A/N: I've had part of this written up for, like, ages. I'll let you guess which part. :)
Sixteen
It was a good thing that Lami (more or less) remembered everything from when she was Antonia, Law decided, thanks to the insane amount of information she had been privy to over the prior decade. Her position as one of the Suite Executives ensured she knew about the varied alternate paths into the castle and plateau, she was well-acquainted with the functions of the underground port, and she even knew how Sugar's Devil Fruit powers worked. Between her and Baby 5, they were able to go into detail about everything that Law asked once the mob of other gladiator combatants were released onto the varied soldiers, Donquixote supporters, and wild animals that were roaming about.
"You catch all that, Strawhat-ya?" he asked, looking at their alliance partner. Luffy was merely standing there, picking his nose in boredom while the others who had been with him were drawing off the Donquixote Pirates.
"When comes the part where I can kick Mingo's ass?" he asked.
"Not so fast," Lami said. "You're never going to be able to get that close to him, let alone hit him where it needs to land. I'm going to kick that loser's ass myself."
"You're going to need to get in line, Lami-chan," Baby 5 frowned. "I've lost count of how many times I've wanted to castrate him."
"…and take away the chance I have at finally defending my sisters after all these years?" Law scoffed. "Not a chance."
"Ah, this is boring—I'm just gonna go." Luffy tried to walk off, only for Law to grab him by the scruff of his collar.
"Most of the original plan is still in place," he said. "Don't think that's out the window."
"Then why even ask for our advice?" Lami wondered sourly.
"I need confirmation of some things, ideas for alternate plans; things like that."
"Yup—Law-nii and his bazillion plans," Lami frowned, "of course nothing's changed there."
"…and what is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're bossy," Baby 5 said. Law stared at his sisters in what felt like disbelief—after all this time, they were still ganging up on him. "You've been bossy since I first met you."
"She's not wrong," Lami defended.
"Ah, that's just how Torao is," Luffy grinned.
"Okay, now about this 'Torao' business," Lami began. She opened her mouth to question why in the hell he couldn't just say their family name when something behind Luffy caught her eye and she pushed him to the ground. She could feel something wrap around her forearm as the perpetrator came into view.
"Doflamingo!" she shouted. The man in question came into view, seemingly floating down from the top of a nearby building. Luffy crabwalked away from Lami and stood by where Law and Baby 5 were ready to fight. "Why don't you go find where your hairline went?"
"Hmm, a sad insult; I taught you better," he replied. He raised another hand and released strings, wrapping around Lami's free arm, pulling so that she lifted off the ground and towards him.
"Let her go!" Law snarled. He began to open a Room, only for Doflamingo to shake his head.
"Now, now," he tutted, "do you really think you can catch me off-guard like that? You know my Haki is powerful enough to counteract your silly tricks." Doflamingo grinned manically as he held Lami aloft with his strings, moving closer so that his hands were outstretched on either side of her as though about to reach out and grab her arms. She squeaked as the strings tightened, threatening to cut into her skin.
"Put her down!" Baby 5 demanded.
"I don't take orders from you," he replied. "No one gives me orders."
"Then maybe it's about time someone starts," Law growled. "Let our sister go." Going with a different tactic, he used his thumb to slightly ease Kikoku out of its sheath, the sword positively singing in delight.
Quench my thirst, boy, and our goals shall finally align.
"You had to go and betray me, the Family," Doflamingo tutted. "I gave you three brats everything. Had you stayed loyal, I could have made you a prince and princesses without all this… this… needless pain."
"To hell with that," Lami croaked out. Her captor tightened her bonds and she felt string cut into her skin. "As though you would truly let us be free that way."
"I would have, but I guess now we'll never know for certain," Doflamingo replied. He leaned down so as to be cheek-to-cheek with Lami. "Queen Donquixote Lami, Regent of Dressrosa, Empress of the Underground, Joker of the Suits, a Celestial Dragon… just say the word and you shall be my heir again."
"You really think that I want all that now that I know what it almost cost me?!" she spat. Red dripped down a few strings as blood was drawn from her arm. "Whoever has that Devil Fruit now… they're never taking my family from me again!"
"All those years I was a loving uncle, and now I'm not family?"
"Not when it was built on a lie."
"Pity. Here you could have gone where Baby never could… where Law refused to go… and instead you will make me kill my beloved niece… oh how much this will make me suffer…"
"Cut the crap you tacky scarecrow," she replied, louder this time, only to be met with a tightening of the strings that was truly threatening to make her choke. Luffy chuckled as a grin crossed his face.
"So… you want my help kicking Mingo's ass?" he asked. "You gotta say it."
"Please!" Lami gasped. "Please help us defeat Doflamingo! I never want to forget Law-nii and Bee-nee ever again!"
"All right," Luffy nodded. He cracked his knuckles and began to stretch his legs. "You're gonna regret that, Mingo."
"You really think you children can take me?" Doflamingo spat. "You need power to ever think of touching where I am."
"What's the point of power if the people around you aren't free?" Luffy mused. "You hurt Torao and Gun Lady and Lami—siblings should be able to stay together if that's what they want."
"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Doflamingo sneered. "That's why you were there two years ago when Fire-Fist died. If you wanted to join him, all you have to do is ask."
"Big brothers protect their little siblings until the end," Luffy said. "Ace knew that, and I know that, and our other brother knows that, and I know that if I were Lami, I'd never want to forget my older siblings as long as I'm alive."
"A third brother…?" Doflamingo's brow furrowed in thought before he shook his head. "Doesn't matter; I'm going to kill all four of you and watch you suffer the entire time."
"Stick to what we agreed to, Strawhat-ya, and we might be able to get through this," Law warned. He glanced over at the teen and saw that he was already beginning to fidget in a sign he was already straying from the plan. "Now focus!"
"Tch." Doflamingo extended his hand and strings came out. While Luffy and Baby 5 were able to block the ones that came towards them, Law tried to open a Room while drawing his sword and was caught up in Doflamingo's strings, first his Room hand, then the sword hand. His wrists came together and he dropped Kikoku.
"Shit, Law-nii!" Lami gasped. "Let him go!"
"Hmm… no," Doflamingo replied idly. He watched as Luffy began to panic and pull on the strings holding Law's hands together, more amused than anything. "I need to punish all the bad children and there's plenty of them here."
"Let Torao go!" Luffy insisted. "I'm the one who's gonna beat your ass, not him!"
"Ow! Strawhat-ya! Stop pulling!"
"I can't beat him up while he's got you like this!"
"Fufufu… yes… how are you going to worm your way out of this one?"
Suddenly, Doflamingo stopped. He tilted his head back towards the King's Plateau and let out a burst of Conqueror's Haki that made everyone's hair stand on-end. Turning back to Lami, he held her face with one hand as he forced her to look at him.
"What did you brats do?!" he hissed. "What did you tell them!?"
"They figured it out without me," Lami marveled. "Someone else figured out that Sugar was your lynchpin! Looks like your plan wasn't so foolproof after all."
"Oh, shit," Baby 5 realized quietly. "This… is going to be a time."
Doflamingo sneered in contempt. "Stay here like a good girl and maybe I will be merciful." At that he conjured some strings and swung away, headed back to the plateau.
"Okay, shit, get me down get me down!" Lami panicked. "Haki! Use Haki!" Luffy did, snapping the strings with Armament-infused hands, while Baby 5 turned her hand into a knife to free Law's hands.
"I know he felt the strings go slack," she said, "so let's get as far away from here as possible."
"Shit, what do you think happened?" Law wondered. Baby 5 furrowed her brow at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Whatever it was, it helped us out, so I'm not worried," Luffy shrugged. He gave the siblings a bright smile and a giggle. "Shishishishi… I'm glad you finally asked for help—I was hoping you would."
"I'm glad you agreed to help, but Bee-nee's right: we've got to go," Lami said. Her gaze was fixed upon the King's Plateau, not liking how abruptly their encounter with Doflamingo had been. "Shit's about to go down."
"Lami, Bee, what are you two not telling me?" Law asked. His sisters both grimaced before the youngest decided to bite the bullet.
"You know all those toys that are wandering around? How some of them are also supposed to be animals just to boost numbers and confuse people?"
"Yeah…?"
"There were more of them than I remember; whatever happened to Sugar just now should have released the last of them."
"You what…?"
"…and the ones that she remembered doesn't include the loyal members of Doflamingo's crew that we all forgot about because they signed up to be made into toys so they could cause chaos if something like this happened," Baby 5 added. Law stared at his sisters, while Luffy…? Luffy just laughed.
"Sounds like fun," the teen grinned. "Where do we start first?"
Doflamingo did not like what he saw when he arrived at the King's Plateau. Sugar was laying unconscious on the ground, surrounded by panicking guards. Trebol and Diamante were both there, with the former having a mental breakdown while the latter was deeply disturbed.
"This is what I get for trusting you all!" Trebol snapped at the guards. "You were supposed to keep her out of danger not bring her towards it!"
"What the fuck happened?" Doflamingo growled. He noticed the grotesque drawing plastered on the wall and knew what had happened. "She was terrified into unconsciousness?! This drawing ruined our ace in the hole?! She could have wiped out those shits and no one would have known the difference!"
"Ten years gone in an instant and now this," Diamante observed. "It was one thing when that brat reverted the toy soldier, but someone else did this to her and no one even saw it coming."
"Find out who did this!" Doflamingo ordered. One of the guards jumped in surprise and scurried off. "Fuck… if only that child behaved."
"You need to make them pay, don't you Doffy?!" Trebol cried.
"Yes, I am going to make them regret fucking with me," Doflamingo spat. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he spread his arms wide. Strings materialized around him and went upwards into the sky, eventually spreading outwards until they created a dome shape in the sky, the strings anchoring themselves in the ground. He could feel people try to break through them with no results—as long as there were more attempts on the inside than the out, he was satisfied.
"If I might pick your brain for a moment," Diamante frowned, "why break out the Birdcage so early?"
"I can't let them get the upper hand," Doflamingo replied. He looked down at the citizenry, his Haki allowing him to feel they were more confused than anything. "It's time to even the playing field and provide some… distractions."
"You can't mean…?"
"Oh, yes." Doflamingo's grin returned as he went to grab a video transponder snail. "It's finally time for shit to get interesting."
Transponder snails flickered to attention throughout Dressrosa. Citizens of all life and visitors of all sorts stopped what they were doing and wondered what was going on—surely the tournament wasn't back on…
"Good afternoon, Citizens of Dressrosa," Doflamingo said, coming into view ominously. "I'm sure by now most of you have noticed the little addition to our lovely skyline. Don't try to break it, or dig under it, or squeeze through it—none of that will work. Calling off-island won't work either.
"Why, do you ask? It's simple: I'm about to play a little game and every man, woman, child, and person otherwise in this nation is a participant. We have Dressrosans and visitors! Marines and pirates! A struggle between light and dark and everything in between. Our own little Birdcage where we have to fight our way to victory without any help from the outside world…
"Pay close attention! These are the fourteen targets! I shall pay a hundred million beri for each star on their in-game bounty, dead or alive!" His face vanished from the screens and twelve photos and bounties began to display instead.
Four one-star targets: Gladiator Rebecca, Samurai of Wano Foxfire Kin'emon, Devil Child Nico Robin, Cyborg Franky
Three two-star targets: former Dressrosan Army Captain Kyros, former Dressrosan Princess Riku Viola, and Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro.
Five three-star targets: Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army Sabo, Straw Hat Monkey D. Luffy, Arms Master Baby 5, Surgeon of Death Trafalgar Law, and former King of Dressrosa Riku Doldo III.
"Aside from these pests are two who have angered me above all others," Doflamingo continued, "the reasons behind this little game, if you will." The screen cleared again to show two faces, both of whom gasped when they saw themselves.
False Princess Trafalgar Lami. God Usopp.
Five stars.
Each.
"Happy hunting."
The screens went dark and the screaming began.