"Straw Hat Luffy, I am going to kill you!"
Doflamingo let out a furious roar and lashed out with his Five Color Strings, aiming directly for Luffy's head.
"Doflamingo, I'm going to blow you away!"
Luffy shouted back, immediately activating Gear Second. His fists, hardened with Armament Haki, struck the incoming threads with a series of loud bangs. To Doflamingo's shock, his Five Color Strings snapped under the force of the impact.
The Warlord's face paled as he realized that the Straw Hat captain was significantly stronger than himself. The sheer destructive power of Luffy's Haki was something he could not easily counter; otherwise, his signature strings would not have been so fragile.
"You are so weak!" Luffy said, his simple honesty sounding like biting sarcasm. "Can you fight more seriously?"
Doflamingo's face flushed with rage. "Shut up! I'll kill you!" He launched a Leg Shave String kick, which Luffy met head-on. The collision sent red and black sparks of Conqueror's Haki rippling through the air, shaking the very ground beneath them and causing nearby spectators to faint.
"A clash of Conqueror's Haki," Ace noted solemnly. "Doflamingo is no simple opponent, but he is still no match for Luffy."
Zoro spoke up, his hand resting on his sword. "Leave Doflamingo to Luffy. We need to reach the palace and ensure every enemy officer is defeated."
The group agreed. After hiding the wax figures of Carl and Robin safely in a corner, they began their sprint toward the palace.
As the chaos grew, the Blackbeard Pirates—Shiryu, Van Augur, and Burgess—emerged from the colosseum. Their presence immediately drew the ire of the Whitebeard remnants. The hatred following the death of their comrades was irresolvable.
"Shiryu, is it? Let's see what you can do!" Vista cried, drawing his twin sabers and unleashing a flurry of flower petals.
"None of you Blackbeard pirates are leaving today!" Marco shouted, transforming into a phoenix and diving toward Burgess.
"Since that coward Teach killed our brother, we'll kill his partners!" Ace added, hurling a fist of fire at Van Augur.
While the three-on-three battle erupted, other powerful factions like Katakuri, Kid, and Hawkins ignored the skirmish, rushing toward the palace to claim the Multiply-Multiply Fruit or seek revenge.
"Yohohoho! So many people," Brook wondered. "Were they all toys before?"
"Don't worry about them," Sanji said, lighting a cigarette. "We have our own mission."
"To the palace!" Zoro commanded, and the Straw Hats resumed their run.
Outside the Birdcage, Carl and Law watched the aerial battle between Luffy and Doflamingo. Luffy moved effortlessly through the air using Moonwalk, bombarding Doflamingo with a Jet Gatling. Doflamingo defended himself with a Spider's Web Wall, but it was clear Luffy was merely warming up and had yet to reveal his fourth gear.
Suddenly, Carl's eyes caught a familiar figure flashing through the city. "Law, let's head in," he said. "There are enemies waiting for us."
Law was confused, as most officers had already been accounted for, but he used his Room to teleport them both inside the Birdcage. Once inside, Carl took off in a different direction and soon found a massive man adorned with ivory jewelry.
"Hey! Isn't this Jack the Drought, the man with a 1,000,000,000 Berry bounty?" Carl greeted him with a friendly smile. "What is a Lead Performer of the Beasts Pirates doing here acting as a thug for Doflamingo?"
Jack's hand instinctively went to his mechanical arm, his face twisting with a mix of fear and rage. "Carl! You bastard! I'm going to kill you!"
Jack lunged with his dual scythes, but Carl met the strike with his Third Generation Kitetsu. The sheer force of Jack's desperation pushed Carl back slightly, but Carl simply smirked and delivered a powerful counter-slash. The strike knocked Jack backward, the internal force of the Haki causing him to spit out blood.
Jack looked up, terrified by the growth in Carl's power. Carl examined his blade, satisfied with the technique. "It seems I'm ready for Kaido," he muttered. "As for you, Jack, I think I'll just end this now."
As Carl's killing intent flared, Jack took a reflexive step back, his deep-seated fear of the man surfacing once again.
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