Staring at that familiar face so close to him, Law's face turned pale.
Especially that authoritative and threatening smile, it made his entire body tense up.
"My own family member actually placed their hopes on a retired Marine Lieutenant, planning to have a stranger defeat me? I'm hurt!"
Doflamingo clearly noticed Law's reaction and spoke with disdain. "You look nervous, Law…"
Law: "..."
"Well, honestly, this whole situation really gave me a headache. I didn't expect that guy would declare war on me because of you, and..."
Doflamingo's expression darkened: "He caused me such a big problem that I had to change my plans. But that's all."
As he spoke, he let out another scoff, like a clown changing masks. His gloomy expression once again shifted into mockery.
"Although those two high-ranking people at Marine Headquarters are indeed troublesome, that only gives me a bit of a headache. They don't even know who they are dealing with. Just watch quietly, Law…"
"Fufufu…!"
Doflamingo spread his arms wide as he laughed loudly. "I'll crush every last bit of hope you have, right in front of your eyes. You will stay here obediently and never dare to resist me again."
After saying that, he no longer paid attention to Law. He turned around, facing his subordinates below, and coldly asked: "How is the situation with Sugar?"
"Lady Sugar is still unconscious."
After replying, the subordinate seemed to notice the young master's expression and quickly added, "B-but we are doing our best to treat Lady Sugar. She should wake up soon."
"Hurry up. We need to end this quickly. If the Marine Headquarters shifts its gaze here, we're done."
Doflamingo massaged his forehead, pretending to be troubled, then he looked at Trebol and grinned. "Catch the rats that snuck into our territory. Fufufufu. They caused me this much trouble; I have to give them proper hospitality."
"Yes, Doffy, Behehehe."
Trebol nodded and let out his weird laugh. "Everyone is already moving. The Kingdom of Dressrosa has been sealed off by you. It won't be long before we capture those rats."
"Just a few rats dare to provoke our Donquixote Family!"
Doflamingo spread his arms and laughed loudly. "Fufufufu, they really think a small Grado can declare war on me? Ridiculous! If I weren't wary of the Marines behind him, the underworld forces at the West Blue, I would have swallowed them whole already. I want to see..."
His eyes narrowed, his expression turning savage. "If the Marine Headquarters will really provoke me over a retired Marine!"
However, right after he said that…
"Young master!"
A subordinate rushed in, face panicked. "A Marine fleet has entered the Kingdom of Dressrosa!"
Doflamingo: "...?!"
Time kept passing.
Once the Marines appeared within Dressrosa, the situation spiraled completely out of control, plunging the entire kingdom into even greater chaos.
But Ian knew nothing about what was happening inside Dressrosa. Not long after leaving the ruins, he could no longer reach Zephyr by Den Den Mushi, so he couldn't get any updates.
Still, since he could still remember Zephyr and Kuma clearly, it meant... the situation wasn't too bad yet. Perhaps everything was progressing just as he expected, so Ian wasn't too nervous. He rode Vegapunk's ship toward the sea area near Dressrosa.
And thanks to the seven billion Belly business deal, Vegapunk was extremely cooperative.
Seeing that Ian seemed to be in a hurry, he immediately ordered the Marines to go full speed ahead toward the destination.
But even at full speed, even without encountering any danger, the ship still sailed for two nights and one day. It wasn't until the morning of the third day that they finally reached the sea area near the G-5 branch.
From the time of the incident to now, enough time had passed that the G-5 branch had already restored order.
Although G-5 was still a distance away from Dressrosa, it was close enough. The warship needed to resupply, but Ian didn't have time to wait.
Rejecting Vegapunk's offer to take them a bit farther, Ian picked up Ain and leapt into the air toward Dressrosa.
However, not long after Ian left, Borsalino, who had been lazy and relaxed this whole time, sat up for some reason, stretched, and looked in the direction Ian had left.
"Heading to Dressrosa, huh? I just hope that guy doesn't cause another big mess. If he does, it's going to be a huge headache for Marine Headquarters."
"That anxious look of his makes it seem like something big has already happened."
Vegapunk said with a cheerful smile, hands clasped behind him. "I think you guys are going to have a headache."
"Aiya, don't say ominous things like that. Let me relax a bit."
Borsalino rubbed his forehead helplessly. "I really don't want to—"
But before he could finish…
"Purururu!"
His Den Den Mushi rang out.
Borsalino lifted an eyelid, but still answered reluctantly. Before he could speak, the sentence he heard made his face darken.
After a moment of silence, he said, "The life or death situation doesn't matter? Got it."
Toot!
After hanging up, he put away the Den Den Mushi, sighed, pushed up his sunglasses, and said, "You were right. The bad thing has already begun."
…
Let's move the time slightly back, to the evening of the day before yesterday.
To prevent the situation from worsening, or rather to contain the fallout before it worsened, the Marine Headquarters specially dispatched two veteran Marine officers to lead a fleet to the Kingdom of Dressrosa.
It could be said that, after instructor Zephyr's report, the Marine Headquarters took the matter very seriously.
The fleet departed from Marineford. Although they sailed at full speed, by the time they reached the sea area near the Kingdom of Dressrosa, it was nearly noon the next day.
And when they saw that the whole Kingdom of Dressrosa was still shrouded... by countless threads forming something like a giant birdcage from sky to ground, Tsuru and Garp both knew the incident was far from over.
Although they were very anxious to find out what was going on inside, the birdcage was far too sturdy. They worried that launching a fierce attack from outside might injure people inside Dressrosa and draw attention.
They had to remember that, before the World Government revoked that pirate's Warlord status and Dressrosa's status as an affiliated country, the Marines could not unilaterally attack the place.
Especially since they didn't know the internal situation in Dressrosa and couldn't verify whether what Zephyr had said was true.
If their guess is wrong and the Marines have already launched an attack, then the Marine Headquarters will likely face a major headache after the incident.