Chapter 13: Sea Scoundrel and the Plan
“Where is the young master?”
Pica gave Sugar a meaningful glance, signaling that this guy wasn’t someone to mess with—a big trouble—so even if she disliked him, she shouldn’t say it outright.
“The young master told me to wait for you here. Come with me.”
Sugar chewed on a grape as she spoke. Heaven knows why she was so obsessed with this fruit—was it for beauty and skincare?
Sugar walked into the villa. Pica, whose expression was far from pleasant, followed, while Su Xiao surveyed the villa district.
“Bai Ye, come with me to see the young master.”
The young master Pica referred to was none other than Doflamingo.
Compared to Doflamingo, Su Xiao was more wary of Sugar. This little girl might look harmless, but her Devil Fruit ability was terrifying.
Sugar was a user of the Hobi Hobi no Mi. She could turn anyone she touched into a toy. Once transformed, not only would the person be forgotten by everyone except Sugar, but they also couldn’t disobey her commands.
Over the past ten years, Sugar had turned nearly half of Dressrosa’s residents into toys. Most of these toys worked as laborers in the underground port, while some lived on the surface of Dressrosa.
Thus, seeing talking, freely moving toys on the streets of Dressrosa wasn’t strange—it was one of the island’s “peculiar sights.”
These toys still retained their original consciousness, but they were trapped in toy shells and forgotten by others. This meant even if they interacted with civilians, no problems arose.
Most toys hated the Don Quixote Family. Imagine a man turned into a toy—his wife and daughter would forget him. If he performed well in the underground port, he might get a chance to live with his family again.
Seeing his family was a good thing, but unfortunately, his wife and daughter had already forgotten him. Driven by loneliness, his wife might find a new lover. Worse still, since she had forgotten her husband, she felt no guilt.
When the toy man watched his wife with another man, his heart would surely shatter. The Don Quixote Family’s solution? After a certain period, they disposed of some toys.
A single touch could turn someone into a toy, and once transformed, there was no chance to resist. Naturally, Su Xiao was cautious around Sugar.
Bubu Wang and Amu didn’t need to worry about this issue. Even if Sugar turned them into toys, Su Xiao would notice. Even if Bubu Wang or Amu vanished from his memory, seeing a toy as his follower would clue him in.
Memory loss wasn’t permanent. Suppose Bubu Wang was turned into a toy dog; once Sugar lifted her ability, the memories of Bubu Wang would reappear.
Sugar led the way, and the group entered the villa.
Inside the villa’s living room, a man nearly three meters tall, with blond hair and sunglasses, sat on a sofa.
Though the man was almost three meters tall, he didn’t give off a giant-like impression. His proportions were well-balanced—or rather, the average height in the One Piece world ranged from 1.70 to 3.20 meters, with some reaching 6.7 meters.
This man was Doflamingo, the leader of the Don Quixote Family. He sat with his legs crossed, holding a newspaper.
With a creak, the living room door opened.
“Young master, Lord Pica has returned.”
Sugar’s cute, childish voice rang out. Doflamingo put down his newspaper and first looked at Pica.
“Looks like you didn’t get hurt much.”
Doflamingo tossed aside the newspaper, picked up a glass of red wine from the table, and leaned back on the sofa.
“Yes, young master.”
Pica stepped forward. Normally, he wouldn’t have taken this attitude.
“The sea battle...”
Pica started, but Doflamingo interrupted: “I know the situation. I’ll handle Jack.”
Hearing Doflamingo’s words, Pica’s mouth opened and closed. After a moment, he nodded.
“Pica, is this the guest you brought?”
Doflamingo downed the red wine in one gulp and placed the glass upside down on the coffee table, its meaning unclear.
“Young master, he is...”
As Pica spoke, Su Xiao gestured to Amu with a finger. Amu immediately understood and tossed Spero’s severed head to Su Xiao.
Su Xiao carried Spero’s head toward Doflamingo, placed it on the coffee table, and then sat on the sofa opposite him.
Doflamingo smiled, but those who knew him understood he wasn’t pleased.
Su Xiao had indeed joined Doflamingo’s forces, but that didn’t mean he would obey Doflamingo blindly.
First, with his Demon Hunting Hour activated, Su Xiao wasn’t afraid of Doflamingo at all. In a direct confrontation, it was uncertain who would live or die.
Moreover, Su Xiao wasn’t completely bound by the main mission. He still had one main mission exemption. Negotiating with a sea scoundrel like Doflamingo with a groveling attitude would only lead to exploitation, with a bad outcome—like Bellamy the Hyena.
Compared to being used, Su Xiao preferred to have a frank discussion with Doflamingo. If talks broke down, his biggest loss would be failing the promotion/main mission. Promotion qualifications weren’t limited to one, and main mission failures could be exempted.
With these conditions, Su Xiao could certainly negotiate face-to-face with Doflamingo.
“This is a greeting gift.”
“...”
Doflamingo’s smile grew wider. Except when sleeping, he always wore sunglasses. His main purpose was to prevent anyone from seeing his eyes—eyes were the windows to the soul. Covering them kept others from guessing his thoughts.
Right now, for instance, Su Xiao still couldn’t guess what Doflamingo was thinking.
Doflamingo straightened up, glanced at the head on the coffee table, and remained silent.
The room fell into dead silence. Sugar even stopped chewing her grape.
“Quite sincere.”
Doflamingo broke the silence, his smile fading slightly.
“I also saved your subordinate along the way.”
“...”
Doflamingo fell silent again. It turned out Su Xiao’s negotiation skills weren’t great.
“A life-saving debt.”
Hearing Su Xiao’s addition, a vein bulged on Doflamingo’s forehead. Pica’s expression turned extremely ugly—this life-saving debt was being held over him by Su Xiao.
“Then I should thank you.”
Doflamingo suppressed his urge to kill Su Xiao. Though he wasn’t sure of Su Xiao’s strength, he could sense the thick bloodlust emanating from him.
“No need for gratitude. Let’s be straightforward. I originally came to seek refuge with you, but now it seems cooperation is a better choice.”
Su Xiao’s “seeking refuge” essentially meant using Doflamingo as a shield. However, Doflamingo was far harder to deal with than expected, so cooperation was clearly more reliable.
“You’re just one person. Why should I cooperate with you? Don’t forget, you’re a researcher being hunted by the Marines and CP.”
Doflamingo actually felt the intelligence from the World Government wasn’t very reliable. Personally, he had never seen a researcher with such a bloody aura.
“Why? Because I can help you win the war.”
When choosing a faction, Su Xiao had already conceived a plan. That’s why he chose the relatively weaker Don Quixote Family.
“Fufufufufu...”
Doflamingo let out his unique laugh.
Just then, an Apollo appeared in Su Xiao’s hand. Doflamingo’s laughter abruptly stopped.
Su Xiao’s plan was roughly as follows: First, he would help the Don Quixote Family produce alchemy bombs, Apollos, and other explosives. He would also negotiate ownership of these items with Doflamingo, provided the Don Quixote Family supplied most of the materials.
The ownership of the explosives would belong to Su Xiao, while the Don Quixote Family would have usage and requisition rights. This was interesting—the explosives were Su Xiao’s property, but the Don Quixote Family could use them and even forcibly requisition them. Ultimately, these explosives would be used against the Big Mom Pirates.
Once Su Xiao owned the alchemy bombs, when those explosives killed enemy pirates, Su Xiao would likely gain some pirate reputation.
This was just Su Xiao’s hypothesis. If realized, even the top-ranked Kutsu couldn’t compete with Su Xiao in pirate reputation.
Kutsu was only one person or one adventure group, but Su Xiao had the entire Don Quixote Family helping him gain pirate reputation.
Knowledge was wealth. Su Xiao’s alchemy might bring him immense wealth. That’s why he negotiated with Doflamingo with this attitude—he had bargaining chips.
(PS: Two chapters today, four tomorrow.)