In One Piece, I Am the Ultimate Doflamingo

And indeed, that was the case.

For the past month, Rosinante had been dreaming.

Dreaming of playing freely with his younger self. Dreaming of the confusion and disbelief when his father declared he would no longer be a Celestial Dragon. Dreaming of his father admitting in front of others that he came from the Holy Land. Dreaming of the hunger and humiliation of stealing bread from a trash bin with his younger self. Dreaming of shielding his younger self from beatings, enduring the pain for him. Dreaming of the joy of bringing his younger self clean food to share with their mother. Dreaming of his father's powerless pleas, his numb expression. Dreaming of his mother's pain, her death, the agony, the rage, the fear. Dreaming of the arrows piercing his body, the whips lashing his skin, the terror of his life being threatened. Dreaming of his own guilt. Dreaming of the pain of losing his younger self. Dreaming of the cruel truth that a Celestial Dragon without protection was nothing but a sinner.

Rosinante gradually realized—these were his brother's memories. All the pain, the humiliation, the resentment, and the madness—they all belonged to his brother.

Everything.

Everything he was never meant to experience.

When Rosinante was six, he only knew fear and escape. He hid in his parents' embrace, behind his brother's back.

Now, at the same age Doflamingo had been two years ago, With two sets of memories interwoven, At this moment, he finally understood his brother's—

Heart.

"Brother!"

Rosinante's eyes snapped open, the jeweled chandelier above him dazzlingly bright. This wasn't the sky above a junkyard.

His left hand felt numb from the weight pressing down on it. He turned his stiff neck, restricted by the layers of bandages, and looked to his side.

Golden hair. Narrow sunglasses that couldn't fully hide the dark circles under his eyes. A face that, in sleep, appeared just a little more peaceful and gentle.

"…Brother…"

Rosinante stared at his brother's face, pursed his lips, and forced out a hoarse, raspy voice from his long-silent throat.

Doflamingo's eyes snapped open in 'delightful' surprise. His gaze locked onto Rosinante's—similar yet different from before.

Feeling reassured, Doflamingo spoke with a hint of probing curiosity.

"Rosi, you're awake! That bastard Michael—I saved him for you."

"…Alright, Brother."

Rosinante understood exactly what he meant. After a slight pause, he answered.

"Here, drink some water. Rosi, you need to rest before you can move again. This time, I was late… I thought…"

Doflamingo carefully lifted the cup of warm water he had prepared earlier and gently helped Rosinante drink.

He stayed, chatting with him for a while until he watched Rosinante drift into a peaceful sleep.

Then, Doflamingo left the room, finally heading to get some rest himself.

This past month had drained him considerably, though his strong constitution had kept him going.

He had nearly lost control of the situation.

Thankfully, Rosinante's vital organs weren't severely damaged. And thanks to the unique physiology of this world, combined with the powers of his String-String Fruit, he had managed to stitch his brother back together with collagen threads.

As for the dark circles under his eyes—part of it was due to excessive use of the String-String Fruit during Rosinante's critical condition.

But the majority of it came from the month-long effort of… conditioning. Long-term use of Observation Haki had drained his stamina, but the dreams Rosinante had woken up from?

Those were carefully crafted, step by step.

The only ones who knew the full truth of the incident were the four loyal members of his crew—Trebol included.

The others?

Doflamingo had used them to practice his Parasite String ability.

After this experiment, he had countless new ideas waiting to be tested.

"Fufufufufu…"

...

One Month Later

At the port, Doflamingo and his four officers stood, gazing at the newly constructed Flamingo 1.0—15 meters wide, 30 meters long.

He turned to Trebol.

"Trebol, how much longer until it's finished? And have you found Spider Miles' Log Pose?"

Trebol stretched his neck forward, nearly pressing his face against Doflamingo's ear.

A vein bulged at Doflamingo's temple.

With a single punch, he knocked Trebol's head back to where it belonged.

Trebol, unfazed, wobbled for a moment before reporting,

"Do…Flam… Three days… at most. Supplies are almost ready. The Jason family's fortune—twenty million Belly—has been hidden in the ship's hull. And the Log Pose for Spider Miles is secured."

"Good."

Yes, he was preparing to leave.

After going through his memories and reading extensively, Doflamingo had noticed something off.

In the original timeline, when Rosinante met Sengoku, the scene had been devastatingly bleak.

Too bleak.

But paying close attention, he realized—it looked eerily similar to this very seaside ruin.

At this time, the Navy's top forces consisted of Vice Admiral Garp, Admiral Black Arm Zephyr, Admiral Sengoku the Buddha, and Fleet Admiral Kong.

And the year 1490 was significant.

That was the year Zephyr's entire family was slaughtered, causing him to withdraw from combat and shift to training new recruits.

Meanwhile, Garp was too busy chasing after Roger around the world.

With the Navy's control over the seas weakened, it was no wonder that Trebol and Diamante—two rookies relying solely on their Devil Fruits—had managed to reach the New World.

But in such a crucial time period—

Why would Sengoku, known for his absolute loyalty to the Navy and World Government, come all the way to the North Blue, to this remote, unaffiliated country?

He couldn't have just been bored.

And in the original timeline, aside from Fisher Tiger's legendary raid on Mary Geoise, where he freed thousands of slaves—

There were no other recorded mass escapes of enslaved people.

Yet here, in this unaffiliated country, there had been multiple instances of freed slaves.

And despite his family being runaway Celestial Dragons, no pirates had ever come hunting them down.

A false release? A controlled experiment?

What did the Five Elders think of those who had harmed or humiliated Celestial Dragons?

Would they see them as stains? As blasphemers? As threats?

The answer was obvious.

And Sengoku? He was from the South Blue—there was no reason for him to visit the North Blue's most remote, unaffiliated kingdom.

Unless… that kingdom was already gone.

After all, to the World Government, non-affiliated nations weren't even considered people.

No wonder Kuzan had let Robin go without consequence.

Sengoku had set the precedent first.

Originally, Doflamingo had planned to take over this country, eliminating threats slowly.

But now? He would only deal with those who had directly hunted his family.

The rest?

If the World Government let them live, it was their luck.

As for whether his theory was correct—

Doflamingo didn't care.

Sengoku being in the North Blue wasn't a lie.

And right now, there hadn't been enough changes to the timeline.

If he got caught, he'd be checking into Impel Down early.

Back in his room, he pulled out a newly acquired pirate journal and started reading.

Since realizing that sparring with Vergo and the others counted as training his abilities—

Doflamingo had made it a habit to collect pirate journals whenever he could.

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+100 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg