Chapter Thirty-Four: Rashuke (Seeking Recommendations)

Does Doflamingo truly trust his so-called family members? That’s a difficult question to answer. In fact, regardless of how much trust he appears to display publicly, the reality is that such trust is almost unattainable. The only person whom Doflamingo can trust completely is himself.

Conversely, trust in his subordinates—or their trust in him—is hardly a necessity for Doflamingo. As long as the family members are useful to him and refrain from acts of betrayal, that is sufficient.

The same applies to Qiubai. Doflamingo only needs to ascertain that Qiubai genuinely wishes to join his crew; as for the deeper reasons behind this desire, he doesn’t feel compelled to investigate too thoroughly. Whatever Qiubai says, Doflamingo listens and believes, for the time being.

This isn’t to say Doflamingo is particularly magnanimous. The rationale here is simple: obsessing over someone’s past is meaningless; what matters is what they can do for him in the future.

As long as Qiubai isn’t a Navy spy, all is well.

Would Qiubai be a spy? Although they had known each other for less than a day, judging by some of Qiubai’s neurotic tendencies, it seemed unlikely he was a Navy spy—unless he was an acting genius.

Doflamingo was fairly confident in his ability to judge people. Qiubai didn’t fit the profile of someone who would work for the Navy.

Moreover, another important reason Qiubai could so smoothly board Doflamingo’s ship was the Donquixote Family’s current plans to expand their ranks.

Still, just in case, Doflamingo ordered an investigation into Qiubai’s background in the North Sea to verify his claims.

...

"Navy Admiral Position Vacant: 'Hero' Garp Refuses Promotion Again."

"Latest reports indicate that the Navy's 'Hero' and 'Strongest Marine,' Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, has once again rejected Fleet Admiral Kong’s order for promotion, refusing the position of admiral..."

Ain’s voice was as ever: clear, steady, but without much emotion. Today’s news held little of real value.

Since he began chasing the Roger Pirates across the world, Garp had possessed every qualification for promotion to admiral—strength, achievements, reputation, and prestige. Especially after the Roger incident, when he and Admiral Sengoku together faced off against the infamous pirate Golden Lion Shiki at Marineford and emerged victorious, tossing Shiki into Impel Down, Garp’s fame soared. To put it in perspective, Shiki orchestrated the Battle of Edd War, and if one were to choose the three most representative pirates of the past decade, the list would be: "Pirate King" Gol D. Roger, "Whitebeard" Edward Newgate, and "Golden Lion" Shiki.

There were even periods when Shiki was more active than Whitebeard.

Nevertheless, Garp, a man of such strength, had repeatedly refused promotion to admiral. After so many refusals, the news had become old news. Yet, to Qiubai, this was entirely normal—after all, Garp was Monkey "D" Garp. Though the admiral rank is second only to Fleet Admiral and is often regarded as the Navy’s "greatest fighting force," in reality, the three admirals frequently serve the Celestial Dragons directly. As a "D," it’s hard to imagine Garp kissing up to the Celestial Dragons.

He joined the Navy for the sake of justice, but to sacrifice himself for the Celestial Dragons?

Not a chance.

He’d rather go home and dote on his grandson.

On his second day in the Donquixote Family, Qiubai rose early. With ample space at his disposal, he resumed his sword practice—still dissatisfied with his progress.

Compared to Doflamingo, a pirate of great renown, Qiubai’s current strength was lacking. In fact, if one picked any officer in the crew with close-combat capabilities, Qiubai would likely be beaten half to death.

Of course, if he shamelessly insisted he was a ranged specialist, he could claim some merit. The trouble was, as a sniper, he had a hard-to-notice flaw: beyond fifty meters, he couldn’t hit a thing.

Other than that, all was well.

It wasn’t just about strength; lacking combat experience, Qiubai couldn’t accurately gauge his own abilities.

His dissatisfaction stemmed largely from his own expectations—first, at his age, it was simply impossible for him to be overwhelmingly powerful. Second, since he possessed formidable, high-level ranged abilities, why not focus on developing them? Winning from afar is a fine strategy.

Yet he rejected this approach; fighting at range gave him no sense of security. If an enemy got close, the outcome was self-evident.

In short, Qiubai wasn’t content to be merely a sniper or archer. This is probably why many ranged specialists like to show off their melee skills—the adage goes, "A ranged fighter who doesn’t want to brawl isn’t a good ranged fighter."

Just as Qiubai finished his sword practice, he realized his second set of training would be interrupted—

Because Senor had arrived.

Qiubai’s location was in front of a house, in a relatively open area—in other words, he was swinging his sword in a heap of garbage. What a realm of practice.

"Qiubai, Ain, you two come with me. We have a mission... Or do you want to bring your pet as well?" Senor asked, even showing concern for Beppo.

He knew that many pirates harbored superstitions—if they didn’t keep certain things by their side, they’d feel uneasy.

"No need, the mission is important. We can leave right now," Qiubai replied crisply. He saw no reason to bother Beppo. Frankly, it was moving to see a bear study so diligently; though it was for the sake of returning home, Beppo’s drive was like a student preparing for the college entrance exam in ten months, making Qiubai feel guilty to disturb him.

This bear, who understood the value of learning, was winning from the starting line.

"What’s our task, Senor?" Qiubai followed directly behind, but still had no idea what the mission entailed.

"Senor is fine," Senor first corrected Qiubai’s address, then explained, "On the eastern side of this island is a town called 'Lashuke.' To put it simply, it’s controlled by a mafia group..."

"You must understand, since Doflamingo chose this island as our base, it means the whole place is Donquixote Family territory. But with the family’s limited numbers and over a dozen towns here, it’s impossible to control everything directly. Some small places aren’t worth Doflamingo’s personal intervention, so we allow the mafia to control Lashuke."

"But the prerequisite is that they must regularly hand over a portion of the profits from the town to the family."

"But they’ve failed to pay the full amount for two months straight, so now we’re going to see what’s happened over there." Senor quickly laid out the situation.

"Sorry to ask, but ‘a portion of the profits’—how much exactly are we talking about?" Qiubai interjected.

Senor didn’t slow his pace, but he glanced back at Qiubai before replying coolly:

"Four-fifths."

That number... was astonishing. Is that a portion? That’s practically the whole sum, and sometimes they might even owe more.

Qiubai couldn’t help but grin. Why bother collecting fees? Just wipe out the mafia altogether.