Chapter 161

Dressrosa, New World

"El Diablo!!!" The raging blue flames surrounding Doffy and the training ground morphed into the form of a devil, its eyes blazing with malice and power. The fiery apparition roared as it lunged toward Issho, the heat radiating from it distorting the air and causing the ground to crack and smolder beneath its fury.

Issho stood firm, his grip tightening around the hilt of his sword. With a deep breath, he activated his Devil Fruit power, "Raging Tiger!!!" Manipulating gravity with the precision and control of a seasoned warrior, he morphed the ground into a massive tiger, which lunged forward to meet the fiery devil head-on.

The two forces collided with a cataclysmic impact, sending shockwaves rippling through the training ground. The devil, made of blue flames, clawed at the gravitational field surrounding the earthen tiger, its scorching heat and raw energy pushing against Issho's invisible barrier. Sparks flew, and the very air seemed to vibrate with the intensity of their clash.

Just then, Issho sent a flying slash aimed at Doffy, who instinctively turned himself into flames and dodged the attack. Blue flames and an intangible purple energy clashed with epic proportions, each collision creating a crater hundreds of meters wide. Calling this a sparring session would be a joke.

Doffy, after realizing that Ross would leave for the sea once again, had increased the intensity of his training to a monstrous degree. He was on the cusp of transforming himself into an Admiral-level power, but Doffy himself knew that crossing the threshold would not be easy. He had been training like a madman for the past few months, the intensity of his regimen no less than when he trained for over a year in the Calm Belt.

"Flame Prison!!!" As Doffy reformed himself, he dodged a few more gravity-infused slashes, making sure not to get caught in Issho's gravity field. He punched out, sending a wave of blue flames to surround and confine Issho, but Issho calmly used his gravity powers to create a barrier around him, keeping the blue flames at bay.

"Doffy-kun, what do you say we take it up a notch?" Issho spoke, and before Doffy could respond, massive concentric rings of purple energy shot into the sky.

"Heaven's Fall!!" Issho whispered.

Far away, where the rest of the family was observing the spar, they were in awe at the sheer display of power between the two fighters. Even Diamante and Senor were surprised at how far their once-young master had come, all in less than three years. They inwardly resolved to grow stronger so as not to be left behind.

Meanwhile, seated in front of them were Gladius and Smoker, each supporting their own idols. Smoker had come to follow Issho, much like Gladius followed Doffy.

"What's that?" Scarlett couldn't help but point at the sky as a small black dot rapidly enlarged and descended.

"Issho-san must have summoned another meteorite!" Shyarly commented nonchalantly. Although she was a mermaid, her Devil Fruit powers allowed her to exert telekinesis within a certain range, making it easy for her to move around on land.

"Sigh! Now I need to assign more workers to clean up the mess Issho-san creates," little Scarlett said, pulling out a small notebook and starting to write in it.

For everyone who was spectating, the incoming meteor was a trivial matter; they had seen it many times, especially when Ross and Issho-san sparred. But for Diamante and Senor, it seemed like madness. Wouldn't their young master be crushed by the massive meteor that was rapidly descending?

Giolla saw the terror-stricken faces of her friends and couldn't help but chuckle. Senor and Diamante were ready to intervene, thinking that Doffy was in danger. As they were about to move, Giolla stopped them. "Just watch!" she said with a chuckle.

She then turned to little Scarlett. "Don't worry, Scarlett! I will repair the damage done to the outdoor training ground and restore it later," she added. Scarlett immediately lost the frown on her face and gave Giolla a wide smile.

"Fufufufu, Issho, it seems like you have something on your mind that you want to say. The meteor is almost ten times the size of the ones you normally summon during our sessions," Doffy commented while channeling his blue flames, ready to intercept the descending meteorite.

"Doffy-kun, is it really necessary to carry out the plans that you have devised for North Blue?" Issho questioned while clashing back and forth with Doffy, trying to restrict him from countering the descending meteor.

With a sudden surge of flames like a tidal wave, Doffy pushed Issho on the defensive.

"Dai Enkai!!!" Doffy roared, and a massive, concentrated ball of fire, comparable in size to the descending meteor, rose up. Both the burning meteor and the miniature blue sun clashed thousands of meters above the Dressrosa sky.

A deafening boom echoed, sending shockwaves. Luckily, the collision happened in the sky; otherwise, Giolla would have had to spend quite some effort restoring all the damage. The blue flames consumed the massive meteorite, which pushed back the miniature sun, but Doffy channeled more flames, sending a few streams of serpentine blue fire to reinforce his earlier attack.

The sky lit up with a blinding light as the two colossal forces clashed. Below, the spectators shielded their eyes from the intense brightness and braced against the shockwaves. As the blue flames finally consumed the meteorite, the resulting explosion sent a rain of embers and molten rock cascading down.

Issho and Doffy stood amidst the chaos, their powers creating a spectacle of raw strength and determination. Despite the intensity of their clash, there was a mutual respect between them, a recognition of each other's unwavering resolve.

As the dust settled and the embers cooled, Issho lowered his sword and looked at Doffy with a mixture of admiration and concern. "Doffy-kun, your ambition is commendable, but do you really think such extreme means are necessary?"

Doffy, panting but undeterred, nodded firmly. "Issho, you need to understand something. What I am going to do is something they deserve. They reveled in celebrations when my family fell, and everyone took a swing at us when we were down. It is only right that I repay them the favor."

Issho still wanted to convince Doffy. "Doffy-kun, why don't I go to North Blue and bring it back under the Donquixote Family's control? Ultimately, that is what we want, right?" Issho proposed. He already knew what Doffy was planning for all those who had defied the Donquixote family, as the matter had been discussed in the recent family meeting.

Doffy shook his head, a cruel smirk playing on his lips. "Issho, I want you here in Dressrosa. We can't leave our main base undefended, now can we? And little Shyarly has already divined that if you join us, we will not be able to catch a certain someone I am very eager to meet."

Issho's brow furrowed with concern. "Doffy-kun, revenge can cloud judgment. Who is this 'certain someone' you're so eager to meet?"

Doffy's eyes glinted with a dangerous light. "A man who singlehandedly almost brought me to my death door; if not for that bastard, our family would not have lost so much, and worst of all, he fooled me. All that humiliation…pain that I suffered, I need to repay it, don't I? ." Bloodlust oozed out of Doffy just thinking about Marcus, the man who had plunged a dagger so deep into his back that it had scarred his soul.

Issho sighed, sensing the determination in Doffy's voice. He knew further arguments would be futile. "Very well, Doffy-kun. But promise me, you'll consider at least sparing the innocent ones that you come across." Issho knew the kind of monster that Doffy could become without Ross holding him back.

Doffy simply chuckled, a wicked grin spreading across his face, giving no direct answer to Issho's request. His laughter echoed ominously through the training ground, a chilling promise of the chaos to come. With a casual wave, Doffy turned and walked in the direction of the others, his steps confident and unyielding. Issho watched him go, his mind racing with thoughts of the impending bloodbath in North Blue.

**********

Unnamed Island, West Blue

A group of mismatched individuals from different walks of life sat around the crackling flame. Despite having been shot multiple times, Nico Olivia was saved by Mansherry's Heal-Heal Fruit ability. Even Saul seemed much better than when he had set out on the raft alongside Olivia and Lily.

On one side sat Saul, Olivia, little Robin, and Lily. None of their faces held any warmth, as the tragedy of Ohara had left a deep mark on them. Saul was on edge, recognizing both me and Shakky as pirates. One of us was worth more than 2 billion belly, and the other was a remnant from the Rocks era who had been forced to become a Shichibukai. When Shakky had come to save them, Saul didn't believe her and wanted to trade blows, but he was quickly humbled, realizing he couldn't challenge that kind of force.

Shakky sat next to me, savoring the alcohol from the bottle we had stocked on our ship. I wasn't sure how the bottle got there since I didn't indulge in alcohol, and the one giving weird looks whenever Shakky took a gulp from that expensive-looking bottle was Leo, who kept muttering something under his breath. Lucci, as usual, was diligently preparing a massive fish he had just caught for dinner. Silence lingered, broken only by the sounds of Lucci's work and the crackling of the wood.

Finally, it was Olivia who broke the silence. "Thank you for saving our lives!" She bowed, genuinely thanking Shakky and me. She knew that without our intervention, they might have already been caught by the Marines, especially with an Admiral candidate searching for them. Alone, they wouldn't have stood a chance.

I simply waved my hand and continued going through the books I had kept for light reading.

"Those books belong to Ohara!" Lily's voice cut through the night, challenging me. "They do not belong to you!" she roared.

I didn't even consider her words and continued flipping the page.

"Give it back! Give it back, you filthy pirate! The scholars of Ohara gave their lives to save those books," she shouted, but Olivia held her back.

"Victor's spoils," I said nonchalantly and returned to my book. I had already arranged for a few of the goons working for my family to transfer all the books from the island and the lake bed back to Dressrosa. I knew that in a few months' time, Dr. Vegapunk and Dragon would visit Ohara.

In the original timeline, with Saul being unfrozen, with the help of the giants, he would transfer the books to Elbaf. But I needed these books to see if I could attract Vegapunk's attention and complete a project like Pluton. My team working on it would need vast amounts of information and knowledge found in these books, so I couldn't let them fall into the giants' hands.

Shakky raised her brows in surprise. "Kid, you should be grateful that you are alive. Badmouthing your saviors is not something you should do. Out in this cruel sea, such help is akin to a miracle, so watch what you say, child," she said softly.

She knew that the teen was in pain, having lost everything she had known. Lily's face soured upon hearing Shakky's words, but she couldn't refute them. Ultimately, they were saved because of these pirates. Even Saul and Olivia, who were on the brink of death, were saved because of Mansherry, who was part of our group.

"Now that you are alive, you should be much more worried about how you are going to survive in this world hereafter," I said without lifting my head from the book I was reading.

The silence that followed was heavy, laden with the weight of their losses and the uncertain future that lay ahead. The crackling fire seemed to mirror their flickering hopes, struggling to stay alight in the vast darkness of their new reality.

The crackling firelight cast long shadows over the group, adding to the somber mood of the evening. Olivia's gaze was steady, directed at me with a mixture of resolve and desperation. "I have a favor to ask of you," she began, her voice trembling slightly but firm.

"I want your help raising my daughter, Robin. The government already thinks that Lily is my daughter, and with how the government works, they will mark us for death. They won't stop until they have our heads." Olivia peered into the flame, her eyes reflecting both the warmth of the fire and the cold reality of their situation.

She knew the kind of fate that awaited them, but whether by design of fate or luck, Robin's name had yet to come under the government's radar. The only one who had discerned that Lily wasn't Olivia's daughter had died under my hands.

Robin, sitting next to Olivia, looked up in panic. "Mother, no!" she cried, clutching at Olivia's sleeve. "I want to stay with you! I don't care about the risks! I need you!" Her voice was filled with a mixture of fear and determination, a young girl's plea against the harshness of the world.

Olivia placed a gentle hand on Robin's head, her touch soothing despite the turmoil in her heart. "Robin, listen to me," she said softly, her eyes meeting her daughter's. "I need to know that you'll be safe. If we stay together, the Government will find us. They will kill us. But if you stay with these people, you'll have a chance to live. To grow up. To learn." Her voice wavered, betraying the fear and sadness she was trying to keep at bay.

Robin shook her head fiercely, tears streaming down her cheeks. "No! I don't want to leave you! I want to stay with you, even if it's dangerous!" Her small hands gripped Olivia's arm, as if holding on tightly enough could keep them together.

I watched the exchange in silence; it seemed like fate itself was favoring me. Robin was the kind of talent that our family sorely lacked, and although we had Scarlett, there was only so much a single child could do. With the addition of Robin to our ranks, Scarlett's burden will reduce drastically.

I could see the desperation in Olivia's eyes and the fierce protectiveness of a mother willing to do anything to ensure her child's safety. And I saw the fear in Robin's eyes—the deep, unyielding love she had for her mother.

Shakky, sensing the gravity of the situation, leaned forward. "Olivia, we can protect Robin. But are you sure this is what you want? This is not a decision to be taken lightly." Her voice was gentle but firm, understanding the immense sacrifice Olivia was considering.

I couldn't help but raise my brows in surprise, as I didn't expect Shakky to speak on my behalf. It seemed like even Shakky's allegiance was in the bag; maybe she had already started considering herself part of the team, so I didn't refute and kept my silence.

Olivia nodded, her resolve hardening. "Yes, I am sure. Robin's safety is the most important thing. More important than anything else." She turned to me, her eyes pleading. "Please, will you help her? Will you keep her safe?"

I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of her request. "We will," I said finally. "We will protect Robin. She will be safe with us."

Robin looked at me, her tear-filled eyes wide with a mix of hope and fear. "You promise?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"I promise," I replied, my voice firm. "I will do everything in my power to keep you safe."

Olivia pulled Robin into a tight embrace, tears streaming down her face. "Robin, be brave," she whispered. "Be strong. And remember that I love you, more than anything in this world."

Robin sobbed into her mother's shoulder, clutching her tightly. "I love you too, Mother. I'll be brave. I promise."

******

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