A Perfect Plan (to Court Death)

"Young Master, what should we do?" Gladius asked.

Doflamingo frowned, unable to make up his mind.

Information traveled slowly across the seas to begin with, especially in a closed-off place like Wano Country. Doflamingo only knew that Kaido had suffered another major setback; he had no idea that Queen had already left the Beasts Pirates.

Just then, the Den Den Mushi on Doflamingo’s desk began to ring again. Doflamingo picked it up, and its face quickly changed into that of a woman.

"Violet, what is it this time?" Doflamingo asked in a low voice.

"This time? Looks like Gladius already told you about Queen." The Den Den Mushi spoke. "But there’s new intelligence now."

"Hm? What happened?"

"Doffy, do you remember the news from last time, when the Beasts Pirates and Big Mom Pirates joined forces, only to be defeated by the Whitebeard Pirates?"

"Of course I remember." Doflamingo sounded impatient. "They said some so-called super rookie appeared during that battle and unleashed a tsunami over a hundred meters high. That was how the Whitebeard Pirates defeated the combined forces of those two Pirate Crews."

"But what does that have to do with this? Don’t tell me that Whitebeard Pirates rookie has come to Dressrosa too?"

"Yes, you guessed right, Doffy."

"That Whitebeard Pirates member named Yota is currently in Dressrosa!"

Doflamingo’s expression changed upon hearing that, and he felt as though everything had fallen into place. "I see. So he came to hunt down that Whitebeard Pirates commander?"

Queen sat on the deck, dejectedly repairing the mechanical arm on his own body.

He used to have plenty of underlings. A trivial job like repairing a mechanical arm would never have required him to do it himself.

What a pity. If only he hadn’t surrendered so quickly.

Just as Queen was lost in his thoughts, he heard his Den Den Mushi ringing.

"Doflamingo? Why’s he calling me? Did Ulti and Page One cause trouble again?"

Queen was baffled as he picked up the Den Den Mushi.

"Fuffuffuffu! The renowned Queen the Plague has come all the way to Dressrosa? Could it be that Governor-General Kaido needs a new batch of artificial Devil Fruits so soon?" Doflamingo’s voice soon rang in his ear.

Queen’s eye twitched violently. If he hadn’t known that Doflamingo was no match for him, he would have thought the man was provoking him.

But Queen soon understood. Apparently, Doflamingo still thought he was Queen the Plague of the Beasts Pirates and had not received the news from Wano Country.

Already in a foul mood, Queen had no desire to deal with Doflamingo. Just as he was about to hang up, Doflamingo continued.

"You came here for that Whitebeard Pirates supernova named Yota, didn’t you?"

"After losing that last battle, you wanted to strike back at the Whitebeard Pirates, so you came to capture him. Am I right?"

Queen froze. Capture Yota? How many lives do you think I have?

When Doflamingo received no response, he assumed he had hit the mark. He continued, "You deliberately snuck into Dressrosa without notifying me. Have you already decided to kill that pirate named Yota? He’s Whitebeard’s son!"

"Let me tell you, I can’t take the blame for this. If Whitebeard comes looking for me, I’ll have no choice but to tell him the truth!"

Seriously? Do you have some kind of persecution complex?

Queen’s scalp tingled at Doflamingo’s wild imagination, while Doflamingo took Queen’s silence as confirmation that he had guessed Queen’s plan correctly.

"However… if the Beasts Pirates can give us a little more time to develop the new artificial Devil Fruits, I do have an idea. We can kill Yota directly without having to face Whitebeard’s wrath!"

Queen no longer knew what to say. After thinking for a moment, he finally asked, "What plan do you have?"

At the same time, he secretly thought, Doflamingo, Doflamingo, it’s not that I don’t want to look after you. You’re the one who chose to walk yourself into a dead end.

I was just worrying that joining this monster’s crew wouldn’t be very safe, and now you’ve handed me a chance to earn some merit. I’ll definitely burn paper offerings for you every holiday from now on!

Naturally, Doflamingo had no idea what Queen was thinking. He only felt that he had seized a perfect opportunity and immediately said, "Well… you know Dressrosa is known as the Land of Toys and Love. But do you know where all these living toys come from?"

Queen frowned. "Just tell me the plan!"

His attempt at suspense met with a cold reception. Doflamingo was immediately annoyed, but he did not dare lose his temper at Queen. He could only take a deep breath and continue in a low voice.

"The toys of Dressrosa come from the Devil Fruit abilities of Sugar, an officer under my pirate crew!"

"Sugar’s Hobby-Hobby Fruit can turn anyone she touches directly into a toy! And it erases every trace of that person, including the memories their friends and family have of them, as well as writing, photographs, and so on!"

"So my plan is simple. Once we subdue Yota, we’ll have Sugar use her Hobby-Hobby Fruit ability to turn him into a toy. Then everyone will forget him, and there naturally won’t be any future trouble!"

Queen’s eyes filled with astonishment. He truly had not expected one of Doflamingo’s subordinates to possess such a bizarre ability.

Just looking at the sheer number of toys in Dressrosa made it clear how utterly deranged Doflamingo was. Who knew how many unspeakable things were hidden behind those toys? If it all came to light, even Doflamingo, a former Celestial Dragon and current Shichibukai, would be utterly unable to contain the fallout!

It seemed he had truly been driven into a corner this time. Otherwise, Doflamingo would never reveal such top-secret information to anyone else.

"That is a decent plan… but can you guarantee that your subordinate’s Hobby-Hobby Fruit will definitely work?"

"Of course. Sugar’s Hobby-Hobby Fruit has been tested. Although it can be blocked by abilities like Haki, once someone is turned into a toy by the Hobby-Hobby Fruit, no method can free them!" Doflamingo said firmly.