Chapter 2: My Predecessor Was Mentally Deficient?

As the saying goes, "Where there are people, there are conflicts." The same principle applies to the Celestial Dragons in the Holy Land of Mariejois.

Celestial Dragons don't bother competing with ordinary "untouchables" because they have no need to contend with such lowly beings.

Anything they desire, they can simply take.

To the Celestial Dragons, they are inherently "superior." There is no need to fight because the untouchables wouldn't dare to oppose them. Could any lowborn commoner truly dare to rob a Celestial Dragon?

Therefore, conflicts among Celestial Dragons are usually restricted to their own class. Only those with equal nobility are considered their "rivals."

If you were to recount Donquixote Claudius's experiences, it would sound like a bad soap opera filled with absurdity and irony.

Don't let his status as a low-level Celestial Dragon fool you his parents were once quite influential.

They were the original heads of the Donquixote family, making Claudius, by birthright, a true "Second Generation" Celestial Dragon.

But as fate would have it, life is unpredictable, and disasters strike even those who consider themselves gods.

In the end, the Celestial Dragons are merely human, subject to the same cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death.

Claudius's parents died three years ago from an incurable illness. At that time, Claudius was just seven years old far too young to assume his father's position as the head of the Donquixote family.

With no one to take up the mantle, control of the family fell to Doflamingo's father, Donquixote Homing.

Homing was an anomaly among the Celestial Dragons.

He was kind-hearted and lacked the malicious intentions typical of his kind. He treated the young Claudius with genuine care, raising him like his own son over the past three years.

If nothing unusual had occurred, Claudius would have continued to grow up under Homing's care, living a life of luxury and indulgence until adulthood, where he could simply laze about like the rest of the useless Celestial Dragons, enjoying all that the world had to offer.

What more could a wasteful Celestial Dragon want? However, according to Claudius's memories, Homing had even planned to return the position of family patriarch to Claudius once he reached adulthood.

"If I think about it, living such an unproductive life while still enjoying everything the world has to offer… It doesn't sound half bad, does it?" Claudius murmured with a wry smile.

It has to be said, living such a life would indeed be quite pleasant no need to struggle, no need to face unpleasant matters...

But therein lies the problem...

For some reason, there seems to be an inexplicable "idealistic trait" buried deep within the Donquixote lineage, causing one or two problematic individuals to appear every so often.

In Claudius's view, these people are "mentally deficient" those who cannot comprehend reality. And, to make matters worse, Donquixote Homing, the current head of the Donquixote family, is exactly one of these individuals.

Over the past year or so, perhaps due to a trip he took with his wife and children to the North Blue where he witnessed the world's true state, Homing's idealistic trait had been fully triggered.

A prominent patriarch of the Holy Land Mariejois, a great man among Celestial Dragons, was now experiencing a sort of mental lapse. Every so often, he entertained the bizarre idea that he didn't want to be a Celestial Dragon anymore he wanted to be an ordinary man living in the "lower realms" with the common folk.

Within the Celestial Dragon class, such thoughts are considered outright lunacy the very epitome of mental sickness.

Worse yet, after contemplating this fantasy for a year, Homing hadn't discarded the notion. Instead, he was more convinced that this was the path he should follow.

As the saying goes, "Longing is the furthest distance from understanding." Homing, fixated on the simple life of ordinary people, believed it to be carefree and fulfilling.

He dreamt of living a life of farming and simplicity, never once considering the harsh realities of such a lifestyle. It was truly a classic example of the naive perspective of those who live above the world's struggles.

After all, how could a Celestial Dragon, born at the pinnacle of the world, possibly understand the hardships of the common people? It was the same as if a king told a starving peasant, "Why don't you eat meat instead?"

Due to this delusional fantasy, over the past year, Homing had begun making arrangements to create a "fallback plan" for the Donquixote family.

As the current head of the Donquixote family, Homing did have some sense of responsibility. He wasn't planning to simply disappear and leave everything behind. Instead, he began organizing the handover of the family's power and wealth.

During this process, the previously inconspicuous Claudius suddenly found himself in a very unfortunate position.

Despite his status as a useless waste, Claudius was still the legitimate heir of the Donquixote family according to both law and bloodline.

And among the Celestial Dragons, lineage is everything. It's the fundamental basis upon which their entire power structure and class system are built.

Thus, when Homing prepared to relinquish his position as head of the family, Claudius was naturally pushed into the spotlight.

Homing sincerely intended to return the leadership of the Donquixote family to Claudius. Claudius, in his former state of blissful ignorance, had no sense of the danger and eagerly accepted the arrangement, completely oblivious to the storm brewing around him.

Thinking back on it now, Claudius felt utterly speechless. His predecessor was truly a naïve and incompetent fool. He didn't even stop to consider that, beyond having a more legitimate bloodline, he had absolutely no qualifications to become the head of the Donquixote family.

First of all, there was his age. Was everyone else in the Donquixote family dead? Why else would they need a ten-year-old child to become their leader?

Secondly, due to his youth and the early death of his parents, Homing being the kind-hearted simpleton that he was—had not left Claudius with any capable supporters or advisors.

Thus, in terms of power and influence, Claudius had absolutely no foundation. He was just a worthless, powerless child.

If Claudius had been a genius, someone who showed promise and potential, perhaps the other Celestial Dragons might have tolerated his leadership, albeit reluctantly, in the hopes that he could elevate the Donquixote family to new heights in the future.

But the former Claudius was a true idiot, someone who could accomplish nothing except eat, sleep, and waste away.

So, what did the rest of the Donquixote family think? With a mediocre brat like Claudius leading them, it wouldn't be long before the once-prestigious Donquixote family fell to the bottom of the 19 Celestial Dragon families.

Thus, for the sake of both the family's honor and their own power, everyone with a shred of intelligence within the Donquixote family secretly opposed the idea of Claudius becoming the family's head.

Claudius understood this sentiment perfectly now. If it had been up to him, he wouldn't have chosen such a waste to be the head of the family either!

But that idealist Homing couldn't see the truth. He believed that returning the family's authority to Claudius was the rightful choice, that it was a moral duty to restore Claudius's position.

And so, events unfolded one after another. First, Claudius was tricked into eating a Devil Fruit prepared as a mere fruit salad, no less becoming the laughingstock of the Celestial Dragons.

This alone should have been enough, but Homing's stubbornness remained unmoved, even after Claudius became a joke among his peers. This only made things harder for those rational-minded Celestial Dragons who didn't want to see Claudius leading the family.

Forced into a corner by Homing's stubbornness and Claudius's sheer ineptitude, they had no choice but to resort to drastic measures.

Thus, the incident leading to Claudius's shipwreck occurred. After being poisoned with a Devil Fruit, he was cast out to sea. Given the way things played out, Claudius, a useless waste with no special abilities, should have died.

In fact, he did die in that shipwreck. The original Claudius's soul perished, making way for the rebirth of a new one.

Sitting on the rocky shore of this desolate island, Claudius felt exasperated as he recalled the absurd events that had transpired in his predecessor's life. If that fool had possessed just a bit of self-awareness and didn't arrogantly believe he deserved to be the head of the Donquixote family, he wouldn't have ended up dead at sea. He wouldn't have eaten a Devil Fruit, let alone become a laughingstock.

But what's done is done. There was no turning back now, and Claudius could only focus on the future.

Currently, he was stranded on a deserted island. Building a ship by himself was not entirely impossible, but the problem was that he had no experience with sailing, let alone navigating through the dangerous New World. Attempting to go out to sea would only lead to a quicker death.

Thus, from the very beginning, Claudius had no intention of building a ship to sail away. He was left with only two choices.

The first option was to do nothing, accept this damn fate, and wait here until he really died. The previous owner of this body had already chosen this path, resulting in the current situation of having a new soul occupy his lifeless shell.

The second option was to find a way to survive on this island and wait for rescue.

Yes, even if this was a conspiracy, Claudius was still a Celestial Dragon. Even if it was for appearances' sake, the Donquixote family would definitely send people to search for and rescue him.

It's just that the process might be delayed. They would likely wait until everyone was certain Claudius was dead and lost forever before making a move.

But that was enough for Claudius. He believed he could survive long enough for the rescue team to arrive and bring him back to Mariejois.

"Damn it, when I get back to Mariejois, the first thing I'm going to do is announce that I'm quitting this nonsense of being the Donquixote family's patriarch. Whoever wants the position can take it!" Claudius cursed angrily.

With his current abilities, even if he now had a different soul, it was impossible for him to immediately gain support and become the head of the Donquixote family.

Rather than struggle for a position he wasn't suited for, it was better to just give it up, change his mindset, and alter his approach.

As for whether he harbored any resentment towards those who orchestrated the downfall of his predecessor… well, not really. After all, he couldn't stand his predecessor's incompetence either.

Claudius was a practical person. He wouldn't take on the burdens of his predecessor's "debts" just because he now inhabited his body. Swearing to avenge the former owner? That's simply not going to happen...

Of course, if someone tried to kill him again in the future... well, Claudius wouldn't mind dealing with those who thought they could take him lightly.

"Well, it's useless to think about it too much now. Let's focus on how to survive until rescue comes… Damn it, a Celestial Dragon stranded on a deserted island? This is just ridiculous..." Claudius laughed at himself bitterly.