Aboard a ship shaped like a flamingo, the deck lay quiet and stained with unconscious bodies. Crewmen were sprawled across the wood, frothing at the mouth, their breaths shallow. The cabin beyond was a scene of excess, a lavish banquet laid out under ornate lanterns.
Silently reclining in a luxurious chair, Shirogai smiled as he appraised the man beside him, who wore an amused, sinister grin.
"So that's how it is," Shirogai said, his voice polite and steady. "Joker, you were just trying to remind me. My apologies for misunderstanding."
"Young Master, this man is too arrogant!" one of the Donquixote executives barked, eyes narrow with fury.
"Young Master, he—" another chimed.
They fumed because the stranger had appeared aboard their vessel without warning, used [Conqueror's Haki] to intimidate and drop the crew into unconsciousness, taken the Young Master's seat, and begun to help himself to the feast.
Yet the Young Master himself seemed strangely deferential in the stranger's presence, slipping out pieces of information about which Yonko were paying attention.
"Do not act rashly," Doflamingo said quietly, reaching to hold back his family's officers. "This is not someone to be trifled with."
The stranger let out a soft laugh. He looked like a bored patron at a dangerous play, and his eyes glittered with amusement.
"Shirogai, since the misunderstanding is cleared, I suppose you can release them. They mean something to me."
The executives blinked in surprise at Doflamingo, then at the stranger's calm nod.
Shirogai tapped a finger against the table, and hundreds of invisible threads that had been laced into the fallen crew uncoiled, sliding back into his hand as if moths returning to a lantern. The executives watched, stunned.
"The String-String Fruit?" one murmured, recognition and disbelief mingling in his voice.
"Indeed," another muttered, "as expected of a Plunderer."
Doflamingo's grin narrowed. He studied Shirogai as if trying to weigh the scale of a threat.
"Your ability to copy and use other Devil Fruit effects after witnessing them is monstrous," he said, voice low.
Shirogai set down his cutlery, wiped his mouth with a napkin, rose, and bowed faintly with the composure of a man who had never been surprised.
"It was a pleasure. I look forward to our next meeting," he said.
A purple glow flickered, and he vanished.
Doflamingo stayed very still, eyes fixed on the empty space where Shirogai had been. He had assumed this so-called Plunderer was a lucky upstart, a rookie with a powerful Devil Fruit.
But watching Shirogai move, he felt something colder: this man was not merely fortunate — he was deep and dangerous in ways Doflamingo had not anticipated.
A wrong move here could invite death, not only humiliation.
"Shirogai," Doflamingo breathed, the name tasting like a warning.
"Young Master, what is his background?" one of the executives asked, voice tight.
Doflamingo's fingers flexed. "This complicates things. Kaido's plan—" he paused, jaw tightening, "—may fall apart."
He pressed his palms to his temples and sat back, frowning. "This Shirogai is far more troublesome than I thought. The Devil Fruit abilities he handles, the way he reads people, and the speed he learns—these are not ordinary traits."
Diamante pushed forward slightly, face white with tension. "So this is the one who's been making noise, the pirate called The Plunderer?"
"Correct," Doflamingo answered. He let his gaze sweep the leaders in the room.
"Do not misunderstand. I am not afraid of him. I fear the danger of a brawl breaking out here, and the collateral cost to you."
Baby-5, her features sharp with concern, leaned forward. "So Young Master chose caution to protect us?"
"Also," Buffalo said, anxiously, "how did he learn your String-String techniques so fast?"
Doflamingo's answer came in a low, dark chuckle.
"He metabolizes what he witnesses. If he had seen Sugar, and her Hobi-Hobi no Mi, that would have been catastrophic. She erases people from memory. If he learned that, a single glance could erase enemies from history. That is why this is dangerous."
The three officers looked at one another, the threat suddenly immediate. Diamante, Baby-5, Buffalo — each had powers born of their Devil Fruits, and the thought that a single man could appropriate them simply by observation filled them with dread.
"We must withdraw," Doflamingo decided abruptly. "Postpone the plan. Retreat for now. He eats this sort of thing up, and he won't let this go quietly. We may soon hear interesting developments if we let him walk."
Below, the flamingo-shaped vessel carved its path.
On the wind, a voice carried thinly, confident and faintly amused.
Shirogai hovered above the sparkling sea, watching the pink silhouette of the ship growing small. He considered the way the Yonko, and the World Government, had reacted.
"I only wanted to travel the world slowly with Luffy and his crew," he said under his breath, "but the Gorosei will not leave me be. They wish to use the Yonko as blades to cut me down."
He skimmed the sky, pulling fragments of thought from the mental echoes left by the officers he had glanced through. Using a whisper of perception, he sifted through the Big Mom Pirate Crew's tangles.
A memory surfaced: a flare of hunger a few days ago, quelled by a chef's quick thinking and a roasted whale. The details were mundane and grotesque at once.
"Is Totto Land that way?" Shirogai mused, eyes tracing a distant coastline. "I hope to see Aokiji again."
His form collapsed into a streak of purple light, vanishing toward the horizon.
He smiled softly to himself.
In a world where anyone tried to threaten him, he would not bow.
If Big Mom or any other force stood in the way, he would remove them without hesitation.
_____
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