Cocoyasi Village had just endured a great turmoil. If Doflamingo hadn't intervened, the villagers would have likely met a grim fate. Nami would have been forced to bear the weight of the entire village's lives on her shoulders, working for Arlong, willingly becoming his laborer.
A strange atmosphere hung over the village square.
The moment Doflamingo admitted he was a pirate, the villagers felt like dying. They had just driven off the Arlong Pirates, only to provoke Doflamingo.
Doflamingo didn't care what these villagers thought; he had no need to. He only wanted to see what Nami and Nojiko would do. Perhaps after spending so many days together, he had developed some expectations for the two of them.
The villagers were silent, their eyes darting away, their bodies shrinking back in fear. Bellemere stared tensely at Doflamingo. Nami and Nojiko took it all in, but they didn't believe Doflamingo was a bad person. After spending so much time with him, they trusted their own judgment more.
Nami and Nojiko exchanged a look, a silent understanding passing between them. They had made up their minds.
"Bellemere! Everyone! Big brother saved us!" Nami and Nojiko shouted to the villagers, speaking their hearts. "Even if big brother really is a pirate, he's a kind pirate! He must have been forced into it! We believe he's not that kind of person!"
Hearing their words, the villagers began to waver. After all, it was true that Doflamingo had just saved them.
Striking while the iron was hot, Nami and Nojiko pressed on. "If big brother had any bad intentions towards us from the start, with his power, wouldn't it have been easy for him to make us submit? Why would he have lived here peacefully with us for so long?"
Nami and Nojiko spoke up for Doflamingo in front of everyone, and their words began to shake the villagers' convictions.
"That's right, Nami and Nojiko are right. That young man has been living in our village for a while now. With his power, it would have been easy for him to wipe us out."
"Yeah, yeah! He seems so kind, how could he be a pirate? Everyone knows pirates are vicious and evil!"
"The Marines must have gotten it wrong! I don't believe it!"
The villagers chattered amongst themselves, discussing Doflamingo. Their initial fear had transformed. Perhaps they had to believe it, creating a reason for themselves to be persuaded. But there was nothing wrong with that; most people prefer to believe in good things and are unwilling to dwell on the bad.
Seeing that their words had had such a great effect on the villagers, Nami and Nojiko were thrilled.
"Bellemere, see?" Nami said, looking proudly at Bellemere, showing off her achievement.
Bellemere seemed not to hear Nami's question. Her eyes were fixed on Doflamingo.
"But... a pirate is still a pirate," Bellemere finally said, as if answering Nami.
Her words were like a bomb dropped on the crowd. The villagers, who had just chosen to trust him, fell silent again, as quiet as cicadas in winter.
"Bellemere!" Nami and Nojiko cried out in alarm.
Bellemere paid them no mind and continued to address Doflamingo. "What do you say?"
Hearing her words, Doflamingo sighed internally. As expected of a former Marine. Her sense of justice is truly touching.
"Indeed. A pirate is a pirate," Doflamingo affirmed her statement.
"Big brother!" Nami and Nojiko looked at Doflamingo anxiously, wishing he wouldn't say such things.
"So, no matter what your purpose is in our village, please leave immediately. Our village is too small to accommodate a big shot like you," Bellemere said bluntly.
"Bellemere!" Hearing her rude words, Nami and Nojiko became even more anxious.
"Nami, Nojiko, this has nothing to do with you two. Stay put," Bellemere said, giving them a stern glare as a warning.
"But... big brother really is a good person!" Nami and Nojiko mumbled to Bellemere.
"You can't judge things by their appearance. He is, in the end, a pirate. We can only trust the Marines," Bellemere advised them.
"A fine 'can't judge things by their appearance.' Then do you believe the Marines are justice?" Doflamingo sneered. "Why do you think Arlong and his crew were able to run rampant here without consequence? Do you really think the Marines weren't involved?"
"Impossible! The Marines would never do such a thing!" Bellemere retorted.
"Then why didn't they come to save you? Why was it a pirate like me who saved you instead?" Doflamingo shot back.
"That's right! Why didn't the Marines come to save us?"
"Where were they? We pay our taxes every year! Why don't the Marines protect us?"
"Damn Marines! Could it be true, what he said? That they're colluding with pirates?"
Doflamingo's words stirred the villagers' emotions, shaking their beliefs. Even Bellemere began to have doubts.
"What is justice? What is evil? It's not so simple to see," Doflamingo proclaimed, standing before the crowd and expounding on his own perception of justice. "'Justice will always prevail,' you say? Of course it will. Because whoever wins becomes justice."
His words caused a great upheaval in their understanding of justice. While the others' beliefs were crumbling, Nami and Nojiko's eyes shone brightly as they looked at Doflamingo, cheering for his every word. They were still young, a time when one's worldview is most easily changed and accepted. All they knew right now was that a pirate named Doflamingo had saved their village, not the so-called righteous Marines. They hadn't been indoctrinated by the Marines like Bellemere, so they didn't automatically believe the Marines were justice. They only believed in what they saw with their own eyes.
"'Whoever wins becomes justice'?" Bellemere muttered the phrase, her brow furrowed, unable to relax.
"Your weakness is the root cause of your oppression. Placing your hope in the Marines, expecting them to protect you, is nothing but a joke. If it weren't for me, you, Bellemere, would be dead today. Are you still going to pray to your so-called righteous Marines?"
Doflamingo's words were like a sharp knife, piercing Bellemere's heart and causing her own convictions to crumble.
"That's just your side of the story! Maybe the Marines were just delayed," Bellemere said, trying to hold her ground, though even she didn't believe that the Marines would be unaware of a crew like Arlong's.
"I don't care what the truth is. I've said my piece. I've told you what I needed to. Whether the Marines are just or pirates are evil, it has nothing to do with me anymore. I'm leaving. Nami, Nojiko, it was a very happy memory getting to know you two. I will remember you."
Doflamingo stopped wasting his breath on Bellemere and quickly said his goodbyes to Nami and Nojiko.
"Big brother, are you leaving? Will we see you again?" Nami and Nojiko asked anxiously.
Hearing Doflamingo's words, the villagers were overjoyed. They were now even more inclined to believe what he had told them. Perhaps Doflamingo really had no ill intentions towards them. He was just a passing traveler who had happened upon their village.
Bellemere also let down her guard, calmly watching her two daughters say goodbye to Doflamingo. If he weren't a pirate, he really would be a good person.
"Perhaps we will. You'll be seeing me in the newspapers often from now on. I am a pirate, after all," Doflamingo teased.
"In the newspapers?" the two of them mumbled, then nodded vigorously. "We'll definitely collect all the news about big brother!"
"Then this is farewell. Goodbye, everyone in Cocoyasi Village. I won't bother you again. You can rest easy," Doflamingo said, turning to leave the village. He waved goodbye to Nami and Nojiko behind him, with Diamante following closely.
"It won't be farewell!" Nami and Nojiko said with dissatisfaction, staring at Doflamingo's retreating back.
"We will definitely meet again! Big brother! Heehee, and we'll have a surprise for you then!"
As for what would happen when they met Doflamingo in the future... that is a story for another time.
"Are they really gone just like that?"
Once Doflamingo's figure was out of sight, the villagers finally felt safe enough to speak.
"Of course they are! Big brother is a good person! He wouldn't have any bad intentions towards us!" Nami and Nojiko said, still dissatisfied.
"Yes, yes, he's a good person," the villagers agreed with a smile, not wanting to argue with children.
"Everyone, let's disperse," Genzo's weak voice sounded, drawing Bellemere's attention.
"Genzo, are you alright?" Bellemere asked with concern.
"I won't die. Don't worry. We can finally live in peace now," Genzo said.
"Can we really be at peace? If what Doflamingo said is true, then this place will definitely not be peaceful. Arlong is gone, but won't another Arlong just take his place? As long as those corrupt Marines are around, the people of Cocoyasi Village will never be safe," Bellemere's mind was in turmoil, filled with worry for the future.
"What are you thinking about, Bellemere?" Nami and Nojiko asked.
"Nothing," Bellemere said, brushing it off. She then looked at her two daughters and asked, "Nami, Nojiko, do you really believe what Doflamingo said is true?"
Nami and Nojiko looked at each other and then said to Bellemere in unison, "We believe him!"
"I see," Bellemere nodded, saying nothing more. "Let's go home."
However, Bellemere didn't know that her two daughters' hearts had already set sail for the sea, eager to witness the beautiful world Doflamingo had described to them.