"Done... successful? The man didn't lie to me. The Donquixote Family's conspiracy is exposed, and everyone has recovered..."
Standing on the rooftop, Violet watched the changes sweeping across Dressrosa. Her eyes widened in disbelief, her expression shifting from confusion to elation. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
Ecstatic, she activated her Glare-Glare Fruit ability and turned her gaze toward the palace plateau. There, she could faintly see two figures standing off against each other.
...
Doflamingo's face darkened, his lips twitching in frustration as he stared at the figure blocking his escape.
He hadn't expected Kaelen's reaction time to be so fast.
But he had no time to dwell on it—Kaelen had already launched an attack.
Boom!
With a sharp sonic boom, Kaelen vanished from sight and reappeared in front of Doflamingo within seconds. He raised his right fist, cloaked in Armament Haki, and struck.
The move looked simple, but it carried the force to shatter mountains.
Rumble!
The air cracked. The punch hadn't even landed yet, but the sheer pressure from it surged forward.
Time seemed to slow. The massive fist loomed in Doflamingo's vision, barreling down toward his skull.
At the last second, he jerked his head to the side, avoiding a direct hit—but the wind pressure still tore open a gash on his cheek.
"Bullet Thread!"
In retaliation, five nearly invisible threads shot out from Doflamingo's fingers, targeting Kaelen's heart, eyes, and throat.
Deadly and razor-sharp, they sliced through the air with lethal precision.
But Kaelen simply snatched them out of the air.
"Oh? Not bad quality. You could probably make a killing selling this stuff," he said with a grin. "Why bother with weapons dealing?"
The threads shimmered like blades in the sunlight, but Kaelen's Armament Haki-coated hand easily held them at bay.
Doflamingo scowled. If thread-selling were profitable, he would've done it long ago.
Well, no—he was of Celestial Dragon lineage. Such lowly business was beneath him.
Unless it paid very, very well...
Shff-shff!
More attacks flew in as Doflamingo waved his arms and kicked repeatedly. Dozens of strikes rained down, all while he retreated to put distance between them.
His style relied on long-range combat. In close quarters, Kaelen was an outright monster.
"Hmph."
Kaelen's eyes glinted as lines flickered around him. The corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile.
Then his left fist ignited with flames.
"Fire Fist."
Whoom!
A torrent of fire erupted from his fist, engulfing Doflamingo's incoming threads. In mere moments, they turned to ash.
Flames and silk were never a good mix.
"Flame-Flame Fruit…?" Doflamingo muttered, grimacing. He didn't panic when Ace wielded the fruit, but in Kaelen's hands, it felt different. More dangerous. More deadly.
Troublesome.
He couldn't run. He couldn't win.
He clenched his teeth. Beg for mercy? Kaelen wasn't the kind to show mercy. That was a dead end too.
But Kaelen didn't give him time to dwell. Following up on the Fire Fist, he unleashed another punch—this time, the air around his arm cracked like glass.
Boom!
The sky trembled. The entire palace plateau shook under the force.
Robin, Kuzan, and others watched in shock as the heavens split open, spiderwebbed with fractures. It was as if the sky itself had shattered.
Kaelen had used the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. If he hadn't directed the force upward, the entire plateau might've collapsed.
The scale of destruction spoke volumes.
Doflamingo felt it more than anyone.
"Great White Thread!"
"Cobweb Wall!"
Sensing death approach, he unleashed his full power—activating his Devil Fruit awakening. The terrain twisted and transformed into threads that surged to his aid, forming a sea of white.
Boom!!
The white tide clashed with Kaelen's shockwave. For a brief moment, the impact reached equilibrium—until cracks splintered the thread sea.
Then it shattered.
The remaining shockwave ripped through Doflamingo's final defenses and struck him square in the chest.
Crash!
He was hurled through the air, spitting blood mid-flight, pale and battered.
"Young Lord!"
Torrebol and the others cried out, faces twisted in panic. They moved to help—
—but someone beat them to it.
"Sorry. You'd better stay put. This isn't a fight you can join."
The calm, detached voice of the former Admiral rang out. Kuzan—Aokiji—stepped forward, cold air swirling around him.
He stood between them and Kaelen's battlefield, his presence a silent warning.
The three Donquixote officers froze, unable to take a single step forward.
---
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