Doflamingo spoke bluntly.
He told Marco straight to his face that the man inside the fortress was someone Marco couldn't afford to provoke — without the slightest hesitation or fear.
Marco's expression showed mild surprise, then he chuckled softly. "Oh?"
He wasn't angry in the slightest — but the First Division members around him exploded.
"Our Captain Marco can't provoke someone?"
"Doflamingo, are you joking?"
"Captain Marco is the top First Mate of the sea! We're the Whitebeard Pirates!"
"Exactly! Is there someone even our Yonko crew wouldn't dare provoke?"
"Believe it or not, we'll tear your mouth off right now!"
"…"
Facing the furious Whitebeard crew, Doflamingo simply kept smiling.
Inside the fortress, Mork felt speechless.
This guy Doflamingo really is slippery…
Mork understood perfectly well: Doflamingo probably didn't actually think he and Whitebeard were on the same level.
Whitebeard was an old-era legend, captain of the world's strongest pirate crew, and known as the "Strongest Man."
The reason Doflamingo said what he did was obviously to let Mork hear it — flattering him, raising goodwill.
But Mork simply ignored the trick and continued sorting the newly delivered goods.
While Doflamingo's men raged on, Marco himself didn't show the slightest irritation.
He smiled lightly.
"Interesting. If you would say something like that, then whoever's in there really isn't simple."
After years under Whitebeard and countless experiences at sea, Marco had long matured into a calm, steady commander — not someone who acted rashly.
"Well, this isn't Whitebeard territory. We have no business here. Everyone, we're leaving."
Though displeased, the crew obeyed.
At the bow, Marco glanced at Doflamingo, then at the enormous steel fortress in the distance, his eyes deepening.
He needed to resume pursuing Blackbeard and didn't have time to linger — but once he returned, he would report this fortress in the first half of the New World to Pops.
He had a feeling the seas were becoming restless…
Just as Marco's ship raised its sails to depart, the lookout suddenly shouted:
"Marine ship!!"
"Captain, the Navy is approaching!"
Marco turned sharply and saw a Marine warship slowly sailing toward them.
On Doflamingo's side, his officers also noticed.
"Vice Admiral Gion — Peach Rabbit?!"
As a Warlord, Doflamingo recognized her instantly.
"It seems Sengoku and that old hag… never stop keeping tabs on me."
He muttered to himself. Marines appearing here was definitely not a coincidence.
Marco also recognized the approaching general candidate: Vice Admiral Gion.
He immediately became interested — the Marines would never tolerate an unknown fortress of this scale in their seas.
A conflict was likely.
Marco wanted to observe how things unfolded and maybe even probe the fortress' strength… see if it was really as terrifying as Doflamingo implied.
At that moment, the fortress issued another thunderous warning:
"Private territory. Do not trespass. Consequences are your own."
Marco raised an eyebrow — unexpected.
This fortress treated everyone with the same cold forcefulness.
It seemed the power behind it was no small matter.
No ordinary group would dare speak to a Yonko crew and a Warlord this way.
On the Marine warship, Peach Rabbit stepped out of her cabin after hearing the warning — and froze at the sight ahead.
"That… that's the deserted island Sengoku sent me to investigate!?"
She almost cursed aloud.
She was told to inspect a deserted island Doflamingo kept visiting, to see what secrets it held —
but this wasn't an island at all.
It was a sea fortress on the scale of Marineford!
And it wasn't hidden in the slightest — standing boldly in the open sea.
Inside, Mork looked deeply troubled.
"Why are the Marines here too…?"
"All I want is to be a salted fish — stop gathering around me!"
Now he had a Yonko division, a Warlord, and the Marines all at his doorstep.
It was giving him a headache.
Not wanting involvement with any faction, Mork ordered the fortress to warn and drive Peach Rabbit away.
Seeing the fortress treat the Navy with such blunt hostility, Doflamingo felt reassured.
The mysterious person inside wasn't even afraid of the Marines — meaning his strength exceeded imagination.
After all, despite the balance between Yonko and Marines, the true ruling force of the seas had always been the Navy.
To directly reject them… that showed enormous confidence.
Doflamingo secretly firmed his resolve — he had to secure a lasting relationship with the fortress' master.
Peach Rabbit's eyes narrowed at the warning.
"So they look down on the Marines this much…?"
She then noticed Marco and Doflamingo's ships nearby — she hadn't seen them earlier while staring at the fortress.
Seeing both here made her expression sharpen even more.
Doflamingo being here made sense — she was here to investigate him, after all.
But Marco? A top division commander of Whitebeard's crew?
That made things very strange.
Could this fortress have ties not only to Doflamingo, but also to Whitebeard?
"It seems I've stumbled onto something incredible…"
A massive sea fortress linked to both a Warlord and a Yonko crew — the Marines would be gravely concerned.
But Peach Rabbit still couldn't figure out:
What kind of faction was inside this fortress?
And why was it entangled with both Doflamingo and the Whitebeard Pirates?
—------------------------------
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