No I

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Chapter 106: No I

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Well, his target was specifically Dressrosa, one of the key pieces in the rise of the Pantheon, but Yovan knows he can not afford to be associated with the Pantheon just yet.

To understand Dressrosa, one first has to understand the World Government, the key piece of the world.

There are three great forces keeping balance in the world. They're called the Three Great Powers, the three greatest military forces on the oceans, consisting of the Marine Headquarters, the Four Emperors, and the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

The balance between them is what maintained world peace despite two of the forces being largely under the World Government. That's how much influence and control it has over the World.

The World Government is basically a global regime which has ruled the world for over 800 years since it was founded by an alliance of 20 different kingdoms.

It has since vastly grown in influence and now spans across more than 170 of the world's civilized countries.

And Dressrosa happened to be one of the twenty founding kingdoms of the World Government.

The Donquixote family originally ruled Dressrosa, but the family moved to Mary Geoise and was replaced by the Riku Family... Well, something happened several years ago. The Riku Family was replaced.

Someone took over Dressrosa overnight, and his name is Donquixote Doflamingo... Quite the odd scenario indeed.

"They look like candy," Laffitte noted.

"Huh? The fuck are you talking about?" Bege asked with a raised brow.

"What? Do you not agree? Like, they kinda look delicious." Laffitte doubled down.

"I'm going to take a walk. Please don't follow me, perverts." Kalifa had to excuse herself, hastily leaving their vicinity.

"Hey, don't lump me with this psychopath!" Bege corrected before taking a long puff of his cigar.

"Umu, they've very cute. Antarisa agrees, no?" Kaku nodded with a sunny smile.

"Hey chill, your smile looks kinda predatory, no joke... It's kinda great, no joke." Laffitte remarked with a grin.

"Predatory? Do you think I would eat such cute things? I'm not you, okay?" Kaku was kind of confused.

"That's not what I mean, but okay." Laffitte facepalmed.

"Bwahahahaha, so clueless." Bege couldn't help but laugh out loud.

To set the stage, all of the Strangers minus Yovan were already in Dressrosa. They, in fact, found Bege waiting for them there.

The cute edible things they were talking about were the Toys walking about. Indeed, toys walking about.

Toys are normally just man-made playthings for children, but on the island of Dressrosa, toys were living beings capable of independent action and human behavior who coexisted alongside humans.

What they actually are or how they function is a mystery, but all that mattered to Laffitte was that they're edible while for Kaku, they were just adorable.

It was a nice vacation place for the Strangers, especially with Dressrosa's fabulous architecture. The buildings are almost all colorful and extravagant, and many of them have wavy patterns and checkered rooftops.

The restaurant they were currently in was especially lovely, all painted violet with flowery patterns all over it. They took a table on the outside, only that way can they stay with the colossal Antarisa.

"Yummy, here, Antarisa!" Kaku threw a fish next to the lazy panther, and she was lazy indeed because she merely opened her eyes slightly, eyeing the fish before closing them again.

"Yeah." Laffitte nodded with an odd look as he eyed Kaku's downcast look, so he decided to make it worse, "Don't worry, at least she doesn't dislike you as much as every other animal does." He killed him.

"She's still as lazy as ever, huh," Bege couldn't help but shake his head in amusement, "I guess only the Captain can really get her to do anything. Come to think of it. Wasn't he supposed to be here hours ago?"

"He's probably missing around somewhere else! Don't mind him, let's go and do some dissection work! I wanna figure out the Toys!!" And so, Laffitte pulled Bege with him, leaving behind a dead Kaku, and a sleeping Antarisa.

The Strangers were truly stranger than everybody else. Everywhere they go, they'd attract attention. That especially goes for Antarisa, well, only when Laffitte isn't around. He's kind of a natural repeller.

Speaking of The Stranger himself, he was comfortably seated in the middle of a flowery field, waiting for someone to arrive.

He was amidst a beautiful place, a landmark of the kingdom residing at its very center. It was a hill whose top was covered by radiant golden sunflowers, called the Flower Hill.

Yovan wasn't just sitting there. No, he was drawing something, a painting that brought him glee and was drawing a peculiar smile out of his face.

He was seemingly unaware of the person standing not far from him, watching him from behind with a frown.

The stranger before her was attired in nothing but white pants, allowing her to see his scarred back, and his missing left hand, just hand. His golden hair blended perfectly with the golden sunflowers all around.

For some incomprehensible reason, she formed a circle with her thumb and index finger and looked through it like a lens, specifically eyeing Yovan.

Whatever she saw made her frown even more as she ceased the gesture before, "Who are you?" The lady asked as she walked closer to him.

Yovan turned his head slightly, side-glancing at the uninvited guest. Yeah, he took the hill for himself.

Before him was a slender, well-endowed, and light olive-skinned woman of average height. She was wearing her long, slightly wavy dark brown hair pulled back and held in place by a rose, with a lock hanging to the left of her face.

Along with the red rose on her hair, she was wearing round earrings, purple stiletto heels, and a long, sleeveless simple pink dress.

"I..." Yovan wanted to answer but noticed the lady's expression turning into shock as she finally saw his face, so he just continued with his drawing. She knows who he is.

"W-what are you doing here?" She questioned.

"Waiting for the King to come back." Yovan shrugged.

"Doflamingo?" The lady found herself very confused, "Why?"

"Peaceful negotiations." Yovan chuckled as he seemingly finished the painting.

The lady somewhat doubted the peaceful part of his words, but she asked about something else, "You're not going to complete it?"

She was speaking about the painting. It was incomplete with only a little bit more than half the scenery drawn. In fact, half the painting was only white paper.

"No, it's finished." Yovan shook his head as he allowed himself to fall back, closing his eyes to relax.

"How?" It kind of annoyed her. The painting was beautiful, the painted half at least, especially since it included a precious thing on the hill, a grave in the center.

"The second half will be painted by the future, and even I don't know what that'll be exactly like, but I'm certain it will be very different than the present," Yovan murmured.

"Will it now? Well, I'm Viola, and it's lovely meeting you. However, I have to ask you to leave the area. Visitors aren't allowed here." Viola said respectfully, trying to keep him away from the hill.

"Why not? It's a lovely place," Yovan wondered, "Is it because of the grave?"

"Please leave," His words somehow hit a nerve. Whoever lies in that grave must be very important to her to the point of even treating him in such a way despite knowing who he is.

"Hmm," Yovan mused on that thought for but a split second, "No."

"What?" Viola certainly didn't see his response coming, "I..." She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do.

She of course knows him. How many people don't know of someone with a 1.5 billion bounty? Well, many clueless people but not her.

"Do you want to start a war? You know who rules this land... He's one of the Warlords of the Sea, so you're already at a disadvantage. In fact, what's stopping me from contacting the Marines right now? Don't you know that I work for him?" Viola stated as she crossed her arms.

Her response was peculiar, Yovan noted, "You know, I had met a lady long ago who tried to manipulate me to bring down a business associate of mine... He was her boss. You kind of remind me of her."

Viola's face couldn't help but twitch so slightly it might as well not have happened, but she was certain someone like him would notice even the most minuscule of changes.

She didn't even start trying to manipulate him, yet he already saw her intent? She wasn't sure how, but she wouldn't allow her mask to fall so easily, "That would only work if I believe you can put up a fight against Doflamigo... You can not."

"Sure sure, I'm not here for a fight anyway. I just want my paintings back." Yovan shrugged.

"Huh?"