【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

However, he soon no longer needed to worry, because the doll didn't seem as fragile as he had thought. He could see it preparing to draw its sword and fight, but...

Sabo glanced at the blonde doll's round, short arms. The doll's arms were too short. The doll clearly realized the problem, muttered a curse, and withdrew the blade that had been drawn slightly, seemingly giving up.

Sabo looked at the blonde doll that was completely surrounded and made up his mind to help, but before he could do anything, the doll had already nimbly escaped the encirclement by stepping on the bodies of the people trying to capture it.

It seemed it didn't need his help. Sabo's brow relaxed a little, but he couldn't help feeling puzzled as to why he was standing there so focused on a doll.

It was just an ordinary cotton doll, yet it inexplicably attracted his attention. Even though it was being chased, he shouldn't have stopped to observe it. Besides, he was paying too much attention to it, even though it looked amusing...

Watching the doll being chased away, Sabo sighed, took off his top hat, and scratched his hair in confusion.

Perhaps he was puzzled by the Donquixote Family's deployment of so many people to capture it. After all, they had just sent a message that Doflamingo's abdication was false, and they shouldn't be making such a fuss at this time. He should investigate.

With that thought in mind, Sabo put his hat back on and began chasing after the blonde doll in the direction she had gone.

Sabo quickly and discreetly dealt with the pursuers. He chased after the golden-haired doll for a distance. At first, the golden-haired doll did not notice him and was only focused on escaping the scene. However, when he was left alone, the golden-haired doll still did not stop. Instead, it became faster and faster. Sabo suddenly realized that it seemed to have mistaken him for one of the people chasing it.

Sabo pondered for a moment, then stopped and jumped onto a rooftop above the street, watching it leave from a distance. Sure enough, after running a distance, it realized that no one was chasing it, so it slowed down and hid in another alley. Sabo immediately followed from the rooftop.

Sabo followed it for 15 minutes, mainly because he didn't expect it to be so alert. Even though it didn't show any signs of life, once it made progress and got too close, the blonde doll knew it was being chased and would speed up its escape or hide in dark alleys, hoping to shake off its pursuers.

So he kept a distance that was neither too close nor too far during this time. If the creature ran too far away because of Don Quixote, he would chase after it, but he would not get too close so that it would see him.

As for why he chased it for so long, it was because he discovered that they seemed to be heading to the same destination.

He could see the blonde doll looking up at the arena building from time to time while evading its pursuers. As they chased each other, they got closer and closer to the arena, so Sabo let the chase continue.

Although it wasn't great, he found the chase quite amusing, and he enjoyed running alongside it. The doll itself was also quite interesting to him. Sabo smiled to himself, wishing he could take it with him if he could.

Sabo put his thoughts aside and continued to follow the blond doll that had blended into the crowd at a leisurely pace. When he saw it stop in front of a small vendor, he stopped as well.

Sabo was curious about what it wanted to do, since it hadn't stopped much along the way. This was the only time it had stopped. Watching the blonde doll steal meat from the grill when the stall owner wasn't looking, Sabo couldn't help but laugh. Its behavior was a bit like Luffy and Ace's.

However, he really didn't expect that its purpose in risking stopping was just to steal a skewer of grilled meat from a kebab stall surrounded by customers. It seemed that it was really hungry, and he could feel the pleasure it was radiating as it bit into the delicious food.

He must have been staring at it too intently, because the blonde doll quickly noticed his gaze and started looking for him. Sabo instinctively hid, sensing that if it knew he had been following it, it would probably be angry and would definitely misunderstand him, which would mean it might not come with him.

When Sabo emerged from his hiding place, the blonde doll was no longer near the kebab stand; it had vanished. Sabo pulled his hat brim down to cover his eyes and unleashed a burst of Observation Haki to search for his target, but he couldn't find it; he couldn't sense it.

Sabo frowned, took a deep breath to suppress his anxiety, and once again used his domineering aura to search the area. Noticing a chase taking place in one area, he murmured, "You're here, aren't you...?"

Sabo ran along the path toward his target area, and soon he saw the group of Don Quixotes returning empty-handed; it seemed he had lost them again.

Sabo jumped onto the roof, and after the group left, he jumped down, put his hands in his pockets, and leaned against a hidden wall, waiting for his target to emerge from his hiding place. Observation Haki was useless against the toys on this island; only his excellent tracking skills allowed him to keep up with this clever guy.

However, it seemed to have been hiding for a rather long time this time. Sabo frowned in confusion and decided to take the initiative to go and find it.

He quickly found his target in a dimly lit alley. It was sitting on a junk box with its head drooping, its beautiful blond hair seemingly dulled by its dejected mood. Sabo looked at this scene and a strange feeling welled up inside him. He stepped forward and asked softly, "Are you alright?"

The blonde doll seemed startled by his voice, and judging from its posture as it prepared to rush out, it seemed to have instantly planned its escape route from him.

Just as Sabo was about to stop it, he didn't expect it to stare at him with surprised eyes and excitedly call out his name. He could see the bright light that lit up in the golden-haired doll's large, glassy eyes when it called his name, as well as the genuine joy that appeared on its round little face. This made Sabo smile, and his mood brightened up as well.

Watching the blonde doll excitedly express its surprise at Sabo's appearance, and seeing the doll's vivid expression, he couldn't help but find it adorable, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face, even though he didn't quite hear what it was saying.

Lucci, who was initially pleased to meet Sabo here, felt inexplicably annoyed after seeing the smile on Sabo's face, especially since the kid was staring at him with that stupid smile. What kind of nonsense was this bastard thinking?