One Piece: Silent-Silent Fruit

Chapter 386 - 37: Doflamingo Stunned Speechless

Dressrosa was one of the finest islands in the New World for both tourism and living.

And its current king was none other than one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea—Doflamingo.

At the royal plateau of Dressrosa, Doflamingo was currently lying on a beach chair, taking an afternoon nap.

Lately, Doflamingo had every reason to feel pleased with himself.

On one hand, he had become one of the Warlords officially recognized by the World Government, granted the legal right to plunder.

Honestly, it was laughable.

The World Government, of all things, actually allowing pirates to loot legally.

What a truly rotten age.

A truly mad world.

As the saying went: when something is about to perish, it first descends into madness.

And Doflamingo felt that this world had already entered its maddest era.

At the same time, by leveraging his identity as Joker in the underworld, he had built connections for all the major pirates of the New World and started dealing in every kind of dark business imaginable.

By now, Doflamingo could be said to have influence in both the light and the dark.

And recently, after some careful maneuvering, he had even become the king of Dressrosa.

It was the very definition of being at the height of success.

However, during this recent period, Doflamingo had begun to notice that the World Government was acting strangely.

For a while now, the World Government had been showing him increasing goodwill...

while at the same time stepping up surveillance on him.

Though that surveillance was covert, Doflamingo made his living in exactly that kind of world.

How could he possibly fail to notice?

That made him suspect that the World Government might be planning to make a move against him.

As a result, the entire Donquixote Family had grown tense.

While making emergency preparations, they also used every channel they had to find out what exactly had happened.

But no matter how much they investigated, the only thing they were able to uncover was that not long ago, a major battle had taken place on the Red Line.

And in that battle, the World Government had lost more than a hundred thousand elite soldiers of the army.

Doflamingo and the others didn't care much about that piece of information.

To pirates, the only military force that truly mattered was the Navy.

The Army?

What even was that?

They didn't care in the slightest.

In their eyes, the Army was just another word for trash, dead weight, and weakness.

Forget a hundred thousand—if the Army lost a million troops, pirates like them still wouldn't care.

That was also why they had completely ignored the word elite.

After gathering every scrap of information they could, they gradually came to one conclusion:

The World Government had no reason to make a move against them.

But Doflamingo felt things were not that simple.

So for days, this matter had been gnawing at him.

And after just finishing another discussion with his officers, feeling a little drowsy, he had decided to close his eyes for a short nap on the lounge chair.

As the head of the Donquixote Family, one of the Seven Warlords, and the king of Dressrosa, even when Doflamingo slept, there were still many soldiers and officers stationed around him as guards.

After all, this was the lawless New World.

Who knew whether some fool who didn't know his place might try to assassinate him?

And with the whole family on edge lately, Doflamingo's guards were even more vigilant than usual.

As a result, Lao G and Baby 5, two of the Donquixote Family officers assigned to his protection, were keeping watch with extreme alertness.

But no matter how vigilant they were...

none of them noticed that someone had suddenly appeared soundlessly on the sofa opposite where Doflamingo was lying.

After appearing, the man casually sat down on the sofa in front of Doflamingo.

Then, as if he were in his own home, he picked up some fruit from the table and began eating it without the slightest concern.

"Who's there?!"

The sound of the man eating fruit was like a bomb dropped into the still silence.

To Lao G's ears, it was as if an explosion had gone off.

He was so startled that only then did he realize that a completely unknown person had somehow appeared right in front of Doflamingo.

At his shout, all the nearby guards immediately rushed in.

And Baby 5 instantly transformed her leg into a cannon, aiming it directly at the intruder.

"Now, now, don't be so nervous. I just dropped by for a visit. After all, your captain and I are relatives, in a manner of speaking. If I'd really wanted to make a move, all of you would've been flat on the ground already," the newcomer said with a smile.

Hearing that, everyone in the Donquixote Family immediately changed expression, their faces filling with anger.

"G! Big words for a stranger. Let me see what you're capable of!" Lao G shouted, already moving to attack.

But at that moment, the newcomer looked toward Doflamingo, who was still lying across from him, and said:

"Are you really not going to stop them? If they actually force me to move, I can't guarantee they'll survive."

"Fufufufu... stop."

Doflamingo laughed.

"He's right. If he really made a move, you wouldn't even get the chance to attack before all of you hit the floor."

Awakened by the commotion, Doflamingo had been staring at the suddenly appeared man in stunned disbelief.

There was even a hint that he was wondering whether he was still dreaming.

Only after hearing the man's words did he finally open his mouth and stop his subordinates.

"You should know," Doflamingo said, looking at the visitor with a grin,

"the man sitting in front of you... is someone who stood shoulder to shoulder with Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom ten years ago."