LW: It is at this moment I remember Dressrosa is the 2nd longest arc in One Piece, after Wano. I hope we don't have too many slow chapters, but things are moving into place and it all leads to where you expect in the end.

Rubber King & Mirror Master - New World Chaos: A Strung Up Setup, A Swordfill of Gravity

Greenbit

"800 years, that's how far this little story goes back," Doflamingo says to set up his answer, now he has a captive audience "800 years ago, 20 kings from 20 kingdoms all across the world met at the centre of the world. They formed an alliance that morphed into forming a singular organization, nowadays known simply as the World Government. Those 20 kings decided to live in what is now known as Marie Jois with their families, you might even recognize a few names, Exalt, Figarland, Topman, Donquiotte" The Heavenly demon grins "The one exception of this decision was the Nefertari family, who chose to remain as the rulers of Alabasta, or at least it's heir did, nobody knows what happened to Alabasta's 'King' of that era after the founding of the World Government. Anyway, the descendants of those 20 kinds still reside in Marie Jois to this day, known simply as the Celestial Dragons. But, there's one thing that's forgotten about this story, on that day, 19 kingdoms lost their rulers, you see where I'm going, Law? Out of necessity, the kingdoms selected new rulers to replace their ascended royals. For example, the Riku family was given governance over the island formerly held by the Donquiote family." Doflamingo explains, as his decision to become King of THIS island in particular made a lot of sense now.

"So all this time, you were a Celestial Dragon?" Law gasps, partially from the crushing weight of Fujitora's gravity powers, but mostly the revelation.

"A disgraced one, much like Miss Exalt, or is it Nylock? You know how it is, the sins of the father fall to the son and all that shit, but I have enough sway to do things like this, which is all that really matters" Doflamingo corrects, chuckling madly as he continues to toy with Caesar's disembodied heart "Not that it matters too much, a man's blood has no real sway over his future. But few can say they have as checkered and eventful a past as I" he smirks.

"Just get on with it" Law groaned, this was getting too much. As much as he'd like to keep Doflamingo distracted, it's clear he had no control over the man's ramblings.

"As much as I'd love to tell you my whole tragic backstory Law, I don't have time. The Straw Hats are in Dressrosa as we speak. Plenty of others have paid the price for underestimating the Straw Hats, and I don't intend to join them"

"HURRY UP ALREADY!" Caesar bellows as he pops out of the underbrush "You have my heart right? So hand it over!" he demands.

"No point, I never said that heart was Caesar's" Law bluffs, though he had a feeling Doflamingo knew only he could tell who's heart it was, they all look alike to an outsider after all.

"GWAAAAAAAAA! You kept that a secret this entire time? How could you? My heart is missing from my body, give it back to me at once!" Caesar whines and shrieks then starts flailing around as Doflamingo checks the only way he knew how: squeezing the organ in question in his fist. He then stands up in confusion, wondering why he wasn't in pain or dead, before a commotion was heard a little behind them "That was a Marine's heart! Then where did you put mine, you bastard?" Caesar yells, waving his arms in Law's direction.

"That was one of my men" Fujitora scowls "What are you playing at?"

"Room" Law winces as his power flares "Gravity, nice trick, keep it up or I might get away. Shambles!" he cries, substituting himself, his hat and his sword with rocks, the 1st of which were crushed to gravel by Fujitora's gravity powers.

Grabbing Caesar by the back of his lab coat, Law flits away, the gasbag's cries for help acting like an air raid siren, as well as giving Doflamingo a direction to fire all his attacks.

"It's foolish to play Cat and Mouse with me Law, there's nowhere you can go I won't follow, it's only a matter of time before I catch you" Doflamingo taunts, shredding through every obstacle Law throws at him.

Outside the Colosseum

"So, we finally lost Sanji, but that should have been a given. There was a woman in danger after all," Vivi sighs. Zoro chuckles at how annoyingly used to the crew shenanigans she sounds.

"At least it means the Sunny will be safe, in about 10 to 20 minutes. The more important question, any idea how we get to Luffy and Kaos?" the swordsman asks.

"I have no clue. This place is much more heavily fortified than I expected. It seems they don't want people getting in or out of the Fight Battling facility," Kinemon muses.

"Oh my Goda, it's Mr. Zoro and Miss Vivi," Bartolomeo squeals as he sees them from the window, drawing their attention to him.

"That man appears to know you, who is he?" Kinemon asks

"Not a clue. Also it's Ms. Vivi" the princess shouts up, which just makes the man tear up as she's actually talking to him!

"I can die happy! Oh, you should have seen the last 2 matches, Mr. Luffy and Mr. Kaos dominated the match, nobody in this place would beat them, I couldn't even take Kaos down" Bartolomeo fanboyed, eyes sparkling like Nami when she sees a chest full of gold.

"Are you sure you're unfamiliar with this man, he not only knows you two, but he saw through Luffy and Kaos' flawless disguises" Kinemon questions the 2 straw hats, who shrugs.

"I mean a full sex change is better than what they were originally using, but their powers are fairly unique and recognizable, so it's not that hard of a puzzle to solve" Vivi argues.

"Yeah Mr Cabbages figured it out too, but Miss Saria put him in his place before he could lay a finger on Mr. Luffy" Bartolomeo croons.

"Why does it not surprise me that the 1 person who figured them out also wanted to kill them?" Zoro mutters with a heavy facepalm.

Between the Colosseum and Greenbit

"You should probably rethink your rendezvous plans Black Leg, this place is crawling with marines, approximately 3000 given the number of battleships I saw, especially the harbor, as it would be the easiest way for pirates like yourself to flee the country" Violet explains as she and Sanji ride a toy horse towards the Sunny's new location.

"So the marines are here too, that just makes things more complicated" the blond scowls under his beard "And you learned all that since we last met?"

"Clairvoyance, one of my Devil fruit abilities, allows me to see up to 2,500 miles, as well as survey the land from a bird's eye view. From this very spot, I can see everything going on throughout Dressrosa" Viola explains, Sanji is very impressed by the scouting capabilities of her Devil fruit "Bottom line, you won't need to worry about me, there's not a person alive who can catch, or even sneak up on me thanks to my All Seeing Eyes" she smirks, then grimaces "Yeah, that's Giola's handiwork alright, and it seems your friends are still fighting her, so at least they're not dead or captured" she hums, turning her gaze to the location of the Thousand Sunny.

"That's the best I'm going to get, so let's get a move on!" Sanji declares, jabbing his heel into the pony's flank like it was a real horse.

Corrida Colosseum

"We've got a star-studded showing for Block D, but let's see if they can stand up to the powerhouses of the previous blocks: 1st there's Suleiman the Beheader, a Class-A War Criminal from the battle of Dias. Next, we have the fearless adventurer, the Admiral of the Yonta Maria fleet 'Surmounter' Orlumbus. We also have 'Rolling Logan' , a military captain of the Southern country of Majiatsuka. And that's far from the only heavy hitters, the last match had a bull, this one has a lion, Agyo! Damask - an arsonist, Mummy - a Sorcerer, one of our more veteran gladiators, Agilia, and many more. In fact, if I'm not mistaken Cavendish of the White Horse, is about to duke it out with Gardoa the 'handsome bounty hunter', that's sure to get the ladies screaming"

Speaking of that fight, Cavendish showed that he was more than just a pretty face with an ego larger than a battleship, he was actually a decent fighter and adept swordsman, flowing gracefully, around his spear-wielding opponent, before destroying both him and his weapon in a flurry of rapid slashes.

Lower levels

"Damn it Cabbage, get your poofy hair out of the shot, I'm trying to watch Rebecca fight but you're taking up the whole screen! And I thought Wapol chewed scenery" Laki shouts at the screen, shaking her fist angrily at the man who was trying to kill her an hour ago.

"The guy's such a poser, but he's not as much of a pushover as I expected" one of the prisoners notes "Still prefer watching Rebecca fight, that girl really came into her own down here" he chuckles.

Arena

Rebecca pants as she sidesteps another axe swing, stabbing the tip of her sword into the man's knee joint, before using the now downed fighter as a mounting block to spring over to avoid getting ganged up on by another 3 gladiators. She wasn't particularly fond of actually killing anyone, but a debilitating strike, that either stops a fighter or leads to someone else taking them out, she can live with that. Plus she's always got Full Counter in her back pocket, the ultimate parry move Soldier taught her.

"You're gonna bleed you little tramp!" one of the bulker fighters bellowed as he hefted his mallet over his head, the 2 with him charging at her as she approached the edge, before flipping all 3 of them into the moat behind her, a smirk gracing her features before it melts back into a passive determination.

'Oh, I like this one, she's not bloodthirsty like most of us, but she's a realist, she knows she needs more than dodging to win a match' Saria grins from the stands, the princess a lot more competent than she expected.

Sunny art project

"Bark"

"Hm? What was that? The reports never said anything about pets" Giola wonders as she wanders across the deck, annoyed she couldn't find any of the Straw Hats.

"Bark"

KABOOM!

"Lasoo!" Nami and Chopper shout, grinning widely.

"Who?" Momo asks, very confused, and worried about that explosion.

"A Bazooka that ate the Inu Inu no mi, formerly in the possession of Baroque Works, I'd actually forgotten Artemis brought him with her" Robin chuckles.

"Actually, he was a gift from Bon Clay, as a 'sorry for trying to kill you and blow up Alabasta' present" Nami explains "And at least it's 1 weapon that won't be affected by Giola's art fruit. Maybe a second if Shirahoshi's right about her trident"

"Why do you think it won't be affected?" Brook asks, disappointed his own sword was currently unable to be removed from its sheath as a cane. It's technically still a viable bludgeoning tool, but he's not that kind of fighter, so there wasn't much point.

"Abisaruhiru devours foreign magic almost as well as it channels its holders, I found that out when Artemis wanted to join in while Kaos was helping train me with it. And I do mean devour, it didn't so much block as absorb most of her projectile attacks, never thought that was even possible" the tentacle-haired (something that remained even in her human and lamia forms) mermaid explains "So I'm going to place my bets on it doing the same for weird Devil fruit based attacks like Giola's art cloud"

"Makes as much sense as anything else this crazy bitch is doing" Nami sighs "Let's get out there!"

The bridge connection Green Bit to Dressrosa

"That, that isn't supposed to be the Straw Hat's ship is it?" Doll asks with a raised eyebrow.

"I highly doubt it, and anyone who falls for it will be mocked worse than Hina for mistaking Bentham and his crew for them at Alabasta" Lucina scoffs "Or maybe… nah whatever fuckery that is, none of the entities ping my haki" she sighs "We have bigger problems, namely locating the rest of those idiots on the mainland. When I find him I'm running that fucker through, nobodies going to save his ass this time around" she scowls, pupils contracting into vertical slits.

Edge of Dressrosa

"Where are they… Oh, Franky's definitely going to kill someone today if that's what those Donquixote pirates did to his baby" Sanji grimaces as he sees the Art-ified Sunny bobbing along a far bit offshore. "Fuck it, the crew needs me. I'm on my way Nami-Swan!" he cries before leaping into the air and rushing towards them with SkyWalk.

Greenbit

"Admiral, shouldn't we continue the pursuit of the pirate Law?" One of the marines asks as Law, Caesar, and Doflamingo vanish into the undergrowth.

"No, I feel a great disturbance on the horizon. We're needed more greatly in Dressrosa, something terrible is about to occur. Leave Law for now, we'll find him eventually the man has no intention of leaving without settling his grudge with Doflamingo" Fujitora states gravely, getting nervous salutes from his men as they head for the battleship, the admiral uses his power over gravity to send them on their way at a decent clip.

TBC

LW: And so ends chapter 42. Sorry if it's less eventful than most, it's kind of a mix of set up and the fact I've moved around a few events to fit this version of Dressrosa so have skipped parts of the episodes as they weren't needed.