Conditions

"Alright, Sugar, turn her back." Yota waved his hand dismissively. He had quite a few ideas about Violet’s Glint-Glint Fruit ability.

"Yes, Lord Yota." Sugar, who had long been controlled by Kotoamatsukami, nodded and waved her hand. The little toy immediately grew taller, revealing Violet’s figure where it stood.

The moment Violet’s body reappeared, she dropped to her knees before Yota and pleaded, "Please, save Dressrosa."

Yota rolled his eyes. "Why are you telling me this? Who are you?"

"Besides, doesn’t Dressrosa no longer need saving?"

Hearing this, Violet hurriedly spoke.

"Those toys are all people! They were all turned into toys by Sugar! Several thousand people across Dressrosa have already been turned into toys!"

"Please, have mercy and make Sugar release them!"

"Releasing them would be easy enough, but what about the turmoil it would cause?" Yota fixed Violet with a sharp gaze.

"I can tell you right now that I won’t abandon the other members of the Donquixote Family. Their underground network is very useful to me."

"What happens after those toys in Dressrosa are restored? The dark side is completely exposed—should they immediately go to war with the Donquixote Family?"

"Even if I help neither side, what do you think will happen if they fight the Donquixote Family?"

What would happen? Naturally, it would be a dead end. Leaving aside everything else, Pica, a Stone-Stone Fruit user, could easily destroy all of Dressrosa.

After turning into a stone giant, a few casual swats and a roll across the ground would wipe out most of Dressrosa’s soldiers.

Here in the New World, the gap in strength had been widened to an extreme. Ordinary people on the battlefield did not even qualify as cannon fodder. Why did people still eat Kaido’s artificial Devil Fruits, despite their extremely high failure rate and the fact that even successful users became freaks? Because the New World was far crueler than any other sea!

Violet finally sank to the ground in despair, looking utterly lifeless.

In truth, it was not as though she failed to understand this reasoning. Back when she had been with the Doflamingo Family, had she truly never had the chance to secretly knock Sugar unconscious?

But even if she had succeeded, what then? The Donquixote Family would simply carry out another purge of Dressrosa, turn even more people into toys, and erase all their memories.

The reason she had sought Yota’s help this time was only because she hoped he might show mercy. Yet while Yota might possess some kindness, it could not outweigh the benefits the Donquixote Family brought him.

"Don’t be too upset. I have another method. As long as the conditions are met, having Sugar restore these toys won’t be difficult."

"What method?!" Violet’s face lit up with surprise as she asked.

Yota smiled faintly. "A Devil Fruit matter should naturally be solved with a Devil Fruit. The Big Mom Pirates have a Memory Fruit user, if I remember correctly. As long as we get our hands on that ability, we can erase those people’s memories afterward, can’t we?"

In fact, Yota himself could handle these people’s memories, but it would be quite troublesome. He would probably need to alter the memories of nearly half the people in Dressrosa—at least tens of thousands of them. He did not have that kind of time to deal with them one by one.

"Memory Fruit…" A trace of disappointment flashed through Violet’s eyes. This solution was clearly not perfect in her eyes, but she knew this was already Yota’s bottom line. In any case, Yota’s approach was far better than Doflamingo’s.

In truth, not all of Dressrosa’s toys were local residents. More of them were outside pirates, World Government spies, and Marines.

Doflamingo was cunning and treacherous, and he understood that a rabbit did not eat the grass around its own burrow. Thus, aside from when he had first dealt with King Riku, he had not casually turned residents into toys.

To put it more bluntly, even if ordinary Dressrosa residents wanted to provoke Doflamingo and the Donquixote Family, they probably lacked the ability to do so.

If every toy were truly restored, that would be the real headache. Yota would never agree to it, because many of the toys were spies or Marines who had infiltrated Dressrosa.

"Still, I’ve agreed to your request. How will you repay me?" Yota looked intently at Violet. He was deeply interested in her Devil Fruit ability.

However, Violet was neither an enemy nor a bad person. Otherwise, he would likely have thrown Kotoamatsukami at her long ago.

Violet had followed Doflamingo for so many years that she felt no psychological burden in using herself as a bargaining chip. She knew her Devil Fruit ability was extremely important; otherwise, Doflamingo would never have spared her Father-King instead of eliminating the entire family.

"As long as you agree to a few conditions, I’ll join you. I can even become your lover!"

"Forget the lover part! Just being my subordinate is enough." Yota hurriedly waved his hand. He neither wanted to become the same kind of person as Doflamingo nor wanted to wake up one day with a dagger in his chest.

After all, this was Dressrosa. The women here were far fiercer and more open than those in Wano Country. Though Yota felt he was much better than Doflamingo and probably would not get hacked up with a kitchen knife… he still did not want to disgust himself.

Hearing Yota’s words, Violet was instead somewhat disappointed.

It was not because she had fallen for Yota. Rather, she could tell that Yota’s personality differed from that of an ambitious tyrant like Doflamingo. In short, he was gentler and softer-hearted. If she truly became his lover, perhaps she could use pillow talk to save Dressrosa completely.

However, Violet soon stated her condition. "First, I want you to release my Father-King!"

Yota nodded after hearing that. King Riku—the typical weak but kind king of the Pirate World.

The kings of Alabasta, Ryugu Kingdom, and others were treated much the same way. They were all the kind of people who knew nothing except kindness. And really, let alone in the law-of-the-jungle Pirate World, even in the real world, kings with personalities like theirs would absolutely be fooled and exploited by others.

Or rather, it was fortunate that people in the Pirate World were so carefree and simple-minded. Otherwise, these people would never have lasted until pirates overthrew them; their own ministers would have turned them into powerless puppets long before then.