"Fuhahaha, who would have thought, huh? But there's still a chance, isn't it? This country, I can still control it."
Doflamingo grinned maliciously, "Sage needs me."
"No, everything here is decided by me."
Lily beckoned, and Gin handed over the smuggling list he had found to her.
This item, Gin had been searching for since the beginning of the revolt when the toys turned into humans, even faster than the Revolutionary Army infiltrating the smuggling factories.
"The cooperation between Sage and you is limited to transactions; other things are not guaranteed. Since you failed, we will take over here. Doflamingo, your choices are to join us or become a pirate yourself."
"So ruthless, but I saw it coming..."
Doflamingo chuckled softly, "But you know my identity; without me, some things are hard to accomplish."
"If it's just for convenience, then I'd rather not have this convenience. We'll take what we want ourselves."
Lily said coldly, "Only the victor has everything, that's the phrase Sage and you often say, but you've lost, and now you're disqualified. However..."
The sword at her waist was already half drawn, "As per the agreement, we will keep you out of Impel Down!"
"Hehehe... If there's no country, it doesn't matter whether I go in or not. I actually want to see what the world will be like without me!"
Doflamingo's grin widened, "Since we have this agreement, let's change the condition. You fighting the Navy here is too wasteful... How about this, get Sage to promise me one condition: when I want to come out, he must rescue me!"
Lily was silent for a moment, re-sheathed the half-drawn sword into its scabbard.
"Alright, I agree on behalf of Sage."
Because Doflamingo might start an all-out war with the Navy, disrupting Sage's plans.
Issho silently withdrew his cane sword, unsure if he was sighing or deeply contemplative, "This situation might be good for both parties."
...
After half a day, a warship arrived at Dressrosa's port, transferring Doflamingo aboard.
Now full of white hair, a visibly brighter Sengoku approached Issho, who was eating soba noodles at the port with a bag of senbei, and said with a hearty laugh:
"Issho, I heard you had a run-in with the Calamity? Were you stopped from above, hahaha, surely no fight would happen!"
"This isn't something to laugh about!"
Issho heavily placed the teacup filled with soba, "Though I know the Four Emperors are great calamities of the world, and that calamity is a particularly destructive lunatic, to be forbidden from even making a stand... it's too lacking in spirit!"
He gazed into the distance, "Clearly a World Government affiliated country, yet the Navy is confined to the port while pirates roam freely, isn't that strange?"
The strength of the Four Emperors, he knew well; he's not a novice.
To become a Four Emperor, one must be top-tier, especially the new youngest emperor, who has beaten the other three, recognized openly by the sea.
But forbidding any fight, banning combat, that's another matter entirely.
Sengoku gradually became solemn after hearing this.
He placed the senbei bag down, sat across from Issho, and exhaled heavily, "The World Conference is soon; even if there's a fight, it won't be now. They won't risk it at this crucial moment."
As the former Fleet Marshal, he knew a lot and understood what those people are truly thinking.
"But you, Issho, maybe this is an opportunity; you joined the Navy with this wish, didn't you?" Sengoku said.
"Indeed."
Issho nodded, "Perhaps, this is also a chance. The matter of a stolen country has happened not just once or twice. These 'legal pirates' inflict grief that shouldn't happen at all. Since the SSG is ready, maybe now I can fulfill my wish..."
"Abolish the Seven Warlords of the Sea!"
He said, taking his cane, tapping the ground, walking in one direction.
"Where are you going?" Sengoku asked.
"There's something I can't reconcile, so I want to hear it for myself, understand the reason."
Tap, tap, tap...
His cane tapped the ground, taking Issho's body away, gradually disappearing from Sengoku's view.
"Ah..."
Sengoku then looked at the high-dome palace, turned his gaze to the sky, "Balance... if they keep this up, someday, it will be broken."
Inside the warship's barred prison, Tsuru sat on a seat, gazing at Doflamingo who was restrained within by Sea Stone Chains, holding his body and limbs in a spread-eagle position, imprisoned, and she frowned:
"I heard you gave up your agreement with the Calamity, in exchange for a promise, what are you thinking, Doflamingo?"
"Fufufu, that's something you should ask yourselves; if Fujitora had dealt with those brats instead of fighting with Lily, it wouldn't be this situation now. This country doesn't belong to me, the reins controlling the monsters are broken already!"
"You shouldn't have let me fail..." Doflamingo chuckled softly.
"No point in talking about things after the fact; the newspapers are out already. If? Such fanciful worlds don't exist; only the present is real, and you've lost." Tsuru said lightly.
"Fufufufu, really can't do anything about you!" Doflamingo laughed aloud.