Susanoo, the War God, stood tall at Gild Tesoro's port. Cannonballs flew past and exploded on him, but the War God remained completely unmoved.
He opened his Chakra bow, and Sasuke controlled Susanoo to fire lightning arrows, directly blasting the navy ships into clusters of arcs and flames.
In the blink of an eye, the ship, cut in two, sank into the sea amid black smoke.
Meanwhile, Drake, with his wings of the Fire Dragon flapping, hovered in midair, stroking his chin in thought.
In this era of pirates, most pirates set sail not for dreams like Luffy and his crew, but for the simplest treasures.
After all, the legendary treasure "One Piece" that sparked this era was spoken of by the Pirate King, Roger.
And in this world, besides Mary Geoise, how many places hold wealth comparable to Gild Tesoro?
The reason Drake was reluctant to take over Gild Tesoro was because it would bring quite a few troubles.
He didn't want trouble, but that didn't mean he was afraid of it. When someone challenged him at the door, continuing to tolerate it wasn't Drake's style.
However, before making a move, he had to figure out exactly who was causing the trouble.
The attack on Gild Tesoro's port was carried out by navy ships, and on top of that, Drake not only refused the CP0's conditions but also insulted the Celestial Dragons and the Five Elders. It was easy to see this as an act of retaliation from the World Government.
But given the situation, with the World Government acting so domineering, it's no surprise at all… anyone would think that way.
What's more, Drake noticed the ships bore markings with "G-5," indicating they belonged to the Navy's G-5 branch.
If G-5 had any special features, it was that their commanding officer, Vergo, was a spy sent by Doflamingo into the Navy.
No wonder Doflamingo, who can be a major figure in the underworld, has such far-reaching vision—this isn't something a mere emperor of the sea could compare to.
The Navy and CP0 often send spies into others' territories, but few actually send their own spies into the Navy.
In fact, Vergo had helped Doflamingo many times—he was instrumental in Doflamingo almost obtaining the Ope Ope no Mi. Sadly, his younger brother, Corazon, interfered, and he ended up empty-handed.
This time, after seeing that G-5 ship, it was hard for Drake not to suspect that Doflamingo was behind everything.
The first person Drake refused was Diamante, sent by Doflamingo, who also had motives for causing trouble.
Moreover, he insidiously used Vergo, the spy, to provoke with navy ships.
Whether Drake later blamed the World Government or whether the Navy's destruction of the ships was retaliation, conflict was inevitable.
As for who would suffer more—Doflamingo didn't care. He'd be happy to see either side lose.
The most cunning part was that he wouldn't get involved himself. He could sit back and watch, maybe even find an opportunity to profit.
Drake believed that if the World Government's style was to retaliate, they wouldn't do something so half-hearted.
The World Government, with its vast wealth, wouldn't just send one ship, and there would definitely be a strong expert onboard.
Though Drake called the Five Elders fools, they wouldn't be so stupid as to do something that only caused trouble and no benefit—wasn't that just stirring up discord?
He looked back at the Fairy Tail members gathering at the port and said, "By the way, everything Tesoro owns is our loot. We still owe someone some debts!"
---
Reimei flew out from Gild Tesoro, drawing a rainbow streak across the sky.
Inside Gild Tesoro's warehouse, Drake found many eternal pointers to famous islands across the sea, including Dressrosa.
Dressrosa, known as the "Land of Love, Passion, and Toys" in the New World, was ruled by Donquixote Doflamingo, one of the Twenty Kings who created the world.
It was a tropical island and a famous vacation destination. Its cuisine, clothing, culture, and dance all had distinctive features.
However, the women on the island, driven by excessive passion and obsessive love, sometimes even resorted to assassinating or betraying their lovers—this intense love and hatred was very characteristic of the pirate world.
What was even more unique about the island was the lively toys and the legendary fairy tales, attracting many visitors from outside.
Although under Doflamingo's rule, Dressrosa appeared prosperous and wealthy, few knew what this prosperity was built upon. It was based on the wealth Doflamingo gained from his illegal businesses—running human trafficking, selling large quantities of weapons, and other unlawful activities.
It was also built on oppressing those who had been transformed into toys by his subordinate Sugar's Devil Fruit powers, as well as the native dwarf tribe of Dressrosa.
Doflamingo's method of seizing the throne was also extremely vicious and bloody.
Eight hundred years ago, the Donquixote family, one of the twenty kings who helped create the world, migrated to Mary Geoise, and the throne was handed down to the Riku family.
Compared to the Donquixote clan, who enslaved the dwarf tribe, the Riku family was more humane. After freeing the dwarves, they created fairy tales to give the tribe a place to survive.
But no one expected that some members of the Donquixote family would abandon their Celestial Dragon status, only to be slaughtered by others out of malice toward the Celestial Dragons—this led to the creation of Doflamingo, a completely twisted monster.
Ten years ago, Doflamingo, with his subordinates, arrived at Dressrosa.
He deceived King Riku and controlled him to slaughter the citizens, causing the people to lose trust in him. Finally, Doflamingo appeared as a hero and successfully seized the throne.
This move is so shady that it's quite possible Crocodile learned from him when he did his thing in Alabasta.
But what Doflamingo did in Dressrosa, and how many people he hurt, has nothing to do with Drake.
This time, Drake's purpose in coming to Dressrosa was to settle accounts and collect debts.
Tesoro's industries had swallowed a lot, and that was all loot from Drake. There's no such thing as free lunch—he was originally reluctant to bother with him, but Tesoro's arrogance was too much. Don't blame Drake for making him pay it all back tenfold!
When Doflamingo's forces approached the waters near Dressrosa, he received the news.
Sitting in the palace's velvet armchair, Doflamingo almost crushed his report bug's microphone.
Fairy Tail's momentum was fierce—surely he had instructed Vergo to provoke, but he didn't expect himself to be exposed so easily.
He couldn't help but recall the oppressive feeling he had faced when confronting Drake during the Summit War. Blood vessels bulged on Doflamingo's forehead.
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