Chapter 380: Still Not Enough Pain
Although Doflamingo's actions on the island of Dressrosa were hidden in the shadows, they were like lice on a bald man's head—if they existed, they could always be seen.
The Vinsmoke Family members, leading the Germa soldiers, ran rampant across the island, with Ian and his group intentionally or unintentionally providing cover, gradually exposing various things in the process.
As Ichiji and Niji ran around the island, they gained experience. Apart from places flying the Donquixote Pirates' flag, areas that encountered resistance were also given special attention. Because places that faced resistance might be locations where the Donquixote Pirates had something they wanted to protect. Whenever such a situation arose, stopping to cause a ruckus would definitely yield results.
Niji, while fleeing into a warehouse, stumbled upon a stash of weapons. Due to the Germa Group and Ian's arrival on the island, the Donquixote Pirates members there had received orders to quickly move the accumulated weapons away. But as luck would have it, they ran straight into Niji. Those underlings were loyal to Doflamingo, and with plenty of weapons at hand, they foolishly tried to take down Niji. When Niji noticed the fierce resistance, he knew something was up. He stopped and waited for Ace and Sabo to catch up before starting a fight there.
As a result, the fight directly revealed the weapons hidden beneath the warehouse.
Sabo immediately understood what was going on. In fact, the Revolutionary Army had also placed intelligence agents on Dressrosa. They had discovered that in many war-torn countries along the Grand Line, the source of weapons trade vaguely pointed to Dressrosa. Faced with this situation, the Revolutionary Army naturally wanted to investigate. However, many of the spies they sent to Dressrosa quickly disappeared without a trace, as if they had vanished from the face of the earth.
As the Revolutionary Army's Chief of Staff, Sabo was naturally aware of this situation and had been puzzled and suspicious. Now, having come to Dressrosa with Ian, he finally witnessed the scene of this weapons trade. Although he still didn't know where the Revolutionary Army's spies had gone, he understood that the weapons trade was indeed real.
"Ace! Destroy this place!" Sabo shouted, while using a camera Den Den Mushi to take photos, clicking away to record everything.
Ace didn't hesitate. He directly unleashed a Great Flame Emperor, and a massive fireball exploded on the spot.
As for the Donquixote Pirates' executive responsible for chasing Niji along this route, it was Jora, the Art-Art Fruit user, and Senor Pink, the Swim-Swim Fruit user. Faced with Ace, a devotee of the Great Fireball sect, they couldn't even get close!
There was no helping it—the gap in strength was too great. Ian's group was all exceptional. Besides Jinbe and Boa Hancock, Ace and Sabo also possessed the strength of a Warlord of the Sea at this point. On the entire island, the only one who could directly fight them was Doflamingo himself. Even if his executives were all Devil Fruit users, they still had to consider who their opponents were!
It could be said that none of the Donquixote Pirates' executives succeeded in their mission to intercept the Germa Group. Even though they desperately wanted to kill the Vinsmoke Family members and stop them from running around like this, the Vinsmoke Family had a one-trick pony that worked every time: no matter what killing move was thrown at them, they just shouted "Wall!" and pulled a soldier to block the attack.
As long as they stalled for a bit, Ian's people catching up from behind could teach the Donquixote Pirates' executives a lesson in humility...
The situation was now somewhat one-sided. With the unspoken alliance between Germa and Ian's group, Doflamingo's executives couldn't stop them from rampaging across the island and exposing the Donquixote Pirates' dirty secrets.
Human trafficking, weapons smuggling—as each shocking piece of gray criminal business was uncovered, Doflamingo's evil became clearer and clearer.
Ian and Boa Hancock, leading the Dragon Hunter Pirates and part of the Kuja Pirates, were leisurely chasing after Reiju. Jinbe, Ace, and the others were using small Den Den Mushi to inform Ian of what they had discovered.
Without exception, these exposed gray industries were all destroyed by them. It could be said that the damage inflicted on the Donquixote Pirates was enormous.
But Ian knew that these were only part of Doflamingo's underground businesses. Even if they were destroyed, it wouldn't truly cripple Doflamingo.
What could really cripple Doflamingo was the underground factory producing Artificial Devil Fruits!
In Ian's estimation, this underground factory had likely already been established. Over at Punk Hazard, the SAD developed by Caesar was actually a kind of catalyst. This SAD still needed to be processed to produce the Artificial Devil Fruit SMILE, also known as the "Artificial Zoan Devil Fruit."
To truly make Doflamingo feel pain and regret, destroying this underground factory was the best choice.
Especially since Ian also wanted to see what these so-called Artificial Devil Fruits were like. Don't forget, Ian could use his card system to absorb the power of Devil Fruits, thereby increasing the star rating of his own cards and gaining stronger attributes.
Normally, obtaining Devil Fruits relied on luck or purchasing them, but they weren't always available. If he could find Artificial Devil Fruits in Doflamingo's underground factory, Ian planned to see if the system could absorb them.
Most importantly, if the underground factory was destroyed, Doflamingo wouldn't be able to deliver the goods to Kaido, and he would have to face Kaido's wrath.
If that madman Kaido, in a fit of rage, killed Doflamingo, it would help Ian eliminate a major threat...
However, Ian didn't know where Doflamingo's underground factory was. But that didn't matter—he could find the Tontatta Tribe, the dwarves, also known as the "fairies" rumored on this island.
If he remembered correctly, the Tontatta Tribe's location was across an iron bridge, where fierce fighting fish lurked beneath.
This place was easy to find. He just needed to ask a local, and he could get the answer.
Upon learning that the bridge was on the northern side of Dressrosa, Ian and Boa Hancock, leading their people, chased after Reiju, forcing her to flee north. Reiju, having learned from Gaji, Ichiji, and Niji about the current situation, silently followed Ian's lead and moved north.
However, just as Reiju was about to reach the bridge, a strange scene occurred.
The Germa soldiers following Reiju suddenly turned around and attacked her!
Attacking their own master was unthinkable for Germa soldiers. Their cold faces showed panic for the first time, but they couldn't control their bodies at all.
Reiju was completely unprepared for this and was almost surrounded by her own soldiers. At the critical moment, she flew up, dodging the gunfire, and hovered in midair.
The Germa soldiers, unable to reach Reiju, began to kill each other.
Ian and Boa Hancock, who had been following behind, naturally noticed this. Ian immediately reacted and looked up at the sky.
He saw a strangely moving figure descending from the sky, using clouds to move. Who else could it be but Doflamingo?
The only explanation Ian could think of for the Germa soldiers' self-destructive behavior was Doflamingo's "Parasite Thread"!
"Damn it!" Doflamingo landed and looked at Ian, veins bulging on his forehead. His anger was about to consume him, but he spoke in a calm tone: "Ian, you've played a fine game! I never expected you to join forces with the Germa people!"
Ian said nothing, just stared coldly at him.
Doflamingo had originally planned to capture the Germa people before Ian could, but plans changed. The unfavorable reports from his executives forced Doflamingo to change course and check the places destroyed by Jinbe and Ace. Only then did he realize that he had fallen for Ian's scheme. The Germa people had deliberately fled to Dressrosa!
At that moment, Doflamingo finally understood that Ian had known all along that the commission was from him. This time, he was driving the Germa people back for revenge.
"It's Baby-5, isn't it!" Doflamingo sneered at Ian. "How ridiculous. I was hoping that woman would bring me some news about your pirate crew while she was with you, but instead, she sold me out! With her personality, I really shouldn't have trusted her!"
The thing Baby-5 feared had come to pass. Doflamingo's paranoid nature had indeed made her a suspect.
Ian didn't bother to correct Doflamingo's mistaken assumption. In fact, he knew it couldn't be corrected, so he directly tore off the pretense and said to Doflamingo: "Dofla, I know very well that true cooperation between us is impossible! Vergo's identity might fool the Marines, but it can't fool me. He's your man, right? And since I killed him, you definitely won't let it go."
Hearing this, Doflamingo was startled.
He realized he had underestimated Ian's intelligence network. Only he and the core executives of his family knew Vergo's true identity. How did Ian know?
"What exactly do you want?" Doflamingo couldn't help but ask. "To crush me? You're already a Warlord of the Sea. Even if you destroy me, what benefit does it bring you? Or are you just seeking revenge? If so, haven't you already achieved your goal? What more do you want?"