Chapter 9 : Noose Around My Neck
Donquixote Family were not shocked to see the former king in the palace. In fact, he and his family were free to go in and out from the palace as it was formerly his to begin with. He gave his throne to Doflamingo a few years ago after his son-in-law refused to replace him as the king.
"Nee,nee, your highness. Doffy is not with us. He will be back later." Trebol explained on behalf of the others.
"Violet-sama, are you staying here tonight?" Baby Five asked the former princess. The dark-haired princess shook her head.
"No, I'm not staying. I just followed father here. I'm heading to meet Scarlet later." The princess replied. King Riku glanced at his daughter, clearly did not know of her arrangement. Scarlet was his first daughter. She lived with her husband Kyros and their daughter Rebecca. Sometimes Violet would visit her sister's family and stayed with them. And sometimes the old king would join them too.
"Anyway, tell Doflamingo that I want to meet him after he gets back here." The former king took his leave after saying that. Violet silently followed him out.
"I think we will have some trouble after this. Young master will surely bring the pirate here." Senor Pink remarked. All of the other crews looked at him for further explanation.
"Young master just said that he will be back. He didn't say he will bring the pirate here. He just told us to leave first." Diamante did not want to think that the warlord would go and bring Nami to Dressrosa. It was just..absurd to him.
"Maybe. But we will know after he gets back here." Baby Five grinned. She just knew that Doflamingo would bring Nami to Dressrosa. Before they left on Doflamingo's order, she had made Buffalo followed Doflamingo secretly. And she knew that Nami was captured by a celestial dragon. Doflamingo would never let that slide. He would save her. She just knew that. Affirmative.
..o0o..
On the hijacked marine ship, Doflamingo never left his position even after Nami went to sleep. He no longer controlled the marines using his strings. In fact, they were managing the ship well due to an excessive fear of him.
"Why are you staring at me like that? I'm not interested in men." Doflamingo spoke to Eustass Kidd without actually facing him. He just felt the redhead glared at him, which was all. And it was disturbing.
"Are you in love with her? She's Monkey 's crew."
"First of all, I'm not in love with her. Secondly, what do you mean with 'Monkey 's crew'?"
"Nothing. It's just that I remembered that you're already engaged. Her captain won't let you go if you hurt her. And mind you, he's quite strong. I've seen his fight."
"Are you always this nosy?"
"Nope. This is the first. Hahaha." The redhead continued, laughing heartily. He was never on a good term with the warlord, let alone other pirate crews ever existed, yet he was conversing with Doflamingo like it was nothing.
"What are you doing there? I take it that you got yourself captured willingly. You don't seem like you're a weakling."
"I'll tell you, but not because I trust you. It's just that my crew's not here and I don't have anyone to talk to. You're the only option I have." Eustass Kidd sneered. "I'm looking for someone."
"Wohoo..the pirate captain is looking for someone..someone as in 'girlfriend'?" The warlord mocked him.
"Hahaha." The redhead laughed. "Not funny!" He glared at the warlord. "And don't change the topic."
"What topic?" The warlord said innocently.
"You're engaged. What would you do now? Leave your navigator and marry the princess? Or cancel your engagement and returned the throne to the king and eloped with your navigator?"
"You think too much. And by the way, SHE'S NOT MY NAVIGATOR!" The warlord yelled at the captain. He wanted to slap him, but slapping was not his style. He sighed.
..o0o..
Nami could not sleep although it was already night time. With all the memories that flooded into her head, she got up and sat at the edge of the bed. She was a pirate, a navigator, a thief, and now she was a devil fruit eater. Who knew what kind of fruit she was fed? There were no symptoms yet, therefore she could not guess it.
She stood up and walked out of the cabin. She heard Doflamingo and Eustass Kidd yelling something, but they were silent as she approached them.
"How long until we get to Dressrosa?" She asked them, slowly sat beside Doflamingo. The warlord saw Eustass Kidd smirking at him, while glancing at Nami. He knew what that glance meant. He was teasing him!
"After dawn, at the fastest. It should be tomorrow's evening actually, but the marines said that this ship was the fastest. So we'll probably arrive by dawn. I thought you're sleeping. It's still early, go get some rest." Doflamingo did not mean to sound so concerned over the navigator, but he could not help it. She looked too miserable for him not to care. And he earned another smirk from the pirate captain.
"I can't sleep."
"I'll leave you guys here. Seems like you've got much to say to each other." The redhead captain got up and headed to the cabin, replacing Nami to sleep. Doflamingo used his strings and knocked the redhead down to the deck as he walked. "Hey!" The redhead yelled, but left them after he saw the warlord stuck out his tongue to him. Who knew the warlord could be that playful?
"Just disappear already. Be thankful I don't throw you into the sea." Doflamingo jokingly spoke to the pirate captain. He watched as the said man vanished into the cabin. He then looked at the navigator.
"I don't have anything to say to you." Both of them uttered the same words.
"Don't copy my words!" The same wording choice again. They both laughed at the antics.
"Thank you. For helping me." Nami finally spoke after their laugh stopped.
"Don't thank me. I don't do helping, especially to people other than my family." Doflamingo stared at the vast sea. The gleam of moonlight on the sea gave off faint light to the ship. He let the wind caressed him.
"Do you refer to your crews as your family?" Nami asked him. The wind blew her long, orange hair towards Doflamingo. The warlord seemed not to care.
"Don't you?" He turned to face her.
"I do. They're more than a family to me." She gazed at the clouds, seeing images of her nakama displayed on each cloud. The images dispersed when Doflamingo spoke again.
"I bet your nakama will avenge you should anything bad happened to you."
"Yeah, I'll do the same for them."She smiled, remembering her adventures with the Strawhats Pirate.
"Have you ever thought of leaving the crew?" Okay, he regretted the question. He should not have asked her that!
"No. I've never think about that. Why are you asking me this?" Darn, how could he retaliate? What would she think if he answered wrongly?
"Nothing."
"Is it a secret again?" Nami pouted. Looking at her face made Doflamingo chuckled. Luckily the navigator did not dwell on the question. "Hey, I forgot to ask you something." She continued.
"What is it? My number?" Doflamingo gave her a wide grin, seeing her flushed face reddened.
"NO! I don't want your number. I'm curious of the island where we first met. What's its name?" Nami swore she would hit him if the answer was the same as before.
"Not gonna tell you." Okay, that was it. She was angered.
"Oi, don't hit me!" Doflamingo covered himself from Nami's wrathful fists.
..o0o..
They arrived at Dressrosa exactly at dawn. Eustass Kidd left after a few bickering with the warlord. It was more to a war of teasing and mockery rather than bickering actually. But then, the redhead captain left, much to Doflamingo's relieve.
Doflamingo gave Nami a piggyback ride to the hill, hoping to capture the sunrise with her. They both landed at a sunflower field, which faced the sea. It was just about time for the sun to rise, and they sat down, watching it together.
He was glad that the navigator liked the view. But then, it dawned on him that it was his fiancé that told him of the spot, as it was her favourite. That was her spot to watch the sun rise every day. And he was sure that that day was no exception.
He was a warlord; he never cowered in front of anyone. Yet, he felt sudden shiver ran through his veins. He felt a presence that was too familiar to him.
"Good morning, Doffy-san." It was her. Violet. His fiancé. Doflamingo turned his back to face the woman behind him.
"Violet…." His word trailed. It was bad. He trembled.
..o0o..
A/N: I am bad at timing. If the timing in this story is not coherent, please bear with it. I don't know how long it takes to move from one island to another. I've been looking at Grand Line's map for so long but I still can't figure it out..hehe.. :-p
