Chapter 45: Truth and Celebration
_________ POV Narration_________
Enel and the Rika Family all walked onto the streets, looking around, seeing bodies all over the place.
The war had many victims, Enel had expected that to happen after he knocked out Sugar, the aftermath was still not pleasing to the eyes.
The royal family had similar thoughts, but they knew that some sacrifices had to be made in order to take down Doflamingo...
Fortunately, most of the bodies on the streets belonged to Doflamingo's troops, as they had no way to be prepared for the sudden uprising.
Enel's attack was beyond unexpected, as no one even knew that a Rear Admiral had arrived on the island besides a few sailors at the port.
And the sailors had no reason to care about a marine showing up, as Dressrosa was rather free of pirates under Doflamingo's rule.
It was also rather strange, as the situation was over extremely quickly due to Enel's involvement in the whole thing.
With him taking care of all of the powerful people in Doflamingo's crew, the other marines and pirates that were turned back into humans were able to easily overwhelm the rest of Doflamingo's forces.
The gladiators breaking out made things even quicker, and the situation was finished in 30 minutes, more or less.
Enel walked side by side with Viola, the royal family members were walking a bit ahead, their pace a bit faster.
But it was already becoming pretty clear to them that Enel wasn't lying.
The situation was over. A war had been fought in under thirty minutes against a pirate crew that could enslave an entire country.
Then they reached the palace. At the front door to the palace, stood atop a flight of stairs, all of the officers of Doflamingo's army. All of them were bound and gagged by what seemed to be chains made out of white gold.
Enel used his staff for this, he would retrieve it when the marines arrived with seastone cuffs though.
To the side, the Rika family were able to see Pica's body sprawled out on the ground, it was hard to tell what had killed him.
But what was on top of him made the Rika family stop in their tracks, including Viola.
Doflamingo, or more accurately, the Warlord's body, was thrown atop Pica's.
It was rather clear that the former Tyrant's heart had been pierced, the gaping wound on his chest was rather plain to see, and it was large enough that one could fit their hand through it.
Viola trembled a bit at that sight, Enel couldn't really tell what emotions were going through her mind. Was it fear? Did she start fearing him now, even after his death?
Was it excitement or happiness? Did seeing Doflamingo's corpse give her some sort of pleasure? Enel wouldn't really hold it against her in that case.
Regardless, Enel was at a loss for what to do when she genuinely started crying. He was thinking of comforting her, but all of his toiling over books didn't really prepare him for emotional moments.
He had always been easily able to befriend others, but he always had issues with more sensitive situations. Under normal circumstances, he'd avoid them completely, but he knew that he couldn't really do it in this case.
He had a responsibility to see everything through to the end. He didn't hug Viola, as he didn't want to scare her. He believed that women that went through what she had wouldn't be quite accepting of a man's touch, at least not that intimate.
He simply patted her back a bit, like one would do when seeing a crying child. He felt a bit odd doing it, but he didn't know what else to do.
Still, in Viola's mind, that action was enough. Hell, she felt that Enel had done enough the second he put her coat around her shoulders and blasted Doflamingo through a few walls.
She ended up being the one to hug him, taking her gaze away from the body of the monster that had abused her and her family for the better part of a decade, and planting her face right back into Enel's chest.
Enel would've panicked, maybe if he was a bit younger, but he ended up just sighing and hugging her back.
He knew the consequences of his actions, he knew that what he did today might affect the future that he knew.
But at the end of the day, not doing anything would've made him just as disgusting as Doflamingo...
So what if Luffy would no longer have an army of pirates under him? So what if he wouldn't be able to grow from such an experience?
Even if Momonosuke didn't get kidnapped, Enel knew that fate would always find a way for Joyboy to return, as was prophesized. So he simply decided to go with the flow.
So he just hugged Viola back, for now, his Observation Haki still spread all over the island, keeping a close watch on everyone, to make sure that Doflamingo didn't have any more hidden allies that he had to watch out for.
Still, he could tell that there was no one left. Trebol was nowhere to be seen/felt, but Enel knew that there was no way the Elite Officer of the former Donquixote Pirates was going to return to Dressrosa, no matter his loyalty.
Enel knew about Virgo, but he was of no concern for the safety of the Rika family. If anything, what remained of Doflamingo's loyal followers would all come after him. And Enel didn't really care for them.
Viola herself was in a strange state of bliss. It was difficult to even begin to put her happiness into words. She simply hugged Enel as if her life depended on it.
Snuggling up to him, this was the first time in a very long time that she was this comfortable around a man. The fact that his thoughts were completely devoid of any perversion certainly helped.
She could still hear it, his honest heartbeat, his conflicting thoughts. It was clear that he was doing his best not to take advantage of the situation, likely because Viola seemed to be in a rather vulnerable state currently.
And the princess could obviously tell what Enel's thoughts were. She could tell the type of person he was, she could tell that he was older than he looked, that he was stronger than he let on.
But she didn't care. None of that interested her.
What she cared about right now, was the feeling of safety she received while she embraced him. Even if Enel didn't seem to be particularly infatuated with her...
At the very least she could tell that Enel had a positive opinion of her, and she could work with that!
There was something else bugging her though... Enel was strange.
Unlike most people, his mind was constantly wandering off, his thoughts often getting jumbled up in countless droves of possibilities that Enel could think of.
Enel was obviously a withdrawn person, someone that wasn't necessarily hard to interact with or that had trouble interacting with others, but that didn't quite revel in being around a lot of people constantly.
Still, she stopped reading him after a while, feeling a bit strange about intruding into his mind for so long. The fact that Enel somehow knew what she was doing was also rather strange to her.
But she didn't want to start questioning her benefactor, especially since he didn't have any bad intentions.
"Ehm!" Both Enel and Viola were broken out of their respective stupors by a fake cough, coming from none other than Viola's father, the old King Doldo.
Enel looked up with a bit of an apologetic smile, and Viola also broke off from him with a slight blush. She turned around and studied the scene a bit more.
Apparently, more people had gathered around them asking old man Doldo to become king once more.
The old man gratefully accepted it, he was glad to see that the people would still accept him despite his failings.
Then he turned around to see his daughter not really paying attention to anything at all.
"I apologize father! I got carried away." Viola said, departing from Enel's side regretfully, she was aware that this was a big day for her family and for their kingdom, as they were finally free. But she simply couldn't begin to deal with a flurry of emotions so quickly.
"I must also apologize, King Doldo... I will be more careful in the future." Enel said while nodding sagely. Making Viola blush a bit, and making Doldo raise an eyebrow.
'In the future? ... Oh, how quickly they grow...' Doldo thought to himself with a smile. Enel didn't mean it in that way though, but it barely mattered anymore.
"I can't possibly be mad at the one that saved our kingdom. I believe such a joyous occasion deserves a feast!" Doldo said, gaining cheers from all around him.
Many lives were lost, but just as many as were saved. And now, after so many years, they were finally free. Free from shackles so devious that many didn't even know about them.
Free from being manipulated, used and thrown away on a sadistic Warlord's whim.
Enel sweated a bit when hearing the proclamation... 'A day or two of celebration won't be too bad... Right?'
__________________________________________________________________
A second chapter is approaching you!?! Well, it can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer!(totally not a Jojo reference)
Dressrosa war's kinda over innit? :)) Party time, 'getting shitfaced with Oven and a royal family' time!
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)