Chapter 44: The Royal Family

Chapter 44: The Royal Family

__________ POV Narration__________

Rebecca was confused at first, not really knowing what the commotion was about in the arena.

She wasn't exactly liked by many people there, so no one actually talked to her.

Her lineage was actually hated due to Doflamingo manipulating everyone into thinking they had been incompetent rulers and tyrants.

She didn't expect some of the gladiators to suddenly start spewing slurs and hate Doflamingo with a passion.

But this was similar all across the city when people regained their memories of their loved ones as soon as Sugar was knocked out.

Rebecca, the pink-haired princess also received quite a few apologies from some of the gladiators, as now they knew that Doflamingo was the cause for their suffering.

The next thing that shocked Rebecca was seeing her Aunt, Viola, walk into the hall and scream out for her.

Kyros also came in, but Rebecca had some issues remembering him at first. Then all of her memories came back to her, as her eyes widened and tears started falling.

A lot of the gladiators could now recognize Kyros too, a legend that had conquered the arena at some point, his statue still standing tall in their halls.

Even when missing a leg, Kyros still had the presence fitting of a champion of the arena, and many respected him for it.

Rebecca ran and embraced her father with tears in her eyes, not knowing even what to say. Viola simply looked to the side a bit, not letting the two of them bask in each other's presence.

Then she noticed someone else walking towards them, another gladiator. She took a stance, thinking that maybe he was an associate of Doflamingo.Yôur favorite stories at novelhall.com

It was a strange assumption to make, as Doflamingo's soldiers within the arena were currently being killed by the gladiators without any mercy.

Even Spartan, one of the gladiators that had bullied Rebecca within the arena for a long time, was at the forefront of those gladiators, as he mercilessly killed as many of Doflamingo's men as he could.

Viola was still not exactly in a calm state of mind though, as everything was happening too quickly around her.

Relief only finally washed over her when the gladiator took off his helmet, revealing the aged face of an old man with greyed-out hair and beard.

Viola had a hard time while under Doflamingo's tyranny. But she could still recognize the man in front of her at first glance.

"F-father!" It was none other than Riku Doldo III, Viola's father, and she had a similar reaction to that of Rebecca when seeing her father again.

She had suffered a lot to get to that point, and finally seeing someone she could consider a parental figure made her cry, as she felt she could finally show a moment of weakness.

This was the same feeling she had felt when seeing Enel, for a large part of her life, she had lived in fear, putting up a strong face and doing her best to survive with everything she had.

Even appearing vulnerable was like asking to be taken advantage of. And she knew that from experience, as she hadn't always been as hardened as she was now.

Still, she was even forced to join Doflamingo's forces in order to get him to spare her father. So she was obviously emotional now that she got to see him again in person.

At least in front of her father, she could finally let go for a moment. The old king Doldo could only grit his teeth when seeing his daughter in such a state.

"I'm sorry dear... I wasn't a good enough father... Nor a good enough king." The old man had felt helpless for the longest of time, having his family dismantled and his kingdom usurped made him reflect a lot on his life.

It was as if he was stuck in a pit, and only now that he saw his family all gathered in one place did he start seeing some light. Now that his memories of Kyros had also returned, he was a lot happier too.

"N-no... None of this is your fault father! It's all because of Doflamingo, he was the one that caused all of this!" Viola still shivered a bit when mentioning the deceased Warlord's name.

Kyros looked at his daughter with an odd gaze, Doldo simply scratched the back of his head.

Enel just gave her a strained, awkward smile.

"Y-yeah... Are there any other rear admirals on this island?" Enel asked as the smile on his face became a bit genuine.

"Enough about that! Are you ok?! Did you manage to run away?" Viola jumped in front of Enel and grabbed both of his gauntleted arms.

Enel didn't really know how to react for a second, but that wasn't due to embarrassment, he simply didn't think her reaction was going to be that strong to seeing him again.

"Umm... Why would I run away? Doflamingo is dead by the way." Enel said as he took one of his arms back and waved it in the air a bit.

"W-what!? What do you mean he's dead?! Barely 30 minutes have passed!" Viola said as she looked at a random clock in the arena hall.

"Yeah... He didn't really last more than a minute... I didn't want to interrupt your family reunion though!" Enel said with a wide smile as Doldo, the old king, sweated a bit in the background.

'So he was just waiting for us to finish?!' Was the thought going through the heads of most of the people in the room.

"W-wait! Even if you're strong... How did yo-" Enel decided to interrupt Viola, not wanting to stretch out the conversation more than needed.

"Well, I specialize in speed, Doflamingo specializes in his devil fruit usage, and I have a seastone laced staff...

Let's just say I was a bad matchup for him. Pica is also dead, and I apprehended the rest of the officers on the island." At this point, the royal family looked at Enel with a strange gaze.

"Excuse my distrust... But this is the type of thing you have to see to believe..." Kyros said as he wiped the sweat off his brow. Rebecca simply nodded her head, looking at Enel with a wary gaze.

Viola, in stark contrast, looked at Enel with starry eyes, and she seemed extremely excited, which made old man Doldo sigh a bit.

Enel didn't even look like he had been in any fight, which made Viola trust his version of events even more.

Besides, she could easily tell when someone was being dishonest with her, and she could tell that Enel was telling the truth.

In the end, the princess ended up just hugging Enel tightly, burying her face in his chest as she shed tears of happiness. This made Enel raise an eyebrow while wondering if he should return the hug or not.

'This princess is awfully friendly... I guess she's excited about finally being free, no need to discourage her now.' With that thought, he just hugged her back, not with as much passion though.

Doldo, the old man, simply looked at Enel and Viola with narrowed eyes.

"If Viola believes him, then so do I..." The old man said in the end, gaining strange looks from both Rebecca and Kyros.

Enel ended up looking at the three of them with a calm gaze, his tone was a bit strained in the following sentence, as Viola was still hugging him.

"You do realize that you don't have to take my word on this, right? You can literally go out to the palace and see them... Including Doflamingo's body."

The members of the Riku family that weren't latched onto Enel all looked at each other, then simply nodded.

And with that, they were off, and all of them started walking toward the palace.

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Possible double upload today

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