"Fufufufufu! What's wrong? The mighty 'Empress' Boa Hancock, too scared to fight back?"
"Oh, could it be you're afraid I might accidentally detonate the Dyna Stone buried throughout the Flower Capital?"
"My my, how noble of the Marine to care for civilians, truly the embodiment of justice... It makes me feel so..."
"Disgusted!"
"You're just like those hypocritical townspeople!"
"You made me understand that people are born with hierarchy! Those of us at the top are meant to oppress and enslave these lowlifes!"
"But don't worry... I hate the Celestial Dragons too."
"When the time comes, I'll make those Celestial Dragons just as wretched as you!"
"The throne above all mortals... needs only me sitting upon it!"
Doflamingo relentlessly pursued Hancock.
His words grew increasingly agitated.Hancock frowned.
This man seemed to be under some kind of stimulation...
His current behavior didn't resemble a fight, nor was it an attempt to provoke her into turning back to battle...
Instead, it was pure venting.
From this naturally wicked flamingo, Hancock sensed a deep... sorrow.
Those words earlier—rather than being directed at Hancock—
Were more like self-venting, self-inflicted pain.
Hancock's lips twitched.
'It was all Father's fault, trying to forcibly molding this born villain into a good man...'
Now, it seemed Doflamingo had truly gone mad from suppression.
But... after some time, Hancock began to notice a few openings.
Without hesitation, she came to an abrupt stop—
"Perfume Femur!"
A sharp and swift spinning kick, infused with both Ryou and the power of the Love-Love Fruit.
Moreover, this strike was a sudden ambush—even Doflamingo couldn't avoid it in time.
Taking the full brunt of the fierce kick, Doflamingo was sent flying backward, instantly coughing up a mouthful of blood.
However, the strings created by his String-String Fruit had cushioned the impact in front of him, so the petrification effect of the Love-Love Fruit didn't take hold on Doflamingo himself.
Wiping the blood from his lips, he raised his head, his eyes now filled with wariness.
Hancock retracted her excessively long leg and snorted coldly.
"Doflamingo... From the start, the Dyna Stones you've been detonating have either been far from populated areas or outright in the middle of nowhere."
"I suppose it's because the Donquixote Family members planting those Dyna Stones haven't had enough time to evacuate the blast radius, right?"
"Tsk tsk tsk... Heavenly Yaksha, it seems you're not as evil and heartless as you claim to be... At least when it comes to the Donquixote Family, you're not that extreme... So perhaps the benevolent king of Dressrosa is your true face after all?"
Hancock's words instantly made Doflamingo flush with anger.
"You... have some nerve!"
Just as Doflamingo was about to engage Hancock again—
"Slash Wave!"
A sharp cry rang out from behind Doflamingo.
The technique once belonging to the Shiki now manifested as a surge of sword light, cutting through the forest and aiming straight for the Heavenly Yaksha.
Despite the sudden ambush, Doflamingo remained composed, effortlessly dodging the slash.
And there, standing behind him, was Kozuki Toki.
"Doflamingo... Since you sent those two fools to kidnap me, you should be prepared..."
"Prepared to face a mother's wrath."
...
"Whew! These warmongers are really going all out!"
Blackbeard sat on a small sailboat, having already sailed away from the side without Bullet, leaving the coast of Wano behind.
His escape had gone far more smoothly than he'd expected!
The Beast Pirates, the SWORD Forces, and Wano's samurai had completely lost themselves in the frenzy of battle.
Though lacking in top-tier fighters, the Beast Pirates had gained a large number of SMILE users after the collapse of the Shiki's forces, preventing the battle from becoming one-sided and instead dragging it into a stalemate.
After all, this was Kaido's crew—their foundation spoke for itself.
But... Blackbeard understood.The defeat of the Beast Pirates was only a matter of time.
Or rather, the terrifying aftershocks of the explosion from Onigashima had completely shattered his confidence in Kaido.
So Blackbeard fled without hesitation.
He even had enough time to infiltrate the Beast Pirates' warehouse and loot it thoroughly...
"Still... it's a shame I couldn't seize the abilities of either Kaido or Michael this time," Blackbeard muttered to himself as he steered the ship away from the massive battlefield.
But he didn't let his guard down for even a second.
He wouldn't deactivate his Observation Haki until he was absolutely certain he had reached safety.
It was precisely this caution that allowed him to detect something unusual.
Blackbeard instinctively looked up toward the horizon...
There, a seemingly sentient cloud carried an impossibly tall yet still beautiful woman.
Her appearance left Blackbeard utterly bewildered.
"Why... is she here of all places!?"
...
On Onigashima.
The island had become even more deSorate than before.
If it had once been barren, now it was nothing but flat land.
The once towering rocks and ruined castles had all been reduced to dust, scattered by the wind.
Amid this lifeless wasteland, only two figures remained.
One stood.
The other stood as well.
But the taller of the two collapsed with a single touch from his opponent.
"Kaido, look—now you're the one being looked down upon," Michael said, gazing down at Kaido, who had miraculously survived their final clash.
"Even now, I underestimated the resilience of your body..."
"Michael, spare me the words. If you're going to kill me, just do it."
"I already did," Michael scoffed. "And I know exactly what I did... Even if you managed to survive thanks to this body, you're barely alive. For the next five or six years, forget fighting—even taking a sip of alcohol will shatter your organs from the slightest strain. You... have a long road of suffering ahead."
"And..."
Michael looked up toward the sky.
"The woman who'll save your life is here."
Kaido froze.
In his current state, he couldn't muster any of his Haki.
He could only barely lift his gaze toward the sky.
There, a familiar face with long pink hair appeared before him once more.
Just like when he had first boarded Rocks' ship.
"Hey, if you ever need anything, come find me. Rocks isn't someone you can trust..."
"You ask why? Because just by looking at you, I can tell—you're meant to be my little brother!"
The ruler of Whole Cake Island, the world-renowned pirate, "Big Mom" Charlotte Linlin, descended from the sky.
"Michael..."
"My foolish little brother has caused you trouble."
"Could you... spare him this once?"
Michael tilted his head, intrigued, as he studied Charlotte Linlin.
"Are you two really that close?"
"But I don't care about that… Why should I spare Kaido?"
Charlotte Linlin crouched down, looking at Michael with a soft laugh.
"Gol D. Roger left behind a great treasure…"
"So, is the 'great treasure' left by Rocks enough to trade for the life of this foolish brother of mine?"