Chapter 1208: Are You Organizing Team-Building Here?

“Your Majesty! Please don’t mention abdication anymore!”

“Lord Doflamingo! Is what the newspaper says true? It must be false, right?”

Outside the palace, countless citizens who saw the news in the newspaper came to persuade Doflamingo to stay on the throne. To outsiders, Doflamingo seemed truly like a wise king.

In truth, as the famous joker of the Underworld, Doflamingo has always been very concerned about his image. Although he personally orchestrated the bloody night in Dressrosa, as the mastermind behind the scenes, no one knew he was responsible.

The one controlled by the String-String Fruit, King Riku, was the real culprit in the eyes of the public that night. In theory, what Doflamingo did here was even more outrageous than what happened in Wano Kuni at the time; yet he had the Hobby-Hobby Fruit as a powerful weapon.

Those transformed into toys by Sugar will be forgotten by the world; whether parents, children, spouses, no one will remember the existence of this person.

As a country in the New World, pirate attacks are an inevitable problem. Doflamingo’s identity as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea allowed Dressrosa to avoid this threat.

Dressrosa’s underground economy also indirectly drove ordinary industries. In the eyes of ordinary people, they only saw the good side of Doflamingo, naturally admiring him immensely as their king.

The voices outside did not affect Doflamingo; he was inside arranging his plans while comforting his subordinates.

In the slightly dim room, four chairs with spade, diamond, heart, and club symbols stood parallel. These were the seats of the four high-level officials of the Donquixote family.

At this moment, Diamante, seated in the diamond position, seemed to have slightly trembling hands.

“Once the arena opens, Dressrosa will become unprecedentedly grand.”

Doflamingo’s fingers danced in the air, seemingly manipulating something, while lamenting about the situation in the arena.

The Bullfighting Arena is considered as one of Dressrosa’s pillar industries; the ticket fees generated by economic pursuits are small profits, while the casinos that emerged are the real winners.

“Diamante, are you still nervous? You need to be calm, you are the king of the arena, you’ve experienced such things many times, haven’t you?”

“This time it’s different, Dofla….”

Katakuri, Marco, Ace, and other personnel already discovered at the port were making Diamante feel nervous.

Even though Doflamingo promised Diamante wouldn’t encounter these monsters before the finals, Diamante’s emotions still weren’t alleviated.

Facing these monsters in battle is too much pressure for him.

Moreover, Doflamingo was doing this to cause chaos in the Sea, to then seek greater profits.

Most of the talented and capable members within the Donquixote family are Ability Users. The remaining members may not be able to unleash the power of the Quake-Quake Fruit. If one fruit could create a warrior with the power equivalent to the Sea Emperor, the Four Emperors wouldn’t crumble into void right after Whitebeard’s death.

Strength, influence, talent, intimidation—these things cannot be lacking. Only by making a terrifying enough name coupled with a little push from public opinion, can one smoothly ascend to that position.

“Don’t worry, reliable sources say the young lady from Hundred Beasts has already arrived. If worst comes to worst, just let her take the fruit.”

Directly giving the fruit to Hundred Beasts won’t bring more benefits either. Kaidou is obsessed with Zoan-type Ability Users, and Hundred Beasts have had a surge in Mythical-type colonies these years, creating a bizarre situation on the Sea.

Every day people speak of Mythical-type being even rarer than Logia-types. Yet now the number of Mythical-types has surpassed ordinary Zoan-types.

To chase greater profits, Doflamingo made this extremely daring move. He dared to draw this many monsters simply because of the cooperative relationship with Hundred Beasts.

As long as he allies with the biggest monster, then the smaller monsters are not a concern.

This event is a grand occasion in the New World; aside from Red Hair who had no interest and took his high-level officials to watch a concert, almost everyone else had a hand in this.

“Dofla, Hundred Beast’s people have also landed. I brought this thing for you too.”

Trebol slithered inside like a snail, his body covered in mysterious slime, holding a small box in his hand.

“Fufufufufufu, excellent, Diamante, I’ll leave this fruit to you.”

“No, no, no, Dofla, you should hold onto it yourself, that’s safer.”

“No, you are the genius of the arena, I trust you can accomplish this.”

This wasn’t a refusal originally; Diamante is somewhat narcissistic and loves such praise, but this time, he truly didn’t want to hold this hot potato. Who knows if some madman plans to directly snatch the Quake-Quake Fruit.

If it turns out to be some hidden monster, then his trouble will be great.

Yet Doflamingo still needed to handle Law’s threat, as well as prepare for dealing with the Navy and World Government. This fruit ultimately still ended up with Diamante.

In the past, Diamante wouldn’t have meddled with the arena before the final battle, but this time, under Doflamingo’s orders, he started meticulously micro-managing, distributing the contestants into different groups.

Originally divided into five groups, it was forced into eight this time, with the goal of separating those monsters and having them defeat as many contestants as possible.

…

“Is anyone going to stay and watch the ship?”

While Doflamingo and Diamante were nervously preparing the subsequent matters, everyone on the Pokemon Ship appeared as if they were on a sightseeing trip.

Powered by Revavroom as the core, the Pokemon Ship itself is “alive” and can take care of itself even if no one watches it, so this question actually means whether anyone is too lazy to travel and prefers to stay on the ship.

The final answer was negative; although some had visited Dressrosa before, none had ever fully enjoyed the tour.

The fragrance of the sunflower fields, the aroma of unique cuisine, the hot island dancers, and the quirky toy culture—these are Dressrosa’s four main attractions.

After letting Revavroom find a safe spot, Yamato and the group set foot on the island and quickly ran into an acquaintance.

“Hajrudin? What are you doing here, where are the others?”

The giant over ten meters tall was very conspicuous on the streets, but Yamato didn’t see other members of the New Giant Soldier Pirates.

“Ghost Princess? No one else is here, it’s just me this time. Whitebeard’s ability has somehow reappeared, and if I could get that power, I could surely unify the entire Giant Race. I suppose you’re after it too, right?”

“Ah, actually no… not really, indeed I’m after it, yes, that’s it.”

The real reason for Yamato is seeking refuge, but the outward excuse is to seize the Quake-Quake Fruit, not for leisure trips. A gentle cough from Robin reminded her of this, and she swallowed back what she was about to say.

“That would be tricky… but Ghost Princess, if I’m fortunate enough to win, I suppose eating that fruit should be fine, right?”

“It doesn’t really matter, if you have the ability, just go ahead and do it.”

Hajrudin hadn’t officially joined but was connected as a mercenary, still considered half a comrade. Facing Yamato, this half superior, polite words were necessary.

Even though he got knocked out instantly last time, his battle spirit had not waned. It looked like if he encountered Yamato on the stage, he would fight without reservations.

“Hahaha, it sure is lively here; mind if an old man like me join the fun?”

An elderly man with a pine-cone-shaped head arrived with a group—it was Chinjao from the Flower Country.

But he was different from Hajrudin. Hajrudin was an employee grabbed by Yamato herself, so she was familiar with him. Chinjao’s interaction with Hundred Beasts was because Zeraora helped him restore his pine-cone head.

Afterward, Chinjao promised to help Zeraora with the Happou Navy in finding what they sought, but years passed without any fortune favoring him with results.

This time, he came only because he noticed Yamato.

“How is Lord Zeraora? I owe him a great debt of gratitude, but unfortunately, I haven’t seen him over the years.”

Chinjao’s logic was strange; the most important thing to him was his pine-cone head. No matter what happened before, anyone who could restore it was his benefactor.

However, Zeraora hadn’t cared about this matter, it was a misunderstanding back then, and Chinjao’s politeness left him awkward.

He had no intention of bonding with an old man, so they had little connection over the years that most of Hundred Beasts didn’t have any impression of Chinjao.

Except for Robin, who due to her years of navigating between different powers on The Sea, had some understanding of most people.

“Chinjao the Drill, leader of the Happou Navy from Flower Country, had a bounty of 542 million before retirement and had clashed with Garp in his youth; he seemed to have crossed paths with Zeraora some years ago.”

When Yamato was puzzled over the elderly man who approached, Robin softly introduced the man’s identity and allegiance as something of a partial ally.

“I’ve seen many familiar faces here, all well-known folks on The Sea. If everyone’s goal is the Quake-Quake Fruit, why don’t we band together first and drive others off? Of course, my interest in that Quake-Quake Fruit isn’t too great. I haven’t found what Lord Zeraora is looking for all these years, so I wish to use this as compensation.”

“Robin, are you certain he fought against Garp? This is a bit too frank…”

Seeing Chinjao with a friendly smile, Yamato felt like this was an elderly grandma selling tea in Hakumai, not an outlaw. But what Chinjao said next changed her mind.

“However… from the newspaper, I saw that Straw Hat Luffy seems to be here as well. If you encounter him, please leave him to me, much appreciated.”