The monstrous waves stirred up by the battle at Mary Geoise settled down in an oddly unnatural way after the World Government released that absurd announcement.
Most people even assumed the statement was the work of some ridiculously bold satirist, and nobody took it seriously.
"Bullshit, you think we're monkeys? What pirate would dare attack Mary Geoise?"
"Oh my God! This is the funniest joke the seas have had in years, I swear!" (Damn translation tone!)
The Buster Call everyone expected never came down on Sabaody. No insane retaliatory strike followed either.
Across the world, the underground industries did go through a small-scale purge, but thanks to Caron's preparations, they abandoned a few outer channels and kept the core chain completely intact.
Everything looked calm and peaceful, as if that deathmatch that shook the Red Line had never happened.
Inside the villa on the Sabaody Archipelago, Kael tore off the last layer of bandages around his body, stretched lazily, and a string of crisp pops crackled from his joints.
"Boring." He flopped back onto the sofa, staring at the calm sea beyond the window and letting out a sigh. He still had not gotten to see that little Im girl. Miscalculation, miscalculation!
"I thought those five… oh, right, four old bastards would lose their minds and remote-control Uranus to blow up my house. And this is it? Loud thunder, tiny raindrops."
"Perhaps they believe that launching an open, large-scale strike against you would be the same as admitting Mary Geoise's defeat to the entire world." Robin brought over a cup of black tea and set it gently on the table in front of him. "That would be confessing without being asked, a sign of weakness. It would damage the World Government's authority."
"Tch. Prideful idiots, suffering for their own image." Kael curled his lip.
Of course he understood the logic.
The Five Elders could not afford this humiliation.
Admitting a pirate stormed the Holy Land would hurt more than killing them.
So now the World Government could only swallow broken teeth and pretend nothing happened, while plotting in the shadows at their own pace.
Just then, the shadow in the corner of the room warped. The figure of Gecko Moria emerged from it.
Behind him followed a tall silhouette in a pink feather coat.
The newcomer wore a defiant, arrogant face.
Donquixote Doflamingo.
He did not let out that trademark "fufufu" laugh. He did not carry his usual contemptuous swagger.
He simply walked up to Kael, and under the slightly surprised gaze of Robin and Moria, slowly lowered himself to one knee.
For the former Heavenly Yaksha, that gesture was more humiliating than death.
Yet there was no coercion in his posture, no bitterness.
Only reverence and submission that rose from the depths of his soul.
"Lord Kael." His voice was hoarse, but crystal clear.
Kael picked up his tea, blew on it, and could not even be bothered to lift his eyelids.
"Oh, Doffy, you made it back safe?" Kael sounded lazy and teasing. "I thought some Celestial Dragon roasted you like a turkey in the fire."
Doflamingo's body trembled slightly, but he did not lift his head. "Thanks to you, I survived."
He knew perfectly well Kael had "forgotten" him there on purpose (definitely not). It was a test, and it was also a warning.
And he had passed the test!
"So?" Kael took a sip. "The view in the Holy Land any good?"
"…Yes." For the first time, Doflamingo's voice carried excitement he could not suppress. "It was the most beautiful view I've ever seen."
Gods bleeding. Celestial Dragons wailing.
That hellish scene was heaven's gospel to him.
Kael set the cup down and finally looked at him. "Get up. Why are you kneeling?"
"Yes."
Doflamingo rose, but he still kept his back bowed, not daring to meet Kael's eyes.
Those golden pupils that burned with crazed battle intent on the Red Line had become a permanent brand in his heart.
"Go back. Everything stays the same." Kael waved a hand. "Keep being a Warlord. Keep being JOKER."
Doflamingo froze, instinctively lifting his head.
"Lord Kael, I…"
"What, you want to stay here and serve tea?" Kael raised an eyebrow. "I don't need servants. I gave you that much power so you wouldn't be my errand boy.
I don't like micromanaging. It's called giving you high freedom and fully stimulating subjective initiative. Understand?"
A lazy man's speech dressed up in official-sounding nonsense.
To Doflamingo, it sounded like a divine decree.
This was trust!
Recognition of his ability from that demon-king of a man!
"I understand!" Doflamingo nodded hard, the familiar flames of ambition lighting back up in his eyes.
Only now, at the core of those flames, Kael's mark had been branded in. "I will never disappoint you!"
He bowed deeply again, then turned and followed Moria without hesitation, sinking back into the shadows.
Kael let out a low chuckle as he watched them vanish.
Doflamingo was far more valuable unleashed to bite people. Keeping him on a leash nearby would only be a nuisance.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A set of footsteps came down the stairs, deliberately heavy.
Kael looked up and saw a tall, radiant black-haired girl pouting as she trudged down, holding a stack of documents with obvious reluctance.
Boa Hancock, the one Moria had "invited" back.
She was sixteen now. Her figure had begun to show its graceful lines, and her stunning face was stamped with "pride" and "annoyed."
She did not dare explode at Kael, so this was how she protested.
Hancock walked up and slammed the documents onto the table with a dull thump.
"Your stuff!" Her voice was cool, with a tremor she tried to hide.
In these few days, she had already witnessed how terrifying this man was.
That cold, world's greatest swordsman still had bandages wrapped around his chest, supposedly from fighting a swordsman at the very peak of the world on the Red Line.
And the man in front of her, who looked lazy and casual, had fought four "gods" alone and returned without dying.
She did not dare resist, but surrender was impossible.
Especially after learning that Robin, Sakura, and Rin, girls around her age, had also been "kidnapped" here by this man through various means, a furious sense of shared misery rose in her chest.
"Good work, little Hancock." Kael picked up the documents and did not even look at her.
Hancock bit her lower lip. Being ignored only made her angrier.
She glanced at Robin naturally topping off Kael's tea, while Sakura sorted the medical kit beside him, both of them acting like this was perfectly normal.
It made Hancock feel a gnawing irritation, half anger, half helplessness.
Just as she turned to leave, a hand shot out like lightning.
Thonk.
A sharp flick to her forehead.
"Ugh!" Hancock yelped, clutching the spot.
She stared at Kael, shocked and furious, only to find him smiling at her, the look in his eyes like he was watching a bratty little sister throwing a tantrum.
"Why are you stomping so loud? Trying to punch through the floor?"
"You!"
Hancock trembled with rage, but not a single word came out. In the end, she could only stomp once, clutch her forehead, and run back upstairs.
"Seriously, what a troublesome little brat." Kael shook his head and opened the documents.
Most of it was Caron's business reports and intelligence summaries. He flipped through them quickly, then picked up a letter scented with a faint floral fragrance.
It was from Rouge.
He opened the envelope.
The paper carried Rouge's neat, elegant handwriting.
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