Claudius slung an arm over Mihawk's shoulder, sitting down with a pleased expression. Gaining a powerful ally all of a sudden—it felt great!
Meanwhile, Mihawk wore a bitter expression as he sat beside Claudius. He grabbed a cup of tea from the table without a second thought, took a sip, and asked, "Everything you just said… it's true?"
"Would I lie?" Claudius nodded without hesitation.
"Even if this 'Lord Imu' exists, what does that have to do with you? Shouldn't you, of all people, be on his side? Why are you running around stirring up trouble? Do you seriously want to overthrow the Celestial Dragons' rule? You are a Celestial Dragon yourself," Mihawk said helplessly.
He really couldn't understand it. Was Claudius just bored? Did he have nothing better to do? After fighting Whitebeard, did he run out of challenges? Was his new hobby… causing trouble for his own kind?
"It's not about overthrowing, it's about cleansing." Claudius waved his hand dismissively. "Forget it. Just think of me as a noble, ambitious, self-sacrificing man who wants to return the world to the people…"
Mihawk gave him a deadpan look, then shook his head. "Yeah, right. Like hell I'd believe that."
Claudius, unfazed by the sarcasm, simply grinned. With his thick skin, he immediately steered the conversation back to the main topic.
"Since you're here, I've got something you might be interested in," Claudius said with a smirk. "One of the Five Elders wields a sword. Not just any sword—the First Generation Kitetsu, one of the 12 Supreme Grade Blades. Normally, a penniless guy like you would never get a chance to meet someone like that. Even if you did, you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. But this? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Mihawk's eye twitched. "Penniless?" He straightened his posture and scoffed. "Pardon me, but I must introduce myself properly, I am Dracule Mihawk. An orthodox noble."
Claudius blinked, then looked at Mihawk, then at himself, before smirking. "Oh, my bad. Let me introduce myself, too.
I am Donquixote Claudius, World Government's CP-X Commander. One of the twenty royal bloodlines that created this world 800 years ago.
To me, anyone who isn't of noble blood like mine is just another commoner."
The moment Claudius finished speaking, the entire room erupted in laughter. Mihawk, though a little exasperated, didn't take it personally. He knew Claudius was joking, but if another Celestial Dragon had said this, it wouldn't have been a joke at all.
After all, to the Celestial Dragons, there were no "nobles" besides them.
If a king knelt before them, that wasn't considered an insult, it was just expected.
At that moment, Enel suddenly spoke up. "Wait, Mihawk, wasn't the Kingdom of Kuraigana destroyed in a civil war years ago? I went treasure-hunting there once. There was a really nice castle, filled with gold and silver… I cleaned it out and made a killing."
Silence.
Doflamingo turned to stare at Enel, eyes wide in surprise.
Crocodile gave him a look that screamed, You absolute madman.
Even Claudius was momentarily stunned. Damn, this guy really plays dirty.
Meanwhile, Mihawk, who had been calmly sipping his tea, suddenly froze. His expression darkened, his eye twitching violently. His voice came out in a low growl.
"…It was you. It was you, you bastard, who ransacked my home!"
Three years ago, Mihawk had been living on Kuraigana Island. Bored out of his mind, he decided to set sail for some excitement, nothing unusual. He did it all the time, sometimes disappearing for two or three years without returning home.
Kuraigana Island was a rundown, desolate place, home to a bunch of annoyingly strong Humandrill monkeys.
After the kingdom collapsed, trade routes to the island were abandoned. Nobody lived there except for Mihawk. There were no merchants, no civilians, no reason for pirates to visit—it was a ghost island.
So Mihawk had never worried about leaving his castle unattended. He would even stash away rare treasures and valuable items he collected at sea. Why not? It wasn't like he had to spend money on anything.
He wasn't a typical pirate. He had a refined, noble demeanor. He didn't go around robbing people for fun.
But three years ago, when he finally returned home…
His entire castle had been cleaned out.
Every last Berry, every single valuable, all of his carefully collected red wine—gone. Not even a single strand of hair left behind.
Mihawk had torn the entire island apart searching for clues, but he never found the culprit.
And in the end, what could he do? As a lone swordsman, even with the title of Warlord, there was no real way to track down an unknown thief at sea.
So he swallowed the loss, gritted his teeth, and moved on.
…Or rather, he spent the next few months venting his frustration by hunting down pirates, far exceeding his quota for the World Government's annual capture missions.
And now, after all these years, he had finally found the thief.
It was Enel.
One of his own colleagues.
Someone he had even worked with before.
Mihawk clenched his jaw so hard it was a miracle his teeth didn't crack.
Meanwhile, Enel, still completely oblivious, scratched his head in confusion. "Ransack…? What ransack?"
Doflamingo, barely holding back his laughter, quickly filled Enel in on Mihawk's tragic backstory.
Enel finally realized what had happened. He had assumed that the castle was abandoned. He had no idea it was Mihawk's home.
This was… very awkward.
Rubbing the back of his head, Enel muttered, "Oh. Yeah… uh… total misunderstanding. I thought it was an empty island. Didn't know it was your place."
Claudius, seeing the tension rising, quickly stepped in. "Alright, alright, let's chalk it up to a misunderstanding. We're all respectable men here, so let's not hold grudges. How about this—after the Reverie, Enel will take you to his home, and you can take whatever you want in return."
Mihawk knew it really was a misunderstanding. Enel wasn't a complicated man out of all the pirates out there, he actually found Enel to be one of the more tolerable ones.
Not to mention, since Whole Cake Island, they had worked together a few times and built some level of camaraderie.
So in the end, he sighed, waved his hand dismissively, and said, "Forget it. It's in the past."
"But—" His sharp gaze landed on Enel. "The wine. The collection passed down in my family for generations. That you will return to me. Every bottle you took."
Enel blinked. Then, hesitating, he slowly pointed at Claudius.
"I don't really drink, so I gave all of that to His Highness…"
Mihawk froze.
Then, slowly, his gaze turned to Claudius.
Claudius, also caught off guard, suddenly remembered all those "gifts" Enel had given him over the years. He had never questioned their origins.
A drop of cold sweat rolled down his temple.
Swallowing, he forced a stiff smile. "So, uh… you mean the ones in the black bottles? With the golden thread?"
Both Enel and Mihawk nodded.
Claudius let out an awkward chuckle.
"…Yeah, about that. Uh. I already drank them all."
Mihawk's face turned pitch black.
With a murderous glint in his eye, he reached for his sword.
Claudius panicked.
"Wait, wait! It's not my fault! I didn't even know! If you want revenge, I'll introduce you to the real culprit, and you can take it up with him!"
Mihawk's eye twitched.
"Fine. But first—I'M CUTTING YOU DOWN!"
***
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