One week later, inside a luxury hotel overlooking Loguetown's main square.
After sending Ace back to Windmill Village, Wayne stayed on. He still had one more mission in Loguetown: give his last concert of the Four-Seas Tour. To the world, Wayne was the most popular celebrity alive, and he needed that fame to fuel his system.
A Den-Den Mushi chirped.
"Moshi-moshi. Wayne speaking."
"Boss, it's Laffitte."
"Oh, Laffitte. What's up?" Wayne yawned no idol manners here and teased, "Everything all right, Lala?"
"Please, Boss, don't call me that. This is serious!" Laffitte sounded worried. "Our relationship with Joker is souring. He just hijacked one of our merchant ships."
Wayne's eyes narrowed. "Doffy, huh? Did you provoke him again?"
"Still about that slave ship we seized. We crippled his profits, so now he's warning us not to reach too far."
Wayne's gaze turned cold. Donquixote Doflamingo was, like Wayne, one of the Dark World's ten rulers, but unlike Wayne he trafficked in everything Devil Fruits, weapons, contraband, people. Wayne's group, Daybreak, had rules: absolutely no slave trade, and every ally had to abide by it. With Wayne touring the seas for a year, the other bosses were getting bolder.
"Tell our men to keep their heads down. Once my tour ends, I'll come home. And Doflamingo…" Wayne's voice chilled. "I'll settle with him, sooner or later."
"Understood, Boss. And good luck with the concert."
Wayne hung up, memories drifting back to the day he met Laffitte eighteen months earlier.
A Year and a Half Ago, Ilisia Kingdom, West Blue
Thick storm clouds smothered the sky, thunder rumbling like a siege drum. That day two events shook the Ilisia Kingdom. First, the kingdom's most feared sheriff, Laffitte, was to be exiled. Second, the world-famous star Wayne had accepted the king's invitation to perform.
Laffitte had once been respected. Crime dropped under his nightly curfews, though life grew duller. Five years ago, everything changed. No one knew why, but the sheriff turned cruel. He cut off thieves' fingers so they would never steal again and sewed shut con artists' mouths with needle and thread. Two weeks earlier he wiped out an entire gang one hundred eighteen lives because they trafficked slaves for a Grand Line syndicate.
The nobles finally revolted. They stripped him of badge and citizenship. On the palace steps a gray-haired lord removed Laffitte's revolver, leaned close, and hissed, "Losing a daughter hurts, doesn't it? That was only the beginning. I'll take everything from you."
Laffitte's eyes flared red, almost demonic. The lord stepped back, then smirked; seastone cuffs bound the sheriff's wrists.
Wayne arrived in Ilisia a day early. After checking concert prep, he went out to taste West Blue food and wine. Meanwhile, Laffitte still cuffed with cheap seastone was running for his life, a pack of gangsters at his heels. Weakened, he could barely stay ahead.
Cornered in a dead-end alley, he faced dozens of thugs brandishing pistols and machetes. Despair stole into his voice. "So this is where my story ends?"
Just then, a masked stranger strolled in.
"Hey, hey. Dozens against one isn't very sporting."
Wayne recognized him instantly: the "Demon Sheriff" Laffitte, future navigator and fifth division captain of the Blackbeard Pirates.
The lead thug sneered. "Beat it, kid, unless you want to stop a bullet."
"Oh? Show me these bullets of yours." Wayne's tone was lazy.
"Shoot!"
Gunfire filled the alley. Wayne blurred Shave dodging in a zigzag. He was no Logia user, so every dodge mattered. In a heartbeat he reappeared beside the boss.
"Finger Gun."
Point-blank. The boss crumpled. The remaining goons froze. Wayne didn't rush; instead he pulled a wooden skewer from his take-out bag, the one he'd used on street food moments earlier. Ink-black Armament crept over the flimsy stick.
"Flying Slash Skewer Kill."
The air blade sliced two nearby houses in half. Machetes and rifles snapped like twigs.
"Nani?!"
"Impossible!"
Gangsters scattered like pigeons.
When silence returned, Wayne crouched by Laffitte. "I've heard of you. Ilusia's brutal sheriff. They say slave traders killed your daughter?"
Pain shadowed Laffitte's eyes. He rasped, "Who are you? Why save me?"
Wayne tilted his head. "That's a fine tone toward your rescuer. I just hate slavers, that's all."
Laffitte's gaze brightened, then dimmed again. "Darkness always finds a way. Justice can never reach every corner."
"Didn't expect philosophy from someone who looks like the devil," Wayne chuckled. Laffitte raised his cuffed wrists. "Thanks, but these cuffs… We'd better run separately."
Wayne inspected them. "Hard to crack? Let's see." He drew a manicure knife, coated it in Armament, and snapped the seastone in one stroke.
Laffitte stared, speechless.
Wayne straightened. "If justice can't cleanse the dark, how about standing in the dark while facing the light? Interested?"
"Fight evil with evil," Laffitte whispered.
Wayne extended a hand. "How about helping me turn the world upside down?"
Laffitte rose, tipped his top hat. "I am yours to command, Boss."
"Leaving Ilisia at once?" he asked.
Wayne shook his head and peeled off his mask. The storm broke, moonlight bathing his face. "I have a concert to finish first. After that, we leave together."
Laffitte blinked, recognizing the superstar underneath. "Fate truly smiles on you." He bowed again. "Happy to serve, Boss."