A few minutes earlier.
"Is that the new island? I'm coming, I'm coming!" Yamato clung to the ship's rail, waving excitedly as she lifted one foot, ready to leap straight down.
"Hey, the ship hasn't even docked yet. Don't be so impatient!" Cain hurried forward and grabbed her before she could jump.
"So," Katakuri said from the side, his voice low as he looked at Cain, "why exactly are we here? Dressrosa."
"To resupply," Cain replied, raising an eyebrow as he pointed at the ship. "Didn't you notice that a chunk of your family's ship is missing?"
"If we really reach the battlefield and run into my idiot little brother Luffy, then add the Ace we're going to rescue—and, well, me too—every single one of us is the type who can eat a frightening amount."
"I can hold myself back, sure, but if Ace and Luffy see the food on board, you might not even make it back to Totto Land before they eat this ship clean."
Katakuri's gaze swept over the battered sections of the Queen Mama Chanter, all the dents and missing pieces that had been caused by Yamato alone.
If he added Luffy, Ace, and the others into the equation...
After a moment, Katakuri nodded seriously. He had no choice but to admit that Cain had a point.
Cain continued, lifting his eyes toward the castle that stood at the center of the city.
"And besides, if I want to save Ace, I have to come here. There's someone whose ability can let Ace completely escape the predicament he's in."
Still, now that he thought about it, even if Katakuri's actions this time did not represent the Big Mom Pirates and the ship was not flying their flag, such a massive dessert ship sitting in the harbor would likely attract attention sooner or later.
That was fine too. If Doflamingo noticed them first, it would save Cain the trouble of searching for him.
The moment the ship docked, the three of them split up.
Yamato charged impatiently into the city, shouting that she wanted to experience the local customs and scenery. In the blink of an eye, she vanished.
Katakuri, following Cain's instructions, headed for the market to purchase a large supply of ingredients and make sure they had enough provisions.
Cain, meanwhile, strolled along at a leisurely pace, heading straight toward the palace in the center.
Along the way, he passed by all sorts of lively establishments filled with music and dancing, but he merely shook his head faintly. He had no interest in any of it.
Then, as he walked, Cain's heart suddenly gave a jolt.
At the same time, on the other side of the city, Katakuri, who was just about to pay for his purchases, also reacted.
That idiot Yamato did not have a single Berry on her!
Sure enough, Yamato, who had been raised half-wild by Kaido since childhood, had no concept of paying for things. When the shopkeeper demanded Berries from her, she froze on the spot.
Then she suddenly remembered something Ace had once told her about what to do in this kind of situation.
Without another word, Yamato stuffed all the food in front of her into her mouth, grabbed a piece of bread, turned, and ran.
What she did not know was that whenever Ace had eaten and run in the past, as long as Cain found out about it, he would quietly follow behind and pay the bill.
Cain had never told Ace this, and naturally, Yamato had no idea either.
At that very moment, the scene of Yamato being chased by a crowd was seen clearly by Doflamingo, who was suspended in midair.
His eyes narrowed, and he let out a low laugh.
"Fuffuffuffu... Isn't that the brat I've been looking for? And now he's delivered himself right to me!"
He immediately dove down and landed in front of Yamato.
The instant his feet touched the ground, he activated his Devil Fruit Awakening.
The surrounding buildings transformed into sharp spikes that stabbed toward Yamato, and at the same time, he released his Conqueror's Haki without holding anything back.
When Yamato saw this, there was no way she would back down.
Since this person had so openly challenged her, she answered without the slightest hesitation, swinging up her kanabo and roar.
"Thunder Bagua!"
The blow smashed heavily into Doflamingo's chest.
Although it did not strike his head and knock him unconscious outright, it still tore open his old injuries on the spot.
Agonizing pain churned through his organs, and he could only hurriedly use his strings to barely stitch his damaged insides back together.
...
Elsewhere, Cain instantly sensed the clash between Yamato and Doflamingo's Conqueror's Haki.
His heart sank.
'Damn it. Those two actually started fighting!'
He had come here specifically to ask Doflamingo for help.
If the man got beaten to death, handling Ace's situation would become troublesome.
Without thinking, Cain immediately released his own Conqueror's Haki, sending its pressure straight toward the battlefield in an attempt to make the two of them stop.
On the other side of the market, Katakuri noticed Cain making a move.
As his older brother, he naturally lent his full support and released his own Conqueror's Haki as well, adding fuel to the fire.
Three overwhelming waves of Conqueror's Haki suddenly intertwined.
Black-red lightning shot into the sky, blanketing the heart of Dressrosa.
And the only person directly bearing the brunt of all three pressures was Doflamingo.
His entire body went rigid.
Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, and he felt as though his organs were about to be shattered.
His eyes filled with horror.
'What the hell is going on?!'
All of his old wounds tore open again.
Blood gushed out, and even his strings could no longer properly stitch his damaged organs together.
In an instant, he once again fell into that wretched half-dead state.
He was tired!
'Forget it.'
'Let it end like this.'
How many times had this happened already?
Was he still the terrifying Joker who made others tremble at the mention of his name?
Why was he being defeated so easily?
Doflamingo had completely given up struggling. He decided to stop thinking altogether.
His vision blurred.
He collapsed to the ground and let blood pour out of his body, no longer possessing even the strength to resist.
Seeing this, Yamato hurriedly rushed over.
When she saw blood spraying from all over his body, she immediately panicked, thinking she had hit him too hard and broken him.
Flustered, she began trying to give him first aid.
As for the civilians who had been chasing Yamato earlier, they had all long since fainted under the impact of the three waves of Conqueror's Haki.
Not one of them was moving.
Yamato pressed down hard on Doflamingo's chest.
With her monstrous strength, she nearly sent Doflamingo straight to meet the father he had shot to death years ago.
Blood sprayed even more violently from his mouth.
The blood flowing out of Doflamingo's body gradually grew less and less.
It was not because his wounds had stopped bleeding, but because he was nearly out of blood.
Yamato grew even more anxious.
She clamped both hands around his neck, trying to feel his pulse.
As she sensed it growing weaker and weaker, panic surged through her.
"What do I do? What do I do? His heart's almost stopped beating!"
Her thoughts raced, and in the next instant, Yamato came up with a "great idea."
She placed both of her hands heavily on Doflamingo's chest and drove Armament Haki—Ryuo—straight into his heart, trying to force it to start beating again!
Doflamingo's eyes flew open and his legs shot straight out.
Then he completely passed out, without so much as a groan.
"Hey, hey, hey! Are you okay? You're fine, right?"
Yamato frantically shook his body, her voice already carrying a hint of tears.
'Did this count as killing someone?'
'No. Absolutely not!'
She had only just gone out to sea, and now she had accidentally "killed" someone?
What kind of beginning was that?
Just then, Katakuri and Cain arrived at top speed.
With a single glance, they saw Yamato crouching in a pool of blood, anxiously shaking the barely breathing Doflamingo.
The whole scene was a complete disaster.
Cain was utterly dumbfounded, the corner of his mouth twitched.
"What the hell happened to him?"
There was no time to think.
Cain immediately picked up Doflamingo's body and sprinted straight toward the palace, shouting at Yamato and Katakuri.
"Hurry up and save him!"
Fortunately, Doflamingo's Donquixote Family officers had already noticed the disturbance and rushed over.
Their emergency treatment was both practiced and efficient.
After a frantic round of rescue efforts, Doflamingo finally managed to cling to his life.
...
Several kilometers off the coast of Dressrosa, Vice Admiral Tsuru's warship was quietly stationed at sea.
After receiving word from the Marines that Doflamingo had refused to join the war, the Navy understood very well how brutal the coming battle at Marineford would be.
Sengoku had specially dispatched Vice Admiral Tsuru, who had been stationed in the nearby waters to monitor Doflamingo, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, to verify the exact condition of his injuries and confirm whether he had truly lost the ability to participate in the war.
That afternoon, Vice Admiral Tsuru brought her people ashore and went straight to meet Doflamingo.
Inside a pure white room, they saw Doflamingo lying on a sickbed at a glance.
His face was as pale as paper.
Bandages were wrapped all around his body, and he lay there barely alive, staring hollowly at the ceiling, unable to say even half a word.
The heart that Yamato had "rescued" earlier with Ryuo was now being kept beating only through Doflamingo's painstaking use of his ability.
As for the Donquixote Family officers gathered around him, every one of them wore genuine worry on their faces.
There was not the slightest trace of acting.
Vice Admiral Tsuru stepped forward and personally examined him.
After checking his condition, she understood at once.
His old injuries had relapsed.
She had not expected this brat to be so ruthless even toward himself.
In order to avoid obeying the Navy's orders, he had actually beaten himself into this state.
This was the first time she had ever seen someone dare to deal such a vicious hand to his own body.
Even the Golden Lion back then probably could not compare to him in that regard.
At that moment, Doflamingo's danger rating in Vice Admiral Tsuru's heart climbed sharply once again.
"Sigh. I knew you were badly injured before, but I never expected it to be this severe. It has dragged on for so long, yet you still haven't recovered."
Vice Admiral Tsuru sighed softly and waved a hand.
"Forget it. In this war, you don't need to participate."
With that, Vice Admiral Tsuru left with the Marines who had accompanied her.
Only after her figure had completely disappeared did the Donquixote Family officers all let out a breath of relief.
The weight hanging over their hearts finally settled.
To prevent the Navy from noticing anything unusual in Dressrosa, Doflamingo, who had just finished surgery and barely regained consciousness, was hurriedly transferred from the palace to a Donquixote Family hideout the family had prepared in advance.
Thankfully, they had managed to fool the Marines!
"It was just something I said to brush off the Marines... How did I actually end up half-dead like this...?"
Doflamingo still stared at the ceiling.
A tear slipped silently from the corner of his eye.
Even reduced to such a miserable state, the sunglasses on his face had still never been removed.
Then he turned his head toward Cain and the others, who were concealed behind a curtain, and he spoke in a deep voice.
"You can come out."
Cain scratched his head and showed an awkward smile.
Yamato bowed deeply, her face full of apology.
Katakuri remained as calm and steady as ever, standing silently without saying a word.
Earlier, when Doflamingo received news that the Marines were about to arrive, Katakuri had immediately sailed the Queen Mama Chanter to the harbor behind the mountain, which was why the Navy had failed to notice its presence.
And now, the reason the three of them had appeared here was because Cain had something he wanted to ask Doflamingo to help with.
Doflamingo understood that perfectly.
With his methods, even bedridden, the weapons factories in Dressrosa and the operations of the entire family would not be affected in the slightest.
If Cain only needed him to handle some small favor, he could still manage it.
Besides, Kaido's "son"—or perhaps he should say daughter—had already been found.
He also could no longer go to the battle between the Navy and Whitebeard.
Everything that needed to be handled had been handled.
All he wanted now was to finish whatever favor Cain needed from him as quickly as possible, then quietly recuperate and enjoy a few peaceful days without getting dragged into any more nonsense between pirates and Marines.
"If you need my help with something, stop wasting time and just say it."
Doflamingo spoke impatiently.
Since Cain was the one asking him for help, he had no intention of giving the man a pleasant expression.
After all, Cain could not do anything to him right now.
If Cain dared to be dissatisfied, Doflamingo could simply die right here in front of him.
Cain scratched his head awkwardly again and spoke in a small voice.
"Well... I was hoping you could go participate in that war the Marines mentioned. Or rather, only if you participate can I achieve the result I want. So... what do you think?"
"Pffft—!!"
The instant Cain finished speaking, Doflamingo violently spat out a mouthful of blood.
In his heart, he screamed.
'I just want to stay quiet for a while!'
The next second, his eyes went wide, and he fainted again, stiff as a board.
"Quick! Save the Young Master! Hurry, save him!"
The family officers instantly fell into chaos, their terrified shouts filling the room.