In the North Blue, at the Donquixote Family's base of operations, a tall man with golden hair, wearing tinted sunglasses, a pink feathered coat, cropped trousers, and pointed shoes, listened to his subordinate's report with a face full of anger.
"What?! Who's the blind fool that dared to steal from the Donquixote Family? Tired of living, are they? Go find out!"
"Y-Yes, Young Master. I'll find out who it is as soon as possible."
Doflamingo was furious. A group of his men had vanished without a trace.
The men themselves weren't important — but the two Devil Fruits they had been transporting had also disappeared. That was something he could not tolerate. He needed to know who had the guts to steal from him.
A few days later, a towering, muscle-bound man arrived with a stack of reports.
"Young Master, we've tracked down the lead on that batch of goods," Pica reported respectfully.
"Who did it?"
"From what we've learned, a few days ago those idiots of ours provoked someone they really shouldn't have… and then they vanished."
"Who?"
"A group led by someone named Buggy."
Doflamingo frowned, repeating the name in his mind.
"Buggy… I've never heard of him. A bunch of nobodies. Since when can the Donquixote Family not deal with nobodies?"
"Young Master, they may not be famous on the surface, but they pulled off something huge in the West Blue. They wiped out the entire ruling class of the World Government–affiliated Illusia Kingdom — the king included."
Even Pica still sounded a little stunned at the scale of the act.
"Fuffuffuffuffu… If this Buggy pulled something that big, how have I never heard of it?"
It didn't make sense. Something that explosive should have shaken the world. Yet there wasn't a whisper about it.
"According to our intel, the Navy and the World Government suppressed the news. The World Government sent a large force to 'handle' Illusia and used every trick in the book to erase all records of both the kingdom and Buggy's involvement."
"Fuffuffuffuffu… those old geezers in Mariejois are as despicable as ever."
Doflamingo instantly recognized the fingerprints of the Five Elders on such a cover-up.
Pica then laid out the entire Illusia Kingdom incident from start to finish.
"Fuffuffuffuffu… Weakness is a sin. That's the way this world works — there's no such thing as justice. The strong are justice."
Doflamingo's tone held no sympathy for Illusia's fate. If anything, there was cruelty and self-assured arrogance.
He didn't see anything wrong with the Illusia king's human trafficking — in his view, the weak existed to be exploited.
"Where's Buggy now? Our goods aren't something just anyone can take."
A cold, predatory smile formed on his face.
"Young Master, they seem to be heading for the Lubbne Kingdom."
"Why would they go there?"
"That, we don't know. We haven't received any related intel."
The vague answer earned a look of dissatisfaction from Doflamingo, but after thinking for a moment, he gave his orders:
"Send people to track them closely. When the time comes, I'll meet them myself."
"You mean…"
Pica wanted to be certain what his Young Master intended, so they could plan.
"A crew that strong… I want to see them with my own eyes. If there's a chance, we'll recruit them. If not, then anyone who takes from us pays the price — in blood."
"Young Master, these people won't be easy to deal with. Even if we wipe them out, our side will take heavy losses. Please think carefully—"
"What's there to fear? They're strong, but we're stronger. And we don't even need to fight them ourselves. We can lure the Navy to them and let the two sides tear each other apart. Then we swoop in and clean up."
It was a classic Doflamingo move — using others to weaken his enemies. Let the Navy and Buggy's crew fight until both were crippled, and the Donquixote Family could profit from the wreckage.
"That's… a brilliant plan. I'll order the men to keep a close watch."
"Do it. Make sure they don't detect us. Once we have their exact location, notify me immediately. Then we move — and at the same time, alert the Navy's hunting teams."
"Understood!" Pica left at once.
A cruel grin spread across Doflamingo's face. He could already picture Buggy's crew and the Navy grinding each other into exhaustion.
Fifteen days later
Aboard the Splendor, Buggy's crew had covered half the distance to their next destination — the New World.
The past two weeks had been unusually calm, not even a single brainless pirate showing up to cause trouble.
Buggy had everyone training on deck whenever time allowed. Strength was the foundation of everything, and every member had their method of honing it.
That morning, they trained until sweat soaked their bodies, then wrapped up for the day and went to enjoy the nutritious breakfast Jessica had prepared.
Just then, Kuro spoke up:
"Captain, looks like a ship's heading toward us."
Buggy followed his gaze. The flag flying on that vessel was instantly familiar — the same crest as the Donquixote Family ship they'd encountered before. And standing at the bow was an even more familiar figure.
Golden hair. Pink feathered coat. Sunglasses.
There was no mistaking him — Heavenly Yaksha Donquixote Doflamingo himself.
"Looks like trouble. That's the Donquixote Family's Young Master. Doflamingo's no pushover — stay sharp, everyone."
At this point, Buggy's crew had no real reason to fear Doflamingo. In fact, in terms of high-level combatants, they might even have the edge.
But against a schemer of Doflamingo's caliber, one had to be careful — or risk falling right into his trap.