The pink dragon fell from the sky, lost consciousness, and slowly reverted to human form as he plummeted downward.
A figure flashed, and Luffy caught Sanji. "Ah, Straw Hat—we meet again!"
In the sky, Kaido said with a grin, "Your subordinate is stronger than I expected. He entertained me quite a bit over the last few minutes!"
Sanji had shown him many tricks. Their abilities were similar, but the direction of their development was completely different.
Kaido also wanted to turn Straw Hat into his right-hand man—preferably his son-in-law—and of course, he had no intention of killing Luffy's subordinates.
He was reckless, not stupid.
"What are you doing here, Kaido?" Luffy calmly set Sanji down on the ground.
He knew Kaido was coming, and he knew Sanji was fighting him.
It just so happened that this was a perfect opportunity for Sanji to gain some unique combat experience, so Luffy hadn't interfered at first.
Now that Sanji had been defeated, as captain, it was only natural for him to step in.
"Hmph, don't play dumb. Doflamingo has business with me—I can't let you kill him."
Kaido quickly returned to his human form and landed in front of Luffy with a heavy thud.
His towering body exuded an overwhelming sense of oppression.
Luffy said calmly, "He's alive and well. I'm not the least bit interested in artificial Devil Fruits."
As he spoke, he opened the Adventure Shop, used a custom refresh to generate a healing fruit, and handed it to Sanji immediately.
Kaido watched as Sanji—who had been beaten unconscious—recovered in the blink of an eye.
Sanji frowned and quickly woke up.
After reassuring Sanji, Luffy looked back at Kaido and said, "From now on, this island is my territory. You can't just come here acting like you own the place. Do you want to start a war with me?"
Kaido smiled. He was already somewhat used to this arrogant guy.
"As long as you don't interfere with my affairs, I don't care what you do!"
In a sense, he was a very generous person.
In the original history, when Luffy challenged him and was defeated, Kaido simply threw him into prison, intending to wear down his spirit and accept him as a subordinate later.
Luffy challenged him multiple times, and each time Kaido defeated him—but never killed him on the spot.
For people with potential, Kaido was extremely flexible.
Luffy flicked his index finger through the air, grabbed an invitation card, and tossed it to Kaido.
Kaido looked at it—and suddenly his expression darkened.
He stared at Straw Hat.
"You're marrying BIG MOM?!"
Is this the advantage of having so many children?
Kaido grew extremely irritated at the thought of that ugly old hag having so many daughters.
As he spoke, Kaido looked again and finally saw the two parties involved in the marriage contract.
It was only the vice-captain of a crew under Big Mom—not even a captain. An alliance like this was as fragile as glass, easily shattered at will.
"The wedding date is approaching. If you're interested, you're welcome to attend."
Luffy said with a faint smile, "Of course. I wouldn't mind forming an alliance with you either."
As long as Kaido didn't provoke him, Luffy didn't mind.
From the entrance to the New World, the closest area to the Red Line was Big Mom's Totto Land sea territory.
After that, there was a territorial vacuum. Beyond it lay the seas ruled by Kaido, including Wanokuni, along with a large number of territories under his command.
Allegia was not far from Kaido's domain.
Going even deeper was the sea area dominated by Shanks. As for Whitebeard, his territory had collapsed long ago, and now chaos reigned everywhere.
In addition to the Yonko territories, there were also some Marine bases, though their number was very small.
Kaido ignored everything else, turned his head, transformed into a dragon, and left.
"Straw Hat, my daughter likes you very much. Come to Wanokuni when I have time! Ah, I'll treat you very well!"
Leaving behind that inexplicable remark, Kaido departed.
Luffy couldn't help but complain inwardly—Kaido was probably trying to recruit him by using his daughter as bait.
However, before that… the God's Knights.
"Come on, back to the castle."
---xXx---
Two days later, Dressrosa finally recovered from the turmoil.
Although the king had stepped down, everyone still trusted King Riku greatly. Many perceptive people recommended him, hoping he would stand up and lead the country.
As for Doflamingo, there were actually some people who supported him.
Although he had done many terrible things over the past eight years and turned 150,000 people into toys, there were still those in the country who had benefited from his rule.
Watching the situation develop quietly, Luffy couldn't help but feel emotional about the diversity of human nature.
Of course, Doflamingo didn't do much beyond wanting to maintain his factory.
Thus, he released all the little people of the Tontatta Kingdom, personally apologized to them, and sent large amounts of supplies, which somewhat eased the relationship between the two sides.
The little people forgave him that easily…
Moreover, Doflamingo also tricked this group of small people into working in his factory.
Luffy was utterly speechless about this.
He was so deceptive—no wonder their princess had been fooled by Doflamingo!
The princess of the Tontatta Kingdom was named Mansherry.
She had eaten the Chiyu Chiyu no Mi, a Devil Fruit that granted her the ability to heal any living being.
In the past, Doflamingo had deceived 500 dwarves into cultivating artificial Devil Fruits for him, claiming that she had a strange illness.
Back then, wages were not paid. But now that things had changed, at least some urgently needed supplies were being delivered to the Tontatta Kingdom.
They could also leave at any time and return to work whenever they wished.
"Luffy, government ships have been sighted heading toward Dressrosa!" Violet came to report.
"The God's Knights have finally arrived? I've been waiting for them for a long time!"
(End of Chapter)