Franky stared intently at the spot where Doflamingo had just vanished.
A fire seemed to blaze in his eyes, burning with intense light. Spandam's head—he had to get it.
What he didn't notice was the pair of increasingly hostile glares directed at him from nearby.
"Shurorororo... hey, kid!"
Caesar emerged in his gas form, like a demon lurking in the mist, baring claws and fangs.
"Let's see what you've got. You get to meet Pluton right off the bat."
"This was Doflamingo-sama's decision. Are you questioning him?!"
Franky locked eyes with the horned freak and didn't back down an inch.
Tom's legacy... only he and Iceburg had any right to carry it forward.
"You little punk..."
Caesar had just been trying to intimidate him, but now his hands were tied. He couldn't mess with someone the Boss had personally approved.
His eyes darted, and then he turned to run toward the lab.
Fine, if he couldn't pick on that guy, he could still mess with the ones the Boss had discarded.
"Come on, kid. I'll show you your new work environment."
Judge cast a glance at Franky, then led the way out.
...
Immigration District.
"Hahaha! Long time no see, Violet, Monet, and Hiyori!"
Yamato bumped into her long-lost girl friends and walked with them toward the Combat Academy.
"Long time no see, Yamato! Was the North Blue fun?!" Violet, who had been living on Skypiea ever since her kingdom fell, rushed over excitedly.
"Some parts were fun, but a lot of people there are living in misery. The royals, nobles, and pirates take all their food."
Thinking of the tragedies she'd seen, Yamato sighed sincerely.
"People on Skypiea don't realize how lucky they are."
"Aren't royals and nobles supposed to protect the people?" Violet's eyes widened.
The outside world wasn't anything like what her father had told her.
Beside her, Hiyori gave a supportive nod. In her mind, her father had always worked tirelessly for Wano's revival.
"Fools."
Monet, who had lived both as a noble and a street rat, snapped coldly.
"What did you say?" Violet glared at her.
"I said you're a fool, dummy! You were just lucky enough to be born a royal. Otherwise, you'd have died on the streets already."
Monet casually touched the spiked cones at her thighs, her gaze sharpening as her voice rose.
"Doflamingo-sama explained it all in our textbooks."
"Nobles are just those who stand above others through strength, power, and wealth. That's it."
"These short-sighted royals and nobles see the people as nothing more than sheep to be harvested."
"Even if a few go against their class, it doesn't change the facts."
Yamato looked at Monet with stars in her eyes.
"Monet, you know so much!"
Violet mumbled, "My father wasn't like that..."
"Oh, give me a break. Look at what you ate and wore. Then look at what your people had."
Monet's scorn deepened. She'd had enough of these pampered princesses.
"The harvesting of the people had already begun—quietly, systematically."
"And the World Government? Don't even get me started. About the Heavenly Tribute, Doflamingo-sama once said something that's stuck with me."
'Taken as if precious, spent as if worthless.'
"That absurd tax? Not a single coin of it goes to help the people. And you—your old kingdom—was just a pawn of the Celestial Dragons!"
Violet's underdeveloped brain buzzed from the barrage of words.
Kozuki Hiyori muttered, "My father... would never do something like that."
There was a hint of relief in her voice. Wano and the World Government were mortal enemies, after all.
But Monet, with her sharp hearing, turned her fire toward a new target.
"And you, Hiyori—your father was the dumbest of them all!"
"Doflamingo-sama included Wano's strategic failures in the lesson plans."
"Your father's entire life story is in there."
"He let Orochi and Kaido-sama rise to power because he wouldn't trade a few prisoners."
"Wano fell piece by piece under his watch. He didn't show even a shred of a ruler's responsibility."
Hiyori: "..."
Could her father really have been that terrible?
"Hmph!"
Watching the two princesses hang their heads, Monet proudly thrust out her chest.
Nearby, a blind man who had been eavesdropping shook his head and asked,
"I have some questions, if I may."
"Doflamingo stoked the flames of war across the Four Seas. He sold weapons everywhere."
"Every bite of food you people eat is soaked in the blood of others."
"Isn't he the root of chaos in the Four Seas?"
"To me, the man you follow is nothing but evil incarnate."
Monet, who had just calmed down, flared up again.
She stormed over to the reinforced glass of the "House of the Defeated," pressing her mouth right against it.
Afraid the blind fool wouldn't hear her, she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Even if Doflamingo-sama is evil, he's still ten thousand times better than the World Government!"
"He ended the war on Skypiea and built a place where no pirates could run wild!"
"Here, anyone who works hard can eat and live with dignity."
"Not only that—he took in orphans from across all Four Seas!"
"The World Government, the Navy, the royals, the nobles—they never cared about any of that!"
"And those wars? Has Doflamingo-sama ever oppressed the poor?!"
"Last time the World Government tried to invade, Doflamingo-sama warned the people to evacuate before it even started!"
"You blind old fool! You don't even understand one ten-thousandth of what Doflamingo-sama stands for!!!"
Monet was practically fuming, her mouth firing like a machine gun.
To her, Doflamingo-sama was the kindest man in the world.
Everything wrong with it... was the World Government's fault.
She wouldn't allow anyone to insult him!
"Hahahahaha~"
Yamato laughed so hard she showed all her teeth. She'd never seen this side of Monet before.
Usually, Monet was cold, quiet, aloof.
"Sure, Mingo's a bad guy... but he really has done a lot of good!"
Yamato grabbed the still-ranting Monet and started walking back the way they came.
"C'mon, Monet! I brought back a new recruit from the North Blue for our combat division. She can turn into weapons! Super cool!"
...
Fujitora's Observation Haki blanketed the entire immigration zone.
Though blind, he could still clearly feel the people's smiles.
His feelings were... complicated.
"That girl... you really can't talk about Doflamingo with her."
"But... she is right about some things."
...
A secret room on Angel Island.
"Weevil, don't forget to eat your meals properly, okay? Mama's in the South Blue now, and I sent you a present—I think you'll love it!"
Watching the holographic message projection,
Weevil clutched a packet of South Blue dried pearlfish to his chest, tears rolling down his face.
"Wuuuuu... Mama, you're out traveling and you still think of me! You're the best!"
"Godfather's really nice too! I get to eat every day!"
...
Seeing that Weevil wasn't acting up,
One of the attendants quietly slipped away to the back.
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg