One Piece Chapter 723: Change of Plans

In front of Dressrosa's Corrida Colosseum, cheers roar from within, but outside the building the Straw Hats' scattered rescue plans keep colliding. Sanji is the first to snap, telling Kin'emon, "I've got way more business worrying about Nami-san than you do!! And you know that she'd much prefer that I save her!!" Zoro cuts through the argument with, "That's why I'm going!!" Sanji fires back, "Fine, just go then!!" Kin'emon receives a map and is told, "Kinemon, this is a map to the toy house where your friend is being held." He answers, "Ohhh many thanks!" Wicca and the others hand over a way to contact the ship: "If you're able to meet up with Luffy, this will connect you to the Sunny-Go!! Let's try to confirm everyone's whereabouts and safety." One group heads back toward the Sunny-Go while the others remain fixed on reaching Luffy inside the locked colosseum.

At the colosseum entrance, Sanji asks the obvious question: "So, how do we see Luffy?" Kin'emon admits that this is exactly why he has been stuck outside: "I know not, which is why I've been standing here, that it is!! Every entrance is firmly shut..." He remembers that acting strangely once led to his capture, yet his proposed solution is still, "Alright, should we cut down this wall?" Sanji and Zoro immediately object: "That counts as acting strangely, that it does!!" and "It's not a matter of your enthusiasm!" Kin'emon and Zoro compromise only in the most dangerous way possible: "Okay, we'll cut it gently." Behind the bars, Bartolomeo trembles at the sight of Zoro, crying, "That's the pirate hunter Zoro-senpai!!!" He praises Zoro's legend from Whiskey Peak to Enies Lobby, calls him Luffy's right hand and possible vice captain, then sobs, "He's soooo cool!! Hup, I can't stop crying..."

At Dressrosa's Royal Palace, Gladius' rage is literally swelling out of him. Baby 5 approaches with caution: "Gladius..." then, "Could you calm down a little?" Gladius can barely contain himself. "Baby-5... The betrayal of that woman... do you have any idea how much she's screwed up our plans!?" He lays out the scale of Violet's treason: she captured "Black Leg Sanji" and extracted all of the enemies' strategies from his mind. With that knowledge, the Donquixote Family could have stopped the Straw Hats at every turn and "killed every one of them...!!" Instead, Violet turned on her own side. Gladius explodes further, asking what she did next: "Brought down her own men and ran away!?" Baby 5 panics as his body distorts: "Kyahhh calm down!! Are you gonna explode here and now!!?"

Gladius' fury keeps rising as the page identifies him as Donquixote Family (Pica Squad): Gladius. He snarls, "Now I've lost control of the plans and the time!! I hate it enough to die!!" Baby 5 admits the family cannot overlook this: "Not to mention that we... well... Anyone who betrays young master... we can't let them live!" Gladius begins thinking backward through Violet's behavior. With her clairvoyance, she should have found the Straw Hats' ship the previous day, yet she had been acting strangely since the night before. The implication is sharp: Violet did not merely fail to report the enemy; she deliberately protected them. The Donquixote Family now understands that the information network they trusted has been turned against them.

In northeast Dressrosa, on the road toward Green Bit, Sanji and Violet ride hard while adjusting the rendezvous. Sanji protests, "Noooo this just won't do, Violet-channn!!" but Violet stays focused on survival. An old man reminds her, "You have to keep your promise and wait for me at the harbor. Hehe hehe!" Violet answers that the harbor is already crawling with Marines and says it would be best to choose a different location for the meeting. Sanji reacts to the scale of the Marine presence: "Really, the Marines..." There are four battleships in all, and even a low estimate would put at least 3,000 Marines in the country. Violet is impressed that he gathered that information in such a short time. Their plan has changed because Dressrosa is no longer just Doflamingo's trap; it is also surrounded by Navy pressure.

Violet reassures Sanji that he should not worry about her: "So you shouldn't worry about me. There's no way I'll be caught by my pursuers." She explains the reach of her power with precision: "Through my 'clairvoyance,' I can send out my 'sight' as if it were a bird in a 4000 kilometer radius." As long as she remains there, she can see everything happening in the country. Sanji realizes the consequence: "...So you're going to keep to the plan?" Violet begins, "At this point, I'll..." but calms him with, "No, don't worry..." Then her vision catches something sudden and disastrous. The Sunny-Go is struck by something like lightning, and the alarm races through her: "What is it!/? This is terrible!! Your ship was just struck by lightning!!" Others in the street stare up and ask, "Light-ning!?" while someone mutters, "Hmm? If it's lightning..."

Off Dressrosa, en route to Green Bit, the Thousand Sunny rocks on rough water while the crew deals with Jora after defeating her. Nami looks at the fallen, swollen artist and asks, "So, what do we do with this?" Brook says, "Bone-kichi!! I also gave her a blow, that I did!!" and then notices, "Ehhh! You've got quite an arm." They cannot simply toss Jora overboard because, as Nami says, "We can't just throw her over-board." Chopper realizes, "She's an ability user... yeah..." Brook immediately twists the situation into his usual joke: "And I have no desire to see her panties!!" Jora, humiliated and angry, cries, "Wh!! Who... are you calling Miss Universe!!!" Momonosuke, still in child form, looks at his improvised weapon and asks, "Is... is that so. I do have quite an arm..."

On the Sunny, Nami tries to bring the situation back to Law's plan: "Anyway, right now we need to hurry over to Tora-man." Chopper asks, "But how did Caesar's exchange turn out?" Brook says, "We should return Caesar as promised..." and someone adds, "That's right. Because Doflamingo quit the Shichibukai..." Jora, sprawled and furious, insists they understand nothing: "Y...you people... you don't know anything do you... How auspicious... ohobo..." She reveals the trap beneath the negotiation: "Young master, he never took any of the negotiations with you brats seriously...!! And young master surely never quit the Shichibukai...!!!" The crew recoils, asking, "What on earth do you mean!!!" Jora declares, "You've all fallen right into the trap!! By now, Violet will have revealed everything, and all your friends... will have been captured!!" Nami's fear for the others becomes immediate.

On Green Bit, Law faces Doflamingo and Admiral Fujitora, and the buried truth of Doflamingo's lineage comes out. Law says, "A Tenryuubito, Doflamingo...!!!" Doflamingo answers Law's deduction with amusement: "So then, you were..." then corrects the tense himself: "Yes. 'Were' is correct. But no longer." He laughs at the words people use to excuse their lives: "What is 'blood'...!? What is 'destiny'...!?" and says there are few who have carved as checkered and hapless a life as his own. Law cannot afford to indulge the story. He thinks of the Straw Hat crew members still on Dressrosa, the many outsiders who in the past underestimated the crew and were burned for it, and the urgent need to do something about them. Doflamingo says he would have loved to tell Law the story of his life over drinks, "But there's no time for anything like that right now."

Fujitora turns his face toward the sea. Doflamingo asks, "What's wrong, Fujitora?" and the admiral answers, "...Oh, it's... I thought I heard a peal of thunder... out at sea..." Doflamingo checks the weather and says, "The sky's perfectly clear... Thunder...!?" Law instantly understands: "...!! Weather Control is gotta be Nami-ya... So the ship's come." Fujitora, despite closed eyes, says, "Even though my eyes are closed... I should be able to sense at least the movement of clouds." Law, holding Caesar's heart, admits, "I don't remember ever saying... that that was Caesar's heart...!!" Caesar realizes the deception and screams, "Oi, Joker!! Quickly!!! If you've already stolen it back, then give it here! My heart, my heart!!" The battlefield shifts because Law has hidden the true hostage until this exact moment.

Caesar finally realizes what Law has been squeezing all along and panics: "How dare you!!? You've been threatening me with that all day!!!" Law confirms the trick coldly: "And it's true... right now there's nothing inside my chest!!!" Fujitora registers the deception, while Caesar asks, "Ehhh!? Some Marine!? Well then where's mine!!?" Around them, Marines shout as Doflamingo prepares to strike. One voice calls, "Hey!! What's wrong? Pull yourself together!" another cries, "Kyahhh!!" and someone asks, "What did you do!! That cry came from one of my men!!" Doflamingo moves with "Heavenly Demon!" but Law spreads his ability over Green Bit with a huge "Room!!" The entire field is pulled into his operating space, setting up the escape move he has been buying time for.

Law uses "Shambles!!" just as Fujitora and Doflamingo close in. Fujitora notes calmly, "You've really been holding me down with that 'gravity' of yours, Fujitora," and Law answers, "But I'll be escaping now..." With a pop and a clean cut through the terrain, Law switches positions and snatches Caesar out of immediate danger. Caesar screams, "Joker!! Save me!!" while Law's power throws the battlefield into chaos. Doflamingo recognizes the remaining strength in Law's ability: "!! So you still had some of that power!! Law!!!" Caesar, yanked along and terrified, wails, "Uwahhh!!" Fujitora, watching a childlike stubbornness in Law's refusal to surrender, remarks, "That child just doesn't know when to give up..."

Law escapes with Caesar strapped and dragged along, but Caesar immediately screams, "Let go of me, Law, you bastard!!!" and demands, "And where's my heart, anyway!!!" Doflamingo sees through the purpose of the entire delay: "So you were just buying time, brat!!!" Law does not deny it, but the situation is still desperate. He tells Caesar, "But there's no place to hide, is there!!?" On the Sunny, the crew strains through fog and waves near the strange forest. A voice asks, "Can you see Tora-man?" and Nami answers, "The fog's making it tough, but I can see a strange forest." The ship is close enough to matter, but that also means it has drifted into the same deadly zone as Doflamingo, Fujitora, Law, Caesar, and Green Bit's surrounding sea.

The Sunny crew tries to decide what to do with Caesar while danger circles from every side. Brook asks, "So... what do we do after getting Caesar?" Nami realizes, "Then Doflamingo will come after us, right?" Momonosuke blurts, "Eh!? That's scary!!" The answer arrives from the sea before they can finish planning. Something huge slams near the ship and the crew cries, "There's something in the water!!" Chopper shouts, "Ehh!? What!? What!? What was that!?" A massive fish crashes alongside them, and the crew identifies the threat: "It's a school of f...f...fighting fish!!" and "They're the murderous fish that can even sink battleships!!" Law's warning lands too late: "You went and got too close to the island!!" The ship is now caught between pursuing enemies and Green Bit's violent wildlife.

Law, breathing hard, turns his retreat into a deliberate lure. Facing Doflamingo, he says, "That's right, follow me, Doflamingo!!!" His map-like plan becomes clear: the Sunny is near Dressrosa, Caesar is with Law, and Doflamingo is positioned on Green Bit. Law intends to force Doflamingo toward the bridge and away from the ship. He thinks, "If he goes for the ship now, we're done for!! I'll lead him as far as the bridge and then send Caesar over... If I can face him alone on the bridge...!! I can buy enough time for the ship to escape..." Doflamingo understands the tactic and asks, "What? You intend to cross the bridge!?" Law answers that if Doflamingo heads to Dressrosa, then he will be on Law's home turf. The trap becomes a gamble of distance, timing, and exhaustion.

Doflamingo reads Law's move with a grin: "Ahhh so that's your game." Law sees the danger at once and curses, "Shit...!!! You guys!!" On the Sunny, panic erupts as someone shouts, "What is it now!?" and the crew realizes, "Doflamingo's flying towards us...!!!" Law yells after him, "Wait, Doflamingo!!!" but Doflamingo sails through the air laughing, "Fuffu-fuffu!!" Law protests, "They've got nothing to do with this!!" Doflamingo only smiles wider: "Fuffuffu now watch closely, Law!! Watch as your allied crew is murdered in cold blood!!!" On the ship, Caesar screams, "Young master!!!" while Nami cries, "Why won't this nightmare end!? We're gonna die!!!" and another voice adds, "I don't wish to die!!!" Law's lure has failed; Doflamingo is going straight for the Straw Hats.

Doflamingo closes in on the Sunny, and the crew can only plead, "Tora-man, save us..." Then Sanji drops from the sky. With a violent kick labeled Black Leg's Heavenly Demon, he slams Doflamingo away before the attack can reach the ship and shouts, "Don't you dare get any closer!!!!" The Sunny erupts in shock: "Sanji!!!" Law sees him and yells, "Sanji!!!" Doflamingo steadies himself in midair and admits, "Hohhh... Looks like someone strong has showed up." Sanji faces him with fury and asks, "Of all times, when my friends are in distress..." The interruption changes the battle at the last possible second. Doflamingo, who thought he had Law's allied crew helpless before him, now has another dangerous opponent standing between him and Nami.

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