Year 1509 of the Seafaring Era, Mignon Island
The cold winter had arrived, and white snow cascaded from the sky, blanketing the entire island and making it look like a land of silver.
In an abandoned town, atop a few hills, a large villa was covered in snow. From inside, the sounds of boisterous laughter and loud curses could be heard.
"Hey! Drake! Go get the wine, now!"
A strong, burly man over two meters tall with short brown hair bellowed from a corner of the room.
"...Coming."
Hearing the reprimand, a teenager with an "X"-shaped scar on his jaw, X Drake, walked out of the villa like a zombie. His eyes were lifeless as he headed to the underground wine cellar to retrieve the alcohol.
The man who had just scolded him was his father, Diez Barrels. He was once a Marine Vice Admiral and a student of Zefa. He had a bright future ahead of him, but after graduating from the military academy, he witnessed the many dark sides of the Marines. Diez Barrels's belief in justice crumbled. He abandoned his integrity, resigned from the Marines, and became a pirate involved in arson, murder, and plunder.
Looking at the pirate crew surrounding him, Diez Barrels seemed to be thinking of something. He immediately grabbed a small wooden box beside him and pulled out the skin of a red fruit with a spiral pattern. Holding the fruit, he said with a wide smile:
"Hahaha! Guess how much this fruit can be sold for? I heard it's worth five billion Berries! Hahahaha!"
Hearing this, one of the pirate crew members sneered, "I'm genuinely laughing. Are the people in the World Government out of their minds?"
"If we could get that much money, we wouldn't have to be pirates anymore..."
"Hahaha!"
"Hahaha! Exactly! That's right!"
Barrels carefully looked at the Ope Ope no Mi as he explained.
"Just think, as long as a doctor eats this fruit, he can become a world-renowned doctor. I heard that, in the past, a doctor who ate this fruit used its miraculous powers to treat various difficult and complicated diseases, becoming a legend. But that has nothing to do with us. We just want the money!"
As he said this, Barrels put the Ope Ope no Mi back into the small wooden box.
"Yeah, the money is still real!"
As everyone in the house happily discussed how to spend five billion Berries, they didn't realize that a black bat was quietly hanging on the edge of the window, watching everything inside the house.
Very quickly, a thick, black mist filled the room, obscuring the pirates' vision. Even with the kerosene lamp, they still couldn't see clearly.
The sudden appearance of the mist made Barrels look horrified. He shouted loudly, "What's happening?! Everyone... Be careful!"
Before he could even finish his words, a long knife sliced across his neck in an instant! His body "thumped" as it fell to the floor, while his head "rolled, rolled, rolled" a few times before coming to a stop.
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
"Damn it! Who's there!"
Screams rang out one after another. In less than a minute, more than ten pirates inside the house, along with over ten pirates who were standing guard outside and rushed in, all fell into a pool of blood. The small wooden box containing the Ope Ope no Mi also vanished.
Holding a large barrel of wine, Drake, who had just stepped out of the basement, saw the black mist that was shrouding the villa. He instinctively ran back into the cellar and hid.
Only after the villa was completely silent did Drake, trembling, open the door. His first reaction upon seeing his father's head on the floor was surprise.
The person who has tormented me all this time is finally dead!
Immediately, Drake realized that he was free. He turned and quickly fled the villa on the hilltop.
A moment later, a young man wearing a black fur coat, with short golden hair, a red hood, and clown makeup on his face arrived late at the mountaintop villa. Through the window, he saw the bodies lying all over the floor.
His name was Donquixote Rosinante, Doflamingo's younger brother, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Headquarters, and Sengoku's adopted son.
According to the plan he had negotiated with Sengoku, he was supposed to wait on Fringes Island to cooperate with the Marines in ambushing the Donquixote Family.
However, he acted selfishly. He wanted to get the Ope Ope no Mi first and give it to a boy named Trafalgar D. Water Law to eat. Born in the 'White City' of Frevans, Law had contracted Amber Lead Syndrome at an early age, and now, at 13, his life was almost over.
While undercover in the Donquixote family, Rosinante felt pity for Law and took him around to look for famous doctors. However, they never found a cure for Amber Lead Syndrome. In his desperation, Rosinante then came up with the idea of getting the Ope Ope no Mi.
"How could this happen!? Did Dover get it first!?" Rosinante instinctively looked around the villa for clues. Suddenly, he saw a sailing ship with a flamingo figurehead at the foot of the mountain.
"Damn it! Dover is here, just as I thought!"
Mistakenly thinking that the results of the operation had fallen into the hands of the Donquixote Family, Rosinante gritted his teeth, quickly left the villa, and called Sengoku's Den Den Mushi.
"Rice Cracker Senbei!"
"Rice Cracker Dice!... It's me! Mr. Sengoku, I just found out that Doflamingo took the Devil Fruit first, and my identity has been exposed!"
Hearing this, Sengoku on the other end of the Den Den Mushi immediately shouted, "What?! What's wrong?! The Ope Ope no Mi is not something the Marines wanted for themselves, but for the Celestial Dragons from Mariejois. Now that such a big mistake has occurred, the Celestial Dragons will never give up!"
Rosinante, thinking quickly on his feet, concocted a lie to put the blame on Doflamingo:
"After I noticed Doflamingo's unusual movements, I secretly followed him. Unexpectedly, they actually took action earlier and seized the Ope Ope no Mi... Mr. Sengoku, please inform the warships ambushing on Fringes Island to come immediately and surround the Donquixote family!"
"I know! Rest assured, we will do our best to encircle the Donquixote family. Also, Rosinante, since you've been exposed, come back first!"
"Hmm! I understand, Mr. Sengoku. Also, I have a request, I don't know if you can grant it?" Rosinante hesitated.
"What?"
"It's this. I adopted a child named Law who has Amber Lead Syndrome. If the Marines get the Ope Ope no Mi back from Doflamingo, I hope the fruit user is allowed to treat him... I beg you, Mr. Sengoku!"
In the end, Rosinante's words were filled with a heartfelt plea. He knew that with his own strength, he couldn't seize the Ope Ope no Mi from the hands of the Donquixote Family, so he had no choice but to ask for help from Sengoku, the Marine Fleet Admiral. He knew that the fruit would eventually fall into the hands of an ordinary person, whose presence only meant death after helping a certain Celestial Dragon complete the "immortality" operation.
Rosinante felt that Sengoku should be able to lend him that person, and before they died, have them treat Law.
Hearing Rosinante's words, the other end of the Den Den Mushi suddenly fell silent. Sengoku was known as the "Admiral of Wisdom" in the Marines. He immediately thought about the causes and effects of the incident, and he had already vaguely guessed what was going on.
However, he chose not to expose his adopted son's lie. Instead, he said:
"Actually, there is a cure available for Amber Lead Syndrome. More than half a year ago, the Umbrella Corporation launched a drug called Life Enhancer, which is expensive, costing thirty million Berries. However, the drug's effect is very strong. When used with certain medications, it can even cure terminal illnesses, and Amber Lead Syndrome is one of them. This drug is very rare, and has even been sold for 100 million Berries on the black market. Our Marines, based on our cooperative relationship with the Umbrella Corporation, have obtained a certain amount of special combat readiness materials."
Hearing this, Rosinante was overjoyed, and he said excitedly, "Really?! That's great! Mr. Sengoku, please give me the Life Enhancer! I need it desperately!"
"That's no big deal, Rosinante. But, I want to confirm again: did the Ope Ope no Mi really fall into Doflamingo's hands?"
Sensing the suspicion in Sengoku's words, Rosinante, who was running in the white snow, couldn't help but stop. After thinking it over, he finally told Sengoku what he had seen and heard:
"I'm sorry, Mr. Sengoku, that report just now had a subjective element to it. In reality, this is what happened..."
When Rosinante's report was finished, Sengoku on the other side of the phone said, "I know! Your extrapolation, with its subjective elements, is indeed the most likely outcome. I will tell Vice Admiral Tsuru now that she will go and capture Doflamingo."
Just after Rosinante left, Doflamingo, wearing a red suit, led Trebol, Pica, and Diamante to the villa. They saw the bodies that had fallen into pools of blood, and Doflamingo's face gradually became extremely grim.
"Damn it! Someone beat us to it!"
"Bad news, Doffy, that's Vice Admiral Tsuru's warship!" Diamante looked to the foot of the mountain and immediately saw six warships appearing in the distant sea.
"Damn it!"
Doflamingo cursed.
If Marine Headquarters had sent an ordinary Vice Admiral, or even an elite Vice Admiral, Doflamingo was confident he could defeat them. But Vice Admiral Tsuru was the exception!
Her Woshu Woshu no Mi ability could wash away the threads created by Doflamingo with her power, causing his threads to lose their offensive capabilities! The fruit could rinse anything and cause it to lose its form. Living things would lose their strength, and it could even slightly cleanse a person's "evil" heart, making "evil" weak.
Doflamingo knew that he was a truly evil person, and his inner wickedness was enough to overthrow the entire world. He didn't want anyone to twist his personality!
"Let's retreat!"
Doflamingo looked at the villa bitterly. He secretly held a grudge against the person who had taken the Ope Ope no Mi. Only then did he reluctantly lead the Donquixote Family cadres away from the mountaintop villa, fleeing Mignon Island.