Chapter 3: Diamanti
"Captain Ace! Something's wrong! The Donquixote Family is coming to kill us!"
A pudgy man came running up in a panic, shouting breathlessly at Ace, worry written all over his face.
"The Donquixote Family… they've arrived already?" Ace stood up, his expression instantly turning serious.
In the original timeline, Ace obtained the Flame-Flame Fruit from an uninhabited island. But this time, due to his transmigration, he'd snatched it directly from the Donquixote Family. He had anticipated retaliation, but he hadn't expected them to act so quickly.
"Lafitte, calm down. Don't panic," Ace said, raising his hand to pat the fat man's shoulder—only to realize Lafitte was more than half a head taller than him. Feeling slightly awkward, he lowered his hand and played it cool, casually walking toward where Lafitte had come from.
"Whoa! Captain Ace isn't scared of the Donquixote Family at all?! He's so reliable!" Lafitte exclaimed, stars in his eyes as he watched Ace's back.
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On the beach, a luxurious 20-meter-long ship had docked. Standing at its bow was a man wearing a fur-rimmed hat, with two distinctive stripes on his face. Behind him stood a group of loud underlings.
In the clearing before the ship, a bald, elderly man with a bruised head was dueling against Gambi, who wielded a heavy broadsword.
"That old man…" Ace squinted, recognizing the fighter. He couldn't recall his name, but remembered that the man wasn't a Devil Fruit user. That meant Gambi, currently the strongest among Ace's crewmates, should be able to handle him. So Ace found a spot nearby, sat down, and watched them fight with amusement.
In the original series, the Donquixote Pirates were known for their Devil Fruit users. Very few among them were non-users, and this old man happened to be one of them. Gambi, on the other hand, had strength comparable to Ace's before he ate the Flame-Flame Fruit—he'd be fine.
Ace turned his gaze toward the man standing at the ship's bow beneath the Donquixote Family's flag. If he recalled correctly, this man was a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user—the Waving-Wave Fruit. His name was Diamanti, one of the family's top executives, though his actual combat strength was average.
Scanning the rest of the ship, Ace found no other familiar faces. It seemed only these two top officers had come.
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"You there! Are you the captain of this pirate crew?" Diamanti called out upon noticing Ace's arrival.
"Yeah, that'd be me," Ace replied with his signature sunny smile.
"Your crew appears to have taken something of ours. Would you be so kind as to return it?"
Given the Donquixote Family's intelligence network, they had surely already confirmed that the Flame-Flame Fruit was taken. Diamanti had reviewed Ace's file before setting out and knew the young man in front of him had snatched the fruit from Rao G. A rising star on the seas this year, Ace was already marked as potential Supernova material if he made it to the Grand Line's second half.
Before departure, Diamanti had received orders directly from Doflamingo: recover the Flame-Flame Fruit or the person who ate it—alive or dead.
However, Diamanti wasn't arrogant. If the fruit hadn't been eaten yet, this could've gone smoothly. But if it had...
"You mean the Devil Fruit?" Ace raised a finger. A small flame danced at its tip. He grinned. "Sorry, I already ate it."
"Already eaten it, huh... That's unfortunate," Diamanti muttered, watching the flames. His mission was effectively a failure now, but he decided to try one last thing. He stepped to the edge of the deck and called out again.
"Young man, you have two options. One—join the Donquixote Family. Two—be hunted down by us."
Ace didn't reply. He just smiled, then reached behind his neck to pull his hat over his head. Flames flared up across his body.
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Diamanti sighed. "Rao, let's go. We're heading back."
Hearing this, the old man disengaged from Gambi and returned to the ship, looking displeased.
"Diamanti, what about the Young Master's orders?" Rao G asked, his face dark.
The Flame-Flame Fruit was a high-value asset, a Logia-type fruit that the Donquixote Family had spent great effort to obtain. If they just turned back now, even Doflamingo's usual kindness toward his 'family' might not protect them.
"Vergo's not with us. And with just the two of us, we don't have enough power to take down a new user of the Flame-Flame Fruit. Besides, we've got more urgent things to report to Doffy," Diamanti replied, turning his back.
"We're retreating. Doffy will handle this personally. No one steals from the Donquixote Family without paying the price."
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Ace didn't stop them.
He understood Doflamingo well. The man placed great value on his top officers. As long as Ace didn't kill any of them, there would still be some breathing room. Even rejecting recruitment wouldn't result in an immediate hunt.
But if he had taken out Diamanti and Rao G today? Doflamingo would've launched a full-scale assault, and he might have come himself.
That wasn't something Ace was ready to face—not yet.
It wasn't that he was scared… okay, maybe just a little. Two reasons made him wary of the Donquixote Family.
One: Doflamingo's mysterious status and strength.
Two: their frightening intelligence network.
There were secrets within Ace that absolutely could not be exposed—at least for now. He needed time. Time to grow stronger… or time to find a power strong enough to protect him.
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