It was always good to be home, always good to walk the streets of the kingdom he had conquered and above all, it always good to see his successes, which ranged from a smoothly running country to the coliseum all the way to the production of SAD and any other underworld business.

Doflamingo strutted down the streets of Dressrosa, with the confidence of god even though he was only king, his mansion styled palace his only destination. As he made his way to his palace, he was greeted not only by the people that he had tricked into adoring him so, but, also by his crew. Finally, though, he stepped through the main doors, his footsteps resounding down the tiled corridors as he made his way through the building.

Eventually he arrived at a scarcely furnished room with towering arched windows all along the walls. Besides him, there was a single occupant, who was standing across the room, staring out over the island, maroon hair just brushing across their shoulders, their back turned to him. But, without turning their head, the words,

"You're back," softly sounded, a note of delight striking their tone.

"Were you waiting for my return Sweetheart?" Doflamingo asked taking a few steps farther into the room.

"Always" The maroon haired woman turned her head towards him, dark eyes sparkling, a sly smile gracing her lips as she turned her body and began making her way towards him.

Anberlyn hated letting the blonde out of her sight, let alone letting him leave the island without her and he knew as much. Though, he claimed that she wasn't necessary for his latest excursion. But, how was she supposed to keep an eye on him when he was out and about and she was elsewhere? And how was she supposed to protect him if she were not by his side?

"So, how did it go?"

He had accomplished what he had wanted and, that was all that really mattered. And, since Anberlyn had all the faith in the world in him, he playfully asked, "Do you even have to ask?"

"Just quell my imagination would you?" She requested. Obviously things had gone well, Doflamingo was in a good mood, but there were so many different ways to reach the same conclusion and rarely did things go according to plan. Reaching him, her face upturned, she reached up for his face, standing on tiptoe, and her fingertips caught the skin of his cheeks and pulled his head down to her level where she pressed her lips against his.

"Maybe later." He replied against her mouth.

She let out a grunt of displeasure.

Life in Dressrosa was pretty good but, there was one thing that absolutely drove Anberlyn crazy.

"G'mornin' Queen Anberlyn!" A shopkeeper of some jewelry store shouted, as he opened shop. Anberlyn politely nodded towards the sharply dressed gentlemen but said nothing.

Sure, Anberlyn might have some sort of deranged influence over the island of Dressrosa but, but no means was she on the same playing field as Doflamingo, their king, and therefore was not their queen.

Not five minutes later, she passed a couple, a beautiful woman hanging on the arm of an equally handsome man, nothing unusual until the woman nodded at her, and said,

"Greetings Queen, it's rare to see you out at this time of day."

Anberlyn smiled outwardly, though, she was mentally frowning, displeased at the title she had been branded with by the people in whose hearts Doflamingo had captured.

Offering them a smile, she agreed with the woman's statement, saying, "It is isn't it?" Usually, she wasn't out and about until at least three and unfortunately it was only noon.

"We'll let you go." The man said, pulling his woman along with a smile. "It's always a pleasure to see you." He gave her a lazy salute and they went their separate ways.

Fortunately, her destination was the palace. Unfortunately, by time the palace was reached, several other people had called her queen Anberlyn, only increasing her bad mood.

Large, arched doors were thrown open, through which an angry maroon haired woman stormed, her determined footsteps resounding down the otherwise empty corridors in rapid succession.

"Donquixote!" She furiously shouted as she stormed through the palace, searching for the ruler of the island and broker of the underworld. When he didn't respond after several shouts, she tried again, "DONQUIXOTE!"

"If you're looking for Young Master, he's in the pool." A voice suddenly sounded as a dark, lanky figure was ignored and passed.

Anberlyn turned on the figure to see that it wasn't just some weird hallway decoration, but, a member of the Donquixote Family. It was Gladius, a guy she hadn't bothered to get to know but, had come across here and there over the years.

"Which one?"

The question wasn't a completely unreasonable one. There was an indoor one for when the weather wasn't suitable enough to swim outside. Then, there was the hot tub that could comfortably fit twenty at the very least and of course the outdoor one, all of which were at completely different areas of the palace.

"Outside." He informed her not seconds before she took off in the direction of the outdoor pool.

Hoping that Gladius hadn't just sent her on a wild goose chase, Anberlyn hurried down the hall. Reaching the doors, she threw them open, ignoring the frightened screams of the innocent girls playing in the outdoor space as she stormed towards the pool. They were right to get the heck out of dodge. Some of them had made the mistake of sticking around when the King of Dressrosa and their beloved Queen collided.

"Make them stop calling me Queen Anberlyn!" She demanded, for once, standing high above Doflamingo.

For once, he was the one who was looking up, and she was the one who was looking down. He was slouched down on the couch, his legs spread wide, as cool as a cat, watching from behind shaded eyes as the girls and women splashed around the pool, dressed in their swimwear, giggling and showering him with their attention.

She made it sound as though it was his fault for the people's decision to call Anberlyn Queen. Actually, Doflamingo found it rather amusing that she was so worked up about the rather flattering title.

"You're practically royalty here." He nonchalantly said not moving a muscle.

Anberlyn acted as though being treated like and addressed as royalty was a bad thing. And, compared to all of the other things they could call her, of the names they could throw her direction, queen was hardly an insult.

She lived in the palace, like every other family member, and got to enjoy every perk of doing so, and even though she slept with him most nights, she did have her own room. Actually, it wasn't even a room, it was like a small house equipped with everything but its own kitchen. She helped rule over the island when times called for it, filling in for him when he requested it and the public adored her almost as much as they did him, which was enough for the people to give Anberlyn the royal title that seemed to displease her a great amount.

Anberlyn hadn't missed the part where he said she was pratically royalty. He was truly royalty; it ran through his veins, even though piracy and manipulation ran much thicker than royalty in his blood.

Per usual however, he seemed delighted in her displeasure.

"We're not even married, which is the only way I'd be able to accept the title." Of course they would never get married. He would never propose and neither would she. Then, in a quieter voice, Anberlyn grumbled,

"Hell, we're hardly lovers." What they did behind closed doors could hardly be described as love.

"You wound me so Sweetheart." Doflamingo said, the usual smile making its appearance to dispel any credible hurt in his voice.

Frowning, Anberlyn snapped, "Yes, well not every king needs a queen Doflamingo. And besides, this isn't my kingdom. It isn't even our kingdom. No! It's yours, and you, of all people, don't need a woman by your side."

Doflamingo opened his mouth to add his two cents, but, Anberlyn wasn't done yet.

"You and I both know that if I couldn't make clouds, and if I stopped proving entertaining or useful, that I'd be gone in the blink of an eye."

He just wasn't getting the idea. With him being the king, her being queen insinuated so much more than there being two powers on the island of Dressrosa.

"Well then Sweetheart, keep up the good work and you won't be going anywhere." He grinned. And then reached up and said, "You should join me." When it was clear that she didn't know what the hell he was meaning, he patted the seat next to him without a word, somehow managing an expression of expectation.

Anberlyn frowned deeply, wondering if he had listened to a single word she had just said, it was written on her face as she replied to his extremely off topic invitation.

"I have better things to do than sit next to you and watch your whores splash around in a body of water." She growled crossing her arms over her chest. And even though she had nothing that needed to be attended to at the moment, Anberlyn was looking for any excuse that she could use to get out of joining him on the couch. She was mad at him and he didn't seem to understand that.

"No you don't Sweetheart." He crooned. Whatever it was she had to or wanted to do could wait until later.

And all of the sudden all of the plans that she didn't have were wiped from the board. His request was no longer a request, that much was clear, so instead of being forced to sit, Anberlyn decided to do it herself, but, not before saying,

"I'm not doing anything until I have your word that you'll tell your people not to call me queen."

"Fine fine." He waved her words away, giving into her desires without much protest, which, greatly surprised Anberlyn. Though, now that she had his word, she wondered if he would actually do it.

With a heavy sigh she dropped her arms and took a seat next to the wretched blonde monster and glared at the few brave souls who had remained. Most of them had fled upon Anberlyn's angry entrance. Those who had run were truely the wise ones because not only was it impossible to tell how things were going to go when Anberlyn and Doflamingo were in the same room, it was likely that things were going to go flying or people were going to end up hurt.

"Thats my girl." He grinned down at her, enjoying every second she wasn't.

It was a shame that he wasn't standing on the edge of the pool because Anberlyn wouldn't have a second thought about pushing him in. Unfortunately they were seated a safe distance away so there was no hope in drowning the man.

He reached down, grabbed her chin and pressed his smirk against her frown. As expected, she pulled away and galred daggers into the eyes that she could only just barely see beyond the lens of the shades.

With the annoyed expression on her face and her arms folded across her chest once again she huffed the word, "Happy?"

There was a smile on his face, his response to her question, but, that didn't mean that he had been appeased. God forbid he wanted something more than her sitting beside him.

Despite his promised word however, Doflamingo never made a speech to Dressrosa, he never told anyone to quit calling Anberlyn queen.

A/n: I'm sorry that I took way longer than I had anticipated to get this chapter up. Summer ended, school started and One Piece is slowly updating and the arc is slowly wrapping up. I probably won't have many chapters up until after this arc wraps up, just a fair warning. Unless maybe someone has a request as to what they want to see happen before I return to cannon stuff and start wrapping up.

Review please. I would be delighted to hear your thoughts and opinions. Please, if you think that I have gotten anyone OOC, tell me and I will try my best to fix it. Thank you much for reading and reviewing and I hope to see you next chapter.