"Give you a chance."
Hands in his pockets, Ozz led Mihawk, Crocodile, Kuma, Enel, and Donquixote Doflamingo down the colonnade toward the reception hall. After a moment's hesitation, Hanafuda and Moria gritted their teeth and followed. It was not that they wanted to stick with the group. There was only one road to the hall.
Ozz flicked his fingers. Doflamingo blinked, then hurried to pull a cigar from his suit pocket. Crocodile's hand was faster. She produced one lazily from her coat and passed it to Ozz, cutting Doflamingo a sidelong look that managed to be both a taunt and a dismissal.
Doflamingo's jaw worked.
That damned crocodile.
He got his firesteel half out when a crisp blue spark popped in the air. Enel snapped his fingers. A few hundred volts was all it took to light the cigar's end.
The flamingo said nothing.
Ozz drew in a breath and let a ribbon of smoke trail away on the sea breeze. He turned his head just enough to catch the wariness pinching Doflamingo's mouth.
"Doffy. You were the first Warlord I pinned hopes on. I have not treated you poorly, have I."
It was not disappointment in Ozz's voice so much as bone deep impatience. Doflamingo had been crooked since childhood. He cut corners. He hid things. Ozz could tolerate rivalry in the underworld and even a little blood on the ledgers. What he could not stand was a subordinate who erased enemies without a trace and then hid the method from him.
"How could I ever repay your help," Doflamingo said quickly, head bowed.
Ozz breathed out again.
"Fine. After the ceremony I will pay Dressrosa a visit. Try to entertain me, Doffy."
Shadow washed across his face and Doflamingo could not read his eyes. The slight easing in Ozz's tone, though, struck him like sunlight breaking cloud.
"At the moment you have soured my mood. If you cannot make it right…"
"Then you can cut your belly and be done."
"You have my word."
Seeing Doflamingo's head sink lower, Ozz said no more. Truth be told, his mood had not been ruined. Had he been truly angry, the man born a king would already be half a corpse. Harsh words were a hammer strike to ring the bell in everyone's chest.
For Doflamingo, the crisis eased but safety was still distant. He dropped back to the tail of the procession and slipped a den-den mushi from his inner pocket.
…
Dressrosa, inside the royal palace.
"Hey, Law, could you not glare like that. That look is scary."
"Shut it."
"Uuu…"
A gaggle of brats scuffled on the training floor. As reserve officers of the Donquixote Family, they lived on drills, bruises, and the occasional beating from Corazon. The senior officers watched from the side, not to intervene, only for the spectacle.
That was when the den-den mushi on the table started trilling.
"Eh. Is that Doffy."
Diamante frowned at the private line.
"He only just left. Trouble already."
"Who knows. You lot, quiet down."
Trebol barked the kids into silence and took the call. The snail drew a tiny visage with red shades and a pink feather coat. The mouth was turned down.
When Doflamingo spoke to his family he was either placid or smiling. A downturned mouth meant nothing good.
"Moshi moshi, Doffy. What happened."
At the end of the Marineford corridor, Doflamingo kept his voice level and dark.
"Short notice. Get ready."
"Lord Ozz will be coming to Dressrosa soon."
"That is good news, no."
Trebol brightened at once. The boss of their boss, a guest under their roof. He assumed Doffy's grim face meant he was taking the visit seriously.
"No, Trebol. This concerns whether the Donquixote Family survives."
"You will take this seriously. More than seriously."
The words landed like cannon shot. For a beat everyone in the room froze. Sweat beaded. Trebol's hand shook with the receiver.
"W-why. We hold the biggest share of Lord Ozz's business."
Best not to say that. The moment he did, Doflamingo's temples throbbed.
If not for the fact he was walking behind Ozz in Marineford, he would have roared.
"Because Lord Ozz is very displeased that we used the Hobby Hobby Fruit without reporting it."
"You have a ghost inside the house."
Gulp.
They stared at each other. A ghost in the house. Impossible. Only the core knew about Sugar.
But if Doffy said it, then it would be done. Every officer swore by their lives to give Lord Ozz a perfect stay.
A short distance away, one of the kids, a thin boy with a cloudy gaze, had not caught the entire conversation. He frowned, edged closer to Baby 5, and whispered.
"Who is coming. Why is everyone scared."
Trafalgar Law still wore the same fractured look Doffy had as a child, the look that wanted to burn the world down. Anyone who could strike fear into these men set his curiosity alight.
"You were mean to me. I am not telling."
Baby 5 held a grudge like a squirrel hoards nuts.
"Please. Tell me."
It worked on her every time.
"Someone needs me again. Fine. It is Lord Ozz, the boss of our boss, the one who really holds the sea."
"Lord… Ozz."
A name that could make the Donquixote Family bow. In that moment the name Ozz burned deep into Law's mind.
…
Back in Marineford, Ozz's group walked on. The air eased by a degree. Doflamingo fell in at the rear, mind running the map of Dressrosa. Traps to pull. Stones to turn. Every trace of the Hobby Hobby Fruit's mischief needed to be scrubbed clean or hidden under a brighter story. Sugar would not be seen. The palace would gleam. The streets would sing. The underground would flow like wine, not blood.
Ozz had given him a thread. All he had to do was climb it.
Ahead, Crocodile exhaled smoke toward the vaulted ceiling.
"Dressrosa has decent weather. Try not to stain the flagstones while you are groveling," she said without looking back.
Mihawk did not bother to comment. Kuma's face revealed nothing. Enel's earlobes twitched, picking up every whisper of panic spiraling through the Marine lines.
Ozz's eyes were already past Marineford. In his head he was placing the pieces. A king visits not to be fawned over, but to remind the court where the center of gravity lies.
Dressrosa had just become a reservation.
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