DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE


Chapter Seven

Little known fact: Doflamingo's room smelled like mothballs and expensive cologne. It was a smell that I automatically associated with old men who were affiliated with gangs. The smell oddly enough reminded me of Gramps and the old mayor from Foosha, Woop Slap.

Another fact: Doflamingo was incredibly confident with his Devil Fruit powers. After tying me up at the rocks with his strings, my body was forced to walk alongside his, parading me down the streets for all to see and congratulate their King for 'saving the day'. Of course I fought his hold on me the whole walk to his palace, but it didn't do me any good. His confidence wasn't without reason because his powers really were that good, and I couldn't do more than grumble under my breath and shout at him if I was feeling particularly brave. Which, in all honesty, I wasn't feeling brave after I first mouthed off and he tightened the string around my neck until my breathing was cut off completely to the point where I almost blacked out.

In the short amount of time I spent with him, I now knew for sure that I was scared of him for a reason. He never stopped that smiling bullshit that he had going on, and it pissed me off more than when Luffy used to wrap his rubbery arms around me as a kid and dangle from the side of the bridge to get something that he dropped. And that was saying something.

"You better stop struggling, squirt. You'll only end up hurting yourself."

I looked up from the chair I had been in for the past ten minutes, stilling instantly. I had been unaware that I was even moving around, but I guess it was my subconscious telling me that I needed to get away from here as fast as I could. Doflamingo leaned over me with his hand resting on the back of the chair, his grin widening, if that was even possible, stretching quite literally from ear to ear.

My breath caught in my throat when I looked past those glasses and saw the burning rage in his eyes. "Am I pissing you off, Joker?"

Tilting his head back, I lost sight of his eyes when the sun glinted off the lenses of his glasses, and that grin dropped a fraction of an inch. "Not you." He chuckled and stepped away, walking to a Den-Den Mushi resting on a table too far away for me to notice any details on it. Though, from here, it appeared to be wearing a hat. I glared at his back while he stood before the snail, as if debating on whether or not he should call whoever he was going to call. Or maybe he was waiting for a call.

Puru, puru...puru, puru...puru, puru…

I jerked in my seat when the snail began to ring, only kept in the chair because of the strings that were still wound around every inch of my body. After a few more rings of the snail, my head began to pound and my chest hurt from the frustration that Doflamingo would not pick up. I mean, if he was waiting for the call, wouldn't he want to pick it up faster than this?

"Yo, Joker, you gonna pick that up or let it ring forever?"

A sharp, slicing pain around my neck shut me up, though I continued to glare at his back and noted that his fingers moved around just as the pain came. Perhaps if I could cut his fingers off, I wouldn't have to worry about these strings…

"It's me." His voice rang out in the room, having finally answered the Den-Den Mushi, his tone serious enough to make me stop glaring and listen intently to what he was saying. "I resigned from the Shichibukai."

My heart stopped and my eyes widened. It was at that moment that I heard the faint sounds of people shouting, probably having gotten the news after Doflamingo was safe behind his palace walls. But what could have prompted him to relinquish his status as Shichibukai? If he did that, then he surely couldn't be the King of Dressrosa anymore, could he? So what was he doing? And why?

Almost as soon as Doflamingo spoke, voices rang out on the other end of the line, painfully familiar.

"He picked up!" Sounding surprised.

"Picked up!" Sounding terrified.

"Finally!" Sounding surprised, terrified, and a bit exasperated.

Three voices that I hadn't heard in so long, the sounds of them bringing tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. They made it back together. Well, hopefully all of them did, but at least I knew that these three were safe together.

I looked back to Doflamingo and saw his large hand tighten on the receiver.

As soon as I opened my mouth to speak about his tenseness, another voice rang out from the other end.

"Doflamingo!"

My heart skipped a beat and a tear trickled down my cheek. He was safe. He sounded incredibly angry when saying Joker's name, and I was simply surprised that he could say it. But one thing concerned me with all of this.

Why were the Straw Hats getting involved with Doflamingo? And why did Luffy sound like the man had done something to personally offend him?

It wasn't long before that sweet voice was speaking loudly again through the receiver. "Hello? I'm Monkey D. Luffy! I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

Leave it to Luffy to say too much at once…

A loud bang, and someone yelling at him that he 'told him to shut up' revealed that yet another Straw Hat was safe. That added up to five total.

"Oi, Mingo!" I snapped my head back up when Luffy yelled again, opening my mouth to say something, but deciding against it. If he heard my voice, he would definitely come. Right now, there was a chance that he wouldn't mess around with Joker anymore. "Are you stupid, old Caesar's boss?! He gave Brownbeard and the children hell! We will give you back Caesar as we promised, but if you do that again, I will beat the hell outta you!"

Caesar? Brownbeard? Children? Promises? What the hell was going on? What was this idiot thinking, getting involved with shady people like him?!

I struggled in my chair and opened my mouth to warn Lu, but was promptly silenced when my jaw was forced closed by those damn strings, nearly biting off my own tongue if I hadn't moved it away fast enough.

The grin on Doflamingo's face when he turned slightly to look at me over his shoulder gave me a chill. "Straw Hat Luffy." I glared and tried to open my jaw, only hurting myself and popping my ears from the effort. "You went away for two years after the War. You were missing when the news about your sister swept across the world." That grin widened and the sun glinted off the lenses of his glasses. "Where were you and what were you doing?"

"I shouldn't tell anyone about it!"

Doflamingo chuckled and turned to face me completely, leaning back against the table that the snail was on, blocking it completely from my view, even though I couldn't see it anyway and it made no difference. "I wanted to see you."

What?

"What?"

He cocked his head to the side and twirled the fingers of his free hand around. My legs twitched and I was forced to stand, walking closer to him until I was face-to-chest with the man, cringing inwardly (since I couldn't move) when he put his arm over my shoulders and pulled me into his side.

"I have something that you'll want very badly now."

My blood ran cold when I figured out what was going on. Joker's plan from the moment he found out I was here on this island. He must have already had some deal going on with Luffy when he heard that I was here, so it only made sense to lure my younger brother here with me as the bait. If Luffy knew I was alive, I had no doubt that he would do everything in his power to come and save me, even if I told him not to and that he shouldn't get mixed up with this guy.

Desperately, I tried to open my mouth to say something - to warn Luffy that he should not under any circumstances come to this island and do anything stupid. Tears of frustration started to roll down my cheeks, only to be wiped away by Doflamingo's fingers. I sneered at the contact and slid my eyes over to my sword, which rested against the chair I had been sitting in. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to move so I could-

"H-hey," Luffy sounded just as desperate as I felt, and I wondered if, during my thinking, did Doflamingo tell him that he had me? And was Luffy so filled with emotions that he wasn't going to think clearly and- "How delicious is that meat you're talking about?"

It was at that moment that I figured out that Joker said nothing about my being here, and Luffy was as simple minded as he had been two years ago. My struggling ceased for a moment while I lamented how incredibly dense my younger brother was.

"Straw Hat-ya! Don't get drawn into his pace!"

It was this new voice that brought the most emotions with it. Strong emotions that sunk my heart and made bile rose to my throat. Memoried flitted across my brain of infirmary visits, being forced to reveal things about myself, and laying in the grass completely naked. Another chill ran down my spine, but this time, it was a good kind of chill. He sounded the same, yet different. I felt my heart hammering in my chest, and I was sure that if I looked down, I would see my dress moving with each rapid heart beat.

Doflamingo noticed my sudden mood change, because he dug his fingers painfully into my shoulder and allowed me to look up to see his grinning face. I was vaguely aware that Luffy was in the background, counting chunks of meat as if he was in some sort of fantasy world, and Usopp trying to snap him out of it.

"Joker! Cut the crap!" Law's voice rang out once more over the ruckus in the background on his end, sounding just as annoyed as I remembered him to sound when the Heart Pirates would fool around during a serious time. "We'll hand Caesar over to you as we promised."

Wait a damn second! Just what the hell was Law doing with the Straw Hats anyway?

Doflamingo chuckled softly, the sound unheard, but I felt his chest rumble against the side of my head, reminding me that I was way too close to this man at the moment. "Well, that's for your own good. If you try to run away with him, you know what will happen to you guys." He laughed again and leaned against the table once more, pulling me into a 'comfortable' position, pressing me against his chest with his hand firmly against my stomach. "Now, can I hear my precious business partner's voice?"

"Joker! I'm sorry! You resigned from the Shichibukai for me!"

"Did you hear him?" Law sounded vaguely annoyed by the man who had just spoken, who I had to assume was Caesar.

Doflamingo's response and whatever was said after that went unheard by me because I was busy concentrating on opening my jaw to speak to the people on the other end of the line. If I could just calm down and concentrate hard enough, perhaps I could break free from these stupid strings. Maybe Mihawk's old breathing techniques could come in handy.

I closed my eyes and tuned everything out, only focusing on the strings that were wound around my face. I breathed deeply through my nose, gathering as much air as I could, and let it out slowly. Doflamingo's hand twitched against my stomach and he chuckled again. I repeated my breathing until my lips parted, a movement that was small, but gave me all the hope I needed. My heart slowed down as I breathed deeply and went into a state of relaxation, despite the situation I was in.

Feeling rushed when I heard the shout of 'just hang up' from the other end, I opened my eyes and barely got the first syllable of Luffy's name before the snail went back to sleep and I was left alone in the room with the ex-Shichibukai.

Doflamingo chuckled and moved away, revealed the snail wearing the furry spotted hat and tattoo of the familiar Jolly Roger on it's chest.

"We'll need to put you somewhere for the next eight hours." I flicked my gaze to the man who had moved in front of me and put his finger to his chin, looking at me from behind his glasses. "I can't stay, and I can't leave you here to cause trouble or escape, so..."

Seemingly out of nowhere, a woman clad in a thong bikini walked from a door to my left and approached with a set of handcuffs. I knew that they were sea stone simply because that would be the logical thing to restrain me with.

She stepped towards me, all too confident in her King, err, ex-King's abilities to keep me restrained, and put the cuffs over my stuck out hands. She stepped to Joker's side quickly and watched me. When I offered no reaction to the sea stone, she looked confused, while he laughed loudly.

"Oh, that's interesting! Perhaps we should have a conversation before I head out!"

I sneered, thankful that those stupid strings were no longer wrapped around my body. "Perhaps not, ass-hat."

And I found myself an hour later, arms and throat covered with thin slices from the strings for mouthing off, in a dungeon-esque room, handcuffed and waiting 'until further notice' while he went to 'make preparations'. I was surprised (though I shouldn't have been) to find that I was not alone in the dungeon-esque room, and my company didn't seem to be the talkative type.

He had said eight hours. Until what, I wasn't sure. But in eight hours, well, seven now, something would happen on this island that involved Luffy, his crew, Law, and Doflamingo.


[A/N]: Okay guys, hopefully things will pick up pace from here on out since everything in the anime and manga started moving fast since the Straw Hats entered the New World. I'm trying to find my groove with putting the Donquixote family into the story, since I'm still not entirely sure how each of the important ones are, so you'll have to bear with me while I try to figure them out. (And if you want to offer any help of your own on how to get down their quirks, personality, etc then drop me a PM or leave it in a review and I'll appreciate you~)

Also, I start my classes tomorrow (thankfully they're online), so I'm still not sure how that will pan out with my updating and everything, so I apologize in advance, but education is important as shit.

Please leave reviews, critique my writing, favorite, and recommend to your friends!

Love you and see you soon~!

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