"Since you're here, why hide? Fufufufu~ You're not thinking of taking a sneak shot at us, are you?" Doflamingo said, raising his voice in a taunting tone. He also discreetly gestured to Trebol and Diamante to prepare for battle. Given the opponent's surreptitious boarding, it hardly seemed like they were here to greet them or exchange pleasantries.
Before Trebol and Diamante could even act...
"Oh~ hohohoho~"
"Oh, you're just terrible, absolutely terrible~!"
"To actually call me a peerless beauty, zamasu!"
A boisterous, unrestrained laugh mixed with a sickeningly sweet voice, two completely opposite sounds, yet both emanating from the same person, sending shivers down everyone's spines.
It was a woman, around thirty, far from the peerless beauty she claimed to be, but at least quite ample-figured. She was dressed elaborately in a long purple dress, draped with a wine-red cape, adorned with jewels around her neck and wrists. Most striking was her hair, styled in a two-tone orange and yellow like a butterfly. However, her sharp features, domineering demeanor, and the shotgun in her hand made her appear less than friendly.
Doflamingo rubbed his forehead, a strange expression on his face. He deliberated, "Are you here to stand up for the merchant ship we just plundered?"
"Yes," the woman answered crisply, then added noisily, "A bunch of useless fools! I was just taking a beauty nap. Do you know that lack of sleep is a woman's greatest enemy? You don't? Well, it doesn't matter, anyway, I was just taking a beauty nap, and then they got robbed by pirates! Getting robbed by pirates is one thing! But look at the pirates who robbed them—an old man, an old man, oh~ hohohoho~ and two brats who look quite cute, zamasu."
Trebol: "..."
Diamante, Pica: "..."
Doflamingo, Vergo: "..."
"Who are you?" Doflamingo asked.
The woman struck a dramatic pose, introducing herself: "I am the excellent painter, the exceptional artist, embodying both wisdom and beauty—the 'West Blue Butterfly,' Giolla!"
"No, I mean... what's your position or role on that merchant ship?" Doflamingo felt utterly speechless.
Giolla put a hand to her ear. "What? Did you say I'm a princess?! Oh, you're just terrible, absolutely terrible~!"
"No, no, we said nothing of the sort."
The Donquixote Family uniformly waved their hands in denial.
"Nyeh, nyehh~ this one's even more narcissistic than Diamante," Trebol grumbled, then added, "Doffy? Doffy? Should we kill her? She's too noisy."
Doflamingo exhaled, guessing, "Giolla? You must be the irresponsible bodyguard hired by that merchant ship, aren't you? How many Berries did they pay you?"
"Five hundred thousand Berries, zamasu. And a bodyguard is just a bodyguard; don't add strange prefixes, brat," Giolla said, this time without mishearing.
Doflamingo chuckled. "Fufufufu~ Merely five hundred thousand Berries, and the excellent painter, the exceptional artist, embodying both wisdom and beauty, the 'West Blue Butterfly,' Giolla, sells her soul to mingle with a bunch of stinking fools? Isn't that a bit cheap?! Interested in a career change? Come see the vastness of the world, dance gracefully amidst adventure and danger, and achieve a magnificent transformation in life!"
Giolla took off her triangular glasses and blinked her triangular eyes. "What kind of career? Is it that good, zamasu?!"
"Can you cook?" Doflamingo asked, strangely, in return.
Giolla blinked in surprise, nodding. "Yes."
"A pirate chef," Doflamingo said seriously.
Giolla's mouth twitched, her face gradually turning ferocious. "Are you messing with me, brat?!"
"You were a bodyguard for the merchant ship, right? Five hundred thousand Berries for one trip? I'll pay you a million Berries to hire you for one trip," Doflamingo said calmly.
Diamante was no longer calm. "Doffy? A million Berries, this... isn't my cooking delicious?"
"No, it's not! I don't want to keep eating your dark cooking. My biggest mistake before setting sail was not recruiting a chef," Doflamingo said bluntly.
Diamante: "..."
Trebol interjected, "Nyeh, nyehh, Doffy! I can cook too, you know! You just wouldn't let me, nyeh. A million Berries to hire a chef?"
"Trebol, my family, my partners, we can discuss anything, but! If you dare to step one foot into that kitchen, I will blow your head off," Doflamingo declared, absolutely intolerant on this point. He would rather eat Diamante's dark cooking than let Trebol, whose cooking was actually quite good, step into the kitchen. It was simply too disgusting.
As the Donquixote Family argued among themselves, Giolla's eyes darted around, and she cunningly said, "Oh~ hohohoho~ My boss promised me half if I could recover his losses."
"I choose to eat Diamante's dark cooking," Doflamingo said, spreading his hands. "What a shame. Such a graceful, beautiful, dazzling, captivating, super-gorgeous woman, yet so greedy!"
Trebol and the other three: "..."
"Oh~ hohohoho~" Doflamingo's utterly insincere flattery instantly made Giolla ecstatic. In a few steps, she approached and rubbed against Doflamingo. "You're the captain of this pirate crew? As expected of the captain, you truly have a way with words, zamasu. Ah~ So cute. 'Captain' or 'skipper' doesn't suit you at all. Young Master? Hmm, Young Master~"
"A bizarre turn of events," Pica, who rarely spoke, concisely summarized.