【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Huh? What's with this thick fog?" Huang Mu didn't care about the fog that obscured his vision, but it seemed that his mission target had escaped. The vines on the deck immediately turned to attack the person in the air.

"Seriously, you actually ran away? I thought these pirates were your crewmates!"

Ignoring the sounds behind him, Qi focused on dodging the vines chasing him and used Moonwalk to rush towards the coast. Noticing that the Marine Admiral was catching up, Qi breathed a sigh of relief. Next, he needed to figure out how to deal with this damned tree-man.

"Brook, go refuel!" As soon as the admiral jumped off the ship, Nami shouted to Brook, who was shrouded in mist, "We need to get out of this area immediately!"

"Nami, what do we do?" Chopper asked in shock, sprawled on the deck.

"Qi will be alright." Nami looked firmly in the direction the admiral had left.

Noticing that the Sunny had completely left the area, Qi breathed a sigh of relief. This made things easier. Although land would allow the admiral to better demonstrate his abilities, the most important thing was that the battleground was not the Sunny.

Thinking this, Qi's body performed a nimble backflip in mid-air, dodging the oncoming vines, and crashed into the beach behind him, creating a deep crater. Using the momentum, he rolled and narrowly avoided several other oncoming vines, letting them pierce the sand.

"Huh? Not running away anymore?" Aramaki landed slowly, his face showing neither anger nor focus, but his eyes behind his sunglasses showed some impatience. He hadn't expected that this pirate, whom he thought he could easily catch, would make him put in so much effort.

The admiral approached him leisurely, seemingly without any murderous intent. But Qi could see clearly that his terrifyingly precise steps, and the plants spreading out beneath his feet with each step, all proved that he was creating a favorable battlefield environment. The knuckles gripping the sword hilt tightened involuntarily.

......

Dressrosa - a warehouse

30 minutes remaining until the trading session ends

"No one has any secrets from me. From the moment we met, I saw right through you..."

"I heard women are your weakness, but I never imagined you'd be this infatuated... You're so useless..."

"Your collar is droopy, your tie is wrinkled, and your shirt is covered in blood. You look absolutely awful and useless. Black Leg Sanji, do you really think you can win my heart? How laughable."

"Huff... Huff... You're lying, Miss Violet..." Even though he was beaten black and blue, Sanji still stared sincerely into Violet's eyes. He still believed in her; he saw the helplessness in her heart. "You clearly have a pure and kind heart... You've just been instigated by evil people to be in a place you don't want to be in at all..."

"You really think you're some kind of Casanova?!" Violet kicked Sanji angrily, then looked at Sanji, who was covered in blood and lying on the ground in a sorry state, and slowly approached him.

She didn't believe a word he said. How could a man who had been tricked into coming here and beaten like this not resent her? "You were actually suppressing your anger towards me while looking for an opportunity to escape, right? You think you can fool me with just a few sweet words?"

"Lies don't work on me... I've seen through things. Men are all big liars, let me see what's going on in your head full of lies..."

As Violet spoke, she made a circle with her index finger and thumb, held it in front of her eyes, and pointed it at Sanji on the ground. "Why did Trafalgar team up with the Straw Hats? What is your purpose in coming to Greenbit and Dressrosa? Whatever plan you have made, it will be revealed to me at this moment."

"Back then, your eyes... told the truth! I never doubt a woman's tears!" Sanji shouted, looking into Violet's eyes.

Violet looked at Sanji in disbelief. She hadn't expected that this man would still say such things even at this point. He knew she was lying to him, so why did he still believe her so firmly?

"You're about to die, what nonsense are you spouting!"

"Boss! Since this pervert is no longer of any use, let him go see the King of Hell!"

"The Straw Hat crew member with a bounty of 77 million! Sanji's head is ours!!"

Violet's men shouted, eager to take Blackfoot's head.

"Tears of Hot Iron - Eye Whale!"

"Wait a minute, Big Sister, what's wrong with you?" Treber Army looked at Violet, who had turned around and was attacking them, incredulously.

“Violet, it seems you didn’t become Doflamingo’s subordinate willingly…” Sanji said happily as he looked at Violet, who had helped him unlock his handcuffs.

"Don't talk about me! You should contact your partner first. Sugar is already getting close to him!" After unlocking Sanji's handcuffs, Violet immediately handed him back his Den Den Mushi. "You need to contact that man named Lucci as soon as possible. Doflamingo has arranged for Sugar to get close to him in order to deal with him. If Sugar touches him, your partner will become a toy and be forgotten by all of you!"

Without time to think, Sanji hurriedly took the Den Den Mushi from Violet and started contacting Lucci. Thinking of what Violet had said about forgetting, Sanji breathed a slight sigh of relief. The fact that he still remembered Lucci proved that Lucci hadn't been encountered yet.

"Hey! Lucci, it's Sanji!"

"Sanji, what happened?"

"Where are you now?"

"I am here......"

"Brother! I'll give you the grapes, please help me find my mom and dad!"

"It's Sugar's voice!!" Violet exclaimed hurriedly upon hearing the clear, girlish voice coming from the Den Den Mushi.

"Brother, take me to find Mom and Dad now!!"

"Lucci, don't let that girl touch you!!"

"It seems...too late..."

"Hey! Lu..." Sanji's pupils contracted. What was going on? He was clearly in a hurry just now, why...?

"Violet, prepare to pay the price for betraying your young master!"

"Click."

“That’s Sugar’s voice…” Violet sat down on the ground in horror, looking at Sanji who was frowning and looking confused, and whispered, “Black Leg, look here. Come and look at my mind. These are the memories from Dressrosa this morning.”

"Huh?" Sanji stared wide-eyed in shock at the chaotic scene of Dressrosa's inhabitants that appeared before him. The Seven Warlords of the Sea, CP0, a false alarm—it took Sanji a long time to process what was happening before he asked incredulously, "Was that real? The World Government? This is completely beyond the authority of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!!"