The broken wall lamps flickered with a dim glow, casting long shadows across the crumbling hall.
To the young Doflamingo, the marine seated on the couch—legs crossed, cigar smoldering in his mouth—appeared half-drenched in light, the other half lost to shadow. His smile was unreadable.
"I bring good news," Darren said with a smile. "You won't die today. Neither will your subordinates. In fact, you'll live better than anyone else."
"All I ask is a little chat."
Was this guy serious?
"What do you want to talk about?" he rasped, his voice rough under the bandages. Living was better than dying, after all.
Seeing him cooperate, Darren grinned with satisfaction.
"Tell me—what is your ambition?"
"You possess Conqueror's Haki, you're a 'noble' Celestial Dragon, and yet here you are in this rotten corner of the North Blue. What is it you're after?"
"And don't lie to me. I want the truth."
The marine's sharp gaze bored into the bloodied boy. To raise a wolf, you had to awaken its thirst for flesh.
Memories flickered through Doflamingo's mind: fire, screams, curses, hospital beds, corpses, a gunshot, a severed head, the Celestial Staircase...
"Listen well, Doffy... You are a king."
All those memories condensed into a single emotion—hatred.
He snapped his head up and met Darren's gaze, his voice a growl:
"I want to destroy this world."
Darren's slap sent him flying across the room.
Doflamingo smashed into the wall, leaving a dent. Dust and plaster rained down as his cheek swelled visibly.
He stared at Darren in disbelief.
"What the hell was that for?!"
The marine looked down at him with utter disdain.
"Disappointing," Darren said flatly. "I expected something more impressive."
"Destroy the world? What a boring answer. The world hasn't done anything to you."
"You know nothing!" Doflamingo roared, bloodshot eyes wide.
He staggered to his feet, every movement reopening wounds. The heat, the flames, the faces twisted in hatred—all of it surged back.
"I was meant to live in paradise! I belonged above the clouds, looking down on the world!"
"But thanks to my father's idiocy, I fell straight into hell!!"
"Those filthy commoners—those worms—hung us like animals on a wall! They burned us! Shot us! Pelted us with stones!"
"They wanted me to die... but I survived!"
He let out a twisted laugh.
But Darren didn't flinch.
His face held only scorn.
"That's it?" he said.
His tortured past—his living hell—was dismissed like it meant nothing?
"Isn't that enough?!" Doflamingo shrieked. "I lost everything! I had to dig through trash to survive!"
"No one else has suffered like I have!"
"Are you done?" Darren interrupted coldly.
He approached slowly, towering over the young pirate. A shadow swallowed Doflamingo whole.
"You think you're unique? That no one has had it worse than you?"
"I've seen plenty of miserable lives. Every day, gunfire echoes across the North Blue. Corpses rot on the shores."
"People sell out their own brothers for money. Offer up their wives for power. Saw off their own legs just to stay alive."
"And none of them whine like you."
"What are you, five? Three? Why don't you run home and cry to your mommy?"
Darren's contempt was razor-sharp.
"Strong men don't complain. Even the poorest commoners do better than you."
Doflamingo clenched his fists. His teeth ground together.
"My mother died of illness."
"Lucky her," Darren spat. "At least she didn't have to listen to you whine. I bet she died from your endless moaning."
Doflamingo stood frozen, stunned.
His face burned as if he'd been slapped again.
He lunged, trying to activate his strings—
Darren's punch landed square in his gut.
Doflamingo bent double, smashed back into the wall, blood spurting from his mouth.
Darren grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up.
"I've never seen a real winner who wastes time crying about how unfair life is."
"And you? You think you're going to destroy the world with that kind of attitude?"
Doflamingo trembled with rage, but Darren only narrowed his eyes.
The heat was just right.