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A few days later.
On Onigashima, inside the Beast Palace.
Kaido had once again gone out drunk to amuse himself with another "suicide attempt," leaving the massive palace temporarily under the command of the All-Stars.
At that moment, black flames erupted from King's body.
Sweat poured down his face as he desperately tried to counter Dan's Amaterasu with the natural flames of his Lunarian heritage.
The other Beast Pirates officers stood far back, watching without daring to even breathe too loudly.
"Eeyaah!"
Just as Amaterasu's destruction threatened to spread further, Dan voluntarily withdrew it.
King glanced down at his shoulder.
A charred mark was already etched into his flesh. The sight made the officers' stomachs drop.
If that had been them facing those inextinguishable flames, the only way out would've been cutting off their own flesh.
Young Master Dan's ability is terrifying…!
At that exact moment—
"Big Bro King! Big Bro Queen!!"
Jack's booming voice exploded through the hall like a thunderclap, rattling eardrums.
"That damned Doffy! That flamingo bastard!"
"He's raising the prices!"
"What?!"
The officers' faces all shifted instantly.
"Raising prices?! That pink-feathered clown's lost his mind?!"
"Does he think he can play tricks on the Beast Pirates?!"
"He must have a death wish!"
Anger erupted among them.
King's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.
"SMILE's going up in price? By how much?"
"Exactly!" Jack spat, practically foaming at the mouth. "That son of a bitch said starting from the next batch, every single SMILE fruit we get will cost twenty percent more!"
"Twenty percent?!"
Queen's temper blew instantly. "That damn flamingo's tired of living! SMILE's made with my tech too, and he dares jack up the price by twenty percent?!"
"I'll march straight to Dressrosa right now! Tear down his little toy kingdom and feed him in pieces to the Sea Kings!"
Queen was already in full rage mode, cursing louder than Jack and looking ready to charge off immediately.
Jack's eyes burned red as he spun toward the exit. "Screw this! I'll round up the crew right now—"
"Calm down, Queen. You too, Jack."
King's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a weight that froze them both in place.
"Doflamingo's gotten cozy with the World Government lately. As a Warlord, his wings are stronger than before."
"But picking a fight outright doesn't benefit us. The SMILE supply can't be cut off yet."
Compared to Queen and Jack, King was much more composed. "Jack, you'll go to Dressrosa personally and talk to him."
"Price increase is acceptable, but keep it under ten percent. That's the bottom line."
"Ten percent?!" Jack was still seething, but he knew King's word wasn't up for debate. He ground his teeth. "Got it, Big Bro King! But I swear I'm going to make that pink-feathered bastard regret it!"
Just then—
A small figure fluttered into Jack's path and blocked his way.
"Young Master Dan! What is it?"
All eyes turned toward him.
It was Dan.
He looked around, then picked up a half-gnawed meat bone someone had tossed aside. Dipping it in the dust, he crouched and scrawled clumsy letters across the polished stone floor.
Three crooked words appeared before everyone's eyes:
I.
Want.
Go.
The All-Stars' expressions darkened instantly.
"No."
King didn't even hesitate. His refusal came out sharp and final, leaving no room for argument.
"Young Master Dan, Dressrosa is crawling with dangerous types. Doflamingo is cunning and ruthless. It's far too dangerous!"
"You're still a child. You can't go somewhere like that."
Queen bobbed his head frantically beside him, chiming in with a pained smile. "Yeah, yeah! Little Dan, listen to Uncle Queen. That place is nasty—bad guys everywhere, no fun at all, not for a sweet kid like you!"
"Stay here on Onigashima, and Uncle Queen will make you takoyaki! And cotton candy too!"
Dan's brows pinched together tightly.
He was extremely dissatisfied with that answer.
He hadn't brought this up on a whim—he'd been planning it carefully.
Artificial Devil Fruits.
They counted as Devil Fruits, didn't they?
And his system still had that quest: Eat two different Devil Fruits.
This was the perfect chance.
On top of that… Doflamingo was one of the Warlords of the Sea.
What a coincidence.
Defeat two Warlord-level (or higher) fighters.
Endure a full-power strike from a Warlord-level opponent for one minute without striking back.
That made two and a half quests he could check off with just one target.
There was no way he was skipping this trip.
His dark eyes spun quickly as he worked through an idea.
Then—
Voooom—!!!
A surge of power exploded from his small body, far stronger, denser, and more suffocating than any he'd released before.
Conqueror's Haki.
But this time, it wasn't just wild, chaotic pressure.
It was sharpened, condensed—a king's will that declared absolute supremacy.
The air inside the palace seemed to vanish, replaced with the crushing weight of molten lead.
Weaker members of the Beast Pirates clutched their chests, feeling like invisible hands were squeezing the life from their hearts. Sweat poured down their faces like waterfalls.
Some couldn't take it at all—their knees buckled and they collapsed to the ground, trembling like leaves.
The stone floor itself cracked under the force, splintering outward from Dan's feet in a web of jagged fractures.
Even Queen and Jack froze, their bodies locking up under the overwhelming pressure.
And for the first time, even the ever-composed King's eyes widened in shock.
"This… this is—!"
Everyone could feel it.
Young Master Dan's Conqueror's Haki was undeniably stronger than ever before.
In just a matter of days, his Haki had leapt to an entirely new level.
"..."
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