"Lord Shamrock, save us!"
"Waaah, finally someone has stepped up to punish Doflamingo! Lord Shamrock, you must uphold justice for us."
The Celestial Dragons, finally seeing someone stand up for them, burst into loud sobs and, as if clutching a lifeline, knelt down in unison.
They no longer cared about being descendants of the creators.
Having lived in fear all this time, they had long been driven to despair by Doflamingo's methods, and for the first time in history, they felt that being called gods was merely a cloak they wore.
Now that Doflamingo had stripped away that cloak, they were no different from the slaves they had once trampled at will.
Every day, they lived on edge, and even in their dreams, they heard Doflamingo's evil, soul-shaking "Fufufufu" laughter.
Doflamingo, as if he had known Shamrock would come, looked down calmly from above at the captain of the God Knights, seemingly giving the kneeling Celestial Dragons in the arena a chance to voice their grievances.
"Lord Shamrock, it's me, it's me, it's me! I'm one of your people!"
Amid the kneeling crowd of Celestial Dragons, a fat middle-aged man emotionally scrambled forward on his hands and knees to the base of the arena platform.
Facing Shamrock, he wept bitterly and exclaimed, "Yesterday, Doflamingo held some long-distance running training. Out of the twenty-two participants, seventeen died, and the five survivors are practically crippled for life! This isn't rehabilitation at all—he's just feeding his twisted desires with our lives!"
"Oh, and among the seventeen who died from the run, two were from our family! Lord Shamrock, you must uphold justice for us!"
Before Shamrock could react, another figure rose from the crowd, agitatedly declaring.
"Our family lost one person too in the run!"
Immediately after, several more figures stood up, clamoring.
"And us, us too! We are members of the Donquixote Family in the Holy Land. Most of those who died in yesterday's run were from our family. I want to file a complaint—Doflamingo is clearly taking deliberate revenge! Saint Shamrock, as the leader of the God Knights, you should have the authority to punish Doflamingo. He's just a deputy leader, after all!"
Shamrock's lips twitched slightly.
"Seventeen people died from a long-distance run?"
Because he had been groomed since childhood by Garling to be his successor, and after joining the God Knights, he learned of Imu's existence, even though the Figarland Family had become one of the most deeply entrenched families in the Holy Land through eight centuries of reproduction, his bonds with its members were virtually nonexistent.
Thus, upon hearing that two Figarland Family members had died in the run, he felt no anger.
Instead, he thought that anyone who could die from mere running was unworthy of being part of the Figarland Family.
Of course, he couldn't show this!
After all, he was now the leader of the God Knights, and this incident presented a perfect opportunity to put Doflamingo in his place.
If things continued this way, it wouldn't just be a matter of Doflamingo stealing the spotlight—if the Donquixote Family, led by Doflamingo, grew too powerful, it would inevitably threaten the Figarland Family's status in the Holy Land.
"Yes, yes, Saint Shamrock! Doflamingo is nothing but a demon. He doesn't deserve to be the deputy leader of the God Knights!"
"Just yesterday, seventeen people died in the run, and today he forcibly brought us to this colosseum. Not only did he make us fight each other, but he also declared that only one person would leave alive today. Saint Shamrock, we are the purest-blooded Celestial Dragons!"
Hearing this, one of the God Knights standing silently behind Shamrock could no longer restrain himself.
Though barely 1.2 meters tall, he stepped forward abruptly and swiftly raised his gun, aiming at Doflamingo in the spectator stands.
In a grave tone, he declared, "Doflamingo, targeting the descendants of the creators like this—you truly have no regard for us. In that case, today I'll show you who really holds sway in the Holy Land!"
As the God Knight's words fell, the atmosphere in the colosseum plunged to freezing point.
The other God Knights who had accompanied Shamrock looked up, their gazes burning intently toward the spectator stands.
The Donquixote Family members flanking Doflamingo immediately assumed combat stances, excitement evident on their faces.
This was the confrontation they had long been anticipating.
In their view, although their young master's current status and position were granted by Fleet Admiral Orion, they could not simply rest on their laurels.
They had to achieve something remarkable to make Fleet Admiral Orion take notice of their young master.
To impress Fleet Admiral Orion, the only method they could think of was to overthrow Shamrock, the leader of the God Knights, and install their young master in his place.
Now that Shamrock had finally intervened in the Celestial Dragons' transformation, how could they miss this opportunity?
They were willing to risk everything.
Amid the tense standoff, Doflamingo hunched over and swaggered to the edge of the platform with an arrogant gait.
He grinned bloodthirstily at the God Knights member who had spoken and sneered.
"I know you, the brat from the Manmayer family! You ask me who calls the shots in this Holy Land?"
"Hmph hmph hahaha~"
"Isn't this common knowledge throughout the Holy Land?"
"Right now, it is Orion-sama who decides everything! And I am merely carrying out Orion-sama orders to reform the Celestial Dragons of the Holy Land!"
"Brat of the Manmayer family, am I to interpret your current actions as defiance against Orion-sama's commands? Fufufu~"
Infuriated that Doflamingo dared call him a brat, the God Knights member from the Manmayer family nearly exploded on the spot.
"Doflamingo, you dare call me a brat? When I fought in the God Valley War, you were still playing in the mud with your parents in the Holy Land... No, wait—by then, your father had already renounced his status as a Celestial Dragon, left the Holy Land, and become a despised outcast!"
"You're asking for death!"
Mention of his childhood experiences ignited a fierce glare in Doflamingo's eyes.
He raised his arm and slashed it downward violently.
In an instant, five nearly transparent thin threads materialized above the God Knights member from the Manmayer family and descended at an astonishing speed.
At the critical moment, Shamrock stepped forward decisively, raising his sword to meet the transparent threads—only detectable through Observation Haki—and slashed through the air.
BOOM—
A deafening explosion erupted as the two forces collided, releasing a shockwave that swept across a radius of a hundred meters.
Everyone in its path—whether kneeling Celestial Dragons or unlucky spectators below the platform—was instantly thrown to the ground.
Simultaneously.
Taking advantage of the brief opening created by Shamrock blocking Doflamingo's attack, the God Knights member from the Manmayer family seized the fleeting opportunity.
He raised his gun, aimed squarely at Doflamingo, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.