Chapter 131: Secret
The Ruins of Acacia Square
"Fu fu."
"Fu fu fu."
"I really didn't expect... the first person to come see me would be you."
Doflamingo lay broken amid the rubble of what had once been Acacia's central plaza. His pink coat was shredded. His body was a ruin of fractures and lacerations. The glasses that had always hidden his eyes were askew, revealing one pale pupil that still burned with the embers of a fire that refused to die.
Despite everything—despite the beating Luffy had delivered, despite the collapse of his empire, despite the chains that would soon bind him—the arrogance in his voice remained intact.
Itachi stood a few paces away, his black cloak still dusty from his own battle. "I also didn't expect you to survive that kind of attack."
He had seen the final exchange. The King Kong Gun—Luffy's Gear Fourth technique—had crashed through Doflamingo's awakened strings with the force of a falling god. The impact had shaken the very foundations of Dressrosa. And yet here the Warlord was. Broken. Bled dry. But breathing.
"Fuffuffu. Survive?" Doflamingo's laugh was wet with blood. "I can't move anything below my neck. My life... is effectively over."
He tilted his head toward Itachi, the movement costing him visible effort.
"When I was fighting Straw Hat... you had opportunities. You could have intervened. Could have killed me while my back was turned."
"You noticed."
"And earlier. When you trapped me in those memories..." His grin flickered. "You had another chance then. Your blade was at my throat. Why didn't you take it?"
"Fuffuffuffuffu."
"Can you tell me why?"
Itachi looked away from the fallen Warlord, his gaze drifting toward the distant silhouette of the King's Plateau.
"I trusted my crew."
"I trusted that Luffy would defeat you."
"Trust your crew?" Doflamingo's laugh cracked. "Fuffuffu. Why does that sound so... naive?"
"It's not naive." Itachi's voice was calm, but there was steel beneath it. "There was a time when I believed that one person could accomplish everything. That I could carry every burden alone. That I didn't need anyone."
He turned back to Doflamingo.
"Now. That has changed."
He drew the Wind-Forest Fire from his back. The blade gleamed in the fading light.
"Do you need me to finish it?"
Doflamingo stared at the sword. Then he laughed again—a raw, broken sound that seemed to come from somewhere deeper than his shattered body.
"The defeated have no right to speak. I'm in no position to make requests."
Itachi nodded slowly. He studied the Warlord's face—the crooked glasses, the bloody grin, the eyes that had seen hell and decided to become it.
He sheathed the blade.
"You're not going to kill me?" For the first time, genuine surprise flickered across Doflamingo's features.
"You are no longer a threat to us. Whether you live or die... it makes no difference now."
"I see."
Doflamingo tried to tilt his head back, to adjust his glasses with a gesture he had made ten thousand times before. But his body wouldn't cooperate. His neck wouldn't bend. His arms wouldn't move.
Itachi reached down and straightened the triangular lenses himself. Setting them gently on the bridge of Doflamingo's nose.
The Warlord stared up at him.
"You...?"
"You are strong, Doflamingo."
Itachi's voice was quiet. Measured. Utterly sincere.
"The man who fell from heaven to earth. The man who clawed his way back to the summit of the world. I cannot deny what you are."
Inside the Tsukuyomi, Itachi had seen everything. The fall from Mariejois. The torture at the hands of the mob. The death of Doflamingo's mother. The awakening of Conqueror's Haki at an age when most children were still learning to read. The pact with Trebol, Diamante, Vergo—four broken souls against a world that had tried to destroy them.
And above all, the forging. The way suffering had been beaten into strength. The way pain had been transmuted into power. The way a traumatized child had grown into a monster who could endure seventy-two hours of Tsukuyomi and emerge still laughing.
It was that past that had created this terrifying spiritual power. It was that past that made Doflamingo who he was.
"This is unexpected." Doflamingo's voice had lost its manic edge. "The first time I've ever been acknowledged by an enemy."
"Fuffuffuffuffu."
"FUFFUFFUFFU!"
The laughter shook his broken chest. Fresh blood welled between his lips. When the spasm passed, his smile had faded into something almost serious.
"Uchiha Itachi."
He spoke the name with deliberate weight.
"I have a feeling. A premonition. The ones who will ultimately unleash the greatest storm upon this world... are your crew."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I have secrets." Doflamingo's eyes gleamed behind the restored glasses. "I don't know why, but I want to tell them to you. Just you."
"I didn't come here to ask for your secrets. I acknowledged your strength. Nothing more."
"What does that matter? I want to tell you anyway."
Itachi was silent for a moment. Then: "Speak."
Something lit up in Doflamingo's expression. Not madness. Not cruelty. Something closer to... satisfaction. The satisfaction of a gambler placing one final bet.
And he began to talk.
The words came in fragments at first. Disjointed memories. Half-whispered observations. But as Itachi listened, the pieces began to connect. Information Doflamingo had gathered during his years as a Warlord. Secrets he had learned as a fallen Celestial Dragon. Truths about the World Government that even Fujitora didn't know.
About the national treasure of Mariejois. About the secret that had allowed Doflamingo to blackmail the World Government into granting him Warlord status in the first place. About what the Celestial Dragons were truly protecting—and what they were truly afraid of.
About the will that had been passed down through the centuries, waiting for the right inheritor to arrive.
When Doflamingo finally fell silent, the sky above Dressrosa had darkened to deep violet. Stars were beginning to emerge through the gaps in the clouds.
"That is... valuable information."
"Fuffuffu. You're telling me."
Doflamingo's chest heaved. He gathered the last reserves of his strength—pulled them together from whatever deep well of defiance had kept him alive through everything—and let out a roar that echoed across the empty ruins.
"GO! GO FORWARD!"
"MY INSTINCT WAS RIGHT! YOU PEOPLE... YOU'RE THE ONES WHO WILL TURN THIS WORLD UPSIDE DOWN!"
"FUFFUFFUFFU!"
"EEEH-HA-HA-HA!"
"FUFFUFFUFFUFFU!!!"
The laughter continued long after Itachi had turned away. It followed him across the ruined plaza, through the shattered streets, all the way to the base of the King's Plateau. The sound of a man who had lost everything and somehow found peace in the losing.
The King's Plateau — Royal Palace
The plateau had collapsed.
Pica's Stone-Stone Fruit powers had warped the entire landscape, and when Zoro's final attack had cut through the giant stone figure's core, the plateau had crumbled with it. What remained was a tilted mesa of cracked marble and exposed foundations—the bones of a palace that had been a prison for ten years.
The survivors had gathered near what was once the throne room's outer courtyard. Robin sat with her back against a fallen pillar, her expression serene despite the bandages wrapped around her arms. Law was propped against the same pillar, his injuries far too severe to allow him to stand. And Usopp—
"YOU SENT ZORO TO FIND BIG BROTHER ITACHI?!"
The newly awakened "God" clutched his bandaged head with both hands.
"Of all the people you could have sent! Of ALL the people! You chose the one guy who can get lost in a STRAIGHT CORRIDOR!"
Law's voice was flat. "What else were we supposed to do? After the battle ended, he was the only one still standing who wasn't injured."
"The only one who wasn't—" Usopp's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "AND YOU DIDN'T THINK THAT WAS A PROBLEM?! You didn't think maybe, just MAYBE, we should wait for someone with a FUNCTIONAL SENSE OF DIRECTION?!"
Robin smiled serenely. "Law, I would suggest that next time you factor in Zoro's unique spatial perception before assigning him retrieval missions."
"I have a very strong feeling," Usopp announced to the darkening sky, "that Zoro won't come back until after Big Brother Itachi finds HIM. If ever. We might never see either of them again. They'll both just wander off into the sunset in completely opposite directions and—"
"Rom. Look."
Usopp's arm, still raised in prophetic declaration, went limp.
A crow of black fire was descending toward the plateau. Its dark wings scattered embers across the evening sky. And on its back, calm and unruffled as if he had simply stepped out for an evening stroll, was Itachi Uchiha.
"What did I tell you." Usopp's voice was very small.
The Black Fire Crow touched down on the cracked marble. Itachi dismounted in a single fluid motion, his Sharingan sweeping across the assembled crew.
"Master Itachi." Law tried to rise. "You're back."
"Don't move." Itachi's hand pressed gently against Law's shoulder, guiding him back against the pillar. "Your injuries are too severe."
"Sorry. Something delayed me. I came a little late."
"It doesn't matter at all." Law's voice carried a weight that had nothing to do with his wounds. A release. A letting go. "I avenged Cora-san. It's finished now."
His eyes found Itachi's.
"On your side... you were fighting Fujitora."
"Yes. Since the moment we landed on Dressrosa..." Itachi paused, choosing his words. "Fujitora exceeded my expectations. He was... complicated."
A massive sleep bubble popped on Luffy's nose.
"Shishishi... Itachi..."
"I'm here, Luffy."
"Did you... beat the admiral guy...?"
"It's handled."
"Good... 'cause I beat Mingo... did you see...?"
"I saw." Itachi's voice softened. "You did well, Luffy. I watched you defeat Doflamingo."
"Really? Hehehe." Luffy's grin stretched across his entire face, even half-asleep. "I was worried... thought maybe you got lost somewhere..."
Itachi's expression flickered.
"Speaking of getting lost..."
His voice had gone slightly flat. The voice of a man who had experienced something profoundly frustrating and was choosing to process it with dignity.
"No matter what happens next... I need to carry a Den Den Mushi that can reach all of you. At all times."
He turned to Luffy.
"Especially you, Luffy."
"Huh?" Luffy blinked sleepily. "Did something happen?"
"Something—" Itachi stopped himself. The memory of infiltrating the colosseum. Of studying the map. Of tracking Luffy's escape route through the secret passage. Of arriving exactly three minutes after his captain had already left. "It doesn't matter. Rest now."
"Okay..." A sleep bubble inflated on Luffy's nose. "Night..."
"You..."
Robin's quiet laugh drew Itachi's attention. "It looks like everyone is going to be fine."
"Yes." Itachi exhaled slowly. "Everyone is fine. That's what matters."
A sound from below the plateau. Footsteps. Voices. Someone approaching.
"It seems we have another visitor."
Everyone turned toward the sound.
Sabo vaulted over the crumbled balustrade, his blue coat billowing behind him. His face split into a grin the moment he saw the assembled crew.
"There you all are!"
"Sabo?" Luffy's eyes cracked open. "Oh, you're here too..."
He fell asleep again before the sentence finished.
"I knew I'd find you here!" Sabo landed in the center of the group, his grin undimmed. "Man, am I glad to see everyone in one piece!"
His gaze swept across the exhausted crew, then settled on Itachi with a knowing look.
"By the way—did any of you see what happened with that Admiral? Fujitora? He did something absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!"
(End of Chapter)
✨ If you're enjoying this story, please consider supporting me on Patreon:
Patreon.com/TofuChan