How many times?!
For the past six or seven years, ever since Lynch stepped into the black market, it felt like he was targeting him at every turn.
First, Lynch swallowed up his arms business, causing his profits to plummet.
Doflamingo held back, after all, Lynch was a former Admiral. He couldn't win against him, so he endured it.
He tried to play it smart, sending people to gather intel on West Blue, only to receive shocking news, Lynch had defeated the World Government.
He wanted to cut his losses and pull back, but Monet's Den Den Mushi had been bugged, and he couldn't reach her.
In the end, Monet was captured. No matter how much he tried to explain, it was useless. Lynch demanded a massive ransom for her release.
Again, Doflamingo swallowed his pride. West Blue's strength was undeniable.
With arms out of the picture, the Donquixote Family poured their efforts into the slave trade—one of the two most profitable businesses in the black market.
But just now, news arrived, Lynch and Whitebeard had completely destroyed his most lucrative venture, the Sabaody slave auction house!
He had endured again and again, but this time, he wouldn't take it lying down.
He was Heavenly Yaksha, not some spineless quail!
Years of pent-up resentment exploded in that moment.
Lynch? So what?! He would make him regret ever crossing him.
No one dares to stomp on him again and again!
Kaido? The thought crossed his mind but was immediately dismissed.
Unless he was on the verge of death, Kaido wouldn't go out of his way to pick a fight with Lynch.
Wait… Kaido and Lynch don't seem to have a good relationship.
It might be worth reaching out. If it didn't work, there was no loss.
But relying on Kaido wasn't an option. Fighting Lynch head-on was out of the question.
The best move would be to lure Lynch out of West Blue.
Doflamingo was confident that without Lynch, the rest of West Blue wouldn't be a threat.
Typical pirate arrogance.
His mind raced through possible allies—figures who would love to take Lynch down.
Then, suddenly, he slapped himself.
"I'd rather die than work with those bastards!"
"Yes! Caesar!"
Doflamingo's eyes widened in realization.
"Use Caesar's poison gas!"
A twisted grin spread across his face.
"Hahahaha! Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" He clapped his hands, laughing maniacally.
With poison gas, he could cripple Lynch's forces and leave just enough clues for Lynch to hunt down the culprit—leading him straight into a trap.
It was perfect.
Without hesitation, he contacted Monet and ordered Caesar to prepare a deadly gas weapon.
...…
The next day.
Lynch approached the spirited and energetic Empress with a proposal.
"Let's visit the temple under the Holy Mountain."
She agreed without hesitation.
Nyonba, seeing this, instinctively wanted to stop her—but after glancing at her own frail arms and legs, she quickly abandoned the idea.
The Amazon Lily Temple was a sacred place, dedicated to the ancestors of the Kuja tribe.
Lynch was likely the first man to ever step inside.
As soon as he entered the cave, his heart trembled.
There it was.
That strange, ghostly energy he had sensed before.
The temple itself was ordinary—so why was it built inside a cave?
Wouldn't it have been easier to build a house than to carve out a cave?
Lynch's gaze swept across the ancestral tablets, stopping at the top row of portraits.
Unlike the lower levels, where each Empress had a single portrait, the top row held 91 portraits, arranged neatly in a line.
The images were ancient, their colors faded, the paper yellowed despite being carefully preserved behind glass.
Thousand-year-old paper.
Yet, even with such care, time had worn them down. Could Amazon Lily have existed for at least a thousand years?
The Empress stepped forward, her long legs visible beneath her flowing skirt. She looked up at the memorial tablets and explained,
"These are the first members of Amazon Lily."
"Every resident of the island today is a descendant of those 91 women."
Lynch raised an eyebrow. "You've kept track of that for so many generations?"
The Empress stuck out her tongue playfully. "That's just how the island's legend goes."
"Long ago, there was a great and prosperous kingdom. The men were powerful, but they were also cruel and lazy. The women, though weaker in strength, were wise, hardworking, and capable."
"One day, the men grew jealous of the women's intelligence. Their stupid king, driven by fear, ordered a massacre of all women in the country."
"The women, unwilling to hurt the men and unable to match them in strength, suffered greatly—only 91 survived."
"But instead of giving up, they fought back, using their wits to overthrow the kingdom."
"They could have taken revenge—but instead, they chose mercy. Leaving their homeland behind, they set sail across the sea…"
"And founded Amazon Lily."
"This is the story I was told as a child," the Empress said, offering the treasure.
Lynch took a moment to process it. "This story... doesn't make much sense."
For starters, why would men suddenly decide to massacre all the women in their country?
What, they just got bored?
They didn't want wives anymore? Mothers? Daughters?
And only 91 women resisted?
If the rest just stood there and waited to be killed... what were they thinking?
But the most outrageous part?
After these 91 supposedly weaker women used their intelligence to overthrow an entire nation, they didn't stay.
Instead of expelling the defeated men, they exiled themselves.
Seriously? That's next-level martyrdom.
This story glorifies women, demonizes men, and fuels gender conflict, making people resent men—even if they've never met one.
It's similar to the manufactured outrage and gender wars seen online in his previous life.
For Amazon Lily, though, this kind of legend makes perfect sense.
Lynch ignored the story and focused on searching the temple. He was trying to pinpoint the strange energy that only demon soldiers could sense.
Besides the 50-meter-high portraits, an incense cauldron, and a futon, the only other notable thing in the room was thousands of burning candles.
Just then, the Empress gently held onto Lynch's arm, completely lost in her own thoughts.
"Ancestors, he is a man I recognize. Please protect him~"
RUMBLE—
The entire mountain and temple suddenly shook violently.
The Empress gasped, her eyes wide. "Huh? Did the ancestors answer my prayer?"
Lynch glanced around and scoffed. "Some blessing. That's an earthquake!"
The ground shook violently and the cave might collapse at any time. Lynch grabbed the empress's wrist and ran outside.
Two guards also ran in, "Ms. Empress, this is dangerous, please get out quickly!"
BOOM!
The cave floor suddenly exploded, sending debris flying at supersonic speed.
The force shattered the rock mid-air, breaking it into smaller fragments that rained down like bullets.
From the demon sword's perspective, a black and purple energy surged up from deep underground. It twisted into raging flames, ripping apart the temple floor and engulfing everything in its path.
.
.
TO BE CONTINUED
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