In the heart of Dressrosa, a towering citadel divided the city in two.
It was the place where proclamations were made—where every major judgment, every decree, was announced to the people.
But today, it wasn't a proclamation that drew the crowds.
It was a woman.
Bound by thick ropes to a stone pillar beneath the blazing sun, the once-beloved officer of the Donquixote Family—Baby 5—stood exposed before thousands.
Her head hung low as citizens pointed, whispered, and speculated about her fall from grace.
"Baby 5!" cried Viola, her voice strained. "Give up this foolish idea of assassinating the Young Master! You know what you've done deserves the Blood Edict! You should have been impaled already. But Doflamingo… he's shown mercy because of your years of loyalty."
"If you repent now, if you renounce this madness and return to his side—it's not too late!"
As a woman, Viola pitied her deeply.
She simply couldn't understand—what kind of man could drive Baby 5 to defy Doflamingo himself, to throw away her life for a stranger?
"Viola, this has nothing to do with you!" Baby 5's voice was weak but resolute.
"For the man I love, giving up my life is nothing! I'll never surrender!"
She gave a faint, exhausted smile. "If you really pity me, then… give me a cigarette."
Viola sighed and turned away.
So blinded by love… there's no saving her.
Elsewhere, far from the crowd, White Flame sat in a shadowed room.
He exhaled smoke and closed his eyes. Through the vision of his IBM, he watched Baby 5 tied to the pillar.
"A reckless woman," he murmured. "Marching openly into Doflamingo's den… did she really think she could win?"
"She still can't cut herself off from that family."
He could see it clearly—this wasn't a true assassination attempt.
It was her way of showing him her resolve, a doomed gesture meant to prove her devotion.
White Flame's expression didn't change.
"If that's the extent of your conviction… don't waste my time."
He opened his eyes, smoke curling through the dim light.
The next day, the man-eating monster struck again.
This time, the victim was not the condemned woman on the tower—but another of Doflamingo's senior officers: Lao G.
Since Trebol's death, Lao G had taken over guarding Sugar and the Toy House.
But now, he was found dead—his body reduced to a clean white skeleton.
"Baby 5! Lao G's been killed!" shouted Senor Pink, pacifier bobbing between his teeth.
"The Young Master needs you now more than ever! Are you really going to sit there starving yourself while he suffers over that monster?"
"It's been two days since you've eaten—just admit your mistake! Come back to us!"
But Baby 5 only shook her head.
By the third day, the day of execution, she was little more than skin and bone—but her eyes still burned with defiance.
Thousands gathered beneath the tower.
For the first time in Dressrosa's history, Doflamingo himself would publicly execute one of his own.
Standing before her, Doflamingo's voice carried through the square, smooth and dangerous.
"Baby 5," he said, "I'll ask one last time, before all of Dressrosa. You understand what this means."
"Tell me—who ordered you to assassinate me? Give me his name, and I'll forgive everything. You'll live. You'll remain one of my officers."
"But if you stay silent, you'll die as a traitor."
The crowd murmured.
They could feel it—the Young Master's patience was gone.
"Baby 5!" Senor Pink called again. "Three days, and he hasn't come for you! The man you're dying for—he doesn't care! Don't throw your life away for someone like that!"
Baby 5's lips were cracked, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"I… won't betray my man."
"He's the only one who ever truly needed me. Even if I die… I'll never give him up."
Her words drew gasps from the crowd—and grim shakes of the head from Viola, Senor, Pica, even little Sugar.
They had tried everything to save her.
She was family. Twenty years she had lived among them.
But now, there was nothing left to say.
"For the one she loves, huh…"
Hidden among the crowd, Kyros looked up from under his hood, his one leg braced against the cobblestones.
His eyes softened. Such foolish courage.
"Fufufufufu…"
A low, distorted laugh filled the square.
Then Doflamingo's laughter erupted into a manic crescendo.
"Ha… ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Y-Young Master…" his followers hesitated.
"For a man? You betray me for a man?"
Doflamingo's smile twisted into something feral.
"Baby 5… you've disgraced the trust I placed in you."
"Traitors have only one fate!"
He raised his hand, a thin glimmering thread coiling at his fingertip.
"Bullet Thread!"
The strand shot forward, whistling through the air—aimed straight between Baby 5's eyes.
The crowd screamed.
But before the fatal strike could land—
CLANG!
A blur of motion, a crack of air.
A single figure appeared before Baby 5, his hand slicing the thread aside as if swatting away a spark.
White smoke drifted upward from the newcomer's lips.
"Honestly," he said quietly, "I wanted this game to last a bit longer."
His eyes met Doflamingo's.
"But thanks to this foolish woman… you've forced my hand."
The smoke curled, his voice low and cold.
"I really can't stand foolish women."
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