A few days later.
Skypiea.
"Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!"
Doflamingo casually tossed his two bawling sons into Jora's arms.
Rouge, watching from the side, tensed up instantly—afraid the babies would fall.
"Ohohohoho~!"
With a teasing grin on her face, Jora chuckled heartily.
"Dear Young Master, if you hold them like that, Zoffy and Ace will be uncomfortable!"
Rouge quietly stepped forward and helped Jora gently pat the boys on their backs, trying to calm them down.
"It's fine. That's what you and Rouge are here for. I just need to teach them how to fight."
Doflamingo didn't seem the least bit concerned.
He vaguely remembered being pretty good at calming kids back at the orphanage in his previous life.
Maybe he'd gotten too used to punching people and had forgotten how to handle babies.
Anyway, there were plenty of people around to help now.
"You say stuff like that, but it really makes people hate you, y'know! Ohohohoho!" Jora's face crinkled into a laugh, the classic contradiction between her words and her tone.
Doflamingo reached out and gently ruffled Monet's hair, then introduced her.
"Jora, this is our new family member. She's joining the combat unit. Her name's Monet."
"Oh my, such a sweet-looking girl joining the combat unit? Young Master, you're so heartless."
Jora glanced over at Monet, who looked quiet and delicate, nothing particularly fierce about her, and gave her honest take:
"She doesn't seem like the fighting type."
"BOSS, I can fight!" Monet, clearly enjoying Doflamingo's attention, suddenly lifted her head and protested loudly.
"Ohohoho, now that's some spirit!"
Doflamingo gave her a light pat on the head and instructed gently.
"Monet, this is Jora. You can call her Aunt Jora. Your mother's recovering in the medical unit—you can go see her later."
"Yes, BOSS!" Monet nodded seriously.
With that settled...
Doflamingo made his escape, dragging Smoothie along with him.
She walked beside him stiffly like a block of wood.
Doflamingo smirked to himself but feigned innocence as he asked,
"Smoothie, something bothering you?"
"N-No! Nothing, Doffy!"
Smoothie shook her head hard, trying to seem fine.
Inside, however, her mind was in total chaos.
He has kids now!
My husband has kids!
I'm still just a kid myself!
How do you even have babies? My mom never told me!
Am I even ready yet?!
Doflamingo, sensing the storm of thoughts whirling in her head, let out a silent laugh.
Girls really were too much fun.
...
A short while later, in the lab.
Doflamingo called in the goat-headed scientist and asked,
"Caesar, what's the status on the gigantification project?"
"It's been shelved. Isn't that one kinda… not a priority, BOSS?" Caesar responded instinctively, clearly out of the loop.
"Shelved? Not a priority? Are you kidding me?! That was Mama's dream!"
Smoothie couldn't take it anymore—she drew her spiral sword, glaring daggers at the slacker scientist.
"And it's my husband's life's work!"
Your mama's dream? Your husband?! Who the hell do you think you are?!
As far as Caesar was concerned, only the BOSS was allowed to beat him. No one else!
He snapped back without thinking. "This is BOSS's—"
"Hm?" Doflamingo tilted his head ever so slightly, clearly contemplating which part of Caesar to punch that wouldn't compromise his experiment performance.
Feeling that dangerous aura, Caesar froze on the spot, cutting himself off mid-sentence.
This current BOSS? He'd taken out Golden Lion himself.
Caesar wouldn't survive a proper beatdown.
"Alright, Smoothie. This one's on me."
"No way! Doffy, you've always treated Mama so well. It has to be this damn lazy employee slacking off. Let's kill them all!"
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