall be offered up to You, my God!"
"Man, you're way too deep into the role," Doflamingo griped inwardly again.
"Obsessed" didn't even begin to cover it anymore.
But for Doflamingo, this was exactly the outcome he wanted to see.
So he directly appointed Enel as a member of the God's Guard, then passed on to him his own training insights for the Ito Ito no Mi and his methods for training Haki. After that, he ordered Enel to head to the specially designated sky island training ground—East Pole Island—for special training.
Once he finished dealing with Enel, Doflamingo didn't linger on the sky island any longer. Together with Barrett, Vergo, Pica, and several dozen members of the God's Guard, he boarded the Flamingo and let it drift down toward the first half of the Grand Line.
"The world is full of holes, and there'll always be someone trying to patch them up."
In his previous life, Doflamingo had believed in that line, but if you asked him to be that "someone," sorry—he couldn't do it.
Let alone now, in the world of pirates.
Take right now for example.
Doflamingo wasn't sure if it was just in the fishmen's nature to be so polarized—to either burn with enthusiasm or burn with hatred—but when he and his group returned to Water 7, they strode down the main street in a very high-profile manner.
Of course, someone even more high-profile than Doflamingo was already there before them.
It was a woman with an insanely muscular build, wearing an ultra-short skirt that showed off a pair of long legs, and an utterly mismatched scrap of cloth wrapped around her upper body. Somehow, she still had a pair of beautiful butterfly-like wings on her back.
She was currently standing with one foot planted on the face of a fishman whose head looked very much like a shark's, and she spoke in a rough, utterly jarring voice:
"Bakayarō, you know who I am? I'm the 'Evil Angel' Scylla, with a bounty of two hundred and thirty million Berries! Who the hell do you think you are, acting tough in front of me?"
She bent down, not caring in the slightest if the fishman could see her plentiful curves or not. With one big hand, she slapped his face repeatedly and snarled,
"You ruined my mood. I can't even get wet anymore. Tell me, you little fishman, how exactly are you going to compensate me?"
When it came to the fishman race, Scylla naturally looked down on them.
Especially this fishman, who'd dared to show off in front of her and boast that he would "protect" the two high-quality men she'd set her eyes on.
If that wasn't a classic busybody dog meddling in others' business, what was?
"Kh… kh…"
Forcing down the blood rising in his throat, the shark fishman—Ketonis Julian—struggled to get his voice out.
"I… will never let you bully my companions. Gyojin Karate: Kairyū Kataotoshi (Sea Current Over-the-Shoulder Throw)!"
Caught off guard for a moment, Scylla actually let Julian grab her by the ankle. Using her own momentum, he swung her overhead and slammed her away, sending her crashing through several nearby buildings with the impact.
Whether by accident or deliberate intent, she ended up skidding to a stop not far from where Doflamingo and his group were watching.
Scylla climbed out of the rubble, absolutely livid, eyes bloodshot as she glared at Julian, who was trying to flee with the two human men in tow.
Without the slightest hesitation, she swung the whip in her hand—a long weapon made from hundreds of interlinked iron thorns.
She didn't care in the least whether anyone else got caught by it; she simply lashed wildly in Julian's direction.
However, the weakness of a long weapon soon became apparent. With a big windup, the arc of her swing just so happened to cover Doflamingo and his group as well.
Dodge?
Doflamingo silently thought, So that's how little you think of me?
That big, hulking woman in front of him was already pretty off-putting, and that fishman who'd purposely thrown her in their direction was just as annoying.
He ordered Pica to go capture the fleeing fishman, then ignored the incoming iron whip entirely and walked straight toward Scylla.
"'Evil Angel' Scylla, huh?"
"I don't care whether you did it on purpose or not. You chose to attack me. Woman, are you prepared to die?"
As Doflamingo spoke, Scylla's long whip whipped right through his body, the tip still carrying all of its pent-up force.
(End of Chapter)
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