Passing through a long corridor, one arrives at the Small Garden where Nero resides.
"Doffy, I truly didn't expect you would dare to come before me again. Why?"
Nero walked towards Doflamingo, who was kneeling on one knee on the stone slab: "Is it out of mercy? Did my leniency make you think that messing things up and then bowing your head would just make everything go away?"
Doflamingo broke out in a cold sweat, burying his head even lower without a word.
"It was your incompetence that led to my Golden Devil Fruit being stolen by a thief, yet you bring this thief to me to claim credit?"
Blood red dyed the jade, and Nero closed one eye, saying playfully, "'Nero-sama! I've found the owner of the Golden Devil Fruit ability!' That's a perfect excuse, isn't it?"
Sweat dripped onto the floor, forming a puddle. Doflamingo couldn't say anything; he had indeed planned it that way.
His body was stiff as if his blood had congealed; this feeling of having one's life controlled by others was truly awful.
Nero ignored him, turned and walked to the side, looking at a bruised and battered seaweed-haired man hanging there.
"Tesoro, I didn't expect you to collude with Doflamingo. If it weren't for Stella's sake, you'd already be a dead man!"
Nero's gaze was cold, and her anger towards Tesoro far exceeded that towards Doflamingo.
Doflamingo was an ambitious fellow, which she knew from the start. Those with Conqueror's Haki, even when subservient, mostly bided their time.
Nero didn't care about 'Joker!' He was just a clown, a diversion for when she was bored. Her greatest expectation for him was simply to see what kind of tricks he could pull off in the end.
Nero knew this, and Doflamingo himself knew it too; it was a silent understanding.
But Tesoro was different. She believed she had shown him kindness, yet his actions made Nero feel betrayed.
Tesoro's eyes were swollen into mere slits. He struggled to look at the ice-cold Nero before him. This was the first time he had seen Nero like this: indifferent, tyrannical, with imperial might as deep as an abyss.
He opened his mouth but ultimately couldn't say anything. What he did was indeed dishonorable.
When he snatched the Golden Devil Fruit, Tesoro actually didn't know it was a tribute meant for Nero.
But after eating it, during the pursuit by the Donquixote Family, he learned the truth. Then, Doflamingo's proposed cooperation completely swayed him.
Money, power—if he could obtain these from Nero, it would also be a good choice.
Especially when he heard Nero became a Celestial Dragon, a dark emotion within him prompted him to truly make this decision.
With the Golden Devil Fruit, he might be able to establish a cooperative relationship with Nero.
To build an equal relationship, to stand shoulder to shoulder with a Celestial Dragon—it would be a meteoric rise.
However, the moment he and Doflamingo arrived at Nicuss to meet Nero, they were exposed.
The fact that he was even hanging there was thanks to Stella's intercession. Facing Nero's interrogation, he could only remain silent now.
"Is that so?" Exhaling a long breath, Nero's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Yo! Nero!"
A sudden greeting came from the garden entrance. Nero looked in that direction, seeing an unfamiliar uncle.
A white-red sword aura arrived in an instant. Shanks's eyes widened, and he drew the sword from his waist with one hand.
Kamisari!
The two sword auras canceled each other out, but Shanks felt no excitement. Nero's attack just now was merely a casual strike.
Yet he had to use Kamisari just to barely block it, and he glanced at his wrist; the force was terrifyingly strong.
The Red Hair Pirates all picked up their weapons and began to be on guard. No matter what was said privately, when it came to a real confrontation, no one would back down.
Meanwhile, Hathaway silently retreated to the very back. One could only say that Shanks's arrival was perfectly timed.
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