It had to be said, Doflamingo's sudden arrival threw a massive, highly dangerous wrench into Bardock's tactical calculations.
The battlefield was now split between three factions: the Navy, the Seven Warlords, and the White Dragon pirates. Although the Marines absolutely despised Doflamingo and didn't consider him an ally, the fundamental rules of the World Government dictated that when faced with a common pirate enemy, they had to unite their fronts.
Of course, the subtle, underlying politics of the situation were a completely different story.
Doflamingo was incredibly cunning. He had deliberately chosen not to unleash his Parasite strings on the Marine forces. Because he hadn't actively attacked them, the Marines had absolutely no legal or immediate justification to turn their weapons on an allied Warlord. This completely forced Vice Admiral Tsuru and the other commanders to continue pressuring Bardock's crew while ignoring the Heavenly Yaksha in their midst.
With Doflamingo now in the fray, Bardock's mind raced. He also had to consider the highly probable reality that the rest of the Donquixote Family's elite Executives were currently rapidly converging on Flevance.
Originally, with Mansherry's infinite healing supporting them, Robin and the vanguard would have eventually ground the Marine forces into submission. However, Doflamingo's presence instantly shifted the suffocating pressure back onto the pirates.
The Marines they were currently fighting belonged to Tsuru's faction, not Akainu's extremist 'Absolute Justice' camp. Even if the crew lost to the Navy, their lives wouldn't be in immediate, lethal danger; they would simply be arrested. Facing Doflamingo was an entirely different reality. He was a ruthless psychopath, and if the crew was distracted by the Marines, severe casualties at the Warlord's hands were guaranteed.
Furthermore, if the rest of the Donquixote Family arrived...
Bardock immediately made his decision. He was done playing around.
"Enel!" Bardock's voice cut through the chaos via Observation Haki. "Kick him flying!"
The moment the command was issued, Bardock violently launched a heavy flying kick directly at Vice Admiral Tsuru. Tsuru immediately retaliated, her Haki-coated leg colliding with his. Utilizing the massive kinetic recoil of the clash, Bardock violently launched himself backward, rapidly creating distance.
"Oh no, you don't!" Tsuru's eyes narrowed as she immediately engaged Soru to pursue him.
Far across the ruins, Enel caught Bardock's signal perfectly. Completely abandoning his fierce duel with Vice Admiral Tokikake, Enel transformed entirely into crackling blue electricity and shot directly toward Doflamingo.
This was the absolute, terrifying advantage of a top-tier speed-based Devil Fruit. If a lightning human genuinely wanted to disengage from a fight, it was nearly physically impossible for their opponent to intercept them; they could only eat their dust and desperately give chase.
"Speed is weight!" Enel roared maniacally, directly plagiarizing a certain Marine Admiral's famous quote.
In a blinding flash, Enel materialized directly beside Doflamingo in mid-air, unleashing a devastating, high-voltage roundhouse kick aimed straight at the Warlord's ribs.
Doflamingo's reaction speed was genuinely impressive. Instantly perceiving the threat, he raised his arm, coating it in dense, pitch-black Armament Haki to block the lightning-infused kick.
However, he had completely underestimated the sheer, explosive physical power behind Enel's strike. Doflamingo managed to block the attack from shattering his ribs, but he couldn't completely absorb the kinetic impact. Like a cannonball, the Warlord was violently blasted out of the sky, hurtling uncontrollably toward the ruined earth.
A split second later, the delayed Tokikake finally arrived, fiercely intercepting Enel's follow-up strikes.
Meanwhile, as Doflamingo plummeted toward the ground, an apocalyptic, suffocating sense of lethal crisis violently seized his heart. In a panic, he glanced over his shoulder.
Sweeping directly toward his blind spot was a massive golden staff, heavily wreathed in the terrifying, crackling black lightning of Advanced Conqueror's Haki!
It was Bardock. Utilizing his Future Sight, the Captain had perfectly predicted Doflamingo's exact landing trajectory. Having briefly shaken off Tsuru, Bardock had positioned himself flawlessly to deliver a fatal, fight-ending blow, fully intending to forcibly remove the Warlord from the stage.
I'm going to die!
Doflamingo's hyper-honed survival instincts screamed at him. If he failed to block this specific strike, that golden staff would absolutely shatter his spine and kill him instantly.
Driven by sheer, primal terror, Doflamingo pushed his physical limits beyond their maximum, desperately channeling every single ounce of his remaining Armament Haki into his crossed arms to form the ultimate defense.
BOOOOOOM!
It couldn't quite be described as a mantis trying to stop a chariot, but it was close. The agonizing stalemate between Doflamingo's Haki-coated arms and the Ruyi Jingu Bang lasted for less than a fraction of a second. His defense completely buckled, and he was violently blasted across the ruins with catastrophic force.
This time, before Doflamingo even hit the ground, the sheer concussive trauma completely severed his consciousness. He blacked out mid-air.
With the caster knocked unconscious, the massive, terrifying Birdcage enveloping Flevance instantly lost its structural integrity, unraveling into harmless white threads that dissolved into the wind.
Ultimately, Doflamingo had paid a brutal price for his arrogance. Because he had severely underestimated Bardock's true, Yonko-tier lethality, he was unceremoniously knocked out of the war before he could even showcase a fraction of his true capabilities.
Having successfully swatted Doflamingo away, Bardock smoothly pivoted on his heel. Without looking, he casually brought his golden staff up to his chest, perfectly parrying a lethal, Haki-coated palm strike from the pursuing Vice Admiral Tsuru.
"Phew. That was close. Almost got me," Bardock chuckled, his eyes gleaming.
"Save the nonsense. You had plenty of room to spare," Tsuru replied, her expression perfectly stoic, though she didn't press the attack.
Bardock leaned forward slightly, a knowing smirk on his face. "Did you hesitate on purpose just now, Vice Admiral? You could have easily intercepted me before I hit the flamingo."
"Hm? I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about," Tsuru replied flatly, her face a mask of perfect Marine discipline.
"Hah! Fair enough. Let's call it a day, then!" Bardock laughed loudly before his voice echoed across the entire battlefield. "Enel! Mamaragan! (Ten Thousand Thunders!)"
This was the absolute, pre-established signal for a full retreat.
Hearing the command, Enel violently pushed Tokikake back. Raising his hands toward the storm clouds gathering above the White City, Enel unleashed his catastrophic area-of-effect ultimate.
Countless massive pillars of blinding blue lightning rained down from the heavens, indiscriminately bombarding the Marine forces, with the heaviest concentrations directly targeting Tokikake and Gion to pin them down.
"Tch!" Tsuru clicked her tongue in annoyance. Forced to abandon her pursuit of Bardock, the Great Staff Officer rapidly moved across the battlefield, utilizing her Wash-Wash Fruit to forcefully neutralize the incoming lightning and protect the unconscious and injured Marines from being incinerated.
By the time the apocalyptic lightning storm finally subsided, Bardock and his entire crew had flawlessly disengaged. They were already fully boarded onto the White Dragon, and the massive golden galleon had already activated its dials, soaring high into the sky.
Furious at being left in the dust, Vice Admiral Gion aggressively unleashed several massive, skyscraper-sized flying slashes into the air, but Daz Bonez calmly stood at the stern of the flying ship, effortlessly shattering the sword waves with his steel arms.
"Until we meet again, Marines!" Bardock waved from the railing.
With a final, explosive burst of propulsion, the White Dragon vanished into the clouds, rapidly leaving the ruins of Flevance far behind, leaving the battered, exhausted Marine army standing in the dust.
"You two coordinate the medical teams and secure the perimeter," Tsuru ordered with a heavy sigh, walking toward a relatively intact piece of rubble. She pulled out a specialized Golden Den Den Mushi. "I need to report this exact situation directly to Fleet Admiral Sengoku immediately."
Tokikake and Gion sheathed their weapons and rapidly began organizing the rescue efforts for the injured Marines.
Where there was war, there were always casualties. However, while the number of severely injured Marines today was staggering, the actual number of fatalities was miraculously low. Considering the sheer, apocalyptic scale of the forces involved, it was a profoundly fortunate outcome amidst the chaos.