13
The Thirteenth Day of Survival: Because He Is Your Brother, Doflamingo…
The Thirteenth Day of Survival:
Corazon’s speculation was well-founded.
It was known that Wendy had been raised by Garp (a reasonable self-deduction based on the circumstances); Garp was a standard Marine Vice Admiral with a strong sense of justice, considerable prestige, and an impressive record—a good man; and Wendy herself, upon actual interaction, proved to be an agreeable and easy-to-communicate-with, well-behaved child…
Summarizing it like this, which variable was the problem became clear at a glance! The culprit had to be Doflamingo!
Having reached this conclusion, Corazon froze in place for a moment. And in that brief gap, Wendy had already run off; he didn’t have time to call out to her.
During times when he wasn’t alone, he still had to dutifully play the mute, so Corazon could only remain silent and walk away.
After that, Corazon didn’t particularly approach Wendy, maintaining his usual demeanor. This was also to preserve his persona.
His main purpose in joining the Donquixote Family was to thwart his older brother’s evil ambitions. Because of this, the image he projected within the family wasn’t a friendly one—especially toward children.
After the Donquixote Family’s reputation spread, many children came seeking to join for various reasons. Corazon drove all these children away, earning himself a reputation within the family as someone who liked to hit kids.
Of course, Wendy wasn’t among these children. For one, Wendy had long been a family member; if not for Corazon being Doflamingo’s blood relative, his status would even be inferior to Wendy’s. For another… Wendy wasn’t a child, something the senior executives were well aware of, having watched her show no physical changes over six years.
If Wendy knew what they were thinking, she would definitely refute it—she had changed! She switched her skins so often, how could these people still not see it!
As for physical size changes, that would require the game to unlock more features and allow mod downloads.
For now, she had only unlocked the Skin Shop.
Although Corazon didn’t approach Wendy, Wendy’s attitude toward him improved considerably. After all, he was now a little companion, and some game functions and items could only be shared with companions. For example, the Shared Map Scroll she had tricked him into making earlier, or the Telltale Heart that could revive teammates.
Wendy’s thinking was actually quite simple—since Corazon and Doflamingo were from different factions, she definitely needed to grind both lines!
She wouldn’t expose Corazon’s act of playing mute; her improved attitude merely meant paying a bit more attention in daily interactions and having some occasional exchanges.
Most others in the family didn’t even really notice… except, of course, for Doflamingo.
“You and Corazon have gotten quite close recently?” Doflamingo asked after observing and confirming, his tone ambiguous. “Did something happen?”
Doflamingo knew Wendy’s personality well—she didn’t care about anyone besides him, as if others weren’t even the same species. She’d chat with them if she was happy or found them useful, and simply treat them as air if she wasn’t, carrying an air of condescending arrogance without even realizing it.
He didn’t mind this kind of personality, and even subtly encouraged its amplification. After all, her attitude toward him was special—others simply didn’t matter.
Since she wouldn’t harm members of the Donquixote Family, the fact that she considered only him as family was something worth maintaining.
But now, it seemed a variable had emerged…
“Yeah, that’s right.” Unaware of his thoughts, Wendy nodded directly and gave her reason, “Because he’s your brother, Doffy.”
Wendy was telling the truth—if Corazon weren’t Doflamingo’s brother, she wouldn’t have considered him a friend.
Doflamingo fell silent for a moment, then curled his lips into a clearly pleased smile: “Is that so… Then get along well with Corazon.”
Corazon’s feigned appearance seemed harmless on the surface. Everyone attributed it to “being traumatized in the past, now acting somewhat slow and foolish”… Doflamingo knew the real reason behind this “slowness.”
Corazon’s behavior was meant to reduce his sense of threat and presence, making it easier for his undercover mission.
He could even pretend to hate children due to his personality, violently beating those who came seeking refuge.
Doflamingo didn’t mind this—Corazon’s actions served as a kind of screening. Only those who still wanted to stay and had the ability to endure under such high-pressure conditions and violent obstacles were truly sincere about joining the family and worth cultivating.
In the end, nearly a hundred children had been driven to tears and fled after being brutally beaten into facing reality the very next day. Only two remained, stubbornly refusing to leave—one named Buffalo, and the other named Baby 5.
Buffalo was a chubby boy, while Baby 5 was a seemingly well-behaved and cute little girl. Both were homeless children who stubbornly insisted on staying with the Donquixote Family.
Seeing their persistence, Doflamingo eventually accepted them into the family.
Of course, they still get beaten by Corazon to this day.
And today, another new child seeking refuge arrived, calling himself “Law.”
After checking the supplies in the refrigerator, Wendy was excitedly heading to show her newly-skinned Walking Stick to her companions when she entered the room and saw Corazon—who had accidentally set his feathered coat on fire while trying to light a cigarette—frantically trying to put out the flames. Beside him knelt a child wearing a white felt hat, clutching his face with blood streaming from his nose and face, his expression twisted in agony.
Having witnessed this child-beating scenario many times before, she was long accustomed to it. Curiously, she asked, “What happened? Another new recruit?”
“Ah, Wendy.” Executive Diamante looked over and greeted her obsequiously, explaining the situation: “It’s a new kid who joined. Says he’s sick and only has three years left to live, wants to join our family to kill people. Then Corazon taught him a lesson.”
He ingratiated himself with Wendy because he knew her status wasn’t low, and she was quite useful to the family, bringing considerable benefits. Plus, there was the favoritism shown by Doflamingo, both as the BOSS and captain, toward Wendy… Ever since he made a remark that angered her last time and got beaten up by her ghost sister without being able to fight back, he realized who in this family was the last person to provoke.
Though Wendy’s ghost sister’s attacks weren’t fatal, they still hurt quite a bit. And Wendy herself would join in, poking him with a spear while a crowd gathered to laugh at him… In short, it wouldn’t kill him, but the humiliation was extreme.
After learning his lesson the hard way, Diamante gained some wisdom and suddenly understood why Trebol, who was often targeted by Wendy, never held a grudge or showed dissatisfaction toward her… That guy didn’t even warn him!
“I see…” Wendy looked over. The child who had been half-kneeling on the ground had stood up, wiping the blood from his face with his hand. Paired with his gloomy and fierce expression, it made him look somewhat intimidating.
But she had seen plenty of such expressions over the years. Not to mention others, most of the executives in the Donquixote Family were eccentric in appearance, and enemies were even more so. She even took a few extra glances, giving the child some approval—a good-looking NPC, by this world’s modeling standards, he was the refined type. Most likely, he would join the family!
“I understand. Corazon, why did you set yourself on fire again? Be more careful next time.” After watching Corazon finally extinguish the flames on himself and hold up a piece of white paper with “I’m fine” written on it, Wendy nodded in satisfaction and turned back to Diamante. “Where’s Doffy?”
Diamante: “He went to the ship. Do you need something, Wendy?”
Wendy happily showed off her Walking Stick with its new skin—a staff topped with a budding crimson rose, with green stems forming the shaft. It emitted a faint rose fragrance and scattered rose petals as she walked.
“I have a new skin for my Walking Stick! I want to show Doffy!”
Diamante immediately flattered her: “What a beautiful Walking Stick! It matches your current outfit perfectly! I’m sure Doffy will love it too!”
“Of course!” Wendy replied cheerfully and left with her new Walking Stick.
Law had been staring intently at Wendy since she appeared. After she left, he turned to Diamante: “Hey! Didn’t you say the captain was too busy to deal with anyone? Who is that woman? How come she gets to see him?”
Diamante nearly laughed in exasperation: “Huh? Doffy is too busy to deal with brats like you. How can you compare to the status of the one who just left?”
Law frowned and said bluntly, “She looks weak, not strong at all.”
“Kid, if you want to survive in this family, don’t say things like that carelessly.” Diamante offered a well-meaning reminder. “She’s far more useful than all of you combined!”
…That person who looked only a few years older than him and seemed utterly weak?—Law was filled with doubt as he glanced in the direction Wendy had left.
The next second, he was slapped to the ground.
Law scrambled up from the ground, turning his head to glare with pure hatred at the blond youth who had just slapped him—forget about that strange woman for now! He absolutely had to kill this bastard first!!!