The advantage of being old is that your seniority is also high.
For him, Gol D. Roger was just a rookie. When he already had a bounty, Roger was merely starting out.
Redfield was even his fanboy. To Redfield, Brook's position was similar to Shanks' in Luffy's heart.
And in terms of growth, Redfield had reached the very peak.
And now, such a person at the top had set his sights on Doflamingo.
"Joker, he's not an enemy included in the agreement. I won't fight him."
Seeing Redfield suddenly intervene, Katakuri was the first to make his stance clear. He did not fear battle, but he disliked meaningless fights even more.
If this were Totto Land, he would naturally fight to the death to defend his own territory.
But Doflamingo was at most an employer; Katakuri would not risk himself and his brothers' life for someone like this.
In today's Dressrosa, Doflamingo was already surrounded by enemies.
He had turned too many people into toys. They were not just royalty, soldiers, and rebels.
World Government agents, Marines, politicians from various countries, ordinary citizens. There was not a single family in all of Dressrosa untouched by it.
Everyone had relatives or friends affected by Sugar's power.
The only reason Doflamingo had managed to divide the anger of the populace was that he understood human nature better. Through incentives and force, he got some people to submit before him, and then turned them against the seemingly weaker Riku family.
But once someone like Redfield entered the fray, all of Doflamingo's previous schemes became worthless.
"Are you… serious?"
There was no need for an answer. Doflamingo could already see it in Redfield's expression. There was no emotional undertone in his gaze, just like how Doflamingo usually looked at those toys.
All were expendable, whether they lived or died depended on his whim. To him, killing a toy was no different from crushing an ant.
To amuse himself, flooding the ants' nest was just a game, but when facing Redfield, Doflamingo himself was the ant.
Doflamingo didn't know that Buggy had already sent out all the news from here. He still believed Birdcage, which cut off Den Den Mushi signals, would prevent any word from leaking out.
Now, this Birdcage that cut off information had directly become his own prison.
"Spider Web!"
Threads wove into a dense web, layer after layer stacking to form multiple defenses.
At this moment, Doflamingo could no longer laugh. The threat of death hung over him. Even though he had sensed his opponent's attack and put up thread defenses, it was useless.
The shield that was usually unbreakable was as fragile as paper before Redfield; the multi-layered web defense only slightly slowed Redfield's attack.
As a red gleam flashed by, a new wound appeared on his face.
"What did that woman promise you? She's long since lost her royal power, what can she give you? As long as you stay out of this, I can give you even more!"
"You don't understand me at all. Why do you think profit could ever drive me? If I were interested in profit, more than thirty years ago, I could have had things you could never afford to give."
Back then, Redfield only needed to raise his arm and announce his intention to recruit subordinates, and countless people would have willingly joined him. In no time, he could have assembled a fleet as massive as Golden Lion's.
It's just that Redfield's ambitions never lay in that direction.
"Profit is the only thing that matters. Whether it's comfort of the mind or material rewards, everything you do ultimately brings you some kind of 'profit' that satisfies you. Would you do something meaningless?"
"You talk a lot, but my current goal is to make you disappear from here, so what bigger price could you possibly offer?"
Redfield walked forward slowly. His steps seemed unhurried, but his body blurred like an afterimage, each stride covering an immense distance. No matter how hard Doflamingo tried, he couldn't widen the gap between them.
Just as Redfield was about to make a move, his ears suddenly sensed something odd. Yamato could avoid the predictions of Observation Haki, but couldn't make her aura vanish from the world.
Redfield's senses were still sharp, and he detected the presence behind him. If he insisted on attacking Doflamingo, he'd be struck himself.
His body scattered into a swarm of bats, and when he re-formed on the other side, he had already entered his transformed state.
Yamato had already proven herself in the Corrida Colosseum, she wasn't some weak rookie, but a monster who could take him head-on.
At this point, the situation suddenly turned into a standoff between Yamato and Redfield.
Everyone present had witnessed what Yamato did at the Corrida Colosseum and knew how strong she was, so none dared to act rashly.
"Fuffuffuffu, Redfield, it looks like you guys from the old era like to talk too much. You should've just acted directly."
Seeing Yamato blocking his path, Doflamingo wore his smile again. He looked as if he still had things under control. As long as Yamato was willing to deal with this Redfield monster, the rest would be much easier to handle.
Feeling safe once more, Doflamingo's arrogant demeanor returned, though it didn't last long.
"Doflamingo, everything in Dressrosa was your doing, wasn't it?"
"So what if it was?"
"So what if it was? Is that why you turned all those people into toys and made the world forget them?"
"Fuffuffuffu, I thought you were going to say something serious. This is just a method of ruling, purging dissent, silencing troublesome people. You should be familiar with such methods, right?"
In Doflamingo's view, these were all insignificant bystanders whose lives or deaths had nothing to do with Yamato.
Besides, although he had never been to Wano Country, he knew its previous rulers weren't the Beasts Pirates. He'd always thought the Beasts Pirates acted about the same as he did, just with some differences in the details.
"Toys that labor endlessly are the perfect workforce, far more convenient than slaves, and they never leak any secrets.
There are some things even a Shichibukai can't do. Now that things are exposed, it's a huge headache. In fact, I plan to silence everyone, so there won't be any trouble in the future."
At this moment, Robin in her combat suit, Marco carrying Jozu, and Sanji, who'd been rushing over, arrived at the scene via various means of flight.
Sanji was simply looking for Luffy. After confirming things were safe outside, Marco and Jozu also headed this way upon seeing Yamato go in this direction; since the Quake-Quake Fruit was still with her, they followed as well.
Besides, Ace was their companion, and if his brother needed help, they wouldn't mind lending a hand.
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