Aden Kingdom, Palace.
This was originally the home of the Aden Kingdom's royal family.
After the crystal ghost virus exploded, the Aden Kingdom's royal family ran away overseas. The Donquixote family took over the palace, using it as a temporary base.
Caesar Clown's temporary lab was also here.
Right now, the main members of the Donquixote family were gathered in the square in front of the palace gate, waiting in a strict formation.
The luxury of their lineup could best be described as "everyone out."
This was all the fighting power the Donquixote family could currently send out –
Special ability unit: led by "Trebol," the Sticky-Sticky Fruit user, with members being "Sugar," the Hobby-Hobby Fruit user, and "Jora," the Art-Art Fruit user;
Attack unit: led by "Pica," the Stone-Stone Fruit user, with members being "Gladius," the Bomb-Bomb Fruit user;
Fighting unit: led by "Diamante," the Flutter-Flutter Fruit user, with members being the fighter "Lao G," "Machvise," the Ton-Ton Fruit user, and "Señor Pink," the Swim-Swim Fruit user;
And an unranked member: "Monet," the Snow-Snow Fruit user.
Three top executives, seven main executives!
As for the other unranked member, "Demon Bamboo" Vergo, he was undercover in the Marines and couldn't get away.
Besides them, there should have been three kids in the Donquixote family.
They were "Buffalo," the Spin-Spin Fruit user, "Baby-5," the Arms-Arms Fruit user, and "Dellinger," the half-fishman with fighting fish blood.
But these three weren't here.
The fighter Lao G was very confused by this.
"Two devil fruit users and a half-fishman have some fighting strength, right? Why leave them all at the base?"
Granny Jora twisted her body and said with a chuckle, "They're just kids after all. Maybe young master can't bring himself to make them go to the battlefield?"
Lao G heard that Jora was making a joke, but he didn't find it funny at all.
"Tools grown up from childhood, when else should we use them?"
The Donquixote family didn't adopt those kids to show love.
The reason they agreed to let those homeless orphans join the Donquixote family was simply to fill the family's new ranks.
After all, a family member he watched grow up would be much more trustworthy than those who joined halfway.
If the adopted kids weren't strong enough, then their end would just be to run away or die. It wouldn't affect the big picture.
But once one of them stood out, they could become a "tool" that the family could use.
Why not do such a good deal?
It's just too bad that Doflamingo's little brother "Corazon" Rosinante didn't seem to like kids and often beat them up.
Many kids with good potential couldn't stand Corazon's behavior and ran away in the end.
The only ones left were those three... no, four people.
Buffalo, Baby-5, Dellinger, and Law from the White Town.
Among them, Law's relationship with Corazon seemed unusual, because Corazon, out of nowhere, left a letter and took Law out to sea to get treatment!
"How awful, I really hate you, Lao G!"
Jora waved her hands and said, "How can you say that about my kids!"
"Tch, they're not here, so what's the act for?"
Lao G didn't like Jora's attitude at all.
In his view, those kids were never members of the Donquixote family. They were just chess pieces that could be thrown away at any time.
Hearing the two arguing, Trebol frowned slightly and said in a sticky voice:
"Hey, hey, don't fight!"
He tapped the ground with his staff and scolded, "Didn't Doffy say that their ages are too young and they might expose a weakness in front of that Ryan Rowan guy!"
"Ryan Rowan?"
Another top executive, Diamante, shrugged.
"I'm curious, is it really possible for someone from 800 years ago to come back to life?"
He thought for a moment, then jokingly said, "Could it be that Alabasta or World Government 'created' such a person?"
"This is Doffy's decision."
Trebol's face darkened and he said in a low voice, "Are you questioning Doffy?"
Diamante realized he had spoken out of turn and shook his head, "Of course not, just joking."
The Donquixote family members wouldn't doubt Doflamingo's decision after all. He was the one who led the family to where it was today.
And more importantly, they had never seen Doflamingo so wary.
Even when that "Vice Admiral Tsuru" pushed him to the brink many times, Doflamingo never showed such emotions.
So even if Doflamingo didn't say it, the family members could feel that this action was definitely a huge gamble with the family's fate at stake!
It's just...
This "big gamble" has been too boring so far.
The executives followed Doflamingo's orders and waited here for a long time, but didn't notice any unusual activity.
Pica said in a shrill voice, "Why don't I just go destroy their camp!"
As the Stone-Stone Fruit user, he was confident he could do it.
As soon as he finished speaking, the ground under their feet suddenly started shaking, and the earth seemed to be rumbling.
The rumbling grew louder and louder, like an earthquake!
At first, the executives didn't pay much attention, thinking that Pica was just complaining out of boredom.
Jora reminded him, "How awful! Pica, if you make such a big noise, be careful to annoy young master!"
But Pica's answer was unexpected.
"No, I didn't do it!"
"Huh?"
Hearing this, the others were stunned and turned to look, finding that Pica really wasn't doing anything.
If it wasn't him, then who could it be?
Suddenly, Diamante noticed that the shadow under his feet was getting bigger, as if something was blocking the sunlight.
Turning to look, Diamante saw a building in the direction of the sunrise.
He couldn't help but swallow.
"W-what is that!"
The executives all looked over and were equally stunned.
It was a city –
A sand city!
...
Under the rising sun.
The small port dock was no longer there.
More accurately, it had become part of another "huge building."
Countless sands rose from the ground, constructing countless complex but regular shapes and patterns.
They were arranged and combined, finally forming a complete shape.
It was a huge and grand palace, slightly smaller in scale, but no less complex than the lost city of Shandora.
No, that's not right either.
Because the city was a smaller replica of Shandora!
This ancient city, lost for eight hundred years, was now recreated in the Aden Kingdom of the Blue Sea using sand!
Ryan Rowan stood on the city wall, looking down at the Aden Kingdom in the distance.
...
On the other side.
Doflamingo, who was in the Aden Kingdom, also saw the sand city.
He opened the window, spread his arms, and laughed excitedly:
"Come on, I'll play with you guys!"
After saying that, Doflamingo lowered his head, his smile even wider.
He muttered to himself:
"Whether it's Ryan Rowan or the World Government, I'll play along..."
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