Chapter 22

-Oi Doffy. Who's this brat? - Diamond asked when she saw the little girl go out with the blond from the Navy base.

-Who do you think she is?

Diamond and the rest seemed surprised.

-Did your brother really have a family!?

-It looks like, fufufu.

The first four years with her uncle were happy. The happiest she had had in his short existence.

Doflamingo was preparing the attack on Dressrosa, but despite being very busy, he was never absent from his niece's life.

Being so small, she remained in the main base of the Donquixote Family with Dellinger, who had just been adopted by them almost at the same time.

However, Mina realized that, excluding her uncle, the other people around her disliked her. Especially Diamond and Trebol.

There were other children too who lived there: Baby 5 and Buffalo, although they were much older than her.

Buffalo seemed indifferent to her existence, while Baby 5 was a repellent girl.

While her uncle didn't seem to care at all about that brunette's disrespect for her disastrous love affairs, Mina despised Baby 5's constant threats every time Doflamingo murdered the scum she brought with her.

-Mina! This is my new boyfriend!~ - Baby5 said happily as she introduced her the next scum of the week.

Mina looked at her with displease and sighed.

-Doflamingo will kill him, as always.

-Don't insult the man in my life! - She answered furiously while pointing a pistol at the younger one.

Mina rolled her eyes and winced.

-Tsk. How many times have I told you not to point me with that?

Baby 5 never knew how to respond to those pink-haired grimaces of displeasure. Normally she wouldn't allow someone to talk to her like that, but something about her terrified the brunette and she used to run into Buffalo's arms with tears in her eyes while hidding.

Mina sighed. That was a crazy house.

She had to endure with Jora's strange outfits, Diamante's incessant laughs and teasing every time he saw her, Dellinger's violent games or the stupid workouts of that old man from Lao G.

But nothing, NOTHING, equaled the worst of everything.

Pica's stupid voice and Trebol's filthy slobber.

Every time she heard Pica's cartoonishly high voice, she couldn't understand how people could find it amusing. It was pathetic that a man of his size spoke in such a tone!

And even worse, there was nothing in the world that she disliked more than Trebol.

Everything, absolutely everything was unpleasant in him: his voice, his laughter, his appearance, his company ...

On top of that, he had a habit of getting TOO close to people, invading people's personal space while on top, he dropped disgusting mucosa and laughed with that nasal voice.

There was no one in that house she found pleasant, and if it were up to her, she would have killed them all.

Why hadn't she?

Well, because all that was worth it just because of a person. Doflamingo's.

Perhaps no one would believe her if she said so, but Mina really loved Doflamingo.

No one in the Donquixote Family, nor probably in the world, understood the relationship between those two. But they didn't need to know either.

Nightmares were a common thing in Mina.

Many times, she would wake up at night and walk to her uncle's room.

It didn't matter if he was accompanied or not, he always agreed to let her stay by his side.

Sometimes it was uncomfortable if she met him with a woman, although the blonde didn't care. He always had time for her.

-Sorry, I'll go - the little girl used to say if she opened the door and a female figure accompanied the pirate.

-Don't apologize fufufu~ - Doflamingo used to reply while forcing the woman on duty to leave the room with just a threatening look - Come.

She obeyed.

-Have you had a nightmare again?

-Yes...

-Fufufu What am I going to do with you~ - he would raise her to his bed so they could be together - If they keep seeing you around here, all the women in Dressrosa will be jealous~

She pouted at her uncle's comment.

He laughed.

-But don't worry, you will be the only woman I will ever be attached to~ - he pet her hair.

Mina knew he only did those things when no one else was around. It was an exclusive privilege just for her.

Doflamingo looked at her niece.

-It'll be better if you never grow up~

She was aware that it was very rude to interrupt Doflamingo while he worked, but she couldn't help it.

Doflamingo pat her head while reading some documents.

Mina smiled.

-Hm? Are you having a good time?~ - Doflamingo asked with an amused smile.

-Yes!

-Fufufu What a cute girl~

-What are you doing? - she asked as she looked the papers her uncle read.

-Working.

-Why?

-To recover what belongs to us.

Sometimes, he said weird things like that. Things about recovering the family's legacy.

Mina found those comments very confusing. She looked at herself in the mirror and knew she wasn't "special". However, she decided to let her uncle think what he wanted, if that made him happy then she was fine with it.

On the other hand, she herself began to put a lot of effort into her studies, since every time she did something right she received a famous pat on the head.

And when she turned 8, Mina became interested in fighting. She herself began training secretly in order to be congratulated by Doflamingo. She wanted to be useful to the person she loved most in the world.

She was excited every time she thought about how her uncle would congratulate her and would be surprised when she showed him her skills.

And boy he did it

Doflamingo, Pica, Diamante and Trebol were amazed at the monstrous strength of an 8-year-old girl.

-I have done well? Mina asked innocently as she anxiously awaited her uncle's congratulatory words.

-Yes - he replied - Very well.

Although she received the caress and the words that she wanted so much, there was a feeling of unease that appeared in her when she saw the grimace that her uncle showed. It was a grimace that clearly had hidden intentions.

Suddenly, her education began to focus on lessons on tactics and a lot of art related to the war. Doflamingo forced her to train with each member of the Donquixote Family to the point that everyone had permission to hurt her.

Because of instinct, Mina increased the violence of her attacks to avoid continuing to be mistreated by others. Although at first everything remained in hateful looks and unpleasant comments, now with the excuse of training, the officers of the Donquixote Family abused her to the point that she could spend days in bed due to the injuries they inflicted on her.

When Doflamingo was ahead, they used to control themselves, but as soon as he turned around, the cruelty increased.

-Get up, don't embarrass Young Master.

-You aren't going to say anything to the Young Master, are you? If he discovers how weak you are, he will definitely abandon you like your parents did.

The simple idea that her uncle could leave her filled her with terror, so she endured the pain and did everything she could to be within Doflamingo's expectations.

The first time she murdered someone, she was 9 years old.

Diamante considered that she was trained enough to enter the Corrida Colosseum. Doflamingo oppose the idea at first, but finally agreed because of Diamante's insistence.

When Mina stepped on the sand, weapons were bigger than her.

But she defeated all the warriors of the Colosseum, who were too violent, like if they had been drugged, growling like wild beasts.

Mina looked at Doflamingo, who was smirking.

Suddenly, one of the defeated warriors rose and grabbed her by the neck, choking her.

For the first time in her life, the girl was afraid of dying to feel those hands clutching her small throat.

"I'm...I'm dying...!"

She looked askance, thinking they would save her, but only saw a triumphant smile from Diamante and Trebol.

Maybe it was from the rage of seeing them smile, or because the lack of oxygen in her brain, but an impulse made her raise her arm and begin to squeeze the man's hands with a strength that even she didn't know she had.

She was furious.

She wanted to destroy everything. She needed to get rid of that rage.

The warrior who tried to hang her, now wanted to ran away. Mina grabbed a dagger from the sand and looked the man in the eyes.

Her mind visualized Diamante, the man she hated the most.

Before the man could catch her, she stabbed the dagger into the man's throat as deep as she could. She continued to squeeze until the weapon fully pierced his neck and touched the sand.

The man trembled and convulsed forcefully until he finally died.

Mina got up and saw that she was covered in that man's blood. She stared at it.

"I...I killed him..."

Before she could begin to process what had happened, she heard a person applaud.

Doflamingo seemed incredibly pleased with "the feat" she just committed.

-Well done fufufu~

He was happy, and Diamante and the rest of the Donquixote Family seemed terrified, so Mina's little brain assimilated that killing wasn't so bad if she got reactions like that. On the other side, she coldn't find it pleasant either.

So... what did she thought the first time she killed someone?

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

After her first murder, Doflamingo thought it would be a good idea for her to enter Dressrosa's Army.

While her army companions were adult men, Mina could barely hold a rifle that clearly exceeded her size.

Perhaps because she was part of her family's genetics, the girl's strength was above average, and she also bore pain and tiredness better.

But the battlefield was completely different from what she thought it would be.

At the age of 10 he witnessed the suffering of war.

Maybe murdering a man hadn't impacted her, but being in war was something else.

Suffering and agony were constant. She couldn't sleep because of fearing being killed by the enemy at night; she couldn't walk freely because the anti-people mines had already taken the lives of her companions infront her eyes; She could not trust standing citizens, as many were civilian-clad soldiers carrying suicide bombs...

So she endured. She held on as long as she could.

The pain, the hunger, the thirst, the fatigue... She endured it all.

Until one day, she stopped feeling.

Suddenly, hunger and thirst were not so bad, there was no fatigue, and the pain... was bearable.

Something inside her broke in order to survive.

When she returned from the war at 12, Mina was no longer smiling, but neither crying. It was like seeing a rag doll walking.

Even after the change in her personality, none of that bothered Doflamingo.

Because he loved her even with that dead fish look. Even if her voice was robotic and feelingless.

Even if her face no longer showed any expression.

Doflamingo thought she was adorable even if she looked dead alive.

And Mina didn't care either.

Because, even though she knew that was not right, although he hurt her... she couldn't help but love him.

Because she believed that was what it meant to be "family".

Mjosgard looked at Mina.

It was obvious that Doflamingo had manipulated her to create her a great emotional dependence.

Doflamingo mistreated her, and yet, Mjosgard could see in her eyes that there was no hatred or resentment of any kind.

"Agg, you're a sick man, Doflamingo"

He hardly knew Mina, yet, he felt he must protect her at all costs.

Mjosgard looked her in the eyes and saw an infinite void. It was obvious that they had broken that kid until she was completely empty.

Immense sadness washed over him. Tears began to fall.

-Why... are you crying? - Mina asked, not knowing very well what was happening.

-I cry instead of you, silly!

-instead of me?

Mjosgard hugged her.

-Just because someone is family, doesn't mean that can treat you like shit!

-And... how is it supposed to be?

Mjosgard did not know how to answer her.

"Have you suffered so much that you don't know what true family love is?"

-I know that, inside you, there's so much sadness that you can't even express, so I will cry in your place.

-Why...?

-Because I did horrible things in my past, and I regret every day. So I know how you feel deep inside.

Mina felt the man's tears on her shoulders.

What was that warm feeling inside her?

That man had understood her, and he didn't even know her that much.

He didn't know that she wasn't there to become his family, but to eliminate the World Government.

He didn't know that she was going to take away everything he had.

That she was going to betray him.

And yet, he was still shedding tears for her, and he held her so warmly that she couldn't help but hug him back.

"So... this is what "family" is meant to be?"