𝗚𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 & 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝘁𝘀 ┃One Piece

44. Kiss goodbye

"I can't let you do that, I'm sorry."

"But-!"

Ace looked at you like a mother looks at her son knowing he's done something wrong, you frowned, crossing your arms, mumbling curses here and there, you tried in every way to convince him to blow up the whole damn island ─that's how he saw it─, however you only wanted to set fire and cause some chaos around the city, in the places further away from the population of course, mostly, in Doflamingo's beautiful castle, but Ace didn't leave you the gunpowder for such evil purposes.

You accepted his plan, much simpler and less showy, that same night before you returned to your temporary home, you could barely enjoy the rest of your last day off, as much as it cost you to admit it, you were nervous, you would never say it or accept it out loud. It had been a long time since you felt that sensation, the tickling at the tip of your fingers, the bubbling feeling in the pit of your stomach or your heart being louder than usual.

Bartolomeo accompanied you as far as he could, without attracting the attention of unwanted people in the castle, it was a small consolation, the cold of the night and his constant chatter about Luffy's crew made your hot head cool down, you didn't want to fail in the escape attempt, only God ─Enel─ would know what would happen if Doflamingo caught you in the act, he's already annoying enough, you don't need so many problems crowding you.

"You should rest, tomorrow will be your big day!"

"Thanks Barto."

You offered him a small smile even though you didn't have the slightest desire to do so, he returned the gesture three times over, revealing his fangs, he gave your left shoulder a gentle squeeze as a consolation and farewell, you were grateful to have made a friend in all of this, even though you didn't really dislike Gladius, you weren't going to strengthen your relationship with an ally of your enemy, it was the same with Baby5, you came here thinking you could get to know her more, but she was always too busy for you to spend time alone with her.

All this work you were doing wasn't too bothersome either, you were just an assistant in the lab and sometimes you fixed little things that broke, they even let you have your little space for your little gadgets, but Doflamigo's attitude, so haughty, arrogant and selfish, made the stay unbearable, he was a thorn in your side, comparing him, even worse than Enel, of whom you could see a much more human side, this idiot, however, was a psychopath and didn't seem to want to change that characteristic of his.

You closed the big door as softly as possible, hoping that no one would interrupt you on your way to your room, you memorized the shortest way because in all the time you've been here there are still areas of the castle where you haven't been, a sigh of relief when you got to your door with no one in sight, you were going to pick up your things for tomorrow, the few you had, however you thought too quickly, when you opened the door, the light of the lamp on the nightstand was on.

You closed your eyes, feeling your face crease into a notch between an amused but furious smile, you imagined this was the typical scene where the villain shows up waiting to surprise their counterpart, but Doflamingo's figure was too tall and you could easily see him, you didn't know whether to laugh or cry right now.

"Why are you in my room, so late?"

"I got worried" he stood up to his full height, looking down at you condescendingly, your face turning flat emotionally at his words "I know today is a great day to celebrate, all that partying in town... but you never come home this late, I thought something had happened."

"No, I'm perfectly fine, are the glasses making you blind? I'm in one piece at the moment, you can go away."

"What cruel words."