Chapter 53: Donquixote Doflamingo
"Fixed it! Ka-ba-ba-ba…"
As evening fell, a loud laugh echoed through the air.
Beside the massive mountain on Little Garden, a gigantic ship was docked. The vessel showed clear signs of repair—its moss and vines were gone, and it now looked brand-new.
Brogy stood nearby, gripping his great axe.
"Not bad. In that case, we'll leave the day after tomorrow," Jiang Qize said with a smile as he looked up at him.
It wasn't that he didn't want to leave tomorrow; it was just that the Eternal Log Pose hadn't finished recording the island's magnetic field yet. It needed one more day.
He'd gained quite a lot in just a single day.
However, he'd ordered everyone to stop hunting. Little Garden was vast, but if they kept going at this rate, the dinosaurs on the island might actually go extinct.
So he decided to take a break for now.
After all, he already had one hundred Dinosaur Fruits—enough to last him for the time being.
"The next island is Drum Island. Chopper hasn't been born yet, which means the Hito Hito no Mi hasn't been eaten."
Jiang Qize muttered under his breath.
"And I should probably find a doctor—and a cook while I'm at it." Drum Island's Drum Kingdom was famous for its medical prowess; it was a nation of doctors.
Finding one to join them wouldn't be difficult—and if it was, well, kidnapping one would work just as well.
What he truly had his eyes on, though, was that Hito Hito no Mi. He couldn't care less what would happen to Chopper in the future—after all, there were still twenty years before the main story began.
But the Hito Hito no Mi wasn't particularly powerful. On the contrary, it was quite weak—a simple "Human Model" Zoan Fruit that only allowed the user to take on a human form.
Chopper's real strength came from his own invention—the Rumble Ball—which had nothing to do with the fruit itself.
If Jiang Qize were the one to eat it, he wasn't sure he could achieve what Chopper did.
Still, the reason he wanted it was simple: he wanted to let his dinosaurs transform into human form and gain intelligence. Their sheer size was becoming a problem.
With a thoughtful glance, he took out a Den Den Mushi and dialed.
"Gururu… gururu…"
The Den Den Mushi's features morphed into Crocodile's face, a cigar clamped in its mouth.
"What is it?" came the cold, steady voice.
"Crocodile, how's Baroque Works coming along?" Jiang Qize asked with a faint smile.
"Fine. Just say what you want," Crocodile replied coolly.
"Do you have any channels to sell Devil Fruits?"
"Hm? You've got Devil Fruits to sell?"
Crocodile raised an eyebrow in surprise.
At this point in time, Devil Fruits weren't easy to come by—not even for someone like him.
"Yeah. Zoan types. So, do you or don't you?"
"I'll introduce you to someone."
"Who?"
"Donquixote Doflamingo."
At the mention of that name, Jiang Qize couldn't help but look surprised.
Doflamingo and Crocodile already knew each other this early?
"I'm curious—how did you meet him?"
Right now, Doflamingo should be around twenty years old—still young—and he probably hadn't entered the New World yet.
"We fought once. That's how we met," Crocodile said flatly.
As the infamous "Desert King," he roamed the seas seeking worthy opponents. It was no surprise that his bounty had already reached nearly a hundred million at such a young age. For comparison, even the two giant captains, Dorry and Brogy, each had bounties of only one hundred million.
This wasn't twenty years later—it was the prime age of reckless ambition.
Jiang Qize smiled. That made things much simpler.
Doflamingo might be dark and arrogant, but he was undeniably capable. Otherwise, his future empire wouldn't rise so high under his command. And with his former Celestial Dragon lineage, few people dared to touch him.
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