The climate in the New World changes unpredictably, but that hardly affects Shin. With Shin's Azure Dragon fruit, he not only has control over the weather but also has vast chakra reserves, allowing him to enhance his jutsu. This enables him to manipulate the climate almost entirely at will.
Thus, even with Page One's modest navigation skills, the group reached the waters near Punk Hazard in a remarkably short time.
"This is the last island to rest before heading to Punk Hazard—Dressrosa, the island of toys and passion," Ulti announced.
"Captain, want to check it out? I hear this place is known for its scenery and food," she added, looking at Shin hopefully.
"It's just a two-day journey to Punk Hazard, so we could grab some supplies… uh, I mean," Page One suggested before Ulti immediately wrapped her hands around his neck. "What did you just say? Care to repeat that?" she teased menacingly.
Shin watched this display with mild amusement. Page One's life with Ulti as an older sister sometimes seemed like a comedy act. Oddly, Shin thought of the swordswoman who tragically fell down the stairs and then recalled Ulti's constant roughhousing with Page One.
'If Page One had the same constitution as that swordswoman, he'd have been dead hundreds of times by now,' he mused.
After Ulti successfully "persuaded" her brother, she looked at Shin eagerly.
"Go if you want," Shin said, rolling his eyes. "I won't stop you."
"Thank you, Captain! C'mon, Page One!" Ulti exclaimed, dragging Page One with her.
Shin turned to Queen. "Aren't you going to join them?"
Queen chuckled nervously. "I'd rather not, considering how many folks around here know me."
As one of Kaido's top lieutenants and a key researcher for the Beast Pirates, Queen had visited Dressrosa many times. After all, Doflamingo provided the artificial devil fruits to the Beast Pirates, and Queen initially researched and tested them.
Queen wasn't afraid of Doflamingo himself, but as a defector from Kaido's crew, he wasn't keen on being spotted by any of Doflamingo's allies either.
Shin shrugged, indifferent to Queen's reasoning, and decided not to linger on board since someone was staying to guard the ship.
Meanwhile, Doflamingo was feeling particularly unlucky.
Recently, the Beast Pirates had suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Whitebeard Pirates. An irate Kaido had subsequently demanded that Doflamingo supply him with a massive batch of artificial devil fruits.
With his main backer directly demanding results, Doflamingo scrambled to gather the necessary resources and produced a batch of artificial fruits. However, during the subsequent transaction with Kaido, he was severely beaten.
Apparently, Kaido had been enraged that the artificial Zoan fruits left their users vulnerable to control by a certain dango ability, and he'd demanded that Doflamingo produce artificial fruits immune to this strange power.
God knew Doflamingo hadn't the faintest clue what that "dango power" was, let alone how artificial devil fruit users could be controlled. He wasn't even a scientist—how was he supposed to create or improve any of these items?
But, of course, he hadn't said any of that to Kaido. Expressing doubts or complaints would have only resulted in a much worse beating.
Once back on Dressrosa, he'd taken the issue up with Caesar Clown, only for Caesar Clown to look equally perplexed and, understandably, frustrated. Caesar Clown had asked him to procure a sample of the "dango power" if he wanted research done on it—otherwise, there wasn't much he could do.
In response, Doflamingo had beaten Caesar Clown up as well.
Afterward, Caesar Clown had reluctantly agreed to try his best, but Doflamingo wasn't naïve. Even though he could tell how improbable this project was, he had only modest expectations from Caesar.
Currently, still nursing his injuries, Doflamingo sat in his office, brooding about what to do next.
Unbeknownst to him, Kaido had little faith in the artificial Zoan fruits himself and had primarily taken out his frustrations on Doflamingo to vent. Kaido figured he'd just milk Doflamingo for resources to cut his losses.
If Dressrosa hadn't been strategically situated between the Marines and the World Government, Kaido would have likely seized it by force and removed Doflamingo altogether.
Doflamingo, however, was oblivious to Kaido's true intentions, so he continued to worry, even contemplating finding a new patron.
"Young Master, it's an emergency!"
A sudden shout shattered his train of thought. Doflamingo's brows furrowed as he turned to see the intruder, irritation flashing in his eyes.
"Gladius, I'm fine. What's the matter?" he asked with thinly veiled annoyance.
Gladius, his spiky-haired, masked subordinate, caught his breath before blurting out, "Young Master, it's the Beast Pirates! They're here! And leading them is Queen the Plague!"
"What?!" Doflamingo shot up from his seat, his face darkening. "Why didn't we receive any message from the Beast Pirates? What is Kaido planning now?"
After a pause, Doflamingo scrutinized Gladius. "Are you certain it's Queen ?"
Gladius nodded emphatically. "Violet saw him with her Glare-Glare Fruit ability. I sent additional scouts, too. With his size, it's hard for him to hide."
Doflamingo's face hardened, the last remnants of optimism vanishing. "Is he here to strong-arm us into making another delivery? Kaido's not an idiot; he should realize that's impossible…"
Yet, given Kaido's volatile personality, Doflamingo couldn't dismiss the idea of an impending conflict. Despite knowing that Kaido was somewhat calculated under his barbaric facade, the notion of Kaido initiating a war without cause kept Doflamingo uneasy.
Doflamingo had dealt with Kaido's tyrannical tendencies long enough to know he couldn't dismiss this threat lightly.
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