The Corrida Colosseum.
For reasons unknown, a layer of sorrow was entwined here.
Kyros did not look back. He could feel his daughter’s sadness, but there was nothing he could do. Long ago, when he had first been turned into a toy, he had told people his past, his true identity, more than once.
But no one had believed him.
Not even his wife believed him.
Everyone treated him as a toy gone mad.
Until, until, until his wife went out to search for food, was discovered by Doflamingo, and tragically murdered.
When he arrived, he personally watched his beloved wife fall in a pool of cold blood. Her dying words were for him, the father and husband forgotten by the world, to take the food she had so painstakingly found back to the flower field, back to their young daughter, "Rebecca."
Even now, he deeply remembered that it had been raining that day, and it was very cold. But no matter how cold it was, no heart could be colder.
That bone-chilling cold transformed into boundless hatred, making him, a doll who had been turned into someone unable to shed tears, unable to cry, unable to show any emotion, feel for the first time how unfair this world was.
If it weren't for his daughter, he would never have endured this. He would have gone to confront Doflamingo long ago.
But it was also his daughter who saved his life, allowing him to meet Kouta.
It was just that he didn’t know who Kouta was yet.
"What is it?"
Kouta also didn't look at Rebecca. This world was full of sad things. Beneath this outwardly prosperous city, countless darknesses far more sorrowful than what was before them festered.
At least, at least, Kyros had his daughter and the chance to become human again. And Rebecca, with Kyros by her side, had not suffered greatly in her childhood.
But those countless families turned into toys were not so fortunate.
They didn't have Kyros's strength and couldn't escape Sugar's control. They could only watch helplessly as their beloved wives remarried, could only watch as their young sons and daughters became someone else's children, could only watch helplessly…
"Mr. Kyros, you didn't even say 'hello' to me."
Having said this, Kouta smiled and extended his hand again, saying with a smile, "Hello, Mr. Kyros."
As if imbued with some magic, Kouta's voice instantly dispelled the strange sadness around them, bringing Kyros and Rebecca back to their senses.
Kyros stared at the outstretched hand and quickly lowered his weapon.
He indeed felt no ill will from Kouta; instead, he felt kindness.
To raise his weapon against Kouta again would be truly impolite.
And Kouta had even greeted him.
Although he had many questions now, those could wait. He didn't believe that Kouta, who knew his true identity and real name, appearing here and finding him, was a coincidence.
Sheathing his weapon on his back, Kyros looked up at Kouta and solemnly extended his right hand, shaking Kouta's. "Hello!"
He let go of his hand and continued, "May I know your name, sir, and why you are here?"
He did not recognize Kouta.
This was because his current identity was a wanted criminal in Dressrosa.
He had emerged in Dressrosa stealthily, never venturing into the city's taverns.
He knew about past news, but Kouta's news was only from the past year, so he was unaware of Kouta's identity.
"Me?"
Kouta withdrew his hand, straightened up, then brushed his right hand across his waist, raised his wine gourd, and took a deep drink.
Only then did he look down and reply to Kyros, "You can call me Kouta."
"Kong of the sky, Tai of the sky."
"Oh…"
The soul within Kyros’s toy body twitched, and he said, "Hello, Mr. Kouta."
"Indeed!"
Kouta nodded, then returned to Kyros's second question.
"As for why I'm here?"
As he spoke, he glanced at Rebecca, his gaze sweeping past her to the statue behind her.
The corners of his mouth curled into a smile as he said, "Of course, I'm here to find the owner of this statue, Mr. Kyros."
He was not surprised at all that Kouta knew his identity, as he had already suspected it.
He looked up at Kouta and then asked, "What business do you have with me, Mr. Kouta?"
"Looking for you, of course…"
Kouta withdrew his gaze and looked down at the doll again. As if struck by a thought, his brow furrowed slightly, and then a peculiar fluctuation rippled outwards.
It was as if a stone had been tossed into reality, causing ripples to spread across the space around the colosseum.
The ripples rapidly expanded, instantly engulfing Kouta and his companions, as well as Kyros and Rebecca.
"What is this?"
Morgans, holding his camera, entered Kouta's spatial domain for the first time. He looked up at the sun in the sky, which looked no different from before, then turned his head, observing the scenery around him, which also appeared unchanged. A flicker of surprise flashed in his eyes.
"Invisibility?"
A squad of toy soldiers walked by, seemingly ignoring them as if they were not there.
"No."
He looked up again, at the sun in the sky. His brow furrowed deeply this time. He noticed something was amiss.
He didn't feel the sun's glare.
When he looked down at Kouta again, his eyes widened in shock.
"Another dimension."
Was this the power the silver-haired man had relied on all along?
It was truly formidable!
As the president of the World Economic News, his strength, while not comparable to the truly renowned powerhouses of the sea, was certainly not that of a mere underling.
Now, he felt that within this space, he was utterly incapable of leaving.
As long as Kouta willed it, he could be made to die a gruesome death within moments.
Kouta paid no mind to Morgans' shock.
His eyes were fixed intently on Kyros before him.
He had not used his spatial domain suddenly to evade the passing patrol soldiers. Instead, he had thought that his spatial domain was not of this world.
He wanted to test if he could isolate this world's aura and allow Kyros to recover.
Devil Fruits were indeed incredible.
But he didn't believe that an ability that altered one's form could still be restricted by a Devil Fruit's power in another world.
If it were truly that powerful,
it would cease to be called a Devil Fruit and would instead be a Law Fruit.
As expected, after he isolated the external aura, completely separating his spatial domain from the outside, numerous threads began to emerge from Kyros's transformed toy body.
One end of these threads connected to the void, as if they had materialized from nowhere, while the other end was connected to the toy’s body.
These threads were invisible to ordinary people. Only Kouta's special eyes could see them within the spatial domain.