Soon after Sugar collapsed unconscious, chaos erupted throughout the city as countless citizens poured into the streets like an unstoppable tide.
The dolls that had been imprisoned on the palace's third level were instantly restored to their human forms. Jerry dismissed his water techniques and released them on the spot, allowing them to rush downstairs with jubilant cheers as they clamored to return to their original homes and families.
Along their path to freedom, many people expressed outright anger and hurled curses at the Marine officers who had been stationed on the second level, completely unaware of the true situation.
It was at this moment that the Marines led by Smoker finally learned the real reason behind the incident, and they were deeply shaken by the revelation.
"What the hell has been happening in this country?!" one Marine exclaimed in horror.
"We... we came here to help people like this bastard..." another muttered in disbelief.
"Shut up!" Smoker barked, cutting off his subordinates' complaints. He looked up toward the palace with burning anger and spoke through gritted teeth, "Seven Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo... you really are something else!"
Then he turned toward the liberated people who were still passing by and spitting curses at the Marines, and bowed deeply in genuine remorse.
Although the deception hadn't been his fault, Smoker felt profound guilt for the Marines' unwitting role in supporting such atrocities.
Seeing their captain's gesture, Tashigi immediately followed suit with her own respectful bow. The sailors behind them looked at each other uncertainly for a moment, then bent down together in collective apology.
This unexpected display of contrition caused the crowd to gradually stop their complaints, though the righteous indignation in most of their eyes remained difficult to calm.
The resentment that had accumulated in people's hearts after more than eight years of oppression under the Donquixote Family's tyrannical rule couldn't be eliminated in a short time.
Simultaneously, at the SMILE factory, Corrida Colosseum, and other locations throughout Dressrosa, countless citizens couldn't help but celebrate and curse after regaining their original bodies or recovering their stolen memories.
This was especially true for the pirates and various other individuals from different organizations who had been transformed into living toys for years, forced to remain trapped on this island against their will.
After a brief period of emotional venting, they couldn't wait to find Den Den Mushi through various means and contact the relatives and friends who had long since forgotten their very existence.
In this way, the dark history of the Dressrosa Kingdom spread outward in all directions at an astonishing speed, being displayed before the eyes of people throughout the world.
This day in Dressrosa was destined to become a turning point in history.
On the second level of the plateau where the crew had been positioned, Cavendish sensed that the battle above was gradually subsiding and announced to Deuce and the others, "The fighting should be over."
The Black Star Pirates had already regrouped, whispering among themselves amid the surrounding noise while discussing everything that was unfolding around them.
After hearing Cavendish's assessment, the Tontatta warriors followed Deuce and the others' instructions and swarmed toward the palace's fourth level in excited anticipation.
Seeing this movement, Deuce and his companions stepped forward without hesitation and began heading upward themselves.
They had already heard numerous fragments from both the dwarfs and common citizens about what had been happening throughout the country. Therefore, Deuce was eager to find either the defeated Doflamingo or Jerry—whoever had broken the situation—to learn the complete truth.
The Marines naturally noticed Deuce's crew departing, but no one spoke up to stop them. Perhaps at this moment, they recognized that this group of pirates was no longer an enemy, but rather witnesses to the Donquixote Family's extensive crimes.
When Deuce and the others reached the fourth level, they happened to encounter a yellow figure slowly walking down while carrying the unresisting form of Doflamingo.
When everyone looked more closely, they were surprised to discover that it was Marine Admiral Kizaru himself.
They had known that a fierce battle had taken place here, but they hadn't realized when exactly Kizaru had arrived on the scene.
Seeing that Deuce and the others were all nervously preparing for potential combat, Kizaru held Doflamingo in one hand while keeping his other hand casually in his pocket. He shook his head nonchalantly and said, "Oh, don't be so tense. Today's a special situation—I'm taking a break from our usual dynamic."
After delivering this surprisingly reassuring statement, Kizaru walked slowly past the group, gradually moving farther and farther away with his prisoner.
Not until Kizaru had completely disappeared from their sight did Deuce and the others finally breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Afterward, the crew looked around and observed that in addition to the general destruction, the center of the venue—especially the sunflower field near the palace—had been thoroughly ravaged by the intense battle. The area was now completely ruined, filled with craters and debris.
In that devastated terrain, Jerry stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the vast sky with apparent concentration.
Within the palace walls, there were several figures—one large and three small—looking at Jerry with curiosity while occasionally glancing upward themselves.
"Boss Jerry! What are you looking at?" Skull ran over quickly and asked with obvious confusion.
He followed Jerry's gaze for a moment but found nothing particularly unusual in the sky above.
Hearing Skull's question, Jerry turned around and saw that everyone was approaching. He couldn't help but continue searching for something in the heavens above.
The others couldn't help but glance upward curiously as well. "What exactly are you doing?" Brook asked.
"Looking at whatever you were staring at just now!" Carrot, who had recovered some of her strength after the medicine wore off, answered first.
"Oh! You mean this?" Jerry responded with amusement. "I wasn't looking at anything specific. I just thought that since I spend so much time lowering my head to fish, I should raise my head and look around occasionally. Otherwise, I'll easily develop neck problems." After saying this, Jerry rubbed his neck with exaggerated seriousness.
When Deuce and the others heard this explanation, they suddenly felt that their curiosity had been completely pointless.
"If you want to stretch your neck, then stretch it properly! Do you think it's entertaining to just stare silently at the sky like some kind of philosopher?" Deuce complained as he raised his hand and slapped Jerry on the back.
Jerry pretended to be grievously injured and spat out a theatrical mouthful of "blood," then said with mock gravity, "Actually, before you all arrived, a big bird flew away desperately. I was considering chasing after it to catch it for roasting, but I suppose it's too far away by now."
What Jerry was referring to was King, who had previously fought with his water clone high in the sky above.
To most observers, King's defensive capabilities seemed utterly impenetrable. When the flames burned on his back, not only could ordinary attacks prove ineffective, but even many substandard Armament Haki techniques couldn't cause him any meaningful harm.
However, these legendary defenses couldn't fulfill their intended role when facing Jerry and his water clones.
The reason was simple: no matter how rare King's Lunarian heritage might be, he was still a mortal being. As long as there was water within his body, Jerry's attacks could cause direct internal damage that bypassed external defenses entirely.
Because of this fundamental advantage, not long after the two sides had engaged in combat, although King had been able to land hits on the water clone through various aerial maneuvers, he found himself inevitably suffering injuries from the clone's counterattacks.
When King realized he was at a significant disadvantage—that improving his defense was useless and he was unable to provide meaningful rescue assistance—he had glanced down at the defeated Doflamingo on the ground below, avoided several intercepting attacks, and decisively accelerated his escape into the distance.
After learning that members of the Beast Pirates had made an appearance, Deuce and the others seemed to adopt a "we're already in too deep to worry about it now" attitude and were no longer particularly concerned about the implications.
Following the results of Jerry and Kizaru's impromptu negotiation, large numbers of Marine troops quickly arrived at the royal palace and various battle sites to assist King Riku's family and the citizens—who had finally regained the people's trust—in carrying out essential post-disaster recovery work.
After most of the day's intensive efforts, Dressrosa was finally able to restore something resembling its previous peaceful order as night began to fall.
By the time King Riku had learned the complete story from the Tontatta people and wanted to personally thank Jerry and his crew, the Black Star Pirates had already set sail and were drifting across the endless ocean under the cover of darkness.
"So what do you all think?" Jerry asked Deuce and the others while casually tossing a strange fruit in his hand. "Does anyone want to eat this artificial Devil Fruit?"
The fruit in question was one of the artificial Devil Fruits obtained from the "failed experiments" stored in the secret laboratory that the children on Punk Hazard had mentioned during their rescue.
Of course, at this point only Jerry knew the truth—that this particular fruit had been developed by the brilliant scientist Dr. Vegapunk using Kaido's own bloodline factors after twenty years of meticulous research. In reality, it was an artificial Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Zoan Type, Model: Blue Dragon—and it hadn't failed at all.