Chapter 4

Bang!

An empty bucket and a mop were thrown in front of Rosvandi, splashing dirty water onto his face.

"Clean the whole corridor by noon, or you'll be in for a beating!"

With that, the guy who threw the bucket and mop walked away with a crab-like gait. Although he was just a 'cabin boy,' he still managed to find his own 'sense of superiority.'

Even if it was just over a little boy!

Due to the cook's death, the ship was on high alert. Rosvandi, who had been staying in the lower hold, was ordered to 'work,' with the reward being half a moldy piece of bread.

Tsk, this world of the strong preying on the weak.

Fortunately,

With a thought, the Silence Fruit's ability was activated.

Thud!

The arrogant cabin boy had just turned the corner when he collided with a tall figure.

Smack,

Before the dazed and confused boy could react, a large, knobby hand landed on his head.

"Damn it, you dare to bump into me?!"

"I... Ah—"

The sound of punches and kicks drowned out the cabin boy's explanation, and a series of screams made Rosvandi, who had just started mopping, shrug his shoulders.

It was precisely because he used the Silence ability to eliminate the sound of footsteps in the corridor that the two collided at the corner.

Among the myriad of Devil Fruits, the Silence Fruit was indeed very 'useless.'

But for ordinary people, it still provided a form of dimensional attack.

After accepting the fact that he had been transported to the One Piece world and had eaten the Silence Fruit, Rosvandi began to think about how to develop this fruit.

Although the Silence Fruit only had the effect of 'blocking sound waves,' it was not impossible to develop further on this basis.

If it were as he imagined, even this fruit had the potential to become a powerful tool!

However... that was for the future.

"Scram, you waste of space!"

After a series of punches, the burly boatswain, who had beaten the cabin boy to tears, walked past Rosvandi without even glancing at the harmless little boy.

Although the boatswain wasn't very smart, he still sensed the dangerous atmosphere on the ship.

This was also the reason for his increasingly bad temper!

He preferred the straightforward battles on the battlefield to this 'invisible' enemy situation.

That hidden killer, don't let me catch you!

——

"Here,"

After a day of chores, when Rosvandi returned to the lower hold, Doflamingo handed him a piece of bread.

It was neither moldy nor infested with bugs, a rare 'delicacy' in his memory.

"Who gave it to you?"

Rosvandi took the bread, broke it in half, and handed half back to Doflamingo while asking.

"The captain or the navigator?"

"The navigator... why do you ask?"

Faced with Doflamingo's confusion, Rosvandi shook his head helplessly.

The clean bread must mean that Doflamingo had 'joined' one of the factions on the ship;

And with Doflamingo's intelligence, he would soon be swayed by the faction he joined.

"Doflamingo, we don't need to take unnecessary risks."

"There are too many people on this ship who can kill us, and such a plan is like walking a tightrope."

After a day of careful study, Rosvandi discovered that his body was much 'stronger' than an ordinary child's: both in terms of digestive and recovery abilities.

If it were an ordinary child in their situation, they would have died from beatings, diseases, or infected wounds long ago!

This made Rosvandi admit that the 'Celestial Dragons' were actually a superior bloodline.

In the original story, the fat Celestial Dragon at Sabaody was sent flying by Luffy, destroying half the auction house, yet he was still alive and kicking. This resistance to physical attacks was worth at least a few million in bounty.

After all, they were descendants of the Twenty Kings, and even Vivi could single-handedly kill a ten-meter-long banana crocodile. If not for years of hunger and cold, Rosvandi and Doflamingo wouldn't be the weak 'little radishes' they were now.

If he remembered correctly, Doflamingo would grow to three meters, and Rosvandi would reach four meters in height...

But that was in the 'future'!

With their current small arms and legs, and a height of just over a meter, they were no match for the half-merchant, half-pirate crew on the ship.

The cook's death from a gunshot was an accident; in a direct fight, what strength could the two children have?

"Once we reach the North Blue, we'll focus on improving our health, then we'll make a plan to get stronger—"

Devil Fruits, Rokushiki, swordsmanship, Haki....

Although the timeline was advanced by twenty years, some things remained unchanged.

Rosvandi believed that with his knowledge of this world, he would surely achieve great things in the future and didn't need to fight powerful enemies now.

"That's a naive idea, Rosvandi!"

Thanks to Rosvandi's 'Silence Shield,' the two children hiding in the lower hold could talk freely.

"Our goal is the Celestial Dragons, and we must seize every opportunity to get stronger!"

As he spoke, Doflamingo held half a piece of bread in one hand and extended his fingers downward with the other, his demeanor as if he were standing on the mast, despite being in the cramped lower hold.

"This ship is the opportunity fate has given us, and everyone on board is thirsting for blood!"

"Once those suspicious people start killing each other, we'll have a chance to get our own ship!"

Lowering his arm, Doflamingo's gaze behind his sunglasses fixed on Rosvandi.

"Or are you planning to work at the docks to save money, spending decades to get your first capital?"

Tsk,

No wonder the future pirate king's underboss was already a master of sowing discord and profiting from it at the age of ten... but walking the line between powerful factions wasn't easy.

"You have a point, but I still don't agree with your plan."

"Doflamingo, the more cunning a person is, the more likely they are to fall into unexpected traps—"

While cunning can be useful, in this world, strength is the foundation of everything.

The future Doflamingo's over-reliance on schemes led to his defeat by the Straw Hat crew and the Dressrosa alliance.

In the small lower hold, the two boys stood their ground, unwilling to back down.

"Let's make a bet,"

Swallowing the half piece of bread in his hand, Rosvandi stood up.

"The bet is this ship! We'll each take our own actions, without interfering with each other, and the winner will be decided by success!"

"If you win, I'll follow your lead. If—"

Doflamingo's eyebrows furrowed, his gaze behind the sunglasses becoming serious.

"If I win, I'll set the future plans."

When did his 'little brother,' whom he had always 'taken care of,' become so assertive?

"Fine!"

Faced with his brother's bet, Doflamingo agreed without hesitation.

He didn't believe he would lose to the 'naive' Rosvandi!

——

The next day,

"This is the second victim,"

In a cabin, the noble captain, the refined navigator, and the bald boatswain stood in a triangle. In the middle of the floor, a sailor lay dead.

The cloudy eyes, the congealed blood, the pale skin, and the flies crawling over his eyes all confirmed that this was a corpse.

"Jules was a good man,"

The refined navigator squatted down, waved away the flies, and closed the sailor's eyes.

"Although he was just the son of a bankrupt merchant, too ashamed to return home, and only worked on this ship in a clerical capacity, he was—"

The refined navigator stood up, his tone becoming more serious.

"A good man."

...

"Condolences, Doflamingo-san."

The noble captain, with a small mustache, removed his top hat and placed it over his chest.

Doflamingo was the refined navigator's name.

But the sailors on the ship generally called him 'Navigator-san,' and over time, they forgot his real name.

"But it's just one death,"

The bald boatswain had a nonchalant expression; to him, death was a daily occurrence.

"Alec, I don't expect you to understand what 'emotion' means, but the situation we face is—"

The refined navigator covered the dead sailor's face with a white cloth, stood up, and his expression turned serious.

"This is the second 'silent murder.' There is a killer on this ship that we don't know about!"

"Jules, Dica, who's next?"

The refined navigator pointed his finger,

"Is it you?"

Then he turned to himself,

"Is it me?"

Finally, his gaze fell on the noble captain,

"Or is even Sir Clahone a target?"

The cabin suddenly fell silent, with only the sound of the waves outside rising and falling.

The three 'big shots' controlling the ship had cold, hard expressions, their eyes darting around, lost in thought.

"Mr. Doflamingo, Jules is in your hands."

Finally, the noble captain broke the silence.

He held his silver cane, stepped over the body on the floor, and was the first to leave the cabin.

"I'll have my men increase patrols, and you should also take care of your own safety."

...

After the noble captain left, the refined navigator's calm gaze fell on the bald boatswain, making him frown in realization.

"Do you suspect me?"

"This isn't funny, Jules was a waste of space, I could snap his head off with one hand!"

As the boatswain stormed off in a huff, the navigator, who had been calm but 'hidden' with anger, smiled slightly.

Of course, it wasn't you two,

No one would have thought that the killer was actually the boy in the lower hold who did the chores.

And the one who ordered him was none other than himself—

The refined navigator tilted his head and looked at the sailor on the floor, whose face was covered by a white cloth.

Good man Jules, use your life to help me achieve the Doflamingo family's goals.

Buying a small country house near Anguille is the proper thing for a gentleman to do.