Ozz was indeed the king of the Warlords.
But that king was already semi-retired.
Besides, Doffy had become far too inflated lately. He believed that with Ozz backing him, he could even clash with a Marine admiral.
On top of that, his business had expanded too quickly. His ambition had swollen far beyond what his strength could support. Unless Ozz acted as his babysitter, Dressrosa would fall from his hands sooner or later.
So it was better to use it as one of Ozz's game pieces.
And now, two new pieces had entered the board.
One green.
One white.
...
At Dressrosa's port, a merchant ship slowly docked at the shore.
Workers busied themselves unloading cargo, completely unaware that several figures in white had instantly disembarked and stepped onto Dressrosa's soil.
Sensing the movement inside the city, the masked figures in white suits or white robes stood on a rooftop, observing the city below.
Inside a roadside restaurant, Ozz, who was eating noodles, twitched the corner of his mouth.
Although he had once been directly served by these CP0 agents for a period of time, and although his subordinates had dealt with CP agents many times afterward, he still had not figured out why these so-called spies insisted on wearing white robes and strange masks when they wanted to infiltrate somewhere.
Most likely, it was for style.
Still, one figure drew his attention.
That person's head seemed to be wrapped in bandages.
It was Rob Lucci, who had been defeated by Sadgeo not long ago.
Such a tiny Dressrosa.
Yet so many hidden dragons and crouching tigers had gathered here.
"So the World Government really did send CP agents too?"
Ryokugyu did not need to eat. Photosynthesis alone was enough to maintain his normal life, so he was simply sitting in the restaurant and chatting with Saint Ozz.
Ryokugyu, who greatly admired the Celestial Dragons, naturally had an excellent attitude toward Ozz.
Especially since the other party was an overwhelmingly powerful monster.
"Saint Ozz, please try this tea."
Aramaki somehow took out a cup, added hot water from the shop, and handed it to Ozz.
Ozz did not actually like tea very much. He preferred sweet drinks like fruit juice, but he still accepted it.
Inside the cup was chrysanthemum tea.
"???"
"This is...?"
Seeing Ozz's frozen expression, Ryokugyu thought Ozz was looking down on its low grade. He smiled and scratched his head, seeming a little proud.
"This is actually from my Devil Fruit ability. I'm a Logia user of the Woods-Woods Fruit. This chrysanthemum grew from my body!"
"..."
Ozz fell silent.
Fortunately, he had not drunk it yet.
Seeing this, Ryokugyu thought Ozz was skeptical.
"Don't worry. This chrysanthemum is completely natural. Inside it..."
Before he could finish speaking, Ryokugyu's Observation Haki screamed a warning.
Unfortunately, before he could react, Ozz's hand, wrapped in pitch-black power, had already appeared before him.
With a light snap of his fingers.
Ryokugyu, who had been sitting in front of Ozz, instantly vanished.
Almost in the next instant, a violent explosion rang out from the direction of the foot of the King's Plateau.
Amid a pile of shattered wood, a humanoid figure made of trees slowly stood up, holding his head as if he still had not processed what had happened.
"What was that...?"
Ryokugyu felt like he had suffered a completely undeserved disaster. Depressed, he was about to leave when someone blocked his path.
"Hm? Excuse me."
The two figures froze for a moment, then stepped aside.
Ryokugyu headed toward Dressrosa's royal palace. Although he had come here to slack off, he still had to meet the person involved.
Then he left.
As for the two people who had stepped aside for him, a closer look revealed one with blond hair and one with black hair. Both were disguised with sunglasses and hats.
They were Ace and Sabo.
Looking at the departing Marine, Sabo's gaze grew serious.
"That was a Marine admiral, wasn't it?"
"Who knows? Let's hurry, Sabo!"
Ace did not care much. He dragged Sabo toward Dressrosa's central district. They guessed that Luffy and the others were very likely there.
After winding through several streets, they entered a restaurant.
"Boss, what's good here?"
Ace was a little hungry.
"Sir, we have many seafood udon dishes, fried rice..."
The owner was introducing the menu, but when he turned his head, Ace had already fallen asleep with his head tilted back. Half of his fake beard had fallen off.
"He fell asleep!"
The diners and the owner all shouted at once.
Sabo smiled helplessly and was about to say something.
Just then, a figure walked up behind them.
"Bring one of everything. I'll pay."
Sabo turned around. Ace's snot bubble popped at the same time.
Both of them looked surprised and delighted.
"You two... this disguise is way too cheap."
"It could probably only fool Luffy~"
As the two wolfed down their food, Ace seemed to suddenly remember something. He took a long sword from his back and brought it over.
"Oh, right, Uncle Ozz. That bastard old man told me to give this to you."
One of the Twelve Supreme Grade Blades.
Ace.
After Captain Roger left Marineford, he had kept it by his side as a weapon.
Ozz had his own signature weapon, Black Gun, so he did not really need a long sword. In fact, most of the time, he did not need weapons at all.
That was why he had never mentioned it.
He had even thought Captain Roger might pass the blade to Ace.
"So the captain still remembered~"
Ozz held the black blade, feeling its familiar weight. Then, with a snap of his fingers, he put it away.
He looked at the two of them and casually gave them a hint.
"If you're looking for Luffy, you can try the colosseum~"
...
"Hey! Straw Hat-ya! Didn't we come here to take down Doflamingo?!"
Law roared angrily.
"But the prize is that blond flying old man's fruit! It can fly!"
Luffy's eyes sparkled. His head was full of images of a flying Sunny, or a flying General Franky robot.
"If I can fight strong swordsmen and cut down some opponents along the way, wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?"
Zoro took a sip of wine and smiled.
In his view, any swordsman strong enough to serve as the final defender in the colosseum and protect the Float-Float Fruit for the Donquixote Family had to be one of their officers.
Law felt a headache coming on.
But soon, he accepted it.
For such a flashy colosseum event, if someone claimed Ozz had no involvement, that would be impossible.
If they bypassed the colosseum and directly attacked Doflamingo, ruining the event, things might become even worse.
"There's no helping it..."
And so, after all sides had gathered...
The battle for the Float-Float Fruit began!
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