"It's unfortunate, but that's the truth."
"Members of the World Government are not under the Navy's jurisdiction."
"Whether it's conquering or capturing the king of a government-affiliated nation, that lies beyond the purview of a Marine branch."
Captain Doll put away her complicated thoughts and turned to remind Vice Admiral Rosen.
As his adjutant, the only thing she had that surpassed Rosen was her long experience as a naval officer. Therefore, whenever Rosen brushed against certain blind spots in naval law, she had the duty to speak and remind him. That was her responsibility as adjutant.
"The Heavenly Gold from the Germa Kingdom?"
"You mean this?"
In response to her words, Rosen smiled faintly, produced a remote control, and pressed it.
Click.
Not far away, a squinting projection Den Den Mushi opened its eyes, projecting an image onto the office wall.
"The World Government's warships."
"They're on the same level as the Buster Call fleet."
Captain Doll narrowed her eyes. On the screen, the backdrop was a storming sea. Several massive warships, flying the flag of the World Government, cut through the waves. She recognized them instantly: giant ships of the same class as the Navy Headquarters' Buster Call vessels.
As the camera zoomed, the deck came into view—figures in black suits lay sprawled across the planks, motionless like corpses. Yet Doll noticed subtle signs—their chests rose faintly, their bodies twitched. They were unconscious, not dead. No wounds, no blood. Simply felled in an instant.
"They're Cipher Pol."
"Then… could these warships be—"
A chilling thought froze her breath. But before she could finish, the picture suddenly spun as the Den Den Mushi's camera was forcibly rotated.
When it steadied again, the blurry image resolved into a familiar, arrogant silhouette—followed by that infamous, unsettling laugh.
"Fufufufufufu…"
"You didn't expect this, did you?"
"Nice to see you again so soon, Captain Doll."
Yes. The figure was Donquixote Doflamingo.
He wore his ever-present pink feathered coat, though his crimson suit had been replaced by an open-chested shirt and cropped pants. Most striking was his loafer pressing down on the head of a horned man in a black suit—clearly CP9—grinding his skull into the deck.
"That fleet…" Doll's face went pale.
"That's the Heavenly Gold Germa delivered to the Celestial Dragons!"
The moment Doflamingo appeared on the screen, Doll felt as though a cannon had gone off in her head. Her chest tightened; dizziness swirled.
"What are you doing?!"
"This is plundering Heavenly Gold!"
"Even an admiral would be punished by the World Government for such a thing—dismissal, investigation, exile!"
She forced herself to breathe, steadying her panic. She knew Rosen's ways were unconventional, often straying outside the boundaries of regulation. But never had she expected him to step so brazenly across the line.
Not long ago, he had crushed Doflamingo precisely because the warlord had robbed Heavenly Gold. Yet now Rosen himself had orchestrated the same act.
And worse—it was the Heavenly Gold Germa delivered directly to the Celestial Dragons.
"What does the Heavenly Gold robbed by Donquixote Doflamingo have to do with me, Vice Admiral Rosen?"
Rosen spread his hands. His expression betrayed nothing.
He certainly wasn't about to admit that before leaving Dressrosa, he had already instructed Doflamingo to shadow the Germa fleet. That the very moment Judge's convoy departed the North Sea for the Grand Line, Doflamingo had called his office.
Rosen had listened quietly, learned of Judge's sudden rush to cleanse his reputation and gain legitimacy overnight—and then given the order.
Of course, Doflamingo had to suffer first. Then, he would rob Germa's Heavenly Gold.
After all, this wasn't his first time. The Heavenly Demon was an experienced thief of Heaven's tribute. Was that not the purpose of keeping a warlord like him alive—to unleash him, to let him bite?
If the Seven Warlords of the Sea could not bite, or dared not bite, what point was there in keeping them at all?
Doflamingo, meanwhile, had his own bitterness. As the first warlord collared and bent to the Marines, how could he stomach seeing Judge walk free?
By Rosen's order—or perhaps out of his own spite—he gladly accepted the task. If he had to suffer, then Judge would suffer as well.
Thus, here he was now.
Doflamingo himself had struck, seizing Germa's Heavenly Gold and trampling Cipher Pol beneath his heel.
"Before, you could still claim Doflamingo acted on his own, that it had nothing to do with you. But now—" Doll's voice trembled with urgency.
"Now the newspapers declare that Donquixote Doflamingo is nothing more than your dog, Vice Admiral Rosen. Everyone in the North Sea knows it. This time, it cannot be hidden."
"…"
On the screen, Doflamingo's grin froze.
The words were sharper than any blade, cutting deeper than Haki. To be called Rosen's dog—worse, to have Doll say it to his face—was humiliation of the cruelest kind. But she was Rosen's trusted adjutant. He could only swallow it, smiling through clenched teeth, the collar at his throat a constant reminder of his reality.
Rosen's eyes narrowed. "Do you have anything to say?"
If a warlord failed to slay pirates yet still dragged trouble to his master's feet, he was worse than useless.
"Captain Doll," Doflamingo finally answered, his voice hoarse.
"Except for this CP9 beneath me, no one saw my face. Every escort was knocked unconscious by my Conqueror's Haki."
"In other words—kill this man, and no one will ever know.."
"And Germa-66 will still fall beneath his sword."
He understood.
Rosen had made him suffer—and he would. Better to be the one humiliated than to let Judge look down on him in smug victory. At least this way, when they crossed paths again in the North Sea, Judge would not be the one laughing.