The Pirate Princess Becomes Queen

"Young Master, we've recruited another batch of pirates." Baby-5 said with concern, holding a list. "They're all pirates and gambling addicts..."

Doflamingo waved his hand, he didn't want to hear about it. Needless to say, they all heard about it at the Expo in the neighboring Kingdom of Prodens and came to Dressrosa to "work and earn money".

These people are just expendable resources to him; there's no need to spend time paying attention to them.

Of the four top officers, "Heart" Vergo is still an undercover agent in the Navy, "Plum" Trebol was killed in an explosion, and "Diamond" Diamante... we don't even know if he's alive or dead. Three of the four top officers are gone, leaving only "Spade" Pica. That guy ate the Stone-Stone Fruit and is usually used as a henchman. He has no ability to coordinate or manage factories. He can only promote Baby-5, this somewhat sick woman, which is a last resort.

"Go and keep an eye on those people, make sure they don't steal anything, and keep a close watch on them," he said coldly.

He didn't even glance at the bunch of grotesque-looking, vulgar pirates.

Baby-5 asked excitedly, "Young Master, do you need me to do something?"

Doflamingo knew her problem all too well, and could only nod mechanically at this moment: "Yes, I need you to keep an eye on those pirates and prevent them from stealing the family's things."

Baby-5 happily led a group of "working" pirates to the factory.

There is no training, no labor protection, you can start working on the same day, and you are paid daily.

Luffy, mingling among a group of pirates, clutched his stomach, his face contorted with discomfort: "I'm so hungry! You promised to provide food, why isn't it served yet? I want to eat meat..."

He pouted, his nose twitched twice, and there was a strange, unpleasant smell in the artificial Devil Fruit factory, like hydrochloric acid. His face fell.

He turned around and asked Rayleigh behind him, "Old man, didn't you say meals are provided here? When are we finally going to eat?"

Rayleigh's expression at this moment looked just like that of a conman introducing fellow villagers to work in the city... He scratched his head and said in a tone that sounded like he was trying to fool a fool, "Ah, they've probably already started cooking, right? We'll probably have to work first, and then we'll get our food."

He handed Luffy a meat pie: "Kid, eat something first, don't starve."

Luffy was overjoyed: "Thank you, sir!"

As a gambling addict, Rayleigh often sold himself to casinos, and now he's just "working" for them, without feeling the slightest bit ashamed.

Watching Luffy happily eating the biscuit, he asked seemingly casually, "Hey? Kid, where did you get your straw hat?"

Without even thinking, Luffy casually replied, "Shanks gave it to me. We made a promise that I would gather all my crewmates and then meet at the top of the pirate world!"

A hint of determination appeared on Luffy's elated expression. This was a promise he was determined to fulfill, even at the cost of his life. In his heart, Shanks was far more important than his father, whom he had never even met.

He followed Robin out of the barrel because of this promise, and he also approached Vivi, a complete stranger, to recruit him because of this promise. He doesn't overthink things; he just sets his sights on one goal and works hard at it. That's enough.

Rayleigh nodded slightly, "I see."

"Is he betting his future on this child?..." He muttered to himself. Luffy didn't hear him clearly. When he looked up again, Rayleigh had transformed back into that cheerful old conman.

"Huh? What were you saying just now, sir?"

"Hahaha, didn't say anything? Is it good? If it is, I have another piece of cake here."

Rayleigh was particularly experienced in dealing with these "fools," and somehow produced another meat pie. Luffy took it and ate it without saying a word, completely forgetting about the previous problem.

Chapter 227 Working-Class Luffy (Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and all the best)

The Pirate Princess Becomes King, Chapter 227: Working-Class Luffy Baby-5 recruited a large group of pirates and gambling addicts. She was busy with various tasks and soon brought the factory manager to assign the pirates to work.

Rayleigh used his extensive experience as a "working man" to lead Luffy in working at Doflamingo's artificial Devil Fruit factory. They pushed carts, dug holes, watered plants, and helped move things. This old man and young man duo did all kinds of work.

Dinner wasn't particularly lavish, but Doflamingo had killed quite a few pirates who were stealing ingredients today, so there was plenty of food left over, which ended up all going to Luffy, that glutton.

Doflamingo occasionally passed by them, unaware of their problem. He was busy; his Observation Haki was active 24/7. With thousands of people in the factory, it was impossible to examine each one closely. He could only give them a quick glance to see if they showed any signs of guilt or fear. As for what they looked like, he simply didn't have time to look.

"It seems like something just passed by?" Luffy asked Rayleigh curiously as he gnawed on a large bone club. Doflamingo's Observation Haki had swept over him earlier, and he had a feeling that something had passed by, but he didn't know exactly what it was.

Rayleigh said, "That's domineering aura."

"Domineering?" Luffy had never heard this word before.

"Hahaha, that's a long story. Do you want to learn?"

With a large piece of meat stuffed in his mouth, Luffy replied almost without thinking, "I don't want to."

Rayleigh: "..."

He muttered to himself, "I have experience dealing with this kind of idiot, I can tolerate it!"

He earnestly advised, "Why don't you think about it? During the previous ring match, you couldn't even last a single round. Doesn't that prove anything?"

Taking advantage of the moment when no one was looking, Luffy stretched out his arm and grabbed a plate of pig's trotters from the table next to him. Without even looking at it, he shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

He mumbled, "I'm really good, but... oh, I lost because I didn't eat enough!"

"That's not even a matter of having enough to eat! Can't you see the huge difference in strength?" Rayleigh felt a vein throbbing in his forehead. He rubbed his temples, terrified that a blood vessel in his brain would rupture and he'd die in this dilapidated factory...

"Hey? Uncle, aren't you going to eat?"

"...Yes, I'll eat too."

Luffy hasn't experienced any setbacks yet, and he doesn't believe that becoming the Pirate King has any necessary connection to his strength. Rayleigh had just started to say a lot when he had to swallow his words back.

What to do? Find this fool an enemy? Doflamingo?

Rayleigh glanced at Doflamingo from afar. This king of Dressrosa possessed all three types of Haki, had awakened his Devil Fruit ability, had rich combat experience, and was only forty years old, which was the peak of a person's life. To be honest, even if he were to fight this enemy, he would have to fight for a while. He could win, but the process would definitely not be easy.

Sending Luffy to fight now? That's practically suicide.

How to do it?

Rayleigh thought of the blind swordsman and the young blue-haired woman he had met at the casino. What if he let them deal with Doflamingo while he and Luffy watched from the sidelines? He quickly shook his head. No, he was a pirate, not one for such scheming. Having followed the Pirate King Roger for so many years, as the first mate, none of his plans had ever succeeded. Every time, the plan would go wrong once it was executed. Rayleigh himself was intelligent, but he had absolutely no confidence in his own schemes.

After eating and drinking his fill, Luffy started running around Doflamingo's artificial Devil Fruit factory, and Rayleigh had no choice but to follow.

It's perfectly normal for this simple-minded guy to like to wander around, and he wasn't surprised at all. On the contrary, watching Luffy wearing a straw hat and looking around, he felt the same passionate feeling he had when he was young.

"Sir? Are you also out to use the restroom?"

"...Huh? Ah, ah, yes, yes..."

Using Rayleigh's Observation Haki as cover, the old man and the young man wandered aimlessly around the factory, as if they were in an empty place.

Luffy had no idea how much trouble his act of being tricked by Rayleigh into "working" caused Ace and Robin.

Ace was quite carefree. After searching around twice and finding no one, he simply gave up and said confidently, "Maybe they went somewhere else to play?"

Robin was so frustrated he felt like vomiting blood; these two brothers were just too unreliable.

She called Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, but Dragon's attitude remained the same as before: whatever, Luffy is fine, it doesn't matter, you don't need to worry about him.

"Fine, I'm not going to interfere anymore!" Robin waved goodbye to Ace, completely abandoning her responsibilities regarding the brothers.

I wanted to go and chat with Weiwei, but after observing her secretly for a while, I found that Weiwei was not on the island and I didn't know what she was doing.

Seeing that things were getting increasingly chaotic in the Kingdom of Prodines, she packed her bag, boarded a ship alone, and left the whirlpool.

The New World is indeed very dangerous, and she feels that the first half of the Grand Line is more suitable for her.

While waiting for the boat, she saw a tall, blind man in a purple robe standing next to her.

"Do you need any help?" Robin had gotten so used to being a babysitter these past few days that she asked casually.

Yi Xiao turned and glanced at her, smiling kindly: "Thank you. Could you please help me find out where my guest room is?"

Robin glanced at his ticket: "Hmm, it's in second class. Shall I take you there in a bit?"

"Thank you, you're a kind person."

Robin was quite wary of strangers, and she asked casually, "Why did you come here, old man?"

Yi Xiao said with embarrassment, "It's really hard to say, but I'm a gambler... I lost all my money this time, which is why I left the island."

Robin isn't exactly a moral paragon; there are plenty of people in the pirate world who are addicted to gambling. When she was managing Baroque Works, she recruited quite a few gamblers, which is a very normal thing in this world. However, it's a bit strange that a blind person likes to gamble.

"Leaving at this time might be a good thing," she thought, recalling Weiwei's words of advice.

Yi Xiao nodded: "Yes, some people also reminded me to leave as soon as possible."

He'll be a Marine Admiral in the future, but not now. What will he do if the Marines surround him? Can he rely on their database for facial recognition? With 100,000 pirates present, the Marines will swarm in, making it impossible to distinguish them all. Will he resist or not? He'd better get out of there.

Robin had a similar thought: this place was not safe to stay any longer, so they should run away quickly.

"I'm heading to Alabasta. Where are you going, young lady?"

Robin looked at him strangely and smiled: "What a coincidence, I'm also planning to go to Alabasta."

With Luffy no longer a major variable, Robin and Issho quickly boarded the ship together, leaving the Prodens Kingdom and returning to the first half of the Grand Line.

Chapter 228 Each Person's Fate

Some things have changed, and some things are changing.

East China Sea, Xiluobu Village.

In this small village, a topic of conversation arose today: Usopp, the troublemaker who has been causing chaos in the village and calls himself the captain of the Usopp Pirates, is setting sail!

The simple villagers disliked this child who talked nonsense, didn't like to work, and was single-mindedly focused on becoming a pirate. They didn't respond to his grand pronouncements about going to sea.

Go out to sea? Go ahead, don't come back—that's the villagers' attitude.

The villagers' lukewarm response left Usopp, who had arrived at the beach early hoping to receive praise, feeling very disappointed.

The thin, weak, 16-year-old boy, who knew no swordsmanship, no Haki, and had never eaten a Devil Fruit, stood trembling on the shore. The sea breeze blew snot out of his nose. He held on to his last bit of stubbornness, afraid that he would be defeated by fear and say something that would disappoint his childhood friend.

On the vast beach, only the seemingly delicate and wealthy young lady, Kaya, came to see him off.

Kaya's parents fell seriously ill, and it was said that only doctors on the Grand Line could treat them. Usopp volunteered to make a trip to the Grand Line for his childhood friend and bring the doctor back.

"Usopp, are you really okay...? Don't you need to hire some more helpers?" Kaya was indeed very rich. She prepared a lot of supplies and money for Usopp and even gave him a sailboat called "Going Merry".

"Of course, no problem! I'm Captain Usopp!" Usopp straightened his back and raised his chin, not wanting his sweetheart to see the fear in his eyes. He was so flustered that his thinking ability was almost zero, and he could only say things that he usually said without thinking.

To boost his beloved's confidence, he patted his chest and declared, "Once we leave the village, my eight thousand men will join me. The Grand Line is nothing! I will become a sea hero like Crocodile!"

Thanks to the deliberate promotion by "certain people," the story of the poor boy Crocodile and the rich girl Lola has now spread from the Grand Line to all corners of the seas. This story has had a tremendous impact on Usopp!

Poor boy, rich girl—isn't that a perfect description of him and Kaya? In his eyes, Crocodile had already reached the pinnacle of life. What was this? This was a living example!

Crocodile can do it, and so can I! He's dreamed of becoming a pirate since he was a child, and lately he's been having a lot of dreams about becoming a great pirate and a Shichibukai.

He was too young to go to sea when his mother was seriously ill, but now that Kaya's parents are sick, he feels he should take on the responsibility that belongs to men of the sea.

Too nervous, Usopp hurriedly set sail, not daring to look into the eyes of his beloved, and naturally failed to notice the sinister smile on the butler's face beside her.

Usopp doesn't have eight thousand men; he's just a lone commander, without even a pet.

Fortunately, the Going Merry was not a large ship, and he had studied a variety of things. He wasn't an expert in things like raising the sails, steering, and reading the compass, but he could handle most of them. With his own skill, the sailboat slowly sailed away from the village of Sirob.