The enormous deck fell completely silent.
Doflamingo’s expression stiffened slightly.
He had originally thought that arriving in such a battered state had already disgraced the Warlords of the Sea enough.
He had never imagined that things could get even more humiliating.
A ruthless ambitious schemer who had gone to extraordinary lengths and endured countless hardships to secure his position as a newly appointed Warlord of the Sea—
was now being carried into Marine Headquarters at Marineford, bound from head to toe.
Was he really here to report in and formally accept his appointment as a Warlord?
Or had he simply been captured and brought here?
If Doflamingo hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it either.
But what shocked Doflamingo even more than the sight of Blackbeard being carried in was the appearance of another person whom Lucas had just mentioned.
One of the Three Calamities—
Jack the Drought.
Jack was still unconscious, with numerous scars remaining across his body.
Only then did Doflamingo finally understand why Lucas had mistaken him for Kaido of the Beasts earlier.
Doflamingo knew very well that if word got out that Jack the Drought had been defeated and captured by the Marines’ new Admiral, then Kaido’s notoriously insane temperament would almost certainly make a war with Marine Headquarters unavoidable.
When that happened, the entire sea would be shaken to its foundations.
Looking at the miserable condition of Blackbeard and Jack, Doflamingo’s lips curled into a mocking smile.
"Kid, do you even realize what kind of disaster you’ve caused?"
"You actually dared to capture one of the Four Emperors’ most capable subordinates—Kaido of the Beasts’ right-hand man."
"You’re practically forcing Kaido to declare war on Marine Headquarters."
"If you’d thrown him overboard back then, there might still have been room to smooth things over."
"But now you’ve completely offended Kaido."
"Once Emperor Kaido declares war on Marine Headquarters, tell me—what do you think will happen if another Warlord of the Sea also defects?"
Tsuru’s expression darkened slightly.
"Doflamingo, are you threatening Marine Headquarters?"
"Fufufu... Vice Admiral Tsuru, this isn’t a threat."
"It’s a possibility."
Doflamingo smiled meaningfully.
"I’m saying this so your new Admiral understands who he can afford to offend and who he can’t."
"Otherwise, the consequences will be difficult to contain."
"By the way, Admiral Lucas, I’d really like to know..."
"What are you going to do?"
"What am I going to do?"
Lucas took a small sip of strong liquor before looking toward the figure rapidly approaching in the distance.
"Obviously, I’ll first find out how much a Warlord of the Sea is worth in bonus money."
"Then I’ll go wipe out the entire lot of them."
"I seem to remember you’re some kind of king too."
"That makes things even easier. I won’t have to wander around aimlessly looking for them."
Everyone present was stunned.
Even the smile on Doflamingo’s face froze.
Looking at Lucas’s completely composed expression, everyone felt a headache coming on.
Was their way of thinking simply too slow?
Or was Lucas’s train of thought just too bizarre?
Normally, everyone would be thinking about how to repair the relationship.
But the moment Lucas opened his mouth, he was already planning to wipe out the entire Warlords of the Sea.
Had this man become so obsessed with money that he’d completely lost his mind?
Yet when they looked at Blackbeard and Jack the Drought, both tied up like giant rice dumplings and apparently being kept for the purpose of collecting their bonuses, they had to admit—
this was absolutely something the Admiral in front of them would actually do.
"Doflamingo! How dare you cause trouble at Marine Headquarters?"
Sengoku arrived quickly with a group of Marine officers.
The moment he saw Jack the Drought tied up like a giant rice dumpling, he had already guessed what had happened.
But when he saw that Blackbeard had suffered exactly the same fate, the muscles in his cheeks still couldn’t help twitching.
Yet another newly appointed Warlord of the Sea had been carried back to Marine Headquarters.
If word of this got out...
Sengoku was genuinely beginning to worry that recruiting future Warlords might become difficult.
But now that things had come this far, there wasn’t much he could say.
He could only steel himself and look toward Doflamingo.
"As for Pica’s matter, I’ve already explained everything to you over the Den Den Mushi."
"If you have any objections, take them up with the Five Elders."
"Marine Headquarters doesn’t have time to entertain you right now."
"Of course, if you insist on refusing, I can have Lucas see you out."
"See him out?"
Lucas adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses.
"I don’t mind seeing him out."
"But that’ll cost extra."
"Surely he’s worth at least ten million Berries?"
Ten million?
The muscles in Doflamingo’s cheeks twitched violently.
Veins bulged one after another across his forehead.
Among the Warlords of the Sea, he had always considered himself exceptional.
His own bounty had been worth several hundred million Berries—small change, in his eyes.
Yet Lucas had casually slapped a mere ten-million-Berry price tag on him.
It was as though Lucas had forcibly dragged him down to an entirely different level.
Sengoku glanced at Doflamingo, whose ability to maintain his composure was nearly at its breaking point, and couldn’t help sighing.
Indeed, there was always something that could counter something else.
When dealing with a shameless bastard like Doflamingo, apparently the only way to beat him was with someone even more shameless.
Otherwise, getting this arrogant Heavenly Yaksha to show such a frustrated expression would probably be harder than reaching the heavens.
"Doflamingo, you heard him."
"I don’t want to spend that money either."
Sengoku withdrew his thoughts and spoke solemnly.
"As far as I’m concerned, the farce that just happened never took place."
"You’re a Warlord of the Sea recognized by the World Government. If you have any objections, you can appeal to the Five Elders."
"But if you insist on causing trouble, I can pay Lucas extra to deal with you."
"Pay him extra to deal with me?"
Everyone present froze.
No one had expected that even the Marines’ Fleet Admiral would be speaking with such an overwhelming stench of money.
For Lucas, however, this was undoubtedly the sweetest thing he could possibly hear.
Lucas took another small sip of strong liquor, then happily raised the gourd in his hand.
"I like earning bonuses ."
"Please take good care of me from now on!"
"You—!"
Trebol and the others were left speechless with anger.
Doflamingo’s expression turned cold enough to freeze the air.
He let out a sinister laugh.
"What an impressive new Marine Admiral."
"And what an impressive Marine Headquarters."
"I’ll remember everything that happened today."
"But don’t celebrate too early."
"None of us knows what will happen next."
"I just hope you won’t regret it when the time comes."
"Let’s go!"
After leaving those words behind, Doflamingo turned around and began walking away with his usual swagger.
But after taking half a step, he suddenly remembered that he was wearing a flamingo-feather coat that had been reduced to a pathetic handful of feathers.
His sunglasses were shattered too.
That exaggerated, swaggering runway-model walk suddenly seemed rather inappropriate.
With that realization, Doflamingo did something extremely rare.
He switched to an ordinary walk.
However, after taking only a few steps, the words that suddenly reached his ears nearly made him stumble and fall flat on his face.
"I always thought he was bow-legged."
Lucas casually added,
"I didn’t realize he could walk normally."
Sengoku and the others could only wear bitter expressions upon hearing this.
Was this damn man trying to destroy someone’s dignity even after beating them?
Was he seriously going to mock the way Doflamingo walked too?
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus Chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus Chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70+ Chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789