Chapter 150 - Chapter 152

Byakuya was jumping from rooftop to rooftop with a serious look on his face, he was also looking at all the people in this country and trying to come up with the best way to keep them all safe during this war. This wasn't the place where they had planned to deal with Kaido, so he was trying to come up with a plan right here on the spot.

He was quickly approaching the castle where Doflamingo lived so he sped up and traveled the last bit of distance in a single flash jump. He arrived at the entrance of the castle and was greeted with the sigh of two people standing by the entrance and talking with smiles on their faces. They were baby 5 and Buffalo and Baby 5 noticed Byakuya first and she immediately backed off in shock and surprise.

"B-B-Billion blades BYAKUYA!" She screamed out his name in fright but also with a little nervousness mixed into her tone.

"I'm here to see my grandfather. Take me to him." Byakuya commanded sternly. Buffalo stood in a stupor at the sudden appearance of one of the most powerful pirates in the world.

Baby 5 forced herself out of her shocked state and smiled at him, "Of course, Sir!" Baby 5 and all of Doflamingo's subordinates had been informed about the new alliance between these two pirate groups. Albeit, an alliance was not exactly the right word to describe the relationship between the two groups. The Gotei was more like the parent and the Donquixote was the child that could do nothing but obey the parent. Amell never put it like this but Doflamingo knew exactly what kind of position his family had in this relationship. And Doflamingo understood that his position with the Gotei wouldn't change until Amell felt he could trust the Donquixote family, which might be never.

"Then get walking!" Byakuya commanded harshly again since Baby 5 still hadn't started walking.

Baby 5 saluted to Byakuya. She didn't know why she did so, but it felt appropriate. Something about his aura, and his tone of voice, and just the way he carried himself with such an incredible amount of authority. She felt like if he commanded her to get down on her knees and shoot herself in the head, she wouldn't be able to resist it. It was an invisible pressure that he constantly exuded that made his every word impossible to ignore.

She and Buffalo started walking into the castle, and the reason why he even needed a guide to finding his grandfather at all was that since the last time Byakuya saw Amell, he had gotten even more masterful at controlling his worldly presence. Byakuya was pretty sure that Amell could hide from even observation haki if he really wanted to, but that was of course the only speculation on his part.

"Who is that hanging above your shoulder by the way?" Baby 5 looked curiously over at the man Byakuya was carrying around on his shoulder.

"Vash, one of Gotei's commanders," Byakuya said without bothering to use a pleasant tone when answering her.

"Oh, I've heard scary stuff about him. Is it true that he invaded a small kingdom in North blue and declared himself king after having slaughtered the entire royal guard, including the king himself?" Buffalo asked with a slight excitement peaking through his tone. He appeared to be a fan of Vash by how he was looking at him.

"Curiosity killed the cat," Byakuya said slowly and glared at Buffalo.

"What cat?" Buffalo asked in plain naivety since the meaning behind what Byakuya had said had somehow escaped Buffalo.

"Nothing about a cat, Buffalo. It means there are questions you shouldn't ask since they can get you killed." Baby 5 held up a finger and explained what she knew. And at the same time, she glanced over at Byakuya with slightly rose-colored cheeks.

"Anyway, what happened to him?" She looked at Vash and asked with a slight smile on her lips.

"Couldn't hold his liquor"

"Really? A lightweight? Interesting!" Baby 5 smiled to herself. "Are all the Gotei commanders lightweights?" She glanced back at Byakuya with a mysterious glint in her eyes.

"I don't know, but I don't drink," He said looking mostly uninterested in the current subject of conversation.

"Oh, I see" The glint in her eyes disappeared and she went back to choosing silence while leading Byakuya through the impressive halls of this castle.

It took about five more minutes for them to reach the doors leading into Doflamingo's personal office. For someone that knew a war was just hours away at this point, Byakuya was surprisingly calm and relaxed in his behavior. Maybe this had something to do with the fact that he knew that the strongest person in the world was behind this very door. That fact alone brought comfort to him, also a strong sense of pride for being related to that person.

"We're here. Let me just check that the young master is in." Baby 5 went to knock on the gigantic door, but Byakuya didn't bother waiting since he could sense Doflamingo inside, and now that he was this close he could also feel Amell's aura inside. But Amell's aura was faint and distant, so loose and quiet that Byakuya had to focus intently on Amell's aura to not lose it.

"Wait! You can't go in there! The young master will punish me!" Baby 5 yelled in a panic after Byakuya walked passed her and went directly up to the double doors and pushed them open.

Inside the room sat Doflamingo in his chair in front of his window that looked out over the city. He has a few of his subordinates in his room as well, and all of them looked nervous to be here, and that most likely had something to do with Amell sitting in a chair right next to Doflamingo. His presence put a nervous spin on everything here. The only two people that weren't uncomfortable was Doflamingo and Amell.

"Byakuya, welcome to Dressrosa, what are you doing here?" Amell asked after locking eyes with his grandson. Before Byakuya answered that question he put down Vash and then bowed down on one knee as he usually would when meeting with Amell.

"Honorable Grandfather, our plans have needed to be changed. Kaido is on his way here, we don't know the nature of his visit but we imagine that someone in the world government informed him about you being here." Amell looked away from the window and his gaze landed on his grandson.

"How many men is he bringing with him?" Doflamingo asked with a somewhat worried tone. If Kaido had for some reason gotten word on his betrayal, this day was about to get a lot more stressful.

"As far as we know, Queen is still in Wano, but everyone else is on the move towards Dressrosa." Byakuya's tone went stoic when answering Doflamingo. He made sure to shower the Warlord with plenty of killing intent to drive his point home about how he did not enjoy being questioned by anyone else than Amell.

"So it appears that this war will start a little earlier than expected. But no worries, this is still perfectly acceptable. Byakuya, contact Kenshin and have him continue his mission in Wano. So except for Kenshin and thirteen, have every commander rush here, and tell them they got max two hours to get here." Amell's tone was calm and collected and it helped to ease the minds of all the worried minds inside this room.

"Yes, Grandfather!" Byakuya got up and performed a slight bow before disappearing in a burst of speed, not even Doflamingo could track.

"So that's the legendary Billion blades. I must say, he takes a lot from you, it's close to impossible to try and measure his strength in any normal sense." Doflamingo turned to Amell and saw that he has closed his eyes and now sat completely relaxed in his chair with one leg crossed over the other.

"You're right about that. But he inherited more than just my power. Out of his father and him, he was the one that got the lion's heart. He is the perfect candidate for the seat as the head of the Gotei, so hopefully, when I can retire in a few years, he will still be around to take that seat from me." Amell spoke with closed eyes and a tranquil and soothing tone of voice.

"I didn't think it was possible for an emperor to retire. I guess you learn something new every day." Doflamingo smiled nonchalantly and stared out the window and looked towards the horizon, waiting for Kaido's fleet to appear.

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End