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The World Government's policy on capturing great pirates had always been the same—imprisonment.
But wouldn't a swift execution be a better deterrent against escape? Arthur could never quite grasp the logic.
Impel Down had already suffered two catastrophic failures.
The first was his own escape. The second was when he'd returned to liberate a horde of the world's most vicious criminals to form the infamous Thunder God Pirates.
Did the World Government truly believe their underwater fortress was still the impenetrable bastion it once was?
If they had simply executed the great pirates the moment they were captured, if they had never given them a second chance, they wouldn't have half the troubles they did now.
Then again, perhaps that was the point.
Forcing these men to live on as caged animals, stripped of their freedom and glory... perhaps that was a fate more agonizing than death.
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"Tsk. And if I'm not mistaken, the Golden Lion is due for his own breakout this year, isn't he?"
Arthur swirled the wine in his glass, the blood-red liquid clinging to the crystal before he downed it in a single gulp. He tossed the newspaper aside without a second glance.
He was sick of the World Government's propaganda. It was always the same tired story—a grand declaration of their own greatness, a detailed account of how they captured the heinous pirate Redfield, with not a single mention of their own humiliating defeats.
He could have written the script himself.
Let them sell that rag for a few more days. The fools who couldn't see the truth of the world would eventually believe it.
"The Golden Lion, Shiki... escaping this year?" Doflamingo, lounging nearby, was inwardly shocked by this piece of casual intelligence, but his face split into a wicked grin.
It didn't matter where Arthur got his information.
Shiki's return could only be a good thing. A man like that, one who couldn't stand to be out of the spotlight, was bound to throw the world into glorious chaos.
In this, Doflamingo and Arthur were alike.
They both wanted to see the world become a more interesting place. An era of peace was dreadfully dull. The world was at its best when a great war was raging every single day.
After finishing his drink, Arthur let out another yawn and drifted back into a hazy sleep. He had no sense of danger, as if he completely trusted Doflamingo not to make a move.
In truth, a man who desires nothing is far more dangerous than one who craves something, for his actions are impossible to predict. Doflamingo was the opposite—he needed something from Arthur, and he feared Arthur's monstrous power.
He would never risk attacking him in his sleep.
Since his injury, Arthur had been sleeping for at least twenty hours a day. Doflamingo had finally managed to catch him awake, hoping to build some rapport, but he'd barely gotten a few words in...
"Fuffuffuffuffu... is it because I lack the strength that I am denied the right to an equal dialogue?" Doflamingo mused, a bitter smile on his face. He had figured out the crux of the issue.
In the eyes of a man like Arthur, he really was nothing more than a clown.
Despite this understanding, a fire of pure rage ignited in his heart.
Why?
Why did Arthur, a man not much older than himself, possess such terrifying, pinnacle-level power?
Why did he command one of the World's Strongest Forces?
If hard work could bridge the gap, then he, Donquixote Doflamingo, was second to none. If talent was the true measure of a man, then he had pushed his String-String Fruit to the very verge of Awakening, and he possessed the Conqueror's Haki—the disposition of a king found in only one in a million.
And yet—the gap between him and the true monsters—Arthur, Whitebeard, Kaido, Big Mom was a despair-inducing, unbridgeable gulf.
Why? He could rack his brain for a lifetime and never understand.
'Perhaps effort is important... but it is talent that is the true bridge between a genius and an average man. Is this despairing gap truly fated? If I cannot make up for it with power, then I will make up for it with my mind... Fuffuffuffuffu!'
Doflamingo's laugh was exceptionally wicked, but it could not suppress the violent turmoil in his heart.
He had always considered himself a genius. But it was only after seeing a true monster that he had realized: the finish line he had been striving for his entire life... was merely their starting point.
It was a despairing thought. But it was reality.
"Captain! Warship sighted, ten nautical miles ahead! Should we change course??"
As Doflamingo struggled to calm the storm in his heart, the sniper in the crow's nest shouted down to the deck.
"Change course? No. Charge straight ahead. It's time for the Donquixote Family's opening battle in the New World!" Doflamingo needed a fight to vent the fury in his soul.
And on the deck, Arthur slept on, oblivious to the world.
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"Vice Admiral Saul! Pirate ship spotted ahead! Do we open fire??" a Marine shouted from the lookout, sliding down to the deck and saluting crisply.
"We're Marines and we've got pirates in front of us. Are we supposed to just let them walk?? OPEN FIRE!!" Saul bellowed from the deck. The few men—the ones who'd survived hell alongside him—could tell their normally composed Vice Admiral was pissed off.
When the orders of Marine Headquarters clash with the justice in one's own heart, what does one do? Do you follow your own conscience, or do you betray it and obey?
It was a question that nearly every Marine with a mind of their own would face. Some, of course, simply equated their orders with justice. The word of the World Government was absolute.
One path was to follow your heart. The other was to betray it. The choice should be simple.
But to follow your heart meant to disobey orders... and wasn't a soldier's duty to follow orders as if they were the word of God?
Saul was lost, a confusion he had never known welling up from the depths of his soul.
No... the Marines didn't used to be like this. An order to harm innocent people would have been unthinkable. The Marines are supposed to protect the people of the sea... The World Government... it's rotten!
The thought was agonizing.
The seeds of doubt were beginning to sprout.
The first to have such a thought was Monkey D. Dragon.
The Revolutionary Army was in its infancy.
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"BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!"
"BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!"
"BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!"
Cannonballs rained down from the warship, exploding in the water next to the flamingo-headed ship. The helmsman of the Donquixote Family expertly maneuvered the vessel, plowing straight ahead, closing the distance.
"CLANG! CLANG!"
Thick grappling hooks shot across the gap, and the two ships were locked together.
Doflamingo and Saul stood at the bows of their respective ships, staring at each other across the water.
"Fuffuffuffu! Well, if it isn't Vice Admiral Jaguar D. Saul! Long time no see!" Doflamingo spread his arms as if welcoming an old friend.
"Dereshishishishi! Donquixote Doflamingo! I don't know how you managed to slip through Vice Admiral Tsuru's fingers last time, but you won't be so lucky today..." As he spoke, Vice Admiral Saul turned to the silent woman beside him.
"Olvia, you should get back inside."
The giant's booming voice was louder than a cannon blast, sending ripples across the surface of the sea.
Olvia??
The familiar name pierced through the haze of sleep. Arthur's eyes snapped open. He glanced over at the white-haired woman, who was now staring back at him.
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