Freedom.
Kong Tai put down his wine gourd, looked up at the spire of the towering building that was empty, and smiled silently.
He had noticed the pirate when he first looked at the Freedom.
Judging by how flustered the guy looked, he clearly recognized him.
And he had also seen the guy making a phone call next.
But he hadn't stopped him.
He had arrived, openly. As long as Doflamingo was on the island, that guy wouldn't escape.
So he didn't care at all about this ant-like pirate tipping off the authorities.
Even if the pirate ran away after reporting, he wouldn't care.
After all, pirates, in this world, were endless.
An elephant wouldn't care about an ant at its feet, would it?
He withdrew his gaze, Kong Tai lowered his head, and looked at the prosperous port in front of him.
A strange cold light flashed in his eyes.
Prosperous, very prosperous.
As a famous kingdom in the New World.
The Kingdom of Dressrosa was a very important commercial island in the New World.
It was not only a member of the World Government but also one of the twenty kingdoms that had founded the World Government eight hundred years ago.
And the family of Donquixote Doflamingo was once the royal family of Dressrosa.
It was only after establishing the World Government that the entire Donquixote family moved to Mariejois, the Holy Land, and became Celestial Dragons.
This allowed the throne of Dressrosa to fall into other hands.
And it was for this reason that Doflamingo chose this place as his base after becoming a Shichibukai, to reclaim the kingdom that rightfully belonged to his family.
However, the means by which this guy reclaimed Dressrosa were a bit too cruel.
Looking at the prosperous, bustling Dressrosa, Kong Tai's eyes divided the world into two parts.
The upper part was the prosperous, lively, oblivious, and happy "Toy Kingdom of Love and Passion."
The lower part was an abyss of despair, where countless people were turned into toys, forced to labor underground, unable to see even a glimmer of hope.
Light and darkness had never been so clearly reflected in Kong Tai's senses.
The genuine happiness of the civilians living on the island was impossible to fake.
Kong Tai could feel that they were truly happy.
But upon closer examination, one would discover the sorrow deep within their souls, beneath that happiness.
Forgetting their loved ones, forgetting everything about those closest to them, and then starting a new, happy life.
This power, which seemed to have severed time, placed the entire Dressrosa in a state of false happiness.
However, no matter how much the brilliance of human nature was suppressed, the deepest rationality would always remain.
This was why Kong Tai could feel the despair and sorrow deep beneath the superficial happiness.
"It must be painful!"
Whether it was the people on the island who were superficially happy and had forgotten their loved ones, or those who had been turned into toys and could not express any emotion, or even those who could not shed tears when their dearest ones died.
It must be so painful!
"Sugar, Doflamingo."
Kong Tai's eyelids drooped, and his sapphire pupils revealed a killing intent that chilled the soul.
To so wantonly toy with lives, to toy with hundreds of thousands of people in a country, was more devilish than a devil.
If he hadn't sensed a familiar aura on the dock, he would have already teleported to the highlands in the center of the island to deal with Doflamingo directly.
But, no rush.
Killing Doflamingo directly, though satisfying, would yield no benefits afterward.
Kong Tai had sent the Firebird to Dressrosa for them to witness the darkness of Dressrosa firsthand.
Once this place was fully exposed, it would not only truly save Dressrosa but also strike a blow against the World Government.
Killing two birds with one stone.
As for Sugar...
Kong Tai had no intention of letting the Hobby Hobby Fruit appear on the seas again.
After all, this thing was too buggy and too evil.
This was not Bass/Bodac's Forget-Forget Fruit.
This thing seemed to have no limitations. As long as one didn't lose consciousness, one could turn people into toys indefinitely.
If left unchecked, this thing could truly and easily destroy any country.
It would be fine in the hands of a good person, but in the hands of a bad person, it would become another Dressrosa like this.
Soon, the Freedom docked steadily in the harbor.
No foolhardy pirates dared to approach. Even the burly men who disembarked from merchant ships and looked like troublemakers kept their distance from Kong Tai and his companions who had disembarked from the Freedom.
"Morgans."
"Silver Hair."
Kong Tai looked at the bird-like man in front of him, with small eyes, white feathers all over, a large tail, and hands shaped like wings. He wore a black top hat with a red and white feather stuck in it, a light blue shirt, a yellow bow tie, red and white checkered trousers, and a black cloak. Kong Tai directly called out his name.
And Morgans also called out Kong Tai's name.
"This is our first meeting. You can just call me Kong Tai."
Kong Tai extended his right hand to Morgans and said with a smile, "Hello."
"Mm! Hello."
Morgans also extended his right hand and shook Kong Tai's hand politely.
Although he knew a lot of information about Kong Tai and knew that Kong Tai was very young, he was still surprised by their youth when he actually met Kong Tai and Kuina.
"Seventeen or eighteen years old, peak world powerhouses!"
He hadn't expected that one of his sensational remarks back then would actually come true.
Although Kong Tai and his group only numbered eight, no pirate crew in the entire New World dared to underestimate them.
Including the Yonko.
And the fact that they were now calling themselves the fifth emperor of the sea, there would likely be no one in the current New World to disagree.
And it was believed that it wouldn't be long before Kong Tai and his group, who had arrived in the New World, became the true emperors of the New World.
It all depended on when Kong Tai decided to challenge the Yonko.
Thinking of this, Morgans' gaze towards Kong Tai was filled with excitement.
"Hello, Brother Silver Hair, hello, Elder Sister Kuina, hello, Brother Ah Hua, Brother Ah Tao, Brother Ah Luo..."
Behind Morgans, a bird with a pink coat and a rooster comb, wearing a camera around its neck, stepped forward and greeted Kong Tai and his group one by one.
Now, due to Kong Tai's influence, he had replaced another senior at the newspaper and had completely become Morgans' right-hand man.
Kong Tai released Morgans' wing, nodded at the Firebird, and then asked, "How long have you been here?"
"Not long, we just arrived a few days ago."
Morgans laughed heartily.
He was the president of the World Economic Journal, busy every day. How could he have come to Dressrosa to wait without noticing Kong Tai's whereabouts!
He had spotted Kong Tai and his group a few days prior, and that's when he and the Firebird set off.
They had only arrived a day earlier than Kong Tai and his group.