Suddenly, a powerful aura descended from the heavens.
The seemingly materialized Haki enveloped Virgo's head entirely, forcing him to freeze with his fingers just inches away from the captain's Adam's apple.
Virgo snapped his gaze upward.
"Straw Hat…!"
Two pirate ships were floating in the sky above the warship.
Many members of the Straw Hat Pirates were looking down at them.
Cold sweat trickled down Virgo's forehead.
"A monster…! Haki with this kind of power!?"
He staggered back a step, clutching his head as the pressure weighed heavily on his consciousness.
This Haki was aimed solely at him—no one else showed any signs of being affected.
In his vision, black and red lightning-like tendrils crackled, as if tightening around his neck and suffocating him.
"Hyaaaa—!!!"
Caesar, having also spotted Straw Hat Luffy, was so terrified that snot dripped from his nose as he collapsed onto the ground with a shrill scream.
Luffy descended slowly from the air and landed lightly on the deck.
Looking at Caesar, he said:
"Those children you abducted—find a way to remove the poison from their bodies. If you can't… you die."
"I—I know! Don't kill me, Straw Hat Luffy!"
Caesar was so frightened he could barely form coherent sentences.
"Let me go after I cure them! I didn't even want to participate in that experiment! It was all BIG MOM's request—I was forced!"
Caesar pleaded, desperately trying to shift the blame to Big Mom.
Luffy chuckled. "You'd better hope you can cure the kids."
There was no chance he was letting this worm live.
Even though the Gasu Gasu no Mi user was considered the shame of the Logias, the fault lay with the user—not the fruit.
A fruit like this obviously needed to be reclaimed.
Not just Logias.
Once he completed the Grand Line and the Adventure Shop was fully unlocked, he would take every Devil Fruit.
And once he became king of the world, to ensure global stability, the first thing he would do was "ban all Akuma no Mi."
"This poison is a side effect of the gigantification experiment, it can't be completely removed…" Caesar said, trembling. "But if the drug is stopped and the withdrawal reaction is treated, their lives won't be in immediate danger!"
"You seem to know a lot about this."
"Of course, I'm the one who developed the 'Candy,' after all." Caesar couldn't stop a bit of pride from escaping, but after seeing Luffy's expression, he flinched again. "I—I'll definitely fix this completely!"
As for explaining any of this to Big Mom, now wasn't the time for such thoughts.
First, he had to save his own life.
Luffy grabbed Caesar and tossed him onto the Merry. "Take care of him."
"Leave it to me, Luffy," Sanji said, restraining Caesar.
Once he was done, Luffy turned toward Virgo and walked forward.
With each step, Virgo found it harder to breathe. The Haki pressing down on him became denser, heavier.
"Straw Hat… Luffy!!"
Instinctively, he took half a step back.
The moment he sensed even a hint of killing intent from Luffy, he turned around and fled without hesitation.
Floating through the air, Virgo fled at full speed toward Punk Hazard.
"You're extremely skilled with Rokushiki, and you can even stay conscious under my Haki. Even among Vice Admirals, your strength is remarkable."
Luffy raised his right hand, gathering a sphere of Armament Haki in his palm.
Then he threw it.
Virgo, already hundreds of meters away, stiffened.
He glanced back toward the government ship—and in his sharpened perception, he felt a massive wave of energy crashing toward him.
The impact sounded like a deafening roar, bursting through the air.
BOOM!!
A massive explosion swallowed Virgo whole.
Thick smoke rolled across the sea. Virgo was thrown violently; his consciousness faded—and one of his arms was gone.
Then—plop—he fell into the water.
"…!?"
Aboard the Merry, Caesar went pale with fright.
This was one of the Yonko—monsters among monsters. A mere Vice Admiral couldn't hope to stand against such an overwhelming force.
The marines on the warship trembled as sweat poured down their faces.
Then they saw Straw Hat Luffy looking at them.
"We don't know anything! All the orders came from the Vice Admiral… no, from Virgo!"
In an instant, Luffy appeared before several soldiers.
His mind-reading technique washed over each of them.
"Which of you is an accomplice?"
"N-No… we don't know anything!"
Everyone aboard the warship shook their heads desperately.
Words could lie—but hearts could not.
Luffy was genuinely surprised; these people truly knew nothing…
How had Virgo convinced his subordinates to cover up child abduction by staging it as a shipwreck?
Or was the person who knew the truth not on this ship?
"Forget it. Since you don't know, you can leave."
Luffy had no interest in killing innocent people. Instead, he headed toward Caesar's ship.
BOOM!
The power of vibration shattered the government ship beside them, and Caesar's subordinates aboard were struck in the heart by the tremor force, dying instantly.
They died peacefully… and sank with the ship into the deep sea.
After finishing, Luffy returned to the Sunny.
Looking at Monet, he said:
"Doflamingo isn't here yet. Show us the way. We're going straight to Dressrosa."
With such overwhelming authority bearing down on her, Monet had no choice but to take out her Eternal Pose.
A fleeting thought passed through her mind.
El could easily crush these Eternal Poses.
But it would be pointless—and only anger Luffy.
She fell to her knees, begging:
"Please… don't harm the Young Master! I'll do anything!"
Ignoring her plea, Luffy handed the Eternal Pose to Nami.
"We're heading to Dressrosa."
A short time after they set sail—about fifteen minutes later—
Doflamingo, racing at full speed, finally arrived.
Seeing Punk Hazard in the distance, his expression hardened.
Loud rumbling echoed from the island, and alternating bursts of freezing wind and scorching heat spread across the sea.
"What the hell happened here?"
The collision of those two forces had twisted the island's climate into something bizarre.
Doflamingo activated his Observation Haki to assess the situation.
Suddenly, he lowered his gaze.
Floating on the sea's surface was a corpse.
"Virgo!?"
Doflamingo shot downward, stepping on an invisible string to reach the body.
It floated in blood-red water—one arm missing.
His death had been brutal.
"Straw Hat…!!"
He didn't need to think long to guess who had done it.
Someone who could kill Virgo so effortlessly, leaving no sign of resistance.
Doflamingo was furious.
But that was all.
"Sorry I'm late. Rest in peace."
Behind his sunglasses, Doflamingo's eyes were ice-cold.
"Your death will not be in vain…"
(End of Chapter)