Orin is indeed the king of the Shichibukai, but the king is already half-retired.
What's more, Doffy has really gotten a bit too swollen right now. Believing he has Orin backing him, he even dares to poke at a Navy Admiral, and as his business expands rapidly, his bloated ambition doesn't match his actual strength. Unless Orin babysits him, he won't be able to hold Dressrosa for long anyway.
So it's better to use Orin as a gaming chip.
And now two new pieces have already entered the board, one green, one white.
...
At Dressrosa's harbor, a merchant ship slowly docked at the shore.
Workers were busy moving cargo and completely failed to notice several figures in white clothing who instantly disembarked and stepped onto Dressrosa's soil.
Sensing the commotion within the city, those suddenly appearing masked individuals dressed in white suits or white robes, were now standing atop rooftops, observing the city.
In a roadside restaurant, Orin tugged at the corner of his mouth while eating noodles.
Although he had once directly served these CP0 people for a while, and later his subordinates had also dealt with these CP folks many times, he still hasn't figured out why these so-called agents, when they want to infiltrate, insist on wearing these white robes and strange masks.
Most likely it's just to look cool.
What did catch his attention, though, was that one of the figures seemed to have bandages wrapped around his head—it was Rob Lucci, who had recently been defeated by Sadgeo.
"The World Government really sent CP people too?"
Green Bull doesn't need to eat—he maintains normal life through photosynthesis—so right now he was simply sitting in the restaurant, casually chatting with Orin.
Deeply admiring the Celestial Dragons, Green Bull was of course extremely polite toward Orin as well, especially since the other party was a truly powerful monster.
"Saint Orin, please enjoy this cup of tea."
Aramaki produced a cup from who-knows-where, added hot water from the shop, and handed it to Orin.
Orin actually doesn't really like tea—he prefers sweet drinks like juice—but he still accepted it.
Inside, there were chrysanthemum flowers soaking.
"???"
"This is...?"
Seeing Orin's frozen expression, Green Bull thought he was disliking the low grade of the tea. Smiling, he scratched his head, looking somewhat proud.
"This is actually my Devil Fruit ability. I'm the user of the Logia-type Wood-Wood Fruit—these chrysanthemums grew from my body!!!"
"…"
Orin fell silent. Fortunately, he hadn't drunk it yet.
Green Bull, seeing this, thought Orin was doubting something.
"Don't worry, these chrysanthemums are completely natural, inside..."
Before he could finish speaking, Green Bull's Observation Haki began screaming warnings.
Unfortunately, before he could react, Orin's hand—shrouded in pitch-black power—had already appeared before him.
With a light snap of the fingers, the Green Bull who had originally been sitting in front of Orin vanished instantly.
Almost in the very next moment, from the foot of the King's Plateau came the sudden sound of a violent explosion.
Amid a pile of shattered wood, a humanoid figure made of trees slowly stood up, holding his head as if unable to process what had just happened.
"What's going on...?"
Green Bull felt he had been hit by disaster for no reason and was a bit depressed. Just as he was about to leave, someone blocked his path.
"Hmm? Excuse me."
Two figures froze for a moment, then stepped aside.
Green Bull headed toward the Dressrosa royal palace. Even if he was here to slack off, he still had to meet the relevant person.
He left.
And those two who made way for him—looking closely, one had blond hair, the other black hair; both were in disguise with sunglasses and hats—were none other than Ace and Sabo.
Watching the distant Navy figure, Sabo's gaze grew solemn.
"That's a Navy Admiral, right?"
"Who knows. Let's go, Sabo!"
Ace didn't care much. He led Sabo toward Dressrosa's central district. They guessed that Luffy and the others had most likely gone there.
After twisting and turning through the streets, they entered a restaurant.
"Boss, what good food do you have here?"
Ace was a bit hungry.
"Young man, we have many seafood udon dishes here, and fried rice..."
As the owner was introducing the menu, he turned to look—and Ace was already fast asleep with his head tilted back, with half the stubble gone from his face.
"He actually fell asleep!!!"
Both customers and the owner complained in unison.
Sabo smiled helplessly and was just about to say something, when a figure walked up behind the two of them.
"Bring one of everything. I'll pay."
Sabo turned around, and Ace's snot bubble popped at the same time.
Both of their faces instantly lit up with joy!
"You two—this disguise is way too sloppy, you know?"
"Probably only good enough to fool Luffy~"
The two gobbled down their food. While eating, Ace suddenly remembered something and pulled a long sword from behind him.
"Right, Orin-san, this is what that jerk old man asked me to pass on to you."
One of the twelve Supreme Grade Great Swords—
Ace.
Ever since Captain Roger left Marineford, he had always carried it as his weapon.
Orin had his own personal weapon, the "Black Gun," and didn't really need a sword—most of the time, he didn't even need a weapon at all.
So he had never brought this up.
He had even thought that maybe Captain Roger would pass the sword on to Ace instead.
"The captain still kept it in mind, huh~"
Holding the black blade, Orin felt its familiar weight, then snapped his fingers to put it away. He looked at the two of them and casually gave them some advice.
"If you want to find Luffy, you can take a look at the colosseum~"
...
"Hey!!! Straw Hat, weren't we here to take down Doflamingo?!?!"
Law shouted angrily.
"But the prize is that blond uncle's Devil Fruit—and it can fly!!!"
Luffy's eyes sparkled. All he could think about was a flying Sunny or a flying General Franky robot.
"If I can fight powerful swordsmen and also cut down my opponents at the same time, wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?"
Zoro took a swig of booze and laughed as he spoke.
He figured that anyone strong enough to be the final act in the colosseum, guarding the Float-Float Fruit for the Donquixote Family, must be one of their officers.
Law felt a headache coming on, but then relaxed.
With such a high-profile colosseum event, it was impossible for Orin not to be involved.
If they skipped the arena and directly attacked Doflamingo, ruining this event, the situation would probably get even worse.
"Guess there's no helping it..."
And right as all the parties gathered, the battle for the Float-Float Fruit began!!!
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